Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 15 December 8, 1994 - Achievers

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Achievers

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 15 - December 8, 1994

Paul L. Angermeier, assistant professor in the Fisheries and Wildlife Science Department and assistant Extension leader, has had an article, "Biological Integrity Versus Biological Diversity as Policy Directives," published in the November issue of BioScience magazine.

E. George Stern , emeritus professor of wood construction, was elected an honorary council member of the Vyatka State Technical University in Kirov, Russia.

J. Daniel Dolan , assistant professor of wood science and forest products, recently presented a paper, "Tests of Cyclic Response of Nail and Bolts on California Building Codes," at the 1994 American Pulpwood Association annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Dolan has received the 1994 Annual Award for Excellence in Truss Research from the Truss Plate Institute.

Robert L. Smith and Robert J. Bush , both assistant professors of wood science and forest products, have an article, "Marketing Practices in the Timber Bridge Industry," in the November/December issue of Forest Products Journal . Smith led a roundtable discussion on "Marketing Engineered Wood Products for Transportation" on December 2 in Morgantown, W.V.

Wolfgang Glasser , associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources, was invited this fall to participate in the international "1994 Kyoto Conference on Cellulosics" in Japan. His lecture focused on the thermal characteristics of novel cellulose ester derivatives. The conference was attended by 250 participants world-wide and its topics ranged from cellulose structure, synthesis, novel functional derivatives, to high performance, thermoplastic, and biodegradable materials. Novel cellulose derivatives are beginning to play an important role in the "design for the environment" concept being adopted for materials in general and packaging materials in specific. Glasser also visited the University of Kyoto, where he lectured on the research activities of the Biobased Materials Center.

John Cairns , director of the University Center for Environmental and Hazardous Materials Studies and university distinguished professor in biology, presented the Abel Wolman Distinguished Lecture for the National Academy of Sciences December 5 in Washington, D.C. Cairns talked about "Eco-Societal Restoration: Re-examining Human Society's Relationship with Natural Systems." The talk was sponsored by the Water Science and Technology Board in memory of Wolman, an engineer, scientist, educator, and advocate for the public health through improved water supply and sanitation.

Norm Dodl of the College of Education, Roger Ehrich and Deborah Hix of computer science, and Andrea Kavanaugh of communication studies are principal investigators on a grant from the National Science Foundation's Network Infrastructure for Education Program to the Blacksburg Electronic Village. The award supports planning educational network services (including high-speed Internet access), training, curriculum integration, and evaluation with a core of teachers in the county schools in the forefront of instructional technology applications. Teachers will work with Tech faculty and staff members of the Blacksburg Electronic Village to develop the educational agenda for the county schools in computing and networking. Ongoing projects involving Montgomery County teachers, Virginia Tech researchers, and BEV staff include a multimedia magazine by students about Blacksburg and Montgomery County, external expert review of physics experiments reported by students, the exploration of learning stimulated by network publication, the effects on learning geography via CU-See Me and other highly visual multimedia, and the effect of networking on parental involvement in education in an entire class of networked rural families.

Richard C. Rich , chair of political science, served as an invited participant at a special conference on Environmental Risk Equity held at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. The conference was an effort to find ways to measure the distribution of environmental risks and design policy responses to any unfairness in this distribution.

Jeff Mann, instructor of English, recently participated in two poetry workshops, the Blue Ridge Writers' Conference at Roanoke College and the Golden Rod West Virginia Writers' Conference at West Virginia University. His poems "Cornfield in March" and "Walking in Night Fog" have been accepted for publication in the Sulphur River Literary Review .

Edward A. Fox and John M. Carroll of the computer-science department participated in a National Science Foundation workshop on the World-Wide Web in support of computer science research and as a means for NSF to disseminate information. The workshop was held at NSF Headquarters in Arlington.

Wayne D. Moore , assistant professor of political science, has had his article "Reconceiving Interpretive Autonomy: Insights from Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions" published in the Fall 1994 issue of Constitutional Commentary . The article examines relationships among constitutional interpretive powers of federaod science and forest products, has received the 1994 Annual Award for Excellence in Truss Research from the Truss Plate Institute.

Ali Hassan Nayfeh is the 1995 recipient of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Pendray Aerospace Literature Award. He is currently a university distinguished professor in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics.

This award honors G. Edward Pendray, founder and past president of the American Rocket Society, and is presented for recent outstanding contributions to aeronautical and astronautical literature. It will be presented on Jan. 10, 1995, during the 33rd Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit in Reno, Nev.

Nayfeh is the author of five books, nearly 300 journal papers, and approximately 300 conference papers. He has presented seven short courses and has served in various editorial capacities on more than a dozen journals. His academic career and pioneering research work have earned him Fellow grade memberships in several societies, including the ASME, the American Physical Society, and the AIAA.

Lore A. Balkan, project-team facilitator for administrative systems, has been elected executive vice president of the Data Processing Management Association (FPA). She is currently DPMA's secretary/treasurer, and was an association vice president in 1993. Founded in 1951, DPMA is one of the oldest and largest associations representation information systems professionals across the United States and Canada, with more than 18,000 members.

Norrine Bailey Spencer, associate dean for undergraduate programs in the Pamplin College of Business, was an invited presenter at the 1994 Undergraduate Seminar of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. The seminar was held in November in Orlando, Fla. She co-presented a workshop with Robert Novack of Penn State on "Taking Quality to Heart." The presentation focused on two Westinghouse-Virginia Tech and IBM-Penn State total quality management projects.

Alice D. Walker of educational technologies received the John L. Debes Award at the 26th annual conference of the International Visual Literacy Association, held in Tempe, Ariz., in October. Walker serves as executive treasurer of the association and has contributed to its publications and governance.

The Debes Award, named for the principal founder of the visual-literacy movement, is awarded to persons who have demonstrated substantial achievement and distinguished service to the development of visual literacy. Walker is only the sixth person ever to receive the award.

Philip S. Kronenberg , professor of public policy, presented a paper titled "Policy Systems Management and the Containment of Complexity" at the annual conference of the Society for Chaos Theory and the Life Sciences held at Johns Hopkins University.

Edward Spencer , director of Residential and Dining Programs, received the 1994 Stegemeier Award from the Sigma Chi Foundation as the outstanding faculty advisor in the country. Spencer was inducted into Sigma Chi in 1964 as an undergraduate at the University of Rochester. He has been faculty advisor at Virginia Tech since 1983 and chapter advisor since 1993. He recently was appointed to the fraternity's national leadership training board.

Spencer has used the $500 award to create two $250 scholarships. They will be awarded to two members of the Virginia Tech chapter of Sigma Chi, who most improve their semester grade point averages from spring semester 1994 to fall semester 1994.