U.Va. Students Tackle Solar Car Challenge in Their New Car, Solar Revolution II

A team of Engineering School students won 24th place in the world's longest solar car race; a journey of 2,200 miles that began in Chicago and ended in Los Angeles. The U.Va. team finished 18th in total miles covered in the race.

The drivers had to deal with traffic, heat inside the car and weather. However, they had considerable help from team members in three automobiles and a trailer, all of which kept in constant contact. And enthusiasm ran high in the group.

"The whole experience is in keeping with the school's philosophy of teaching and learning through projects that provide real world experiences," said faculty adviser George Cahen.

Luan Vuong, a fourth-year student and one of the car's drivers, agreed. "The race is really about strategy," she said. "It's much more of a team effort than it would appear to be," she said.

All agree that this version of the car was a "leaps and bounds" improvement over the car U.Va. raced in 1999. Plans are already in place to enter the next American Solar Challenge in 2003. Students believe U.Va. will be a top contender by then.

A post-race trip to Seattle to visit with Boeing personnel who helped in the construction of the solar car body was enjoyed by all. A luncheon honoring the team was well attended, and Boeing personnel participated in a lottery to determine the lucky few who got to drive the Solar Revolution II. The return home to Charlottesville ended a 30-day road adventure for the team members and their faculty adviser.

Student News

Steven Day, a Virginia Artificial Heart Institute member, participant in the Ninth Congress of the International Society for Rotary Blood Pumps, was awarded the International Faculty of Artificial Organs (INFA) Student Award.

The 2001 winners of the Undergraduate Research Design Symposium are Patrick Bell (EE), first place for his project "Submillimeter Waves Wireless Communication"; Ana Marie Ponce (ChE), second place for "Characterization of the Capillary Sprout Tip"; and Matthew Kennedy (ChE), for "In-Vitro Evaluation of Anti-Annexin Contraceptive Agents for Nematodes."

The Brunswick Society awarded SIE student Louise Gunderson the outstanding young investigator award; and Robert Willis, an SIE M.S. student, the outstanding student paper award. He competed against two others who were presenting the results from their Ph.D. dissertations.

A student team placed among the top 10 in the IEEE Computer Society's second annual Computer Society International Design Competition. The project was "BlueStar: A Design for Demand-Side Power Management Using Bluetooth-Enabled Appliances in a Solar-Powered Home."

Ganesh Pai (ECE), Susan Donohue (SIE) and Yang Yang Yu (ECE) were among 13 students worldwide to receive student travel awards to the International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering, held in Hong Kong in November.

Daniel Strickland, a fourth-year CS student, invented FileFreedom, a free-downloadable software that gives users of online file-sharing programs more information about the files they retrieve. The company is a client of the Hampton Roads Technology Incubator.

U.Va. Joins INanoVA and Hosts a
Nanotechnology Workshop

In an effort to enhance communication among researchers in nanotechnology, Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) and researchers at three Virginia universities launched the Initiative for Nanotechnology in Virginia (INanoVA) this year.

Partners in the initiative are U.Va.'s James F. Groves, director of research and industrial programs, and Robert Hull, director of the Center for Nanoscopic Materials Design; Virginia Tech's Harry C. Dorn, director of the Center for Self- Assembled Nano-Devices (CSAND); VCU's Anthony Guiseppiz-Elie, director of the Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (C3B); and Gary Wnek, chairman of Chemical Engineering at VCU.

INanoVA scientists and others from around the state of Virginia convened in Charlottesville in October to participate in a high-technology workshop, "Frontiers of Nanostructured Systems: Building Partnerships across Virginia and Beyond." The workshop sessions addressed basic research and possible technological opportunities in the field. Leading experts from the University of Chicago, Virginia Commonwealth University, the California Institute of Technology, MITRE Corp., the Naval Research Labs, Sandia National Laboratory, the College of William and Mary and U.Va. presented emerging developments in nanoscience and technology.

The workshop was sponsored by the U.Va.-NSF Center for Nanoscopic Materials Design, U.Va.-NIH Biotechnology Training Program, CIT and the Virginia Space Grant Consortium.

Thornton Hall Gets
a New Look

Thornton Hall got a facelift this fall with a new paint job, lighting, moldings, archways, grillwork and a beautiful display case that will be used to showcase school-wide honors and achievements.

Built in the early '40s under the presidency of John L. Newcomb, Thornton Hall has seen few enhancements over the years. It is the place students gather for tours and is often the first Engineering School building parents, potential students, corporate partners and government agency representatives see when they visit this part of the University. Thanks to the generosity of alumni who contributed to the fund, we now have a refurbished interior to Thornton Hall that stands as a showcase for the entire school.

When you come to Reunions 2002 in June, stop in and see the wonder this much-needed alumni fund helped us produce.

Systems Engineering
Capstone Faculty Honored

The Systems Engineering Capstone Program Faculty were named one of two runners-up of the 2001 Boeing Outstanding Educator Award. The award, sponsored by the Boeing Co., recognizes college faculty and departments engaged in undergraduate teaching and educational process improvement.

The Capstone Program is a required course for fourth-year students majoring in systems engineering. Students work in small project teams under the direction of a faculty adviser. Each team is assigned an open-ended design problem, which has been framed by an outside client in consultation with the faculty adviser. Students are responsible for team organization and management, for developing and maintaining work and reporting schedules, and for adhering to the highest standards of professional conduct at all times.

TCC Hosts Concepts of
Creativity Conference

The Division of Technology, Culture, and Communication, under the leadership of Kay Neeley, hosted the annual Conference of the Humanities and Technology Association in September. The conference title this year was "Concepts of Creativity in the Humanities, Science, and Technology."

Thomas Hughes, Distinguished Visiting Professor at MIT, offered the keynote address. Other guest speakers and panel participants included U.Va.'s Johanna Drucker, Jerome McGann and Gregory Orr, sculptor Terje Lundaas, and Pennsylvania State University's Edwin Sparks, among many others.

National General Aviation
Design Competition

An Engineering School design team won two awards for their work on the Vector Evolution aircraft. NASA, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the FAA sponsored the competition. The competition engages university students from around the country in a major effort to rebuild the general aviation sector.

The project was a team effort among 26 engineering and architecture students, local pilots and airport staff. The team won third place for most innovative aircraft and shared a $1,000 prize.

A first-place award for best use of Air Force-developed technologies also was presented to the group. The team received an additional $3,000 from the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Solar Decathlon

A team of students from SEAS and the School of Architecture is designing and building an energy-independent solar house for the Department of Energy's 2002 Solar Decathlon.

We will compete against 13 other schools, including Virginia Tech and Maryland, for the best design and performance. The competition will be held on the National Mall in September 2002. http://solarhome.lib.virginia.edu/ for more information.

Washington Summer
Internship Program


The Washington Summer Internship Program was founded to let selected undergraduates explore science and engineering policymaking at the higher national level, through study and practical experience. The program is funded by the Virginia Engineering Foundation through donations to the Annual Fund.

At first introduction to this concept, many wonder why engineers should be involved in internships involving policy. In fact, the advantages are for both the students and the policymakers. The students learn how to shape technology policy, get a chance to see science and technology in a broader context and gain insight regarding the effect policy has on their roles as engineers. The policymakers, in turn, have an opportunity to see the impact people with technology backgrounds can have on science and technology policy.

This summer was the first year for the program. Participants included 10 Engineering School interns and two from the Center for Applied Ethics. These U.Va. students spent nine weeks sharing living and educational experiences with 15 science, engineering and economics undergraduates from MIT.

The U.Va. students were placed with the White House Office of Science and Technology, the Department of Education, the Alliance for Health Reform, the U.S. State Department, the National Institutes of Health, the House of Representatives Committee on Science and with U.S. Representative Virgil Goode, I-Va., and Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., and U.S. Senator George Allen, R-Va.

Interns worked on a variety of projects, including developing a set of metrics for overseeing contractors on complex space missions; reporting on technologies to detect and remove mines; providing a comprehensive view of the agencies and issues involved in space tourism; filling in for a legislative correspondent and developing a system to organize the office's response to the senator¹s mail; writing regulations for the EPA; working with the Research Committee on funding for science education; working in legislative offices; and using quantitative tools to analyze human rights issues around the world.

In addition to the experiences gained from their placements, interns participated in a selection of tours and presentations.

Rufus C. Barkley Jr.
Leadership Scholarship

George M. Reid, a first-year engineering student, is the first recipient of the Rufus C. Barkley Jr. Leadership Scholarship. Barkley (Col ¹52) was a member of the 7 Society and one of U.Va.¹s winningest quarterbacks in the '50s. Scholarship winners are chosen for their leadership, unselfish service, warmth and generosity.

AIAA Students Witness
Kennedy Space Center Launch

Professors Houston Wood and Jeffrey Morton and 31 AIAA students observed the launch of the space shuttle Endeavor (STS-100) at the Kennedy Space Center in April. The trip was funded by the Virginia Engineering Foundation, thought a special activity grant from newport News Shipbuilding, and with some support from the MAE department.