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Carnegie Mellon University Receives AT&T Environmental Fellowship Grant

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 October 2008, 12:00 CDT

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T Inc. today announced that Carnegie Mellon University received a $25,000 environmental research grant and that university faculty members H. Scott Matthews and Deanna H. Matthews were named AT&T Faculty Fellows in Industrial Ecology.

The grant will support the team's research project, "The Role of Information and Communications Technology in Carbon Risk Management," which will analyze the impact information and communications technology (ICT) can have in helping other industries manage risk of carbon emissions (e.g., carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion).

"This grant will help us continue our leading edge research about the impacts and risk of carbon emissions," said H. Scott Matthews, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

J. Michael Schweder, president of AT&T Pennsylvania, said the program is another example of AT&T's efforts to support education at all levels, including important research being undertaken at Carnegie Mellon, one of our nation's leading institutions.

"This is critically important work, and we're delighted to support such leading-edge research that's taking place in Pittsburgh," said Schweder. "Their work will contribute to sustainable and economically efficient approaches for our business and others in Pennsylvania and around the world."

"The project that AT&T is funding at Carnegie Mellon is one that we believe is essential in continuing the trend in sustainable development on this planet," said Audrey Russo, president and chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Technology Council. "The objectives of this type of research coincide directly with the mission of the Council's GreenTech Network."

AT&T has a long history of enabling research on industrial ecology -- a multidisciplinary science that investigates how the economy and the environment can coexist -- through the AT&T Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowship program. The annual grant program, which provides awards of $25,000 to three academic researchers at universities across the country, is designed to advance the development of research and help universities produce faculty and students who can contribute to solving global and regional environmental problems and help shape environmentally and economically efficient strategies.

Since its inception in 1993, the AT&T Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowship program has provided environmental research grants to leading universities and their outstanding academic researchers across the country.

The two other research teams that received grants in 2008 are:

-- Arizona State University, for a project titled "Virtual Activity Fulfillment: Mapping the Shift From Transport to ICT Infrastructure" and a second titled "Multiple Functionality and Personal Digital Infrastructure: Substitution Versus Complementarity." The first research team will study how an expanded virtual-reality realm is changing the way commerce is conducted, how workplaces function and how public infrastructure systems are used. A second team will research the environmental implications that are associated with the growth of multifunctional electronic devices, such as accumulation of e-waste, and how the telecommunications industry can help address such implications.

-- Green Mountain University, Clark University and Oregon State University, for a project titled "Understanding Business and Environmental Value Opportunities in the Global Supply Chain of China's Information and Communication Technology Industry." The research team will investigate and document how the ICT sector can achieve business and environmental value opportunities within a changing policy landscape in China.

The AT&T Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowship program is one way that AT&T collaborates with premier academic institutions and universities to advance education and research and to enhance the company's ability to deliver innovative products and services. For a number of years, AT&T Labs has teamed with top universities around the world through research and mentoring programs. Through the Virtual University Research Initiative, AT&T selects a number of top universities and funds educational expenses of students who are working on their PhD dissertations and are willing to do research on areas of interest to AT&T. Each year, AT&T also holds the AT&T Labs University Collaborations Symposium to bring together its researchers, university professors and interns to discuss current joint research projects and plans for future projects.

About Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 144-acre campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. For more, see http://www.cmu.edu/.

About the Pittsburgh Technology Council

The Pittsburgh Technology Council is the largest regional technology trade association in the United States with 1,400 member companies within its geographic territory of 13 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. Its mission is to contribute to the success of the region's technology businesses, and it focuses on developing the economic strength of several industry clusters, including information technology, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, advanced materials and environmental technology. The Council's principal function is to provide technical, administrative and economic assistance to advanced technology companies in both the manufacturing and service sectors. The Council achieves this by facilitating entrepreneurial activities, conducting and publicizing industry research, promoting the technology industry and providing advocacy and public policy services. The Council also develops cost-saving plans, provides recruiting and human resource assistance, and continues to build an identity for the region's entrepreneurial technologies.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. In 2008, AT&T again ranked No. 1 on Fortune magazine's World's Most Admired Telecommunications Company list and No. 1 on America's Most Admired Telecommunications Company list. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/.

(C) 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.

Note: This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss. For more information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.att.com/newsroom.

AT&T Inc.

CONTACT: Dan Langan, +1-717-571-1743, dan@langanpublicaffairs.com, forAT&T; or Chriss Swaney, +1-412-268-5776, swaney@andrew.cmu.edu, for CarnegieMellon

Web site: http://www.att.com/http://www.cmu.edu/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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