Summer School in Logic and Formal Epistemology

Carnegie Mellon Summer School in Logic and Formal Epistemology

This web page provides general information for students attending the summer school.

Travel

You can find information on travel to Pittsburgh on the Carnegie Mellon University transportation page. Other useful information can be accessed from the visitors page.

The cheapest way to get to Carnegie Mellon from the airport is to take the 28X airport flyer bus. It is inexpensive ($2.25), it leaves the airport every 20 minutes or so, and it takes you right onto the Carnegie Mellon campus. The Carnegie Mellon stop is the little indentation across the street from the number 6 on the campus map. You then simply have to cross Forbes and walk along Morewood Avenue to get to New House. An alternative is to take a taxi from the airport, which should cost about $35 (plus a tip, for which 15% is customary in the US).

Facilities and accomodations

Students will share doubles in the New House dormitory, which is number 96 on the campus map. Sheets and towels will be provided. There is a shared, common kitchen on the first floor. More information can be found at the campus housing web site, and the associated FAQ list. Students may check in after 3 PM on Sunday, June 8, and need to check out by noon on Saturday, June 28.

Classes will be held in room A53 in BakerHall, which is number 3 on the campus map. (We will have to find an alternate room for the third week, as there is a conflict.) The main Philosophy Department office is in suite 135 of Baker Hall.

Students will be able to buy meals at the Resnik Dining Hall, at the University Center, at a number of restaurants near campus, or from the "trucks" along Margaret Morrison Avenue. You can read about the various dining options on campus here.We'll provide tips and recommendations when you arrive.

Students can purchase passes to use the gym and health facilities for $5 per day or $15 per week at the information desk at the University Center.

Students will have guest accounts at Carnegie Mellon while here, and will be able to use campus kiosks and computer "clusters." Wireless laptop access is available from anywhere on campus.

It may be helpful to print out an image of the Carnegie Mellon campus using Google Maps. The satellite photos are remarkably clear. If you go to "5000 forbes avenue, oakland, pa" you will be centered on the bus stop. You can then easily find New House (the white-roofed building along Morewood Ave to the North) and Baker Hall (the long building running along Frew street).

According to Parking Services, you can park in the East Campus garage for $10 per day. Parking in that garage and the Morewood parking lot is free on weekends. You can also find parking on the street; there are residential areas to the north and east of New House.

Visa

If you are coming from abroad, a regular tourist visa should be sufficient. Because you are not enrolled as students at Carnegie Mellon (which would require you to pay tuition!), we cannot issue I20 visas. We have prepared a letter that you can show to customs officials to explain the situation. (You may face less resistance if you say you are coming to a "student workshop" instead of a "summer school.")

If you send Jeremy Avigad (avigad@cmu.edu) your full name, citizenship, and date of birth, he will send you a hardcopy and PDF version of the letter, on Carnegie Mellon letterhead. Nobody had trouble last year, but it can't hurt to have the letter along.

Arrival

We will be holding a welcome picnic / barbecue on Sunday evening, from 6-8, on the New House patio.

When you arrive on Sunday, you may check in as follows:

Before 3 PM, you must go to the Summer Housing office in Donner Hall, which is 62 on the campus map, to pick up your room key.
From 3-6 PM, you may go straight to New House, and check in there.
If you arrive between 6 and 8 PM, go straight to the barbecue at New House, where you can pick up your key from Yimu Yin.
If you will be arriving later, please contact Yimu Yin (yimuy@andrew.cmu.edu) to make arrangements to pick up your key. You can reach him on his cell phone, (412)519-8530 in case of an emergency.

Schedule

Every day, there will be a morning session from 9:30-12, and an afternoon session from 2-4:30. These sessions can include lectures, problem sessions, presentations, discussion, individual and group work, tutorials, and even free time. We are also planning to hold a series of colloquia late Thursday afternoon. There will also be optional social and educational events on some evenings and weekends.

Summer School Staff

Director: Jeremy Avigad (avigad@cmu.edu)

Instructor for week 1: David Danks (ddanks@cmu.edu)
Teaching assistant: Rob Tillman (rtillman@andrew.cmu.edu)

Instructor for week 2: Mandy Simons (msimons@andrew.cmu.edu)

Instructor for week 3: Jeremy Avigad (avigad@cmu.edu)
Teaching assistant: Henry Towsner (henryt@cmu.edu)

Participants

We had about 50 applicants to the program. We admitted 24, and all have confirmed that they will participate.

Background reading

For students who may want to do some background reading on the summer school topics before arriving, we offer the following suggestions.

For the session on causal reasoning, you may want to take a look at the CSR online course: http://www.cmu.edu/oli/courses/enter_causal.html. In the free version, do Modules 1-3, and 6-9. This should help you understand (a) basic probability; (b) the notion of association/correlation; and (c) basic differences between association and causation.

For background reading on the issues addressed in formal semantics, and on the general strategies of model theoretic semantics, Prof. Simons recommends Gennaro Chierchia and Sally McConnell-Ginet, "Meaning and Grammar," Chapters 1-4 and 6.

For the session on formal verification, you may wish to review the basics of symbolic logic. Here are some good references:

Barwise, Jon, and John Etchemendy, Language, Proof, and Logic.
Enderton, Herbert, A Mathematical Introduction to Logic.
Goldfarb, Warren, Deductive Logic.

The following is a good introduction to axiomatic reasoning in mathematics:

Stewart, Ian, and David Tall, The Foundations of Mathematics.

We will experiment with an interactive proof system called Isabelle. Those of you who use Windows can try out a Live CD version. If you'd like, you can check out the web page from last year's session.