ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996             TAG: 9610140054
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG

TECH, PROFESSOR SETTLE PROBLEM SOFTWARE SALE WAS AT ISSUE MARK CLOTHIER| STAFF WRITER|

Virginia Tech and Antoine Hobeika, once the university's point man on the "smart" road, have settled all issues stemming from his 1994 resignation as director of the university's Center for Transportation Research.

Ray Hartley, Hobeika's attorney, said the concerns involved Hobeika's role as a tenured civil engineering professor and Hobeika's claim that the university mishandled the issue of his sale of computer software valued at $2,500 to the Hong Kong Port Authority.

"Both the university and Professor Hobeika had issues they wanted resolved," Hartley said. "Dr. Hobeika, all along, has maintained he did absolutely nothing improper with the software and that the software issue is in no way part of the settlement."

Hobeika, who is still teaching and conducting research as a member of the Tech faculty, resigned as the university's longtime leader on the smart road project after state police began an investigation into whether he improperly deposited money from the sale of the software into his own bank account.

Tech pursued questions of scholarly conduct. Jerry Cain, the attorney for Virginia Tech, and Hobeika both said the settlement resolved all issues between the university and the professor.

The state police and attorney general's office were focusing on any possible crime from the software sale.

Mark Miner, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said he could not comment on specific cases and could not say whether Hobeika's case was active.

Hartley, however, said, "It has always been our impression that the attorney general's office has dropped the case."

Hobeika, who has worked at Tech for more than 22 years, had headed the Center for Transportation Research for six years before he stepped down in October 1994. The center conducts research into the development of intelligent transportation systems, technology that is to be tested on the proposed smart road between Blacksburg and Interstate 81.

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