A new Center for Leadership Studies has been established in the Pamplin College of Business to offer leadership development programs for students throughout the university, support academic research in leadership, and raise funds for leadership activities.

The new center will also coordinate leadership programs across campus, including the Corps of Cadets Center for Leader Development, the Department of Management's Business Leadership Center, and the leadership-related activities organized by the Pamplin College's undergraduate programs office, Student Affairs, and Interdisciplinary Studies.

The Business Leadership Center is developing a concentration in leadership that will combine experiential learning with classroom instruction in leadership and management theory, ethics, and community service. Participating undergraduate and graduate students will develop leadership skills through classes, interaction with successful business leaders and scholars, and participation in leadership roles in the college and the university.

The center seeks to raise $10 million in private funds over the next three years toward scholarships, professorships, and program.

Its director will report to Pamplin College Dean Richard Sorensen, who will oversee the center with the help of an advisory board. Back to Contents

A team of engineering students from Virginia Tech won first place in the NASA/FAA General Aviation Design Competition, claiming $11,000 for its design of a high-performance aircraft. Dubbed VicTor, the four-seat aircraft was constructed of composites and incorporated advanced cockpit design and safety devices, including airbags, among other features. Its control system was designed for autonomous flight, operating from start to finish without pilot control. A 1/9th scale model was constructed.

In July 1998, as part of the same competition, the Air Force Research Labs awarded the team first place for "Best Use Of Air Force Technology" for incorporating the Global Positioning System into the aircraft's navigation system, and using Air Force data on ergonomics and anthropomorphic data. Back to Contents

Mark Pitt, assistant professor of physics at Virginia Tech, has received the National Science Foundation's Career award of $352,000 over four years to support his research and teaching activities.

Pitt's research is done at high-energy electron accelerators, often referred to as atom smashers. He uses the high-energy electron beams to learn more about the underlying structure of the fundamental constituents of matter, the proton and neutron. In particular, one of his experiments is aimed at determining how the particles that make up the proton, called quarks, contribute to its magnetism. The proton's magnetism makes the lifesaving diagnostic medical technique known as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) possible.

The teaching aspect of his proposal includes the development and incorporation of learning modules using mathematical symbolic manipulation software into several physics classes at the advanced undergraduate level. Back to Contents

Virginia Tech is expanding its engineering research programs in the Northern Virginia area by opening an institute close to a concentration of high-tech businesses and federal funding sources. President Paul Torgersen says it will answer long-standing requests from industry to increase high-tech research efforts in Northern Virginia.

By the spring of 2000, an estimated 25 full-time faculty and 75 graduate students will be working at the new Alexandria Research Institute. The center will first host researchers in engineering departments--electrical and computer, civil, environmental, materials science, industrial and systems engineering, and mining and minerals--that have existing relationships with corporate and federal partners in the Washington, D.C. area. Other Tech engineering and research centers will have satellite facilities located at the site.

International cooperation will be a focus of the center, which should have a faculty and student body composed 20 percent of foreign nationals. Scholars from France, Switzerland, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, and Singapore are expected to be among the first international visitors to join the research teams at ARI. Back to Contents

General Colin Powell speaks on campus The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the U.S. Department of Defense spoke at Tech on volunteerism on March 30 as part of a student volunteer program of University Unions and Student Activities. Back to Contents

A Virginia Tech philosophy professor, Deborah Mayo, was named one of two winners of the international Lakatos Award recognizing outstanding contributions to the philosophy of science. Mayo gained attention for her 1996 book, Error and the Growth of Experimental Knowledge, that probes the philosophical problem of how scientists gain reliable experimental knowledge in the face of uncertainty and error.

Mayo is the first woman to receive London School of Economics' Lakatos, considered the highest international award in the philosophy of science. The prize of 10,000 British pounds will be shared by Mayo and a professor from the University of Maryland. Back to Contents

No mystery meat is served at Virginia Tech these days. But, in a competition for certified chefs called the mystery basket, two Virginia Tech chefs, Jud Flynn and Chris Martin, knew how to solve the mystery. Each man won two medals in the James Madison University/American Culinary Federation Culinary Salon in November.

Flynn took silver and Martin bronze in the mystery basket category, which gave each chef a basket of various ingredients and four hours to create a four-course meal, including dessert.

Likewise, Flynn won silver and Martin bronze in the contemporary category, where each chef presented an entree recipe beforehand, then prepared two portions, one for taste and one for display. Flynn prepared a chicken dish, and Martin fixed pork tenderloin. Back to Contents

Twice each semester, a large group of Tech students travels away from campus in order to focus more intently on studying.

The Center for Academic Enrichment and Excellence sponsors a retreat to Camp Alta Mons in nearby Shawsville for the first 40 undergraduates who want to participate. Meals and lodging are provided at no cost.

The only requirement is a commitment to at least 15 hours of studying over the weekend. The schedule is structured for meals and light entertainment, with some free time for hiking or relaxing in the natural surroundings. Amelia Clark, coordinator of the Study Retreat program, says Camp Alta Mons was chosen "because of its rustic, no-frills environment." With no telephones or television, distractions are kept to a minimum."

The program always has many more students apply than can be accommodated. Retreats are held the weekends prior to mid-terms and finals. Back to Contents

The College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources at Virginia Tech has added another continent to its student exchange program. This year the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa joined the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and the University of Melbourne in Australia as Tech's exchange partner.

Students spend February through December abroad, working in that country for a summer. Students, two from each school, are selected based on their scholarship, an essay, and their participation in forestry and wildlife organizations. Back to Contents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded Tech nearly $300,000 over three years to establish a Graduate Automotive Technology Education (GATE) Center of Excellence and award several related fellowships.

DOE's goal in awarding the competitive GATE grants is to enlist the help of graduate students and faculty to work with industry in developing environmentally safe and ultra fuel-efficient cars of the future. The grants will enable nine U.S. schools to offer a graduate degree in engineering with a focus on one of five advanced automotive technologies--fuel cells, lightweight materials, direct injection diesel engines, advance energy storage, and hybrid electric drive trains and control systems.

At Virginia Tech, mechanical engineering professor Doug Nelson will head up the GATE center and a graduate program in fuel-cell research. The GATE grant will enable Nelson and faculty colleagues to develop a new graduate course in fuel cell systems and will help establish a multidisciplinary Automotive Fuel Cell Systems Laboratory. Back to Contents