Feature

Goodbye Randy Pausch

Compiled by
Mahdin Mahboob

PROFESSOR at Carnegie Mellon, who inspired millions, dies at 47

To those of us who have seen 'The Last Lecture' and have found it inspiring and motivating, this news is not shocking, but sad nevertheless. Randy Pausch, a professor at the Carnegie Mellon University who inspired countless students in the classroom and others worldwide through his highly acclaimed Last Lecture, has died of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was only 47.

Also a Carnegie Mellon alumnus, Pausch co-founded the Entertainment Technology Centre and led researchers who created Alice, a revolutionary way to teach computer programming in what Pausch termed as 'a fun way'. He was widely respected in academic circles for a unique interdisciplinary approach, bringing together artists, dramatists and designers to break new ground by working in collaboration with computer scientists.

Outside the classroom, he gained public fame for delivering what would come to be known as "The Last Lecture." On Sept. 18, 2007, only a month after doctors told him that he had three-to-six months to live following a recurrence of pancreatic cancer, he presented a lecture called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" to a packed auditorium at Carnegie Mellon.

The moving and often humorous talk recounted his efforts to achieve such childhood dreams as becoming a professional football player (which he wasn't successful in achieving, but which helped him become what he finally was), experiencing zero gravity and developing Disney World attractions. In the process, he shared his insights on finding the good in other people, working hard to overcome obstacles and living generously.

"If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself," Pausch said. "The dreams will come to you."

A book version, "The Last Lecture" co-written by Jeff Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal (and a fellow Carnegie Mellon alumnus), became a best-seller upon its release in early 2008.

"Randy had an enormous and lasting impact on Carnegie Mellon," said Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon. "A brilliant researcher and gifted teacher, he was a key member of our Human-Computer Interaction Institute and co-founder of the Entertainment Technology Centre. His love of teaching, his sense of fun and his brilliance came together in the Alice project, which teaches students computer programming while enabling them to do something fun making animated movies and games. Carnegie Mellon and the world are better places for having had Randy Pausch in them."

Pausch was also a pioneer in the development of virtual reality, including creating the popular Building Virtual Worlds course at Carnegie Mellon.

He is survived by his wife, Jai, and three children: Chloe, Dylan and Logan. For more information on Randy's life and legacy, read In Memoriam: Randy Pausch, Innovative Computer Scientist at Carnegie Mellon, Launched Education Initiatives, Gained Worldwide Acclaim for Last Lecture.

To those of you who haven't yet seen the video, I would suggest that you do so soon. The Last Lecture I can assure you, is indeed very inspirational and motivational to say the least.

Download Link from Youtube:
Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Information Source : CMU Website

Tens of university busses were reserved for several trips all through the week. There was a trip to a theme park in Brampton, one to explore the campus facilities, one to check out Toronto's nightlife and the last and the best was a boat trip in center Island. For the boat trip the University chartered a magnificent yacht for the students. It was a spellbinding errand. As the yacht raced in the expanse of the deep waters the sun naively engulfed everything on sight with its splendid blend of colors. The beauty of the color hued sky, the calm winds and the evanescence of the coast line almost carried away my senses for a while. Amid unknown but friendly faces on the boat from all around the world I felt a strange loneliness, but that was only before I could finally blend in. In the course of hours unknown faces turned out as my dear friends. With the movement of the boat, life seemed to have started moving at a new pace and direction.

After sundown, music filled the air. It was the time for the magic of loudspeakers. The boat full of fun loving, young and energetic froshies rolled out on the deck of the ship, dancing, jumping, laughing and photographing. An international buffet styled array of tasty dishes were served shortly, and the ship bar boasting its vintage wines and a wide variety of liquors was opened for the over nineteens'. The dancing and laughing continued as we gradually drew close to the harbor. Upon approaching the harbor, our flag-like, rich red and green, light works glowed the CN Tower surface; the tower surrounded by the lights of other huge buildings and concrete structures glittered brightly against the dark sky of the majestic city, Toronto. The event facilitated an effective transition for many, not only in accepting Toronto as the right place for education but also for making new friends.

The frosh week was just the trailer, but the full movie was yet to begin. Like big feasts are held before wars begin, the frosh week was our big treat before the course studies actually began. My first class in University was Commerce 110, held in the University's Convocation Hall. As I entered through one of the many doors of the hall, a three storey gallery sized electronic classroom system appeared. The place is much like the China-Bangladesh conference centre in Bangladesh, perhaps bigger. The entire room was filled with around a thousand students and three large projector screens. On a raised stage stood the professor with his laser pointer. The class began sharp at the stipulated time; racing through the lecture slides on the projector screens the professor explained and talked about numerous aspects of commerce and business. It is perhaps by the first week of classes that one has to realize the necessity to start studying independently, living independently and making almost all decisions independently. By the span of a few weeks of class the mid-term exam dates get announced, thus disclosing the last strike of reality. The first mid-term exams are perhaps the most critical ones, as they are often an effective indicator in showing how well one has adjusted with the new environment.

Unless one explores the facilities provided by the university its true excellence could often be underestimated. The university has a magnificent array of libraries. The most popular is the “Robarts” library. It is a beautifully architectured peacock shaped fourteen storey building full of books, mostly on Humanities. The university library system is so immense and modern that there are exclusive libraries specializing on individual streams of study. In a summer evening students randomly sit in groups relaxing or studying under the shady red leaves of the maple tree spread all around the varsity arena. Studying could gradually become interesting, given the right environment, but as winter closes things begin to get dull. The temperature drops to 0, to -5, to -10, to -15 and wolla! one early morning its -36. Honestly, the first week of snowfall feels ecstatic, but when one has to walk through all that snow just to reach the nearest classroom or convenient store all the ecstasy and joy drains away. The cold is killing. One step outdoors requires “double-triple” layers of garments. I usually wore a t-shirt, a shirt, a sweater and a jacket, each over the other. My favorite pastime during the winter, apart from grabbing a quick cup of coffee from the nearest Tim Hortons, is to play indoor football or pool in the dormitory entertainment rooms. Swimming in the warm waters of the pool in the university gym at Harthouse is also very refreshing. The weekends during winter are almost always full of entertainment.

Back tracking my university experiences in words sound reasonably simple. But, the fact is university life abroad is not all full of fun. There are times when even the gloomy weather may depress you, let alone work load and continuous conversations in English. I understand studying in Bangladesh is neither full of fun, but in all honesty, any form of depression or anxiety hurts the most when you are alone and that too in a foreign country. Staying mentally strong is probably the most important requirement, other than good grades and loads of money, to study abroad. For all the thousands of applicants in Canadian Universities this year I present my best wishes and hope that this article has been encouraging. For any further information regarding University of Toronto or any other universities in Canada please feel free to e-mail me at chaklader6@hotmail.com, I'd be more than happy to assist you.

(Student of University of Toronto.)

Where did all
the Martians go?

Dr. Binoy Barman

RECENT images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that large quantities of water-bearing clays lie on the surface of the red planet. It vindicates the long-standing claim of scientists that the planet has water, in liquid or solid form, considered to be a basic support for life. So far, however, only the existence of solid water has been proven, but none of liquid. The planet appears too cool. It is, however, evident that the close neighbour of Earth in the sky had once ample flow of liquid water, which gradually solidified into stone-hard ice with the drastic drop of temperature there.

We can conjecture, with a fair degree of confidence, as there was liquid water on Mars, it might have given rise to life, as happened here on Earth. Where there is water in nature, there is life naturally. But the expeditions on Mars from our globe have so far found no creatures, living or dead, although frozen water has been detected in poles and in sub-terrain rocks. The planet has been found abounding with numerous dry channels, which, scientists believe, were once full of water. The recent Mars Phoenix Lander has discovered ice crumbs after creating a small hole on the surface of Mars. There is the mark of water, but nothing of life. It is just strange, so to be identified as one of the greatest celestial mysteries. Where did all the Martians go if they used to be living there?

The claim of water and life on Mars has been intensified with the publication of a research article titled “Hydrated silicate minerals on Mars observed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CRISM instrument” in the international science journal Nature on July 17, 2008. The article was written by noted scientists John F. Mustard at Brown University and Scott L. Murchie at Johns Hopkins, together with a team of three dozen colleagues. They claimed that there was water everywhere in the earliest days of Mars, between 4.6 and 3.8 billion years ago. Watery environment must have meant the planet was habitable, being a suitable place for life.

Our imagination flies to all directions in search of missing life on the enigmatic planet. Our mind says, there must be traces of life on the planet. If the creatures are 'dead', there ought to be fossils under the ground. But are they really dead? Is it possible that they are hiding in some remote untrodden regions of the apparently barren planet? Might it be at the centre of the big ball of heavenly mass, where they have built mansions in the kingdom of their own? Or, might they have fled to other planet, or any of the satellites, of our solar system, or elsewhere, when the atmosphere became unfavourable for their living? Is it possible that they have come here on Earth and are living just beside us escaping our vision? Then, keep a watchful eye -- they might be moving around you!

When we talk of life on Mars, we do not know what it means. Is Martian life similar to what we see here, or is it entirely alien? We do not know if it is simply virus-bacteria type of organism or some developed formation, multi-cellular and intelligent? Could they develop civilisations, primitive or advanced? How do they look? Are they weird or grotesque animals as encountered in science fiction, or very beautiful to look at? Is their body chemistry totally different from us or more or less similar to us? What do they eat and how do they live? Or, are they half-living half-dead creatures, beyond all our imagination? We cannot be sure of anything until we meet them face-to-face. There is also a dim possibility that life never existed on Mars. May be, its environment in no way proved appropriate for supporting life. If this is the case, we the earth-dwellers are lucky by all means.

Mars, the fourth planet from the sun and the seventh largest planet in our solar system, may be unliveable today but might be liveable tomorrow. A chunk of our earthly population may step in Mars and set up colony there. With the aid of sophisticated technology, they may change the environment and make it suitable for living. That will possibly be the first extra-planetary habitation for humans. From Earth, we shall call them 'Martians', surely, who will go on to create their own history on the vast page of the universe.

The writer is Assistant Professor and Head, Department of English, Daffodil International University.

Recently, the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Professor Ole Dan bolt Mjos visited Bangladesh. On the occasion of the inauguration of Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition, the Nobel Committee chief delivered a lecture titled “Some Reflections On The Nobel Peace Prize” at a meeting of young people at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre. I was one of the 30 students that represented the University of Chittagong (CU). Some 3,200 university and college students from across the country attended the meeting. The Norwegian Ambassador to Bangladesh Ingebjorg Stofring was also present.

The Nobel Committee chief called on the students to properly educate themselves to fight global warming, establish peace and build a poverty-free world which would also be free of nuclear weapons.

“You have the potential and power to do it. Let's do it together”, he said. Encouraging the students to study peace studies, Professor Mjos said they can also take advantage of the exchange programmes to pursue peace studies abroad. Replying to a question from the students, he said the young people can also win the peace prize by promoting peace worldwide.

He also suggested the students to organize a peace conference in Bangladesh and invite students from neighbouring countries. “Each of you present here has the potential to win the Nobel Peace Prize”, he added.

In his lecture, Professor Mjos said majority of the world's poor people are women and children. Poverty may be the greatest challenge confronting the world over the next few decades, he said, adding that every country and nation must come forward to help tackle the challenge.

He also stressed the need to address the root causes of poverty to eradicate it. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights, thereby ensuring worldwide peace, he added. “The struggle against poverty is the work for peace of the first order”, he said.

The Nobel Committee chairman noted that micro credit has proved itself to be a liberating force in societies where women in particular have to struggle against repressive social and economic conditions.

We have created a slavery-free, a polio-free and apartheid-free world. Creating a poverty-free world would be greater than all these accomplishments while at the same time reinforcing them. This would be a world that we could be proud to live in”, he quoted Dr. Yunus.

The Bangladeshis are living in a vulnerable position due to poverty and climate change. The whole world needs to tackle the challenge together as these are global problems too, he said.

He also asked the students to establish a knowledge-based society. “Let's together create a world without poverty, let's build peace and prevent war, focus on integrity, fight global warming and protect environment, and let us work for a world free of nuclear weapon”, he said.

The students were moved by the gesture of the Nobel Committee chief when he said, “I salute the country of Bangladesh! I salute the people of Bangladesh! I salute Grameen Bank! And last but not the least: I salute you my dear friend Muhammad Yunus. You are one of the most charismatic persons I have ever met! I admire your work!”

Speaking on the occasion, Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus said Grameen Bank is the only organization in Asia to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Winning the Peace Prize has reminded the nation of its potential; he said and urged the students to equip themselves with knowledge to lead the world.

“Bangladesh has to be turned into a nation which will never fall behind any other nation”, he said.

Well, it was a fascinating experience indeed. For me, it all started two weeks before the event when Tafsir Matin, a student of LL.M. of CU called me up to inform me that I have been nominated by my department along with him to attend the programme beside 28 other students from CU. To be frank, I never thought of meeting such eminent personalities even in my wildest dream, let alone knowing their visions, dreams, thoughts etc. In fact, the students were enthused by Mr. Mjos when he said, “Apnader Shobaikay Ushno Obhinondon”.

It was a very moving event without a doubt which certainly encouraged the young people, the future of tomorrow to believe in themselves, to rediscover their capabilities, to be the ultimate change makers.

After such an inspiring evening, we can surely dream of a better Bangladesh by sending social evils and injustices to the museum, we can surely dream of a better society and a better world.

(The writer is a student of 13th batch, Department of Law, CU)

More