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Edward Tufte Presidential Appointment

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, March 5, 2010

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON

President Obama announced his intent to appoint several individuals to serve on the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel. Their bios are below.

President Obama said, "These impressive individuals will be valued additions to our team as we work to confront the challenges facing our nation. I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come."

Steven Koch, Appointee for Member, Recovery Independent Advisory Panel
Steven Koch is a Vice Chairman and Co-Chairman of Credit Suisse's Mergers and Acquisitions Group. He joined Credit Suisse in 1985. Mr. Koch also teaches in the Director's Consortium, a semi-annual seminar he helped to organize, that is sponsored by the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Stanford Law School. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sinai Health System in Chicago and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, The Board of Trustees of the Francis W. Parker School and the Green Ribbon Committee of the Chicago Climate Action Plan. Mr. Koch received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and his B.A. from Hampshire College.

Chris Sale, Appointee for Member, Recovery Independent Advisory Panel
Chris Sale is Vice President for Development Finance at CHF International where she provides guidance and informs policy for the CHF International's microenterprise, housing finance, and small to medium enterprise lending programs. Ms. Sale has more than twenty years of experience in finance and development, having served as the Deputy Advisor for External Relations for the Inter-American Development Bank, Deputy to the Chairman and CFO of the FDIC, COO of the US Small Business Administration, among other positions. She is currently a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, and the Finance and Investment Chair for the National Partnership for Women and Families. She received an MBA from American University and completed her undergraduate work at Boston University.

Malcolm K. Sparrow, Appointee for Member, Recovery Independent Advisory Panel
Malcolm K. Sparrow is a Professor of the Practice of Public Management at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he has been teaching since 1988. Before joining the Harvard University faculty, Dr. Sparrow served 10 years with the British Police Service, gaining extensive experience in criminal investigation and rising to the rank of Detective Chief Inspector. At Harvard his research and teaching has focused on the distinctive challenges faced by regulatory and law enforcement agencies as they seek to control risks and threats of various kinds. Dr. Sparrow has authored several books and worked closely with U.S. and overseas regulators on issues including crime, terrorism, corruption, fraud, environmental protection, safety management and regulatory compliance. He holds a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, a MPA from the Kennedy School, and a MA in mathematics from Cambridge University.

Edward Tufte, Appointee for Member, Recovery Independent Advisory Panel
Edward Tufte is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Statistics, and Computer Science at Yale University. He wrote, designed, and self-published The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations, and Beautiful Evidence, which have received 40 awards for content and design. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Society for Technical Communication, and the American Statistical Association. He received his PhD in political Science from Yale University and BS and MS in statistics from Stanford University.

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From ET:

I will be serving on the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel. This Panel advises The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, whose job is to track and explain $787 billion in recovery stimulus funds:

"The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with two goals:

To provide transparency in relation to the use of Recovery-related funds.
To prevent and detect fraud, waste, and mismanagement.
Earl E. Devaney was appointed by President Obama to serve as chairman of the Recovery Board. Twelve Inspectors General from various federal agencies serve with Chairman Devaney. The Board issues quarterly and annual reports to the President and Congress and, if necessary, "flash reports" on matters that require immediate attention. In addition, the Board maintains the Recovery.gov website so the American people can see how Recovery money is being distributed by federal agencies and how the funds are being used by the recipients.

Mission statement: To promote accountability by coordinating and conducting oversight of Recovery funds to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse and to foster transparency on Recovery spending by providing the public with accurate, user-friendly information."

I'm doing this because I like accountability and transparency, and I believe in public service. And it is the complete opposite of everything else I do. Maybe I'll learn something. The practical consequence is that I will probably go to Washington several days each month, in addition to whatever homework and phone meetings are necessary.

-- Edward Tufte, March 7, 2010

The Energizer Bunny infects PCs with backdoor malware, the Department of Homeland Security's US-CERT said Friday.

According to researchers at US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team), software that accompanies the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a Trojan horse that gives hackers total access to a Windows PC.

The Energizer DUO, a USB-powered nickel-metal hydride battery recharger, has been discontinued, said Energizer Holdings, which late Friday confirmed that the software contains malicious code. The company has not said how the Trojan made its way into the software, however. "Energizer is currently working with both CERT and U.S. government officials to understand how the code was inserted in the software," Energizer said in a statement.

Energizer's DUO was sold in the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia starting in 2007.

The Windows software included with the charger is designed to show battery-charging status. When the software is installed, it creates the file "Arucer.dll," which is actually a Trojan that listens for commands on TCP port 7777. Upon instructions, the Trojan can download and execute files, transmit files stolen from the PC, or tweak the Windows registry. The Trojan automatically executes each time the PC is turned on, and remains active, even if the Energizer charger is not connected to the machine.

US-CERT urged users who had installed the Energizer software to uninstall it, which disables the automatic execution of the Trojan. Alternately, users can remove the Arucer.dll from Windows' "system32" directory, then reboot the machine.

Both US-CERT and Symantec have published advisories about the Trojan.

Energizer said it has removed the software from its download site, and added that although it had offered similar software for Mac OS X, only the Windows version had been infected.

This isn't the first time that a hardware company has planted malware on unsuspecting customers' PCs. In 2007, Seagate Technology admitted that an unknown number of its hard drives left an Asian manufacturing plant with Trojan horses, while the year before that Apple warned iPod owners that some of the music players carried a Windows virus.

In early 2008, electronic retailer Best Buy confirmed it had sold digital picture frames with attack code that spread to connected PCs.

UC San Diego and Black Student Union Sign Agreement, Announce Common Goals

Students and administration agree on actions to create a campus that respects differences and ensures diversity

March 04, 2010

By Judy Piercey

The University of California, San Diego reports success in defining common goals at today’s meeting between senior administrators, faculty and students, led by Black Student Union co-chairs David Ritcherson and Fnann Keflezighi to address diversity issues to improve the campus climate.  The adopted recommendations aim to move the university past hurtful incidents and improve the campus climate by enhancing diversity on the campus, in the curriculum and throughout the UC San Diego community.

“We’re pleased to see such a great exchange of ideas today.  We now have a signed agreement to move forward,” said UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.  “We applaud our student leaders, the campus and the San Diego community for their engagement, passion and leadership on finding solutions to these issues.  Although there is much work ahead of us, our ongoing partnership will build a healthier campus climate that supports everyone in a meaningful way.” 

A joint statement noted: “The UC San Diego administration and students have engaged in a productive wide-ranging conversation about how our common goals can be reached.  The conversations of this week show that there is a commitment from all participants to work together for the benefit of the entire campus.” 

The administration and students collectively determined measurable steps and concrete milestones to ensure that UC San Diego moves forward in working with students, faculty and staff on complex and vital issues.  Suggestions that resulted from meetings during the past week include enhancing programs the campus already has in place to target first-generation and low-income students, attract and retain qualified and diverse faculty, and ensure that the university provides a curriculum that reflects the cultural richness of the state and region.

The campus community will put into action the following recommendations: 
Admissions:

• Fund for three years BSU-initiated yield programs to increase the diversity of the undergraduate student body; work to diversify the graduate student applicant pool and induct more members into the Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, which promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate.

Curriculum:

• Fund the program coordinator position for the African American Studies Minor; review requests from the Colleges to establish campuswide diversity curricular requirements for undergraduates, to supplement the requirements already in place in the Colleges.

Culture:

• Identify appropriate places on campus for the display of outdoor and/or indoor, permanent and/or rotating art representative of underrepresented minority communities; extend the exhibition of the Chicano Legacy mural so that it can be made permanent.

Faculty:

• Create a task force to promote the recruitment, support and retention of underrepresented faculty; as funding becomes available; reactivate six unfilled faculty positions dedicated to African Diaspora, Indigenous Studies or California Cultures; allocate three new faculty positions over the next three years for diversity-related topics.

Resources:

• Match funds from student fees for Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service (SPACES), where students collaborate to achieve greater educational equity; meet with students to determine details for African American, Native American and Chicano Resource Centers, and assess patterns of use for these resources; ensure continued supplemental funding for the Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services (OASIS), the learning center at UC San Diego, for the 2010-11 academic year; establish a new Campus Climate Commission to examine the campus climate and the university’s diversity-related efforts, and make additional recommendations for future action; consider additional resources for diversity efforts as part of the Campus Climate Commission that is being established.

Research, Student Conduct and Other Actions:

• Work with interested faculty members to establish an Organized Research Unit (ORU) related to African American, Chicano and Native American-indigenous communities; rewrite the Student Code of Conduct, requiring students to adhere to the Principles of Community to the maximum extent permitted by the First Amendment; identify suitable naming opportunities for colleges and buildings, and review the naming processes; continue to engage both the Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee, the U.S. Department of Interior, and the UC San Diego faculty in seeking resolution to the disposition of human remains found as a result of University House excavation efforts.

These actions are only part of the university’s numerous on-going efforts to promote diversity on campus and ensure an open and welcoming environment.  Students, staff, faculty and the San Diego community will continue to work together to rebuild and restore the university community.

Media Contact: 

Judy Piercey, 858-534-6128, jpiercey@ucsd.edu

Jeff Gattas, 858-822-6914, jgattas@ucsd.edu