New B.S. Programs in BiomedicalEngineering, Engineering PhysicsTwo new undergraduate degree programs debuted with thefall 2000 semester, both in areas that reflect the continuingtrend toward interdisciplinary training that blends sciencewith engineering. The new B.S. programs, in biomedicalengineering and engineering physics, passed all hurdles withinthe State’s approval process on October 18 when theDepartment of Higher Education (DHE) Board of Governorsunanimously approved both new programs.

The baccalaureate program in biomedical engineering buildsupon the School’s existing successful graduate degree programin biomedical engineering (which began in 1965 with bothmaster’s and doctoral degree programs) and derives from themedical community’s increasing reliance on high-tech equip-ment, automated techniques, information transmission, moni-toring devices and prostheses – all of which present designchallenges. With areas of specialization comprising biochemi-cal, bioelectrical, biomaterials and biomechanical areas, theprogram will prepare graduates to enter a practice of biomed-ical engineering at the basic level or undertake graduate study

continued on page 7

FFrrontiersSchool of Engineering News Volume 12, Number 2 Fall 2000

School of Engineering

GE Contributes $2.25 Millionto UConn Engineering General Electric recentlyawarded the School ofEngineering two separate cashinvestments totaling $2.25 mil-lion. In a one-of-a-kind collab-orative agreement,Plainville-based GE IndustrialSystems has committed $1.5million toward research instrategic areas and strengthen-ing its educational collabora-tions with the School ofEngineering. In addition, theGE Fund, GE’s philanthropicfoundation, has committed$750,000 to the School forestablishment of a GE FundInformation Technology Clinicfocusing on e-Engineering initiatives.

The GE Industrial Systems col-laboration is important for theSchool of Engineering and forthe University. As a land-grantinstitution, the University ofConnecticut is committed tostrong industry alliances and tohelping foster a strongConnecticut economy. TheGE-School of Engineering col-laboration is a prime example ofthe types of symbiotic relation-ships the School of Engineeringhas striven to establish withConnecticut companies inrecent years.

GE Industrial Systems providesleading-edge technology,process and application engi-

neering knowledge, andpost-sale service to resi-dential, commercial,industrial and utilitymarkets. The companyand UConn’s School ofEngineering enjoy alongstanding history ofcooperation thatincludes education, cur-riculum development,outreach and research.The school traditionallyhas been a key supplierof engineering graduatesto GE; and GE has sup-ported engineering edu-cation at UConn with anarray of scholarships andco-op opportunities.The School has also sup-ported post-baccalaure-ate and professional

continued on page 3

Also in this Issue...Dean’s Message ................................2

Faculty Receive NSF Career Awards ..............................................3

Engineering 2000 ..............................4

New Patent for EnvironmentalCleanup .............................................5

NSF Instrumentation Award ..........6

Outstanding Teaching Faculty Award ................................................7

Alumni Notes ...................................8

Teachers as Students:The da VinciProject .............................................10

School Recognizes Top Alumni and Friends.......................................11

CTI Nets Federal Grant .................13

Endowed Faculty Positions ............14

Outstanding Junior FacultyAwards .............................................15

Faculty Awards and Honors ..........16

At a September 18 press conference in Hartford, UnitedTechnologies Corporation CEO George David officially announcedthe company’s record-setting $4 million gift to the School ofEngineering which, paired with State endowment-matchingmonies, totals a $6 million investment in the School. In the photo,Mr. David speaks of UTC’s commitment to educating tomorrow’stechnology leaders. UConn President Philip Austin and GovernorJohn Rowland look on.This is the largest corporate gift to any pub-lic engineering school in New England. Please see the spring 2000issue of Frontiers for details.

$4 Million UTC Gift to UConn EngineeringFormally Announced

Dear Friends and Alumni,

For me, autumn is a time ofreflection. With a superb facul-ty, strong and innovativeresearch programs, excellencein teaching and a new majorInformation TechnologyEngineering Building under

design, we are well on our way to becoming one of theelite engineering programs in the country.

Since 1998, the School of Engineering has realized a 62percent increase in freshman enrollment – the highest atUConn – with a 40 point increase in average SAT score.The School also expanded its undergraduate degreeprograms from six to 12 through the addition of B.S.programs in Computer Engineering, Computer Science,Environmental Engineering, Metallurgy & MaterialsEngineering, Biomedical Engineering and EngineeringPhysics. In the same period, we have been fortunate toreceive generous endowments from individuals andindustrial partners that allowed us to create five $1 mil-lion endowed chairs; six additional endowed professor-ships for junior and senior faculty, ranging from$500,000 to $750,000; and over $2 million endowmentfor undergraduate scholarships.

Yet much work remains. While infrastructure improve-ments under UConn 2000 greatly benefit the Universitynow and in the future, they cannot solve all the chal-lenges facing the School. We must also invest in person-nel and in equipping facilities with the latesttechnological advances. Outstanding students (at bothgraduate and undergraduate levels) are becoming moredifficult to recruit as competition heats up among uni-versities. Many classrooms and laboratories require renovations to accommodate state-of-the-art teachingand laboratory techniques. Most serious, however, is theSchool’s endowment, which (even after the significantprogress we have made lately) is insufficient to supportthe scholarships, fellowships, and faculty endowed chairsneeded to develop the intellectual capital required forhealthy academic and research programs.

These issues present a serious challenge to the Schooland to the private sector. Since 1985, the number ofgraduating engineers in Connecticut dropped more than50 percent. Recruiting, outreach and attractive induce-

ments are critical to reversing this ominous trend.While we have met with some success in attractingindustry investments to support endowed faculty posi-tions in the School of Engineering – positions that arevital to recruiting and retaining the best teachers andresearchers in the nation – the challenge remains toincrease both the number and size of our endowed fac-ulty positions. Similarly, the level of endowment, whichserves to provide scholarships and fellowships to thebest engineering students, is simply not what it shouldbe, and we are losing scores of bright young minds toother disciplines and universities. Relative to other pub-lic engineering programs around the nation, our endow-ment is alarmingly small.

My highest priority as Dean is to build a significantendowment. Typically, five percent of an endowment isavailable for expenditure on an annual basis. These pro-ceeds support students and faculty, and provide a con-tinuous and reliable supply of resources for maintainingup-to-date teaching and research laboratories.Additionally, endowed scholarships, fellowships, andchaired professorships proclaim to prospective studentsand faculty your commitment to excellence in educationand research.

Why give to the School of Engineering? Without yoursupport, we cannot continue to attract and train highlyskilled engineers to meet the State’s and nation’s needs.Without you, we cannot enable many curious and ener-getic young people to have the opportunity to achievean engineering degree. Giving now also leverages yoursupport. One component of the UConn 2000 capitalprogram includes endowment-matching funds at a ratioof 2:1 for donations of $25,000 or more, so for $2 ofprivate funds donated for an endowment, $1 of Statemoney is contributed.

Clearly, not everyone can contribute a major gift.However, your pledge of a smaller gift to the School isstill instrumental in establishing endowments. Your gift,with the gifts of others, can make a significant impact.On behalf of our students, alumni, friends, faculty, andstaff, thank you for your support and generosity.

Message From the Dean

Amir Faghri, Dean

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GE Contributes $2.25 Million(continued from page 1)

research and education programs for GE engineers.

Christopher Fuselier, General Manager of GE IndustrialSystems, said, "This agreement recognizes and expands uponthe highly symbiotic relationship that exists between GE andthe University of Connecticut School of Engineering toadvance technological innovation and education withinConnecticut."

"We are extremely excited by this unique accord," comment-ed dean of engineering Dr. Amir Faghri. "It builds upon ourlengthy foundation of collaboration with GE and will enableConnecticut to advance ground-breaking new research in anarea of terrific import to the nation. Moreover, this agree-ment is a prime example of a truly novel industry/universityunion. The benefits from this research collaboration willinfluence education, the technological state of the art, andthe state of Connecticut."

The GE Fund agreement will center on establishment of arevolutionary new e-Engineering environment to exploitWeb-based telecommunications, information sources andnetworks for unsurpassed e-learning. The GE FundInformation Technology Clinic will facilitate training offuture practicing engineers who will increasingly participateinteractively in remote design and development of novelproducts. Further, it will allow the School of Engineering todevelop a new model and educational paradigm that inte-grates diverse cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives andexperiences into the process.

Engineering Faculty NetNSF CAREER AwardsIn 2000, two new School of Engineering junior facultymembers were distinguished with prestigious NationalScience Foundation (NSF) Early Career Development(CAREER) Awards: Dr. Matthew Begley of MechanicalEngineering and Alexander Shvartsman of ComputerScience & Engineering. CAREER Awards, which entailsubstantial financial support, are presented to juniorfaculty members whose combination of outstandingresearch and teaching mark them as among the topyoung academics in the nation. Drs. Begley andShvartsman join three previous CAREER awardees:Joe Helble, Department Head and associate professorof Chemical Engineering; Kevin Murphy, associateprofessor of Mechanical Engineering; and BarthSmets, associate professor of Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering.

Dr. Begley, an assistant professor in MechanicalEngineering, won a $196,000 CAREER Award for hisproposed research into material properties of electron-ic and micro-electro-mechanical devices (MEMS). Dr.Begley’s research seeks to establish fundamental con-nections between size and component performanceby developing new experiments and scale-dependentmodels to describe mechanical behavior from theatomistic to the macroscopic length-scales.

Dr. Begley will develop novel test procedures that willbe integrated into existing senior design courses andaccelerated master’s degree programs. Through theseprojects, students will gain insight into the challengesof cutting-edge product development (in conjunctionwith a leading small-scale test-technologies group)and research, and gain technical skills not typicallyfound in an undergraduate program. In addition, theresearch will directly and immediately benefit micro-electronic and MEMS manufacturers by identifyingeffect time- and rate-dependent properties at verysmall length scales of approximately one micron.

Dr. Begley’s career has been strongly influenced byhis father, whose experience as an engineeringresearcher, professor and consultant “has taught meto make connections between how new insight isdeveloped, taught and utilized to solve practical prob-

continued on page 19

FFrrontierontier ss

Frontiers is published twice a year by the Office of the Dean,School of Engineering at the

University of Connecticut261 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2237

Storrs, CT 06269-2237Telephone: (860) 486-2221

DeanAmir Faghri

Associate DeansThomas Anderson, Academic Affairs

Kazem Kazerounian, Research and Outreach

Assistant DeanMarcelle Wood, Undergraduate Education

Writer/EditorNan Cooper

Published for the alumni, faculty, students, corporate supporters,and friends of the School of Engineering at the University ofConnecticut. Suggestions and information are welcome. Send correspondence and address corrections to the Editor at the aboveaddress or e-mail to nrcooper@engr.uconn.edu

4 Frontiers

High Schoolers Learn Engineering is FunNASA could learn a thing or two from a group of Connecticut high school students who recently devoted time and ingenuity toward

designing and constructing working hovercraft, understanding and measuring airflow, encrypting computer programs, and con-structing complex electrical circuitry. These and a variety of other hands-on engineering projects captured the interest of 50Connecticut high school juniors and seniors during the School of Engineering’s Engineering 2000 residential camp held June 25 –June 30, 2000.

Marty Wood, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education and director of the Engineering 2000 program, commented that “Thisyear’s participants were the most dedicated students since the program began. They were constantly engaged in the week’s activitiesand continuously asking detailed questions about their projects.They have the potential to be outstanding engineers.”

In fact, Mr. Wood noted the incoming freshman class this yearincluded four students who participated in the annual engineeringcamp in previous years.

During the week, students surveyed fundamental physical conceptsbefore proceeding to design/construction labs that exposed them to12 majors offered within the School of Engineering’s six depart-ments. Tuesday through Thursday, students began morning sessionswith an overview of one engineering discipline, then proceeded to instruction inbasic electrical, mechanical, computer and physics concepts. A variety of hands-on

demonstrations and student challenges alsotook place each afternoon. Evening hourswere devoted to more detailed instruction inspecific engineering areas chosen by the stu-dents, through the Young EngineeringScholars Science Program.

Among the laboratory projects the studentsundertook were reverse engineering andredesign of a popcorn popper; encryption of

computer hardware; construction of an electronic device using circuits, digitalcounters and other components; analysis of complex electrical circuits using soft-ware; design and prototype development of hovercraft using balloons;friction/traction analysis, study of vibrations and air flow.

Of the 50 participants, representing 34 Connecticut high schools, 12 were female;all were nominated by their math/science teachers or school principals. Since itsinception in 1996, the engineering camp has brought nearly 200 Connecticut highschool students to campus. The School of Engineering is grateful for financial support provided by Northeast Utilities, Southern New England Telephone andUnited Technologies Research Center that helped subsidize the cost of participa-tion for students.

Since its inception in 1996, the engineer-

ing camp has brought nearly 200

Connecticut high school students to

campus.

Spring Banquet PlannedMark your calendars now! The School

is planning its Annual Engineering

Awards Banquet for Tuesday,April 24,

2001.The event will take place at the

elegant South Campus Banquet facility

at the Storrs-UConn campus, com-

mencing with a cocktail reception at

5:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:30.

The evening will include a variety of

awards honoring distinguished alumni,

industry supporters, and top under-

graduate students. Look for your invita-

tion in early spring or call now to

reserve your seating. Phone or e-mail

Marni Churchill, Director of Alumni

Development, at (860) 486-5394 or

marnic@engr.uconn.edu

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Dr. Nelly Abboud, associate profes-sor of Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering at UConn’s Waterburycampus, recently had the opportuni-ty to meet the president of her nativeLebanon while chairing and organiz-ing a conference of the American-Lebanese Engineering Society inBeirut, Lebanon.

Dr. Abboud is president of theAmerican Lebanese EngineeringSociety, which held its annual meet-ing July 20-22 in Beirut at theAmerican University of Beirut. Hermeeting, with Lebanese PresidentGeneral Emile Lahoud and other dig-nitaries, took place on July 18th dur-ing a heavily-covered media event atwhich the president gave his patron-age to the conference and was pre-sented a UConn Huskies cap andposter containing the signatures ofthe national champion Husky teammembers. Basketball, said Dr.Abboud, is very popular withLebanese citizens whose ownnation-

national team is number one amongMiddle East contenders.

During her stay in Lebanon, Dr.Abboud also met with the country’sMinister of Public Works, whoaddressed conference attendees, andMinister of the Environment withwhom she hopes to forge futurealliances to bring more environmen-tal awareness and funding to theMiddle Eastern nation.

Dr. Abboud’s conference presenta-tion was on the topic of “RecycledWastewater and its Positive Impacton the Environment in Lebanon.”Her presentation began with a quotefrom Khalil Gibran that personifiesher philosophy, “Learning is the onlywealth tyrants cannot despoil. Onlydeath can dim the lamp of knowl-edge that is within you. The truewealth of a nation lies not in its goldor silver but in its learning, wisdom,and in the uprightness of its sons”[and daughters, adds Dr. Abboud].

Dr. Nelly Abboud presents Lebanese President General EmileLahoud a UConn Huskies cap and other gifts during a July 18thpress event in Lebanon.

UConn-IndustryCollaboration YieldsDramatic New Patentfor EnvironmentalCleanupEngineering faculty affiliated with theUniversity of Connecticut’sEnvironmental Research Institute (ERI),collaborating with researchers from theUnited Technologies Research Center,have pioneered a new technique forremoving dangerous chemical solventsfrom contaminated soil at industrial sites.The new technique, recently awarded aU.S. Patent (# US6019548, “ChemicalOxidation of Volatile OrganicCompounds”), was developed to abatechlorinated solvents at industrial sitescoast to coast.

The work was conducted under ERI’sIndustrial Affiliates program – throughwhich companies partner with ERI scien-tists to develop and commercialize keytechnologies – and with additionalresearch contracts funded by UnitedTechnologies (UTC). At the root of thecollaboration was a desire by UTC’s topleadership to clean up a number of pol-luted sites, some acquired when UTCpurchased smaller companies, where soiland groundwater were contaminated witha solvent commonly used to degreaseindustrial equipment. Although UTC hasalready reduced its use of solvents by 80percent, the previously contaminatedsites remain a challenge for site cleanup.

“We are gratified by the promise andsuccess of our new technique in notmerely lessening the impact of pollutants,but eliminating contaminants at thesource. We look forward to commercial-izing it for widespread use to reducepoint pollution nationwide,” says GeorgeHoag, Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering professor and ERI Director.

The specific target contaminant at UTCsites is trichloroethylene (TCE), com-monly used for degreasing and cleaningmanufacturing and military equipment.EPA has set a maximum concentration of5 parts per billion as the acceptable levelof human consumption. To put it in per-spective, consider that one drop of

continued on page 7

Abboud Meets Lebanese President

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High-performance precision scientificinstrumentation can be tantalizingly

out of reach to many researchers todaydue to the monumental expense of cus-tom-designed equipment. And so Dr.Mark Aindow, associate professor ofMetallurgy & Materials Engineering, wasclearly elated when the National ScienceFoundation recently awarded him and hiscolleagues $620,000 to establish a state-of-the-art lab equipped with an automat-ed digital electron microscope.

The three-year MajorResearch Instrumen-tation grant, combinedwith an additional$420,000 from variousother sources was one ofjust 140 presented byNSF under the MajorResearchInstrumentation (MRI)program and was amongthe 20 largest awardssecured. The funds willbe used to purchase thespecialized transmissionelectron microscope (TEM) and to sup-port a full-time postdoctoral fellow toassist users over the three-year period ofthe grant. The NSF MRI program isdesigned to enhance research and educa-tion throughout the nation’s colleges anduniversities by helping subsidize purchaseof specialized, high-cost instrumentation.

Dr. Mark Aindow, principal investigatoron the proposal, comments, “We aredelighted to have secured this MRIaward. Transmission electron microscopesare probably the most powerful and ver-satile materials characterization instru-ments available, but without an award ofthis type, the cost would be prohibitive.The capabilities of the new microscopewill not only have a dramatic impact on awide range of existing research programs,but will also put us in a very strong posi-tion to respond to the new federalnanoscale science and engineering initiatives.”

The co-principal investigators on theproposal, who will be the instrument’sprimary users, are Raymond Joesten ofGeology & Geophysics, Nitin Padture ofMetallurgy & Materials Engineering,

Douglas Pease of Physics, and Steve Suibof Chemistry. In addition, a large numberof other faculty from various engineeringand scientific disciplines are also expectedto make use of the instrument.

Since learning of the award in earlyAugust, the core team has entered intodiscussions with several manufacturerswho develop custom-built TEMs. Dr.Aindow expects to install the instrumentearly next summer in its permanent quar-ters at the Institute for Materials Science,

an interdisciplinaryresearch center involv-ing engineering andscience faculty fromthroughout theUniversity. TheInstitute currently has a17-year old TEM thatno longer meets thehigh-tech researchneeds of faculty.

The new instrumentwill have a resolvingpower of better than0.19 nanometers (less

than a 100-millionth of an inch) allowingatomic resolution digital images to beobtained from a wide variety of materials.It will also be equipped with an X-rayspectrometer and an electron energy-fil-ter enabling detailed information to beobtained about the location and concen-tration of component elements, and eventhe electronic structure of the elementsthemselves. The new TEM will be sharedamong faculty whose research programsdepend critically upon these capabilitiesfor investigating materials such as newhigh temperature aircraft alloys, meta-morphic rocks, novel tough ceramics,nanostructured magnetic materials, andmolecular sieves.

In addition to its value as a research tool,the automated digital TEM will enrichthe graduate and undergraduate educa-tional experience. Dr. Aindow anticipatesthat the device, which can be networkedacross campus, will revolutionize teachingof electron microscopy and related topicsby allowing faculty to combine more con-ventional teaching materials with live out-put from the microscope.

UConn Nets Major NSFInstrumentation Grant

Wood Tackles PCERemediationDr. Thomas Wood, associate professor ofchemical engineering, recently discovereda revolutionary new method for vanquish-ing the toxic solvent tetrachloroethylene(PCE). The method, involving bacteriumPseudomonas stutzeri OX1 and one of itsenzymes, solves the environmental dilem-ma of how to break down dangerousorganic compounds aerobically.

The technique was detailed in the July2000 issue of the journal, NatureBiotechnology in an article entitled “Aerobicdegradation of tetrachloroethylene bytoluene-o-xylene monooxygenase ofPseudomonas stutzeri OX1” co-written byDrs. Wood, Doohyun Ryoo, Hojae Shim,and Keith Canada of the University’sChemical Engineering department andPaola Barbieri of the Dipartimento diGenetica e de Biologia dei MicrorganismiUniversita degli studi di Milano.

Dr. Wood explains that the solvent PCE isused in dry cleaning and manufacturingoperations around the world, and isamong the most potentially toxic of pollu-tants found in municipal groundwater. It isdeemed a suspected carcinogen, or cancer-causing agent, by EPA and must be reme-diated to less than 5 parts per billion. Intests, the key enzyme discovered by Dr.Wood and his team, toluene-o-xylenemonooxygenase (ToMO), degrades PCEand a variety of related compounds –including trichlorethylene (TCE),dichlorethylenes and vinyl chloride – intoharmless chloride ions. Since contaminat-ed sites often contain mixtures of chlori-nated wastes, the apparent efficacy ofToMO in degrading the broad spectrumof VOCs, both individually and combina-torily, into chloride ions is especially excit-ing. In a sardonic twist, the team alsofound that PCE actually activates theenzyme responsible for its degradation.This means that P. stutzeri OX1 could beadded to a contaminated site and PCEwould turn on the enzyme required for itsown destruction.

To date, Dr. Wood and his team have con-ducted in vitro testing only; however, fieldtests are planned in the next few years.One of the challenges facing theresearchers has been to identify a vector of

continued on page 10

Dr. Mark Aindow

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New BS Programs (continued from page 1)

in engineering, medicine or related fields. The engineering physics major, offeredjointly by the School of Engineering and theCollege of Arts & Sciences, will offer stu-dents a strong foundation in physical scienceand engineering so that a wide range ofcareer choices is available after graduation.Students will combine core physics studieswith coursework in one of three engineeringdisciplines: electrical engineering, mechani-cal engineering, or metallurgy & materialsengineering. The program will provide stu-dents a strong background on which tobuild a career in industry or to pursue grad-uate studies in engineering, physics/appliedphysics, law or business. Because both undergraduate programs areoffered at a scant number of universities andcolleges in New England, the New EnglandRegional Department of Higher Educationallows out-of-state New England residentsto study both disciplines at UConn at a sub-stantial discount over ordinary out-of-statetuition fees.

UConn Industry Collaboration (continued from page 5)

human sweat in the average swimming pool is at a concentration of 1 part per million.

While a variety of cleanup methods are available, said Dr. Hoag, most are unproven,time consuming, and effectual only under very prescribed circumstances. Commontreatments include the “pump-and-treat” and removal-containment methods whichwere discounted by the research team. Instead, Dr. Hoag and his collaborators soughta more effective treatment method that attacked not merely the plume but principalsite of the pollutant.

After testing and evaluating a number of chemical formulations, Dr. Hoag and hiscolleagues eventually found a winning formula in serial injection of two compounds:sodium persulfate – commonly used as a brightener in laundry formulations – andpotassium permanganate, a compound being tested successfully in Canada for envi-ronmental cleanup. The technique was cost-effective and very effective in eliminatingTCE from the soil.

Large-scale testing of this new remediation technology underway at a former UTCsite in Indiana. Rigorous testing is proving the viability of the technique. UTC hasbegun to use the same method at an additional site in California. The team is alsolooking for additional pilot test sites that offer different conditions such as soil typesand particle size, presence of bedrock, water and the like. “Each site is unique,” saysDr. Hoag.

Drs. Hoag and Chheda, and Bernard Woody and Gregory Dobbs of UTC receivedtheir patent in February.

Donkor Named 2000 Outstanding Teaching FacultyOne Outstanding Teaching Award is presented yearly in recognition of a faculty member’s outstanding instruction during the previous three-yearperiod. Recipients must demonstrate excellence in undergraduate or graduate teaching, advising, and development of innovative teachingmethodologies.The Outstanding Teaching Award confers a $2,000 honorarium plus $5,000 toward professional development.

In the 12 years Eric Donkor has taught as a faculty member in the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at UConn, hehas established a reputation as an enthusiastic, creative teacher who is accessible to students and is committed to enriching the

learning environment with an array of progressive learning tools.

With a goal toward modernizing – even revolutionizing – the ECE undergraduate laboratories, Dr. Donkor recently began to inte-grate interactive, computer-based LabVIEW software into lab courses.The software effectively transforms lab computers into virtualtesting and measurement instruments capable of performing the functions of various stand-alone lab equipment such as oscillo-scopes, multi-meters, spectrum analyzers, frequency counters, signal and image processors. In addition, the improved facilities will per-mit future interactive distance learning and allow students to control experiments and collect data using networked computers.

Dr. Donkor has enhanced the undergraduate learning experience further, through a campaign called the Program for UndergraduateResearch Experience (PURE), which affords juniors and seniors the opportunity to participate in externally-funded research alongwith faculty and their graduate-level researchers. During his career, he has authored an innovative lab manual for EE 209, the AnalogDesign Laboratory, and co-authored a supplementary textbook, Electronics Devices and Circuits.The lab manual is used at the Storrsand Hartford campuses, and at the University of New Haven. In addition, he has developed a number of courses in senior designseminar and projects,VLSI CAD lab, advanced semiconductor devices and nonlinear optical devices.

Dr. Donkor is widely considered an innovative, enthusiastic and imminently approachable teacher, and one who goes the extra milefor students.Among his graduate students, he is recognized as a teacher who inspires, motivates and challenges, and who helps hisstudents focus their strengths while improving upon their weaknesses.“My teaching philosophy,” said Dr. Donkor,“is based on threeprinciples: Fairness, Friendliness, and Firmness - call it the 3F principle. It is also important to firmly expose students to the rigor offormal academic training. Because after all, our duty as educators is to prepare and fully equip students with the knowledge and thetraining they need in order to face the rigors of real life experiences.”

Dr. Donkor earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UConn in 1988 and joined the ECE department as a faculty member thesame year. He received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 1984, and his B.S. in Physics from the University ofCape Coast, Ghana, in 1979.

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Alumni NotesMerwyn S. Bear, P.E. (M.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘63) is aconsultant for Bear Engineering Company in West Roxbury,MA.

Bernard R. Berson (B.S. Civil Engineering ‘57) retired fromfull-time employment in February 2000. He now operates aconsulting practice focused primarily on forensic engineering.In July, he assumed the office of Chair-Elect of the PrivatePractice Division of the National Society of ProfessionalEngineers. He was recognized as Distinguished Alumnus ofthe School of Engineering in 1997.

Frank C. Borawski P.E., L.S. (B.S.E. Civil Engineering ‘79),partner and Vice President, and Chris Eseppi, P.E. (B.S. CivilEngineering ‘79), Director of Project Development, PDSEngineering & Construction, Inc., Bloomfield, CT recentlywere named design/build contractor for the new 16,000 sq.ft. Manufacturing Enterprise Building to be constructed at theUniversity of Connecticut Depot Campus, Storrs.

Ashland O. Brown (M.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘68, Ph.D.Mechanical Engineering ‘74) has completed his appointment asProgram Director in the Division of Civil & MechanicalEngineering at the National Science Foundation. He hasreturned to the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA toresume his teaching and research activities in the Departmentof Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Brown previously served as theDean of Engineering at University of the Pacific.

Greig (Lu) Chi (B.S.E. Chemical Engineering ‘82) was recent-ly named Associate Director of Clinical Operations,Wyeth-Ayerst Vaccines, Pearl River, NY.

Wanted...Alumni News

Frontiers is interested in news from engineering graduates.Tell us about your recent promotions and other careeraccomplishments. Send this form to: Frontiers, School ofEngineering, University of Connecticut, 261 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2237, Storrs, CT 06269-2237. Or e-mail your information to the editor atnrcooper@engr.uconn.edu.

Name ___________________________________________Degree/Major/Year ________________________________Home Address _____________________________________________________________________________________Business Title ___________________________________Employer and Address ______________________________________________________________________________Telephone/E-mail ___________________________________What’s New ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Richard Cooke (M.S. Metallurgy ‘79) is Vice President ofSurmet Corporation in Burlington, MA.

Julia A. DiCorleto (B.S.E. Chemical Engineering ‘81) isDirector of Technology for Saint-Gobain Abrasives,Worcester, MA.

Michael Fodiman, P.E. (B.S. Electrical Engineering ‘69) isSenior Electrical Engineer, Physical Plant Engineering Group, atMIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, MA.

Kenneth E. Golden, CPIM, C.P.M. (B.S. ElectricalEngineering ‘66) is a consultant for Pyramid ConsultingGroup, Ltd. in Northboro, MA.

Nader Jalili (Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering ‘98) was appoint-ed Assistant Professor in the Department of MechanicalEngineering at Clemson University in Clemson, SouthCarolina.

Jeffrey S. Kalukin (B.S.E. Electrical Engineering ‘86) com-pleted his M.S. in Manufacturing Engineering at WorcesterPolytechnic Institute in May 2000. He now is a technical con-sultant for Agilent Technologies in Burlington, MA.

John Krenicki, Jr. (B.S.E. Mechanical Engineering ‘84) hasbeen named President and Chief Executive Officer of GETransportation Systems, Erie, PA.

Joseph S. Lima (B.S.E. Mechanical Engineering ‘92) isRegional Manager for Excel Communications, Inc. inMilwaukee,WI.

James Longtin (B.S.E. Electrical Engineering ‘89) is SeniorTest Engineer for Sycamore Networks, Inc. in Chelmsford,MA.

Angelo Lucia (M.S. Chemical Engineering ‘77, Ph.D. ChemicalEngineering ‘81) has been named the Chester H. KirkProfessor of Chemical Engineering at the University of RhodeIsland.

Paul Mali (B.S. Electrical Engineering ‘53, M.S. ‘62, Ph.D. ‘66)has retired after 15 years as a Director at ElectricBoat/General Dynamics and 30 years as a Professor at theUniversity of Hartford. He now conducts special programs atthe Swiss Institute of Technology, (SIT), Lausanne, Switzerland.

Roger W. Miller (B.S. Electrical Engineering ‘78) is SeniorElectronic Design Engineer for Infineon Technologies Corp. inSan Jose, CA. He is currently working on developmental engi-neering of high-speed fiber optic transponders.

Krishna Murthy (M.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘86) is VicePresident, Business Development, for Parallax Corporation,Londonderry, NH.

Richard O’Connell (B.S. Computer Science ‘75) is Presidentof Myriad Logic in Silver Spring, MD.

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Samuel W. Olmstead (B.S.E. Chemical Engineering ‘98) hasjoined the engineering staff of Woodard & Curran Inc. inCheshire, CT.

Catherine (Filardi) Pagliaro (B.S. Chemical Engineering ‘87)is an Associate Director in Product Development for theProcter & Gamble Company, Hunt Valley, MD.

John Parker (M.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘57) is the 119thPresident of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.Previously, Mr. Parker worked in high-level management andwas in charge of budget and strategic planning for RaytheonEngineers & Constructors (formerly Ebasco Services, Inc.). Heresides in Rowayton, CT.

Julie Pollitt (B.S.E. Mechanical Engineering ‘88) has receivedan ASME Federal Government Fellowship.These fellowshipsenable a handful of selected individuals to spend a year pro-viding technical advice to policy makers in Congress and theWhite House. Ms. Pollitt is a Business Development Managerat NASA Ames Research Center and resides in San Jose, CA.

Robert Rispoli (B.S.E. Mechanical Engineering ‘88, J.D. ‘99;MBA ‘93 RPI) is an attorney at Cummings & Lockwood,Hartford, CT.

Andrew T. Rose (B.S. Civil Engineering ‘85, M.S. CivilEngineering ‘86) accepted a position as Assistant Professor ofCivil Engineering Technology at the University of Pittsburgh, inJohnstown, PA.

Maridakis Spiridon (M.S. Civil Engineering ‘77) is Head ofthe Section for Traffic Operations,Athens Metropolitan Area,Division of Highway Design – Ministry of the GovernmentPlanning & Public Works in Athens. Maridakis has beenemployed with the Ministry for 22 years.

Craig Sullivan (B.S. Electrical Engineering ‘83) is Director ofSales at MMC Networks, Inc. in Chelmsford, MA.

Adam Szczesniak (B.S.E. Chemical Engineering ‘93) hasaccepted the position of Regional Sales Engineer for MottCorporation, Farmington, CT.

Shawn Szturma (B.S.E. Electrical Engineering ‘92) isNortheast Regional System Engineer for webMethods inCambridge, MA.

Scott Tyler (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘78) is with theDepartment of Environmental Resource Sciences andGeologic Sciences at the University of Nevada-Reno. Dr.Tyler

recently received the Distinguished Darcy Lecturer Award ofthe National Ground Water Association. In conjunction withthe award, Dr.Tyler presented invited lectures at over 20North American universities and research organizations, aswell as in Europe, South America and the Middle East.

Leo VanDerSchuur (B.S.E. Mechanical Engineering ‘98) is anIndustrial Network Design Engineer at GE Cisco IndustrialNetworks in Charlottesville,VA.

William Weiblen (M.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘67) willbecome the 120th President of the American Society ofMechanical Engineers. Previously, he served in a number ofpositions including Manager of Manufacturing Engineering andManager of New Products and Processes at Pratt & Whitney.He resides in Avon, CT.

Raymond H. Williams, Jr. (B.S. Mechanical Engineering ‘65)is the Director of Naval Architecture at General DynamicsElectric Boat in Groton, CT. He currently supervises approxi-mately 800 designers and engineers at the company. Heresides in Mystic, CT.

UConn’s Richard Mastracchio (B.S. Electrical & Computer Engineering ‘82), a Mission Specialist with the U.S. astronautcorps, flew his first space shuttle mission in September aboard the Atlantis. The expedition included delivering supplies tothe International Space Station and making final preparations for the station’s first inhabitants. A few reminders of UConnaccompanied the Waterbury native on his flight: a scaled-down University flag and a CD that included the Husky fightsong. After graduating from UConn, Mr. Mastracchio joined the space system design group at Hamilton Standard, concur-rently pursuing his master’s degree in electrical engineering from RPI. Later, as a member of the astronaut corps at NASA’sJohnson Space Center in Houston, he earned a second M.S. in physical science (University of Houston) and supported 17shuttle missions as a flight controller.

Distinguished Engineering AlumniAward – Call for NominationsThe School of Engineering seeks nominations for theDistinguished Engineering Alumni Award to be presented atthe Annual Engineering Awards Banquet April 24, 2001. Wewelcome your recommendations, including self-nominations.Please include a brief profile of the nominee’s career achieve-ments or contributions in one or more of the following areas:

● Management and leadership roles in the private sector,government, etc.

● The practice of engineering, which includes innovative designmethods or new technological developments

● Engineering education● Research in the field of engineering, or application of

engineering methods or tools to research in other fields● Service to the profession of engineering.

A committee of alumni and faculty will select the awardrecipients. Nominations should be submitted by January 15,2001 to:

Marni Churchill, Director of Alumni Development, TheUniversity of Connecticut, 261 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2237, Storrs, CT 06269-2237. Ph.: (860) 486-5394, fax: (860) 486-5111, or e-mail: marnic@engr.uconn.edu

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Teachers asStudents: Learningthe EngineeringRopes

Fourteen Connecticut math and scienceteachers spent a summer weekimmersed in the engineering disciplinesand returned to the classroom withhands-on experiments and modulesthat will be integrated into their class-rooms in the coming year.They wereparticipants in the School ofEngineering’s first-ever workshop formiddle- and high school teachers,dubbed the da Vinci Project, aimed atintroducing them to engineering funda-mentals.The week-long, expenses-paidresidential program took place August6-11 at the UConn-Storrs campus.

The program was developed expresslyto help Connecticut post-elementaryschools integrate elemental engineeringinto the classroom so students gain anearly exposure to the role of engineer-ing in contemporary life. Robert Vieth,of the University’s Fermentation andBioprocessing Facility, directed the daVinci Workshop program.

Participating teachers were immersedin rudimentary engineering concepts,but also had the opportunity to engagein one of four separate tracks demon-strating specific engineering princi-ples.Workshop coursework wastaught by UConn engineering facul-ty and adjunct faculty, includingAllison MacKay, assistant professorof Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering; John Bennett,Director of the University’sAcademic Experience programand associate professor ofMechanical Engineering; and JimKoch, Director of the IonImplantation and Surface ScienceLaboratory.Among the modulesoffered were units in water purifi-cation, energy and materials.

Participants left with course mod-ules in engineering and experi

ments to infuse into their school cur-ricula, a heightened understanding ofengineering careers and concepts, andaccess to a network of teaching profes-sionals also interested in bringing engi-neering to the classroom.Throughoutthe week, working in teams the partici-pants conducted and refined lab experi-ments and shared strategies forreproducing them – allowing for budg-etary, equipment and time constraints –in the school classroom. Participantslauded the workshop for its quality andpractical approach. Summing up theirexperience, many of the teachersoffered comments such as “I wish Iknew about engineering when I was inhigh school.”

Mr.Vieth commented,“We were verygratified by the overwhelming praisefrom our teacher-participants, and weintend to broaden the scope of ourpool next year to include teachers atcommunity and technical colleges aswell as middle and high school scienceand math instructors.This is a uniqueopportunity to tap into an importanteducational pipeline.” The successful,well received workshop program willbe reprised, and expanded upon by theSchool of Engineering during the sum-mer of 2001.

The module in water purification,taught by Dr. MacKay, examined the

continued on page 12

PCE Remediation (continued from page 6)

delivery that will bring the VOC-vanquish-ing enzyme to the contaminated soil andgroundwater aquifers, which often are locat-ed 10-40 feet underground. The team plansto clone the enzyme into another bacteriumthat bonds symbiotically with the roots ofcertain trees, such as the fast-growingpoplar. When planted in the contaminatedarea, these trees quickly send their rootsdown to the site of the solvent; the host bac-teria containing the enzyme then goes towork oxidizing the solvents. Dr. Wood pre-dicts that after a poplar tree is planted in acontaminated site, it will take approximatelytwo-to-three years, or growth cycles, beforethe tree’s roots reach the aquifer and theenzyme-laden bacteria finish oxidizing theVOCs.

Dr. Wood’s research has generated consider-able interest within the research communityand recently was the subject of a radio clipbroadcast on public radio stations nation-wide via the American Association for theAdvancement of Science’s (AAAS) ScienceUpdate series. The broadcast, on solvent usein the dry cleaning industry, aired September8th and may be accessed at the AAASScience Update web page:

www.aaas.org/ehr/sciup/documents/lineup.html

da Vinci partcipants and faculty alike found theworkshop an insightful and educational experience.

Dr.Tom Wood

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The School of Engineering honoreddistinguished alumni and supporters

during its annual awards banquetTuesday, April 25, 2000. The event drewnearly 500 UConn engineering students,faculty and alumni, and corporate execu-tives from many Connecticut companies.Highlighting the evening was a keynoteaddress by Dr. John F. Cassidy, Jr., SeniorVice President of Science & Technologyat United Technologies Corporation, whospoke on the topic of technical excellence.

In addition to alumni and service awards,the School presented more than 100awards and scholarships, totaling morethan $150,000, were presented to under-graduate engineering students in recogni-tion of their academic excellence.

Two Distinguished Engineering ServiceAward winners were feted for their out-standing contributions in promotingundergraduate education and opportuni-ties at the School of Engineering:Christopher Fuselier, general manager ofGeneral Electric Industrial Systems,Plainville, and Michael J. Cheshire, chair-man and CEO of Gerber Scientific Inc.,South Windsor, CT.

A 32-year veteran of General Electric,Mr. Fuselier has held a variety of engi-neering and marketing positions in aero-space, corporate, factory automation, andindustrial systems operations. He serveson the Engineering Committee of theGE Fund, and he is the GE Executive forthe University of Connecticut. Mr.Cheshire joined Gerber Scientific in 1997as president and chief operating officer,and in 1998 he was appointed chairmanand CEO. Mr. Cheshire is a member ofGerber Scientific’s board of directors, andhe serves as a vice chairman of theConnecticut Business & IndustryAssociation.

The School also lauded four alumniwhose career achievements have helped

define their fields of endeavor. Alumniawardees included John Krenicki, Jr., vicepresident and general manager ofGeneral Electric Superabrasives(Worthington, OH); Jeffrey F. Paniati,deputy director of the Federal HighwayAdministration’s IntelligentTransportation Systems (ITS) JointProgram Office (Washington, DC);Robert P. Madonna, formerly president ofLucent Technologies’ OPENet SolutionsDivision within the Switching SolutionsGroup; and Michael W. Toner, presidentof General Dynamics Electric Boat,Groton, CT.

Mr. Krenicki’s career with GeneralElectric began in 1984, when he joinedthe company’s Technical MarketingProgram soon after graduating fromUConn with a bachelor’s degree inmechanical engineering. Mr. Paniatiearned his B.S. in civil engineering fromUConn in 1982. As Deputy Director ofthe ITS Joint Program Office, Mr.Paniati oversees a $200 million annualbudget and provides executive directionfor the development and review of all leg-islative proposals related to the ITS program.

Formerly founder, president, chairmanand CEO of Excel Switching, Mr.Madonna served as a principal designerand a pioneer in the programmableswitching industry since the early 1980s.The company was purchased by LucentTechnologies last year. Mr. Madonnaearned his B.S. in electrical engineeringfrom UConn in 1982. Mr. Toner, whoearned his master’s degree in engineeringfrom UConn in 1970, joined ElectricBoat as a test engineer in 1965 and pro-gressed through a variety of positions ofincreasing responsibility, including man-ager of Trident Ship’s Management, VicePresident - Operations, Vice President –Delivery, Vice President – Innovation,and Senior Vice President.

AWARD PROMOTESDIVERSITY IN COMPUTERSCIENCE

In May, Dr. Robert McCartney, associate pro-fessor of Computer Science & Engineering,was awarded a two-year National ScienceFoundation grant to initiate academic diversi-ty in computer science (ADCS).The NSFaward, made under the foundation’sComputer Science, Engineering andMathematics Scholarships Program, entails$150,000 and will provide financial and aca-demic support to a group of students whoultimately will earn a B.S. in computer sci-ence along with a minor or concentration inanother discipline.The objective of the pro-gram is to enhance the diversity of the engi-neering student population by targetingtraditionally under-represented students foracademic and social support so they cancomplete their degrees and proceed to pro-ductive careers.

The ADCS program funding can support upto 40 undergraduate students during theirsophomore through senior years, providing$2,500 yearly during the sophomore and jun-ior years. In addition, qualified students willreceive additional academic support throughstudent tutoring and participation in a men-toring relationship.Applicants are admittedto the program based on a combination oftheir freshman-year and high school academ-ic records, financial need, academic interests,under-represented population status, and aninterview. It is expected senior-year studentswill receive financial support through indus-trial and research sources.

According to Dr. McCartney, a total of 20students per year will be accepted into theprogram, commencing with the 2000-01 aca-demic year. For additional information, pleaseconsult the ADCS web page below or contact:

Dr. Robert McCartneyComputer Science & Engineering Dept.Unit 3155University of ConnecticutStorrs, CT 06269-3155Phone: (860) 486-5232E-mail: robert@engr.uconn.eduWeb: www.cse.uconn.edu/cse/adcs.html

School of Engineering Recognizes TopAlumni & Friends

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da Vinci Project(continued from page 10)

mathematical, physical, and chemicalprinciples, and the socioeconomicimpacts governing design of water andwastewater treatment plants. In the lab,participants learned how to separateparticles – such as undesirable minerals,chemical pollutants and pathogenicmicroorganisms – from fluids using avariety of methods.As a team, partici-pants constructed a water filter, ana-lyzed its efficiency in removing particlesof various sizes and surface characteris-tics; and used that information for thedesign of a full-scale water purificationprocess.The module culminated in atour of UConn’s industrial scale waste-water treatment facility.

Under the tutelage of unit instructorDr. Bennett, the energy unit relied upona TI Graphing Calculator and associatedhardware/software for data acquisition– equipment readily available inConnecticut middle and high schools.The four middle- and high-schoolteacher-participants documented powerusage and water temperature in acarafe as a function of time for a com-mercially available coffee maker; investi-gated parameters affecting the periodicmotion of a simple pendulum, includingbob shape; and assessed the periodicmotion of a mass on the end of aspring.

A former high school science teacher,Mr. Koch was surprised by the numberof teachers choosing to participate inhis materials science module – a rela-tively unfamiliar research area.The labportion included two experimentsexploiting resources readily available inhigh school science labs. One projectinvolved experimenting with differentmetals for use in light bulb filaments, todetermine the relationship betweentheir electrical resistance and lumin-osity.A second experiment involvingpaper clips subjected the clips to differ-ent combinations and degrees of heat-ing and freezing, then bending, toexamine how crystal structure affectsstrength and fatigue.

During an evening banquet, participantswere treated to a rousing presentationby Mr.William Hill,Vice President forEngineering and Research at The StanleyWorks in New Britain, CT. Mr. Hill led athoughtful discussion on the difficultiesand barriers to recruiting students intothe field of engineering. It was generallyagreed that industry, universities, andthe public education sector must workmore closely together to present engi-neering as an attractive career choice.

“This year’s inaugural da Vinci workshopwas a huge step in building a lastingpartnership involving our corporatefriends, our dedicated and enthusiasticmiddle- and high school teachers, and

the School of Engineering toaddress the immediate needs ofConnecticut school children andthe long term needs of citizens ofthe state,” noted Ted Bergmanwho oversaw organization of theevent.

For information about the 2001da Vinci Project, please contactprogram Director Bob Vieth byphone at (860) 486-2590 or by e-mail at vieth1@engr.uconn.edu.

Larissa Schroeder, a math and chemistry teacherfrom Valley Regional High School in Deep River, CT,collects data to calculate filter efficiencies in the civiland environmental engineering section.

SPE Honors Weiss, ShawThe Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE)recognized two Chemical Engineeringfaculty, Drs. Robert Weiss andMontgomery Shaw, this year with honorsfor outstanding contributions.

Dr. Montgomery Shaw was named aFellow of SPE. Dr. Shaw is regardedinternationally as an expert in the areas ofpolymer blends, rheology and polymerprocessing, electrorheological fluids, elec-trical cable insulation and polymer recy-cling. According to peers, many of Dr.Shaw’s research achievements, includinghis identification of the role of particleshape in the mechanism of electrorheolo-gy, have led to advances in design of poly-mer-based systems as smart materials. Hepreviously received the SPE InternationalResearch Award, in 1998, and was nameda Distinguished Professor by the Schoolof Engineering in 1999. Dr. Shaw is co-author of the monographs Polymer-Polymer Miscibility (Academic, 1979) andComputer Programs for Rheologists(Hanser, 1994) and Associate Editor ofIEEE Transactions on Dielectrics andElectrical Insulation.

Dr. Robert Weiss was presented the SPE2000 International Education Award dur-ing the society’s 58th annual TechnicalConference (ANTEC) on May 9, 2000 inOrlando, FL for his dedicated contribu-tions to education. He has taught 10 dif-ferent undergraduate and graduatecourses and numerous short courses forprofessional societies and industry. Theauthor of 10 patents and more than 300peer-reviewed research papers, bookchapters, and conference papers, Dr.Weiss is the A.T. DiBenedettoDistinguished Professor of Engineering.Dr. Weiss is editor-in-chief of PolymerEngineering & Science and PolymerComposites. His areas of expertise includepolymer blends, ionomers and electricallyconductive polymers. Dr. Weiss wasnamed a Fellow of SPE in 1999. He isalso a Fellow of the North AmericanThermal Analysis Society and theAmerican Physical Society.

SPE is the leading technical society forthe plastics industry. Of 33,000 members,just 169 have been elected Fellow sinceSPE established the Fellows designationin 1984.

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Improving Safety: ConnecticutTransportation Institute NetsFederal GrantFaculty associated with the Connecticut Transportation Institute(CTI) won a prestigious federal research grant in July to conductstatistical research in transportation studies. The CTI teamreceived the largest of five awards presented by the Bureau ofTransportation Statistics, a division of the U.S. Department ofTransportation. The goal of the research is to better understandhow to evaluate the factors influencing highway crashes to moreeffectively implement accident prevention measures and savelives. A center affiliated with the School of Engineering, CTI isan educational, research and technology transfer resource for theState as well as businesses and individuals concerned with thenation’s transportation infrastructure.

Dr. Norman Garrick, CTI director and an associate professor ofCivil & Environmental Engineering, commented “Our researchprogram here at CTI is focused on issues of strategic nationalimportance such as transportation safety, reducing congestion anddeveloping transportation systems that support livable and vibrantcommunities. We believe that effective research in these areasrequires expertise from diverse disciplines such as engineering,business, psychology, economics, statistics and landscape architec-ture. CTI’s recent record of success in winning several highlycompetitive federal research grants and student awards is a tributeto our ability to mobilize strong interdisciplinary teams fromacross the University and the State.”

Heading up the research team is Dr. John Ivan, an associate pro-fessor of Civil & Environmental Engineering who, together with

his colleagues, associate professor of Statistics Dr. NaliniRavishanker and Dr. Donald Tepas, an emeritus professor ofPsychology, will study traffic patterns on a more holistic level,taking into consideration human factors, time of day variations intraffic, and distribution of conflicting traffic flows.

Dr. Ivan explained, “Recent traffic accident research has shownthat the number of traffic accidents is not linear with respect tovehicle-miles traveled, as has been assumed for the past fewdecades. For some types of accidents, the relationship is evenmore complex, possibly involving functions of intersecting trafficvolumes. On this grant, we hope to learn exactly what these rela-tionships are, so we can make relevant comparisons between thenumber of accidents observed at different highway locations.”

The goal of the year-long study, said Dr. Ivan, is to examine avariety of factors, including statistical profiles of highway use andaccidents, time of day and prevailing hourly volume, and toinclude human factors and traffic engineering knowledge to gaina more comprehensive understanding of highway accidents.Variables such as time of day of accidents, driver age and gender,and traffic volume differences on intersecting roadways can great-ly impact accident statistics.

The research team intends to begin by gathering crash statisticsand traffic volumes for rural, two-lane roads around the regionand approximately 20 different states. Equipped with this data,plus the human factors variables, Dr. Ivan and his colleagues willdevelop a model that identifies the traffic volume measures mostreflective of the risk of exposure to highway crashes. The modelwill permit more accurate assessment of risk for particular high-way locations.

Patent Issued for Arsenic Remediation MethodDr. Nikolaos P. Nikolaidis, a professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, recently was awarded a U.S. patent for his arsenic remedia-tion technique.The patent, entitled “Immobilization of Inorganic Arsenic Species Using Iron,” was awarded by the U.S. Patent &Trademark Office in July 2000.The method involves a filter containing iron filings and sand, and it can eliminate arsenic to less than 5parts per billion (ppb).The technique currently is being demonstrated in several countries around the globe through licensed agents andquasi-governmental organizations.

Arsenic (As) is a toxic, naturally occurring and industrially-produced element that results from geological as well as manufacturing,smelting and agricultural processes. It is an ingredient in many insecticides and herbicides and often is found naturally in combinationwith copper, lead and gold. Due to unregulated disposal of residential and business insecticides and herbicides, arsenic contaminationafflicts most landfills. In addition, arsenic occurs naturally in soils and groundwater aquifer sediments and under certain geochemical con-ditions can be mobilized and contaminate groundwater. Millions of people worldwide are at risk for arsenic poisoning, both in under-developed regions such as Bangladesh, India, Mongolia, South America and Asia as well as developed regions such as the U.S. and Europe.

Arsenic poisoning occurs slowly, over the course of years, with a variety of symptoms, including melanoma – the most deadly form ofskin cancer – keratosis, cancer of the organs, nerve damage and heart malfunction. If arrested early, the damage can be reversed.

With flexibility a key design feature, Dr. Nikolaidis’ filter attaches directly to well tubes and may be placed in a trench to intercept con-taminated groundwater from a landfill. Small-scale demonstrations are underway in the U.S.,Argentina and Switzerland, while a large-scale pilot plant is being planned in Thessaloniki, Greece.The unit will treat 5,000 liters/hour of contaminated groundwater, producingarsenic-free drinking water for residents who currently must rely upon bottled water.Additional demonstrations are planned for con-taminated sites in Bangladesh and India.

In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency began steps this summer to reduce the amount of allowable arsenic in drinking waterfrom 50 ppb to 5 ppb. If implemented, the measure is expected to have the greatest effect on water systems in western states and partsof the Midwest and New England, where residents rely heavily on underground sources of drinking water. Dr. Nikolaidis’ novel filtermeets this rigorous standard.

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Yes! I want to contribute to the School ofEngineering Development Fund:

❑❑ I am enclosing a check

❑❑ Please contact me in regard to my gift

Make checks payable to the UConn Foundation, School of Engineering Development Fund.

Here's my name, address, and phone number. Pleasecontact me with further information about how Ican support the School of Engineering mission.

Name____________________________________

Street Address______________________________

City, State and ZIP__________________________

Phone Number_____________________________

E-mail____________________________________

Does your employer have a matching policy for charitable gifts? ❑❑ yes ❑❑ no

Employer:_________________________________

Contact: Ms. Marni ChurchillDirector of Alumni Development 261 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2237Storrs, CT 06269-2237(860) 486-5394marnic@engr.uconn.edu

Endowed Faculty Positions inEngineeringThe School of Engineering at the University of Connecticut has,in recent months, garnered corporate and private investmentsthat have resulted in 11 new chaired and named professorshippositions in critical areas of science and technology. Eachchaired position includes a $1 million endowment, and thenamed professorships entail a minimum of $500,000 endow-ment, with the incumbent’s salary paid from other permanentfunding sources.

We have commenced searches for each of the endowed chairslisted below and anticipate filling them, during the next 18months, with exceptional, internationally recognized new facultymembers. Each of these endowed positions reflects a researcharea in which the School of Engineering will build on existingresources and program strengths to attain technological excellence.

Pratt & Whitney Endowed Chair in Design & Manufacturing($1,000,000)* – Mechanical Engineering Department

Northeast Utilities Foundation Chair in Combustion & AirPollution ($1,000,000)* – Chemical Engineering Department

United Technologies Chaired Professor of Systems Engineering($1,000,000)* – Electrical & Computer Engineering Department

Northeast Utilities Chair in Environmental Engineering($1,000,000)* – Civil & Environmental Engineering Department

United Technologies Endowed Chair in Heat Transfer($1,000,000)* – Mechanical Engineering Department

SNET Endowed Professor of Communications & InformationTechnologies ($ 950,000)* – Electrical & Computer EngineeringDepartment

United Technologies Endowed Professor in ComputerEngineering ($ 500,000) – Computer Science & EngineeringDepartment

United Technologies Endowed Professor in Computer Science($ 500,000)* – Computer Science & Engineering Department

United Technologies Endowed Professor in Manufacturing ($ 500,000)* – Mechanical Engineering Department

Marianne E. Klewin Professor of Transportation Engineering ($ 500,000)* – Civil & Environmental Engineering Department

United Technologies Endowed Professor in MaterialsEngineering ($ 500,000)* – Metallurgy & Materials EngineeringDepartment

For additional information concerning these endowed facultypositions, please contact: Juliet Dulak, Office of the Dean,School of Engineering, Unit 2237, University of Connecticut,Storrs, CT 06269-2237. Phone: (860) 486-2429, e-mail: juliet@engr.uconn.edu

* Exclusive of salary, which is provided from other sources.

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The 2000 Outstanding Junior Faculty Award was presented to Dr.Thomas Wood, associate professor of Chemical Engineering, and Dr.Leon Shaw, associate professor of Metallurgy & MaterialsEngineering.The award is presented to assistant or associate profes-sors who have established outstanding records of scholarly achieve-ment in research, teaching and service with the promise ofcontinued outstanding contributions in the future. A $2,000 cashaward is presented along with a $5,000 grant for professional development.

Thomas Wood

Dr. Thomas Wood, an associate professor of ChemicalEngineering, is a scientist whose cutting-edge research spansmultiple disciplines: chemistry, biomedicine and environ-mental engineering. Because his work involves the use ofselected bacteria and genetically-modified cultures, it is farreaching and holds promise for diverse applications, frommanufacturing to health care. The driving force behind hisresearch, says Dr. Wood, is the desire “to remediate theEarth, make fundamental discoveries about bacteria, andharness them for good.”

This underlying objective has led Dr. Wood down some rev-olutionary new multi-disciplinary areas. Dr. Wood has dis-covered, for example, that certain microbes can be used torepel oxidation, or rust, on metal surfaces by consuming oxy-gen in water. Thus, while many bacteria corrode metalalloys, including steel and aluminum, others do just theopposite and, if applied as a metal coating, can save countlessdollars lost yearly due to corrosion of metal parts. Theresearch, funded through a grant from the Electric PowerResearch Institute (EPRI) of Palo Alto, CA, holds greatpromise for saving hydroelectric plants and their customersthe high costs that arise from corrosion-based equipmentshutdowns.

On the environmental front, Dr. Wood’s research alsoencompasses remediation of toxic substances such astrichloroethylene (TCE), used formerly as an equipmentdegreaser in manufacturing and in apparel dry cleaning. Heand his research team recently broke new ground with anaerobic technique for oxidizing toxic organic solvents. Themethod (detailed in a story on page 6) involves expressing anenzyme from one bacterium and inserting it into anotherthat naturally bonds synergistically with the roots of poplarand other trees.

This same core research has applications in antibiotics andenvironmental remediation. In the course of his research,Dr. Wood discovered that many potentially-lethal bacteriamay be killed by a protein which arises from a gene thatcauses certain bacteria to self-destruct when attacked byviruses. He theorizes that, if the protein can be synthesizedin active form, it can become a powerful new weapon in theantibiotic arsenal.

Dr. Wood, who has a joint appointment in the departmentof Molecular & Cellular Biology, received a U.S. Army

Young Investigator Award and an NSF Research InitiationAward in 1992. In addition, he has published more than 40journal articles in prestigious journals and 47 conferenceproceedings, has earned more than $3.5 million in externalfunding, and has amassed an extensive record of academicservice. Dr. Wood earned his Ph.D. from North CarolinaState University and began his academic career as a facultymember at the University of California at Irvine before join-ing the Chemical Engineering Department in 1998. Heearned his B.S. in chemical engineering at the University ofKentucky in 1985.

Leon Shaw

Dr. Leon Shaw, associate professor of Metallurgy &Materials Engineering (MMAT), excels in the four corner-stones of the academic profession: education, research, out-reach and service.

“Being a faculty member,” he says, “allows me to pursue mygoal of contributing to basic science, converting science intotechnologies, and helping new generations of young peopleto advance scientific and technological theory and applications.”

Intent on passing the technological torch on to upcominggenerations, during the last academic year Dr. Shaw con-tributed his energies, time and creativity toward helping toestablish and promote the new baccalaureate degree pro-gram in MMAT. Besides organizing and attending openhouses, science fairs and career days, he developed a promo-tional packet for junior and high school teachers and deliv-ered a number of presentations introducing high schoolstudents to the engineering sciences.

On the research front, Dr. Shaw is involved in several areaswith important applications for industry and dental care.One, solid freeform fabrication, marries computer designsoftware with manufacturing techniques and will permitrapid prototyping of electromechanical components and pro-duction of dental prosthetics. Funded by NSF, the researchinvolves building parts point-by-point and layer-by-layerdirectly from a three-dimensional computer file. Dr. Shawpredicts this research “will lead to a technology that allows adental restoration to be built in about one hour from a com-puter model without part-specific tooling and human inter-vention - and for remote fabrication. Thus, orders (i.e., thedigital image of dental restoration) can be placed throughthe existing computer networks and the dental restoration beshipped out the second day. Dental patients worldwide willbenefit from such new technology because of the lower costand faster service.”

Dr. Shaw is also involved in integrated mechanical and ther-mal activation (IMTA), a process for synthesizing nanostruc-tured materials cost effectively and on a large scale. “TheIMTA process developed at our laboratory represents has

continued on page 19

Outstanding Junior Faculty Lauded

Nelly M. Abboud (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Editorial Board,The Fluid/Particle Separation Journal,1994-present

Reda Ammar (Computer Science & Engineering)

Associate Editor, Journal of Simulation, 1992-present

Associate Editor, International Journal of Computersand Their Applications, 1994-present

Rajeev Bansal (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Associate Editor, IEEE Microwave Magazine, 2000

Editor and Reviewer, Journal of Electromagnetic Wavesand Applications, 1991-present

Associate Editor, Radio Science, 1991-present

Associate Editor, IEEE Antennas and PropagationMagazine, 1987-present

Keith Barker (Computer Science & Engineering)

Editor, Computer Science Education Journal, 1991-1996,1998-present

Yaakov Bar-Shalom (Electrical & ComputerEngineering)

Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on AutomaticControl, 1976-1977

Associate Editor,Automatica, 1978-1981

James P. Bell (Chemical Engineering)

Advisory Board, Polymer Engineering & Science, 1997-present

Advisory Board, Journal of Adhesion Science &Technology, 1995-1997, 1998-present

Advisory Board, Journal of Polymer Engineering, 1996-present

Advisory Board, International Journal of AdhesionScience & Technology, 1999-present

Theodore L. Bergman (Mechanical EngineeringDepartment)

Editorial Advisory Committee,ASME Heat TransferRecent Contents, 1998-2001

Associate Technical Editor,ASME Journal of HeatTransfer, 1995-1998

Steven Boggs (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Contributing Editor, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine,1991-present

James D. Bryers (Chemical Engineering)

Associate Editor, Biotechnology & Bioengineering.

Kenneth R. Demars (Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering)

Technical Co-Editor-in-Chief,ASTM GeotechnicalTesting Journal, 1996-1999

Editorial Board Member, Journal of MarineGeoresources and Geotechnology, 1986-present

John T. DeWolf (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Associate Editor, Structural Engineering Practice, 1982-1984

Editorial Board,American Society of Civil EngineersStructural Division Journal, 1981-1984

John Enderle (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Associate Editor, IEEE EMB Magazine

Editorial Board,Academic Press Biomedical EngineeringBook Series

Gerald Engel (Computer Science & Engineering)

Editor, Computer Science Education Journal, 1986-1991

Editorial Board, Computer Science Education Journal

Howard Epstein (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Editor,ASCE Journal of Professional Issues inEngineering, 1983-1985 and 1993-1999

Associate Editor,ASCE Journal of Professional Issues inEngineering, 2000

Amir Faghri (Mechanical Engineering)

North American Editor, Journal of Enhanced HeatTransfer, 1993-present

Executive Editor, Heat Transfer Engineering Journal(Thermal Storage & Heat Pipes), 1993-present

Editorial Board, Journal of Heat Transfer Research,1997-present

Honorary Member, Editorial Advisory Board,International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 1997-present

Honorary Member, Editorial Advisory Board,Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 1997-pres-ent

Editorial Advisory Board, International Journal ofNumerical Methods for Heat and Fluid Flow, 1998-pres-ent

Editorial Board, Journal of Applied Thermal Engineering,1996-present

Editorial Board, Journal of Process MechanicalEngineering, 1998-present

Associate Technical Editor,ASME Journal of HeatTransfer, 1993-1996

George E. Hoag (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Soil Contamination,1996-present

Bahram Javidi (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Topical Editor, IEEE Press/SPIE Press Book Series onOptical Imaging, 1997-present

Topical Editor, Optical Engineering, 1998-present

Topical Editor, Optical Signal and Image Processing,Marcel-Dekker, 1998-present

Eric Jordan (Mechanical Engineering)

Associate Editor,ASME Journal of Engineering Materialsand Technology, 1992-1998

Theo Kattamis (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Board of Review, Metallurgical Transactions, 1976-1997

Kazem Kazerounian (Mechanical Engineering)

Associate Technical Editor,ASME Journal of MechanicalDesign, 1995-1999

Editorial Advisory Board,ASME Applied MechanicsReview, 1995-present

Lee Langston (Mechanical Engineering)

Associate Editor,ASME Journal of Turbomachinery,1991-1993

Associate Editor,ASME Journal of Engineering for GasTurbines and Power, 1991-1993

Chairman of Editorial Board, Global Gas Turbine News,1993-1995

John W. Leonard (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Associate Editor, Ocean Engineering, 1989-present

O nceagain,

our faculty membershave been recognizedinternationally fortheir academicprowess; contribu�tions in their fields ofexpertise; ingenuityand excellence inteaching; and in gar�nering research fund�ing from governmentand corporatesources�

They continue to pro�vide an outstandingintellectual resourcefor our students�state residents� business and indus�try� and the NewEngland region�

16 Frontiers

Editorial Activities in Major Professional Journals

Peter Luh (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Robotics andAutomation, 1999-2004

Associate Editor, Discrete Event Dynamic Systems,1999-

Editor, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation,1995-1999

Associate Editor, International Journal of IntelligentControl and Systems, 1995-present

Associate Editor, IIE Transactions on Design andManufacturing, 1997-present

Editor, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 1996-1998

Technical/Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions onRobotics and Automation, 1990-1994

Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on AutomaticControl, 1989-1991

Ramesh B. Malla (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Associate Editor,AIAA Journal of Spacecraft andRockets,1996-1999 and 1999-2002

Editorial Board,ASCE Journal of Aerospace Engineering,1991-present

Editorial Board, International Journal of SpaceStructures, 1999-present

Harris Marcus (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Editorial Board, Rapid Prototyping Journal, 1995-present

Patrick T. Mather (Chemical Engineering)

Advisory Board, Polymer Engineering & Science, 1998-present

Robert McCartney (Computer Science & Engineering)

Editorial Board, Journal of Computer Science Education,1998-present

John E. Morral (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Deputy Editor, Journal of Phase Equilibria, 1995-present

Associate Editor, Journal of Mining and Metallurgy, 1997-present

Key Reader, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A,1974-1998

Erling Murtha-Smith (Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering)

Editorial Board, International Journal of SpaceStructures,1989-present

Nikolaos Nikolaidis (Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering)

Associate Editor, Ground Water Journal, 1995-1998

Editorial Board, Journal of Mediterranean MarineScience

Fred L. Ogden (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Associate Editor,ASCE Journal of Irrigation andDrainage Engineering, 1996-1999

Nejat Olgac (Mechanical Engineering)

Associate Editor,ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, 1997-2001

Nitin P. Padture (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Associate Editor, Journal of the American CeramicSociety

Krishna Pattipati (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Editor-in Chief, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, andCybernetics – Part B: Cybernetics, 1998-present

Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, andCybernetics, 1991-1997

Ranga Pitchumani (Mechanical Engineering)

Editorial Board, Journal of Thermoplastic

Composite Materials, 1998-1999

Eugene Santos, Jr. (Computer Science & Engineering)

Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man andCybernetics: Part B, 1999-present

Leon L. Shaw (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Guest Editor, Materials Science and Engineering

Montgomery T. Shaw (Chemical Engineering)

Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics andElectrical Insulation, 1991-present

Associate Editor for Finance, Journal of Rheology, theSociety of Rheology, 1995-1997

Howard A. Sholl (Computer Science & Engineering)

Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief, InternationalJournal for Computers & Their Applications, 1994-pres-ent

T.C. Ting (Computer Science & Engineering)

Editor, International Journal on Computer Standardsand Interfaces, 1980-present

Editor, International Journal on Data and KnowledgeSystems, 1981-present

Editor-in-Chief, E-R Data Model Journal, 1978-1981

Robert A. Weiss (Chemical Engineering)

Editor-in-Chief, Polymer Engineering and Science, 1997-present

Associate Editor, Polymer Engineering and Science,1987-1997

Editor-in-Chief, Polymer Composites, 1997-present

Associate Editor, Polymer Composites, 1987-1997

International Advisory Board, Polymers and PolymerComposites, 1996-present

Peter Willett (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, andCybernetics, 1998-2001

Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace andElectronic Systems, 1998-2001

Emmanouil N. Anagnostou (Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering)

Young Investigator Award, National Aeronautics & SpaceAdministration, 1999

Matthew Begley (Mechanical Engineering)

CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, 2000

Theodore Bergman (Mechanical Engineering)

Presidential Young Investigator, National ScienceFoundation, 1986

Joseph J. Helble (Chemical Engineering)

CAREER Award, National Science Foundation. 1998

Bahram Javidi (Electrical Engineering)

Presidential Young Investigator, National ScienceFoundation, 1988

Kevin D. Murphy (Mechanical Engineering)

CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, 1996

Fred L. Ogden (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Young Investigator Award, U.S.Army Research Office1996

Nitin Padture (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Young Investigator Award, Office of Naval Research,1996

Ranga Pitchumani (Mechanical Engineering)

Young Investigator Award, Office of Naval Research,1996

Alexander Shvartsman (Computer Science &Engineering)

CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, 2000

Barth F. Smets (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CAREER Award, National Science Foundation, 1997

Thomas K. Wood (Chemical Engineering)

Research Initiation Award, National Science Foundation,1992

Young Investigator Award, U.S.Army Research Office,1992

17Frontiers

Major Young InvestigatorFederal Honors

Editorial Activities (cont.)

Faculty and University dignitaries enjoy the School ofEngineering New Faculty Reception and AwardsPresentation at the William Benton Museum of Art onSeptember 28th.

Keith Barker (Computer Science & Engineering)

Fellow, Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) UK

Yaakov Bar-Shalom (Electrical & ComputerEngineering)

Fellow,The Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE)

James P. Bell (Chemical Engineering)

Patrick Fellow,Adhesion Society

Theodore Bergman (Mechanical Engineering)

Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)

Stephen Boggs (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Fellow,The Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineering (IEEE)

Harold Brody (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Fellow,ASM International

Baki Cetegen (Mechanical Engineering)

Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)

Peter Cheo (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE)

Fellow, Optical Society of America

Phil Clapp (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Fellow,ASM International

Robert Coughlin (Chemical Engineering)

Fellow,American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Eli Dabora (Mechanical Engineering)

Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)

John DeWolf (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Fellow,American Society of Civil Engineers

John Enderle (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE)

Fellow,American Institute for Medical and BiologicalEngineering

Gerald Engel (Computer Science & Engineering)

Fellow,Association of Computing Machinery

Howard Epstein (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Fellow,American Society of Civil Engineers

Amir Faghri (Mechanical Engineering)

Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)

C. Roger Ferguson (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Fellow,American Congress on Surveying and Mapping

Maurice Gell (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Fellow,ASM International

Bahram Javidi (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Fellow, Optical Society of America

Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE)

Fellow, SPIE

Eric Jordan (Mechanical Engineering)

Fellow,American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)

Kazem Kazerounian (Mechanical Engineering)

Fellow,American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)

Lee Langston (Mechanical Engineering)

Fellow,American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)

Peter Luh (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE)

Harris Marcus (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Fellow,ASM International

John Morral (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Fellow,ASM International

Nejat Olgac (Mechanical Engineering)

Fellow,American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)

Krishna Pattipati (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE)

Montgomery T. Shaw (Chemical Engineering)

Fellow, Society of Plastics Engineers.

Geoff Taylor (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE)

Alexander Thomasian (Computer Science &Engineering)

Fellow, IEEE Honors

T.C. Ting (Computer Science & Engineering)

Fellow, Computing Research Association

Robert A. Weiss (Chemical Engineering)

Fellow,American Physical Society

Fellow, Society of Plastics Engineers

Fellow,American Thermal Analysis Society

Keith Barker (Computer Science & Engineering)

John Fluke Award for Excellence in LaboratoryInstruction,ASEE, 1993

Yaakov Bar-Shalom (Electrical & ComputerEngineering)

IEEE Control Systems Society Distinguished MemberAward, 1987

Theodore L. Bergman (Mechanical Engineering)

Melville Medal,American Society of MechanicalEngineers, 1988

Steven Boggs (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

IEEE Third Millennium Medal, 2000

Douglas Cooper (Chemical Engineering)

CAChE Award for American Society for EngineeringEducation, 1997

Michael Cutlip (Chemical Engineering)

AIChE Golden Jubilee Award, 1986

Gerald Engel (Computer Science & Engineering)

IEEE Third Millennium Medal, 2000.

Golden Core Award, IEEE Computer Society, 1995

Amir Faghri (Mechanical Engineering)

Heat Transfer Memorial Award (ART),American Societyof Mechanical Engineers, 1998

Thermophysics Award,American Institute ofAeronautics & Astronautics, 1998

James Galligan (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Alexander von Humbolt Prize, 1986

Maurice Gell (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

ASM International Engineering Achievement Award,1986

Joseph Helble (Chemical Engineering)

Barnard Environmental Science and Engineering Award,American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS), 1993

R.A. Glenn Award,American Chemical Society, Divisionof Fuel Chemistry, 1990

Robert Jeffers (Mechanical Engineering)

Centennial Medallion,American Society of MechanicalEngineers, 1981

Kazem Kazerounian (Mechanical Engineering)

George Wood Award for significant contributions in thefields of Robotics and Mechanisms, 1997

John Leonard (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

ASCE State-of-the-Art of Civil Engineering award co-recipient, 1981

Fred Ogden (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Collingwood Prize,American Association of CivilEngineers, 1999

Nitin Padture (Metallurgy & Materials Engineering)

Roland B. Snow Award, American Ceramic Society,1990

Robert L. Coble Award for Young Scholars,AmericanCeramic Society, 1999

Krishna Pattipati (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Outstanding Young Engineer and Centennial Key to theFuture Award, IEEE Systems, Man & Cybernetics Society,1984

Montgomery Shaw (Chemical Engineering)

International Research Award, Society of PlasticsEngineers, 1998

Robert A. Weiss (Chemical Engineering)

2000 International Education Award, Society of PlasticsEngineers.

Thomas K. Wood (Chemical Engineering)

American Institute of Chemical Engineering ScholarAward, 1984

18 Frontiers

Fellows of Major Professional Societies

Major Awards from National Professional Societies

ASEE HonorsEmeritus Professor

E. Russell Johnston, ProfessorEmeritus of Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering, was honored alongwith his co-author, Ferdinand Beer,with a new award established intheir names. The New MechanicsEducator Awards will be presented,in Drs. Johnston’s and Beer’snames, by the Mechanics Divisionof the American Society forEngineering Education. The awardis funded by McGraw-HillPublishing and up to three awardswill be presented annually to indi-viduals who have demonstratedstrong commitment to mechanicseducation.

NSF CAREER AWARDS (continued from page 3)

lems...my father’s success has shaped many of my professional goals, which pri-marily involve being a first-rate teacher and developing a successful researchprogram: one that is nationally-recognized for making measurable contributionsto science and technology.”

Dr. Begley joined the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department in 1997.He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1995 andcompleted a post-doctoral position at Harvard before joining the faculty at theUniversity of Connecticut.

The idea of developing better-functioning distributed systems was the primeobjective behind Dr. Shvartsman’s winning NSF proposal which netted him$200,000 to conduct his research and translate his findings into the classroom.His CAREER Award is complemented by another NSF award this year of$133,000 in the related area of parallel computing. Dr. Shvartsman is an assis-tant professor of Computer Science & Engineering.

According to Dr. Shvartsman, most contemporary distributed systems includesimple client-server applications where the interaction between system compo-nents is confined to the interaction between one client and one server at a time,such as the World Wide Web, e-mail systems and bank ATM systems. Despiterecent advances, thesesystems lack the abilityto harness the substan-tial computingresources present inmodern networked anddistributed environ-ments.

Dr. Shvartsman’s NSF-funded research willfocus on three investi-gational areas: (1) development of fault-tolerant and efficient distributed algo-rithms; (2) definition and analysis of dependable distributed building blocksneeded by applications requiring precise guarantees, and design of specificationframeworks for capturing designs and optimizing distributed system deployment;and (3) development of exploratory uses of compositional building blocks androbust algorithms, and evaluation of their performance in realistic and simulatedsettings. The educational component includes developing and delivering newcourses in distributed computing in support of undergraduate and graduate pro-grams in computer science, and building a research group that attracts graduatestudents and postdoctoral researchers.

Dr. Shvartsman earned his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1992 and joined theComputer Science & Engineering department in 1997.

Outstanding Junior Faculty (continued from page 15)

capabilities for large-scale production ofnanostructured materials. Furthermore, itreduces substantially the processing time,energy consumption and material costs incomparison with the current industrialprocesses.”

Since joining UConn in 1995, Dr. Shaw hashelped attract more than $5 million inexternal research funding, both as sole PIand in cooperation with other facultyresearchers. In addition, since 1992 he hasamassed an impressive publication record ofnearly 50 refereed journal publication, andhis research has garnered more than 230citations by other authors.

Dr. Shaw earned his doctorate and masterof science degrees in Materials Science &Engineering at the University of Florida in1992. He previously earned his bachelor’sand master’s of engineering degrees atFuzhou University in China. Before joiningthe University of Connecticut in 1995, Dr.Shaw completed a postdoctoral post at theUniversity of Florida Department ofMaterials Science & Engineering andresearch posts at Systran Corporation inDayton, OH and Wright-Patterson AirForce Base, Ohio.

Chancellor andProvost JohnPetersen addres-ses the audienceduring theSchool’s annualNew FacultyReception and Awards Presentation onSeptember 28th.

19Frontiers

School of Engineering261 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2237Storrs, CT 06269-2237

Non-Profit Org.US Postage PaidPermit 3Storrs, CT 06268

Visit us on the web: www.engr.uconn.edu

Progress Good on New Engineering Building

This architect’s sketch is an early draft of the School of Engineering’s new Information Technology Building, scheduled to becompleted in March 2003.Architectural and construction partners Burt Hill, a national firm, and Preiss Brismeister, P.C. ofStamford were awarded the principal design contract for the 100,000 square-foot facility. The Information TechnologyBuilding will house the Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) and Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) departmentsand be integrated with the Booth Research Center. In addition to lab, office and lecture space for engineering, the facilitywill incorporate a 350-seat lecture hall intended to serve as an institutional resource for central campus. For additionalinformation, please contact Tom Anderson,Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, at (860) 486-2473.