Spectrum - Volume 21 Issue 02 September 3, 1998 - NEWSMAKERS

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

NEWSMAKERS

Spectrum Volume 21 Issue 02 - September 3, 1998

Virginia Tech faculty and staff members and students are often the subject of significant national and state-wide news coverage. To better inform the university community about these accomplishments, the Office of University Relations has compiled this monthly report. This report excludes coverage in the Roanoke news-media market. For more information about the articles mentioned, call Julie Kane, university public-relations coordinator, at 1-9934, or contact your college public relations office.
Chronicle of Higher Education (June 12): Lucinda Roy was featured with her picture on the cover and an article wherein she discusses teaching with technology.
New York Times (June 21): Research Associate Lawrence Houghton's research on piping plover populations on Long Island was described in an article on beach development.
Virginia News Network (June 22): Virginia Cooperative Extension Specialist Charles Johnson discussed the spread of blue mold in Virginia's tobacco fields.
Black Entertainment Television (June 22): English Professor Nikki Giovanni discussed minorities in higher education and Virginia Tech's efforts to recruit them.
Virginia News Network (June 23): Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences L.A. Swiger discussed the impact of the Agriculture Authorization Act signed by President Bill Clinton.
The History Channel (June 24): Sociology Professor Clifton Bryant discussed burial customs on the series, "Last Rites."
The Lamp , published by Exxon (July 1997): A photo of Robert Olin , department head of mathematics, is shown updating a workshop for new math teachers in an article about new ways of teaching math.
New York Times (July 15): Don Chance , professor of finance, was quoted in a story in the business section on option re-pricings.
CNN (July 22): A report on offshore software-development companies quoted a Virginia Tech study that there are 340,000 high-tech jobs in the U.S. without qualified people to fill them.
(Duluth, Minnesota) News-Tribune Online (July 31): Carol Burger , coordinator, Science and Gender Equity Program, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, is quoted on the importance of helping girls and guidance counselors see girls as capable of being scientists.
Las Vegas Journal Review (July 31): Robert Bodnar , geology professor, is mentioned in an article about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository with respect to an ongoing controversy about its safety.
The Virginia Engineer (August 1998): Articles are included about the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering (AOE) receiving a $125,000 grant from Boeing for undergraduate design projects; Professor Joseph Schetz of AOE receiving the 1998 American Institute of Aeronautic and Astronautics Air Breathing Propulsion Award; and the establishment by the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of M.S. and Ph.D. programs in computer engineering.
IEEE SPECTRUM (August): Mary Beth Rosson and John Carroll of computer science are cited as leaders in the development of collaborative software to support public-school science education and community involvement in schools.
Richmond Times Dispatch , Discovery Online (August 6): Research presented by Virginia Tech faculty members and students at the Ecological Society of America meeting in August was covered. Brief reports appeared on work by fisheries and wildlife sciences Research Associate Russell Titus , faculty member Carola Haas , Research Associate Douglas Harpole , graduate student Shannon Knapp , and by Philosophy Professor Deborah Mayo . Discovery Online reported on the research regarding bird populations and exotic grasses, and on Biology Professor Erik Nilsen's and colleagues' rhododendron studies.
Virginia News Network (August 7): Associate Professor of Aquatic Medicine Stephen Smith discussed the potential for more pfiesteria outbreaks in the Chesapeake Bay.
Virginia News Network (August 7): Tidewater AREC Professor Charles Swann discussed increased competition for Virginia peanut farmers from a massive peanut-planting program in Texas.
Chronicle of Higher Education (August 7): An article about the 1998 World Submarine Invitational included an interview with Patrick Ryan , captain of the Virginia Tech team, and a photo of the Virginia Tech team at work in the water.