Welcome to @WPI

Vol. 7, No. 14; April 5, 2007

Around Campus

Making Way for a New Residence Hall

Progress continues on the new residence hall project. Demolition started last month on the lot between Boynton and Dean streets. At left, a three-story corner of the apartment building stood a couple weeks ago. On March 29, however, only a small piece of the building remained. Now, the lot is full of rubble. WPI’s Police Department has been relocated to Founders Hall, lower level. The primary access to the department is the north entrance to Founders Hall closest to the cyclone fencing by the Boynton Street construction site.

New Voices 25 Drama Festival

Celebrate the 25th anniversary of WPI’s new-plays festival. The plays and scenic designs are original works by members of the WPI community. This year, seven plays and one scenic design were chosen for the festival. They are as follows: ATTIC, by Catherine Darensbourg; Shot in the Heart, by Sarah Pavis; 25, by Dean O’Donnell; Footsie, by Dean O’Donnell; Raccoon a la Mode, by Shannon (Haz) Harrower; Union Station, by Shannon (Haz) Harrower; The Princess and the Body Snatchers, by Shannon (Haz) Harrower, featuring scenic design; and Nirosta, by Brendan O’Brien and Smriti Shrestha. Performances will be held on Thursday, April 12, at 7 p.m.; Friday, April 13 at 5 and 8 p.m.; and Saturday, April 14 at 7 p.m. Doors open 30 minutes prior to show start. For more information, visit www.wpi.edu/~NV25

People

Peyser to be Recognized

The Construction Management Association of America Board of Directors recently voted to award a $2,000 scholarship to senior Suzanne M. Peyser, who was nominated by WPI’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, announced Associate Professor Guillermo Salazar. Peyser is enrolled in the combined five-year BS/MS program in construction engineering management. The award luncheon will be held on Friday, May 11, at the 57 Radisson Hotel in Boston.

Graduate Research Poster Winners

John Orr, provost ad interim, has announced the winners of the poster presentations at the Graduate Research Achievement Day on March 28. "The strength and breadth of WPI’s graduate research activities were very much on display," said Orr.

Engineering

 

Life Sciences and Bioengineering

 

Science

 

Annual Corporate Forum

WPI hosted its second annual Biotechnology and Bioengineering Corporate Forum on March 22 in the Campus Center. Lt. Gov. Tim Murray was the keynote speaker at the event, which provided perspectives on the state of the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical devices industries and their future, and how companies, universities, and government can work together to develop new products to meet the nation's healthcare needs. The forum was part of the 2007 BEI Symposium Series. Pictured from left are Professor Eric Overström , Murray, WPI President Dennis Berkey, and Professor Grant McGimpsey.

Dr. Henry Lee to Speak at WPI

The world-renowned forensics expert Dr. Henry Lee will present "Famous Cases Revisted," a colloquium sponsored by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, in Salisbury Labs, Room 115 (Kinnicutt Hall). Lee is chief emeritus of the Connecticut State Forensic Laboratory and a Distinguished Professor at the University of New Haven. He holds a honorary doctorate of science from WPI and is director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Forensic Research and Training Center.

Publications and Presentations

Chemical Engineering

Gallardo-Moreno, A. M., Y. Liu, M. L. González-Martin, and T. A. Camerano, "Atomic Force Microscopy Analysis of Bacterial Surface Morphology Before and After Cell Washing," Journal of Scanning Probe Microscopy, vol. 1, pp. 63-73, 2006.

Durand, A., E. Marie, M. Leonard, E. Dellacherie, and T. A. Camesano, "Polysaccharide-stabilized Dispersions for Nanoparticle Preparation," 233rd American Chemical Society National Meeting, Chicago, Ill., March 25-29, 2007.

Humanities and Arts

Brattin, J. J., "Earth News Today: The ‘Born to Rock’ Exhibition at Harrods,"UniVibes, UniVibes, vol. 54, pp. 37, April 2007.

Mott, W. T., "Lucy Stone Reviews Emerson,"Emerson Society Papers,vol. 18, pp. 4-5, spring 2007.

Library

Ricci, A., and M. Hall, "How Suite It Is! Collaborative Tech Suites in an Academic Library," NERCOMP Annual Conference, Worcester, Mass., March 19-21, 2007.

Mathematical Sciences

Servatius, B., "Combinatorial Pseudo-Triangulations," Discrete Mathematics, vol. 307, issues 3-5, pp. 554-566, Feb. 6, 2007.

Servatius, B., "Graphs, Frameworks, Mechanisms, and Molecules I and II," plenary addresses at the 38th International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Computing, Boca Raton, Fla., March 5-9, 2007.

Servatius, B., "The Game of Mathematics," invited address for the PME initiation ceremony, Fordham University, New York, N.Y., March 23, 2007. Servatius, B., B. Jackson (University of London), and H. Servatius, "The 2-dimensional Rigidity of Certain Families of Graphs," Journal of Graph Theory, vol. 54, issue 2, pp. 154-166, February 2007.

Servatius, B., and H. Servatius, "Early American Inventions," ("Zgodnji Ameriski Izumi," English with Slovin abstract), chapter in Juri Vega and His Times (Obzornik za Matematico in Fiziko), T. Pisanski, editor, pp. 544, Slovenia, 2006.

Recent Grants

Biomedical Engineering

Sotak, Chris, for "Development of an Animal Model of Parkinson’s Disease," from the University of Massachusetts at Worcester (NIH prime), $10,002

Chemical Engineering

Wilcox, Jennifer, for "CAREER: On the Prevention of Selenium and Arsenic Release into the Atmosphere," from the National Science Foundation, $65,850

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Arguello, Jose, for "Structure-Function of Heavy Metal Transport CPx-ATPases," from the National Science Foundation, $6,000

MacDonald, John, for "Design of Porous and Complex Crystalline Materials," from the U.S. Army, $164,988

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Plummer, Jeanine, for "Development of Acoustic Cavitation Technology for Drinking Water Treatment in Small Rural Utilities," from Harris Acoustic Products Corp. (Department of Agriculture, prime), $42,262

Mechanical Engineering

Furlong-Vazquez, Cosme, for "Computer-based Holography and Middle Ear Function," from Mass. Eye & Ear Infirmary (NIH prime), $78,085

Liang, Jianyu, for "Nano-engineered Materials for Rapid Rechargeable Space Rated Advanced Li-Ion Batteries," from Yardney Technical Products Inc. (NASA prime), $31,983

Pryputniewicz, Ryszard, for "MEMS Reliability Assessment," from Concurrent Technologies Corporation, $60,000

Tryggvason, Gretar, for "An Experimental Investigation of a Flexible Flap to Support the Validation of Computational Modeling of Parachutes and Airdrop Systems," from the Natick Soldier Center, $64,940

Physics

Kolecki, Carolann, for "E & M Visualizations for Introductory Physics," from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $34,746

COMPUTER TIP

Avoid Periods in File Names
Have you ever received an email similar to this? Subject: MCAFEE E-MAIL SCAN ALERT! ~John J. Doe resume.doc Attachment file: John J. Doe resume.doc Scanner Detected: Suspicious Extensions (Virus) Action taken: No Action Taken (could be a new virus) Of course, you may wonder whether the file you sent, or that was sent to you, is infected. You may also need to know how to get it through email since it was blocked. The file simply needs to be renamed by the sender without any periods in the name. Filenames containing periods are a red flag for the McAfee Virus Scanner. Additional file types that are problematic e-mail attachments are listed in the IT News Article "Potentially Harmful Attachments" posted in March 2004: www.wpi.edu/+IT/News/servicesalert.html#newsitem1078505474,22677 Any questions about email attachments can be directed to the Helpdesk at ext. 5888 or helpdesk@wpi.edu.

Roe v. Wade Attorney Shares History

As part of WPI’s observance of Women’s History Month, Sarah Weddington described on March 20 her path to leadership, including her experiences as the first woman from Austin-Travis County elected to the Texas Legislature, the first woman general counsel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a White House assistant to President Jimmy Carter, and the attorney who argued Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court (her first contested case).

Thursday, April 5

Seminar: Interactive Media and Game Development features Kevin Burns of Cog Art on the "Science of Art" - Atwater Kent Labs, Room 116 (Newell Hall), 11am

Lecture: Electrical Computer Engineering Graduate Seminar features "MAP: A Scalable Infrastructure for Securing 802.11 Wireless Networks," by Guanling Chen - Atwater Kent Labs, Room 108, 11am

Colloquium: "Laying a New First Year Foundation at WPI," sponsored by the Center for Educational Development and Assessment - Campus Center, Hagglund Room, noon

Lecture: Mechanical Engineering Department sponsors Amir Faghri, chair professor of thermal fluids engineering at the University of Connecticut at Storrs - Higgins Labs, Room 218, noon

Friday, April 6

Lecture: Computer Science Department sponsors "A Graph- Theoretic Approach to MAC and Network Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks," by Lisa DiPippo, associate professor at the University of Rhode Island - Fuller Labs, Room 320, 11am

Saturday, April 7

Softball: WPI vs. Wheaton College - Alumni Field, noon and 2pm (doubleheader)

Monday, April 9

Softball: WPI vs. Amherst College - Alumni Field, 4:30pm

Tuesday, April 10

 

Seminar: WPI Venture Forum presents "Soar with Advisory Board Superheroes" - Campus Center, Odeum, 6pm

Wednesday, April 11

Discussion: Tech Old Timers present "Gateway Park: An Investment in the Life Sciences and in Worcester" - Campus Center, Odeum, 9:45am

Competition: Collaborative for Entrepreneurship and Innovation sponsors "75-Second Elevator Pitch Competition" - Campus Center, Mid-Century Room, noon

Discussion: Women’s Lunch Series features "The Struggle for Pay Equity" - Higgins House, Library, noon

Colloquium: Materials Science and Engineering Seminar Series presents "A Chemist’s Approach to the Synthesis and Discovery of Materials: Porous Solids, Organic Alloys, and Pharmaceutical Polymorphs," by Venkat Thalladi, assistant professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department - Washburn Shops, Room 229, 1pm

Thursday, April 12

Reading: For the Germanspeaking community at WPI, Swiss author Hansjörg Schertenleib will read from his latest novel in German; discussion will be in English or German; free admission - Higgins House library, 6:30 pm

Seminar: Interactive Media and Game Development features Kevin Dill of Blue Fang Games on "Embracing Emergent Behavior with Goal-Based Al" - Atwater Kent Labs, Room 116 (Newell Hall), 11am

Lecture: Mechanical Engineering Department sponsors "Fundamental Fluid Dynamics and the U.S. Olympic Swimming Movement," by Professor Timothy Wei of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Higgins Labs, Room 218, noon

Baseball: WPI vs. Salve Regina University - Alumni Field, 3:30pm

Friday, April 13

Softball: WPI vs. Babson College - Alumni Field, 3:30 and 5:30pm (doubleheader)

Saturday, April 14

Baseball: WPI vs. MIT - Alumni Field, noon and 2:30pm (doubleheader)

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Last modified: February 06, 2008 09:13:09