Nobel Laureate Visits College of Engineering

Dr. Jagdish Narayan shows the laser processing chamber and diagnostics to Dr. Nicolaas Bloembergen.

Dr. Nicolaas Bloembergen, Nobel Laureate and professor emeritus at Harvard University, visited NC State University to deliver the L.H. Thomas Lecture in October. In addition to delivering the Thomas Lecture, Bloembergen toured facilities in the College of Engineering. During his visit, Bloembergen was hosted by Dr. Jagdish "Jay" Narayan, distinguished university professor of materials science and engineering. Bloembergen toured Narayan's laser laboratory and met with research assistants. After the visit, Bloembergen wrote, "the visit to your laboratory was most informative and brought me up-to-date about recent work." He also encouraged Narayan to "continue the good work." Narayan and Bloembergen have maintained a long-time friendship since 1982 when they met at a meeting of the Materials Research Society.

Bloembergen received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1981 and taught at Harvard University from 1949 until his retirement in 1990.

Spontak Featured on Cover of the Journal of Materials Science

Dr. Richard J. Spontak's work was featured on the cover of the Journal of Materials Science. The electron micrograph demonstrated the severe embrittlement of a glass-fiber reinforced plastic. The result was obtained by Snehali Sonowala, one of Spontak's previous students.

Richard R. Johnson To Receive Faculty Advisor Award

Richard R. Johnson, associate professor, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, will receive the Faculty Advisor Award of ASME International (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) at its International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Nov. l7-22, 1996, in Atlanta, Ga.

The award was established in l990 and is presented to a member who is a current or former outstanding faculty advisor whose leadership and service qualities have contributed for at least three years to the program and operations of a student section of the Society.

Professor Johnson is receiving the award "for his leadership, ideas and overall enthusiasm in support of student section activities throughout the Society, particularly at North Carolina State University, which he helped grow into one of the largest and most active student sections in the country."

Professor Johnson joined North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 1981 after three years as a researcher at the National Research Council of Canada and teacher at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Following a mentoring period with Dr. Bert Garcia, he became faculty advisor to the NCSU-ASME student section in l985.

The student section has a long and distinguished record of enthusiastic participation in ASME at all levels. It has won regional and society-wide recognition and has sent the largest student delegation to the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition for each of the past 14 years. In 1995 it sent 29 students to the San Francisco Congress.

Enthusiasm for engineering and respect for students has characterized Dr. Johnson's teaching style and led to many teaching awards. He has been named Outstanding Teacher, won the Alumni Distinguished Professor Award, and was elected to the Academy of Outstanding Teachers. He has received the Impact Award for the teacher with the most positive impact, and the Carnot Award for the teacher with the most nearly perfect teaching style. He received the ASME Region IV Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award three times.

Students are included in his research program, and he has supervised over 30 graduate degrees. He has presented papers at ASME conferences and is published extensively in ASME journals.

Professor Johnson received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Cape Town, and his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He is a Fulbright Scholar with international experience in Kenya.

He is an active member of ASME and has served in many capacities in the Eastern North Carolina Section, in Region IV, on Student Section committees and on the board of student affairs.

He is also a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, the American Society of Engineering Education, and the American and International Solar Energy Societies.

The 125,000-member ASME International is a worldwide engineering society focused on technical, educational and research issues. It conducts one of the world's largest technical publishing operations, holds some 30 technical conferences and 200 professional development courses each year, and sets many industrial and manufacturing standards.

Courtesy of ASME International

Ergonomics Resource Center Receives Award

After only two years of operation, the Ergonomics Resource Center, a joint partnership between the North Carolina Department of Labor and North Carolina State University, was named one of the 25 finalists in the 1996 Innovations in American Government Awards program.

The program, which was sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, chose from more than 1,550 applicants representing federal, state and local governments. As one of the 25 finalists, the center will receive a $20,000 grant.

The center's staff of ergonomic health specialists and ergonomists uses ergonomic audits, risk assessments and job analysis to help clients. In addition, it supplies workplace design recommendations, on-site ergonomic team training, manager training and employee awareness training.

According to the center, it has provided practical ways to avoid common occupational injuries to more than 2,000 inquiries since its doors opened in 1995. These disorders include carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and back pain.

Harry E. Payne Jr., North Carolina's labor commissioner, said, "Cumulative trauma disorders such as carpal tunnel and back strain continue to be some of the most common workplace injuries. It is through such innovative programs as the Ergonomics Resource Center that we hope to see a drop in these preventable injuries."

(courtesy of OSHAWeek October 21, 1996)

Kay Leager Appointed to Recruiting Post in College of Engineering

Kay Leager of Raleigh has been appointed director of recruitment for the North Carolina State University College of Engineering, effective November 1, 1996.

As director of recruitment, Leager will focus on creating a consistent and positive message about the College of Engineering for prospective students, parents and the educational community and developing campus visitation programs to enhance enrollment. She also plans to emphasize recruiting and enrolling academically talented students and students from underrepresented groups.

Specific goals for Leager include developing a College of Engineering alumni recruiting program and developing programs to improve retention of current students.

Previously, Leager served as senior associate director in NC State University's undergraduate admissions office. She came to NC State in 1983 as assistant director of undergraduate admissions.

Leager earned her master's degree in counseling/psychology from Appalachian State University in 1976 and her bachelor's degree in English from East Carolina University in 1972. She worked as a social worker in Wilmington, N.C., before returning to graduate school. After graduate school, she worked as a mental health social worker in Ashe County.

Singh Receives IBM Research Partnership Award

Dr. Munindar Singh, assistant professor of computer science, is the recipient of an IBM Research Partnership award.

Don Gilbert and Cort DeVoe, managers in IBM's Software Solutions Division, presented the award to Dr. Alan Tharp, head of the Department of Computer Science, who accepted the award on behalf of Singh.

Part of the IBM University Partnership Program, the IBM Research Partnership Award is highly competitive and based partially on a pre-existing research relationship with the company. Singh will use the award to further his research on techniques for building intelligent agents in novel applications.

Singh received his doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. He worked with the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation from 1989 to 1995. He received his master's degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin and his bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. In addition to his position as assistant professor of computer science, he serves as director of the database laboratory at NC State University.

Earlier this fall Singh was awarded the prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for research and education relating to his work with cooperative information systems.

COE Web Site Voted Number One

The College of Engineering Web site at NC State University was voted the top-ranked page in its category by Excite, a California company that provides Web search services and reviews.

The category was engineering colleges in the southern US. Fifteen sites made their ratings list, and the NC State College of Engineering was ranked Number One.

The Web review reads, "Thinking about North Carolina State University as your college? There's plenty of information for those interested in engineering to pick over here, presented in an easy to use format. College located in Raleigh."

The URL is:

http://www.excite.com/Subject/Science/Engineering/
Academic_Programs/United_States/South/s-index.html

NC State Professor Invited to Speak at NATO Conference

Dr. Salah E. Elmaghraby, university professor of operation research and industrial engineering, has been invited to be the keynote speaker to the NATO conference on "Managing and Modeling Complex Projects" to be held in Kiev, Ukraine, in November.

Elmaghraby will be one of 55 invited participants at the conference which will be attended by Western NATO countries and Eastern Block countries.

In 1978 Elmaghraby's book, Activity Networks: Project Planning and Control by Network Methods, was published. It is considered the technical reference on the subject. His continued research in the field spans more than a quarter century.

NC State's 1995 Freshman Class Ranks Tenth in the Nation

The freshman class entering North Carolina State University in 1995 may have looked similar to previous freshman classes, but it had a special distinction. The 1995 freshman class was the tenth brightest class in the nation according to Institutional Research and Evaluation Inc. of Gainesville, Georgia. The ranking is based on the overall academic level of the students in the class.

NC State was in good company. Georgia Tech was ranked number one followed by the University of Missouri - Rolla.

Murty Elected ASM Fellow

Dr. K. Linga Murty, professor of materials science and nuclear engineering, has been elected a fellow of the American Society for Materials International. Murty was honored recently at the ASM fall meeting in Cincinnati for his contributions to the understanding of deformation of textured materials, radiation effects on mechanical properties and synergistic effects between radiation and defect behavior in solids.

The recipient of both the American Nuclear Society Mishima award in 1993 and the 1988 Alcoa Foundation Research Achievement Award, Murty received his doctoral degree in 1970 and a master's degree in 1967 from Cornell University. He earned a master's degree in 1963 and bachelor's degree with honors in 1962 from Andhra University in India. While attending Andhra University, Murty was honored with two awards for academic excellence, the Metcalfe Medal in 1963 and Sripathi Medal in 1962.

Murty joined the NC State University faculty in 1981 after working as senior research engineer at the Lynchburg Research Center of Babcock and Wilcox and as a senior engineer at the Westinghouse R&D Center.

Murty lives in Cary with his wife, Veni, son, Vik, and daughter, Sunita.

NC State Researcher Receives Career Award

North Carolina State University researcher, Dr. Gregory N. Parsons, assistant professor of chemical engineering, is the recipient of a Faculty Early CAREER Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation.

The prestigious CAREER Award replaces the NSF Young Investigator Award and recognizes and supports research by junior faculty.

A specialist in chemical processing of electronic materials, Parsons joined the NC State University faculty in 1992.

Parsons will use the award to support his research into very low temperature plasma-enhanced chemical processes for formation of semiconducting thin films on plastics.

Currently semiconducting thin films must be formed at temperatures exceeding 300 degrees Celsius, limiting application to glass or metals that can withstand the high temperatures. Parsons' research will investigate new chemical processes that will allow for high quality semiconducting layers to be formed at lower temperatures. This development would lead to a new generation of lightweight and flexible electronic devices. Potential applications of the research include development of lightweight, flexible flat-panel displays and photovoltaic solar energy conversion devices.

The award also recognizes Parsons' work in new undergraduate education initiatives. He will use the part of the funding to develop and evaluate a new curriculum option in electronic materials processing for undergraduate chemical engineering students.

Parsons received his doctoral degree from NC State University in 1990. He conducted post-doctoral research at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York before returning to NC State in 1992.

In addition to his research work at NC State, he is active in environmental conservation as a member of the Umstead Coalition.

Eckerlin and Simpson Honored for Outstanding Extension Efforts

Dr. Herbert M. Eckerlin and Bill G. Simpson are recipients of Outstanding Extension Awards for 1996. The awards recognize faculty and staff for superior performance in extending new ideas, practices, or public service programs, and promoting their use.

Dr. Herbert M. Eckerlin, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was recognized for his role in establishing, organizing, and operating the NC State Industrial Assessment Center (IAC). The IAC conducts energy audits at small and medium-sized plants and provides recommendations on ways to save energy, minimize waste, and improve productivity. Eckerlin also serves as faculty chairman of the NC Solar Center.

Bill G. Simpson, senior extension specialist for the Industrial Extension Service, was recognized for his development and management of the IES Team Development and Certification Program. This program trains individuals to develop high-performance work teams. Under Simpson's direction, team training workshops have jumped from 5 percent to 80 percent of all IES on-site workshops conducted.

Computer Science Undergraduate Wins Prestigious National Research Award

Jennifer Marie Nolan, a senior majoring in computer science at North Carolina State University, has been named the Computing Research Association's Outstanding Female Undergraduate for 1996. The honor carries a cash prize of $1,000 plus costs of traveling to the conference at which she will receive the award.

Nolan participated in the CRA Distributed Mentor Program and worked with NC State computer science professor Dr. Carla Savage on new ways to count integer partitions and graphical partitions of integers. She has industrial experience at IBM where she worked on TCP/IP Internet applications and developed a toolbar to unite the applications.

She is the 1995-96 recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship and the College of Engineering Faculty Senior Scholarship for 1996-97. Nolan is a member of the University Scholars Program and carries a 4.0 grade point average. She plays viola and violin with the Raleigh Civic Symphony, as well as eight other instruments.

Nolan competed against students from other internationally recognized universities and colleges including Harvard and Dartmouth. This year's competition was sponsored by the Hewlett-Packard Co., the NEC Research Institute Inc. and the Xerox Corp.

CRA--whose members are Ph.D.-granting academic departments of computer science and computer engineering, government and industrial laboratories, and affiliated professional societies--works to represent the computing community and effect change to benefit computing research and society at large.

Five Engineering Students to Serve as Chancellor's Aides

Five of twelve NC State students chosen to serve as chancellor's aides are engineering students. They are Linn-Marie A. Nordh, civil engineering; Robert Frederick Jackson, chemical engineering; Mark Douglas Anthony, chemical engineering; Bonnie Dionne Rhynes, electrical engineering; and Robert Chad Myers, biomedical engineering.

Chancellor's aides have many duties, some of which are escorting visitors and prospective students on campus tours, assisting guests of the chancellor at football and basketball games, and assisting guests at official dinners and receptions at the chancellor's residence.

Students are chosen to be chancellor's aides based on their academic standing, their ability to communicate, and their desire to convey pride in NC State.

NC State Honors Two Engineering Professors

North Carolina State University honored two engineering professors with its prestigious Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence during a ceremony held Tuesday, October 1, in Stewart Theatre. Dr. Franklin D. Hart and Dr. Harold B. Hopfenberg were among four recipients of the university's highest faculty honor.

Hart, emeritus vice chancellor and professor emeritus of mechanical and aerospace engineering, earned his doctorate from NC State and joined the faculty in 1964. During his tenure at NC State, Hart served as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering, as Vice Chancellor for Research and as Provost and Vice Chancellor. Hart now serves as president of MCNC in the Research Triangle Park.

Hopfenberg, director of the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science, and Camille Dreyfus professor of chemical engineering, earned his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined the NC State faculty in 1967. Hopfenberg served as head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and in numerous transitional roles for the college and the university before assuming directorship of the university's Kenan Institute.

Named for the first president of NC State, the Holladay Medal recognizes excellence in faculty careers.

Singh Receives Career Award

North Carolina State University researcher, Dr. Munindar Singh, assistant professor of computer science, is the recipient of a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation.

The prestigious CAREER Award, which replaces the NSF Young Investigator Award, recognizes and supports research by junior faculty.

A specialist in cooperative information systems and database interoperation and agent programming, Singh joined the NC State faculty in 1995.

Singh plans to use the award to support his research project, "Cooperative Information Systems." The research project involves developing techniques to build software systems consisting of a variety of databases and other modules that interact with people. The research will attempt to close the gaps in technology that result from software modules that do not interface meaningfully with each other.

Singh's research involves building interacting intelligent agents to coordinate different databases and other software modules. The work has a range of potential uses from manufacturing to health care to finance.

He will also apply his research developments to distance education. Singh hopes he can facilitate the technology that would bring education opportunities to students who are unable to attend regular university classes.

Singh received his doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. He worked with the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation from 1989 to 1995. He received his master's degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin and his bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. In addition to his position as assistant professor of computer science, he serves as director of the database laboratory at NC State University.

Engineering Faculty Show Off Educational Technologies at Exhibition

Computer cables, computer screens and talk of uplinks, downlinks and cyberspace abounded at the Instructional Technologies Exposition held at North Carolina State University's Jane S. McKimmon Center on Tuesday, September 17. Faculty members and students from the College of Engineering participated in the annual exposition which included presentations and demonstrations from departments across the NC State University campus.

The College of Engineering was well represented by demonstration booths and formal presentations, which were given by Dr. James Lester, Dr. Mladen Vouk and Dr. Tom Miller and Becky Gray.

Display booths in the main exhibit room illustrated how computer technology is becoming an integral part of education. Booths manned by College of Engineering faculty and graduate students included Design-A-Plant, an interactive education program designed by Drs. Patrick FitzGerald and James Lester; Distance Learning Demonstrations via the Internet, a pilot project being conducted by Drs. Tom Miller and Gary Mirka; "Technology for Support of Educational and Training Workflows," a system designed by Drs. Mladen Vouk, Donald Bitzer, and Richard Klevans that uses HTML to create educational packages on the Web; "Making Phase Equilibrium Relationships More Student-Friendly: Introducing VIPER," an interactive algorithm developed by Drs. J.L. Prebola and R.J. Spontak to assist students in understanding thermodynamics; and "Instructional Technologies in a First-Year Engineering Lab, a newly instituted first-year introduction to engineering demonstrated by Dr. David Ollis.

Staff Honored During Employee Appreciation Week

Dean Nino A. Masnari dishes up ice cream for College of Engineering staff members at an ice cream social during Employee Appreciation Week, September 9-13. Also pictured are Chris Mattingly, left, Thelma Vickers, center, and Kaye Whaley, right.

NC State Nuclear Reactor Garners Praise from NRC

The North Carolina State University nuclear reactor operations received high praise at a Nuclear Regulatory Commission quarterly press conference September 20.

Stew Ebneter, NRC Region II Administrator, commented on the university's reactor during the conference, specifically complimenting the cooling system upgrade. In addition, Ebneter stated that NC State's reactor was one of the best non-power reactors in the country.

Fang named Walter Clark Professor of Industrial Engineering

Dr. Shu-Cherng Fang, industrial engineering and operations research, was named the Walter Clark Professor of Industrial Engineering by the dean of the College of Engineering.

Hauser Named Director of Center for Advanced Electronic Materials Processing

Dr. John R. Hauser, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been named director of the Center for Advanced Electronic Materials Processing (AEMP) at North Carolina State University.

Announcement of the appointment, which is effective August 1, 1996, was made by Chancellor Larry K. Monteith following approval by the NC State University Board of Trustees.

He replaces Dr. Nino A. Masnari, who resigned to become dean of the College of Engineering at NC State.

As director of AEMP, one of several National Science Foundation Research Centers nationally, Hauser will oversee a program to develop in situ , low thermal budget, single-wafer processing. Approximately 25 faculty members, 90 graduate students, 50 undergraduates and 15 postdoctoral researchers work at the center, which has its main office on NC State's Centennial Campus.

Researchers at North Carolina A&T State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Duke University, as well as MCNC, also are involved with the center.

Hauser, who will continue to serve as director of the Solid State Electronics Laboratory at NC State as he has since 1984, has conducted research in the areas of silicon integrated circuits, semiconductor materials and devices, photovoltaics, computer modeling of devices and circuits, and radiation effects on devices and circuits.

A native of Davie County, N.C., Hauser received his bachelor's degree from NC State in 1960, master's degree in 1961 and doctorate in 1964, both from Duke University, all in electrical engineering.

Hauser began his career designing electronic circuits for Bell Telephone Laboratories in Winston-Salem, N.C., from 1960-61. In 1962, he joined the Research Triangle Institute in Durham, N.C., where he conducted research on semiconductor and electronic devices. He joined the NC State faculty in 1966.

A resident of Raleigh, Hauser is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. and is a member of several honor societies, including Eta Kappa Nu and Sigma Xi.

Gilligan, Isler and Rajala Named to Posts in the College of Engineering

Dr. John G. Gilligan, Dr. William E. Isler and Dr. Sarah A. Rajala have been appointed to positions in the dean's office of the North Carolina State University College of Engineering, all effective August 1.

Dr. John G. Gilligan has been named associate dean for research and graduate programs. He had served as interim dean for the college since January 1 and prior to that as associate dean for academic affairs. He will manage the college's $40 million annual sponsored research program.

Gilligan, who lives in Cary, is an expert in plasma physics and fusion energy technology. He joined the NC State faculty in 1983 as an associate professor of nuclear engineering, became director of graduate programs in nuclear engineering in 1986 and was named professor in 1990.

Previously, Gilligan served as a research associate at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J., and as a faculty member at the University of Illinois.

He received a bachelor's degree from Purdue University in 1971, and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan in 1973 and 1977, respectively.

He and his wife, Barbara, have three children.

Isler, who has served as associate dean for research since 1989, has been named special assistant to the dean and will oversee occupancy of the new Engineering Graduate Research Center on the Centennial Campus. He will also have responsibility for all space in the college and for safety compliance.

Previously, Isler worked at the Army's Harry Diamond Laboratories, at the Pentagon in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, where he evaluated proposals and made funding decisions concerning research in universities and industry.

Isler has conducted research in mechanical and electrical properties of thin-films; temperature-staple resistors, capacitors, and microelectronics; and the magnetic properties of ferrofluids.

He received bachelor's degrees in mathematics and physics from North Carolina Central University in 1955, and master's and doctoral degrees in physics from Howard University in 1959 and 1978, respectively.

He and his wife, Libby, live in Raleigh. They have three children.

Dr. Sarah A. Rajala has been appointed associate dean for academic affairs. She had served as the interim in this position since March and is the first woman appointed to a dean-level position in the College of Engineering. She will be responsible for undergraduate programs and other academic issues.

Rajala, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, will be the chief academic officer in engineering and will serve as the NC State Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED) site coordinator.

An expert in image and video processing, she had served as director of the Center for Advanced Computing and Communication since 1993.

Rajala received a bachelor's degree from Michigan Technological University in 1974, and master's and doctoral degrees from Rice University in 1977 and 1979, respectively, all in electrical engineering. She joined the NC State faculty in 1979.

She and her husband, James V. Aanstoos, live in Cary with their two daughters.

Harrell receives Governor's Award

Daniel E. Harrell, director of engineering planning, was awarded the 1996 Governor's Award for Excellence.

In 1982, Governor James B. Hunt Jr. created the award to recognize outstanding accomplishments by state employees. State agencies and universities from across the state nominated 66 employees for the prestigious award. Of those 66, 12 employees were selected to receive the award.

Harrell was recognized for his technological and educational innovations. He is a pioneer in distance education. In 1976 he implemented the first color television classroom in North Carolina. Since that time, Harrell has worked to implement technological advances in distance learning at North Carolina State University, including construction of the state-of-the-art teleconference rooms in Withers Hall, Park Shops and Riddick Laboratories.