Arielle Bertman, SIE
Senator Lieberman's Office and
Progressive Policy Institute
She worked on science and technology policy issues, drafted a policy article for Science magazine, and drafted briefings for inclusion in congressional letters of support concerning cyber-security, homeland security and nanotechnology.

Alexander Hang, CS
Office of Technology Policy (Department of Commerce)
He helped with briefings for the undersecretary of technology, and researched the science and technology infrastructure of other nations and the interests of American technology companies doing business abroad.

Chris Malow, ChE
House Committee on Science
He participated in the investigation of the space-shuttle Columbia accident, organized committee hearings and prepared a policy paper suggesting a cooperative effort toward U.S. and European global positioning satellite systems.

Tiffany Nichols, ECE
National Science Foundation (Directorate of Computing and Information Sciences and Engineering)
She researched science and technology policy development, including newly evolving cyber-infrastructure policy.

Amanda Singleton, SIE
Environmental Protection Agency
She researched the impact of nitrogen fertilizer pollution on groundwater valuation and the future of the recently suspended total maximum daily load rule.

Ahson Wardak, ECE
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
He researched nanotechnology and the impact of federal regulation on nanotechnology for the foresight and governance project.

Thomas Francis Woods III, ChE
Office of Chemical and Biological Weapons in the Bureau of Arms Control at the U.S. Department of State
He researched methods of decontaminating equipment exposed to chemical agents and worked on a project to increase participation in the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Melissa Yingling, BME
Department of Health and Human Services' Office for the Advancement of Telehealth
She assisted with grants for telehealth programs, performed back-
ground research and provided insight for a proposal from the Health Resources and Services Administration for the use of a
telehealth initiative to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS in Mozambique.

New Major in Biomedical Engineering is Approved

The State Council of Higher Education in Virginia recently approved a new undergraduate major in biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia.

U.Va. has offered graduate de- grees in biomedical engineering since 1967 and an undergraduate minor for the past four years. But until now, it had not offered a bachelor's degree program in this rapidly emerging field.

"This new degree will enable us to compete for the most talented young people in the country who are captivated by this exciting discipline," said Thomas C. Skalak, chairman of the biomedical engineering department, which is a joint program of U.Va.'s School of Medicine and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The department of biomedical engineering is ranked among the top 20 programs in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report ratings. The discipline comprises more than 80 programs in the United States and about 200 in Europe.

U.Va.'s program has benefited from strong administrative support from the deans of U.Va.'s engineering and medical schools, and through funding from the Whitaker Foundation, according to William F. Walker, associate professor and undergraduate program director for the department.

In 1998, the foundation gave two grants to U.Va., a $3 million development grant to strengthen the program and a $7.5 million grant toward the construction of a biomedical and medical sciences building. The development grant has been used to hire and equip labs for four new biomedical engineering faculty members. And completion of the building, MR-5, in 2002 enabled the department to move into a world-class building with new teaching labs.

The department has added about a dozen new courses to the curriculum in the past five years, creating a program designed to teach students how to integrate the quantitative skills needed by engineers with the understanding of biology, chemistry and physics needed by medical researchers.

There are currently about 280 Engineering School undergraduates who have declared minors in biomedical engineering. "We get some of the best and brightest students in the nation," Walker said. "They are ambitious and they will inevitably develop into more than just in-the-trenches engineers. Many will become technical leaders or move into management as their careers develop. This new interdisciplinary major gives them the tools they need to succeed throughout their careers."

Engineering Business Minor

Engineering students are now able to pursue an engineering business minor. The new minor provides students with the opportunity to learn how modern business organizations function and to acquire some of the skills they will need to be effective in the corporate world of commerce. The curriculum involves coursework in economics, finance, new-product development and other related disciplines, with students taking classes in both the Engineering School and the McIntire School of Commerce. This new minor complements a growing number of minors available to undergraduate engineers, including the history of technology and science, as well as technology management and policy (TMP).

This important new program in engineering business was made possible through the leadership and generosity of Dan T. Montgomery ('73, '77) and William P. Utt ('79, '80, '84). Montgomery, president of The Clark Construction Group, committed a $1 million gift to endow the Robert and Ashley Montgomery Engineering Business Minor in honor of his parents. Utt's gift of $50,000 provided vital funds to develop and launch the program.

A Capstone Team Works with Army ROTC on Self-Assessment Tool

A Capstone team led by Stephanie Guerlain (SIE) developed a self-assessment tool to determine the readiness of a team to accomplish a given task. In February, the Capstone team worked with cadets from the Army ROTC Cavalier Battalion to test the tool's ability to assess team readiness to accomplish search-and-rescue missions. The simulated search- and-rescue exercise was held at Scott Stadium in February.

Engineering In Context

The EIC approach to ENGR162 introduces students to engineering design in the context of team- driven solutions to problems of significance to society or the local community.

The Oncoming Train Alert System team is working to develop a technology to alert railroad maintenance workers of oncoming trains. Group members include Sarah Cary (CS), Lin Lin Htay (EE, SysE minor), Travis Markley (EE), and Erik Haglund (ME). The team hopes to develop a functioning prototype that proves the potential of the technology. Ongoing discussions with the railroad industry may provide R&D funding to further develop this technology over the next several months to one year. The group members underscore the value of industry contact, saying, "The real-world exposure and experience of developing a technology is an invaluable addition to our educations. This project has exposed us to the social dynamics of engineering that are all too often overlooked in the textbooks."

The Wheelchair Translation Project group was confronted with a real-life problem here on Grounds this past fall: how to design a device allowing wheelchair users to navigate up and down stairs while avoiding the use of ramps. In team fashion, students from the pilot classes taught by Professors Elzey and Fitz-Gerald designed, built and tested two separate wheelchair translation systems to solve the problem. If you would like to learn more about what a team of active first-year undergraduates did with a little creativity and $400, go to http://faculty.virginia.edu/ Nanoscale_ Laser_ Processing/ENGR162X03/.

TCC Changes Name and Becomes a Department

Host An Extern

Do you want to give back to the U.Va. community and enrich your company at the same time?

Consider hosting a U.Va. extern for a job-shadowing opportunity over the student's winter, spring or summer break. Externships are volunteer experiences in which the student can shadow a professional for a day, a few days or a week. This gives the student a chance to explore a career interest in a realistic environment, outside of the classroom, as well as a chance for the employer to prescreen students for possible internship or job opportunities.

NASA-Langley Research Center, Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Booz-Allen Hamilton, Merrill Lynch, StrataSys Group LLC, Naval Research Laboratory, Virginia Geotechnical Services and Science Applications International Corp. are just a few of the firms that participate in the extern program. Many alumni participate in the program as sponsors because they themselves benefited from the extern program as students. Many alumni also see the program as a great way to learn from today's students, and possibly recruit future employees.

If you are interested in getting involved with the Extern Program, please visit the URL http://www.
viginia.edu/career/employers/ extern_info_employers.html and fill out the extern request form, or contact the extern coordinator at 434.924.4331.

Send Us Your Thoughts

Was there a professor who you thought was special while you were in school here? Was there a class you took that changed the course of your life? Write us at vef-info@virginia.edu to tell us your stories and send photos if you have some to share. We'll feature these stories in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

Contact Us

vef-info@virginia.edu

P.O. Box 400256
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4256