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ACHIEVERS
Patrick W. Carlton, interim director for international education in the University Office of International Programs, had two articles accepted for publication recently. The first, "Meeting the Global Challenge: Transforming Education at Virginia Tech," will appear in International Review. The second, "Principals and the Practice of Leadership: What does Experience Teach?" will appear in the AASA Professor. Carlton also received a chapter development grant from Phi Beta Delta, the international honor society, to assist with expenses in connection with the society's 12th Annual Conference to be held in Puebla, Mexico.
John Rohr, a professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy, was recently awarded a fellowship by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Rohr plans to write a new book, Public Administration as Constitutional Governance: A Comparative Study in Institutional Legitimacy.
Several Virginia Tech faculty members and graduate students were presenters at the American Chemical Society meeting in Dallas March 29-April 2:
Chemistry Professor David Kingston was an invited presenter at the Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products Symposium on March 30. (The award is being presented to G. Robert Pettit of Arizona State University.) Kingston, principal investigator and group leader for the Suriname biodiversity utilization and conservation project, will talk about "Biodiversity Conservation and Drug Discovery: Explorations in Suriname's Tropical Rainforests."
Haiqing Yuan, a doctoral student in chemistry, has synthesized the major human metabolite of Taxol--6-alpha-hydroxypaclitaxel, the first time the metabolite has been synthesized in the laboratory. Researchers and clinical investigators will now be able to identify the metabolite much more readily in complex mixtures by having the authentic synthetic metabolite as a standard reference compound. On April 1, Yuan presented a poster about his discovery.
Research by Karen Brewer, associate professor of chemistry; Brenda Shirley, associate professor of biology; Michael Jordan, post doctoral associate, and graduate students Sumner Jones, Elizabeth Bullock, Mathew Milkevitch, Jeff Clark, and Lee Williams were be presented in two presentations and two posters. The researchers are designing supramolecular mixed-metal systems for use as light-harvesting assemblies and as anti-cancer drugs.
Paul Deck, assistant professor of chemistry, and graduate student Matthew Thornberry, presented two posters about metallocenes. Co-authors are graduate students Huaiying Kang, Travis Fisher, and Woodward Jackson.
Chemistry post-doc Lakshaman Samala presented a poster about paclitaxels synthesis.
Philip Huang, professor of management science and information technology, was a guest speaker on a March 10 Voice of America talk show on MBA education in the United States. The show was aired live to China.
Huang discussed the history of MBA education, its current status and popularity, the teaching format, and the typical curriculum. During the one-hour program, he received call-in questions from listeners in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, and other parts of China.
Many of the questions had to do with tuition, financial assistance, and application procedures, Huang said. "There were many calls we did not have enough time to answer." VOA staff, he said, estimated that more than three million people were listening to the show.
Huang has made numerous trips to China (as well as to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan) as a visiting faculty member or guest lecturer. He served for four years as a technical consultant to the United Nations Development Program in China. His research and teaching have received considerable media coverage there. The Wen Wei Daily, China's second largest newspaper, for example, published a full-page story detailing Huang's views on global competition and total quality management.
Virginia Tech's Forestry Club placed second in technical events and fourth overall in the recent 41st Annual Association of Southern Forestry Clubs Conclave. The technical events test what the students have learned in actual forestry classes, while the "physical" events lend some fun to the occasion.
Hosted this year by Virginia Tech's College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources, the competition took place at the Holiday Lake 4-H Center in Appomattox. According to faculty sponsor, Shep Zedaker, 350 students and advisors from 13 different colleges attended the three-day event.
Participants came from such schools as University of Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, University of Florida, University of Georgia, Louisiana State, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State, North Carolina State, Stephen F. Austin State, University of Tennessee, and Texas A&M.
Last time the college hosted the conclave was 1991
Sam Easterling, associate professor of civil engineering (CE) at Virginia Tech, has been named an Outstanding Young Alumnus by the Iowa State University Alumni Association. Easterling, who earned his Ph.D. in structural engineering at Iowa State in 1987, is being recognized by his alma mater for professional achievements and service.
Since joining the Virginia Tech faculty in 1987, Easterling, whose research area is composite structures, has participated in 25 funded research projects. In 1988 he received the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Award for Outstanding Service as faculty advisor to the Virginia Tech ASCE student chapter. In 1996 the ASCE recognized him with the State-of-the-Art in Civil Engineering Award for his work with the society's Task Committee on Design Criteria for Composite Structures in Steel and Concrete.
Easterling's service to his profession has been formidable. He has served in various posts, including technical committee member, conference and workshop chair, and officer, for numerous organizations, and as associate editor for the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. His affiliations include the ASCE, American Institute of Steel Construction, International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering, Structural Stability Research Council, and the honor societies Chi Epsilon, Phi Kappa Phi, and Tau Beta Pi.