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WPI Hosts Urban Development Forum

WPI administrators were joined Oct. 5 by Worcester economic development representatives, national experts on the role of colleges and universities in shaping urban development, and higher education and state government officials at the forum, “The College/ University as Urban Developer,” held at WPI and sponsored by the Worcester UniverCity Partnership and the New England Resource Center for Higher Education (NERCHE).

Local success stories such as WPI’s underconstruction Gateway Park project on Prescott Street in Worcester, and the Worcester expansion of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS), were showcased before an approximately 100-member audience that included developers, business representatives, state and city government officials, college administrators, faculty, and students.

The theme of the all-day forum was based on the book by nationally recognized college and urban development experts David C. Perry, director of Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Wim Wiewel, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of Baltimore. Perry and Wiewel were the forum’s keynote speakers.

For more information, see www.wpi.edu/News/ Releases/20067/developers.html.

WPI’s Tuition Exchange Program

WPI is beginning its sixth year as a participant in the Tuition Exchange (TE) Program. The TE program provides the opportunity for dependent children of eligible WPI employees to receive undergraduate scholarships at participating member institutions. A list of more than 500 colleges and universities that participate in the TE program can be viewed at www.tuitionexchange.org.

The TE program is a scholarship program and not a fringe benefit provided by WPI. Only full-time faculty and staff members who have completed three years of full-time employment are eligible to participate. Application to the TE program does not guarantee acceptance at a TE member institution or insure a TE scholarship.

Employees with children who are either seniors in high school or attending a TE member institution without a TE scholarship should visit the TE Program Web page at www.wpi.edu/+HR/tuitionexchange.html or visit Human Resources to request a Tuition Exchange application. TE applicants for 2007-08 should submit an application to Human Resources by Nov. 15. (If your dependent child is currently attending a TE member institution with a TE scholarship, it is not necessary to complete another application for 2007- 08.)

Contact Monica Blondin, Tuition Exchange liaison, at extension 5469 or mmlucey@wpi.edu if you have questions or to receive additional TE program information.

Glee Club Ready to Rake Your Yard

The leaves are ready to fall, and the Glee Club is preparing for the fall raking season. The club will start raking the yards of faculty and staff on Saturdays and Sundays, beginning Oct. 28. Club members can rake two yards per day. Money raised through raking supports Glee Club travel. Those interested should reply to jprat@wpi.edu.

People

Six Inducted Into WPI Hall of Fame

On Oct. 6, WPI inducted five WPI alumni and one former staff member into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Each was recognized for his or her extraordinary contributions to WPI athletics:

Lance Baden ‘99, a four-time All-New England wrestler and a champion at two different weight classes.
Stacey (Cotton) Bonasso ‘90, a key contributor during the “golden years” of the WPI volleyball program. The team made frequent appearances in the MAIAW Tournament, and also performed well at the Worcester City and NEW-8 championships.
Wm. Whitney Griffith was instrumental in starting three varsity programs for women at WPI. He arrived in 1980 as the swimming and diving coach, a post he held until his retirement in 2002. He also was active in the baseball and soccer programs.
Michael J. Pockoski ‘99, a seven-time All- American, is the most celebrated track athlete in WPI history. He holds four school records in shot put, discus, hammer, and weight throw, the most held by any male athlete at WPI.
Matthew Surette ‘99, a two-time first team All-American, is one of the most celebrated football players of all time at WPI. The Spencer, Mass., native made his mark on the WPI record book. He holds virtually every receiving record at the university, including career standards in catches (165), receiving yards (2,588), and touchdown receptions (26).
Richard J. Testa Jr. ‘84 was a two-time participant at the NCAA wrestling championships. He won the New England championship as a junior in 1983, and placed second a year later. He also earned another All-New England honor in 1982 when he placed sixth in the championships despite suffering a broken ankle in his first match.

Falco Receives Jazz Honors

Richard G. Falco, director of jazz studies at WPI, has received the 2006 annual Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for Jazz Education. Ensembles under Falco’s direction have performed in France, Belgium, Egypt, and Italy, among other countries. He is the founder and artistic director of the Jazz Worcester Music Festival, and a past president of the former Jazz Worcester Society. In 1989, he was the recipient of the Henry “Boots” Mussulli Jazz Educator of the Year Award. He serves as music education consultant for the Performing Arts School of Worcester, the Joy of Music Program, and Mechanics Hall.

Walsh Named Top Legion Baseball Player

WPI freshman Joseph Walsh, 18, of Weymouth, Mass., has been named the American Legion Player of the Year, making him the first Massachusetts ballplayer to receive the award since it was created in 1949. Walsh’s news was featured in the Monday, Oct. 9, edition of The Patriot Ledger of Quincy.

WPI Alumni’s Companies at Expo

Visitors to Instrument Society of America’s ISA Expo 2006, Oct. 17-19, in Houston were invited to spend time at “Innovation Alley,” a place to see and experience emerging technologies. This feature is described on the Web site for Control Engineering as an attempt to communicate the adventure of technology and relay the excitement, innovation, and joy of building something where nothing before existed. Attendees are encouraged to experience Innovation Alley and meet technologists who are pushing the limits. Included are two companies with ties to WPI:
Solstice Technologies is a software company founded by a small group of WPI students who entered the recent Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge. They finished the project in three months and with only a $7,000 investment. DARPA conducts an annual grand challenge featuring autonomous ground vehicles that must safely and effectively execute simulated military supply missions.
Longwatch Inc. puts video transmission over existing low-bandwidth communication lines to ensure secure, safe, and reliable water supplies. The founding partners are both WPI alumni: Paul Vanslette ’84 and WPI trustee Steve Rubin ’74. The company’s patent-pending technology, which recently won an Editor’s Choice Award from Control Engineering, offers local cities and towns a way to monitor their water pumps, wells, and tanks using remote video surveillance.

Faculty Elected Committees for 2006-07

Secretary of the Faculty: H. G. Vassallo (2009) Committee on Academic Operations

T. El-Korchi (2007), J. J. Blandino (2007), J. R. Barnett, chair (2008), E. T. Loiacono (2008), W. W. Farr (2009), H. J. Manzari, secretary (2009), Syed Ali ’09, Alison LeFlore, ’09; Alaina Wiehn and J. Orr, ex officio.

Committee on Administrative & Financial Policy J. P. Hanlan (2007), A. H. Hoffman, chair (2008), S. L. Weekes, secretary (2009), J. Solomon and J. Trainer, ex officio.

Committee on Academic Policy N. Kazantzis (2007), J. K. Doyle (2007), D. B. Dollenmayer, secretary A & B (2008), D. J. Olinger, secretary C & D (2008), K. J. Rissmiller, chair (2009), J. D. Fehribach (2009), Charles Gammal ‘08, Alison LeFlore ‘09, and J. Orr, ex officio.

Committee on Appointments & Promotions A. E. Emanuel (2007), W. G. McGimpsey, secretary (2007), H. F. Walker (2008), P. J. Weathers (2008), J. T. O’Connor, chair (2009), P. K. Aravind (2009).

Committee on Graduate Studies & Research D. M. Strong (2007), J. M. Argüello (2007), P. C. Pedersen (2008), D. Tang, chair (2008), F. Looft, secretary (2009), S. M. Selkow (2009), Alex Borges (graduate student); C. Simpson and A. R. Lowenstein, ex officio.

Committee on Governance P. R. Christopher, secretary (2007), M. W. Richman, chair (2007), J. Rulfs (2007), H. G. Vassallo (2008),* P. H. Hansen (2008), James P. Hanlan (2009) and C. Simpson, ex officio.

* Until a replacement is elected

Publications and Presentations

Biology and Biotechnology

Laskowski, M., S. Biller, K. Stanley, T. Kajstura, R. Prusty, “Expression profiling of auxin-treated arabidopsis roots: Toward a molecular analysis of lateral root emergence,” Plant and Cell Physiology 47 (6): 788-792. 2006.

Rao, R. P., “The Human Genome project: Implications on law,” Boston College Law School, Boston, Mass., Sep. 27, 2006. Hunter, A.,*, R. P. Rao, “Indole 3-acetic acid: A quorum sensing molecule in S. cerevisiae,” Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting, Princeton, N.J. * WPI graduate student.

Biomedical Engineering Department

Mendelson, Y., G. Comtois, and R. J. Duckworth, "A Wearable Reflectance Pulse Oximeter for Remote Physiological Monitoring,” 28th IEEE/EMBS Annual International Conference, New York, N.Y., Aug 30- Sept. 3, 2006.

Mendelson, Y., and R. P. Dresher, "Reflectance Forehead Pulse Oximetry: Effects of Contact Pressure During Walking,” 28th IEEE/EMBS Annual International Conference, New York, N.Y., Aug 30-Sept. 3, 2006.

Mendelson, Y., and W. Johnston, “Investigation of Signal Processing Algorithms for an Embedded Microcontroller-Based Wearable Pulse Oximeter,” 28th IEEE/EMBS Annual International Conference, New York, N.Y., Aug 30-Sept. 3, 2006.

Chemistry & Biochemistry

Sharma, D., J. C. MacDonald, and G. S. J. Iannacchione, “Thermodynamics of Activated Phase Transitions of 8CB: DSC and MC Calorimetry,” Physical Chemistry B, 110, 16679-16684, 2006.

Vongnakorn, Tharinee, and James W. Pavlik, “Vapor Phase Photoisomerization of Pyrazine. Deuterium Labeling Studies,” 34th Northeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Binghamton, N.Y., Oct. 6, 2006.

Yigit, M. V., C. G. F. Cooper, Y. Wang, B. Moulton, and J. C. MacDonald, “Reaction of 1,2-bis(2,6- dicarboxypyridin-4-yl)ethyne with Co(II) generates coordination monomers not polymers: Crystal structure of 4-(2,6-dicarboxypyridin-4-yl) ethynylpyridine-2,6-dicarboxylatotriaqua cobalt(II) monohydrate,” Journal of Chemical Crystallography, 36, 371-379, 2006.

Yigit, M. V., Y. Wang, B. Moulton, and J. C. MacDonald, “Generation of linear coordination polymers of catena-[diaqua-(µ-pyrazine-2,6- dicarboxylato-N,O,O’-µ-N’)copper(II) via in situ hydro (solvo)thermal decarboxylation of pyrazine-2,3,5,6- tetracarboxylic acid,” Crystal Growth Design, VI, 829-832, 2006.

Computer Science

Boyle, I. M., K. Rong, and D. C. Brown, “CAFixD: A case-based reasoning fixture design method. Framework and Indexing Mechanisms,” Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering, ASME, Vol. 6, pp. 40-48, March 2006.

Brown, D. C., “Assumptions in Design and Design Rationale,” Design Rationale Workshop, DCC’06, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 2006.

Burge, J. E., and D. C. Brown, “Rationale-Based Support for Software Maintenance,” Invited chapter, Rationale Management in Software Engineering, A.H. Dutoit, R. McCall, I. Mistrik, and B. Paech (Eds), Springer, pp. 273-296, April 2006.

Milette, G. P., and D. C. Brown, “Analogical Matching Using Device-Centric and Environment-Centric Representations of Function,” Proceedings of DCC'06: Design Computing and Cognition Conference, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 2006.

Varde, A. S., E. A. Rundensteiner, C. Ruiz, D. C. Brown, M. Maniruzzaman, and R. D. Sisson, "Integrating Clustering and Classification for Estimating Process Variables in Materials Science,” AAAI Member Abstracts and Posters Track, 21st National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-06), Boston, Mass., July 16-20, 2006.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Emanuel, A., "Intrinsic Power: Some Observations," Proceedings of The Seventh International Workshop on Power Definitions and Measurements under Nonsinusoidal Conditions, Cagliari, Italy, pp. 5-8, July 2006.

Emanuel, A., "About the Rejection of Poynting Vector in Power Systems Analysis," Proceedings of the Seventh International Workshop on Power Definitions and Measurements Under Nonsinusoidal Conditions, Cagliari, Italy, pp. 53-58, July 2006.

Pajic, S., and A. E. Emanuel, "A Comparison Among Power Definitions," IEEE Power Engineering Society, General Meeting, Montreal, Canada, June 8-22, 2006. Pajic, S. and A. E. Emanuel, "Modern Apparent Power Definitions: Theoretical Versus Practical Approach," IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 1787-92, October 2006.

Peretto, L., J. L. Willems, A. Emanuel, "The Effect of Integration Interval on the Measurement Accuracy of rms Values and Powers in Systems with Nonsinusoidal Waveforms," Proceedings of the Seventh International Workshop on Power Definitions and Measurements Under Nonsinusoidal Conditions, Cagliari, Italy, pp. 103-7, July 2006.

Todeschini, G., and A. Emanuel, "A Poynting Vector Approach to the Study of the Power Flow Through a Transformer," Proceedings of the Seventh International Workshop on Power Definitions and Measurements Under Nonsinusoidal Conditions, Cagliari, Italy, pp. 59-65, July 2006.

Humanities and Arts

Forgeng, J. L., “Designer Steel: Armor as Fashion in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance,” symposium for Love and War: The Weaponized Woman, the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, N.Y., September 2006.

Forgeng, J. L., “Hamlet’s Perilous Play of Rapiers,” Shakespeare & Company Bankside Humanities Series, Lenox, Mass., August 2006.

Ljungquist, K. P., “John Brown’s Cultural Legacy,” Lifewriting Annual: Biographical and Autobiographical Studies, 209-215, New York: AMS Press, 2006.

Ljungquist, K. P., “Poe, the Mammoth Weeklies, and the Case of the Saturday Emporium,” in Masques, Mysteries, and Mastodons: A Poe Miscellany, 77-101, Baltimore: Edgar Allan Poe Society, 2006.

Ljungquist, K. P., “Knickerbocker Writers,” in American History Through Literature, 607-610, Scribners, Detroit, 2006.

Ljungquist, K. P., “Lyceums.” In American History Through Literature, 691-695, Detroit: Scribners, 2006.

Ljungquist, K. P., “Esther Forbes in Thoreau’s Tracks on Cape Cod,” Thoreau Society Annual Meeting, Concord, Mass., July 9, 2006.

Management

Higgins, H., "Earnings Forecasts of Firms Experiencing Sales Decline — Why So Inaccurate?" forthcoming in Journal of Investing, 2006.

Recent Grants

Academic Affairs

Cyr, Martha, for "Collaborative Research: A Comprehensive Pathway for K-Gray Engineering Education," from National Science Foundation, $67,464.

Cyr, Martha, for "Learning Communities for Middle School Math,” from Massachusetts Department of Education," $35,633.

Biology and Biotechnology

Duffy, Joseph, for "Analysis of LIG Molecules: A Novel Class of Signal Transduction Modulators,” from National Science Foundation, $82,065.

Biomedical Engineering

Sotak, Christopher, for "Development of MRI Techniques for Imaging Stroke in Animal Models," from Emory University (Department of Health and Human Services), $4,276.

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Jayachandran, P., for “Design Optimization of Pre-Fabricated Steel Buildings,” from Package Steel Industries, Sutton, Mass., $5,500.

Computer Science

Rundensteiner, Elke, and Neil Heffernan*, for "SGER: K12 Outreach Via Research Exposure," from National Science Foundation, $99,457.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Lou, Wenjing, for "NeTS-NBD:Collaborative Research: UPASS - An Attack-Resilient Security Architecture for Wireless Mesh Networks," from National Science Foundation, $80,246.

Fire Protection Engineering

Barnett, Jonathan, for "Enhancements to the FDS Software's Utility for Low-Energy Fire Modeling," from Vision Fire and Security PTY Ltd., $40,723.

Management

Danneels, Erwin, for "A Panel Study of R&D and Marketing Second-Order Competences," from National Science Foundation, $212,544.

Mathematical Sciences

Larsen, Christopher, for "Variational Methods for Material Damage: Fracture, Fatigue, and Debonding," from National Science Foundation, $79,350.

Mechanical Engineering

Pan, Qingyue, and Diran Apelian, for "High Integrity Magnesium Automotive Castings (HI-MAC)," from U.S. Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP), $112,500.

Sullivan, John, for "Alternative Breast Cancer Imaging Modalities," Dartmouth College (Department of Health and Human Services), $43,029.

Tryggvason, Gretar, for "Direct Numerical Simulations of Nucleate Flow Boiling," from Sandia National Laboratory (Department of Energy), $320,000.

Minority Affairs

Hill, Calvin, for "Factors Influencing Career Development of Underrepresented Students and Students with Disabilities Pursuing STEM Careers," from University of Southern Maine (National Science Foundation), $5,400.

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Last modified: February 05, 2008 09:32:43