Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 33 June 13, 1996 - ACHIEVERS

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

ACHIEVERS

Spectrum Volume 18 Issue 33 - June 13, 1996

Saifur Rahman , a professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical Engineering and director of the Center for Energy and the Global Environment, was invited to present a paper at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Strategies for Environmental Sustainability in Moscow, Russia, in April. While at the workshop, he also chaired a session on the Perspectives on Joint Implementation. Rahman was one of six participants representing the United States at the workshop, where a total of 40 participants from 20 different countries from the west and the former Soviet Republics discussed the lessons learned from international cooperation on environmental sustainability.

Hanif D. Sherali , the Charles O. Gordon professor of industrial and systems engineering, was the recipient of the 1996 Koopman Prize awarded by INFORMS (The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) at their National Meeting in Washington, D.C., May 5-8. This prize recognizes the best military operations research work that is published in the open literature during the calendar year 1995, and was based on Sherali's Naval Surface Warfare Center project research in which a defense related problem was solved that had been open for a long time. The Navy is implementing this work on their Aegis battleships. Sherali's Ph.D. student Youngho Lee and the Navy technical monitor Donald Boyer were co-winners of the prize.

Gover Lee Johnson III , a lab specialist in the physiology lab in the Animal and Poultry Sciences Department, has been named the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences employee of the month for May.

A college employee since 1981, Johnson coordinates the research and teaching programs of three scientists and has a vast knowledge of laboratory assays and procedures, research methodology, experimental design, data analysis and interpretation, and scientific writing.

Though not a part of his job description, Johnson is considered the resident "computer expert" by many departments located in Litton-Reaves. He assists in computer training, consultation, programming, software development, installation, maintenance, and repair. Because of his ability to repair laboratory equipment, troubleshoot problems, minimize lab "down time," and extend the useful life of various pieces of equipment, Johnson has saved the lab and the university a substantial amount of money.

James Knight, professor of animal science, describes Johnson as an exemplary employee who has shown "consistent excellence, dedication, service to all segments of the university community, and contributions above and beyond job expectations."

Bill McKinnon , Extension beef cattle specialist in the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, has been selected to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Extension Agriculture Agents at their National meeting in Nashville, Tenn., in September 1996.

Janet Linkous of administrative information systems was elected chair of the board of directors of the College and University Computer Users Association (CUMREC) during the 41st annual conference in Nashville, Tenn. CUMREC is the longest continuing association devoted to promoting the understanding and use of information technology in higher education.

Cameron Hackney , professor and head of the Department of Food Science and Technology, was selected this year's winner of the International Association of Milk and Food Environmental Sanitarians educator award.

The award is given to faculty members in the food safety area having outstanding programs in teaching and/or Extension. The award will be presented in Seattle on June 30 at the association's annual meeting.

Hackney is a past winner of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Certificate of Teaching Excellence, Gamma Sigma Delta's Award of Merit for Teaching Excellence, the Virginia Tech Alumni Association's Extension Excellence award, and Gamma Sigma Delta's Award of Merit for Extension Excellence.

Two faculty members in the Department of Food Science and Technology will prepare a professional information packet for commercial packers, distributors and retailers on the benefits of the tendercut process for beef, thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Virginia Cattle Industry Board.

James R. Claus , associate professor, and Norman G. Marriott , professor, plan to use the packet and on-site presentations to convince the industry to implement the state-of-the-art process or to request product processed using the technology.

Merle D. Pierson , professor of food science and technology, served on three food safety discussion panels at the Second Australian HACCP Conference, Sydney, Australia, in April.

He also gave invited presentations on the "Moral, Legal and Business Responsibilities in Food Safety" and "Significance and Determination of Critical Limits in Food Safety." In addition, he presented a paper and discussion on behalf of Ann Marie McNamara, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, on "Use of Microbiological Data in HACCP Plans for Broiler Chicken Slaughter Plants."

George J. Flick , professor of food science and technology, received the Interfraternity Council of Virginia Tech's award as Outstanding Greek Advisor for 1995-1996.

A Virginia Tech plant pathologist was invited to two universities in Italy to discuss Dutch elm disease and to demonstrated new tree-injection technologies.

Jay Stipes , professor of plant pathology, is the last working specialist in Dutch elm disease in the United States. He gave invited seminars at universities in Milan and in Padova about the disease which is rapidly destroying the elm populations in Europe.

He also surveyed canker stain disease that is destroying many of the sycamore trees in Italy. That disease is believed to have been introduced to Europe by way of diseased wood from the United States used to make ammunition crates.

Faculty and staff members and graduate students from the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science presented papers at the recent annual meeting of the Weed Science Society of America in Norfolk.

Among the presenters were: Jinxia Sun , graduate student, and professor Chester L. Foy , "Physical-Chemical Properties of Several Commercial Organosilicones, Their Blends and Conventional Adjuvants;" professor Jeffrey F. Derr , "Preemergence and Postemergence Yellow Nutsedge Control in Crape Myrtle;" and Sydha Salihu , graduate student, Derr, and professor Kriton K. Hatzios , "Uptake, Translocation, and Metabolism of Isoxaben in Ajuga, Dwarf Burning Bush, and Wintercreeper."

Also, Rakesh S. Chandran , graduate student, Derr and professor S. Wayne Bingham , "Dissipation of Isoxaben in Soil Using Bioassays;" Jinguri Wu , research associate, Hatzios, and professor Carole Cramer , "Cloning of cDNAs Encoding Glutathione S-Transferase Isozymes in Rice and Their Induction by the Safener Fenclorim;" and B.S. Manley , graduate student, Hatzios and professor Henry P. Wilson , "Absorption, Translocation, and Metabolism of Chlorimuron and Nicosulfuron in Imidazolinone-Resistent and Susceptible Biotypes of Smooth Pigweed."

Also, John W. Eberwine Jr . and professor Edward S. Hagood Jr ., "Quantification of MDMV and MCDV Levels in Corn as Affected by Postemergence Johnsongrass Control;" and James H. Westwood , research associate, V.K. Nandula , graduate student, and Foy, "Boomrape Species Differ in Nitrogen-Induced Inhibition of Seed Germination and Development."

Linda Plaut of the Center for Programs in the Humanities presented two papers at national conferences in March. At the Fourth Festival of Women Composers, held at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, she presented "Folk Music and the American Composer: Amy Beach and Annabel Buchanan." At the Sonneck Society for American Music 22nd Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., she presented "The Uses of Folksong: Homage or Theft?"

John M. Carroll, professor of computer science and psychology and head of computer science, was an invited speaker at Microsoft Corp. He spoke on "Scenario-Based Design: What, Why, and How." Carroll also attended the Association for Computing Machinery's CHI'96 Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the conference, Carroll presented an overview of Virginia Tech's new Center for Human-Computer Interaction. Along with Mary Beth Rosson , associate professor of computer science, he presented a one-day tutorial session titled "Object-Oriented Design from User Scenarios." In collaboration with Stuart Laughton , a Ph.D. candidate in computer science, Carroll and Rosson also presented a one-day tutorial session titled "Network Communities." Carroll also attended editorial board meetings for the journals ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, and Behaviour and Information Technology , as well as an executive committee meeting for IFIP Working Group on Methodology for User-Centered System Design.

Khidir W. Hilu, professor of biology, recently traveled on a research trip to Kenya. While there, he established a molecular-biology laboratory at Egerton University and presented a seminar on his ongoing research on millets. He was interviewed on national television and by the newspaper in Kenya and visited the Forschungs Institute and the Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, where he presented a talk and initiated a collaborative research. Hilu also was the banquet speaker for the 27th State Annual Meeting of the Virginia Wild Flower Society, held at the Science Museum in Roanoke. His talk was titled "Our Plants: from Wild to Domesticated."

Karen M. Hult , associate professor of political science, was named the University of Minnesota Political Science Department's Ph.D. "Alum of the Year" in recognition of her scholarly achievements. In addition to receiving a cash stipend, Hult delivered an invited talk titled "The Nixon White House: Of Tipping Points and Continuities."

Marc Abrams of the computer-science department attended the SIGMETRICS (Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Measurement and Evaluation) Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Tools in Philadelphia. At the meeting, he presented a paper titled "Three Performance Tool Design Issues and Chitra's Solution," co-authored by computer-science Ph.D. students Randy Ribler and Anup Mathur .

Edward A. Fox of the computer-science department attended the Digital Library Consortium Meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. The meeting was hosted by Case Western Reserve University. At the meeting, Fox gave a presentation on "Virginia Tech's Digital Library Project." Fox also traveled to Old Dominion University as part of a university delegation to discuss the State Wide Area Network and collaborate on distant education projects. Fox also traveled to Drexel University to serve as an external expert on a select panel on information-retrieval opportunities and education. The project was funded by a grant from the Kellogg Foundation.

Layne Watson of the computer-science department presented an invited lecture at Butler University, Indianapolis, on "Genetic Algorithms." The following day, he presented another invited lecture to Florida A&M University on "Multidisciplinary Design Optimization."

Robert Denton , director of the Center for Leader Development, has been appointed to the advisory board of the Virginia Institute of Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. Board members include current and past legislators as well as civic leaders and academics across the commonwealth and nation. The institute provides various workshops, seminars, and programs on political leadership.

The Bruce Wallace Papers (1961-1991) are now being held by the Library of the American Philosophical Society. The papers document the career of Wallace, a geneticist whose research centers on population dynamics and speciation of Drosophila . They date from his employment at Cornell University as associate professor of genetics, professor of genetics, and professor of biology. Wallace became distinguished professor at Virginia Tech in 1983. During this period, he maintained memberships in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and served in offices of several other professional societies.

Larry Taylor of the chemistry department presented a plenary lecture at the combined third European and sixth International Symposium on SFE/SFC (Supercritical Fluid Extraction/Supercritical Fluid Chromatography) in Sweden. His presentation was on "Applications of Analytical Supercritical Fluid Extraction." Taylor also made invited presentations on various aspects of supercritical-fluid technology at the Association of Official Analytical Chemists in Nashville and at the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Society in Cincinnati. He also presented a plenary lecture on "The Future of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography" in the Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Division Symposium during the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans.

The Center for Research in Health Behavior at Virginia Tech was well-represented at the recent Society for Behavior Medicine conference in Washington D.C., and received two of 16 awards out of 776 presentations. Richard A. Winett and Eileen S. Anderson presented the results of their National Cancer Institute project, which involves a supermarket-based intervention to help shoppers alter their purchases and meals to reach nutritional guidelines. Winett, along with Deborah Tate , M.S., Christina Russ , M.S., and Daniel Galper , M.S., reported on their American Cancer Society "safe-sun" project designed to reduce skin-cancer risk at swimming pools. Winett and Anderson, with Kathleen Sikkema, who received the Ph.D. in psychology from Virginia Tech and is now at the Medical College of Wisconsin, reported some interim results of their National Institutes of Mental Health project focusing on HIV prevention with women. Tate presented the results of her thesis, which showed how to use a computer-based system effectively to motivate individuals to walk for exercise and health. Russ reported on her thesis project involving strategies to motivate breast self examination for early detection of cancer and Galper presented two papers on his thesis involving anabolic-steroid use in young men. Of the 776 presentations at the conference, 16 were cited as especially meritorious and received an award. The Winett and Anderson presentation and the one by Russ received two of the awards.

Andrew S. Becker , associate professor of Ancient Greek and Latin and coordinator of Classical Studies, gave an invited workshop on Reading Latin Poetry Aloud: Accent, Meter, and Rhythm for the annual national meeting of the American Classical League. Becker was elected to the board of directors of the Classical Association of Virginia for 1997-98 and was chosen as director of the Classical Essay Contest for the Virginia association. For the third year in a row, he was selected as a faculty member for the Governor's Latin Academy.

Timothy W. Luke of the political-science department was a visiting research and teaching scholar at the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand in March. During his stay, he made presentations to On-Line University Working Group at the University of Melbourne as well as to the Department of Education for the State of Victoria at the Australian Institute of Management on the development of Virginia Tech's cyberschool project. In New Zealand, he delivered the keynote presentation, "Nationality and Sovereignty in Cyberspace," to the Telecommunication User's Association of New Zealand 1996 Seminar Series on Communications Technologies: Their Social and Political Implications. He also spoke at the Communications Society of Victoria University in Wellington on New Zealand in the New World Order, spoke to the faculty of Human Sciences at the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand on the Virginia Tech cyberschool project, and to the College of Education at the University of Auckland on postmodernity and cyberspace.

Luke has been named to the editorial board of a new journal with Sage Publications, Organization & Environment. The journal will address the social causes and consequences of environmental problems. Luke has had two papers published recently in edited volumes. "Identity, Meaning and Globalization: Detraditionalization in Postmodern Space-Time Compression" is one of 15 papers chosen from nearly 110 given at a 1993 conference at Lancaster University on "Detraditionalization: Authority and Self in an Age of Cultural Uncertainty." It was published in Detraditionalization: Critical Reflections on Authority and Identity . His paper "Sustainable Development as a Power/Knowledge System: The Problem of `Governmentality,'" was published in Greening Environmental Policy: The Politics of a Sustainable Future? with St. Martin's Press.

Luke has had a paper titled "Liberal Society and Cyborg Subjectivity: The Politics of Environments, Bodies, and Nature" published as the lead article in Alternatives: A Journal of World Policy. His paper "New World Order or Neo-World Orders: Power, Politics, and Ideology in Informationalizing Glocalities" was published in Global Modernities . In a recent issue of Cultural Critique , Luke published an article titled "On Environmentality: Geo-Power and Eco-Knowledge in the Discourses of Contemporary Environmentalism." Luke recently visited the University of Kentucky to deliver a lecture in the Spring 1996 Social Theory Lecture Series on the Crisis in Progress. His lecture was "The Politics of Postmodern Ecology."

Luke and Gerard Toal of geography presented a paper on "Flows, Fundamentalism, and Fast Geopolitics: America in the Accelerating World Order" at the Political Geography Pre-Conference in Athens, Ga., and a paper on "Out of Time, Lost in Space: The Geopolitics of UN Safe Zones" at the International Studies Association in San Diego.

R. Sivanandan , an assistant professor of civil engineering and assistant director of research for the Center for Transportation Research, was invited by the Virginia Transportation Research Council to present findings of the project, "Review and Evaluation of Models That Produce Trip Tables from Ground Counts," to the Transportation Planning Research Advisory Committee on April 29 in Charlottesville.