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ALUMNI NEWS
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Sheep center named for retired professor
Two graduates named Madison fellows
Dekker elected rector of Tech Board of Visitors
Nobel Prize awarded to Robert Richardson '58
Robert C. Richardson (physics '58, M.S. '60) has won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics. Richardson, who is Cornell University's Floyd R. Newman Professor of Physics and director of the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, shares the prize with a fellow Cornell professor and a former doctoral student now at Stanford.
The two discovered that a helium isotope, helium 3, can be made into a superfluid--meaning that it can flow without resistance--at about two-thousandths of a degree above absolute zero. Such a discovery is outside the realm of classical physics, which says that movement always causes resistance.
The discovery gives scientists studying the origins of the universe a possible explanation for why stars and galaxies are clumped rather than evenly scattered throughout the universe. The theory is based on the idea that the original material for the universe was a superfluid, and therefore did not encounter friction after the "Big Bang." It is friction that causes debris from an explosion to scatter in an even pattern.
Richardson has taught at Cornell since 1968. He has served since 1989 on Virginia Tech's Physics Advisory Committee, a troup that meets occasionally to examine the university's physics program and to offer advice on its future directions.l Richardson is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Editor's Note: The February issue will contain a feature story on Richardson. Back to Contents
Sheep center named for retired professor
Virginia Tech's sheep center has been named in honor of Jackson Copenhaver (ANSC '42), a retired professor of animal science whose work helped establish Virginia's sheep industry as one of the largest and most productive in the eastern United States.
The sheep center currently manages 900 ewes, rams, and lambs. It supports undergraduate and graduate teaching programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as teaching programs for the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. Research being conducted there focuses on improving the reproductive performance of sheep.
Copenhaver, a Blacksburg resident, retired in 1985 after 39 years on the faculty of the university's department of animal science. Back to Contents
Two graduates named Madison fellows
The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation has announced that two of its 62 fellows for graduate study are Virginia Tech graduates.
Michael D'Altrui, who graduated in communication studies in May with a minor in history, and Jennifer E. Hoffman, who earned a B.A. in political science in 1992 with a minor in English, were selected in a national competition for the fellowship that funds up to $24,000 for study toward a master's degree in history.
D'Altrui, a dean's list student, plans to teach English in Korea for a year before pursuing graduate studies leading to a teaching career. Hoffman has been pursuing a master's degree at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas while working as a financial-services representative at the Nevada Federal Credit Union.
The James Madison Fellowship funds study toward a master's degree that includes a concentration of courses on the history and principles of the U.S. Constitution. The fellowship requires recipients to teach American history or social studies in a secondary school for at least one year for each year of fellowship support. Back to Contents
Henry Dekker (ACCT '44), vice rector of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, has been elected by the board to serve as rector.
Dekker has served on the university board since 1989 and has been involved in numerous leadership roles. He is director of the Virginia Tech Foundation, a senior benefactor of the foundation, a member of the Pamplin College of Business Advisory Board, chairman of its development committee, and chairman of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Alumni Association. He received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1987.
Dekker spent his career in the textile business with extensive experience in Europe and the United States. Later, he founded Louis Feraud of America to import and distribute the line of upscale women's apparel on this side of the Atlantic. He retired as vice chairman in 1991.
Dekker's leadership at Virginia Tech began early. He was class president each of his first three years and was elected president of the corps in 1942. Dekker succeeds Clifton Garvin, the retired chairman of the board of Exxon Corp., as rector. Garvin's term expired June 30, after eight years on the board. The board also selected James E. Turner, executive vice president of General Dynamic's marine group, to serve as vice rector. Back to Contents
