Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
June 25 - 27, 2012
SPAA 2012 will be held at Carnegie
Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Talks will
be in the Rashid Auditorium in the Gates and Hillman Centers (building
10B on this
map).
Carnegie Mellon is located in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh, about
three miles East of downtown. There are many things to do within easy
walking distant of the hotel and conference site, listed below.
There
are over 100 restaurants in Oakland,
and 50 more in the nearby neighborhood of Shadyside.
These are pretty much all within walking distance, although some
a long walk (1 1/2 - 2 miles).
The Carnegie Museum of Art is a
very nice art museum with a broad collection of American and European
art from the 16th century to present. During the conference there is
an exhibition on "Impressionism in a New
Light: From Monet to Stieglitz"
Attached to the Museum of Art is the Carnegie Museum of Natural
History, ranked among the top five natural history musueums in
the US and particularly well known for its Dinosaur collection (well
maybe just the bones). It is the location of the banquet, and you
will be able to visit most of it during the banquet.
The Phipps Conservatory
is a wonderful glass conservatory in nearby Schenley park with a wide
variety of botanical gardens. It is a nice place to relax. This is
where the world leaders had their
banquet during the G-20 World Summit in 2009
Built in 1926 the Cathedral of Learning in the centerpiece of the
University of Pittsburgh Campus and the second tallest university
building in the world (tallest is in Moscow). It contains 29 "Nationality
Rooms", each a classroom designed in the style of a different
country. The Cathedral of Learning is a few hundred feet from the
Holiday Inn Hotel.
Schenley
Plaza is a green area adjacent to the museums with dining kiosks, a
merry-go-round (if you happen to have kids), free wifi, and free
concerts on the lawn every Tuesday and Thursday at lunch.
Schenley Park is a 450 acre park adjacent to Carnegie Mellon with
running trails, green spaces, a cafe, a golf course, soccer fields,
and a outdoor movie
"theater". It was named one of "Americas Coolest City Parks" by Travel + Leisure in 2011.
Here is a trail map.
We have reserved a block of rooms at the Holiday
Inn University Center ($138/night) which is a 10-15 minute walk
from Rashid Auditorium. To get the block rate you need to either:
You need to reserve by June 2 to get the block rate.
We have also
reserved a block of on-campus dorm rooms, which are significantly
cheaper and only 300 yards from Rashid Auditorium. Please see the registration
page for for more information on housing and to book the dorm
rooms. You need to reserve by May 25 to guarantee a room.
Additional hotels can be found on this
page.
Please go to the online registration
page. The early registration deadline is May 25th.
There will be on-site registration on June 25th and 26th, but we can't
accept cash for payment.
Assuming we get enough interest we will have an afternoon trip to Fallingwater on Sunday June
24th. Fallingwater is a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and
built over a waterfall out in the country about an hour from
Pittsburgh. Members of the American Institute of Architects named the
house the "best all-time work of an American architecture." The
famous cantilevered balconies have recently been restored.
The trip It will leave at noon from the Holiday Inn and will return by
6pm. The trip will cost $37.50 per person (including transportation
and entry, but not any meals) and you should sign up on the online
registration page. If we don't have enough people we will have to
cancel and we will reimburse any payments.
The reception will be held on Sunday June 24th from 7-9pm at the Pittsburgh Atheletic
Association. It is located on the corner of 5th and Lytton Avenues,
almost across the street from the Holiday Inn, and
across the street from the Cathedral of Learning. Enter through the front door on 5th Ave.
The banquet will be held on Monday June 25th from 7-10pm at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It is located
on Forbes Ave. half way between the conference venue (Rashid
Auditorium) and the Holiday Inn (about 5 minutes walk from either).
The banquet is not included in student registration but we will give
out any tickets not being used by other registrants to students, and
tickets are available for $60. Also we will be looking for additional
sponsorship to cover student tickets.
- By Air: you will fly in to the Pittsburgh International Airport
(PIT). If you are using a site like Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity, make sure to
check out Southwest Airlines as well since they don't show up on those sites.
The airport has free wireless.
- By Car: Pittsburgh is a relatively short
drive (4.5 hours) from DC
and Baltimore,
and is about a 6 hours drive from Philadelphia and Toronto.
- Parking: On campus you can park in either the
East Campus Garage or the Gates Garage. The Gates garage is under the
building where the conference is, but it is hard to find the entrance.
The East Campus Garage is very close to the dorms and easy to find.
Here are the rates and map (P7 and P10).
- The Pittsburgh International Airport
is about 22 miles from CMU.
All modes of transportation leave from the Ground
Transportation area of the Airport, next to the baggage claim.
-
By Taxi: A taxi should
cost you about $40-45 (plus gratuity), and take about 35
minutes. Taxis should be available outside the
baggage claim area.
- By Shuttle:
Super Shuttle provides shuttle service between the airport
and hotels in Pittsburgh including the Holiday Inn University Center, or the Dorms for a slight additional fee. For reservations contact them at the link above or at 1-800-258-3826.
- By Bus: Pittsburgh has a very good system of buses. The 28X Airport Flyer bus gets you from the airport baggage claim area to CMU in 50-55 minutes, and costs $3.25. (Exact change is required). Here is a schedule.
The last stop is CMU, which is where you want to get off
if you are staying in the dorms or going directly to
where the talks are. If you are staying at the Holiday
Inn, you should get off a bit earlier at South
Bellefield Avenue and 5th (see this map) and it is a 3 minute walk from there.
If you need a visa to attend SPAA, please send your request for a
letter in support of a visa application to the ACM headquarters at
supportletters@acm.org and include your name, affiliation, mailing
address, and fax number. Indicate that you plan to attend SPAA
(authors of regular papers, brief announcements and posters should
also include the title). Those attendees not coming from a university
or research institution are advised to contact the SPAA secretary
first.
Questions and Comments
If you have any questions or comments about the local arrangements,
please send an email to Denny Maurus at dcm@cs.cmu.edu.