Spectrum - Volume 19 Issue 02 September 5, 1996 - Achievers

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Achievers

Spectrum Volume 19 Issue 02 - September 5, 1996

Ben Blanchard , chairman of the Virginia Tech Systems Engineering Graduate Program, traveled extensively in May and June as an invited speaker. In Hong Kong, Blanchard conducted a workshop for the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corp.; in Australia, he presented a paper and conducted a life-cycle cost-analysis workshop during the International Conference of Maintenance Societies-'96 in Melbourne, and a total-asset management workshop at the University of Wollongong in Sydney; and in New Zealand, he conducted seminars in Auckland and New Plymouth for the local chapters of the Institution of Professional Engineers.

During a visit in Madras, India, in July, R. Sivanandan , assistant professor of civil engineering and assistant director of research at the Center for Transportation Research, was invited by the Institution of Traffic and Transportation Engineers, the Chartered Institute of Transport, and the Indian Institute of Road Transport to give a talk on "Intelligent Transportation Systems for Safety and Efficiency."

Stephen L. Canfield , a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering (ME), has won honorable mention in the sixth annual BFGoodrich Collegiate Inventors Program. The competition selects the best inventions submitted by graduate and undergraduate students from 41 universities and colleges nation-wide. The competition is sponsored by BFGoodrich and administered by Inventure Place/National Inventors Hall of Fame. Canfield's invention is a robotic equipment wrist that has an improved ability to lift heavy objects. His faculty advisor for the project is ME Professor Charles F. Reinholtz.

From the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, architecture professors Robert Dunay, Kathryn Albright and Shelley Martin participated in the AIA/ACSA Practice Education Summer Institute. Held in early August in Vermont, the session was titled "Defining the Changing Limits and Responsibilities of Academic and Practicing Architects as Educators."

Dunay, who serves as dean of finance and administration in the college, was selected as a fellow in the institute. Albright participated in the meeting last year and was chair of the steering committee for this event.

Individuals from schools and offices throughout the nation participated in five intense days of discussion and exercises. Issues such as training/education, leadership, communication and analysis, and the perceptual gap between education and practice were discussed.

Dunay said, "We learned a great deal about other schools and offices, and as a result, what we do in the studio will be re-examined in the context of what was discussed."

Of the five institutes that have been offered, Elliot Pavlos, director of education for the AIA, and Terry Williams, last year's conference organizer, said this one was by far the most substantive and successful.