Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 03 September 7, 1995 - Achievers

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Achievers

Spectrum Volume 18 Issue 03 - September 7, 1995

William H. Mashburn , professor of mechanical engineering, has been elected vice-president of International Programs for the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), an organization of 8,500 members representing 65 nations. On behalf of AEE, Mashburn was delegation leader in July for a study and business-development mission to South America. In meetings arranged by Mashburn, AEE delegates discussed research activities, training needs, and business opportunities with government and industrial leaders in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.

With a grant from the USDA Forest Service, architecture instructor Andrew Honaker and students developed a computer kiosk that allows visitors to access information about attractions throughout southwest Virginia. The database currently includes details on 3,000 sites and describes nearby restaurants and lodging as well. The kiosk is at the Highland's Gateway Welcome Center in Fort Chiswell, Virginia. Discussions are under way to expand the computer kiosks to other welcome centers throughout Virginia.

Charles T. Goodsell

, professor in the Center for Public Administration and Policy, has been chosen to receive the 1995 American Society for Public Administration/National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration's Distinguished Research Award.

At a Modern Languages Association meeting in Pittsburgh, urban affairs and planning professor Joseph Scarpaci chaired a session and delivered a paper, "Teaching Cuban Studies: The Role of Advocacy in the Classroom." In August, he delivered a paper on the burgeoning black-market and clandestine restaurant economy operating in Havana. The paper was presented at the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, held in Miami.

With UAP professors John O. Browder and James R. Bohland , Scarpaci co-authored a paper in the current issue of the Journal of the American Planning Association titled "Patterns of Development on the Peri-urban Fringe: Peri-urban Development in Jakarta, Bangkok and Santiago."

The newly appointed head of building construction, Yvan Beliveau , won the Best Paper Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers Technical Council on Computer Practices. The paper was titled "Geometric-Based Reasoning System for Project Planning."

Susan Piedmont-Paladino

, an architecture professor at the Washington/Alexandria Consortium, was awarded first prize in a design competition sponsored by the D.C. Chapters of the Sierra Club and Architects, Designers & Planners for Social Responsibility. The design was for a park for two islands in the Anacostia River that are the location of a controversy over the proposed construction of an amusement park. The winning design was deemed to constitute the best combination of child-oriented development and environmental conservation.

Maryam Khan

, a doctoral student in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management in the College of Human Resources, has been selected as the 1995 recipient of the Luray Caverns Research Grant. In an effort to promote advanced studies in travel and tourism, the National Tour Foundation administers the award, designed to defray the costs incurred by a student conducting research on a thesis, dissertation, or terminal project relating to travel and tourism. Khan's work was selected for its quality of research, overall presentation, and relevance to current issues impacting the travel and tourism industry. Her research proposal, titled "An Analytical Approach to Environmental Issues and Tourism with Emphasis on the Ecotourist," was chosen from application submitted from North America's leading graduate programs. Once complete, Khan's research will be made available to the National Tour Foundation membership and the general public. In addition to a cash award, she will receive subscription to foundation's publication, complementary registration and all travel expenses to the NTA annual convention in Orlando, Fla., where the award will be recognized.

Jay Stipes, professor of plant pathology, gave invitational seminars in May on Dutch elm disease at the Royal University in Copenhagen, the University of Amsterdam, the City of Amsterdam Parks Department, and the Agricultural University at Wageningen, The Netherlands.

During his 28-year career at Virginia Tech, Stipes has helped develop and refine tree-injection technology, by which healthy elms can be protected and, in some cases, infected trees can be cured. He has recently developed a Ciba pharmaceutical company compound for use in this work, and has demonstrated the injection technology in Europe and in several U.S. cities.

Stipes also recently chaired a workshop for tree-injection researchers and practitioners in Minneapolis.