2001

September 26, 2001

Corbell Endows Scholarship in College of Engineering

Mr. Corbell

Mr. and Mrs. I. Tunis Corbell presented a gift of $168,557 to establish the I. Tunis and Bernardina B. Corbell scholarship in the College of Engineering at NC State University. The gift will fund scholarships for students pursuing an undergraduate degree in engineering, with first preference to students who had attended Knotts Island Elementary School in Currituck County.

Corbell, a World War II veteran and 1950 electrical engineering graduate of NC State, spent 34 years in the engineering field, retiring in 1987 as vice president and manager of Harris California Broadcast Operation.

Dean Nino A. Masnari said of the gift, “This commitment by the Corbell family is an investment in tomorrow's leaders. The scholarship will allow some of the brightest and most energetic young people to attend NC State and will strengthen the university's commitment to attracting top scholars to NC State.”

The scholarship will be administered by the NC State Engineering Foundation, Inc.

-- powell --

April 9, 2001

Mitsubishi Gives Gift to Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Mitsubishi Electric and Electronics USA Corporation has given a $340,000 grant to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State University. This grant will support the research of Dr. Wentai Liu, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and the Analog/RF/Mixed Signal Design consortium, at NC State University.

J. Gary Edge, vice president of Mitsubishi Electric and Electronics USA Corporation, presented the gift to the college February 22, 2001.

Dean Nino A. Masnari said of the gift, "We greatly appreciate the support that the Mitsubishi Electric and Electronics USA Corporation has shown the College of Engineering. This support will greatly enhance current programs and new opportunities within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering."

-- powell --

March 26, 2001

Duke Energy Corporation Gives $343,000 to College of Engineering

E.O. Ferrell (center), Senior Vice President of Duke Energy
Corporation, presents a check to Dean Nino A. Masnari (right)
and Dr. Paul Turinsky (left).

Duke Energy Corporation has recently awarded a grant to North Carolina State University. Of the $348,000 donated this year, $343,000 will go to the College of Engineering. E. O. Ferrell, Senior Vice President of Duke Energy Corporation, presented the gift to the college March 14. The gift is designated for unrestricted use by the college, and a large proportion of the grant is designated for programs in the Department of Nuclear Engineering.

Duke Energy has shown strong support to NC State and the Department of Nuclear Engineering over the years. This year the Duke Energy Foundation funded thirteen programs in engineering, nine of which were focused in the Nuclear Engineering department.

Dean Nino A. Masnari said, "We greatly appreciate the support that Duke Energy Corporation has shown the College of Engineering. Unrestricted support is of utmost importance in that it allows us to address needs that are not supported through state appropriations or endowments designated for a particular purpose. Student recruitment, faculty and staff development, scholarship support – all are areas that benefit as a result of these critical dollars."

The Duke Energy Corporation gift will be administered through the NC State Engineering Foundation.

-- powell --

February 19, 2001

Parcel Scholarship Endowed

Jean B. Parcel of Lakeland, Florida, has endowed a gift of $15,000 to NC State's College of Engineering. Parcel’s gift will establish the Martin W. Parcel Scholarship, in honor of her husband. The scholarship will be awarded to materials science and engineering juniors and seniors on the basis of merit and need.

The scholarship will be administered by the NC State Engineering Foundation, Inc.

-- powell --

February 6, 2001

BASF Gift Supports Engineering

Dean Nino A. Masnari with Clarence Batts, Jr.

The BASF Corporation has given a $40,000 grant to the College of Engineering at NC State University. Of this amount, $5,000 of the grant will support student groups; $10,000 will support programs in chemical engineering and mechanical engineering; and $25,000 – part of a $125,000 pledge – will support building renovations in chemical engineering.

L. Clarence Batts, Jr., site manager of the BASF plant in Whitestone, S.C., presented the gift to the college December 14, 2000.

Dean Nino A. Masnari said, "This commitment by BASF is an investment in tomorrow’s engineers. By supporting Engineering, BASF is supporting the educational activities of some of the brightest and most energetic young people of the state of North Carolina."

--powell--

February 5, 2001

Bill Horn Faculty Development Fund Established

The children of John William Horn and their spouses have established the Bill Horn Faculty Development Fund in memory of Bill Horn, professor of transportation engineering in the civil engineering department at NC State from 1956 to 1990 and co-founder of Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. The $25,000 gift will be used to benefit young faculty in the Department of Civil Engineering at NC State.

The individuals establishing the fund are Laura Horn Borden (BSCE ’82) and her husband Roy, who is a professor of civil engineering at NC State; R. Michael Horn (BSCE ’81) and his wife Laura; Donna Horn Ott (BSCE ’84) and her husband William.

Dean Nino A. Masnari said of the gift, " We greatly appreciate the support the Horn family has shown the College of Engineering. This support will greatly enhance current programs and new opportunities within the Department of Civil Engineering."

-- rudd --

February 1, 2001

Frank C. Ziglar Jr. Memorial Graduate Fellowship Established

The Frank C. Ziglar Jr. Memorial Graduate Fellowship has been established to benefit students in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University. This graduate fellowship is a memorial endowment to honor Ziglar, who earned his B.S. in physics from NC State in 1965, for his outstanding career with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Ziglar, who died in 1986, made significant contributions to NASA’s Apollo and Saturn programs during his 20-year career in the aerospace industry. In recognition of his contributions to the Saturn program in particular, Ziglar’s name was included on a document enclosed in a canister attached to one of the lunar landers. He was also an avid amateur radio operator and held a private pilot’s license.

Dr. Donald E. Moreland, who was Ziglar’s stepfather and served on the faculty at NC State for 42 years, and his wife, Verdie S. Moreland, are giving this endowment. The fellowship, which will be merit-based with financial need as a consideration, will support a graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

-- rudd --

January 19, 2001

$870,000 Gift Benefits Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State

William J. Pratt, chairman and chief technical officer of RF Micro Devices in Greensboro, North Carolina, and RF Micro Devices of Greensboro will give $870,000 to the College of Engineering at NC State University. The gift will be distributed over a three-year period and used in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NC State.

Pratt is donating $250,000 per year for three years to support a new faculty member specializing in the analog/RF design field in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Pratt Career Development Professorship is the largest individually donated professorship in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The gift includes money for new equipment, salary and student fellowships. Pratt is the father of Ryan Pratt, a May 2000 electrical engineering graduate of NC State and an RF design engineer with RF Micro Devices, who previously endowed a scholarship to an undergraduate through the Pratt family foundation.

Pratt made the commitment that RF Micro Devices will give $35,000 for each of the next three years to benefit the new analog/RF/mixed signal design consortium at NC State. The program is a corporate-university collaboration working to educate students that can meet the needs of industry in the field of analog/RF/Mixed signal design. The program will ensure a supply of highly qualified students with theoretical and practical knowledge in these fields.

Pratt is also donating $5,000 per year to the Dean’s Circle at the Lampe Society level.

Dr. Nino A. Masnari, dean of the College of Engineering, said, "We greatly appreciate the gifts the Pratt family has made to the College of Engineering. This support will enhance our ability to create new opportunities for recruiting the best students and faculty to our programs."

The funds will be administered through the NC State Engineering Foundation.

-- rudd --

January 18, 2001

NC State's Science and Technology Center Receives Eastman Gift

from KINGSPORT, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2001

The patents for a process that could be used to extract vitamins from plants,vegetable oil from soybeans or caffeine from coffee have been donated by Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The two universities collaborate in the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes, which seeks to understand the fundamentals of using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a clean, safe solvent.

The Eastman patents cover an extraction process using CO2 as a solvent at high temperatures and pressures in what is known as an enhanced solubility region. Eastman first developed the process to extract beta-carotene from algae found in the Great Salt Lake but decided not to take the technology further. The process could potentially be used to extract a wide range of substances - broadly referred to as nutraceuticals - from plants, including saw palmetto extract and lycopene from tomato skins.

Eastman recognized that this discovery would have many high-value applications in a broad range of specialty markets in which it did not participate and that additional research and custom market development was needed for the technology to reach its full potential in value creation.

Eastman, with 1999 sales of $4.6 billion, is the world's largest supplier of polyester plastics for packaging and is a leading supplier of coatings raw materials, specialty chemicals and plastics.

"Once we determined this CO2 technology was not strategic to Eastman's long-term business plans, we wanted to make it available for further research and eventual commercialization," said Roger Mowen, vice president and chief information officer.

"N.C. State and Carolina have outstanding track records for receiving technology, providing further research and development, and then looking for ways to bring the technology to the marketplace. And they're world-renowned in CO2 research," Mowen said. "This is good for society and good for the universities."

"The Eastman gift is a great fit with our ongoing research program in CO2 processes," said Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone, William R. Kenan Jr. distinguished professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at UNC-CH and N.C. State. "We thank the company for giving us the opportunity to further develop this extraction technology."

N.C. State and UNC-CH actively search the literature for carbon dioxide-related patents and ask companies to consider donating them. The two universities fund the CO2 Patent Assessment, Acquisitions and Transfer Initiative; PAATI employs law students, business students, and graduate students in chemistry and chemical engineering at both schools to identify promising patents and suggest possible commercial uses in the event companies are willing to donate the patents. In many cases, the donated technology will need the expertise of faculty of both schools to develop its commercial or licensing opportunities.

"This is a win-win situation for the companies and the universities," DeSimone said. "Our campuses may benefit more if we go looking for patents, instead of waiting for companies to come to us."

DeSimone directs the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes and co-directs the Kenan Center for the Utilization of Carbon Dioxide in Manufacturing, a university-based research center sponsored by 16 corporations worldwide that joins the work of UNC-CH and N.C. State. N.C. State's Dr. Ruben Carbonell directs the Kenan Center and is co-director of the NSF Science and Technology Center, which also involves scientists in Texas and at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.

Technology transfer offices at both N.C. State and UNC-CH will search for parties interested in licensing the technology. Both offices are experienced in licensing university-owned intellectual property to generate revenues.

"Gifts of intellectual property from corporations to universities are a relatively new form of corporate philanthropy to higher education," said Mark Crowell, associate vice chancellor and director of UNC-CH's office of technology development.

"The intellectual property gift can represent an opportunity to enhance ongoing research programs, to incorporate cutting-edge technology into the educational experience and to license the donated intellectual property to a commercial entity in return for a significant royalty stream and equity position," Crowell said.

Dr. David Winwood, assistant vice chancellor and director of N.C. State's office of technology transfer, said, "The work under way in the Kenan Center for the Utilization of Carbon Dioxide in Manufacturing and the NSF Science and Technology Center has the potential to change many industrial processes for the better. Donations of intellectual property will provide opportunities for university researchers to significantly leverage the research dollars directed to this effort."

Contact: Eastman Chemical Company Nancy Ledford, 423/229-5264 nledford@eastman.comhttp://www.eastman.com or UNC-CH and N.C. State Dr. Joseph DeSimone, 919/962-2166 or UNC-CH News Services Mike McFarland, 919/962-8593 or N.C. State University News Service Debbie Griffith, 919/515-7373

Reprinted from from KINGSPORT, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2001

January 16, 2001

Williams Awarded NSF Grant for Pair-Learning Research

Dr. Laurie A. Williams, assistant professor of computer science at North Carolina State University, has been awarded a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her research in pair-learning approaches to instruction in computer science. With pair-learning, two students work together at one computer. Williams' proposal is entitled "Pair-Learning in Undergraduate Computer Science Education." The $227,110 grant will run from January 1, 2001, through December 31, 2003.

"While we are interested in improving the success and satisfaction rates of all students, we are particularly interested in the success and satisfaction rates of minority and women students," said Williams. "We are encouraged by research that has shown that African-American success rates in science courses can be dramatically improved by shifting the learning paradigm from individual study to one that capitalizes on group processes, such as the pair-learning approach."

Williams is affiliated with the NC State Electronic Commerce Program. Her current research interests include collaborative/pair programming, software development processes (particularly of e-commerce applications) and software testing.

Williams received her bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Lehigh University in 1984, her MBA from Duke University in 1990 and her doctoral degree in computer science from the University of Utah in 2000. She worked for IBM for nine years before returning to academia.