Pamplin professor receives Fulbright grant
Janine Hiller, professor of business law in the Pamplin College of Business, has received a Fulbright Scholar grant and the Fulbright-Lund Distinguished Chair of International Public Law. She will spend the fall 2010 semester in Sweden at Lund University's Raoul Wallenberg Institute of International Human Rights Law. Hiller will participate in undergraduate programs and faculty and graduate-student seminars, and pursue a research project comparing Swedish, European Union, and U.S. approaches to balancing patient privacy and health rights in the area of electronic health-record systems.
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Lockhart to serve on National Institutes of Health review board
Thurmon Lockhart, an associate professor in the College of Engineering's Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, has been invited to serve a five-year term on the Center for Scientific Review's Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Sciences Study Section at the National Institutes of Health. His term began on July 1, and expires on June 30, 2016. Selection is based on demonstrated expertise and achievement in an area of study, including quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and peer-group honors.
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U.S. News gives high marks to undergraduate engineering, business programs
Virginia Tech ranks 69th among the 100 best universities--an advancement of two places from recent years--in U.S. News & World Report's survey of undergraduate programs, America's Best Colleges 2011. The College of Engineering ranks 13th among the nation's top 20 engineering schools, up from last year's 14th place. The Pamplin College of Business again ranked No. 42 among the top 50 business schools.
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Lieberman awarded first graduate scholarship from NCR alumni chapter
Perrin Lieberman is the first graduate student in the National Capital Region to be awarded an academic scholarship by the region's Alumni Association chapter. A full-time student who expects to graduate in May 2011, Lieberman is pursuing a master of arts in education, with a concentration in counselor education, in the School of Education at the Northern Virginia Center.
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Clinical trial points to simple appetite control method: drinking water
Brenda Davy, associate professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is the senior author on a recent study that reports results of a new clinical trial confirming that two eight-ounce glasses of water before meals can increase dieters' weight loss by about five pounds. The study included 48 adults, aged 55-75 years, divided into two groups. One group drank two cups of water prior to meals; the other did not. Over the course of 12 weeks, water drinkers lost about 15.5 pounds, while those not drinking water before meals lost about 11 pounds.
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Lumenhaus sweeps European Solar Decathlon
Lumenhaus, Virginia Tech's entry in Solar Decathlon Europe, won the 10-day competition this summer in Madrid. The solar house--designed and originally constructed on the Blacksburg campus--was declared the most efficient structure in the decathlon. Seventeen solar houses from seven countries on three continents were judged in 10 different categories. The house tied for first in architecture, placed second in communication and social awareness, and placed third in industrialization and market viability and in lighting. A team of faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students from four Virginia Tech colleges designed and built the solar house. Learn more at www.lumenhaus.com.
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Office of Economic Development spearheads team that lands $4.7 million grant
Twenty-five partners on a Virginia Tech-led team will help train health care workers in the new world of electronic medical records. Under a $4.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, the team--drawn from industry, academia, and government--will focus health information technology training in communities hit hard by job losses in Southwest Virginia. Called HITE, for Health Information Technology Education, the initiative will target workers in nursing, pharmacy, and medical-assistant fields.
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Stroup named photographer of the year
Jim Stroup of the Office of University Relations was named Photographer of the Year by the University Photographers' Association of America (UPAA). At the annual UPAA symposium in June, Stroup also won the Nikon Shoot Out Competition and the Monthly Image Competition Award, making him the first photographer to win all three major awards in one year.
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Biologist awarded Human Frontier Science Program grant
Daniela Cimini, assistant professor of biological sciences in the College of Science, is the first researcher from Virginia Tech to be awarded a collaborative international grant from the Human Frontier Science Program. Cimini will share the $1.05 million, three-year grant with two colleagues from universities in Austria and Germany. Cimini has a growing international reputation in the study of chromosome structure and mechanics, molecular controls over cell division, and relationships between errors in cell division and many human diseases, including cancer.
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Research funded by recovery act exceeds $34 million
Faculty members have been awarded more than $34 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act since it was passed in February 2009. Of the 91 awards, 47 are from the National Science Foundation, while others are sponsored by such organizations as the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Justice, and National Institute of Standards and Technology.
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Geoscientist awarded Fulbright to study in France
A Fulbright grant will enable Tom Burbey, associate professor of geosciences in the College of Science, to travel to France this fall to study fractured rock hydrogeology. Along with his French counterparts, Burbey will conduct research at a site in Ploemeur, France. His research focuses on fluid flow and aquifer-system dynamics in complex fractured and faulted systems.
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Burbey's BLOG: Adventures in France as a Fulbright Scholar
Amphibious aircraft takes first place in NASA contest
Ten Virginia Tech undergraduate aerospace engineering students took the top prize in a NASA aeronautics competition for college students to develop a multipurpose amphibious aircraft. The engineering students were asked to design a civilian aircraft that could rescue up to 50 survivors in the event of a natural disaster. Their design appeared as a rotorcraft that resembled a catamaran. NASA's Aeronautics Mission Directorate in Washington sponsored the competition through the subsonic rotary wing project in its Fundamental Aeronautics Program. More than 100 college students from across the globe entered the contest as part of teams or as individuals.
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Tire research center established in Southside Virginia
Virginia Tech announced the creation of the National Tire Research Center (NTRC), an advanced tire research and test facility in Southside Virginia. The facility is a partnership among the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, General Motors (GM) Company, the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, the Southside Virginia community, and the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Relations Revitalization Commission. The NTRC will generate more than $12 million in testing and research expenditures within five years and will create up to 183 new jobs in the local economy by 2020.
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Chemist honored with Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
Edward Valeev, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Science, is one of 14 researchers across the country to receive the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award for 2010. The $75,000 award recognizes leadership in chemistry research and education, providing funding for young faculty members in the early stages of their careers. Valeev's research group works toward accurate quantum-mechanical prediction of properties of molecules and materials.
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Google funds scholarships for Haitian students
Google has provided funds to fully support four Haitian Virginia Tech students pursuing graduate degrees in computer science. Sherley Codio, Fabrice Marcelin, Jennifer François, and Mario Calixte will continue their studies at Virginia Tech, thanks to the support. Their studies were part of a three-year initiative funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development through Higher Education for Development to train a new generation of technical professionals for Haiti. All four were in the United States at the time of the Jan. 12 earthquake.
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Tech receives $1.4 million science-education award
Virginia Tech was among 50 research universities nationwide to receive a Precollege and Undergraduate Science Education Program award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The award will be used to encourage faculty members to develop new ways to teach undergraduate students about science and research. The $1.4 million award--the university's first education award from HHMI--was among $70 million in grants given by the institute this summer. HHMI invited 197 research-focused universities to apply for the grants.
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Nature preserve dedicated, donated by alumni
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Virginia established a 222-acre nature preserve north of Blacksburg, Va., the result of a donation from Evelyn Lilly Blake (M.S. home economics '49) of Daleville, Va. The Oscar Jennings (M.S. architecture engineering '49) and Evelyn Lilly Blake Preserve contains a large swath of rare calcareous forest and was granted Natural Area Preserve status by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. In a calcareous forest, porous limestone bedrock provides a foundation for nutrient-rich soils. As a result, most calcareous forests in Virginia were converted to agriculture; less than 5 percent of these forests in Virginia remain intact. The Blakes lived in the area for many years and wanted to see the land protected by TNC. Oscar Blake, now deceased, was a professor of civil engineering (1953-85).
"Mrs. Blake's generosity reveals how important a role private landowners play in preserving Virginia's outdoors for future generations," said TNC Director Michael Lipford (biological sciences '78). "Their conservation ethic is critical to the protection of the commonwealth's forest land and the air and water quality benefits we receive from healthy forests."
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Janis Terpenny to hold director's post at National Science Foundation
Janis Terpenny, professor of engineering education and mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering, is joining the National Science Foundation (NSF). On Aug. 30, Terpenny began as program director for the Division of Undergraduate Education, Directorate for Education and Human Resources at the NSF. Her work is in programs advocating science, technology, engineering, and math, as well as cyber-service.
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Research aims to prevent bullying
A study under way in the Department of Psychology in the College of Science has shown a decrease in reported bullying and an increase in caring behavior among school-age children as the result of using a program developed by Alumni Distinguished Professor E. Scott Geller. The program, called Actively Caring, encourages students to report bullying behavior and, at the same time, recognizes students who show acts of kindness and compassion.
"Bullying is a serious epidemic sweeping across our country today," said Shane McCarty, senior marketing major who is leading the research. "This program encourages a culture where it's cool to care for others."
Geller is an internationally known expert in the psychology of safety and applies the Actively Caring concept to improve safety-related behaviors. He has found that increasing an individual's self-esteem, sense of belonging, self-efficacy, personal control, and optimism can improve that person's propensity to actively care for other people.
The group plans to extend the program to elementary schools along the East Coast.
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Actively Caring program gets notice in The Washington Post
Equine medical center receives award of excellence
The U.S. Park Police Horse Mounted Patrol recently presented an Award of Excellence to the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center for the "truly exceptional veterinary services received from this nationally recognized equine health care facility." The award states that "for decades, this premier equine hospital has provided both intensive and critical equine health care services for the U.S. Park Police horses." Amy Troppmann, director of development for the center, accepted the award.
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U.S. Marine Corps to use autonomous vehicles built by engineering students
The U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory worked closely with Virginia Tech and TORC Technologies in the creation of four Ground Unmanned Support Surrogates. The unmanned vehicles can carry up to 1,800 pounds and can move at the speed of a soldier on foot, about five miles per hour. The vehicles are designed to re-supply troops, to reduce the loads manually carried by Marines, and to provide an immediate means for the evacuation of casualties.
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"Top 10 unmanned aerial vehicles taking flight" (Discovery News, Nov. 3, 2010)
Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team scores second place in competition
Virginia Tech's Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team recently took second place in the international EcoCAR Challenge, a three-year design competition that seeks to inspire science and engineering students to build automobiles that are more energy-efficient. The team won second place overall and won the categories of electrical presentation, static consumer acceptability presentation, braking distance, lane change, use of National Instruments tools, progress reports, and pre-competition safety tech inspection. In all, the team captured $10,000 in prize money.
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