AFHAS* collected by Paul Heckbert *Acronyms Frequently Heard Around SCS+ +SCS = School of Computer Science, CMU^'s computer science school ^CMU = Carnegie Mellon University ADMINISTRATIVE GROUPS AT CMU ================================ CSD = Computer Science Department ECE = department of Electrical and Computer Engineering RI = Robotics Intitute PS = Programming Systems, area within CSD CS = Computer Systems, area within CSD AI = Artificial Intelligence, area within CSD TH = Theory, area within CSD HCII = Human-Computer Interaction Institute OS = Operating Systems, sub-area within PS POP = Principles of Programming, programming language theory, sub-area within PS SDI = System Design and Implementation, lunch-time seminar group in PS SEI = Software Engineering Institute STC = NSF-funded Science and Technology Center Center for Light Microscope Imaging and Biotechnology at Mellon Inst. bldg PSC = Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center EDRC = Engineering Design Research Center, interdisciplinary lab CMT = Center for Machine Translation, in Cyert Hall; former name of LTI LTI = Language Technology Institute, part of SCS ITC = Information Technology Center, part of SCS DSSC = Data Storage Systems Center, group within ECE CIMDS = Center for Integrated Manufacturing Decision Systems, part of RI, on Doherty 3rd FRC = Field Robotics Center, part of RI VASC = Vision and Autonomous Systems Center, part of RI IUS = Image Understanding Systems SFCI = Studio for Creative Inquiry, part of CFA CMRI = Carnegie Mellon Research Institute, CMU's applied research lab, new name for the Mellon Institute CNBC = Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, at Mellon Institute, interdisciplinary PhD option between CMU CS, Psych, Biology, and Pitt CERT = Computer Emergency Response Team, watches Internet for viruses, etc. CMDS = Carnegie Mellon Dining Services, the folks that run the cafeterias FMS = Facilities Management Services, CMU campus custodians & groundskeepers E&S = Engineering and Sciences library in Wean Hall EPP = department of Engineering and Public Policy ACIS = Academic Computing and Information Services NREC = National Robotics Engineering Consortium, NASA-funded CMU robotics facility in Lawrenceville UTC = University Teaching Center, helps profs & TA's with teaching CUO = Center for University Outreach, facilitates community service by CMU folks CALD = Center for Automated Learning & Discovery, machine learning+data mining ETC = Entertainment Technology Center, drama and VR BUILDINGS AT CMU ================================ UCC = University Computing Center, next to Warner Hall, now called Cyert Hall WH = Warner Hall WeH = Wean Hall DH = Doherty Hall NRC = Naval Reserve Center PTC = Pittsburgh Technology Center, 3 bldgs on Monongahela River: CMRI & others FMRB = Field ? Robotics Building? UC = University Center, student union building BOM = Bureau of Mines SCHOOLS WITHIN CMU ================================ CFA = College of Fine Arts, CMU's art school MCS = Mellon College of Science, CMU's science school GSIA = Graduate School of Industrial Administration, CMU's business school CIT = Carnegie Institute of Technology, CMU's engineering school H&SS = Humanities and Social Sciences, CMU's humanities school IM = School of Industrial Management DEGREE PROGRAMS AT CMU ================================ INI = Information Networking Institute, master's program in CS, ECE, and policy; co-sponsored by CIT, GSIA, and SCS MSE = Masters in Software Engineering degree program PAL = Pure and Applied Logic, PhD program NPC = Neural Processes and Cognition degree program ACO = Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization, interdisciplinary PhD program LCT = Literary & Cultural Theory, a degree program? MLT = Masters in Language Technology, within LTI COMMITTEES AND ORGANIZATIONS ================================ SO = Silver Oaks Committee, advises CSD dept. head on big issues DRC = Doctoral Review Committee, reviews CSD's PhD program QRC = Qualifier Review Committee, reviews CSD's core graduate courses FAC = Faculty Affairs Council of CMU FAC = Facilities Advisory Committee IRC = Institute Review Committee for RI TSF = Technical Staff Forum for RI SAC = Secretarial Advisory Committee, for CSD secretaries URC = University Research Council, advises CMU admin. on research issues UEC = ? GSO = Graduate Student Organization, CMU's graduate student organization RESEARCH PROJECTS AND LABS ================================ AIM = Automated Interactive Microscope, project at the STC ALV = Autonomous Land Vehicle HMMV = High-Mobility Multipurpose Vehicle, "humvee", large jeep HMMWV = High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle SOAR = State, Operator, And Result (obsolete acronym) PSL = Parallel Systems Lab PVM = Parallel Virtual Machine KANT = Knowledge-based, Accurate Natural-language Translation AAAA = "Quad A" = Anyone, Anything, Anytime, Anywhere = allow Anyone to access Any type of information at Any time from Anywhere, CMU project for computer-aided teaching & learning MRCAS = Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery LAD = Center for Learning and Analysis of Data, machine learning, data analysis PDL = Parallel Data Lab CMU ADMINISTRATIVE ================================ BC/BS = Blue Cross/Blue Shield, health insurance UHN = University Health Network, an HMO HCTF = Health Care Task Force FCE = Faculty-Course Evaluation, a form for student eval. of teachers & classes SCS EVENTS AND ADMINISTRATION ================================ TG = Thank God (it's Friday), a party on Friday IC = Immigration Course, a short course for new grads; CSD & RI each have one TR = Travel Request or Requisition, form needed for travel reimbursement by CSD AQ = Area Qualifier CU = Core Unit, units for certain CS grad courses UU = University Unit? FRG = Faculty Research Guide, a booklet listing CSD faculty research interests LQ = Lieberman Queue, list of students who are due to do a good deed for the CSD BF = Black Friday, faculty meeting in CSD where students' progress is discussed FRAS = Faculty Resource Allocation System, discretionary money for SCS faculty JOB TITLES ================================ RCS = Research Computer Scientist, one of several research faculty titles TA = Teaching Assistant RA = Research Associate, a postdoc at CMU RA = Resident Advisor CMU FINANCIAL ================================ E&GO = Education and General Operating, funding from CMU TTAS = Tartan Trust Allocation System, debit cards for CMU staff NATIONAL FUNDING SOURCES & GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS (NSF, ARPA, ...) ================================ RFP = Request For Proposals DoD = Department of Defense ARPA = Advanced Research Projects Agency (formerly DARPA) BAA = Broad Agency Announcement, an ARPA call for proposals CSTO = Computer Science Technology Office, an ARPA division SISTO = ?, an ARPA division PI = Principal Investigator, head researcher on a grant or contract PM = Program Manager, person at ARPA who oversees a project NSF = National Science Foundation CISE = Computer and Information Science and Engineering, an NSF directorate MPS = Mathematical and Physical Sciences, an NSF directorate ENG = Engineering, an NSF directorate CCR = Computer and Computation Research, an NSF division within CISE NYI = NSF Young Investigator (formerly PYI), a type of NSF grant RIA = Research Initiation Award, a type of NSF grant HPCC = High Performance Computing and Communications, an ARPA-promoted phrase IITA = Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications, part of HPCC RFC = Request For Comments TRP = Technology Reinvestment Project, an ARPA, NIST, DOE, NSF, NASA, and DOT project DTCC = Defense Technology Conversion Council, administers TRP, chaired by ARPA PIP = Program Information Package, a publication CRA = Computing Research Association, in Washington D.C. RESEARCH FIELDS ================================ VR = Virtual Reality OR = Operations Research PL = Programming Languages SE = Software Engineering NL = Natural Language NLU = Natural Language Understanding NLG = Natural Language Generation GA = Genetic Algorithm MT = Machine Translation ML = Machine Learning KA = Knowledge Acquisition SDS = Social Decision Systems FILE SYSTEMS, NETWORKS, & COMMUNICATION STANDARDS ================================ NFS = Network File System, a Sun networking product RFS = Remote File Sharing, a network file service developed by AT&T AFS = Andrew File System, CMU's distributed file system FTP = File Transfer Protocol, a communication standard for computer networks TCP/IP = Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, network communication protocol SLIP = Serial Line Interface Protocol, communication protocol for serial lines PPP = Point to Point Protocol UUCP = Unix-to-Unix Copy, communication protocol VAT = Visual Audio Tool, mbone audio widget NII = National Information Infrastructure, synonym of "information superhighway" WAIS = Wide Area Information Server, protocol for network queries HIPPI = High Performance Parallel Interface, a fast network standard FDDI - Fiber Distributed Data Interchange, a fiber LAN standard LAN = Local Area Network ATM = Asynchronous Transfer Mode, a fast network standard ATM = Automatic Teller Machine, cash machine at a bank IMW = ? NNTP = Network News Transfer Protocol, used for Usenet YP = Yellow Pages, shared passwd file for a cluster of machines GPS = Global Positioning System, satellite transmissions to aid navigation ISDN = Integrated Services Digital Network, digital commun. std. for phone lines HDTV = High Definition Television NCSA = National Center for Supercomputing Applications, at U. of Illinois CERN = ?, European Laboratory for Particle Physics, Switzerland, developed WWW SMTP = Simple Mail Transport Protocol, protocol used for internet email MIME = Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, standard for multimedia mail POP = Post Office Protocol, protocol used by Eudora and Netscape ISP = Internet Service Provider (e.g. America On Line) DHCP = Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, IP addresses for mobile computing ADSL = Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, high bandwidth phone line COMPUTER HARDWARE ================================ MMX = Matrix Math eXtensions, Intel Pentium instructions useful for video, audio WORLD WIDE WEB ================================ WWW = World-Wide Web URL = Uniform Resource Locator, network path for WWW of the form resource_type://host.domain[:port]/pathname HTML = HyperText Markup Language, document formatter used by WWW HTTP = HyperText Transfer Protocol, transmission protocol used by WWW SGML = Standard Generalized Markup Language, metalanguage for markup languages CGI = Common Gateway Interface, interface between HTTP server & op. sys. FILE FORMATS ================================ MPEG = Motion Picture Experts Group, digital video compression standard JPEG = Joint Photographic Experts Group, still image compression standard GIF = CompuServe's Graphics Interchange Format, an 8-bit picture file format PDF = Adobe's Portable Document Format, a stripped down PostScript RTF = Rich Text Format, a portable text format PS = PostScript, Adobe's page description language STATES OF BEING (MODES) ================================ LOA = Leave Of Absence ABD = All But Dissertation, the mode where you "only" have to write up your PhD PTO = Personal Time Off, a day to relax MISCELLANEOUS ================================ NC = network computer, relies on the network and Java or ActiveX, say TEL = technology enhanced learning (used to be called CAI) CAI = computer aided instruction TQM = Total Quality Management, a set of guidelines for more effective meetings TR = Tech. Report CFP = Call For Papers/Participation, for a conference or journal LPU = Least Publishable Unit, the smallest idea quantum that is publishable AY = Academic Year FY = Fiscal Year MEMS = Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems, creation of tiny mechanical systems RPP = Reasonable Person Principle ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act, why Wean elevators were replaced in '95 FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions, type of documentation found on Usenet CSCW = Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, teleconferencing DVE = Distributed Virtual Environment, 3-D model distributed over a network LIS = Library Information System, old CMU library catalog JPRC = Justsystem Pittsburgh Research Center, research lab of Justsystem Corp, a Japanese company; located in Oakland This does not attempt to be a list of all acronyms everywhere, but simply a list of acronyms most frequently heard (and most puzzling) to members of CMU's SCS. For corrections/additions, email me at ph@cs.cmu.edu . For a larger, more general list of acronyms, see http://www.ucc.ie/info/net/acronyms/acro.html 11/98