ePoly Briefs

 

 

a monthly publication of news and events for faculty and staff

 

                                                                                            January 2003 Edition

ARCHIVES

HEADLINES

New Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Named

Shirley Motzin Retires

Four Students Semifinalists for Intel Science Competition

Part-Time, Evening BS Degree Programs Now Offered

In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus Hso-hsi Pan

Show Us Your Patents

Free Book Exchange Now at Dibner Library

Awards and Honors

Publications and Presentations

Recent Grants

This Month in History

 

 

NEW DEAN OF UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS NAMED

 

Jonathan D. Wexler has been named dean of undergraduate admissions. He joins Polytechnic from Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he was director of graduate recruitment.

 

Before joining Drexel University, Wexler was assistant director of admissions at Bradford College in Haverhill, Mass. Formerly, he was an admissions representative at Newberry College in South Carolina. In 1991, he served as an office assistant to the nationally syndicated columnist George Will.

 

Wexler holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of South Carolina, and a combined bachelor’s in political science and communication from Goucher College in Maryland.

 

He can be reached at ext. 3759 and at jwexler@poly.edu.

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SHIRLEY MOTZKIN RETIRES

 

Shirley Motzkin, professor of biology, retired December 31 from Polytechnic as professor emeritus. She joined the University in 1966 and for many years directed Poly’s Life Sciences and pre-med programs. She also served the faculty as former speaker of the faculty, member of the Tenure and Appointments Committee and Undergraduate and Graduate Standards and Curriculum Committee and chair of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Faculty Grievance Committee, Research Policies Committee and Educational Policies Committee

 

Motzkin’s research included studying the effect of radio frequency on animal tissues, an area in which she was considered an international expert. She contributed to three textbooks, was named an outstanding teacher by New York University’s College of Dentistry and is listed in Who’s Who in Science, World Who’s Who of Women, Foremost Women of the Twentieth Century, American Men and Women of Science, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in Technology Today and Who’s Who in Frontiers of Science and Technology.

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FOUR YES STUDENTS SEMIFINALISTS FOR INTEL SCIENCE COMPETITION

 

Four high school seniors who participated in the YES Center’s Summer Research Institute have been selected as semifinalists in the 2003 Intel Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most highly regarded science competition and considered the “junior Nobel Prize.”

 

The students developed their science projects as interns at Poly’s Brooklyn and Long Island campuses over six weeks last summer, where they worked alongside mentors from the University’s faculty and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

 

Ying Yi Dang from Bronx High School of Science was mentored by Richard A. Gross, Herman F. Mark Professor of Polymer Science. Eric Friedman from Half Hollow Hills High School West was guided by Joel C.W. Rogers, associate professor mathematics. James Lin from Great Neck South High School was supervised by Magued G. Iskander, associate professor of civil engineering. Lawrence Shieh from Manhasset High School worked with Kalle Levon, professor of chemistry and director of the Polymer Research Institute and Olga Tarasenko, a research scientist in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Materials Science.

 

Dang, Friedman, Lin and Shieh were among 300 semifinalists selected from 1,581 applicants nationwide. Each receives $1,000 and their schools receive $1,000 to support science and math programs. From the semifinalists, 40 finalists will be named on January 19. The finalists will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., where they will compete for college scholarships totaling more than $500,000.

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PART-TIME, EVENING BS DEGREE PROGRAMS NOW OFFERED

 

Starting January, Poly began offering undergraduate courses in computer science and construction management in the evening to working students enrolled part time at Poly.

 

Students eligible for the programs hold either an Associate in Science (AS) or Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree with computer, construction or science-related majors. To earn a BS degree on a part-time basis, students must attend classes two nights a week for three years while continuing full-time employment.

 

The new evening undergraduate programs, says President Chang “reflects our continuing recognition that while an associate’s degree may open the door to a good job, the baccalaureate degree is the necessary degree for rapid promotion, significant salary growth and true career mobility.”

 

This is the first time in almost 25 years that the University is offering an evening undergraduate program.  

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IN MEMORIAL: PROFESSOR EMERITUS HUO-HSI PAN

 

Huo-hsi Pan, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, died December 31, in Westchester. He was 84.

 

Born in China, Pan received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at National Southwest Associated University in Beijing, before emigrating to the United States. He earned an MS in ME at Texas A&M University in 1949, and a year later, earned an MS in Applied Mechanics at Kansas State University. He was a granted a PhD in 1954 from the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Pan taught at University of Toledo and University of Illinois before joining the faculty of New York University's School of Engineering and Science in 1957. After the 1973 NYU-Poly merger, Pan came to Polytechnic and taught full time until 1989. He  was named professor emeritus in 1990.

 

Author of more than 100 publications in applied mechanism, he is listed in  Who's Who in the World, Notable Americans and Men of Achievement. He is survived by his wife, Chao; and daughters Lillian and Nina.

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SHOW US YOUR PATENTS

 

In anticipation of the celebration of Polytechnic’s 150th anniversary, the polytechnic alumni is assembling a database of patents held by Poly alumni and faculty. If you own a patent, send an e-mail to polypatents@yahoo.com and include issue date, patent number, brief description and any anecdotes you wish to pass along. Also let us know of any alum or faculty who owns a patent. As this project progresses, the polytechnic alumni will need volunteers to catalog and present the patents. Send an e-mail to the above address if you are interested.

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FREE BOOK EXCHANGE NOW AT DIBNER LIBRARY

 

Read all the books on your shelves? The Dibner Library now offers a free book exchange, where you can donate a book and pick up another new to you. It may be fiction or non-fiction; if it is a textbook, it must have been published after 1995. For more information, e-mail Yu Zhang, or call ext. 3345.

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AWARDS AND HONORS

 

Mark M. Green, professor of organic chemistry, has received a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Under the fellowship, he will travel to Japan in October to lecture at various universities.

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PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

 

CHANCELLOR

George Bugliarello, "The Expanding Frontiers of Engineering," published in The Bridge, National Academy of Engineering (Winter 2002)

 

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, CHEMISTRY AND

MATERIALS SCIENCE

Christos Georgakis, “Process Operability,” to be presented at New Jersey Institute of Technology (March 31)

 

Kalle M. Levon, “Development of Multivalent Macromolecular Ligands for Enhanced Detection of Biological Targets,” presented at Polymer Challenge and Mission Symposium, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Kyoto, Japan (December 2-5, 2002). Levon was also a symposium panelist.

_____ program committee member, "Driving Sustainability through Collaboration," Council for Chemical Research's 24th Annual Meeting, Austin, Tex. (April 5-8)

_____ "Detection of Biological Warfare Agents," to be presented at "Nanotech and Biotech Convergence - 2003," 2nd Annual Business Communications Company Conference, Stamford, Conn. (May 6)

 

Mark M. Green, invited lecturer, University of Washington, Seattle (April 25)

_____ Invited lecturer, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada (April 24)

_____ “Chirality Across the Spectrum of Polymer Science,” to be presented at 50th Anniversary of Polymer Science Program, Peking University, China (May 21-24) [Green’s wife and two of his children, Frank, 14, and Carla, 11, will accompany him to China]

_____ Invited lecture, 80th birthday celebration, Princeton Professor Kurt Mislow, Princeton Club, New York City (June 6)

_____ “Stumbling Around the Mysteries of Structural Chirality and the Cholesteric State Leads to Some Potentially Useful Things,” Gordon Research Conference on Liquid Crystals, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, New Hampshire (June 19)

_____ Invited lecturer, National Symposium on Molecular Chirality 2003 (October 19-20)

_____ Invited lecturer, Chirality 2003, Shizuoka, Japan (October 20-23)

_____ (with Harold Wittcoff), Organic Chemistry Principles and Industrial Practice, to be published by Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany (June 2003)

_____ (with Roeland Nolte and Bert Meijer), “Materials-Chirality” to be published in Topics in Stereochemistry, Volume 23, edited by Scott E. Denmark, WileyEurope (February 2003)

 

DEVELOPMENT AND UNIVERSITY RELATIONS

George Smith, “Viewing the Martian Sunset,” published on CD included with book On to Mars, edited by Frank Grossman and Robert Zubrin (Apogee Books, 2002)  

 

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Henry L. Bertoni, "Predicting Radio Channel Characteristics for Wireless Systems—Concepts and Approach," and "Improving the Descriptions of Physical Processes in Ray Methods for Channel Predictions," presented at City University of Hong Kong, China (January 15-16)

 

INTRODUCTORY DESIGN AND SCIENCE

Vladimir Tsifrinovich (with G.P.Berman, G.D.Doolen and G.V.Lopez), “A Quantum Full Adder for a Scalable Nuclear-Spin Quantum Computer,” published in Computer Physics Communications (Vol.146, 324, 2002).

 

MATHEMATICS

Jerome Epstein, “What Is the Real Level of Our Students, and What Can We Do About It?” and “An Integrated Math and Science Program for Cognitive Development,” to be presented at 17th Annual Texas Assessment Conference, Austin, Tex. (February 9-12)

 

MECHANICAL, AEROSPACE AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

Blair R. Williams, “Lean Manufacturing,” presented at American Production and Inventory Control Society, Princeton Trenton Monmouth Ocean (PTMO) Chapter

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RECENT GRANTS

 

The following list of new research grants, awarded from October to December 2002, is provided by Contracts and Grants.

 

CHANCELLOR

George Bugliarello, "Support for the Launch of the Urban Security Initiative," Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, $469,293

 

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, CHEMISTRY AND

MATERIALS SCIENCE

Christos Georgakis, "Support for Visiting Scientist Dr. Wei Pan," Akzo Nobel, $76,193

_____ "Support for Visiting Scientist Dr. Xiaolei Sun," Akzo Nobel, $76,193

_____ "Support for Visiting Scientist Dr. Evgeny Vulfson," Akzo Nobel, $100,632

 

Richard A. Gross, " Microbial Synthesis of Sophorolipids From Low-Cost Bioresources," New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, $40,000

 

CIVIL ENGINEERING

Magued Iskander, "General Research Support," American Society of Civil Engineers, Metropolitan Section, $500

 

Ilan Juran, "City Inter-Agency Taskforce," Gas Technology Institute/Institute of Gas Technology, $19,500

 

Konstantinos Kostarelos, "Workshop on Sufactant Enhanced Aguafer Remediation (SEAR) Design," various sources, $2,345

 

Hualiang Teng, Research Foundation of CUNY, $29,000

 

COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

Lisa Hellerstein and Torsten Suel, "ITR: Data On the Deep Web: Queries, Trawls, Policies and Countermeasures," University of California at Berkeley, $50,962

 

Nasir Memon, "Mathematical Theory for Steganalysis," Stevens Institute of Technology," $50,000

_____ (with Edward K. Wong and Xiaolin Wu), "Steganalysis Techniques for LSB Embedding in Documents and Images," U.S. Department of the Air Force, $119,837

 

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

David J. Goodman, "Processing in Wireless Video Communications," National Semiconductor Corporation, $25,000

 

Spencer P. Kuo, "Experiements and Theoretical Study on ELF/VLF Wave Generation by teh HAARP HF Heating Facility," U.S. Department of the Navy/Office of Naval Research, $50,000

_____ "(THEMES) Generation, Characterization and Aerospace Applications of Torch Plasmas EM Radiation, U.S. Department of the Air Force, $163,000

 

Ivan W. Selesnick, "A Motion-Selective 3D Wavelet Transform for Enhancement of Imagery in Video Data," U.S. Department of the Navy/Office of Naval Research, $209,954

 

INTRODUCTORY DESIGN AND SCIENCE

Lorcan M. Folan, "Department Activities," David Douchette, $2,000

 

MECHANICAL, AEROSPACE AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

Xiaodong Wang, "Stress Analysis of Polymeric Trileaflet Valves," ABIOMED Inc., $4,000

 

PRESIDENT

David J. Gillette and Barbara Hickernell, "Support for Polytechnic University's Engineering Conferences International Program," various sources, $165,376

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THIS MONTH IN HISTORY

 

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain

Too much lovin' drives a man insane

You broke my will but what a thrill

Goodness gracious! Great balls of fire

Jerry Lee Lewis, "Great Balls of Fire" No. 1 on music charts (1958)

 

Martin Luther excommunicated by Roman Catholic Church (1521) . . . Columbia University founded in New York as Kings College (1754) . . . California town of Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco (1847) . . . Popular Mechanics magazine debuts at newsstands (1902) . . . U.S. House of Representatives passes women's suffrage (1918) . . . 14-year-old Canadian Leonard Thompson is first diabetic to be treated with insulin (1922). . . British archaeologist Howard Carter uncovers mummified remains of Tutankhamen, boy-king of Egypt (1924) . . . U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry releases report declaring that smoking cigarettes is bad for your health (1964) . . . President Nixon signs into law national highway speed limit of 55 miles per hour (1974) . . . "Dynasty", a prime time soap opera, premieres on ABC-TV (1981) . . . Idi Amin expelled from Zaire (Congo) (1989) . . . Atallah Shabazz, Malcolm X's daughter, arrested for plotting Louis Farrakhan's murder (1994) . . . murder trial against O.J. Simpson, begins in Los Angeles (1995) . . . former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota (1999)

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ePoly Briefs is published the last week of each month by the

Office of Communications and Media Relations

Editor: Therese E. Tillett, 718/260-3165, JB 551A

Polytechnic University, January 2003

ART EXHIBITS

On the Edge

Now until March 27

Dibner Library

Opening reception:

Thursday, January 30

3 to 5 p.m.

Nine Brooklyn artists explore nature and the urban environment

 

Passage of Eras

February 12 to March 4

Wunsch Student Center

Opening Reception: Wednesday, February 5

6 to 8 p.m.

Group art exhibit in celebration of Black History Month

FEBRUARY

HAPPENINGS

Saturday 1

2 p.m.

Poly vs. Mount St. Mary’s

Men’s Basketball

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

Tuesday 4

4-6 p.m.

JPMorgan Chase Career Presentation

LC 400

 

7 p.m.

Poly vs. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

Men’s Volleyball

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

Wednesday 5

6 p.m.

Young Alumni Networking Night

LC 400

 

7 p.m.

Poly vs. Yeshiva

Women’s Basketball

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

Thursday 6

7 p.m.

Poly vs. Cooper Union

Men’s Basketball

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

Saturday 8

9 a.m.-5 p.m.

FIRST LEGO League Competition

Riverbank State Park

Manhattan

 

12 p.m.

Poly vs. City Tech

Women’s Basketball

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

Monday 10

4-6 p.m.

MIT Lincoln Labs Career Presentation

LC 400

 

7 p.m.

Poly vs. St. Joe’s

Women’s Basketball

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

8 p.m.

Monday Night Magic

McGinn/Cazale Theater

Manhattan

 

Friday 14

7 p.m.

Poly vs. Marymount

Women’s Basketball

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

8 p.m.

English folk singer Bob Fox

Wunsch Student Center

 

Sunday 16

9 a.m.

Polytechnic Invitational

Judo

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

Monday 17

No classes

President’s Day

 

Tuesday 18

Monday classes meet

No Tuesday classes

 

7 p.m.

Poly vs. Brooklyn College

Men’s Volleyball

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

Saturday 22

12 p.m.

Brooklyn Brewery Tour

Williamsburg

 

Monday 24

4-6 p.m.

Electric Boat Corp. Career Presentation

LC 400

 

Tuesday 25

7 p.m.

Poly vs. Cooper Union

Men’s Volleyball

Jacobs Gymnasium

 

Friday 28

Deadline for filing application for BS, MS and PhD degrees, if completing during spring semester