Seinfeld/Pandis
Book Published
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: From air pollution to climate
change, a new text book for advanced undergraduate and graduate
students by EPP faculty member Spyros Pandis (EPP/ChemE) and his CalTech
colleague, John Seinfeld, has just been published (Wiley Interscience,
1998). In thirteen hundred pages it provides an exhaustive introduction
that ranges from planetary scale geo-physics, to wet and dry tropospheric
and stratospheric chemistry, aerosol formation and the reactions that
occur on aerosol surfaces, on to a wealth of basic and very advanced
material on air pollution processes, field and experimental studies
and computer modeling. Although just out, Atmospheric Chemistry
and 
Physics shows all the signs of becoming a classic. Several of
the leading researchers in the field have already announced their intention
to use the book in their graduate courses.
MIT Making Major Changes
After several years of planning,
Bob Brown, Dean of Engineering at MIT, has begun to make major changes
to better accommodate systems, management and policy-related work in
the Engineering School. Prof. Daniel Roos has been named Associate
Dean of Engineering Systems to coordinate the new expanded activities
which include the STS master's program, the new Ph.D. program, and several
larger research centers. In a manner similar to the arrangement
that EPP has used for many years, several new joint faculty appointments
are planned with traditional engineering departments and with other
units of the Institute.
NetBill Licensed to CyberCash
The NetBill electronic commerce
system, developed under the direction of Marvin Sirbu (EPP/ECE/IA) and
Doug Tygar (CS) has been licensed to CyberCash. NetBill is a prototype
highly secure and reliable on-line payment system for use with network-based
information goods, such as copies of journal articles. The system
has been designed to have very low operating costs so as to allow "micro
payments" for small transactions. It uses advanced encryption
methods and exchange protocols to assure highly secure and reliable
transactions.
CyberCash, a 1995 start-up, was the first firm to provide secure credit
card services over the Internet. It is expected that they will
use a number of ideas from NetBill in future upgrades of their CyberCoin
microtransaction service.
NetBill has been operating on an experimental basis on the Carnegie
Mellon campus for the past year. A recent major upgrade successfully
supports electronic credentials, the equivalent of employee cards, membership
cards or similar credentials, for use in controlling access to electronic
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Cohon Joins
Carnegie Mellon and EPP
Jared
L. Cohon, a civil engineer with expertise in multi-objective decision
making, has become the 8th President of Carnegie Mellon University, and
the latest addition to the ranks of the EPP faculty.
Educated at the University of Pennsylvania and
MIT, where he completed a Ph.D. with David Marks in 1973, he joined the
faculty of Johns Hopkins in Geography and Environmental Engineering.
There he rose to the rank of full professor and served as Vice Provost
for Research. Five years ago he left Hopkins to become Dean of the
School of Forestry at Yale. He was responsible for dramatically
rebuilding that school, adding a number of faculty and strengthening the
school's broad interdisciplinary program in environmental education and
research.
At Carnegie Mellon, Cohon's principal academic
appointment is in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He also holds
an affiliated faculty appointment in EPP. In the three months he
has been on campus, Cohon has gotten off to an excellent start.
He has been visible and easily accessible, meeting widely with faculty
and students, listening carefully and doing his homework. He is
warm and personable both in informal and formal settings. Faculty
and student reactions have been enthusiastic.
While his duties as President will obviously
limit his involvement in EPP, he has already found time to participate
in a number of departmental activities. For example, in September,
he and his wife Maureen, a lawyer in family law, attended the EPP graduate/faculty
picnic. He also attended and asked questions at the presentation
by EPP/CEE undergraduate Tim Drews when he reported on his summer spent
as a Tom Johnson Fellow in the new EPP Washington Office. Tim was
amazed to find himself being quizzed by the new President, but fielded
the question about effluent control from non-point sources in the tributaries
of the Chesapeake Bay without a fumble!
Peha Spends Year at State
Prof.
Jon Peha (ECE/EPP) is spending the 1997-8 academic year in Washington,
DC working with several US Government agencies on telecommunications policy
issues. The bulk of his time is devoted to launching an interagency
program created in the Fall of 1997 to help developing countries expand
access to affordable telecommunications and information technology. This
program will offer training and direct assistance on both technical and
policy matters. It will help interested countries explore complex
policy issues such as privatization, encouraging competition, establishing
an independent regulator, public-private partnerships to provide community
facilities, and promoting universal service. It also serves as a
resource to learn about new technologies such as wireless telephone infrastructure,
integration of power distribution/cable TV/telephony, and the Internet.
Finally, it will advance understanding of how information technology can
be used to promote other development goals such as health care, education,
democratization, and economic growth. In addition to his efforts
on this program, Prof. Peha is also working with the White House on telecommunications
policy issues. He has been invited to join the Global Electronic
Commerce task force led by Senior White House Advisor Ira Magaziner.
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