Global Marathon spreads the word on engineering

Washington, DC - As part of its ongoing effort to attract more young women to science, technology and engineering, the EWeek organization staged its fourth annual “Global Marathon for, by and about women in engineering.” Twenty-four hours of webcasts, Internet chats and teleconferences took place at the EWeek website, with many of the sessions led by female engineers.

Honorary chairperson for the Global Marathon was Judy Spitz, SVP and CIO at Verizon Business. “Simply put, the Global Marathon is a two-way communication forum,” said Spitz. “Not only does it give young women the opportunity to hear about career opportunities in engineering and technology, it gives women already in those careers a way to share their stories, encourage other women to consider a future in engineering and technology, and create a vision for these young women that they may not yet have for themselves.”

In order to inform young women of many cultures about engineering careers, the program was structured in six-hour blocks that followed the sun around the planet. After a kick-off in North America the marathon proceeded westward through five additional regions: Mexico and Latin America, China, India, Africa and the Middle East, and the UK and Europe before returning to North America for closing ceremonies. Each region’s activities were chaired by female techies from a different company or organization, including IBM, BP, the Chinese Institute of Engineers-USA, DuPont and Verizon.

Yale names first female dean of engineering

New Haven, CT - T. Kyle Vanderlick has been named dean of engineering and the Thomas E. Golden professor of engineering at Yale. An award-winning researcher and teacher, Vanderlick was most recently professor and chair of the department of ChE at Princeton University. She is the first female engineering dean at the university.

Vanderlick is an expert on interfacial forces, interactions that occur near or between surfaces. Her research group specializes in the application and development of experimental methods designed to probe the properties of surfaces, confined fluids and membranes. Her work has led to new and fundamental insights across a range of areas ranging from metallic adhesion in micro- and nano-scale devices to the action of antimicrobial peptides on cell membranes.

Vanderlick has a BS and an MS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in ChE from the University of Minnesota. She launched her academic career after completing a NATO postdoctoral fellowship in Mainz, Germany. She received a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship in 1991 and was named a Presidential Young Investigator by the National Science Foundation in 1989.

Sanjoy Banerjee joins CCNY engineering faculty

Brooklyn, NY - Dr Sanjoy Banerjee has joined the faculty of the Grove School of Engineering at City College of New York as distinguished professor of ChE and director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Technologies. Under Banerjee, the school will expand its energy and sustainability research and teaching programs, specifically to develop sustainable energy technology, store it efficiently and deliver it on demand.

Initially the Institute’s work will focus on developing flow battery applications for use in buildings and transportation. Flow batteries are rechargeable batteries in which chemical energy is converted to electricity.

Banerjee also plans to develop a streamlined technology transfer process to bring products to market faster. This would include several technology test beds to be operated in close collaboration with industrial partners.

Banerjee joins the Grove School faculty from the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB), where he had taught since 1980. At UCSB he held appointments in the ChE and ME departments, as well as the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.

Banerjee holds a BSChE from the India Institute of Technology and a doctorate from the University of Waterloo in Canada. After working eight years with Atomic Energy of Canada, he was Westinghouse professor in the engineering and physics department at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario from 1976 to 1980, when he joined the faculty at UCSB. He is listed as author on more than 190 articles, book chapters and refereed conference proceedings, and holds four patents.

Tuskegee dedicates new college of business and IS

Tuskegee, AL - This past fall Tuskegee dedicated its new Andrew F. Brimmer Hall, home to the Andrew F. Brimmer College of Business and Information Science. The school offers a career-oriented program designed to give students the technical and professional skills needed in today’s technology-driven global marketplace.

In Brimmer Hall students will find the latest in technological advancements: smart classrooms, state-of-the-art laboratories and advanced research space, all designed to provide extremely accurate simulations of real-world business situations. The Brimmer College grants BS degrees in nine majors, including CS and CIS.

Women’s Transportation Seminar chapter awards scholarships
and honors

Los Angeles, CA - In November 2007 the Los Angeles area chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) awarded a record $28,500 in scholarships to eight college students and three high-school students. “This year’s scholarship winners represent the best and the brightest female students pursuing careers in the transportation industry. WTS-Los Angeles is proud to recognize their accomplishments and their academic excellence,” said chapter president Maria Guerra.

The chapter also recognized its 2007 Employer of the Year, Jones & Stokes; Woman of the Year, Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director, Los Angeles World Airports; and Member of the Year, Judy Hong, deputy project manager/senior engineer LTK Engineering Services.

Sprint funds new outreach program at RIT

Rochester, NY - With funding from the Sprint Foundation, the Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf (RIT/NTID) has launched a two-part initiative to bring math and science to deaf and hard-of-hearing students in grades six through nine.

Steps to Success is a summer program for deaf and hard-of-hearing middle-school African American, Hispanic and Native American students and their parents, emphasizing academic preparation, career possibilities and socialization opportunities. Mathcounts is a national math competition that motivates middle-school children to achieve in the subject. NTID will facilitate both programs in a number of locations.

“We are grateful to the Sprint Foundation and their continued commitment to helping RIT provide innovative educational opportunities to young deaf and hard-of-hearing students,” said Dr T. Alan Hurwitz, RIT vice president for NTID and CEO/dean of NTID. “By showing middle-school children throughout the country that they can achieve and succeed, we open new doors of possibilities for them and their families.”

New scholarship to fund science and medicine studies by
women of color

Skillman, NJ - Ambi Skincare has created the Ambi Scholarship for African American and Hispanic women studying for careers in science and medicine. Five scholarships will be awarded in 2008 for study in the STEM professions. The program is designed to support returning and other nontraditional scholars. For more information see www.ambiskincare.com.

Smith College adds initiative to support math and science studies

Northampton, MA - Smith College is the only private U.S. women’s college to offer a degree in engineering, through its Picker Engineering Program, established in 2000. Now Smith has added another program to support women who study science, technology, engineering and math.

The new program, Achieving Excellence in Mathematics, Engineering and Sciences (AEMES), targets first- and second-year students who are members of groups traditionally underrepresented in those disciplines, including first-generation college students from families where neither parent has earned a bachelor’s degree. Twenty members of the 2008-09 freshman class are participating.

AEMES scholars will remain in the program for the first two years of their college careers. Participants also enroll in a science-based pre-orientation program, receive a stipend for doing research with a faculty mentor, and participate in a course at Smith’s Jacobsen Center to help refine their writing and other academic skills.

While in the program the scholars are matched with both a faculty member and an upper-class peer to answer questions about course work and otherwise mentor them about academic decisions. It is expected that current AEMES scholars will become future AEMES peer mentors.

Cal State LA’s latest student-built supermileage vehicle
ready to compete

Los Angeles, CA - Since the 1990s, Cal State LA engineering students have been designing, building, exhibiting and competing with fuel efficient vehicles. It began with three models of solar-powered electric vehicles, called the Solar Eagle series, which includes the winner of the 1,230-mile SunRayce competition in 1997. In 2004 the original Super Eagle outlasted thirty-nine other entries from the U.S. and Canada in the SAE International Supermileage competition, getting 1,615 mpg.

The most recent version, the Super Eagle II, has a carbon-fiber body and frame, weighs between eighty and ninety pounds, and runs on a modified fuel-injected Briggs & Stratton engine. With a core of twenty-one students on the team, the vehicle will be competing this year in the Shell Eco-marathon Challenge and the SAE Supermileage Competition.

This year’s team is made up of Frank Almeida, Bernardo Chavez, Abel Curiel, Tomy Giang, Samantha Hsu, James Kamau, Adrienne Lam, Neil Lau, Ben Liu, Cruz Lozoya, Gilbert Magana, Joe Ortega, Chris Reid, Frank Requeno, Samuel Samayoa, Jason Shiau, Bill Stone, Truyen Tran, Ricardo Vazquez and Eric Younger.

Rohm and Haas gives and receives NOBCChE awards

Washington, DC - The National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) presented a new scholarship at its thirty-fifth annual conference this March. The award, funded by specialty materials company Rohm and Haas, was created to encourage African American students in chemistry and chemical engineering programs to participate in undergraduate research.

Morgan State senior and chemistry major Raquel Jemison received the scholarship, the Rohm and Haas Company award, for her research paper presented at the NOBCChE conference, “The thermal properties and x-ray diffraction of epoxy nanocomposites.”

At the same conference Rohm and Haas was honored with an award of its own for its long-standing service to the organization. “NOBCChE is honored to present Rohm and Haas with our first Corporate Support award recognizing our long partnership in fostering youth interested in the field of chemistry,” said NOBCChE president, Victor McCrary.

For more information on the scholarship, go to www.nobcche.org.

UCLA faculty members elected to National Academy of Engineering

Los Angeles, CA - Three faculty members from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science were among those elected to the National Academy of Engineering this year. This is one of the highest professional distinctions awarded to engineers.

Mau-Chung Frank Chang, professor of electrical engineering; Yahya Rahmat-Samii, distinguished professor of electrical engineering; and William W-G Yeh, distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering, are among sixty-five U.S. members and nine foreign associates elected in 2008.

Chang, who directs UCLA’s high-speed electronics laboratory, has a bachelors degree in physics from National Taiwan University, a masters in materials science from National Tsing Hua University and a PhDEE from National Chiao-Tung University (Taiwan).

Yahya Rahmat-Samii, UCLA’s Northrop Grumman chair in electromagnetics, has an undergraduate degree from Iran’s University of Tehran. He received his MSEE and a PhD in EE from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

William Yeh earned his doctorate from Stanford University. Since joining UCLA in 1967 he has served on the faculty in several capacities, including twice as a department chair.

A complete list of newly elected members and foreign associates is available in the press release section of www.nae.edu.

CCNY Grove School adds collaborative PhD program

Brooklyn, NY - The Grove School of Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY), part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) school of engineering to establish collaborative PhD programs in several engineering disciplines. The established PhD program at the Grove School offers options for specialization in biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. UPRM offers a PhD in CE, with specializations in structures, transportation and environmental and water resources engineering. UPRM also offers PhDs in chemical engineering and computer information science and engineering.

While students will be able to take courses at both schools, it is expected that they will do most of their work at the institution where their advisors are based. Their dissertation committees will include professors from both schools, with the chair selected from the institution that will grant the degree and the co-chair from the other university. There is a one-year residency requirement at CCNY for students working towards a CUNY degree.

The new collaboration is an outgrowth of UPRM’s participation in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center, based at CCNY. “This new relationship strengthens and solidifies our position as a major research institution,” said Dr Joseph Barba, dean of the Grove School. “We will be able to build on the infrastructures and research capabilities at both universities.”

Mentornet launches portal

San Jose, CA - A grant from Texas Instruments helped MentorNet launch its new Web portal project for Latinas in Computing. The portal offers mentoring and networking for Hispanic women studying or employed in computing sciences and engineering.

MentorNet is an e-mentoring network promoting diversity in engineering and science.
The new portal gives undergrad, grad and postdoc students and early career faculty the chance to engage in one-on-one mentoring relationships with professionals in their fields.

The Latinas in Computing group was formed in 2006 to promote leadership and professional development among current and future generations of Hispanic women. The group identified the lack of Latina mentors in the technical community as a major challenge. This portal was created to address that need. Check it out at www.mentornet.net/lic.

Entrepreneurial scholarships funded at RIT

Rochester, NY - A Florida-based charity that provides educational opportunities to the disadvantaged or disabled has donated $600,000 to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) to develop an entrepreneurship program at the school’s Albert J. Simone Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. RIT is home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

The grant from the Johnson Scholarship Foundation has been matched by $600,000 from the federal government, establishing an endowment able to provide about $60,000 in student aid every year. The funds will be used for twelve scholarships for students with disabilities, providing tuition assistance for three sophomores, three juniors, three seniors and three grad students.

The Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship cultivates innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship through a variety of programs, activities and learning opportunities involving faculty, successful alumni entrepreneurs and business leaders. Given RIT’s
strong technical history and course options, the program will encourage entrepreneurs
in technology-based fields. RIT is developing double majors which include engineering
and entrepreneurship.

Anita Borg Institute holds workshop

Palo Alto, CA - The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) held a tech-leaders workshop on power and influence this past February at Google HQ (Mountain View, CA).
The power and influence workshop was a leadership program designed to help technical women increase their visibility and influence in their professional environments. The workshop also provided networking opportunities.

“We have surveyed more than a thousand successful women and asked about their career goals and leadership skills,” says workshop leader Jo Miller, CEO of Women’s Leadership Coaching. “The result of these interviews is a set of steps that women can follow to create a personal style and accelerate their careers.

“We’ve found that when these steps are put into action, participants get recognized as emerging leaders and accelerate their career advancement.”

Presenters at the event included Carole Dulong, Google’s engineering director; Nina Bhatti, principal scientist at HP Labs; and Nehal Mehta, director of software QA for Symantec.

Percy Julian documentary is a winner

Washington, DC - A PBS documentary on African American chemist Dr Percy Julian recently received a journalism award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Julian, who died in 1975, was known for his work as a chemist, an entrepreneur and a mentor to aspiring black scientists.

The grandson of Alabama slaves, Julian completed his PhD in chemistry in 1931 and went on to synthesize an alkaloid used to treat glaucoma, considered an incurable disease at
that time. Working for Glidden, he became the first black chemist to direct a chemical research lab.

Julian filed more than a hundred patents, working with soybeans to develop dozens of products. For example, he used a steroid produced by soybeans to produce the pregnancy hormone progesterone affordably. His work helped to launch the steroid industry.

In 1953 Julian started his own business, Julian Laboratories, where he continued his scientific work, brought in other black chemists and became one of the wealthiest black entrepreneurs in the nation.

He continued to mentor young African American scientists and worked with the NAACP legal defense and education fund. In 1973 he became the second African American elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

If you missed this fascinating program, check out the program website, www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/julian/ for more on Julian’s career, including audio excerpts from a speech he gave in 1965.

Texas Southern University professor receives $2 million grant

Houston, TX - Dr Adebayo Oyekan, director of the Center of Cardiovascular Diseases, and professor of Pharmacology in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at HBCU Texas Southern University, recently received a grant of over two million dollars to support the development and training of cardiovascular research scientists.

There has been limited research on the health issues that specifically affect minority populations, and even less research on these issues and these populations by minority researchers. Blacks account for less than five percent of those doing research in the biomedical field and other health-related sciences. While African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans make up about twenty-five percent of the U.S. population and graduate from high school at rates close to those of whites, they receive less than ten percent of science and engineering PhDs.

“The disproportionate burden of cardiovascular diseases and the unique socio-cultural issues involved in disease pathogenesis and management in urban minority populations make it imperative for more minority individuals to engage in health disparities research,” said Oyekan. “The best way to remedy the situation is to boost the numbers of underrepresented groups entering the pipeline by expanding research opportunities for minority students, postdoctoral fellows and scientists to help eliminate health disparities.”

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