May 20, 2004
Around Campus
@WPI Summer Schedule
This issue of @WPI is the last biweekly issue for the academic year. @WPI will be published June 17, July 15 and August 12 to keep the campus community informed of events during the summer.
We encourage you to use @WPI to inform the campus community about people, programs and events that can be publicized on campus. Mail articles and suggestions to @WPI, Boynton Hall, or e-mail atwpi@wpi.edu.
Farwell to the Class of '04
The Baccalaureate service for members of the Class of 2004 and their families will be held in Alden Memorial on Friday, May 21, at 5:30 p.m.
Commencement, Saturday, May 22, will begin at 7 a.m. with the Class of 2004 graduation breakfast in Morgan Commons. All faculty and staff are invited to attend. Tickets, $11.50 for adults and $6.50 for those 12 and under, may be purchased through Student Activities in the Campus Center (ext. 5291). More faculty each year are finding this a special opportunity to see their students and wish them well.
The ROTC commissioning ceremony will take place at 8:30 a.m. in Alden Memorial. Brigadier General John T. Brennan, deputy director, Reaction Force Air Staff, Allied Command Europe, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Kalkar, Germany will be the commissioning officer.
The Commencement ceremony itself begins at 11 a.m. on the Quadrangle (rain location: Harrington Auditorium; by ticket only). The speaker will be Robert P. Moses, founder and president of the Algebra Project Inc. Honorary degrees will be awarded to Eugene M. Lang, founder of the national "I Have a Dream" Foundation, Sheila E. Widnall, Institute Professor at MIT and former Secretary of the Air Force, and R. Kingman Webster '54, retired executive vice president and treasurer of H.K. Webster Company and founder of I Have a Dream-Lawrence.
Alumni Returning for Reunion Weekend
WPI alumni will be on campus June 10-13 for Reunion. A variety of Alumni College sessions will be offered again this year, including a discussion on humanities and arts education for tomorrow's engineers, a presentation on the latest in biomedical devices and a demonstration of the Virtual Orchestra.
Here are some highlights of the weekend:
Friday: Alumni golf tournament; Class of 1954 50th Reunion reception; 50-Year Associates dinner.
Saturday: Celebrity Squares breakfast; Reunion parade; luncheon and awards ceremony; robotics demonstration; class banquets.
Sunday: Jazz brunch
For a complete schedule of events, visit the Office of Alumni Relations.
Summer Hours Start Soon
The summer work schedule for full-time staff will be in effect from June 1 to Aug. 20, with the normal 37.5-hour workweek shortened to 35 hours with no reduction in pay. For most offices and departments this means the workday will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Time cards for all full-time hourly paid, nonunion personnel working 37.5 hours should reflect 35 hours during this period. Time cards for personnel working 40 hours should reflect 37.5. In each case, biweekly employees will be paid for the full workweek.
Division and department heads who need to arrange flexible work schedules should inform Human Resources in writing so this can be communicated to Campus Police, Payroll, Plant Services and the main switchboard.
Women's Crew Wins Silver in ECACs
In the last issue of @WPI, we reported on the outstanding year the women's varsity crew team has had. At the end of the regular season, the team was ranked 4th in the nation and had gone on to compete in the New England Championships, where the women's varsity eight placed 3rd, the best finish ever for the team.
The following weekend, they did even better, placing 2nd at the ECAC championships on Lake Quinsigamond, where they trailed the wining team by a heartbeat. After the ECACs, the WPI rowers waited anxiously to learn whether their strong finish would earn them a berth in the national Division III championships. Only six teams were invited; WPI was not among them. (There's always next year.)
The winning ways of women's crew helped WPI's student athletes achieve an honor that has until now eluded them: The Worcester College Cup, presented annually by the Telegram & Gazette to the area college with the best winning percentage in all sports. With .522, WPI just edged out Worcester State College (.516), who won the cup last year.
People
Look for Her Under "D"
Earline S. Rich, administrative assistant in the Physics Department, married Paul DeSalvo on April 30. Please make the name change in your telephone directory.
Teachers Are Technological Humanists
WPI's second annual Technological Humanist Awards were presented on campus May 6.
First place: Jacqueline Briant, a math teacher at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, received $5,000 to used to advance education at her school.
Second place: Michael Sullivan, director of science at Boston Latin Academy, received $2,500.
Third place: Alice Apostolou, a chemistry and science teacher at Tahanto Regional High School in Boylston, and Keith Azevedo, an environmental issues teacher at Mansfield High School, both received $1,500.
Honorable Mention Awards: Timothy Ball, a math teacher at Westfield Vocational Technical High School, Carrey Causey-Foote, an earth science teacher at Thayer Academy in Braintree, and Lori Cooney, a technology teacher at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, each received $500.
The awards honor exceptional Massachusetts high school teachers who exemplify the ideal of the technological humanist that is at the heart of WPI's approach to education. To learn more, visit the THA.
Honoring Longtime Employees
The following faculty and staff celebrated a service anniversary during 2003-04: 40 years: Peter Christopher, Robert Fitzgerald, Raymond Hagglund and Janet Whitter; 35 years: Robert Peura and Francis Stopyra; 30 years: Ronald Cheetham, Elizabeth Goodrich, Thomas Shannon and Della Tornblom; 25 years: John Dylewicz, Gael Evans, Frederick Hart, Robert Kinicki, Judith Miller, Francis Noonan, Stephen Pajka, Joseph Petrucelli, Ryszard Pryputniewicz, Ramdas Ram-Mohan and Kevin Shanahan; 20 years: Holly Ault, Joseph Bagshaw, Dorothy Campaniello, Chad Farrell, Betty Hale, Mary Kelley, Arlene Lowenstein, Roger Lui, Yitzhak Mendelson, Joan Murphy, Judith Nelson, Amy Partridge, Stanley Parzych, Deborah Riel, Guillermo Salazar, Ruth Smith and Richard Vaz; 15 years: Mary Ballard, William Baller, David Dollenmayer, Richard Falco, David Finkel, Susan Vernon-Gerstenfeld, Yvonne Harris, Sharon Johnson, Robert Labonté, Makhlouf Makhlouf, Janice Martin, Susan Milkman, Sandra Natale, Samuel Politz, Mary Remillard, Kent Rissmiller, Jill Rulfs, Christopher Sotak, Dalin Tang, Robert Zalosh.
Mass. Academy Graduates 52
Fifty-two seniors graduated from the Massachusetts Academy of Mathematics and Science on May 14. President Parrish and Lance Schachterle, associate provost for academic affairs, were guest speakers. President Parrish received the Arthur E. Chase Award, which honors individuals who have contributed to the success of the academy.
Sixteen of the graduates will attend WPI. They are: Denis Appiah, Jonathan Gibbons, Bryan Grenier, Ritul Gupta, Mariana Gurbanov, Brandon Habin, Rachelle Horwitz, Priya Jayachandran, Harold Hovagimian, Robert Martin, Lynda Menard, Larry Nelson Jr., Alissa Paquette, Heather Senecal, Karl Shen and Sarah Taylor.
Here are the other graduates, along with the colleges they plan to attend: Shawn Bartok, Union College; Nicholai Baxter, Berklee College of Music; Sadie Burzenski, St. Louis University, Madrid; Jonathan Cass and Maria Firstenberg, Olin College; Hoai Doan, Babson; Juan Guzman Jr., Tufts; Nathan Houle, U.S. Naval Academy; Kathleen Jakubosky, Assumption; Thanos Kantarelis, University of Rochester.
Also, Neha Katyal and Joshua King, Northeastern; David Katz, Columbia; Diana Kendall, Jonathan Klaucke and Patrick Pratt, UMass Amherst; Avtar Khalsa and Joshua Rothschild, Cornell; Kerry Klein, McGill University; Ann Kong, University of Richmond; Yoojin Kwak, Carnegie Mellon; Jessica Lam, Rebecca Ostroff and Olga Romanova, Boston University; Ilana Leshay, Mount Holyoke.
Also, Katherine Mignault, Worcester State; Syam Mohan, New York University; Quy Nguyen, Pennsylvania State University; Terence O'Brien, University of Southern California; Philip Parker, University of Toronto; Marianne Pickering, Holy Cross; Eric Purington, Yale; Sarah Rich, MIT; Tyson Toloczko, University of Vermont; Ruth Welch, Drew University; and Meghan Whitney, University of Maine, Orono.
Publications and Presentations
Chemical Engineering
- Ma, Yi Hua, "Current R&D Status of High-Temperature H2 Separation Membranes," keynote lecture at AIChE 2004 spring meeting, April 26, New Orleans, La.
- Ma, Yi Hua, "Application of High-Temperature Separation Membranes for Hydrogen Production in the Hydrogen-Based Economy," keynote speech at Chinese American Chemical Society Meeting, April 26, New Orleans, La.
- Ma, Yi Hua, Mardilovich, Ivan P., and Engwall, Erik E., "Composite Pd and Pd/alloy Porous Stainless Steel Membranes for Fuel Cell Applications," presented at 9th World Filtration Congress, April 20, New Orleans, La.
- Ma, Yi Hua, "Overview of Inorganic Membranes," presented at the Post 9th World Filtration Congress Workshop, April 23, New Orleans, La.
- Ma, Yi Hua, "Application of Membranes for Fuel Cells," presented at the Post 9th World Filtration Congress Workshop, April 23, New Orleans, La.
- Ma, Yi Hua, "Thin Composite Pd and Pd/alloy Porous Stainless Membranes for Fuel Cell Applications," presented at the 4th BCC Annual Fuel Cell Conference, Stamford, Conn., May 3.
Recent Grants
Chemical Engineering
- Camesano, T., for "CAREER: Molecular-Scale Interactions Between Microbes and Surfaces in the Environment," from the National Science Foundation, $5,906.
- Thompson, R., and J. Bergendahl, for "The Removal of Disinfection By-Products from Water," from Triton Systems Inc., $30,000.
Computer Science
- Claypool, M., and D. Brown, for "Enhancing Microsoft's Relevance Processor With Implicit Interest Indicators," from Microsoft Corporation, $77,000.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Cyganski, D., for "Application of Multi-Level Precedence and Preemption (MLPP) to IP-ABR with Emphasis on Government Security Protocols," from Raytheon Company, $70,000.
Interdisciplinary and Global Studies
- Vernon-Gerstenfeld, S., for "Creation of Mortality Index for Trees Planted Under the Proyecto Reforestacion Puertorriquno (Puerto Rican Reforestation Project)," from the U. S. Department of Agriculture, $5,000.
Management
- Kasouf, C., for "Management Studies in Metal Processing: A Proposal to Develop a Sustained Funding Strategy," from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, $45,000.
Mechanical Engineering
- Tryggvason, G., and A. Esmaeeli, for "Multiscale Physical Modeling for Microbubble Drag Reduction at High Reynolds Numbers," from Pennsylvania State University, $80,246.
- Rong, Y., for "Development of an Internet-Based Technique and System for Monitoring and Control of Manufacturing Equipment," from Kettering University, $17,644.
- Johari, H., for "An Experimental Investigation of
- Lorentz Force Actuators for Control of Separated Flows and Associated Noise Around Marine Vehicles," from MIT, $74,999.
Physics
- Burnham, N., for "NUE: Development of a Set of Instructional Materials for a Course on Atomic Force Microscopy for Undergraduates," from the National Science Foundation, $66,290.
- Ram Mohan, R., for "Spinotronics and Spin-Photonics in Ferromagnetic InAs/GaSb-Based Heterostructures," from the University of Buffalo, $20,000.
Academic Affairs
- Schachterle, L., and C. Hill, for "LSAMP-Northeast Alliance for Minority Participation in Undergrad Ed. In
- Science, Math & Engineering," $65,000.
Total April grants and contracts awarded: $557,085.
Did You Know...
$1.3 Million in Grants for Chemistry Labs
This summer, WPI will create a suite of laboratories to support an innovative, new project-based approach to teaching first-year chemistry. This project is made possible by a $1 million gift from the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation of Worcester, contributions of $125,000 from the Pfizer Foundation and $125,000 from Pfizer Global Research and Development, and a personal donation of $75,000 from Mary and John LaMattina. LaMattina, a WPI trustee, is president of Pfizer Global Research and Development.
Unlike WPI's existing first-year chemistry courses, which revolve around a series of carefully planned experiments, each of the four courses in the new sequence will consist of a single open-ended project that students will tackle in small research teams.
Chemistry Professor Nicholas Kildahl, who led the development of the sequence, says the new approach will teach students to "think like scientists, carefully planning and conducting their work, striving for repeatable results, keeping careful records, being self-critical, and coming to understand that in the real world, things don't always happen as one predicts."
To learn more, visit the News and Events web site.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: February 21, 2008 09:35:50