Spectrum - Volume 19 Issue 21 February 20, 1997 - Engineer to receive national award

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Engineer to receive national award

By Liz Crumbley

Spectrum Volume 19 Issue 21 - February 20, 1997

The Society of Automotive Engineers Inc. (SAE) has recognized Alan A. Kornhauser, an associate professor of mechanical engineering (ME) at Virginia Tech, for outstanding contributions as an engineering educator.

Kornhauser will receive the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award during the SAE International Congress & Exposition in Detroit, Michigan, February 24-27.

Kornhauser, who joined the Tech faculty in 1989, teaches thermodynamics, internal-combustion engines, mechanical-engineering laboratory, and fundamentals of professional engineering. He is in charge of the senior-level internal-combustion-engine teaching laboratory, for which he has developed experiments that enable students to conduct tests on gasoline and diesel engines for emissions, efficiency, and performance.

As chair of the ME Green Engineering Committee, Kornhauser has been instrumental in developing methods of teaching undergraduates how to practice environmentally safe engineering.

Since 1994, Kornhauser has been the faculty advisor for the Virginia Tech chapter of SAE. During this time, with strong support and participation from the SAE student chapter, teams of Tech engineering students have won the 1996 national Future Car Challenge in Detroit and have placed first and third in the design phase of the International Autonomous Ground Robotic Vehicle Competition at Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida.

Charles Reinholtz, the W.S. White professor of engineering and assistant department head of ME, said that Kornhauser, as SAE adviser, "has provided an environment for students to grow personally and professionally. It is no accident that Virginia Tech is among the strongest schools in the nation in a variety of the SAE-sponsored competitions."

The Teetor award program offers engineering educators the opportunity to learn more about professional activities in the automotive and aerospace industries and to exchange views with practicing engineers. Teetor, an SAE member for 50 years, established the educational award in 1964.

The SAE is a non-profit educational and scientific organization with a membership of more than 68,000 engineers and scientists who develop technology and information on all forms of self-propelled land, air and water vehicles.