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Dean of Natural Resources to retire
 Gregory N. Brown, dean of the College of Natural Resources, will retire at the end of June. The only dean the college has had, Brown is also a tenured professor and associate director of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station. Brown delayed his retirement when he was tapped to also serve as interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in January 2003, a position he held for seven months. The College of Natural Resources, created by legislative mandate, evolved from the School of Forestry and Wildlife Resources in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The school became the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources in 1993 and changed its name in 1999, under Brown’s guidance, to open more doors with funding agencies and prospective students.
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Tech's supercomputer to get a facelift
Virginia Tech made supercomputing history--and international headlines--last fall when it built System X, the most powerful supercomputer at any university and the third fastest in the world. [See Winter 2004 issue, page 8.] Now the university will migrate its cluster of Power Mac G5 desktop computers to Apple's new Xserve G5 rack-mounted 1U server. Xserve G5 delivers more than 15 gigaflops of peak double-precision processing power per system and features the same revolutionary PowerPC G5, 64-bit processor used in System X's cluster of 1,100 Power Mac G5s. The discarded G5s will be re-sold by computer retailer MacMall, which is exhorting buyers to "Own a piece of history!"
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New inventions bring home the bacon
In a new survey released by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), Virginia Tech ranked 26th among universities without a medical school in income earned from the licensing of inventions in 2001. That year, Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties (VTIP), which evaluates, patents, and markets inventions and discoveries by university faculty, staff, and students, executed 12 licenses, and income rose to just over $2 million. The 2001 AUTM survey also ranked Virginia Tech 19th in the number of start-up companies from intellectual properties at universities without a medical school and VTIP fifth in the number of patents applied for, as well as 19th in patents awarded. In the fiscal year ending last June, VTIP earned more than $2.3 million from intellectual properties and was awarded 34 patents.
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New biomedical research institute created
Virginia Tech has created a new interdisciplinary research facility, the Institute for Biomedical and Public Health Sciences (IBPHS), to foster an interactive environment for scholars and scientists and to increase opportunities to compete for grants from such organizations as the National Institutes of Health. The IBPHS will also strengthen graduate education and work with human health-related educational and governmental institutions. Initial research will focus on infectious diseases and immunology--funding for which has increased from $2.3 million in 2000 to more than $7 million in 2003--and on public health problems such as obesity, which affects more than 60 percent of the adult population.
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Tech student named to USA Today academic team
Ashley White, a senior honors student pursuing degrees in materials science and engineering and music performance, has been named to USA Today's 2004 All-USA College Academic Team. The annual program honors 60 undergraduates who excel in both scholarship and leadership; White is one of 20 students on the third team. USA Today cited White's 11-week tour of Paraguay and Mexico in summer 2003, where she worked with youth orchestra programs. An accomplished violinist and student of Spanish, she used her University Honors Scholarship to fund the tour. This spring, she is in Italy, studying engineering and music at the University of Rome. White, who plans to graduate in May 2005, is the fourth Virginia Tech student ever selected for the All-USA Team.
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Professor named "Outstanding Scientist"
 University Distinguished Professor of Biology John J. Tyson was named one of Virginia's three Outstanding Scientists of 2004. Tyson is a world leader in the newly emerging field of computational cell biology. Among his research projects, he is seeking to understand the molecular mechanisms that control cellular decision-making processes, such as when cells should divide or how they anticipate sunrise. Along with Professor Bela Novak of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Tyson builds mathematical models of genes and proteins and then simulates the changing patterns of molecular activity. This approach is projected to lead to greater scientific understanding of the molecular basis of life.
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The Women's Center: A decade of support
With a mission "to promote a Virginia Tech community that is safe, equitable, and supportive for women," the Women's Center, located in Price House on the north end of campus, is celebrating 10 years of service to the university.
 To commemorate this milestone, several special events have been scheduled for the spring and fall semesters. Kicking off the anniversary celebration in mid-February with a performance by Sweet Honey in the Rock--a six-woman a cappella group whose music over 30 years has addressed human rights and women's issues--and a gala reception and dinner in early March, the center also has planned a reading by Virginia novelist and activist Rita Mae Brown and an appearance by Cynthia Saint James, whose art has appeared on the covers of books by such writers as Alice Walker and Terry McMillan. In the works for the fall is a women's leadership conference, says center Program Director Mary Grace Campos.
A unit of the Office of the Provost, the Women's Center provides hands-on services to all women in the university community, including advocacy, individual counseling, and special programming that highlights leadership, outreach, and education. Interim Director Linda Mitchell (marketing management '78) oversees six staff members (among them, a licensed clinical social worker), two graduate assistants, and a team of volunteers that logged more than 3,000 hours last year.
The recipient of a $300,000 renewal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to raise campus awareness of sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking, the center has "reached 30,000 professors, staff members, students, and families of students through education, crisis intervention, short-term counseling, support groups, and accompaniment to law enforcement, medical facilities, and judicial proceedings," reports Maureen Lazar (M.Ed. higher education and student affairs '02), the center's victim services outreach coordinator. "More than 150 students, faculty, and staff have come to the Women's Center for counseling services, and our Stop Abuse website [http:// www.stopabuse.vt.edu/], which went online in late 2002, has attracted more than 6,800 visits."
For more information about the Women's Center, go to http://www.womenscenter.vt.edu.
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The early bird gets the oar:
The men's crew team heaves to during a sunrise practice at Claytor Lake.
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Architecture, interior design programs among the best
According to industry publications DesignIntelligence and the Almanac of Architecture and Design, executives from top U.S. design firms have ranked Virginia Tech's architecture undergraduate program fourth in the nation, up from 14th in 2003, and the interior design program eighth, up from 10th. Virginia Tech was 12th in the Editor's Choice value ranking among design schools with tuition under $19,999.
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Executive M.B.A. program now in D.C.
In February, the Pamplin College of Business launched an 18-month executive M.B.A. program for senior-level professionals in the Washington, D.C., area. The program focuses on ethical and entrepreneurial leadership in a global environment and on strategic management of information technology. A 10-day, faculty-led study-abroad program will also allow students to explore international business practices and the effect of cultural differences on business. Recently, the Financial Times ranked Tech's M.B.A. program at the Blacksburg campus 63rd among business schools worldwide and 43rd among U.S. business schools. For more information on the new executive M.B.A. program, go to http://www.emba.cob.vt.edu/.
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Chemistry professor wins NSF CAREER Award
Alan R. Esker, assistant professor of chemistry, has won a five-year, $500,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award designed to encourage promising young researchers. Esker's research is aimed at understanding the properties of polymer stabilized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) at surfaces and interfaces and providing insights into using MNPs for biomedical diagnostics and the treatment of such diseases as cancer and blindness resulting from macular degeneration. The ultimate goal of the research is to harness MNPs for hyperthermia, or the use of heat to alter the physiological state of cells. One example would be to trap drugs inside MNPs and use a magnetic field to deliver them to the exact site of the diseased cells. In turn, an alternating magnetic field could then be used to generate heat with the MNPs to melt the stabilizing polymer coating and release the drug to the specific site, thereby avoiding damage to healthy tissue. Esker's work is done in collaboration with Judy S. Riffle, professor of chemistry and director of the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Program.
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Former VMRCVM dean recognized by Virginia General Assembly
Former Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Peter Eyre was recognized for his 18 years of service to the Commonwealth of Virginia with a joint resolution of commendation passed by the Virginia General Assembly, the oldest continuously meeting democratic body in the western hemisphere.
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University to address core curriculum issues
Virginia Tech will develop an action plan to "review, refine, and revitalize" its core curriculum in time for the 2004-05 academic year, says University Provost Mark McNamee. "We need to remove barriers to innovation and to have a mechanism for fast-track approval of promising pilot programs and courses." The provost will work with department heads, deans, the University Core Curriculum Committee, and the Commission on Undergraduate Studies and Policies to adjust existing structures to accommodate new processes. One of McNamee's goals is to ensure that modes of evaluating the core as a whole and of assessing individual areas become key components of the efforts to strengthen the curriculum.
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Professor elected head of national association
Donald J. Orth, the Thomas H. Jones Professor and department head of fisheries and wildlife sciences in the College of Natural Resources, was named president-elect of the National Association of University Fisheries and Wildlife Programs. The association, which represents 55 university programs, seeks to increase public understanding of fisheries and wildlife management and conservation; strengthen fisheries and wildlife education, research, Extension, and international programs at the university level; and advance fisheries and wildlife science and management.
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Digital History project boosted by NEH funding
A $219,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will sponsor Tech's new Digital History Reader project. Comprised of two components, "United States History" and "Modern Europe in a Global Context," the Digital History Reader will be designed for introductory level survey courses at colleges and universities and for advanced history courses at the secondary level. Educators around the world will be able to access the modules through an NEH website. Glenn Bugh, chair of the history department, says the project fits with four other department projects: its online American history modules, which were funded by two grants from the Center for Innovative Learning; the digitizing of Civil War-era newspapers for the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies; the award-winning Virtual Jamestown project, supported by funds from the Mellon Foundation; and the development of a collaborative Ph.D. proposal, "Digital History and Geography."
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Researchers hope to clone disease-resistant cattle
A grant of approximately $300,000 from the National Institutes of Health will fund research in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) to clone cattle that are genetically incapable of developing bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly referred to as "mad cow disease." The first U.S. case of the deadly, brain-wasting disease was diagnosed in late December. VMRCVM doctors Will Eyestone and Bill Huckle are researching the pathogenic prions believed to cause the disease. Their goal is to breed a cow that cannot produce prions and then determine whether the animal's viability and function are affected. If successful, their work could lead to a strategy for containing the risks of the internationally widespread disease.
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Research expenditures grow at slower pace
During fiscal year 2003, Virginia Tech's research expenditures grew 6.6 percent to $247.8 million. Although it's less than the 12-percent increase experienced during the previous fiscal year, Jim Blair, interim vice provost for research, says that any growth is admirable in the face of budget cuts that have reduced faculty numbers and increased the teaching loads of remaining faculty. The 2003 numbers were reported in late January to the National Science Foundation, which ranks research universities based on expenditures. The 2002 ranking has not yet been released, but in 2001, Virginia Tech was 49th among nearly 600 colleges and universities. President Charles Steger has challenged the university to be in the top 30 by 2010.
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New grant funds study of oxidation processes
A team of Tech researchers has received a five-year, $3.2 million National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship award for the Macromolecular Interfaces with Life Sciences (MILES) program. MILES uses free radical and oxidation processes as the thematic basis for research and education at the chemistry-biology interface. According to the project summary, "Oxygen-centered radicals are intermediates in key chemical and biological processes, such as lipid oxidation, aging, and product deterioration. ... Oxidative stress is implicated in many chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, obesity, and the compromise of immune function." Antioxidants--molecules that scavenge the free oxygen-centered radicals--are currently used as a defense against these diseases, which is the reason millions of people take a known antioxidant, vitamin E.
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Toyota-funded project to study elderly drivers
Toyota Motor Corp. is funding research at Virginia Tech aimed at better understanding the needs of elderly drivers in the U.S. According to principal investigator Thurmon Lockhart, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering and director of Tech's Locomotion Research Laboratory, the study will investigate visual changes that affect the way people of different ages view control panels in automobiles, as well as changes in the way drivers hear warning signals. The ultimate goal is to develop in-vehicle warning signals that will enhance safety for drivers of all ages.
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Professor wins award for hypnosis research
Helen Crawford, professor of psychology in the College of Science, received the 2003 Ernest R. Hilgard Award for Scientific Excellence from the International Society of Hypnosis. Crawford researches the neurophysiology of hypnosis, pain control, attention, and, more recently, the genetic determinants of hypnotizability. Working with several physicians in the Blacksburg area, Crawford determined that some people could reduce or eliminate pain and, upon learning hypnotic analgesia techniques in the lab, were able to successfully control their own back pain, lowering their depression and raising their sense of well-being.
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