May 2009

"Faculty"

• Himanshu Jain, professor of Materials Science & Engineering and director of the International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass (IMI), was one of the main organizers for the Applications of Synchrotron Techniques in Glass Research workshop at the beginning of April. Sponsored by IMI and the National Synchrotron Light Source, the two-day event featured lecturers from academia and industry.
• James Ricles, Richard Sause, and former Ph.D. student, Larry Fahnestock, all of the Civil & Environmental Engineering department, received the 2009 Raymond C. Reese Research Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for contributions to the application of structural engineering. Fahnestock is now an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Illinois-Champaign.

"Students"

• For their work in Pueblo Nuevo, Honduras, the Lehigh student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is receiving some hard-earned recognition. In March, the group was awarded one of one hundred $10,000 Davis Project for Peace prizes to promote peace in the small Honduras town and improve their water supply. Most recently, EWB was named the Lehigh Student Club/Organization of the Year. President Natalie Smith and treasurer Nick Kastango were also individually recognized with the Service Above Self Award and the Allegiance Award, respectively. In addition, EWB received first prize in Lehigh's 2009 Eureka! Social Venture Creation Competition for Student Entrepreneurs. Last year, EWB received a P3 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for their work on projects that promote sustainable development.
• Virginia Nyikadzino '11, a civil engineering major, has developed a project over the last few months to bring to light the plight of children in her native country of Zimbabwe. Nyikadzino encouraged children in her home country to write essays about their lives and send them to her in the states. In addition she convinced Lehigh's Global Union to purchase pictures from international journalist and photographer, Fungai James Tichiwangana, to create a display that is currently set up in Lucy's Café in the Linderman Library.
• Nader Okasha, a Ph.D. candidate working with professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering Dan Frangopol, was awarded the 2009 Nevada Medal for Distinguished Graduate Student Paper in Bridge Engineering. His winning paper is titled, "A Novel Approach for the Optimization of Bridge Maintenance."
• Progress in the lab of Qiaoqiang Gan, Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering, and advisor Fil Bartoli, the Chandler Weaver Chair and professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, was highlighted by the latest issue of Nature Photonics, a top journal in the field. Gan and Bartoli seek ways of controlling and manipulating light to improve the capabilities of optical computing and telecommunications.
• During the annual review meeting of Lehigh's Emulsion Polymers Institute (EPI), Chemical engineering graduate student Oznur Saygý-Arslan received the 2009 Kenneth A. Earhart Award for her presentation Aspects of Droplet and Particle Size Control in Miniemulsions. The award is made possible by Dr. Neal J. Earhart '89P, and named in honor of his father, a 1930 Lehigh graduate. Students Andrés Vargas, Megan Casey, and Su Jeong Han were also recognized for their research during the EPI meeting.
• Ph.D. candidate Yik-Khoon Ee won Best Student Paper Award at the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Photonics Global Conference. Ee, advised by Nelson Tansu, P.C. Rossin Assistant Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, competed with more than 275 other papers for the honor. His research focuses on reducing improving the efficiency of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for eventual use lighting applications -- an effort that could one day help widely reduce energy consumption and related environmental impact.

"Alumni"

• The Industrial & Systems Engineering Department (ISE) celebrated its 60th anniversary with an open house, a panel discussion on the history and future of the discipline, a lecture from John McGlade, '76, ‘80G , and a banquet dinner and awards ceremony. McGlade, who is President, Chairman, and CEO of Air Products and Chemicals, as well as a member of the Lehigh Board of Trustees gave the Spring 2009 installment of the department's Spencer Schantz Distinguished lecture Series, and was named Alumnus of the Year during the banquet. The panel discussion featured McGlade along with Deborah Halkins ‘83, Director of Management Engineering at Lehigh Valley Health Network, George Kledaras ‘87, founder of CecilRep and FIX Flyer who serves on the Lehigh Board of Trustees as well as the Engineering Advisory Board, Stephen Senkowski ‘73, President of Armstrong World Industries, and Louis Martin-Vega, Dean of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University.
• Adam Mack '06 and four of his co-workers at IDEO, a design and innovation consultancy based in Palo California, having been working out of their Boston office to create a tricycle that stores and purifies water as the cyclist rides from one place to another. The team was inspired to build the Aquaduct by the "Innovate or Die Pedal-Powered Machine" contest sponsored by Specialized Bicycles, Google, and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. In January 2008, the team won the competition and donated their $5,000 prize to a non-profit organization that develops new technologies in Africa. Although the trike was originally designed to bring awareness to water-related issues, it may find a niche in the global market.
• On April 20th, P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science held its 2009 Celebration of Rossin Professors and Fellows. The event, held annually in honor of the late Peter C. Rossin '48 who with his wife, Ada, established a $25-million endowment for the college, honors faculty and students who continue to carry his legacy through academic excellence, service, and leadership.

"Programs"

• In April, the annual David and Lorraine Freed Undergraduate Research Symposium, endowed by Andrew Freed '83 in honor of his parents, for the first time invited not only to students from Lehigh, but also from archrival Lafayette. Students from both schools placed well, but the top six Lehigh finishers, including first place winner, Steven Henry '09, were also invited to compete in the university-wide 2009 Academic Symposium on April 16, which featured more than forty posters from graduates and undergraduates in each of Lehigh's four colleges, along with invited keynote speakers.
• Charting Horizons and Opportunities In Careers in Engineering and Science (CHOICES), the program that brings middle school girls to Lehigh to get them excited about engineering, took over Wood Dining Room again on Friday, April 3. The Lehigh student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) collaborated with the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science to plan the event and acted as mentors to the girls during the day's activities.
• The first ever Canstruction event in the Lehigh Valley was held at Lehigh University in mid-March. Students from Lehigh and Broughal Middle School collaborated to build structures using only food cans. The program was featured on the April 6th episode of Tempo on PBS. To view the half an hour segment, please follow this link, and click the tab for ‘April 6 Education.'
• The U.S. News and World Report has published its "America's Best Graduate Schools 2010" reviews and once again, the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science and the College of Education are each ranked in the top fifty of their respective categories. The Engineering College is once again 42nd in the nation among colleges in engineering, and the Education College has appeared at the 41st place this year.
• The spring 2009 issue of Resolve Magazine is available online. Features this month include the use of zinc in solar energy storage, the development bone, muscle, and brain tissues from adult stem cells, and a look at students taking advantage of the Arts and Engineering Program at Lehigh.

     

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