Alumnus Kelvin S. Bryant receives NSF Career Award

Kelvin S. Bryant, an assistant professor at North Carolina A & T State University, has been awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to support his research in high performance computing for the next four years. Bryant received his bachelor's degree in 1985 and his master's in 1987 from NC State, both in computer science. While teaching as an instructor in the NC State Computer Science Department, he worked on his doctorate degree part-time and completed the program in 1993. He spent the next two years working as a research associate in the High Performance Computing Lab at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Rajala Inducted into Michigan Tech's Council of Alumnae

Sarah A. Rajala was among seventeen successful women recently inducted as charter members of the Council of Alumnae at Michigan Technological University.

Rajala, a professor at North Carolina State University in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the director for advanced computing and communication, earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan Tech in electrical engineering in 1974.

The mission of the Council of Alumnae is to encourage women students and alumnae to understand, communicate and accomplish their career and life choices. The Council will strive to advance women students by developing their leadership and professional skills. They will also try to enhance diverse support for Michigan Tech through increased interaction by council members.

The members of the Council will serve as an advisory board for Michigan Tech's Educational Opportunity Department. The council will be visible role models for MTU's women students. "The Council will also serve as a means for connecting the departments with their women alumnae," said Chris Anderson, director of Educational Opportunity. "This new relationship will be healthy for future involvement between the two groups."

The Council's charter members were chosen based on their accomplishments in areas such as profession, service to the community, family, education, service as a student, and current support for the University.

(Courtesy of Michigan Technological University News Bureau.)

Research Team Wins U.S. Army Scientific Achievement Award

A team of researchers from North Carolina State University and the U.S. Army has received the 1996 Bronze Medallion for Outstanding Scientific Achievement, the Army's second highest award for scientific accomplishment.

Dr. Michael B. Steer, professor, Dr. James W. Mink, visiting professor, and graduate students Huan-sheng Hwang and Todd W. Nuteson--all in the NC State Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering--along with Dr. James F. Harvey of the U.S. Army Research Office in Research Triangle Park and Dr. Arthur C. Paolella from the Army's Communications-Electronics Command at Ft. Monmouth, N.J., received the award at a banquet June 26 during the 20th Army Science Conference in Norfolk, Va. The team received a cash award of $1,000.

The team's research concerned breakthroughs in the field of quasi-optical power combining, which promises a cost-effective, compact, lightweight means of producing radio waves with higher powers than can otherwise be easily obtained at microwave frequencies. Potential military applications include improvements to radar, communications and target seekers on missiles. Commercial applications include wide-bandwidth communications and collision avoidance radar for vehicles.

The same research team won the Bronze Medallion in 1994 as well.

The Army Science Conference is held biennially as a forum for Army research. The theme of the 1996 meeting was "Science and Technology for Force XXI," the Army of the twenty-first century.

ECE Graduate Students Receive Experiment Team Excellence Award

ECE graduate students Veena Misra and Brian Hornung, along with Dr. Jimmie Wortman and Bruce Ash,were presented an Experiment Team Excellence Award at NASA Langley Research Center. The team - assisted by Joan O'Sullivan of the Microelectronics Lab - designed, fabricated, tested, and delivered 48 sensors for the Orbital Meteoroid Debris Counting (OMDC) Experiment for the Clementine Interstage Adaptor Spacecraft.

Civil Engineers Receive Awards at American Concrete Institute Convention

Dr. David W. Johnston, professor of civil engineering, and Paul P. McCain, lecturer and civil engineering extension, specialist received the ACI Construction Practice Award for their paper "Formwork Pressures in Tall Walls with Extended Set Concrete." The award was given March 19, 1996, at the American Concrete Institute spring convention that was held at the Marriott City Center in Denver, Colorado. Shuaib H. Ahmad and Michael L. Leming of civil engineering were elected ACI Fellows at this convention.

Gupta to Receive ASCE Award

North Carolina State University's Dr. Ajaya Kumar Gupta will receive the 1996 Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. Energy Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Gupta, a resident of Raleigh, is a professor of civil engineering and the founder and director of the Center for Nuclear Power Plant Structures, Equipment and Piping at NC State.

The award recognizes outstanding achievements in the energy field by a civil engineer. Gupta is cited for his leadership in developing safe and economical nuclear energy through teaching, research and professional activities.

In 1982 Gupta, who is a Fellow of ASCE, received the Walter L. Huber Research Prize from the society for notable achievements in research related to civil engineering.

Gupta will receive the award November 13 during the ASCE Annual Convention in Washington, D.C. ASCE, headquartered in New York, is the oldest national professional engineering organization in the United States and has over 120,000 members in more than 130 countries.

MAE Students Bring Recognition to COE with Numerous Awards

NC State MAE students captured top honors in the paper competition at the 1996 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Southeastern Regional Student Conference in April. Heidi Reimer won first place with "A Preliminary Study of a Wake Encounter Hazard Boundary for a B737-100 Airplane"; Eric Burscu took second with "Strain Analysis of a Cracked Adhesive Layer"; Brian Hucks placed third with "Wavelet Analysis of Screech Tone Interaction." All received cash awards and certificates, Reimer will receive an expenses paid trip from AIAA to participate in the National Undergraduate Student Paper Competition at the AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting in Reno, Nev., in January 1997.

Six aerospace engineering students received NASA National Space Grant College and Fellowship awards for 1996-97. Undergraduates Charles B. Hucks and Rachel J. Block received scholarships of $4,000. Four graduate students received $5,000 supplemental fellowships: Daniel M. Deaton, Karen E. Harwell, Jeffrey C. Windsor and Scott P. Young. The NASA awards are given to help maintain this country's capabilities in aerospace science and technology.

Daniel M. Deaton, a graduate student in aerospace engineering, received one of six prestigious Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Master's Student Fellowships for 1995, which total $250,000. Deaton will receive full tuition costs and a monthly stipend for a calendar year.

Thomas Conte Receives Prestigious NSF Award

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected Dr. Thomas M. Conte, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State University, to receive a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.

The award, previously known as the NSF Young Investigators Award, recognizes the accomplishments of junior faculty members and their potential to achieve research and educational goals and supports their career development. Conte will receive $200,000 over four years.

An NC State faculty member since 1995, Conte specializes in computer architecture, particularly instruction-level parallelism and very long instruction word (VLIW) processors.

His current research focuses on developing an advanced VLIW processor testbed (codenamed "TINKER") that demonstrates the practicality of advanced compiler optimization and highly parallel, statically scheduled microarchitectures. Through this work, Conte has found a way for software running on current 486-based computers to run on the next-generation VLIW processors, a problem the computer industry had been unable to solve.

Conte received his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1992 and was an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina for three years. He received his master's from the University of Illinois and his bachelor's from the University of Delaware at Newark, both in electrical engineering.

He and his wife, Catherine, live in Apex.

CHE Takes Teflon Award

NC State took second place in the 1996 Dupont Plunkett Student Awards for Innovation With Teflon".

(Left to Right), Faculty sponsor, Benny D. Freeman, associate professor, chemical engineering, NC State University, Raleigh, awardee Anuraag Singh, NC State University, Raleigh and industry advisor, Dan Thorpe of W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc.

The award was established to recognize the best examples of student innovation in fluoropolymer technology.

Strickland Receives Virtual Reality Award

North Carolina State University's Dr. Dorothy Strickland has received a 1995 CyberEdge Journal Virtual Reality Product of the Year Award.

Strickland, a resident of Apex, is a visiting lecturer in the College of Engineering.

The Applications Category award was presented to Strickland for her research into virtual reality (VR) as a treatment tool for autistic children. Through her study, Strickland was able to demonstrate that autistic children will wear VR helmets and can adapt to and learn in the virtual environment.

The journal cites Strickland for "finding a new way to use a powerful technology to help the least empowered."

CyberEdge Journal, based in Sausalito, Calif., is the world's leading newsletter of virtual reality, promoting new ideas and products that advance computer-human interaction and cybernetics.

Fellows Named

Koch Receives Alumni Award

Alcoa Awards Given

EPRC Members Meet VP

Ben Stansell and Steve Edwards, graduate research assistants working with Dr. Arthur Kelley at the NCSU Electric Power Research Center (EPRC), were recently invited to attend the Vice-President's Symposium Series V - Electric Power Systems for the Next Generation Vehicle. Ben Stansel is shown here with VP Al Gore at the reception.

Distinguished Alumni Named

The North Carolina State University College of Engineering has named Norvin A. Clontz of Tryon, N. C., William F. Morris Jr. of Raleigh, N. C., and Robert H. Transou of Farmington Hills, Mich., as its 1996 Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award winners.

The awards were announced by John G. Gilligan, interim dean of the College of Engineering, at a banquet May 2 at the Capital City Club in Raleigh, as part of the annual Alumni Weekend activities. The awards honor alumni whose accomplishments further their fields and reflect favorably on the university.

Clontz, a Morganton native, is president of Milliken and Company's largest division: Fashion Apparel and Specialty Fabrics. He also holds responsibility for Corporate Engineering, Operations Research, Dyeing and Finishing Technical Services, and Corporate Environmental and Energy Management.

He earned his bachelor's degree in 1965, his master's in 1967 and his doctorate in 1969, all in chemical engineering.

He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists, and he serves on the NC State board for the Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education (SUCCEED) and on the Chemical Engineering Alumni Advisory Board.

Among the many honors and awards won by the operations for which he has responsibility are DuPont Fiber's First Quality Partner Award, the Exxon Specialty Polymer Division's Vendor of the Year Award and the Chemical Manufacturers Association Best in Safety Award.

He and his wife, Lydia Leonhardt Clontz, have three children: Diana, Angela and Norvin II.

Morris, a native of Clayton, is founder and president of Morris and Associates, Inc., of Raleigh, a refrigeration equipment company in operation since 1949. The company manufactures refrigeration products for the poultry industry and a line of ice makers for commercial markets.

A registered Professional Engineer in North Carolina and member of the North Carolina Society of Professional Engineers, he is a lifetime member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers. His continual development of new products has earned him nineteen patents, and in 1990 he received the Governor's New Product Award for his thermal storage ice harvesters.

Morris received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1941 and then served in World War II, receiving the Bronze Star for service above and beyond the call of duty.

He is married to Marsha Foster Morris and has six children--Bradley F. and Muriel C. Morris of the home, Nancy M. Southern and Patricia M. Fulghum of Raleigh, W. F. Morris III of Wilmington, and Jeannette B. Morris of Wauconda, Ill.--and eight grandchildren.

Transou, an Elkin native, is the group vice president of manufacturing, Ford Automotive Operations. He heads up the largest of three activities in the global automotive organization and directs more than 235,000 people in 180 plants on five continents.

Selected by the chairman of Ford to lead a group of management through an important structural change, his team developed a plan to achieve global organization and led the "Ford 2000 Study Team" in working out the overall pattern that Ford automotive operations would follow into the 21st century.

An active member of the Engineering Society of Detroit, he also serves on the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. He has been elected to two prestigious engineering honor societies: Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma.

Transou earned his bachelor's in mechanical engineering from NC State in 1962 and his master's in mechanical engineering in 1966 from the University of Michigan.

He and his wife, Marianna Dragich Transou, have two children, Rob and Nicole.

Eckerlin and Simpson Receive Extension Awards

The Industrial Extension Service (IES) at North Carolina State University has named Dr. Herbert M. Eckerlin and Bill G. Simpson as recipients of the 1995-96 Outstanding Extension Service Awards.

The awards were presented by John G. Gilligan, interim dean of the College of Engineering, at the spring faculty meeting May 1. The awards, sponsored by Fairchild Industries, recognize individuals who contribute to the extension and public service objectives of the university through superior performance in extending to the public new information, practices or programs and encouraging and assisting in their adoption.

Eckerlin, a resident of Raleigh, is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. He is recognized for his role in establishing, organizing and operating the NC State Industrial Assessment Center (IAC), which conducts energy audits at small and medium-sized plants and provides recommendations on ways to save energy, minimize waste and improve productivity. He also serves as Faculty Chairman of the NC Solar Center, the primary agency for promoting the use of solar and renewable energy technologies across North Carolina.

Simpson, a resident of Julian, is the senior management development specialist with IES. He is recognized for his development and management of the IES Team Development and Certification Program, which 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.

O'Quinn Receives Three Major Honors

John C. O'Quinn, a recent graduate of NC State, is the recipient of three prestigious honors: a Fulbright Scholarship, a Tau Beta Pi Fellowship and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowship.

As a Fulbright Scholar, O'Quinn will study at Oxford University in England for his first year of post-graduate work. The scholarship, given by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to promote educational and cultural exchange, will pay full academic expenses for O'Quinn as he completes a Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management.

The fellowship from Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society, carries a cash stipend of $10,000 for graduate study and recognizes high scholarship, campus leadership and service, and promise of future contributions to the engineering profession. O'Quinn is the recipient of the Centennial Fellowship, which honors the society's most outstanding Fellow. Tau Beta Pi, founded at Lehigh University in 1885, is the world's largest engineering society.

The NSF fellowship will provide three years of full support for O'Quinn when he continues his graduate studies after returning from England. He has been accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's graduate program and plans to pursue a doctorate in chemical engineering.

O'Quinn, of Fuquay-Varina, maintained a 4.0 GPA in his double major of chemical engineering and multidisciplinary studies and was one of NC State's valedictorians this year. In addition to many other activities, he served as student body president for 1995-96.

A recipient of numerous student awards and honors, O'Quinn was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society in 1994 and into both Tau Beta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies in 1995. He was both a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a Caldwell Scholar while at NC State.

Gurley elected to Academy of Outstanding Teachers

Dr. Ed Gurley, associate professor of civil engineering, is one of four NC State faculty members selected by a student committee as members of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers. Gurley will receive a cash award of $1,000.

Bill Simpson to Receive ASTD Award

North Carolina State University's Bill Simpson will receive the 1995 American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) Excellence in HRD Award for Training and Development.

Simpson, a resident of Julian, is the senior management development specialist with the College of Engineering's Industrial Extension Service.

The award is being presented to Simpson in recognition of his outstanding efforts and results in identifying, assuring, and helping develop through planned learning the key competencies that enable individuals to perform current or future jobs.

Last year, Simpson received the 1994 ASTD Manufacturing/Industrial Industry Group U.S. Excellence Award.

Simpson will receive the award on June 3 during the ASTD International Conference in Orlando, Fla. ASTD, based in Alexandria, Va., is the world's largest organization in the field of employer-based training, representing more than 58,000 professionals.

Richard Felder Named Fellow of ASEE

North Carolina State University's Dr. Richard M. Felder, Hoechst Celanese Professor of chemical engineering, has been selected as a Fellow of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE).

The Fellow membership is awarded to individuals with extraordinary qualifications and experience in engineering education who have made particularly important contributions to the field.

Felder, a resident of Cary, is being honored for his outstanding contributions to engineering education. He coauthored Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes, the leading introductory chemical engineering textbook in the United States for the past 17 years. He has written extensively on effective teaching methods and regularly presents workshops on the topic at university campuses all over the world.

ASEE will present the award June 26 during the ASEE Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. ASEE, based in Washington, is a nonprofit organization of individuals, institutions and companies dedicated to improving all aspects of engineering education.

Al Gore Visits NC State

Vice President Al Gore visited NC State in November 1995 to learn about the Industrial Extension Service's new NC Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Advanced Technology Program. Tom Stephenson (right of VP Gore), director of IES, moderated a panel of industry and university leaders. Left is Neal Hunter of Cree Research, and right is James Jensen of Timberlyne Cabinet Co.

TEC Program Students Enter Statewide Competition

Manoj Mehrotra, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, along with two current graduate students and one former student from the College of Management, recently participated in the SBTDC's statewide Graduate Student Business Case Competition. The event was co-sponsored by KPGM. The students were from the TEC Program (an interdisciplinary program promoting entrepreneurism) and were mentored in the competition by Gary Palin from the SBTDC. The awards banquet was held April 12 at the Carolina Inn in Raleigh. A number of faculty from the Colleges of Engineering and Management attended and provided representation and exposure for NC State.

Engineering Students Take Honors at Research Symposium

Three engineering papers received honors at the 5th Annual NC State Undergraduate Research Symposium, held April 18 at the McKimmon Center. Each of the following winning papers received a $200.00 award and a certificate: Daniel Alan Lloyd (advised by Gregory N. Parsons and Easwar Srinivasan), chemical engineering, for "Controlling the Composition of Plasma CVD a-Si:H Films Formed at Room Temperature"; Nancy Scriba Keating and Allen Harper (advised by H. Joel Trussell), electrical and computer engineering, for "Acoustic Echo Cancellation for Hands-Free Mobile Telephones"; Anthony G. Green, Marvin H. Barnett and Thanongdeth Chinyavong (advised by Charles Mayo, Gerry Wicks and Pedro Perez), nuclear engineering, for "PULSTAR Liquid Radioactive Waste Treatment, Recycle and Emergency Supply System." Over 95 poster presentations were made by undergraduates engaged in scholarly research with faculty in biological sciences, engineering and technology, humanities and social sciences, and physical and mathematical sciences. The symposium is sponsored by Sigma Xi, the University Research Committee, the Research Operations Council, and the University Honors Council and is chaired by Dr. Sarah Rajala, professor of electrical and computer engineering and interim associate dean of undergraduate programs.

Three Nuclear Engineering Students Inducted into Alpha Nu Sigma

On 20 March 1996, The Alpha Nu Sigma Society inducted 3 new members: Imelda Ariani, Jonathan Rohner, and Stacy Parker. The Alpha Nu Sigma is a national honor society for nuclear engineers affiliated with the American Nuclear Society. Nomination to the Alpha Nu Sigma is based on high scholastic achievement. A NE Junior must be among the top quarter of his class and maintain above a 3.0 GPA, while seniors and graduate students must be among the top third with the same GPA requirements. Our Department established a chapter in 1993 by Dr. R. M. Mayo and the ANS student leaders. Currently, we have 15 members with Dr. Orlando Hankins as faculty advisor.

NC State Engineering Professor Honored by Georgia Tech

Dr. Christine S. Grant, assistant professor of chemical engineering at North Carolina State University, was recently inducted into the Georgia Institute of Technology's Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni.

Membership in the council is awarded to alumni under forty who have demonstrated professional excellence and contributed to the advancement of their profession, Georgia Tech and/or society.

Grant's research focuses on removing contaminants from metal and glass surfaces; her work has environmental and economic impact on the hydrocarbon processing, food and microelectronics industries.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Exxon Engineering Foundation Research Award, the Alcoa Engineering Foundation Young Investigator Research Award and the Dow Chemical Company Young Faculty Award.

She is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers and the American Chemical Society.

Grant received her bachelor's in 1984 from Brown University, her master's and doctorate from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1986 and 1989, respectively, all in chemical engineering. She joined the NC State faculty in 1989.

Civil Engineering Grad Swims for USA in Olympics

David Fox graduated from NC State with a civil engineering degree in 1994, but for the time being he has his heart set on mining gold--Olympic gold, that is. For the past two years, he has trained with the resident national team training program in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and will represent the United States in the 50-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle relay races in Atlanta this summer. Fox, who set numerous records while at NC State, has a history as a winner. In his senior year, he won the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship in the 50-meter freestyle with a record-breaking time of 19.14. That same year he took home four gold medals from the 1993 World University Games.

(Photo courtesy of NC State University Sports Information)

Ed L. Hand Receives Post in College of Engineering

Ed L. Hand of Raleigh has been appointed associate director of development for the North Carolina State University College of Engineering, effective March 25.

Hand's principal responsibilities in the newly created position involve increasing private resources for the college, including working with key corporate partners, organizing volunteers and assisting with departmental and college-wide fund-raising efforts.

He will also play a key role in building the College of Engineering's alumni relations program. One of his primary assignments will be to work on the Campaign for NC State Students to increase endowed scholarships and fellowships over the next three years.

Previously, Hand was the senior associate director of the Duke Annual Fund, a position he held since 1992, organizing successful reunion campaigns and marketing various planned giving options. Prior to working at Duke, Hand was a reunion officer/volunteer coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Hand received his bachelor's degree in education from Western Carolina University in 1983.

NC State Computer Engineering Professor Receives Regional Educator Award

Dr. Thomas Kenan Miller III, professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate dean for information technology in the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University, has been named the Joseph M. Biedenbach regional Outstanding Engineering Educator for 1995 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

The award recognizes an educator in the Southeast who "has shared his technical and professional abilities through teaching (in industry, government or in an institution of higher learning) and in so doing has made an outstanding contribution to the electro-technology profession." Miller will receive the award at a luncheon April 14 in Tampa, Florida. In September, Miller was awarded the IEEE North Carolina Council's Outstanding Educator Award for 1995 for his innovative teaching methods at NC State.

Miller has developed and implemented numerous computer engineering courses and programs, designed and equipped laboratories, and obtained grants and equipment from major corporations to establish these laboratories. From 1986 to 1995, he served as chair of the College of Engineering Computer Advisory Committee, which was responsible for the conception, design and implementation of the Eos student computing environment, widely recognized as a leading example of distributed computing technology in education.

An elected member of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at NC State, Miller also is a member of the IEEE Computer Society, the Communications Society and the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. He is founder and co-owner of XESS Corporation, which produces and markets the NExS network-extensible spreadsheet for the X Window system.

Miller, a Kinston native, received his B.A. in mathematics and chemistry in 1976, his M.S. in biomedical engineering and mathematics in 1980 and his doctorate in biomedical engineering and mathematics in 1982, all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.