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ACHIEVERS
Michael Furey, professor of mechanical engineering (ME), took part in two international tribology conferences in September. At the World Tribology Congress in London, attended by 1,100 scientists and engineers from 51 countries, Furey presented two papers. "Models for Ceramic Lubrication by Tribopolymerization at High Loads and Speeds," co-authored by Furey and colleagues in Poland, is based on studies carried out with support from the Energy-Related Inventions Program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE); "Biotribology, Synovial Joint Lubrication, and Osteoarthritis" is part of an ongoing research effort involving Virginia Tech faculty members and students in ME, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the biochemistry and animal-science departments. In Poland, Furey participated in the 2nd International Symposium on Tribochemistry, where three papers he co-authored with Polish colleagues were presented. "Tribopolymerization I: Surface Temperatures and the Antiwear Action of Condensation-Type Monomers," "Tribopolymerization II: NIRAM Applications to the Antiwear Action of Addition-Type Monomers," and "Tribopolymerization III: Computer Modeling of Monomer/Surface Interactions" are based on research funded by the DOE and the National Science Foundation.
Thomas J. Inzana, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, has been elected a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology. Inzana operates a laboratory in the VMRCVM's Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease.
Michael Leib, a professor in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, recently presented 17 hours of continuing-education lectures at the Atlantic Coast Veterinary Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Leib, a veterinary gastroenterologist, presented a series of independent lectures before veterinarians and veterinary technicians.
David Moore, university veterinarian, director of the Office of Animal Resources, and associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, recently presented a lecture titled "An Overview of Alternative Technologies for Disposal of Pathogenic and Infectious Wastes" at the Fourth Pharmaceutical Research and Development Conference in Deerfield, Ill. Conference participants represented 26 major domestic and international pharmaceutical firms.
Thomas Bailey, an assistant professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, has been elected president of the Society of Theriogenology, a national organization of veterinarians who specialize in animal reproduction.
Charles Aull, professor emeritus of mathematics, has recently published the first volume of a projected multi-volume set on the history of general topology. The book is entitled Handbook of the History of General Topology, Volume I and was published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands. It is edited by Aull and R. Lowen of the University of Antwerp.
William Galinaitis, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mathematics, received a prize for his paper, "Compensation for hysteresis using bivariate Preisach models," which was presented at the 21st annual meeting of SIAM-SEAS (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics/South Eastern Analysis Seminar).
Margaret Murray, associate professor of mathematics, has been awarded grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation ($30,000) and the Spencer Foundation of Chicago ($65,100) in support of her oral-history-based project on the approximately 200 women who received Ph.D.'s in mathematics from American colleges and universities during the period of 1940-1959. She is currently at work on a book, tentatively titled Women Becoming Mathematicians: Constructing a Professional Identity in Post-World War II America, based on this research.
Wayne Moore, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach in Japan during this academic year. He is teaching courses on the U.S. Constitution, the American political system, and comparative law in the Faculty of Law and School of International Public Policy at Osaka University and in the Faculty of Law at Osaka University of Foreign Studies.
C. Wayne Patty, professor of mathematics, served on a panel at the National Science Foundation in October to review proposals in the Teacher Enhancement Program.
Edward Fox, professor of computer science, chaired the meeting of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Washington, D.C. He gave presentations on the networked digital library of theses and dissertations at the following locations: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Lisbon, Portugal, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and Minneapolis.
Sandra Birch of the computer-science department attended the National Phi Beta Kappa Conference in Chicago, Ill. Birch serves as secretary for the Mu Chapter of Virginia.
James Arthur and Richard Nance of the computer-science department attended the meeting of the Practical Software Measurement Product Engineering Study Group in Crystal City. Arthur chaired the meeting.
Mary Beth Rosson of the computer-science department served on the program committee and was panels chair for OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages and Applications) '97 in Atlanta. Rosson participated in a panel discussion on "Progress in Empirical Studies of Programmers: Past, Present and Future" at the Empirical Studies of Programmers Workshop '97 in Washington, D.C. While on the same trip, she gave a presentation on the Human-Computer Interaction--Graduate Research Traineeship project at the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Trainee Workshop.
Dennis Kafura of the computer-science department served as a mentor for the Doctoral Students Symposium at OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages and Applications) '97 in Atlanta.
J.A.N. Lee of the computer-science department attended the Federation on Computing in the U.S. representatives meeting at the Association for Computing Machinery headquarters in New York City. Lee also served on the Panel on History Curriculum at the Frontiers in Education Conference in Pittsburgh.
Richard Nance of the computer-science department attended the Federation on Computing in the U.S. Technical Assembly and Board of Directors meeting as U.S. representative to the International Federation for Information Processing Technical Committee 7 in New York City.
Layne Watson of the computer-science department presented "A problem-solving environment for wood composites manufacturing" at the Fifth International Panel and Engineering--Wood Technology Conference and Exposition in Atlanta.
Jim Eales of the computer-science department presented "Virtually Deschooling Society: Authentic collaborative learning via the Internet" at WebNet97, the world conference of the WWW, Internet, and Intranet in Toronto, Canada, sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education. The paper was co-authored by computer-science undergraduate student Laura Byrd.
John A. Rohr, professor of public administration, presented a paper entitled "Public Administration and Sovereignty in Democratic Regimes: A Study in Comparative Constitutionalism" at the meeting of the German Political Science Association in Bamberg, in October. During his stay in Germany, Rohr also lectured at the German Military College in Hamburg, toured the National School of Public Administration at Speyer, and interviewed the chief justice of the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. A grant from the German Marshall Fund made Rohr's travel possible.
The Building Construction Program of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies has received $40,000 funding from NSF through Project Succeed. The funds will be used to develop an experiential learning lab to parallel ESM Statics. The purpose of this lab is to improve the retention of the principles of statics through physical learning techniques. This lab is a cross-disciplined effort between engineering (Jack Lesko), architecture (Jay Stoeckel) and building construction (Flynn Auchey). Construction-management graduate student Chris Alcorn is developing the course ware.
In October, Thom Mills presented a paper at the Construction Management Association of America's national conference in Palm Springs, California. His talk was "Virginia's Public Procurement of Design-Build and Construction Management Services. Mills is an assistant editor for the Journal of Construction Education published quarterly.
Professor Marsha Ritzdorf won the Margarita McCoy award for 1997. The award recognizes "the recipient's outstanding contribution toward advancement of women in planning at institutions of higher education through service, teaching, and/or research." She received the award at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning conference in Fort Lauderdale in November.
Joseph L. Scarpaci, urban affairs and planning professor, has co-authored a chapter titled "Locational Attributes of Health Behavior," in D.S. Gochman's three-volume series, Handbook of Health Behavior Research (Plenum, 1997). The chapters are described as "state-of-the-art" essays designed to serve health-services research into the first decade of the next century. Scarpaci was also invited to lead a group of 18 planners from Canada, the United States, and France to Havana, Cuba, in November. The planners attended the meetings of the Association of Certified Schools of Planning in Fort Lauderdale. The post-conference tour complemented the theme of the meeting, "Planning in the Americas."
The Virginia Tech Dairy Judging Team placed eighth in the International Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest in Chicago in October. Coached by Susan Duncan, associate professor of food science and technology, and Walter Hartman, dairy plant manager, the team has been recognized as one of the top 10 teams in the competition for six of the last eight years.
To achieve the recognition, the team evaluated the flavor, texture and appearance of samples of six product classes and rated the quality similar to the rating given by official judges. The team placed second nationally in the evaluation of ice cream, fourth in the judging of milk and cottage cheese, and seventh in the evaluation of yogurt. The team also evaluated the quality of cheddar cheese and butter.
The team consisted of three undergraduate students, with two undergraduates as alternates.
Participating in a graduate-student competition were food-science-and-technology graduate students Lisa Scott and Laura Sammons. Scott placed third in cottage-cheese and ice-cream evaluations. Sammons, an alternate, scored the equivalent of third place in milk judging and fourth place in cottage-cheese judging.
Images & Reflections: Virginia Tech, 1872-1997, a coffee-table book issued as part of the university's 125th Anniversary Celebration, has received the Silver Medal Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education's 1997 Circle of Excellence Awards for Alumni Relations and Communications. The book was co-edited by Larry Hincker, associate vice president for University Relations, and Clara B. Cox, manager of public-service communications. The book includes archival photos from Special Collections in University Libraries; summaries of all presidential administrations, written by Cox; and a foreword by Alumni Distinguished Professor James I. Robertson Jr.