Make It Real

Alex Davis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Behavior, Decision, and Policy Group, the Carnegie Electricity Industry Center, and the Center for Climate and Energy Decision Making. He is currently CMU's acting director of a multi-year, multi-institutional research project on the relationship between science and proven experience. His research focuses on the behavioral foundations of policy, applied to innovation and entrepreneurship, energy, the environment, health, and information and communication technologies.

If you’re still trying to make sense of what exactly everyone means by “artificial intelligence,” you’re not alone. In this episode, we chat with AI expert and CMU Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Radu Marculescu to figure out what all this AI hype means, and how it may affect our future.

Intelligent devices that we are bringing into our home may call in to question what kind of privacy we are giving up to make life more convenient and personalized. In this episode, Carnegie Mellon University CyLab Associate Professor Lujo Bauer discusses computer security and privacy, and what we can expect in the ever-growing world of artificial intelligence.

As artificial intelligence becomes pervasive, engineers are improving the underlying technology it runs on to make it faster and more efficient. In this podcast, Carnegie Mellon University Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) Professor Franz Franchetti discusses what hardware means for the future of AI and what challenges still need to be overcome to optimize AI systems.

This week, Carnegie Mellon's internationally-acclaimed hacking team, the Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP), will be traveling to Las Vegas to compete for its fifth "World Series of Hacking" title at the DefCon security conference. In this short piece, PPP's Carolina Zarate talks hacking and other hobbies, and shares how she got into security. Music: Podington Bear

This week, Carnegie Mellon's internationally-acclaimed hacking team, the Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP), will be traveling to Las Vegas to compete for its fifth "World Series of Hacking" title at the DefCon security conference. In this short piece, PPP's Zach Wade shares how he got into security and how competitions like DefCon are more than just a game. Music: Podington Bear

Buggy, also known as Sweepstakes, is a Carnegie Mellon University tradition, a relay style race held at the annual CMU Spring Carnival where the buggy, a torpedo-like "racecar," serves as the baton. And in true CMU form, two teams are creating autonomous, self-driving buggies.

Chris Pistorius, professor of materials science and engineering and director of the Center for Iron & Steelmaking Research, discusses how the American steel industry has changed over the past 30 years and whether it can support new government infrastructure projects. Is the steel industry up to President Trump's "Made in America" challenge? Originally aired on February 15, 2017 on KCBS Radio. For more from KCBS Radio, go to www.kcbs.com

Hackers are in high demand by companies to help strengthen their security, but there's currently a shortage of talent. CyLab director David Brumley argues that the problem is that society at-large does not fully understand what hacking means. In this episode, we'll hear from four members of CMU's top internationally ranked hacking team, the Plaid Parliament of Pwning, about how they got into hacking, and why.

When it comes to climate change, we all know that CO2 emissions are a big problem—but they aren’t the only one. In this episode, we’re talking to researchers in CMU’s Smart Infrastructure Institute and the Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies, who have partnered with People’s Gas to examine their natural gas pipelines for leaking methane, one of climate change’s biggest contributors.

We've all heard of hacking contests where the participants are computer security experts. But a hacking contest where the participants are... computers? That's a new one, and in this episode, we hear from CMU-spinoff ForAllSecure who is heading to the national stage to compete against the nation's best autonomous hacking systems.

Some studies have shown that the average person has over 50 online accounts-- that's a lot of passwords to recall on a daily basis. In this episode, computer science and engineering professor Lorrie Cranor offers her insight on what makes a good password good and how we all can better protect our online data.

We're told from a very early age that putting electronic devices in our mouth, let along swallowing them, isn't a great idea. In this episode, engineering professor Chris Bettinger talks about how edible electronics may someday help diagnose and treat human disease.

Did you know that the US steel industry produces 12 million cars' worth of CO2 per year? Well, it does, but materials science and engineering professor Chris Pistorius says there is hope in reducing that with a new fuel in town.

CMU engineering researchers discuss how sensors can be used to monitor the health of bridges, train tracks, and the environment. These sensors are a new "macroscope," revealing large-scale characteristics of our world previously invisible to us. This episode features: ECE professor / department head Jelena Kovačević, CEE Ph.D. student George Lederman, ECE professor Pei Zhang, and CEE professor Mario Bergés.

Professor Jeremy Michalek and Ph.D. student John Helveston chat about their recent study on American and Chinese consumer preferences on electric vehicles, and how they may shape the future of electric vehicle technology development.

Carnegie Mellon's Information Network Institute (INI) turns 25 this year, and one of the major milestones of INI is the creation of the world's first big WiFi network in the early '90s. Alex Hills, the first director of the INI, led that project and shares a few interesting stories with us. Hills' book "Wi-Fi and the Bad Boys of Radio" can be purchased at: http://www.amazon.com/Wi-Fi-Bad-Boys-Radio-Technology/dp/1457505606 Hills speaks at INI's diploma ceremony on May 17, 2015.

Mechanical engineering grad student Thomas Healy talks about his startup company Hyliion, which produces a module that may reduce 18-wheeler efficiency by up to 30%.

Professor Jeremy Michalek and Ph.D. student Tugce Yuksel chat about their recent study on how regional climate -- from the really hot southwest to the really cold midwest-- can affect electric vehicles' performance and emissions.