Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 06 September 28, 1995 - Achievers

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Achievers

Spectrum Volume 18 Issue 06 - September 28, 1995

Virginia Tech's horticulture students have received state-wide recognition for their work on the Horticultural Gardens just off of Washington Street. The students received first place in the Institutional Design/Installation category of the Keep Virginia Beautiful Landscape (KVB) Excellence Awards program. KVB, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, is a state-wide organization that promotes the beauty and cleanliness of Virginia's cities, counties, and parks. Bob Lyons , horticulture professor, said the award is based on a 12-year transformation that the gardens have undergone. The award will be presented at the KVB's annual banquet in October.

Mechanical Engineering Professor Wing Ng has been recognized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for his contribution to the agency's aeronautics achievements. Ng is a member of NASA's Supersonic Throughflow Technology Team. Throughflow technology is a potential candidate for use in the propulsion of the next generation of commercial supersonic aircraft. NASA presented a certificate of recognition to Ng during a ceremony held recently at the agency's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Swedish Society of Logistics Engineers (SoLE) has presented a medal of appreciation to professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering Benjamin S. Blanchard , honoring him for "his global impact on Logistics Engineering." The Swedish SoLE chapter presented the medal during the International Logistics Congress, conducted June 19-21 on board the cruise ship Silja Serenade as it sailed from Stockholm to Helsinki.

Since the early 1970s, Blanchard has worked on logistics and systems engineering projects with all three branches of the Swedish military. He also helped establish the country's SoLE chapter. During his 25 years in Tech's College of Engineering, previously as assistant dean for public service and now as director of the Systems Engineering Graduate Program, Blanchard has received similar honors in Australia, England, Italy and Spain. He has worked on various military and commercial logistics projects in those countries, and has taught systems engineering courses at universities in England and Australia.

Wendy Farkas , director of the Research Opportunities Office, moderated a panel and made a presentation in September at the Virginia Chapter of the Society of Research Administrators meeting in Richmond on "The Value of the WWW to Research Administrators."

Jennifer Brooks of Princeton, W.Va., has earned a GE Foundation Fellowship. She is a doctoral student in chemical engineering. The GE Foundation Fellowship Program seeks to help develop new faculty members, primarily underrepresented minorities and women in engineering, the physical sciences, and business management. Brooks says she wanted to be involved in science since junior high school, when math and chemistry were her favorite subjects. She earned her bachelor of science degree in 1994 from Virginia Tech, and worked part-time in the polymer processing lab, where she later conducted National Science Foundation-funded research on ways to recycle plastics. She plans to continue research on polymer recycling as part of her Ph.D. studies and hopes someday to be a research engineer.

Electrical Engineering professor Warren L. Stutzman has been selected to receive the Electrical and Computer Engineering Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus Award for 1995. Stutzman, a member of Tech's Satellite Communication's Group and an internationally recognized researcher in satellite communications and antenna design, is being recognized by the association for his outstanding contributions to the electrical and computer engineering profession.