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Clinton, Garwin wow audience at Poly
Legendary alumnus Jasper H. Kane dies
Alumni to honor Bertoni December 2
Heart modeling pioneer to speak at Poly December 3
Student chess expert competes internationally
Poly soccer, judo score big wins
HR hosts brown-bag lunches for employees
Awards and honors
Publications and presentations
New grants
Jobs at Poly
This month in history
CLINTON,
GARWIN WOW AUDIENCE AT POLY
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Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton with Poly students |
The senator
was late—rainy weather and heavy traffic delayed her arrival
for 45 minutes—but that didn’t stop the surge into
the Dibner Auditorium and LC 102 to hear her speak. It was Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s first official appearance
after the Democratic defeat in the presidental elections; she garnered
national attention for her visit to Poly but kept the message mainly
to her role as opening speaker at the Seventh Annual Lynford Lecture.
Introduced by New York City Council Member Bill de Blasio, Clinton
promoted federal investment in education and said it was an honor
to be at Brooklyn Poly, which has “150 years as a leader in
science, education and research, and has shaped many of the leaders
of tomorrow.”
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Richard
L. Garwin |
She then stayed
for the main lecture, featuring Richard L. Garwin,
a nuclear weapons expert and a 2002 National Medal of Science recipient.
He discussed space-weapons, warning the audience that the U.S. development
and deployment of such weapons will not only encourage other countries
to do the same, but leave vital non-weapon spacecraft vulnerable to
attack. Garwin argued, instead, for a treaty among nations to ban
space weapons and anti-satellite spacecraft. “I think that we
need to have these formal agreements in order that we understand what
is legitimate, and that other countries understand what is not legitimate,”
he told the audience. “They could, therefore, be punished not
by tit-for-tat against their satellites, but against their military
capabilities on the ground.”
The Lynford
Lecture is sponsored by Poly Trustee Jeffrey L. Lynford
and his wife, Tondra, and Polytechnic’s Institute for Mathematics
and Advanced Supercomputing (IMAS). Previous speakers include Gerald
M. Rubin, decoder of the fruit fly genome; Robert
A. Mundell, 1999 Nobel Laureate for Economics; and Bill
Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and developer of the
computer language Java.
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to headlines
LEGENDARY ALUMNUS JASPER H. KANE DIES
Jasper
H. Kane, a 1928 Poly alumnus and acclaimed biochemist,
whose innovative work with antibiotics has saved thousands of lives,
died November 16, in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 101.
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Jasper
H. Kane, circa 1950s |
Kane’s vision
and enormous contributions to chemical science are legendary. At the
age of 16, he joined the pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. as an
assistant to Dr. James Currie. In 1919, he helped Currie pioneer the
mass production of citric acid by mold fermentation of sugar, an achievement
that eventually freed Pfizer from dependency on European citrus growers.
Kane went on to develop a new deep-tank fermentation method using
molasses rather than refined sugar as raw material. He also was the
visionary behind the company’s mass production of penicillin
using the same deep-tank fermentation methods perfected with citric
acid. His work allowed the government to supply the antibiotic to
injured soldiers fighting in World War II. Later, he headed the research
team that, in 1950, discovered the antibiotic Terramycin, effective
against more than 100 diseases. Kane eventually became Pfizer’s
vice president and director of biochemical research and development.
He retired in 1953.
CLICK HERE to read about
Kane’s achievements in “How Poly Saved the World,”
the 2004 Polytechnic Commencement Address given by Pfizer Chairman
and CEO Henry A. McKinnell Jr.
An invaluable supporter
of Polytechnic, Kane gave gifts of $3 million to his alma mater,
which propelled the success of the University’s $275 million
Campaign for Polytechnic (1997-2001) and allowed the creation of
two new laboratories for crystallography and organic chemistry.
The University presented him with an honorary degree in 1995. In
2002, Poly named its new dining hall in his honor.
Kane was born
in Brooklyn, the oldest of nine children, and grew up in the Park
Slope section. He and four of his brothers attended Poly, two majoring
in chemistry and three in structural engineering. He is survived
by his sister, Evelyn, three grandsons and seven great-grandchildren.
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ALUMNI TO HONOR BERTONI DECEMBER 2
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Henry
L. Bertoni |
Professor Henry
L. Bertoni, who recently retired after 44 years at Poly,
will be honored with an Alumni Achievement Award on Thursday, December
2. The event begins at 12 p.m., in the Regna Lounge and is open to
staff, faculty, students and alumni. Light refreshments will be served.
Bertoni came
to Poly in 1960 as a student, earning his master’s in electrical
engineering in 1962 and his doctorate in electrophysics in 1967.
He joined the faculty in 1966. He was vice provost of graduate studies
(1995-96) and twice served as head of the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering (1990-95, 2001-04).
Specializing
in electromagnetics, microwaves and radio channel characteristics
for cellular and related applications, he has co-edited five books,
published more than 85 journal papers, and written chapters in nine
books. Four journal articles have received best paper awards. For
the past two decades, he has led a group to study UHF propagation
in urban environments, the results of which were used by the coalition
COST (European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical
Research) to create an international model to install digital mobile
phone and wireless phone systems. His efforts also earned him the
2003 James R. Evans Avant Garde Award by the IEEE Vehicular Technology
Society.
In 1997, Bertoni
created Siteware Technology—with former student George
Liang ’95 ’97 and Edward K. Wong,
associate professor of computer science—to develop advanced
software to predict coverage of cellular base stations in cities
for improved system performance. In 2000, he published the book
Radio Propagation for Modern Wireless Systems. He is an
IEEE Life Fellow and a member of the International Scientific Radio
Union and the Radio Club of America. In 2001, the Big Apple Section
of the Polytechnic Alumni presented him with its Alumnus of the
Year Award.
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HEART
MODELING PIONEER TO SPEAK AT POLY DECEMBER 3
Charles
S. Peskin, a pioneer in dimensional heart modeling, will
speak at Polytechnic on the fluid mechanics and fiber architecture
of the beating human heart. The talk, part of the Morawetz Distinguished
Lecture Series, begins at 11 a.m., on Friday, December 3, in LC
102. Light refreshments will be served before the event.
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Charles
S. Peskin |
A professor at
NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Peskin has
devoted much of his career to understanding the dynamics of the human
heart. Blurring disciplinary boundaries, he has used his expertise
in mathematics, fluid dynamics, physiology, neuroscience, physics
and engineering in his research. His primary tool, however, is computer
simulation. In work spanning more than two decades, much of it with
scientist David McQueen, Peskin has developed a computer model that
simulates blood circulation through the four chambers of the heart
and in and out of the surrounding circulatory system along with the
deformation of the cardiac muscle and the valves. This virtual heart
enables experimentation in silico that would be impossible
in vivo and is of tremendous value to the study of normal
heart function and a variety of pathologies, to plan interventions,
and to design prosthetic devices.
For developing a 3-D
computational model of blood flow in the heart, Peskin and McQueen
received the 1994 Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Breakthrough
Computational Science. Peskin has also received a MacArthur Fellowship,
the New York City Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Science
and Technology and the Birkhoff Prize from the Society for Industrial
and Applied Mathematics and the American Mathematical Society.
The distinguished
lecture series was created and funded by former students of Poly
alumnus and University Professor Emeritus Herbert Morawetz,
who taught at Poly from 1951 to 1981. Retired in 1986, he still
collaborates with Poly professor on polymer research.
Back
to headlines
STUDENT CHESS EXPERT COMPETES INTERNATIONALLY
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Iryna
Zenyuk, left, with an opponent from the Netherlands
at the World Youth Chess Championship.
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Iryna Zenyuk
is one busy, and world-traveled, freshman. Recently returned from
Greece, she is now off to Southern California for a couple days. Fun
in the sun? More like long hours in a quiet room with intense people
bent over tables. Welcome to the world of a chess champion. Rated
an “expert” player—she plans to be “master”
by next summer—Zenyuk was the sole U.S. representative at the
2004 World Youth Chess Championship, held in Crete, where she tied
for No. 15 in the under-18 category. At the U.S. Chess Championships,
held in San Diego, she is one of 64 of the nation’s chess champions
who are competing for more than $250,000 in cash and prizes. She’s
ranked No. 13 in the U.S. women’s category (by international
ratings) and in the top 30 in U.S. women’s category (by U.S.
standards).
Taught chess by her grandfather
in her native Ukraine, Zenyuk has been traveling and competing worldwide
since she was 8. Preparation for a match can last six hours a day,
reading about great matches and studying different parts of a game.
For the past three years, Zenyuk has a coach who travels with her
to competitions. When she’s not hitting the chess books or
board, she and her laptop are at Poly, where she is majoring in
aerospace engineering and looking forward to a career that involves
aircraft or space shuttles.
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POLY SOCCER, JUDO SCORE BIG WINS
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Jarriott
Huddleston |
The Northeast Athletic
Conference has named Poly sophomore Jarriott Huddleston
to its men’s soccer all-conference second team. Huddleston,
a forward, led the Poly team with 13 goals this season, and sat atop
the NEAC conference leaders in that category for much of the season.
Huddleston also led the team with 29 points, and added three assists
to his stats for the year. Three other players, Mamadou Djourthe,
Jose Canales and Jonathan Burgos,
picked up honorable mention honors from the conference. Djourthe,
a junior forward, also picked up seven goals and 16 points for the
season, including five goals in one game against Medgar Evers. Canales,
a sophomore midfielder, led the team on the season with five assists.
Burgos, a sophomore defender, was honored for his defensive play.
Poly’s
Judo Team was victorious at the Tech Judo Invitational in November,
as four players placed first in their respective divisions. Junior
Nirzhar Kar finished first in the white-green belt
division at the 145-pound weight class. Sophomore Alexis
Schlessingerman took first place in the white-green belt
161-pound weight class. Sophomore Joseph Idoko
placed first in the white-green belt 178-pound division. Assistant
coach Ricky Ramcharitar won first place in the
161-pound, black belt division.
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HR
HOSTS BROWN-BAG LUNCHES FOR EMPLOYEES
Human Resources
is sponsoring brown-bag lunch talks each month to enlighten employees
about Poly policies as well as help them cope and advance in the
workplace.
The lunches
begin at 12:30 p.m., in the private dining room. Hot beverages will
be provided. There is no need to RSVP, just show up.
Thursday,
December 9: Understanding your health care benefits
Tuesday, December 14: Stress management
Tuesday, January 13: How your pension plan works
Thursday, February 17: Time management
Tuesday, March 1: Managing your personal finances
Thursday, March 17: Understanding Flexible Spending
Accounts (FSA’s)
Tuesday, April 5: Managing change
Thursday, April 14: Poly’s employee code
of ethics
Tuesday, May 3: New policies at Poly
Back
to headlines
AWARDS
AND HONORS
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| M.
Volkan Ötügen |
 |
| Robert
D. Griffin |
M. Volkan
Ötügen, professor of mechanical engineering, was
elected an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics.
Robert
D. Griffin, coordinator of student programs and services,
is staring in a holiday musical, “Follow the Star” on
Broadway this Christmas. The show is from December 22-26 at the
American Theatre of Actors, 314 West 54th Street in Manhattan.
Back
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PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
ELECTRICAL
AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Spencer P. Kuo (with Steven S. Kuo), article, “A
Physical Mechanism of Non-thermal Plasma Effect on Shock Wave,”
Physics of Plasmas (accepted for publication)
_____ (with M.C. Lee), article, “Cascade Spectrum of HFPLs
Generated in HF Heating Experiments,” Journal of Geophysical
Research (accepted for publication)
_____ article, “Shock Wave Modification by a Plasma Spike:
Experiment and Theory,” Physica Scripta (accepted
for publication)
_____ (with Wilson Lai, Henry Lai, Olga Tarasenko, Kalle
Levon), article, “Decontamination of Biological Warfare
Agents by a Microwave Plasma Torch,” Physics of Plasmas
(accepted for publication)
INTRODUCTORY
DESIGN AND SCIENCE
Vladimir Tsifrinovich, invited lecture, “MRI From
a Single Atom,” New York City College of Technology (November
19, 2004)
MECHANICAL,
AEROSPACE AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
M. Volkan Ötügen (with Vadim Soukhomlinov,
E.G. Sheikin, Valery A. Sheverev), article, “Scramjet
Inlet Flow Control Using Combined MHD and GDP Effect,”
Journal of Propulsion and Power (Vol. 20, No. 5, September
2004)
_____ (with Vadim Stepaniuk, Valery A. Sheverev,
Calin Tarau, Ganesh Raman, Vladimir Soukhomlinov), article, “Sound
Attenuation by Glow Discharge Plasma,” AIAA Journal
(Vol. 42, No. 3, 2004)
Back
to headlines
NEW
GRANTS
COMPUTER
SCIENCE
Nasir Memon, Adina Schwartz, Hervé Brönnimann
and Joel Wein, “ForNet: Design and
Implementation of a Network Forensics System,” National Science
Foundation, $750,000
ELECTRICAL
AND COMPUTER ENGINEER
Spencer P. Kuo, “Wave-Plasma Interactions in Artificial
Modification of the Ionosphere and Magnetosphere by the HAARP HF
Heating Facility,” Office of Naval Research, $117,500
Back
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JOBS
AT POLY
The following positions are currently open:
Administration
- Administrative Director, Management (non-union) JOB
# MGM007
- Academic Adviser, Academic Success (non-union) JOB
# DAS004
- Administrative Aide, Undergraduate Admissions (union)
JOB # ADM012
- Director, Financial Aid (non-union) JOB # FAD007
- Senior Generalist, Human Resources (non-union) JOB
# HRS001
- e-Learning Curriculum Design Specialist, Graduate
Center (non-union) JOB # GRC012
Faculty
- Morton L. Topfer Distinguished Chair, Management (non-union)
JOB # MGM022
- Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biological Sciences
and Engineering (non-union) JOB # CEM026
- Donald F. Othmer Distinguished Chair, Chemical and
Biological Sciences and Engineering (non-union) JOB # CEM024
- Joseph J. and Violet J. Jacobs Distinguished Chair,
Chemical and Biological Sciences and Engineering (non-union) JOB
# CEM011
Complete job descriptions are available on the Human
Resources website. Polytechnic’s job listings are updated
weekly. You may apply in person, by mail, by e-mail or by fax for
jobs for which you are qualified. Please note open positions are
posted internally for five business days on the Human Resources
bulletin board, located opposite the mailboxes in Jacobs Administrative
Building. Polytechnic University is an equal opportunity educational
institution/equal opportunity employer.
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THIS MONTH IN HISTORY
“The
only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Rosa
Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Ala.,
for refusing to move to the
back of the bus, leading
to a 381-day black boycott of city buses
and sparking
the Civil Rights Movement (December 1, 1955)
Peter the Great
orders Russian calendar to be more European, moving New Year’s
Day from September 1 to January 1 [however, he didn’t adopt
Gregorian calendar; as a result, Russia remained 10 days behind
West for over 200 years] (1699) . . . Brit Samuel Slater builds
first American cotton mill, in Pawtucket, R.I. (1790) . . . Missouri
imposes $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men ages 21 and 50 (1820) .
. . Ellis Island opens as U.S. immigration depot (1890) . . . Scientists
Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium (1898) . . . ball drops for
first time in Times Square to signal new year (1906) . . . Vladimir
Lenin establishes Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922) . .
. Monkee’s “I’m a Believer” hits No. 1 (1966)
. . . President Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam and announces
peace talks (1972) . . . control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama
(1999)
Back
to headlines
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DECEMBER
Wednesday
1
4:15-6 p.m.
MetroTech Tree Lighting
MetroTech Commons
6:00 p.m.
CIS Alumni Dinner
LC 400
Thursday
2
12 p.m.
Alumni Achievement Award: Henry L. Bertoni
Regna Student Lounge
3-6 p.m.
Transfer
Student Info Session
MetroTech campus
7 p.m.
Men's Basketball vs. Bard College
Jacobs Gymnasium
Friday 3
9 a.m.-5 p.m.
2004 Annual CATT Research Review
Speaker: Craig Nevill-Manning, director, Google Inc.
LC400; Auditorium
10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
Fifth Morawetz Lecture: "Fluid Mechanics and Fiber Architecture of the Beating Human Heart"
Charles S. Peskin, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU
JAB 774
Saturday 4
9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Robotics Workshops for Teachers
JB 474
9 a.m.-3 p.m.
10th International Meeting on Search for ElectroActive Materials (SEAM 2004)
Speakers: Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, Center for Bioelectronics Biosensors and Biochips, Virginia Commonwealth University; Tapio Makela, VTT; In -Joo Chin, Inha University, Korea; Yen Wei, Drexel University; Patrick Kinlen, Cross-Link; Kalle Levon and Tsunehiro Sai, Polytechnic
LC 102
1 p.m.
Women's Basketball vs. MIT
Jacobs Gymnasium
3 p.m.
Men's Basketball vs. MIT
Jacobs Gymnasium
Monday 6
10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
CBSE Colloquium: "Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Buckyballs and Polymer-Modified Buckyballs in Water: Hydrophobic Interactions Revisted"
Grant Smith, University of Utah
JAB 774
6:30-9 p.m.
Long Island Alumni Holiday Party
Bethpage State Park, Long Island
Tuesday 7
5-7:30 p.m.
Graduate Programs Info Session
Westchester Graduate Center
6-7:30 p.m.
Information Systems Engineering Program Info Session
Westchester Graduate Center
Wednesday 8
Hanukkah
5-7:30 p.m.
Graduate Programs Info Session
MetroTech campus
5-7 p.m.
Principal's Scholars Dinner
Speaker: Shivendra Panwar: "The Mathematics of the Internet"
Private dining room
6-7:30 p.m.
Financial Engineering Program Info Session
55 Broad St., Manhattan
Thursday 9
Hanukkah
12:30 p.m.
HR Brown-bag Lunch: Understanding your health care benefits
Private dining room
3-6 p.m.
Transfer Student Info Session
MetroTech campus
5-7:30 p.m.
Graduate Program Info Session
Long Island Graduate Center
6-7:30 p.m.
Systems Integration Program Info Session
Long Island Graduate Center
Friday 10
Hanukkah
Classes end
Saturday 11
Hanukkah
11:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Mini-Open House
MetroTech Center
Sunday 12
Hanukkah
Monday
13
Hanukkah
Reading day
Monday evening classes meet
(make-up for September 24 evening classes cancelled)
11 a.m.-12
p.m.
ECE Seminar: "On The Design and Analysis of Overlay Networks"
Yong Liu, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
LC 102
Tuesday 14
Hanukkah
Reading day
12:30 p.m.
HR Brown-bag Lunch: Stress management
Private dining room
Wednesday 15
Hanukkah
Final exams
Thursday 16
Final exams
Friday 17
Final exams
Monday 20
Final exams
Tuesday 21
Final exams
Wednesday 22
Final exams
Thursday 23
Winter recess
Friday 24
SCHOOL CLOSED
Winter recess
Saturday 25
SCHOOL CLOSED
Winter recess
Christmas
Sunday 26
SCHOOL CLOSED
Winter recess
Kwanzaa
Monday 27
SCHOOL CLOSED
Winter recess
Kwanzaa
Tuesday 28
SCHOOL CLOSED
Winter recess
Kwanzaa
Wednesday 29
SCHOOL CLOSED
Winter recess
Kwanzaa
Thursday 30
SCHOOL CLOSED
Winter recess
Kwanzaa
Friday 31
SCHOOL CLOSED
Winter recess
Kwanzaa
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December
4
Molly Tillett turns 1 |
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