Rod Andrew, professor of history at Clemson University, has won the 2008 Mary Lawton Hodges Prize in Southern Studies for his biography "Wade Hampton: Confederate Warrior to Southern Redeemer."

Read the entire news release at:

Clemson University Alumni Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Melanie Cooper has been named to the inaugural class of American Chemical Society Fellows. Cooper was among 162 honorees who were chosen for excellence in their contributions and distinctive service to the society and to the broader world of chemistry.

Read the entire news release at:

Read the full article here.

Cincinnati, OH - October 16, 2009 - A recent survey of North American graduate school deans and admissions professionals indicates that 56% of universities are adding lower cost, higher touch social media tools to their recruitment arsenal, but not necessarily abandoning traditional approaches. 

The survey, prepared by PhD-Connect.com, an educational search-and-apply portal which helps prospective PhD applicants and universities find each other and then seamlessly utilize a standardized application, found that all universities maintain recruitment websites and almost two-thirds utilize either social media or search engine marketing; however faculty referrals and college fairs still generate huge interest and are significantly utilized.  The biggest trend in recruitment spending is that several schools are moving away from traditional referral sources such as Peterson's and Gradschools.com, preferring to spend monies on Google Smart Words and other lower cost alternatives.  Even in difficult economic times, recruitment spending overall was up 13.5%, and it ranged from -15% to +45%.

95% of respondents utilize either Banner or Peoplesoft for their IT Infrastructure, and 75% use centralized application systems; surprisingly, almost 20% of the schools surveyed use more than one application system.  Banner seems to be the system of choice for simple application systems, and ApplyYourself dominates the market for complex applications.  Also surprising was the fact with all of the technology enhancements, 10% of the admissions departments still could not break out simple data differentiating PhD from Masters applicants.

A trend that appears to be growing is charging more for international applicants, now at 19%.  About 81% have consistent pricing across all departments, although schools with significant Fine Arts and Music programs tend towards more disparity in application pricing.   6% of those surveyed do not charge for graduate admissions.

Graduate schools are becoming more creative in recruitment strategy.  One Boston school advertises on billboards and mass transit posters.  A large Midwestern school utilizes human interest stories which profile adult students returning to obtain graduate degrees.  Also, faculty research is featured in certain local targeted newspapers.  Online open houses are gaining more acceptance.  One Wisconsin university even waives application fees for those who attend their in-person open houses.

For several years, Graduate Admissions offices have been migrating toward online application processes; now they are finding that "reach" to prospectives can also be maximized utilizing the Internet.

James B. Rafert
Dean
Clemson University Graduate School

Read the entire news release here.

Read the entire news release here.

Read the entire news release here.

Read the entire news release here.

]]> Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:22:25 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=DOE http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=DOE "Training the next generation of U.S. scientists and engineers is critical to our future energy security and economic competitiveness," said Secretary Chu. "This Fellowship is part of the Administration's effort to encourage students to direct their talents towards careers in science and our nation's next technology revolution."

To be eligible for the Fellowship, applicants must be U.S. citizens and currently a first or second year graduate student enrolled at a U.S. academic institution, or an undergraduate senior who will be enrolled as a first year graduate student by the fall of 2010. Applicants must be pursuing graduate study and research in the physical, biological, engineering and computational sciences. Interested students can apply online here

Each fellowship award will be $50,500 per year for three years to provide support for tuition, living expenses, research materials and travel to research conferences. Fellowships will be awarded on the basis of peer review. Applicants may begin submitting applications on September 30, 2009. Completed applications are due November 30, 2009. ]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:07:48 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=ucg http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=ucg Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:49:45 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=IntelliDrive http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=IntelliDrive Read the entire news release here ]]> Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:02:35 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Int. Design Mtrx Con http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Int. Design Mtrx Con Read the entire news release here ]]> Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:56:36 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=APA fellow http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=APA fellow Based in Washington, D.C., the association is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. With 150,000 members, APA is the largest association of psychologists worldwide.

Fellow status is bestowed upon APA members who have shown evidence of unusual and outstanding contributions or performance in the field of psychology.

"This is a great honor for me because APA is the largest and most prestigious organization of scientific and professional psychologists," McCubbin said.

Read the full article here ]]> Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:17:47 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Chemistry Society http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Chemistry Society

Read the entire news release here ]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:40:07 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=U.S. News http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=U.S. News Clemson also is among the top public schools in the "Up-and-Coming Schools" category, which lists schools that have made "the most promising and innovative changes in academics, faculty, students, campus or facilities."

"We're pleased that Clemson has maintained its number 22 ranking among all national public universities. This is our highest ranking ever and places us in the company of some of the most highly regarded research universities in America," Clemson President James F. Barker said. "The ranking is a tribute to the faculty and students who are the core of the university, to the staff who provide those faculty and students with the support they need in order to be successful, and to all alumni and friends whose financial support helped us protect academic quality during a challenging year.

"It's important to recognize that, while the overall ranking is the same as last year, Clemson showed improvement in many individual ranking categories, including record high retention and graduation rates, higher SAT scores, and increased faculty resources," Barker said. "This shows that Clemson has the right priorities and is improving in areas that are meaningful to students and parents," he said.

The university again appears in the "Writing in the Disciplines" list of outstanding academic programs commonly linked to student success, recognized for making writing a priority at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum.

"Each year, more prospective students and their families are aware of these accolades and consider Clemson for their collegiate studies," said Clemson Admissions Director Robert Barkley. "We offer the complete experience with quality academics, along with an exciting environment for living and learning."

America's Best Colleges 2010 will be published in the U.S.News & World Report magazine to be on newsstands Thursday, Aug. 20. ]]> Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:30:44 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=NSF director http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=NSF director

Arden L. Bement Jr. spoke Tuesday about "Energy, Environment, Economy and Education: A Synthesis for a Sustainable Future?" at the Victor Hurst Academic Convocation at Clemson University.

Read the entire news release here. ]]> Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:17:23 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Smithsonian video http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Smithsonian video The Hope School of the Pomaria community near Newberry was a Rosenwald School, a place created for African-American children in the South during the early part of the 20th century. The concept was developed by famed educator Booker T. Washington and funded by Julius Rosenwald, a philanthropist and owner of Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Land for the Newberry County school was donated by the family of James H. Hope, a member of Clemson's first graduating class and longtime superintendent of education for South Carolina public schools.

The Hope School operated from 1926 until 1954, when it was closed by the school district and became an unofficial community center, according to Ron Knorr, a Clemson University instructor and Ph.D. student in the Eugene T. Moore School of Education. In time, the building fell into disrepair.

Descendents of James Hope and members of the community, including alumni of the Hope School, galvanized in an effort to save the building that once provided African-American children in the community their only chance for education.

Knorr and his students became involved in the project in 2008, first when he was assigned a history paper for his doctoral class and then when he, in turn, gave a similar assignment to his students. They went to Pomaria on a hot summer day and interviewed on video six former Hope School students who recalled the days of taking their own firewood to school and fetching water in buckets for the two-room, two-teacher building.

Their six hours of video will join a replica of the Hope School as part of a new Smithsonian project on African-American history.

"There were 500 Rosenwald schools in South Carolina at one time. Now only about 30 of the buildings are left and some of them are in pretty bad shape," Knorr said. "The Hope School is the heart and soul of that community, and it's good to know that their efforts will keep it that way for years to come. The building has a real sense of permanence."

Knorr, a lifelong history buff and former middle school English teacher, is amazed that some of his work will become part of one of the world's great museums.

"I still find it hard to believe," he said.

The Hope School replica will be part of an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African America History and Culture, opening in 2012. The Hope School Community Center in Pomaria will celebrate a grand opening on Aug. 22. ]]> Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:14:02 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Optics researcher http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Optics researcher Read the entire news release here ]]> Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:20:00 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=aflsdean http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=aflsdean Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:36:45 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=nano-ecotoxicology http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=nano-ecotoxicology Klaine is interim director of the Clemson Institute of Environmental Toxicology. An aquatic toxicologist, Klaine's research has focused on interactions between manufactured materials and the environment, particularly how man-made chemicals affect water and organisms in rivers and streams. His most recent work has investigated the toxicological effects of pharmaceuticals in Lake Conestee and the Reedy River in Upstate South Carolina. With these EPA grants, Klaine will study the behavior of carbon nanomaterials in aquatic environments and how carbon nantotubes affect the aquatic food chain.

"Nano-ecotoxicology looks at topics we are just beginning to frame questions for," Klaine said. "How and how much will engineered nanoparticles interact with the environment? How will these phenomenally small particles interact with organisms - fish, plants, insects, bacteria - and soils and sediments? Before we can begin to understand their impact we have to find ways to know what we are looking for and analyze the results."

Nanotechnology is the science of the fantastically small. A nanometer is 1 billionth of a meter. A typical piece of paper is 100,000 nanometers thick; a penny measures 19 million nanometers wide; one inch equals 25.4 million nanometers. Carbon nanotubes are made entirely of carbon atoms and have a diameter a 50,000th of that of a human hair.

There are more than 600 products containing nanoparticles sold globally, according to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. Most are food-safety, health and personal-care products. Sunscreen with UV-blocking nano-titanium dioxide leaves no white marks, food-storage boxes lined with a fillm of nano-silver destroy microbes and face cream packed with nanosomes improves skin moisturizing.

"It's far too early to say whether or not nanoparticles pose a substantial risk to harm the environment," said Klaine.

Researchers around the world are focused on understanding how these particles behave in the environment and how they interact with organisms, including humans. The multi-disciplinary team of investigators from Clemson University, the University of Michigan, Georgia Tech, Wright State University and the University of North Texas represent a comprehensive effort to understand the behavior of carbon nanoparticles in water, how they are taken up by organisms and if they are transferred to the food chain, which ultimately includes humans.

Klaine already has observed interactions between nanoparticles and organisms.

"Carbon nanotubes - CNTs - can get into the gut of the water flea - daphnia - and become part of the organism. How the uptake affects the organism and the food chain - fathead minnows feed on daphnia - is one of the questions that needs to be answered."

"We are dealing with a new technology and we must continue to explore its potential for unintended consequences until we have the information to adequately characterize the risk to the environment and humans," said Klaine. "As scientists we have an obligation to inform the public of potential safety concerns as well as the potential for better products." ]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:34:11 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=organ replacement http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=organ replacement A $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) creates a statewide alliance in the field of tissue biofabrication, which could lead to the ability to produce human organs. The award is one of the largest in the state's history.

Clemson University Vice President for Research and Economic Development Chris Przirembel said the opportunity for South Carolina researchers to work together on such a life-affirming research project is unprecedented.

"The scope of this research initiative is truly impressive, and all of South Carolina can be proud that the National Science Foundation has chosen the research community of our state for this focus," Przirembel said. "Obviously NSF saw in South Carolina a willingness to collaborate and an emerging, high-potential body of research expertise. The ultimate benefit of this research project will be to improve the health and quality of life for all South Carolinians and others, and we eagerly await the outcomes."

Przirembel said the resulting intellectual property could be the basis for new start-up companies that would be part of the emerging biomedical-device cluster in the state, creating a wide range of jobs at every level, from technicians to researchers.

Clemson's role in the research project totals $750,000 over the five-year grant period. Principal investigator Larry Dooley will lead the Clemson research team, which will target three junior faculty members to work with faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina to develop a critical mass of in-state research expertise in tissue biofabrication. Yong Huang, mechanical engineering assistant professor, will serve as leader of the research thrust to build a three-dimensional "vascular tree," the first crucial step in the process of fabricating complete organs. Clemson Computing and Information Technology also will play a significant role in the cyber-infrastructure necessary for collaboration among the institutions.

The research alliance is managed by the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and Institutional Development Awards (IDeA), two federal-state-university partnerships designed to increase research capacity and competitiveness for federal research and development funds. In addition to Clemson, the alliance includes the state's two other research universities, the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina, as well as Claflin University, Furman University, South Carolina State University, the University of South Carolina-Beaufort, Voorhees College, Denmark Technical College and Greenville Technical College. The South Carolina Research Authority will serve as fiscal agent of the award.

Esin Gulari, dean of Clemson's College of Engineering and Science and a member of the National Science Board, the governing body for NSF, said the grant will undoubtedly boost South Carolina's national research profile to new heights.

"Activities from this project will lead to a vanguard position in a new science and technology field that is truly global," she said.

Details of the comprehensive project include:
* Expansion of a current Medical University of South Carolina bioprinting program into a statewide Advanced Tissue Biofabrication center
* Recruitment of 22 new faculty members with expertise not currently available in South Carolina
* Creation of a global e-community to facilitate the development of sophisticated databases in vascular technology
* Establishment of national and international academic industrial collaborations and the integration of statewide initiatives for workforce development, education and communication to the general public
* Integration of the alliance's research with K-12 education to build South Carolina's future high-tech workforce.

Educational innovations include development of e-textbooks and new curricula. New graduate-degree programs and postdoctoral- and graduate-research training are planned across the state. Training opportunities for South Carolina's reporters and journalism students will enable in-depth reporting of scientific achievements and will enhance science literacy statewide.

The NSF award will connect regional, national and international cyber-networks and support collaborative e-communities for education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Other activities will bridge South Carolina's minority-serving programs and integrate with the science, education, communication and sustainability plans of the project. ]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:28:50 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Richard H. Pennell http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=Richard H. Pennell related article for more information.) "It intrigued me that the program has students from architecture, landscape architecture and business, and marries them in a unique curriculum," he said. "The center touches on everything we do at Metromont." Pennell said the center brings together students from various disciplines, just as real estate development brings together various professions in the working world. Metromont serves those professionals with a business based on precast concrete. The Greenville-based company has projects that range from parking structures and thermal-efficient wall systems for schools, office buildings and dormitories, to affordable hurricane-resistant housing in New Orleans. "Metromont is clearly a leader in an industry that is vital to helping make a difference in building better and more sustainable communities," said center Director Elaine Worzala. "The work that this company does in helping us build better and greener buildings is exactly the type of thing we want the center to be involved in." Metromont was founded in 1925 by Captain J. Roy Pennell. Richard H. "Dick" Pennell Sr. (Clemson Class of 1950) now serves as chairman of the board for Metromont Corp., and Richard H. "Rick" Pennell Jr., president and CEO, is the third generation to run the company. Metromont's construction expertise spans from schools, office buildings and parking decks to industrial plants and stadiums. The company has completed more than 50 stadiums, including seven for the NFL, 15 sports arenas and more than 650 parking decks. The company has plants in Greenville; Atlanta; Richmond, Va.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Nashville, Tenn. The Richard H. Pennell Center for Real Estate Development seeks to complement Clemson University's academic programming by providing research and outreach opportunities that will enhance the real estate profession. For more information about the Richard H. Pennell Center for Real Estate Development, go to http://www.clemson.edu/caah/pla/cred/. ]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:24:28 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=David Bruce http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=David Bruce Clemson University associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering David Bruce will participate in a multi-university Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) funded with $12.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. The Center for Atomic-Level Catalyst Design (CALCD) is focused on the development of new catalysts for the production of clean fuels and chemicals from renewable sources.

David Bruce"The scientific research efforts of CALCD, combined with those of 45 other new EFRCs, are focused on the development of lower-cost renewable fuels that can be produced in the U.S.," said Bruce. "The ultimate goal is to develop new environmentally friendly reaction processes that will help to decrease the nation's dependence on fossil fuels."

Bruce said that most renewable fuels now must be subsidized by government entities to be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. The materials that will be developed by the catalyst design center will enable renewable fuels to be produced at a lower cost and allow more of the feedstock to be converted into usable fuel and chemical products, which will further reduce the carbon footprint of new production processes.

Bruce will receive $714,000 for five years to use advanced computational methods to provide the molecular insights needed for collaborators on the project to prepare catalyst materials that are optimally suited to convert cellulose and other waste organic materials into renewable liquid fuels and bio-derived chemicals.

"Using state-of-the-art simulation and material-characterization methods, we plan to develop the next generation of catalysts and reaction processes that are needed to efficiently produce the bio-derived fuels of tomorrow," said Bruce. "We expect to make significant discoveries in the coming years given the exceptional computational facilities at Clemson. The Palmetto high performance computer system and Internet 2 connectivity at Clemson will greatly enhance our abilities to model these reaction systems and interact with the other center investigators."

The Center for Atomic-Level Catalyst Design, located at Louisiana State University, is a collaborative effort that includes 21 investigators from nine institutions in the United States and Europe. Bruce will serve as its coordinator for all simulation efforts. James Goodwin, a professor in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Clemson, will serve as a consultant to the project for one year.

Dr. Brumaghim's paper, "Metal Specificity in DNA Damage Prevention by Sulfer Antioxidants," is available for reading at Science Direct.

The 2008 Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry Young Investigator Special Issue focuses on "Inorganic Biochemistry - The Next Generation".

Dr. Brumaghim first became interested in research chemistry as an undergraduate after conducting undergraduate research in the laboratories of Professors George Whitesides and Andrew Barron at Harvard, and Richard Eisenberg at the University of Rochester, primarily in synthetic inorganic chemistry. During graduate school at the University of Illinois, she worked with Professor Greg Girolami to synthesize and characterize air- and moisture-sensitive osmium complexes containing the pentamethylcyclopentadienyl ligand.

Seeking to focus on biological applications of inorganic chemistry, Dr. Brumaghim then began an NIH postdocotoral fellowship with Professor Ken Raymond in the Chemistry Department at the University of California at Berkeley. Having assiduously avoided water and oxygen during most of her graduate tenure, she now performed much of her work in water. Using Ga(III) to mimic Fe(III), Dr. Brumaghim synthesized and resolved chiral Ga(III) hydroxamate complexes. Drawing on her graduate training in organometallic catalysis, she also studied the incorporation of chiral phosphonium cations and ruthenium catalysts into the Raymond supramolecular assemblies.

To gain more experience working with DNA, Dr. Brumaghim accepted a second postdoctoral research position with Professor Stuart Linn in the Molecular and Cellular Biology department at Berkeley. There she studied the effects of iron coordination on oxidative DNA damage and determined sites for iron localization and reduction rates for the biological reductants NAD(P)H.

As a chemistry professor at Clemson University, Dr. Brumaghim's work focuses on the biological applications of inorganic chemistry, using a wide range of techniques to determine mechanisms of antioxidant activity and prevention of metal-mediated DNA damage.

Clemson University food safety researcher Xiuping Jiang has been awarded $222,000 to reduce illness-causing bacteria from getting into farms and gardens through manure used as fertilizer.

A teaspoon of fertile soil can have as many as 1 billion bacteria. Some bacteria are harmful to humans, causing gut-wrenching sickness and even death among the very young, very old or very weak. By raising temperatures and using other approaches, Jiang has been lowering bacterial counts in compost.

The Center for Produce Safety at the University of California in Davis is funding the research by Jiang, an associate professor in Clemson's food science and human nutrition department. The microbiologist works on microbial safety, the control and source of food pathogens. Pathogens are microorganisms that cause disease. Some pathogens, including salmonella and E. coli (Escherichia coli 0157:H7), have been linked to using manure.

The research goals for Jiang and her colleagues Jinkyung Kim in food science and Feng Luo in the computer sciences department are to:

* understand how human pathogens react to heat in compost,

* use biological controls to reduce pathogen re-growth in compost,

* develop a sensitive pathogen detection method and

* apply mathematical modeling to simulate the effect of heat on pathogen growth.

The relationship between livestock production, manure management and human health has been in the news. Organic and commercial vegetable growers are using fresh and composted animal feces — manure — as fertilizer and soil enrichment for farms, gardens, nurseries and greenhouses. Livestock and poultry manure naturally contain a wide range of bacteria as well as viruses and protozoa. Some cause illnesses: E. coli is most common in cattle manure; salmonella is most common in poultry manure. Food-related sicknesses have been linked to E. coli and salmonella on apples, lettuce, spinach, cantaloupe and sprouts. Root crops and leafy vegetables have a greater risk of infection from manure application to soil.

Composting often is used to reduce the spread of pathogens before mixing into the soil, but it must be done correctly. Bacteria are survivors, some lasting more than year under the right conditions. For example, E. coli survives cold temperatures and tolerates acidic, salty and dry conditions. Fortunately, it is easily destroyed by heat, provided temperature and duration are sufficient.

Jiang's research team also is studying biological controls, such as other bacteria in the compost that can grow more rapidly and out-compete harmful pathogens for nutrients. Additionally, the researchers are devising an improved ways to find harmful bacteria, enabling farmers and growers to more confidently identify and count pathogen populations in manure-based compost.

There are many sources of contamination beyond improperly composted manure, including poor water quality, transmission from inadequately sanitized equipment and improper hygiene by people handling produce during processing and serving.

The consequences of food-borne illnesses can be severe, though healthy people tend to endure diarrhea, cramps and perhaps a fever. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention speculates that 76 million cases of food-borne disease occur each year in the United States. Most cases are mild and cause symptoms for a day or two and go unreported. Some cases are more serious, and the CDC estimates that there are 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths related to food-borne diseases yearly.

The Center for Produce Safety at the University of California Davis has announced the launch of a $1 million research effort to enhance the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables. The new research program focuses on the "field to fork" research needs of the entire produce supply chain, from the soil and water in the fields to storage practices in retail and food service outlets.

Industrial engineers Sandra Garrett of Clemson University and Barrett Caldwell of Purdue University have proposed a new system to warn of an impending pandemic by monitoring signals in human behavior. The system could result in using a simple icon on a television screen to warn of future phases of an outbreak of an illness such as the flu.

Researchers agree it is extremely difficult to identify a pandemic event before it is under way and spreading from person to person, yet the timeliness of this early detection is critical for an effective response and disaster-mitigation strategy. History and computer-generated simulations show that the speed in which a response strategy is initiated, even more than the specific strategy itself, will have the largest influence in reducing the overall impact of a pandemic. Given the importance of rapid response, identifying the specific event phases and the triggers that indicate a need for action is essential.

"We know that delays in identification are critical," Garrett said. "Once any significant number of cases are identified, especially in high-transit areas, the pandemic spread is virtually impossible to control. We have proposed a system that monitors what humans are doing leading up to a pandemic to increase the likelihood of early detection."

Garrett said the system would monitor such activities as an increase in flu-related medicine purchases or a spike in Internet use for certain types of flu-related information. These early indicators are important to notice since the spread of influenza can occur before someone begins to show symptoms of being sick and before they seek medical attention. Since a pandemic does not occur at a single point in time, but rather evolves, it is often difficult to detect an outbreak from physician or local health-department reports of an increase in flu cases.

"Understanding these phases might be a way to overcome a fundamental hurdle in controlling a pandemic," said Caldwell. "Conventional approaches require public-health officials to know when certain events leading to pandemic begin. The problem is it's often too late to do much about it."

The researchers say planning for an illness can start at an earlier phase so that policymakers, government officials and the public can react sooner to control it. They envision a system that uses icons on television screens similar to those used for weather advisories warning about the phases of the illness and appropriate public responses.

Garrett said there is much that the general population can do to prepare for a pandemic outbreak such as the flu, but many people do not fully understand influenza, what they can do to prepare and how to appropriately respond during a severe outbreak.

"The more we can do to educate our community, the better," said Garrett. "The social impact of a panicking populace can be just as hazardous as the virus, for example, the worried healthy folks flooding emergency rooms, using up valuable medical resources and possibly becoming exposed to the virus while there."

Garrett said that the basic underlying research is not limited to pandemic influenza scenarios, but could also be used in many other types of disasters, such as hurricanes or winter storms.

"It's about communication," Garrett said. "The more we know and the sooner that we know, the better for everyone."

It also is critical to keep the information fresh with clearly identified frequent updates about the event. She said that when people are not given updated information, they begin to make assumptions that often are incorrect, which leads to discounting some of the information that is available.

The research by Garrett and Caldwell on the "Human Factors Aspects of Planning and Response to Pandemic Events" will be presented in a research paper June 2 at the Industrial Engineering Research Conference in Miami.

They also have collaborated with health officials and hospitals in the test state of Indiana to determine the feasibility of an alternative-care system that may require activation once a pandemic illness reaches a local area. The study looks at how authorities react, what facilities are available that may be needed to care for pandemic patients and how to communicate timely information between authorities and their planning partners and to the general public. The Indiana State Department of Health funded the research.

The Clemson University Restoration Institute's Healthy Communities focus area and the Clemson Institute for Economic and Community Development have donated 15 computers to the city of North Charleston for a computer training lab in the city's Chicora Cherokee neighborhood.

The Gussie Greene Technology Center will be used for workforce development skills to create opportunities for neighborhood residents.

Comcast Cable in Charleston provided a year's free high-speed Internet access and cable installation. The computer science department at the College of Charleston provided additional equipment and students helped install the machines.

The Charleston Linux Users Group donated the man hours to install software and develop computer management and Web site monitoring systems.

Community leaders expressed a need to improve the technical capabilities of the local population, said Harry Crissy, Clemson regional community and economic development agent for Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.

Clemson University and the College of Charleston will use the center as a classroom to help local residents develop computer skills.

"Modern technology moves so fast," Crissy said. "This project is designed to help residents of the Chicora Cherokee neighborhood become more marketable to potential employers."

Gussie Greene Community Center is at 2012 Success St. in North Charleston. If successful, the pilot program could spread to other communities in the three-county region, Crissy said.

North Charleston Mayor R. Keith Summey said the computer lab provides many with the opportunity to establish and expand important skills that will enable them to gain meaningful employment.

"In an age where information prevails, becoming computer literate and technologically savvy is invaluable," Summey said. "I am very grateful for the many contributors to this project, and I am confident that the entire community will benefit from their generous deeds."

Collaborators in the project are:

• Clemson University Restoration Institute
• Clemson University Institute for Economic and Community Development at the Sandhill Research and Education Center, Columbia
• Comcast Cable
• City of North Charleston
• North Charleston Mitigation Agreement Commission
• Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities
• College of Charleston computer science department
• Charleston Linux Users Group
• Free Linux Personal Computer Group

John Ballato, associate vice president for research and economic development at Clemson University and a professor in the College of Materials Science and Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS).

Founded in 1898, the American Ceramic Society serves the informational, educational and professional needs of the international ceramics community. Ceramics usually are described in simple terms as any inorganic, nonmetallic materials, and can include glass. Ceramics today encompasses many fields, including aerospace, optical materials, medicine and electronics.

John BallatoBallato is director of the Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET) at Clemson. His research interests include the optical properties of materials and fiber fabrication.

COMSET is an interdisciplinary research unit of the College of Engineering and Science. Faculty members with common interests are able to collaborate to develop advanced materials that exhibit a value-added interaction with light. COMSET has received $42 million for sponsored research.

To be elected as Fellow to ACerS, nominees must be 35 years or older, members of ACerS for at least five years continuously and been proven qualified for elevation to the grade of Fellow by their contributions to the ceramics arts and sciences and shown broad scholarship in the industry or outstanding service to ACerS.

Ballato earned a bachelor's degree in ceramic science and engineering in 1993 and a Ph.D. in ceramic and materials engineering in 1997 from Rutgers University. He joined Clemson University's department of ceramic and materials engineering in 1997. He has published more than 160 archival scientific papers, holds 25 U.S. and foreign patents, given more than 125 lectures and colloquia and co-organized 25 national and international conferences.

Awards Ballato has received include the 1997 ACerS Kreidl Award; the 2001 Clemson University Byar's Prize for Excellence in Teaching; the 2003 Minerals, Metals and Materials Society's Robert Lansing Hardy Award in recognition of exceptional promise for a successful career in materials science; the 2004 ACerS Robert L. Coble Award in recognition of the nation's outstanding young ceramic scientists; and the 2004 National Institute of Ceramic Engineers Schwartswalder-PACE Award in recognition of the nation's outstanding young ceramic engineer whose achievements have been significant to the ceramics field and general welfare of the American people.

Earlier this year Clemson hosted a national-level conference — CI Days — designed to explore innovative ways to integrate information technology into teaching, research and outreach programs. Nearly 350 faculty members, graduate students, information technology staff and state research partners came together for three days with national agencies and providers of cyberinfrastructure resources and services. The outcome was new working alliances to develop and deploy a strong cyberinfrastructure at Clemson and throughout the state.

The conference was co-sponsored by several Clemson University divisions and a number of key corporate partners including Dell, Apple, SUN and Cisco. The effort also was supported by a national collaboration of computing and networking agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and EDUCAUSE.

iTiger is the start of a campuswide emphasis toward a new generation of wireless technology integration. A student-driven effort in application design and development, infrastructure, project management and game-day logistics, the project brings together the School of Computing in the College of Engineering and Science, Clemson Computing and Information Technology, and Clemson Athletics. The uncommon collaboration of this trio could eventually bring instant replay, game-day statistics, memorabilia and e-concessions to the fingertips of football fans sitting in the stands of Memorial Stadium using their own hand-held digital devices.

Other possibilities for iTiger's use within the stadium include instantly accessing public safety officials, interacting with other fans, submitting questions to the coach's show, and ordering and paying for concessions for pickup or delivery.

"We're looking at how the stadium of the future may eventually operate and how other even larger forums in our environment have the potential to operate. We're taking a social networking application and applying it to a sport venue. We hope to eventually use this application on a campuswide scope and, perhaps someday, citywide and beyond," says Jim Bottum, vice provost for computing and information technology.

At a meeting of the Glass Division of the American Ceramic Society, university faculty lamented how, individually, they didn't have enough enrollment to teach advanced glass classes. From that discussion was born a virtual collaborative class with enrollments from 10 institutions — Alfred University, Clemson University, Coe College, Iowa State University, Missouri S&T, UC Davis, University of Florida, Penn State, Michigan and University of Arizona — plus the National Science Foundation and the International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass.

Clemson materials science and engineering professor Eric Skaar offered to host the virtual class using Clemson's Adobe Connect Web conferencing technology, which provides an array of tools such as screen and document sharing, chat, whiteboards and surveys — a virtual environment very similar to the offerings of a traditional classroom. Each university provided a lecturer. Instructors found that collaborating across institutions for projects was not only feasible but in some cases preferred by students because of the collaborative environment.

The faculty has taught the course twice with about 40 students in each section and is in the process of publishing its experiences through the American Society for Engineering Education. Skaar has also collaborated with researchers from the Savannah River Site to teach sections of Materials Processing (CME 319) virtually using Adobe Connect.

Design development and modification are among the most competitive and most expensive aspects of the automotive industry. The Clemson University Computational Center for Mobility Systems (CU-CCMS) provides computational modeling that can significantly reduce both the time and cost associated with design modification.

In addition to the unique and validated engineering simulation methods of its industry-focused approach, CU-CCMS offers clients a high-performance computing system that is among the top 10 most powerful computers at any American university and among the top 20 computers at any university center worldwide. CU-CCMS and Clemson Computing and Information Technology partnered with Sun Microsystems and Voltaire to build the system that performs more than 27 trillion mathematical computations per second.

A visionary plan is under way to create an international computing network to support the diverse groups of people who manage parks, from local to international. The Open Parks Grid can also benefit those who conduct environmental research, conservation and education programs related to parks, and those who make policy decisions about park lands.

Design and deployment of social networking tools will foster the creation of a network community for consortium members. The grid will gather and disseminate the best available science about parks and protected areas, including data on climate change, ecosystem composition, endangered species and park visitation patterns. The project is being beta tested at four national parks in the southeastern United States: Congaree National Park, Cowpens National Battlefield, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Augusta Canal National Heritage Area.

The interdisciplinary team's efforts support environmental conservation through shared resources and target cyberinfrastructure challenges of data fusion and data mining that go well beyond park management

Greenville-based Automation Engineering Corp. has donated a KUKA six-axis robot valued at $15,500 to the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). The robot will be used in research and education by students studying factory automation in the automotive engineering graduate program.

The robot can be used for a wide variety of manufacturing projects, such as welding cars on an assembly line, painting or moving parts from one position to another. Students have specified, purchased and installed supporting hardware, learned the KUKA programming language and are able to manipulate the robot in a variety of tasks.

Automotion Engineering (AEC) also provides engineering support and consultation to the students, enhancing the value of the robot as a teaching tool, said mechanical engineering professor Laine Mears.

"The hardware and support provides hands-on learning in conjunction with the academic automation concepts taught in class, showing students that automating a task requires more than just programming, but a deeper understanding of design, control and safety issues," Mears said.

The corporation has provided support for CU-ICAR in the past, including a $100,000 gift to fund graduate fellowships.

"AEC has been interested in CU-ICAR since it was first announced," said Gary Foster, president of Automation Engineering. "We knew that this would be an engine to drive engineering and technology in the Upstate, and we knew that we wanted to be part of it. Collaboration between industry and academics is a very powerful tool. We expect CU-ICAR to produce excellent engineers and technical leaders and we're excited to be part of that future."

Amy Gray of Chester, Va., a first-year graduate student at Clemson University, received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award at the Region VI annual conference of the National Orientation Directors Association (NODA) in Oxford, Miss.

Gray, who is working toward a Masters of Education in student affairs, is a graduate assistant in the Office of New Student and Sophomore Programs in Clemson's Division of Student Affairs. She implemented a new recruitment process for student orientation leaders for summer 2009, receiving 130 applications for 25 spots, an increase over the 60 or 70 applications per year in the past. Gray implemented a new leadership models for orientation leaders, creating new job responsibilities and more leadership opportunities for returning leaders.

"Amy's passion and interest to help people makes her a great leader, not only within our office but among our orientation ambassadors as well. Her integrity, loyalty, spirit and work ethic represent the elite and finest of Clemson's graduate students. Amy's willingness to do or try anything at anytime will enable her to be successful in the future," said Rebecca Atkinson, associate director for new student and sophomore programs.

Gray has helped coordinate and implement a new program for new students called Clemson Connect, a series of activities and programs that all new students are required to participate in four days before classes begin each fall semester. Gray also serves as one of the first members of Clemson's Retention Intervention Team, a program that identifies academically at-risk students to help them stay on track in school. Gray advises the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and supervises undergraduate student interns.

"It came as a surprise, as I was unaware my supervisor had nominated me for the award. It really meant so much to be honored with this award considering I am only a first year graduate student and there are so many incredible orientation programs in the southern region. It was really nice to be recognized for all of the hard work our entire office had been doing over the 2008-2009 school year," said Gray.

NODA exists to provide education, leadership and professional development in the fields of college student orientation, transition and retention. Nominees for the Outstanding Graduate Student Award are considered based on the complexity of the organization and the tasks performed, the level of the impact the nominee's performance has had on various areas of the institution, the amount of time invested in orientation and the amount of time that was planned or spontaneous and the effectiveness of the nominee in the field of orientation, transition and retention services.

The research enabled by the Palmetto Cluster runs the gamut from cross-layer protocol design of wireless communication networks to simulations in molecular dynamics to human developmental studies.

Economics professor Paul Wilson says, "The new cluster allows me to undertake data- and computationally intensive projects that would have been otherwise impossible."

The system is both innovative and cost-effective because it's based on a "condominium cluster" concept that uses small computer arrays assembled into larger units, much like a condominium complex. Faculty "owners" provide a significant percentage of the funding for the compute nodes while the University provides the rest of the nodes plus the infrastructure to build the cluster. The cluster can be provisioned, configured and managed as faculty and research needs dictate.

Located in the Information Technology Center at the Clemson University Advanced Materials Center, the operations center uses real-time diagnostics and other leading-edge technologies to manage and operate local, state, regional and national networks and Clemson University computing resources. This monitoring helps ensure reliable and available services by diagnosing and correcting problems — often even before they have a chance to impact users.

By building strong cyberinfrastructure, Clemson is attracting top faculty, enriching students' educational experience and helping South Carolina increase information technology capacity for economic development.

"The Golden Compass" snagged an Oscar in 2008 for visual effects and featured numerous Clemson digital artists on the project, including Rachel Drews. "My degree in digital production arts at Clemson gave me the technical and production knowledge base, as well as the connection to the people in the VFX industry," she says.

With 3,000 square feet of studio space for major motion picture quality animation and effects, including video editing and sound booths, Clemson's digital arts program features state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructure that is the envy of many Hollywood studios. The program offers a master of fine arts in digital production arts, and graduates are frequently hired for major motion picture animation jobs at studios located in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco and Hollywood.

Clemson architecture students creating 3-D renderings of their designs no longer need the bag. They can harness the unused capacity of hundreds of machines in student computer labs across campus and do the job in a fraction of the time.

"Because every frame of the rendering is an independent calculation, it's possible to distribute the individual frame calculations across a large number of processors at once," says Jill Gemmill, Clemson's executive director of cyberinfrastructure technology integration. "Then when all the frames get done, it all gets pulled back together and the student can download the end results."

With a High-Throughput Computing system known as Condor, Clemson Computing and Information Technology created a pool of 750 machines, which can execute more than 2,200 jobs simultaneously, using student computer labs. Condor software also has been installed on the Palmetto Cluster, the campus supercomputer, to take full advantage of its 772 nodes, each of which has eight processors.

While a few other universities are making use of the Condor system's capabilities, only Clemson has a user interface designed specifically for architecture students.

As the University expands and strengthens its own cyberinfrastructure, it's playing a leading role for the state and higher education.

Clemson initiated the development of the South Carolina Computing Consortium (SC3), a coalition of five major research institutions in the state including the University of South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina, Hollings Marine Laboratory and Savannah River National Laboratory. The consortium was developed to enable and advance cyberinfrastructure-related research, education and economic development in South Carolina.

Clemson's lead in SC3 helped South Carolina participate for the first time in the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking and Storage in 2007 and again in 2008, during which the group highlighted the computational research efforts of South Carolina's major research institutions. The 20-year-old conference is the premier venue in supercomputing with more than 10,000 attendees from academia, industry and government agencies.

Clemson Computing and Information Technology is playing a leading role in creating an environment in which great things can happen — on campus and around the world — by expanding and strengthening the University's cyberinfrastructure. Rebuilding Clemson's computer network, connecting it to national and international networks, providing a world-class data center and a state-of-the-art network operations center, developing experienced support staff and fostering partnerships are all part of a comprehensive plan for collaboration and innovation.

Clemson's IT enhancement efforts were featured in the cover story for STORAGE magazine (January 2008). Contributing writer Alan Radding interviewed Jim Bottum, vice provost for computing and information technology; CTO Jim Pepin, who came from the University of Southern California, and Mike Cannon, data storage architect and manager, who came from NASA, about key investments in cyberinfrastructure that are establishing Clemson as a national leader in education, research, high performance computing and innovation.

"The charge given to me when I came to Clemson was to build a world-class cyberinfrastructure to help move Clemson to the top 20," says Bottum. "The campuswide support for our bold and comprehensive initiative has been exciting and gratifying."

The management information systems program at Clemson University is one of the most productive in the world, according to a paper published in "Communications of the Association for Information Systems." The program's Ph.D. students received recognition as they are ranked first in productivity, along with the University of British Columbia and the University of Arizona, in the top six journals between 2003 and 2007.

Varun Grover, the William S. Lee Professor of Information Systems at Clemson, was ranked fourth among 3,404 published information systems researchers in the world based on the number of publications in the top six information systems journals. "The management information systems program is one of the strongest in the College of Business and Behavioral Science," said college Dean Claude Lilly. "The level of productivity among the students, faculty members and Dr. Grover is quite impressive given the fact it is a relatively new program that started in 2003."

In rankings of the top three, six and nine information systems journals, Grover was ranked among the top five researchers. This is the sixth study in the past 10 years that has ranked Grover among the top five researchers based on publications in major journals.

A ranking of information systems faculty as a group at each institution also places Clemson's among the top faculties in the world. The Clemson faculty is ranked in the top 20 when listing productivity in the top nine journals, among the top 10 in a rank of the top six journals and among the top 20 on the list of top three journals. They are ranked first, with the University of British Columbia and Case Western Reserve University, in publications per faculty.

"The success of Clemson's information systems program is a result of Grover's determination to guide it in the right direction and the commitment of the high level students recruited each year," said Lilly.

"This is a testament to the role a senior scholar and endowed chair can play in building Ph.D. programs and research," said Sri V. Sridharan, chairman of the management department.

Grover is honored by the attention his work garners, but credits his fellow professors in the program, as well as the students, with making it a success.

"It is nice for our program to be recognized. We have a great group of faculty who challenge, probe and push our doctoral students, but ultimately create a positive, nurturing atmosphere for research. It is hard work, but it seems to be paying off," Grover said.

The information published in the journal was provided by University of Texas at San Antonio professors Jan Guynes Clark, John Warren and Yoris A. Au. Their study examines the leading information systems researchers and their universities. The authors reviewed publications from nine leading information systems journals from 2003 to 2007, during which time 3,404 researchers contributed 2,155 published articles from 610 universities in 48 countries.

Researchers from Clemson University, in collaboration with Purdue University and PSI Inc., have received a four-year $1.1 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration to better understand the challenges facing the durability of concrete infrastructure and to develop new test methods to address them.

Clemson associate professor of civil engineering Prasad Rangaraju says the research could have a widespread effect on how various agencies build or rebuild concrete infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, with a potential to save millions or even billions of dollars down the line.

"Here at Clemson we will study alkali-silica reaction (ASR) in concrete," said Rangaraju. "This is a durability problem that arises due to incompatibility between ingredients that make up concrete. How the ingredients in concrete interact with each other, as well as with the environment they serve in, determines a lot about how long materials will last in the elements. Improper selection of raw materials that are used in concrete can result in ASR distress."

Rangaraju says that once the alkali-silica reaction affects a concrete structure, it is difficult to repair the concrete and it can cost several million dollars in the process. As part of the research study, Rangaraju and his graduate students aim to develop a better test method than existing procedures to evaluate ingredients in concrete material to minimize or even prevent the occurrence of alkali-silica reaction distress in concrete construction.

Projects include student productions from 2008 and 2009, a student/faculty project funded by a film grant from the SC Film Commission, and a special student produced stereioscopic (3D) experience (3D glass will be provided).

Doors open at 6:30, screening begins at 7:00.

After the screening, their will be a brief intermission followed by a Q&A session for those interested. ]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:20:55 EST http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=service award http://www.grad.clemson.edu/news/recentNews.php?tag=service award

The Clemson Alumni Association has presented five alumni the Distinguished Service Award, the university's highest alumni honor.

The Alumni Association annually recognizes alumni who demonstrate a dedication to enhancing the value of the university for future generations; service to church, community, profession and public service; and personal accomplishments that serve as a model for present and future Clemson students.

This year's award recipients are:

* Harry Frampton III of Vail, Colo., Class of 1967, a resort developer who has been a leader in the cultural development of his community.

* Dr. Eddie Robinson of Columbia, Class of 1979, a veterinarian who mentors children and serves on state commissions.

* Neil C. Robinson Jr. of Charleston, Class of 1966, an attorney and advocate for children's education in the Lowcountry.

* Ken Smith of Greer, Class of 1981, senior vice president for Fluor Corp. who has helped build partnerships between his company and Clemson engineering programs.

* Jane Sosebee of Clemson, Class of 1978, an AT&T executive who has helped Clemson connect with the telecommunications giant.

Clemson University will share in the bounty of cotton genetic information donated by the Monsanto Co. The St. Louis-based biotechnology leader announced a gift of 5,000 molecular markers to Texas AgriLife Research of the Texas A&M System. The gift will help scientists map the cotton genome, a pathway to new products for consumers and profits for the industry.

Cotton Marker Database (CMD) Web site, hosted by the Clemson University Genomics Institute — CUGI for short — will receive copies of the genetic information given to Texas AgriLife Research. The Clemson-maintained database, supported by the trade organization Cotton Inc., offers centralized access to all publicly available major types of cotton molecular markers. CUGI provides Web hosting, access and data storage for the Cotton Marker Database project.

"The Cotton Marker Database project has been funded by Cotton Inc. through Clemson University since 2004," said Anna Blenda, leader of the Cotton Marker Database project and research assistant professor in the genetics and biochemistry department. "Through those years Clemson received $320,000 of grant money from Cotton Inc. for the development and maintenance of the CMD. According to a 2008 survey, CMD was the most-used cotton database among cotton researchers surveyed. Release of the Monsanto cotton marker data to the public sources, including the Clemson-based Cotton Marker Database, will have tremendous benefit for the research community."

Another genetic research resource is the federal Cotton Genome Database (CottonDB). Started in 1995, CottonDB is located at College Station, Texas, and directed by Richard Percy of the USDA Agricultural Research Service. CottonDB contains genomic, genetic and taxonomic information for cotton. The database helps cotton researchers access large amounts of cotton biological and descriptive data. The Monsanto gift opens new doors to scientific discoveries that ultimately will move from laboratory bench to crop rows.

"Farmers are looking for ways to increase productivity on their farms to meet growing demand for food, feed and fiber," said John Purcell, global cotton technology lead for Monsanto. "Last year, we announced a challenge to double production by 2030, using 2000 as the base. We think that's possible through our research and by working with others in the industry through efforts like this. This donation of molecular markers is an active component of realizing vision and will help us achieve that goal."

A molecular marker is "a way to tag genetic traits for fast access the next time, much like you could mark a useful tip in a cookbook and highlight it," Purcell said. "Molecular markers work the same way. Monsanto researchers have found areas of the cotton genome that, for example, have disease-resistance or high yield potential. Adding markers helps researchers easily find these and other specific traits where and when they need them. Markers let us screen a lot of cotton varieties in the lab before even going to the field. This saves a lot of time and money."

Transgenic cotton is developed in the lab and tightly controlled field studies using genetic material from another variety. The best-known example is cotton biotechnologically engineered to resist certain insects or herbicides. In 2008, 94 percent of the U.S. upland crop was planted in transgenic varieties resistant to worms, herbicides or both.

Globally, China is the largest grower, averaging approximately 36 million bales of cotton. India is second, with a 23 million bales average. The U.S. ranks third, averaging 17 million bales.

Cotton is grown in 17 states, ranging from Virginia to California, covering more than 12 million acres. Texas is the top U.S. upland cotton producer, averaging more than six million bales of cotton per year, according to National Cotton Council data. South Carolina ranks 13th nationally, generating approximately $80 million in cotton revenue in 2008. The U.S. cotton industry accounts for more than $25 billion in products and services annually and more than 400,000 jobs.

Aside from fabric uses, cotton is processed as food and fuel from cottonseed accompanying the fiber. More than nine billion pounds of whole cottonseed and cottonseed meal are used in feed for livestock, dairy cattle and poultry. More than 154 million gallons of cottonseed oil are used for food products, ranging from margarine to salad dressing.

Research is leading to new uses of cottonseed. Clemson biosystems engineer Terry Walker recently received $12,000 from Cotton Inc. to research using cottonseed oil as a diesel substitute. At Texas A&M, plant biotechnologist Keerti Rathore and his colleagues have created a new cotton variety that has no gossypol in the seed. Cotton plants produce gossypol to retard reproduction in insects that eat cotton bolls and seeds, but the compound also reduces reproduction and potassium levels in mammals. Removing gossypol holds promise to increase cotton's potential as a global food resource.

Clemson University Tuesday dedicated the Harris A. Smith Building, home to the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics, where students and researchers will study not only how packaging is designed and manufactured but also how products will be perceived, marketed and consumed in the future.

It is the only university program in the country that will bring together packaging science, graphic communication, the materials, environmental science, manufacturing, marketing and psychology disciplines to study packaging methods, said Chip Tonkin, the institute's director.

The institute initially will focus on four areas:

* Designing environmentally sustainable packages;

* Developing electronic films that can be printed on packages to create displays, track shipments or apply environmental or biological sensors;

* Testing the impact of package design on consumer attention, buying patterns, use and disposal in its consumer experience lab; and

* Integrating the multiple steps in package design and construction into a single workflow.

"We think in these four areas we can make a name for ourselves," Tonkin said. "Nobody has really looked at packaging as a core competency."

The 28,000-square-foot building is named for Harris A. Smith of Atlanta, former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Smith Container Corp., founded by the Smith family in 1907. He sold the company a few years ago and saw an opportunity to create a global center for packaging innovation by investing in Clemson.

Accompanied by members of his family, Smith said, "We thank Clemson University for giving us the opportunity 102 years later to remain actively engaged in an industry that has seen three generations of family involvement."

Smith made gifts and pledges of $3.7 million and Sonoco Products Co. of Hartsville $2.5 million for the construction of the building and to launch the packaging institute. Most of the money to pay for the $7 million structure was donated. Other donors gave equipment that will be used to train students and help industry partners research packaging methods, technology and design.

Tonkin said the goal is to make the institute self-supporting with revenue streams from faculty research, assistantships, intellectual property and industry fees and contributions.

Clemson President James F. Barker said the packaging design and graphics communications programs deliver about 100 highly sought-after graduates to good jobs in the industry every year.

"The facility we dedicate today is for and about these students," he said. "It is about innovation. And it is about the true collaboration that exists among our industry partners, our outstanding faculty and our students."

The 2009 Clemson Literary Festival begins Thursday, April 2, welcoming novelists, poets and short story authors from throughout the South to the Clemson campus and city for three days of readings, discussions, book fairs and family events.

More than 20 writers will participate in the festival, including George Singleton, author of "We Are These People" and "The Half-Mammals of Dixie," as well as Greenville-based authors Mindy Friddle, Ashley Warlick and Claire Bateman. This year's Richard J. Calhoun Reader is Doris Betts, author of nine books, including "Souls Raised from the Dead," "Heading West" and "The Sharp Teeth of Love."

"There is a real hunger for this kind of event, not just among Clemson students, but among residents of Clemson and the surrounding area," said Adam Million, festival organizer and lecturer of English. "People are eager to participate in creative endeavors — and with the art of the spoken word."

Readings are scheduled at various Clemson locations, including Abernathy Waterfront Park, 356 Bar and Sushi Restaurant, Overtime and TD's.

"The downtown readings were a huge hit for us last year, lots of fun," Million said. "Bringing people together to hear fine authors reading aloud from their own work goes to the very meaning of what a great university should be."

For a complete schedule of readings and other events, click here.

Serious gaming fans (as well as those who want to know what serious gaming is all about) can catch the panel discussion "From Second Life to World of Warcraft: The Convergence of Writing and Literature with Gaming and Virtual Worlds," at 3 p.m., Thursday, April 2, in the McKissick Theatre of Clemson's Hendrix Student Center.

Family day is Saturday, April 4, at The Arts Center of Clemson. Cartoonist and children's author Kate Salley Palmer and children's book illustrator Tatjana Mai Wyss will spend the morning with kids and parents. Events include art workshops for those 3 years old and older and creative writing workshops for those 6 and up. Parents and adults are welcome; no pre-registration is necessary. Palmer speaks at 10; workshops begin at 10:30; Wyss speaks at 11:30.

Also for kids, from 4-6 p.m. on Friday, "Read-a-Rama — Science Fun" is scheduled at The Arts Center. Kids are invited to enter artwork made entirely of recycled materials for a chance to win a prize. Pre-registration is required by April 2. To learn more, click here.

All events are free and open to the public.

A book fair in the Hendrix Student Center from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday will feature works by the visiting writers as well as Clemson authors Keith Morris, Ron Moran, John Warner and others. Current and recent issues of The South Carolina Review also will be for sale. Since 1968, the Review has published fiction, poetry, interviews, unpublished letters, manuscripts, essays and reviews from well-known and aspiring scholars and writers, including Iris Murdoch, Walker Percy, Joyce Carol Oates, Josephine Humphreys and James Dickey.

Principal sponsor for the 2009 Clemson Literary Festival is the Rutland Institute for Ethics in connection with this year's Presidential Colloquium "Principles and Perspectives in Progress." The aim of the Presidential Colloquium, now in its ninth year, is to provide opportunities for Clemson University students and faculty, as well as members of the community, to come together to explore important issues.

For questions about family day call Michelle H. Martin at 656-3879. For general festival questions, contact Adam Million, festival organizer, by phone at 656-5411 or e-mail at million@clemson.edu.

Clemson professor and chairwoman of bioengineering Martine LaBerge is the recipient of the 2009 Governor's Award for Scientific Awareness.

Martine LaBergeThe award was established in 1985 by the Drug Science Foundation to honor individuals or teams in South Carolina whose achievements and contributions to science merit special recognition and promote wider awareness of the quality and extent of scientific activity around the state.

LaBerge's research interests include the evaluation and characterization of natural and artificial surfaces used in the design of implants for orthopedic and vascular applications. She has established a highly productive research program at Clemson University that focuses on the friction, lubrication and wear of artificial knee joints. She has more than 200 technical publications.

LaBerge has started the development of many programs in South Carolina that have served as platforms to increase awareness among the scientific community as well as the public. She served is a board member and former president for the Society for Biomaterials. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering, a title bestowed by the world's leading societies in the field of biomaterials. She has received the Outstanding Woman Faculty Award from Clemson's President's Commission on the Status of Women, the Murray Stokely Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Faculty Mentoring Award in the College of Engineering and Science.

Since 2005, the Governor's Awards for Scientific Awareness has been under the joint sponsorship of companies including the Dewees Development Corp., Harbor Watch of Charleston, Roche Carolina Inc., MeadWestvaco and Michelin North America.

An honorarium of $1,000 will be presented to the recipients at a special awards ceremony held in the spring in conjunction with the South Carolina Academy of Science's annual meeting.

Clemson University chemistry professor Dennis Smith is the recipient of the 2009 Governor's Award for Excellence in Scientific Research.

Dennis SmithThe award was established in 1985 by the Drug Science Foundation to honor individuals or teams whose achievements and contributions to science merit special recognition and promote wider awareness of the quality and extent of scientific activity in South Carolina.

Smith's research interests include structure-property relationships and application of polymeric materials and composites. Much of his research is in the field of photonics, the backbone of the Internet-driven technology revolution, and the study of light to process information.

Smith is the co-founder and associate director of Clemson's Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET) and the chairman of the American Chemical Society's Division of Polymer Chemistry. He also co-founded Tetramer Technologies LLC in 2001 to commercialize research conducted at Clemson.

Smith received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 3M Pre-Tenured Faculty Award, Clemson University Award for Faculty Achievement in the Sciences, Cottrell Scholar of Research Corp., Clemson University board of trustees Award for Faculty Excellence and Missouri State University 2007 Outstanding Young Alumni Award. Most recently, Smith received the 2008 Charles H. Stone Award as outstanding chemist in the southeastern United States.

Since 2005, the Governor's Award for Excellence in Science has been under the joint sponsorship of companies including the Dewees Development Corp., Harbor Watch of Charleston, Roche Carolina Inc., MeadWestvaco and Michelin North America.

An honorarium of $1,000 will be presented to the recipients at a special awards ceremony held in the spring in conjunction with the South Carolina Academy of Science's annual meeting.

Imagine the well-known Carolina Peachoid covered in rust, then shrunken and gooey. The Gaffney orangey-yellow I-85 icon — a water tower resembling a giant peach — would look a lot like a real peach with brown rot. Clemson University peach specialists are helping Southeastern growers control the destructive fungus.

Brown rot (Monilinia fructicola) is a hardy survivalist, adapting to control efforts. The pathogen at specific locations has developed resistance to some fungicides, according to reports from South Carolina. The situation poses a big problem for South Carolina and Georgia, which behind California rank second and third in U.S. peach production. The two states account for 25 percent of the nation's fresh peaches, selling about $60 million worth of peaches a year.

"The chemicals that are being used these days to control brown rot are site-specific chemicals," said Clemson plant pathologist Guido Schnabel, the South Carolina state specialist for fruit diseases. "That means they attack the fungus at one particular place. So the fungus has a fairly easy way to produce resistance against those chemicals."

Schnabel and colleagues A. Amiri, Phil Brannen and Harald Scherm (the latter two are from the University of Georgia) have come up with new a weapon to battle brown rot. It was tested in 2008 and is ready for use this growing season.

"We've developed a kit that will enable growers to determine the resistance profile in their respective areas," said Schnabel. "What we do is we go to the grower's' site. We collect samples, and within three days, using that kit, we can determine what kind of resistance profile the grower has in their respective area. So right off the bat a grower starts out with the correct sprays and uses the correct chemicals knowing what resistance profile they have."

Besides saving the growers money and helping the environment by using fewer chemicals, the work by Schnabel and colleagues has more far-reaching benefit.

"The research and techniques can be used for other stone-fruit crops because this is a disease that not only affects peaches, it also affects nectarines and cherries and plum," said Schnabel.

The American South has long been linked to peaches, but they originated in China, where they have been cultivated for more than 4,000 years. The Spanish brought the peach to the New World in the 1500s, where Franciscan Monks propagated it along the South Carolina coast. It wasn't until the 1850s that South Carolina began growing peaches commercially. In 1984, South Carolina growers harvested the record peach crop of 480,000 tons. Today, crop yield is about a fourth of the record harvest, owing to drought, disease, increased costs and decreased demands.

Graduates of Clemson University's digital production arts program (DPA) are part of a team that won the Oscar for visual effects for the movie "The Golden Compass."

The digital artists who graduated from Clemson and worked on the movie are: Rachel Drews, '06; Marc Bryant, '99; Wil Whaley, '99; Josh Tomlinson, '02; and student Mikki Rose.

Clemson digital artists worked on the movie with Rhythm and Hues' visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer, who received the 2008 Academy Award for Achievement in Visual Effects for "The Golden Compass."

"It is a great honor to be a part of the team that won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects for ‘The Golden Compass,' Drews said. "I am only one of many, many visual effects artists who worked on the film from Rhythm and Hues, and I am pleased to already be working with the best in the industry. My degree in digital production arts at Clemson gave me the technical and production knowledge base, as well as the connection to the people in the VFX industry."

Several other Clemson alumni also work for Rhythm and Hues in Los Angeles.

Clemson's digital production arts program is housed in McAdams Hall. With its $3 million in computer equipment and infrastructure, it is much like many Hollywood facilities.

The Master of Fine Arts in Digital Production Arts (DPA) at Clemson University is a professional degree program aimed at producing technically savvy, artistically talented graduates who are sought after by the growing electronic arts industry, particularly by those companies engaged in special effects within the entertainment and commercial video, film and gaming industries.

Digital Production Arts comprises approximately 30 graduate students and faculty from multiple disciplines in the university. Graduate students in the program are often offered major motion picture animation jobs in places across the country, including New York, Atlanta, San Francisco and Hollywood and in such studios as Rhythm and Hues, among others.

In a move that will advance development of alternative energy in South Carolina, the state's leading bioenergy researchers have teamed to study how South Carolina's agricultural resources can help reduce the state's and nation's dependence on fossil fuels.

Clemson University Restoration InstituteThe Clemson University Restoration Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory are founding members of the S.C. BioEnergy Research Collaborative, which was formed last year.

Savannah River National LaboratoryThis new agreement will enhance the exchange of ideas and the development and use of new technologies. As part of the agreement, the Restoration Institute and the laboratory will:

* Research crop development and harvesting, including switchgrass, sweet sorghum and pine;

* Study emerging energy alternatives, such as algae; and

* Research crop-processing techniques to yield viable energy and chemical products, including ethanol, biodiesel and energy briquettes.

A member of the laboratory's research team will be housed at the Restoration Institute in North Charleston to help promote the free exchange of ideas and advance technical developments.

Savannah River National Laboratory is bringing its environmental and biological research and development capabilities to the effort, said Tom French, its Bioenergy Programs manager. This includes its expertise in microbial and enzyme technologies to break down chemical compounds.

The laboratory is playing a lead role in research into the pretreatment of plant matter prior to fermentation and in the discovery of effective new cellulose enzymes.

"We're combining the national lab's unique expertise with the Restoration Institute's significant research capabilities in a program that will benefit the entire state," French said.

The collaborative's other partners are:

* South Carolina State University's James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center

* Dyadic International (USA) Inc., a global biotechnology development company

* Fagen Engineering LLC, a full-service biofuels and alternative energy-systems design company

* The Spinx Co. Inc., one of the East Coast's largest ethanol distributors

The Clyburn Transportation Center is developing transportation models for how to efficiently bring raw material to the plant and distribute the ethanol to the marketplace.

The private partners — Dyadic, Fagen and Spinx — represent key sectors of the alternative fuels industry. Together, their expertise will advance research and development of the pilot plant and the cellulose-to-ethanol process and clear avenues for rapid commercialization of the final product.

In October, the parties announced plans to build a biofuels pilot plant at the Restoration Institute. The $14 million plant will be used to investigate commercial bioethanol production using feedstocks available in South Carolina.

The project has the potential not only to enhance South Carolina's reputation as a leading alternative-energy researcher, but also boost Palmetto State agriculture, said Karl Kelly, director of corporate operations at the Restoration Institute.

The pilot plant will allow researchers to "scale up" new biofuel technologies, a crucial step between small laboratory experiments and full-scale production, he said.

"It's a project that addresses the entire process, from the field to the production of ethanol," Kelly said. "We'll look for gaps in the technology and fill them."

Initial funding was provided by a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The collaborative is actively seeking funding for construction of the plant, which will take about 12 months to build.

"All of this work is to develop a process, and to do that we need a pilot plant," Kelly said.

In addition to the public-private partners, the intent is that students will visit the Restoration Institute to work at the pilot plant as part of their studies.

The entire senior class of Clemson chemical engineering professor Charles Gooding is working on a project to design a switchgrass-to-ethanol plant. Thirty-four students are looking at alternatives to the process, which could prove useful to the plant design, Gooding said.

Future students, too, could benefit from the facility, Gooding said.

"There could be interaction with the entire class," he said. "We like to do things that are real-world projects."

Tough economic times are not keeping an unusual group of Clemson University graduate students out of the classroom. In fact, they are benefiting from the convenience and camaraderie of a global classroom experience.

The Master of Engineering with a concentration in Capital Projects Supply Chain and Logistics offered in the department of industrial engineering is a first-of-its-kind online graduate program that has working professionals from around the world and across the spectrum of disciplines sitting in a virtual classroom any time of the day or night that fits their schedule.

"The degree is unique in that it focuses on the logistics of capital projects engineering and construction, combining theory with practice to broaden student understanding of the entire project supply chain and life cycle," said Bill Ferrell, professor of industrial engineering and associate dean of the graduate school.

Capital projects generally are defined as new construction, expansion, renovation or replacement of an existing facility or facilities and infrastructure. Land, engineering, architectural planning and services needed to complete the project all are part of the cycle. The program represents and explores the various roles and interests in the execution of capital projects, including owners, contractors, suppliers and subcontractors.

The Clemson graduate program is meant for students who are full-time professionals, such as Randy Rogers, a project materials manager with Foster Wheeler USA Corp. Rogers lives in Tulsa, Okla., but travels to Chicago, Houston and overseas regularly.

"The fact that we can learn these skill sets and pursue an invaluable master's degree while continuing to chase careers that take us all over the globe is simply amazing," said Rogers.

The program, offered by industrial engineering, was developed in collaboration with the departments of civil engineering, management, and the Graduate School at Clemson, as well as with owners, contractors and suppliers such as Fluor Corp., Chevron and Mobil.

"Fluor Corporation recognizes the immense value supply chain management brings to capital projects," said Jim Scotti, senior vice president and chief procurement officer of Fluor. "We are pleased to be able to partner with the state of South Carolina to establish what is a truly unique master's degree program for working engineers and supply chain professionals."

"This program brings real value to industry professionals and companies because it gives students a broad perspective of the complex supply chain problems associated with capital projects and provides practical solutions for those problems," said Clemson civil engineer Steve Sanders, who is an instructor in the program as well as director of the Clemson Industry Cooperative Alliance.

"The interdisciplinary nature of the supply chain is highlighted by the enormous expertise that has gone into developing the course content for working professionals," said Anand Gramopadhye, the industrial engineering department chairman. He said this type of program eventually may be extended to other fields.

"I'm very pleased with the very positive response this program is getting.  Bill Ferrell has done a trememdous job in organizing a very ambitious program" said Bruce Rafert, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School.  "We are looking at several other possibilities for deployment in the near future".

All classes are offered online through web-based delivery with no residency requirement. Lectures can be downloaded to a desktop, iPod or mobile device for viewing. The courses are self-paced and accessible on the web, so students can continue their education regardless of their location worldwide. For more information, go to http://www.clemson.edu/ces/departments/ie/.

A dozen graduate students from Clemson University are fine tuning their athletic skills as they prepare to compete for a cause.

Twelve Master of Business Administration students will travel to Duke University March 27-29 to compete in the 21st annual Duke MBA Games, which raise money for Special Olympics North Carolina.

Along with Clemson and Duke, schools competing include the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, the University of Michigan and Vanderbilt University.

Building on the leadership and teamwork skills developed in the classroom, MBA candidates will team up with several special olympians to compete. The weekend's events also will include networking and socializing opportunities in the Durham, N.C., area.

The Clemson MBA Student Association is trying to beat last year's fundraising total of nearly $3,000. That was the most raised by any of the participating schools. To sponsor the MBA students, go to http://www.firstgiving.com/clemson09.

For information about the Clemson MBA, go to www.clemson.edu/mba or e-mail MBA@clemson.edu.

Clemson University space physicists have traveled around the world to launch rockets to test atmospheric conditions.

Scientists most recently launched a salvo of four rockets over Alaska to study turbulence in the upper atmosphere. The launches took place at Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks as part of a NASA sounding rocket campaign.

Associate professor of physics and astronomy Gerald Lehmacher is the principal investigator for the experiment and was assisted by graduate students Shelton Simmons and Liyu Guo.

"After six days of cloudy and snowy weather, we had perfect conditions with a clear, moonless night sky over interior Alaska," said Lehmacher. "We needed excellent viewing conditions from three camera sites to photograph the luminescent trails the payloads produced in the upper atmosphere."

The rockets were 35-foot, two-stage Terrier Orions. They released trimethyl aluminum that creates a glowing vapor trail nearly 87 miles up. Sensitive cameras on the ground track the trails. From that Lehmacher and his team can analyze upper-atmospheric winds by tracking how the vapor trails form, billow, disperse and diffuse. Two of the rockets had an additional deployable payload with instrumentation to measure electron density and neutral temperature and turbulence.

The instrumented sections are a collaboration of Clemson with Penn State University and the Leibniz-Institute for Atmospheric Physics in Germany. The University of Alaska assisted in the study with ground-based laser radar and other optical instruments. The project is sponsored by a NASA grant for three years.

In January, Clemson physicists traveled to Norway to carry out a joint experiment with Japanese scientists to study atmospheric winds and circulation from heating created by electrical currents associated with Northern Lights displays. The measurements were made with instruments flown on a Japanese S-310 rocket launched from the Andoya Rocket Range in northern Norway, as well as a suite of sensitive radar and camera instruments on the ground.

The experiment was a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the department of physics and astronomy at Clemson. Professor Miguel Larsen was the investigator responsible for the wind measurement aboard the instrumented rocket and was assisted by three undergraduate students, Lucas Hurd, Matt Jenkins and Matt Henderson.

Clemson University students, faculty and staff, as well as high school students, are invited to submit original works to Science as Art 2009. The deadline for submitting an entry is Friday, March 6.

Science as Art at Clemson uses visual representations of science and technology to provide a connection between scientists, artists and the general public. This event has challenged Clemson University students, faculty and staff to produce and share images from laboratories, workspaces and learning environments.

Entries should convey a significant or captivating scientific concept or event, but do not have to be research-based. Individuals or teams can submit entries. Multidisciplinary collaboration is encouraged in this event to see how different areas of study relate to one another. Categories for entries include photographs, illustrations and electronic media, including video and explanatory graphics. There will also be a category for high school entries. Winners in each category will receive gift certificates from local businesses.

"Several things make this a great event for Clemson. First, it truly embodies the idea of ‘One Clemson', crossing every discipline and college and providing a real opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration and discussion," said Lisa Benson, assistant professor for the department of engineering and science education and organizer of the Science as Art competition. "Second, it promotes scientific literacy, and communicating what we do is so important to our missions of education, service and research. Third, not many universities have programs like this; it is unique for a university like Clemson,"

All entries will be displayed in the lobby of R.M. Cooper Library from April 1 through mid-May. Entries will be judged by a panel of artists and scientists from the community, based on visual impact, effective communication, freshness and originality. A People's Choice Award will be given based on a campuswide poll of all entries. A "Meet the Artist" reception and exhibit will be from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, at the Advanced Materials Research Laboratory in Anderson County. Entry forms are on the College of Engineering and Science Web site. Entries must be submitted electronically.

"Students are encouraged to submit entries. Entries do not need to be sophisticated or only research-based. We are looking for all kinds of interesting images and entries, as long as they are communicating something from a scientific standpoint as well as being visually appealing," said Benson.

Sponsors for Science as Art 2009 include the Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films, the Clemson University Research Foundation, the department of engineering and science education and Clemson's chapter of the Scientific Research Society, Sigma Xi.

Two Clemson University scientists were awarded more than $800,000 to find economical and environmentally sensible ways to treat what oilmen call "produced or co-produced water": billions of gallons of contaminated water that come out of the ground during oil and natural gas production.

Their work may help the nation achieve energy self-sufficiency and environmental sustainability.

Geologist Jim Castle and environmental toxicologist John Rodgers are developing constructed wetland systems to treat the contaminated water for reuse. The research funding includes $689,500 from the U.S. Department of Energy and $120,000 from Chevron of Houston, Texas.

The treatment of produced water is a major cost of obtaining oil and gas. The water contains salts, oil and grease and chemical additives used in drilling and well operations. Wells may start out producing little water, but eventually many produce more water than oil. In 1993, for instance, 1.09 trillion gallons of produced water were generated — enough water to flow over Niagara Falls for nine days, according to a U.S. Geological Survey fact sheet.

Department of Energy experts say that "co-produced water comprises 98 percent of all waste generated by U.S. oil and natural gas operations. Handling and disposal of this water is the single greatest environmental impediment to natural gas and oil exploration and production."

Environmentalists have referred to wetlands as nature's kidneys. Much interest has developed in using constructed wetlands to remove contaminants from water. Current approaches for treating produced water are costly, especially considering the amount of water produced and energy requirements, and some cannot meet new water-quality standards. The cost of treatment using constructed wetland systems has proven to be consistently lower than alternative technologies for treatment, Castle said.

Castle, a professor in the environmental engineering and earth sciences department, and Rodgers, a professor in forestry and natural resources, have developed similar constructed wetlands for the energy industry, such as treating water used in coal-burning power facilities.

"Development of low-cost methods to handle the large volumes of produced water has the potential to increase oil and gas production in existing areas and to open new areas," said Rodgers. "Constructed wetlands can be an effective and low-cost method of treating the produced waters that also allow the water to be reused."

In addition to reducing environmental risks, constructed wetland treatment systems generate treated water reusable for many purposes, including irrigation, livestock watering, cooling-tower water, municipal water use, domestic use, treated sewage discharge dilution and support of critical aquatic life and wildlife.

Constructed wetlands typically have four parts: the liner, distribution media, plants and an underdrain system. The liner keeps the contaminated water in and groundwater out of the system. The distribution system spreads the wastewater across the wetland. Plants used often are cattails, but other species include bulrushes, reeds and sedges. Plants need to grow and flourish in the system for it to operate at maximum efficiency. The underdrain system moves treated water out of the wetland and controls the level.

Studies by a Clemson University civil engineering researcher conclude that the deterioration of concrete pavements at airfields can be accelerated when acetate and formate salts of potassium and sodium are used for deicing and anti-icing.

The details of the study managed by the Innovative Pavement Research Foundation with funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can be viewed at www.iprf.org/reports

Based on technology invented by Clemson civil engineer Prasad Rangaraju, South Dakota transportation research scientist Daniel Johnston and a team of FMC Lithium researchers, the company has developed a lithium-modified potassium acetate deicer called LithMelt. The Clemson University Research Foundation licensed the technology to the FMC Corp., Lithium Division. Laboratory studies and field trials have shown that LithMelt deicer is as effective as other deicers without any damaging impact on concrete pavement and the environment.

"We have looked at problems of crumbling airfield pavements for years now and the FAA is determined to slow or halt the deterioration, which can cost millions," said Rangaraju. "In addition, accidents due to icing on roads, bridges, airport runways and other surfaces can cause serious injury, even fatalities. We believe this technology will go a long way toward alleviating needless suffering. There are also cost-savings for agencies through reduced maintenance and increased service life of the infrastructure. Ultimately, the impact of this deicer in improving the safety of operations on airfield pavements is most exciting to our team."

From its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., FMC Lithium serves markets including pool-water treatment, air treatment, construction, energy, fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, glass and ceramics, greases and lubricants and polymers. Information is available at www.fmclithium.com. FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC) is a diversified chemical company serving agricultural, industrial and consumer markets globally for more than a century with innovative solutions, applications and quality products.

The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture has awarded Clemson University professor Hala Nassar a 2008 Award of Recognition for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service to the Profession. Nassar received the only award in this category at the association's annual conference in Tucson, Ariz., in January.

"Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture is the largest academic organization and composed of landscape architecture programs in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand," Nassar said. "It is an honor to receive the award this year. It speaks to the great academic environment we have at Clemson."

The award applauded Nassar's teaching efforts in establishing an international cross-cultural partnership between landscape architecture students at Clemson University and architecture students at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. Since 2006, students and faculty from both schools have worked on service-learning projects to provide design solutions for urban sprawl at some of the world's greatest sites of antiquities, including the urban edge of the Giza plateau near the Great Pyramids and along the Avenue of the Sphinxes in Luxor, Egypt.

The projects have resulted in several visits between the students, both in Clemson and in Egypt, as well as presentations of their work to the prime minister of Egypt, Ahmed Nazif, and the governor of the Supreme Council of Luxor, Samir Farag. The Egyptian government, meanwhile, is putting some of those proposals to work.

The award also highlighted Nassar's research on international education, multiculturalism, cultural and historical landscapes in 19th century and contemporary Cairo, and the effects of globalization on landscape change.

Nassar is an assistant professor in the Clemson University planning and landscape architecture department. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture and a doctorate in history of landscape architecture from Ain Shams University and Master of Landscape Design from Pennsylvania State University. Originally from Egypt, Nassar brings her broad international understanding of design and culture into her research and teaching.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has recognized Clemson University for its commitment to public service, outreach and community engagement.

Clemson is one of 68 public and 51 private institutions selected to receive a 2008 community engagement classification from the foundation in the areas of Curricular Engagement and Outreach and Partnerships. It joins 76 other institutions that were selected in 2006 — the only other year of selections — out of 4,391 accredited colleges and universities in the nation.

Clemson's classification for Curricular Engagement and Outreach and Partnerships demonstrates a substantial commitment to both areas as part of the university's mission. Curricular Engagement focuses on service-learning and community-based research to engage faculty and students in addressing community needs as part of the student learning experience. The focus of Outreach and Partnerships is to share knowledge and resources and engage in mutually beneficial collaborations locally, nationally and globally to improve quality of life and advance economic development.

"The Carnegie classification speaks to the importance of Clemson's academic and public service programs in advancing economic and intellectual development in South Carolina," said Clemson President James F. Barker.

"It has never been more important to our state for Clemson to invest in community engagement of students and faculty, in outreach to citizens in economically distressed areas and in partnerships to leverage our scarce resources for economic and intellectual development," he said. "These activities represent hope for South Carolina's people and for their future and are perhaps the wisest investments we can make as a higher education institution and as a state."

To learn more about Clemson's Service Alliance, visit www.clemson.edu/servicealliance. Information on the 2008 Carnegie Foundation Classification for Community Engagement can be found at www.carnegiefoundation.org.

NASA has awarded Clemson astronomers $244,000 to use data from several space-based gamma-ray telescopes to study a mysterious emission coming from the central regions of the Milky Way galaxy.

The Milky WayGamma rays, the light of energy a thousand times more powerful than X-rays created by antimatter and normal matter coming together, are seen coming from the disk of our galaxy, roughly from where we see the glow of the Milky Way under a dark sky, but mostly from the direction of the center of the galaxy in the Southern hemisphere.

"We're not surprised to see this emission from the Milky Way's disk," said Mark Leising, Clemson University astronomy professor and principal investigator in the study. "We know that massive stars explode as supernovae there, fusing new elements from lighter ones. Such explosions long ago made the oxygen and iron in our blood and the calcium in our bones, along with most other heavy elements. Some of these elements are radioactive and produce antimatter positrons when they decay.

"What is surprising is how bright this emission is from the center of the galaxy," he said. "It is not coming just from the very center, where a black hole lurks that is two million times the Sun's mass, but from a region a few thousand light-years across surrounding the center."

Leising adds the supernova explosions do not occur there, so something else must be making the antimatter. One explanation, he said, involves black holes, collapsed stars of five to 10 solar masses, pulling matter from close companion stars. Another involves the decay of exotic "dark matter" particles. Dark matter is the name given to something out there that is so far detected only by its gravitational pull on normal matter.

In collaboration with colleagues from Germany, France and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Leising and Clemson students hope to unravel this mystery by combining information from a number of NASA and European Space Agency satellites.

Leising said students have to study many topics in physics and become experts in computational and statistical techniques to do this type work. Leising also notes that such technical advances inevitably lead to spinoff benefits.

"Development of these detectors and analysis techniques aided in the development of PET (positron emission tomography) scanners, in which patients ingest radioactive elements that decay and emit antimatter. We are doing much the same thing, except that we have to sit back 25,000 light years to measure the gamma rays," he said.

Energy from winds that blow within miles of South Carolina's coast have the potential to power more than a million homes across the state and create thousands of jobs, a panel of experts said Wednesday.

Wind turbinesIn the Charleston area alone, an additional 1.5 gigawatts of electricity will be needed to power a population boom that is expected to see 1 million people move to the region by 2025, living in 440,000 new homes.

Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, director of business development for the Clemson University Restoration Institute in North Charleston, told the ninth annual ThinkTEC Innovation Summit in North Charleston that South Carolina stands to benefit from wind power as a natural energy resource.

A growing coastal population will strain existing electricity resources, pushing demand for new sources, she said. Further, relatively shallow offshore waters are ideal for wind-farm construction and Charleston's state-of-the-art cargo port will help the flow of construction supplies.

By 2030, one-fifth of electricity generated nationwide is forecast to come from coastal or offshore wind farms, according to U.S. Department of Energy estimates. South Carolina utility Santee Cooper has committed to generating 40 percent of its power from non-greenhouse gas and biomass sources by 2020.

"If you do the math, wind power could generate more than 20,000 new jobs in South Carolina by 2030," Colbert-Busch said. "The opportunities for this state are enormous."

In hard numbers, the economic impact of wind power represents 22 jobs per megawatt, she said. One gigawatt equals 1,000 megawatts.

Gene Eidson, restoration ecology director at the Restoration Institute, told the summit that these population shifts and corresponding energy demands will require careful management of our natural resources.

The Clemson scientist heads an innovative project called the Intelligent River, which deploys a network of sensors and probes along the Savannah River that transmit information wirelessly to a central database.

Data, such as temperature, humidity and dissolved oxygen, can be viewed via the Internet, allowing scientists to manage the river in real time. It means the thousands of homes, businesses and marine life that rely on the river will receive the quantity and quality of water they need.

Put simply, our watersheds are at risk, Eidson said. If ignored, our natural resources will not be able to cope with the demand.

"We're at the point where we need to revolutionize how we manage our water resources," Eidson said. "Not a slow evolution."

The day-long ThinkTEC summit at Trident Technical College concluded Wednesday.

For more information about the Intelligent River visit www.intelligentriver.org.

Researchers from Clemson University and Appalachian State University are using virtual worlds to excite seventh-graders about math and science. They begin an ambitious teaching experiment this summer supported by a three-year $1.49 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

"The goal is to help rising seventh-grade students acquire the computer and cognitive skills they will need in order to imagine careers in science or math," said Sean Williams, associate dean of the graduate school, associate professor of English and co-principal investigator. "Generally speaking, American students are not interested in careers in science, technology, engineering or math, otherwise known as STEM. Yet the need is great — and growing — for students to choose these careers.

"Seventh-graders, on the other hand, are pretty open-minded, not yet jaded," said Williams. "We're using 3-D virtual worlds to entice them, open their eyes to the possibilities, while they are still young."

Williams is collaborating with two other Clemson professors: Debi Switzer, professor of education, and Ken Weaver, a lecturer in Clemson's School of Computing. The three-year grant award is worth just more than $450,000 for the Clemson researchers.

The project, begun in October 2008, will be fully implemented in June of 2009 with workshops that immerse the seventh-graders in 3-D virtual-world software, teaching them how to create virtual worlds and how to interact with others in a virtual society.

"The obstacles we encounter in the real world — problems of distance, scale and time — all disappear in a virtual-world setting," said Williams. "You can walk through molecules and examine them from the inside. You can visualize data, look at the spatial relationships. Being able to do anything you can imagine in a fake world helps you do things more imaginatively in the real world. Imagination is, after all, a cognitive skill."

"These students are already good at gaming," Williams said. "They're already good at socializing electronically. This program builds on those skills, developing social aptitude and critical-thinking skills. You have to learn to be social to succeed in a virtual world, and you have to think critically in order to conceive of objects and relationships that don't exist yet."

In the second part of the summer workshops, students will be joined by their upcoming teachers in science and math. "They'll get a chance to practice what they've learned," said Williams, "by teaching their teachers."

Williams, Switzer and Weaver will participate in implementing the project in middle schools in Oconee and Pickens counties, as the students and teachers who participate in their pilot study will go on to mentor and inspire others to explore STEM careers through the use of 3-D virtual-reality software.

The relationship between Clemson and Appalachian State was established in 2007 as the Carolina Virtual Worlds Consortium for the purpose of securing funding that will drive research in virtual-world technologies, practices and implementation, particularly those focused on education and training. The consortium currently consists of Clemson, Appalachian State University and public schools in Davie County, N.C.

The chairman of the Clemson University genetics and biochemistry department, Keith Murphy, has taken the additional post of acting director of the Clemson University Genomics Institute (CUGI). Murphy studies canine genetics to improve dogs' lives and that of humans too.

Murphy sees CUGI as a significant resource in the rapidly evolving field of genomics-oriented research. CUGI is involved in the development and distribution of genomic tools and services for the life science community. It also performs research that focuses on the discovery and analysis of genes: lengths of DNA that provide the building instructions for proteins in microbes, plants, animals and humans.

Murphy joined the Clemson faculty in July 2008 after serving as a professor at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine. His expertise is in the area of veterinary medical genetics with a particular interest in dogs.

Man's best friend also is a genetic relative. Research reveals that for 75 percent of known human genes there are corresponding dog genes. There are 24,567 human genes of which 18,473 have canine counterparts.

Dogs have been domesticated for more than 10,000 years. Scientists' and dog breeders' knowledge of canine medical problems is comprehensive, second only to knowledge about human ailments. Research has found 360 genetic diseases affecting both dogs and humans.

For example, Great Danes suffer from the same type of heart disease affecting humans. In addition, many breeds are prone to genetic disorders, including cancer, blindness, cataracts, epilepsy, hip dysplasia and deafness.

The current aims of Murphy's laboratory include understanding the genetics underlying hereditary diseases of the heart, kidney, pancreas, skin and musculoskeletal system; the role of cholesterol in canine development and diseases; and the genetics of aging because there are widely differing life spans across breeds.

"Our research also serves as models for study of certain human hereditary diseases as well as aging in humans," said Murphy, whose lab has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Canine Health Foundation, private foundations, dog-breed clubs and industrial sources.

"One disease that occurs in the human and the dog is a fatal renal disease known as hereditary nephropathy," he said. "People, if they don't have a renal transplant, die by the time they're 15 years of age or so. Dogs die by the time they're 2. We've identified the gene that causes this in the English cocker spaniel, and through funding from the NIH we're developing gene therapy. We hope to correct the disease in the dog, and if that works then we'll go onto human trials. And if we can do it in humans then they won't need renal transplants."

Clemson University faculty and students will celebrate the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth with a week-long celebration, including lectures and events open to the public.

The keynote speaker is Rutgers University evolutionary geneticist Jody Hey. His lecture, "Darwin, Sex and Evolution: Using DNA to Discover the Origin of Species," will be delivered at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 11, at Tillman Auditorium.

Hey studies evolutionary genetics with a focus on how genetic divergence leads to differences between populations and the origin of new species. He has worked on human origins and the spread of human populations around the world.

This year's Darwin Week Festival (pdf) celebrates the 200th birth of Darwin as well as the 150th anniversary of his influential book, "The Origin of Species," which outlined the role of natural selection as an agent of evolutionary change.

"These events are designed to highlight the achievements of Charles Darwin and teach the university community and public about the relevance and importance of evolution to our society," said Michael Childress, assistant professor of biological sciences and one of the event organizers. "Darwin was a simple man who changed forever the way we view life on Earth."

The Darwin Week Festival begins at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, with Ben Stein's movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." The film will be screened at the McKissick Theatre in the Hendrix Student Center with a discussion moderated by Jerry Waldvogel, professor of biological sciences, and Kelly Smith, associate professor of philosophy and Lemon Fellow in the Robert C. Rutland Institute for Ethics.

"From Darwin to Dayton & Dover," a history of the evolution-teaching dispute is scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 13 in room 100, Hardin Hall. The public lecture is by Edward Larson of Pepperdine University. Clemson's Waldvogel will lecture at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 14 in room 100, Hardin Hall, on the role of higher education in the evolution-religion controversy.

Other events include a Darwin Day Exhibition and "Ask a Scientist" panel, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Feb. 12, in the atrium of the Hendrix Student Center and a research seminar led by Jody Hey at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 12 in room 100, Brackett Hall.

The Darwin Week Festival is organized by the Clemson University Department of Biological Sciences, the BioSci Club and the Biological Sciences Graduate Student Association.

The Women's Studies Program at Clemson University is sponsoring the Fourth Annual Graduate Student Forum for projects related to women's issues. As described on the web site,

The field of women's studies focuses on the role of women in all facets of human endeavor. This multi-disciplinary field examines women's lives and accomplishments in the context of history, sociology, psychology, medicine, economics, law, and politics and highlights women's creativity in art, music, and literature.

Any graduate student working on projects (research and/or creative) related to women is invited to submit a brief proposal about their research for consideration.

The forum is planned for the afternoon of Friday, March 27, and will showcase presentations of graduate student work. The forum welcomes all presentation formats. These can include papers to be read, PowerPoint presentations, web sites, postershows and original artwork. Please review the following parameters and, if interested, submit a one-page (maximum) abstract describing your project.

Submissions

Submit all abstracts in electronic format to Linda Tindal at ltindal@clemson.edu . Submission deadline is March 6, 2009.

Parameters*

1. There will be a ten-minute time limit for oral presentations.

2. An easel will be provided for poster presentations.

3. Visual presentations may also be in digital format.

* For oral presentations that utilize digital format, ten-minute limit will apply.

* For visual presentations, such as artwork, web sites, etc., a ten-minute limit is recommended, but not required. Oral presentations of at least five minutes, and no longer than ten-minutes are required to explain the project.

* Parameters may be revised as submissions are received. All applicants will receive a copy of any revisions to parameters.

Judging of Presentations

A panel of Clemson University faculty will review all abstracts and select the projects to be presented at the forum.

In addition, a separate panel of Clemson University faculty will judge the presentations at the forum, and will choose both a 1st Place winner and a 2nd Place winner for the following awards:

1st Place - $200.00

2nd Place - $100.00

A Clemson University faculty member whose leadership was critical to creation of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) will serve as executive director of the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center on the CU-ICAR campus.

Imtiaz HaqueImtiaz Haque will be responsible for building industrial partnerships and guiding a team of faculty members to advance the academic program of the 250-acre state-of-the-art automotive and motorsports research campus. The 90,000-square-foot Campbell center houses the teaching and research facilities for the university's unique master's and doctoral degree programs in automotive engineering.

Esin Gulari, dean of the College of Engineering and Science, said Haque's experience, leadership and international reputation in mechanical and automotive engineering are invaluable to the future of CU-ICAR.

"We are very pleased that professor Haque has agreed to serve in this capacity," said Gulari. "He totally embraces the mission and goals of CU-ICAR. His commitment to the program, his energy and his passion for educating the next generation of leaders in automotive engineering will serve Clemson and the profession well."

Haque has been a member of the Clemson University mechanical engineering faculty since 1982 and served as department chairman for the past six-and-a-half years. During that tenure, he led the department in significant growth, including the addition of the master's and doctoral degree programs in automotive engineering offered at the Campbell center.

"I am very excited to have this opportunity," Haque said. "As executive director of the Campbell center, I look forward to continuing to nurture the program to its fullest potential. We have an incredible team of faculty, staff and students at CU-ICAR led by four extremely talented endowed chairs; the best research facilities and equipment in the nation under one roof; committed industry partners; and burgeoning interest on the part of potential students and partners. We must take advantage of this unique set of opportunities to fulfill CU-ICAR's goal of being the premier automotive and motorsports education and research program in the world."

A longtime member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Automotive Engineers, Haque recently received the designation of ASME Fellow in recognition of significant engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering profession.

"The goal is to help rising seventh grade students acquire the computer and cognitive skills they will need in order to imagine careers in science or math," said Sean Williams, associate dean of the graduate school, associate professor of English and co-principal investigator. "Generally speaking, American students are not interested in careers in science, technology, engineering or math, otherwise known as STEM. Yet the need is great—and growing—for students to choose these careers.

"Seventh graders, on the other hand, are pretty open-minded, not yet jaded," said Williams. "We're using 3-D virtual worlds to entice them, open their eyes to the possibilities, while they are still young."

Williams is collaborating with two other Clemson professors—Debi Switzer, professor of educational psychology, and Kenneth Weaver, a researcher in Clemson's School of Computing. The three-year NSF grant award is worth just over $450,000 for the Clemson researchers.

The project, begun in October 2008, will be fully implemented in June of 2009 with workshops that immerse the seventh graders in 3-D virtual world software—teaching them how to create a virtual worlds, and how to interact with others in a virtual society.

"The obstacles we encounter in the real world—problems of distance, scale and time—all disappear in a virtual world setting," said Williams. "You can walk through molecules and examine them from the inside. You can visualize data, look at the spatial relationships. Being able to do anything you can imagine in a fake world helps you do things more imaginatively in the real world. Imagination is, after all, a cognitive skill."

"These students are already good at gaming," said Williams. "They're already good at socializing electronically. This program builds on those skills, developing social aptitude and critical thinking skills. You have to learn to be social to succeed in a virtual world, and you have to think critically in order to conceive of objects and relationships that don't exist yet."

In the second part of the summer workshops, students will be joined by their upcoming teachers in science and math. "They'll get a chance to practice what they've learned," said Williams, "by teaching their teachers."

Williams, Switzer and Weaver will participate in implementing the project in middle schools in Oconee and Pickens Counties, as the students and teachers who participate in their pilot study will go on to mentor and inspire others to explore STEM careers through the use of 3-D virtual reality software.

The relationship between Clemson and Appalachian State was established in 2007 as the Carolina Virtual Worlds Consortium for the purpose of securing funding that will drive research in virtual world technologies, practices and implementation—particularly those focused on education and training. The consortium currently consists of Clemson, Appalachian State University and public schools in Davie County, N.C.

The Spring 2009 Northeast ASEE Conference will be held on April 3-4, 2009 at the University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A. This year's conference theme: Engineering in the New Global Economy.

In the coming years, our world will continue to face economical, environmental and energy related problems. How is Engineering and Engineering Technology Education responding to the needs of our society and the world? This will be the theme for an exhilarating and thought provoking weekend of professional workshops, presentations, and discussions at the University of Bridgeport.

The ASEE Northeast Section is soliciting faculty papers, student papers and student posters which address the various challenges and paradigms in this technological world through research and instructional programs in Engineering and Engineering Technology education. There are three conference tracks:

1. Regular/ faculty papers

2. Student papers

3. Student posters

The deadline for abstract submission is February 27th, 2009.

Prospective authors are invited to submit their abstracts online in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format through the conference website at http://www.asee2009conference.org

Suggested conference topics are listed below. Other innovations in course and laboratory experiences and assessments are also most welcome for submission:

• Chemical and Biological Engineering
• Civil & Environmental Engineering
• Electrical & Computer Engineering
• Engineering Technology/ Community Colleges
• Industrial, Automation and Manufacturing Engineering
• Engineering Technology and Community Colleges
• Innovations In Engineering Education
• First Year Experiences
• K-12 Education (Engineering Curriculum Integration)
• Mechanical Engineering
• Computer Science and Information Technology
• Women in Engineering and Computer Science
• Robotics
• Service Learning
• Sustainability
• Design Projects
• Engineering and Technology in the Liberal Arts
• Systems Engineering
• Globalization
• Ethics
• Diversity In Engineering
• Multidisciplinary Research

Paper and Other Proposal Submissions

Prospective authors are invited to submit their abstracts online in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format through the website of the conference at http://www.asee2009conference.org. Proposals for special sessions, tutorials, worskshops and exhibitions are also weclcome. Please check the conference website regarding instructions for these proposal submissions.

Important Dates:

Abstracts due 27th February, 2009

Acceptance notification 6th March, 2009

Final manuscript & Registration due 20th March, 2009

For the past three years, "Science as Art" has challenged Clemson University students, faculty and staff to share the powerful and inspiring visual images produced in our laboratories, workspaces and learning environments. The results have been impressive, and have drawn the attention of scientists, artists, and members of the community. The winning entries were featured in Clemson World, and are on display in Brackett Hall, Rhodes Engineering Research Center and Holtzendorff Hall.

Clemson students, faculty and staff are once again invited to submit original works to Science as Art 2009. Entries can be produced by individuals or teams; multi-disciplinary collaboration is encouraged. While images need not be research-based, they should convey a significant or captivating scientific concept or event. Categories for entries include photographs, illustrations, electronic media (interactive and non-interactive, including video), and explanatory graphics. Winners in each category will be awarded gift certificates to local merchants.

The deadline for submitting an entry to Science as Art 2009 is March 6, 2009. Entries will be judged by a panel of artists and scientists from the community, based on visual impact, effective communication, and freshness and originality. A "People's Choice" award will be given based on a campus-wide poll of the entries.

A "Meet the Artist" reception and exhibit will be held on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. at the Advanced Materials Research Laboratory in Pendleton. Directions and map can be found on the Science as Art web site: http://www.clemson.edu/ese/cp/saa/meet.php. Artists and judges will be present. Refreshments and hors d'oeuvres will be served. This event is free and open to the public.

All entries will be displayed in the library from the beginning of April through graduation, and winners in five categories will be honored at the Sigma Xi spring banquet on Thursday, April 16. Once again, this year's event will include a category for high school entries.

For entry forms and more information, go to the Department of Engineering and Science Education website, http://www.clemson.edu/ese/cp/saa/, or contact Lisa Benson (lbenson@clemson.edu).

Sponsors for this event include the Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films, the Clemson University Research Foundation, the Department of Engineering and Science Education, and the Clemson chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.

A doctoral candidate in Clemson University's program in planning, design and the built environment is conducting an online survey that looks at the relationship between the age and physical design of urban neighborhoods and residents' emotional attachment to these places. The two study neighborhoods are historic Charleston, south of Broad Street, and the I'On new urbanist development in Mount Pleasant.

The primary aim of the research is to discover how places can be designed and preserved to maximize both sense of place and quality of life. The Charleston neighborhood south of Broad Street is historic; the I'On development is new but designed using traditional urban patterns and architectural styles.

"Until recently, the investigation of subjective values associated with urban design and historic preservation has been a taboo subject, too closely associated with creating a false sense of history," said Clemson's Jeremy Wells. "Critics of new urbanism complain that nostalgic design is backwards, regressive and fake, while practitioners of historic preservation largely overlook the impact of social and cultural values in determining historical significance."

Can places that follow time-tested urban design patterns mean a higher quality of life for residents? What is the role of physical age in fostering emotional attachment to urban neighborhoods?

"Unfortunately, the answers to these questions, which are fundamental to why we design and preserve places, are still largely lacking," Wells said. This research study is designed to give planners, urban designers and historic preservationists better tools to understand how residents value new and old urban neighborhoods.

In the next few weeks, Wells will be gathering data for his study using an online survey questionnaire at www.neighborhoodstudy.com. Residents of the two neighborhoods are invited to participate in the confidential survey, which will not ask for any personal identifiers. The results of the study will be released to local homeowners associations and the cities of Mount Pleasant and Charleston.

Wells entered Clemson's Ph.D. program in planning, design and the built environment in the fall of 2006 with a background in historic preservation and downtown revitalization. His initial goal was to develop a better understanding of the relationship between sociocultural values and historical significance, but later broadened his interests to include how neo-traditional design can be used to maximize sense of place. An earlier pilot study conducted by Wells indicated that landscape-design elements play as significant a role, if not more, as buildings do in how people become attached to place.

Clemson University's Master of Real Estate Development program was featured in the Journal of Real Estate Literature as one of the top new programs in the nation.

In the article "Graduate Real Estate Programs: An Analysis of the Past and Present and Trends for the Future," Margot Weinstein, president and chief financial officer of MW Leadership Consultants LLC and vice president of the Kingston Group Inc., and Elaine Worzala, director of Clemson's Center for Real Estate Development, examined four up-and-coming real estate graduate programs at Clemson, DePaul University, John Hopkins University and Roosevelt University.

Clemson's Master of Real Estate Development program, established in 2004, is unique in several aspects. The program is a joint project between the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities and the College of Business and Behavioral Science, making it Clemson's only graduate program connecting development design and business. Students take courses in law, finance, management, architecture, construction science and city and regional planning. The two-year program also requires a summer internship providing practical experience for the students to bring to their second year of education.

"The program's network to professionals, hands-on experience and multidisciplinary approach make it one of the strongest programs in the country," Worzala said. "It is still relatively new, and at this point there are no official rankings of real estate-development programs. However, we certainly lead the list for the programs in the Southeast region and we are working hard on building our national reputation."

HEALTHCARE DESIGN magazine has named Clemson University architecture professor David Allison one of "Twenty Who Are Making a Difference" in the health-care design field.

Allison is director of Clemson's graduate program in architecture and health. He also is director of a new project establishing the Center of Economic Excellence (CoEE) in Health Facilities Design and Testing.

"There is no debate that David has had a tremendous impact on the health-care design profession over the last 25 years," the HEALTHCARE DESIGN story says. "As an architect, David is passionate in his role as an educator, not only to his students in the graduate architecture program in healthcare studies at Clemson University, but to his professional colleagues nationally."

The magazine says Allison is a "visionary leader using an interdisciplinary approach to research the impact the built environment has on patients, families and staff."

Allison was nominated for the honor by Kathy L. Bell of The S/L/A/M Collaborative, an architecture, engineering and planning firm with offices in Atlanta, Boston and Glastonbury, Conn. Bell is a Clemson alumna, though not a former student of Allison's.

As director of Graduate Studies in Health + Architecture at Clemson, Allison leads one of only three professional degree programs in the nation with a concentration in the design of health-care architecture.

The CoEE in Health Facilities Design and Testing will conduct design-research projects using experts from a variety of disciplines ranging from architecture, psychology, materials science and computer science.

Healthcare Design published the "Twenty Who Are Making a Difference" in the December issue, which can be viewed online now at www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com.

A Clemson University researcher has received a $577,000 federal grant to fight an "invisible enemy" in child-care centers.

The enemies are bacteria and other food-borne microbes that cause illnesses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded food safety specialist Angela Fraser, an associate professor in the Clemson Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, a three-year grant for improving the food handling, hygiene and sanitation in child-care settings in North and South Carolina.

"We need to be increasingly aware of an invisible enemy — bacteria and viruses — which can be on our food, hands and on surfaces in the places we eat out or spend time," said Fraser. "Bacteria and viruses can lead to serious illnesses, especially for the very young or old. Child-care centers present an excellent opportunity to fight back. Child-care workers and food-safety educators are a great team to work with and we look forward to supporting efforts to keep our kids safe from food-related illnesses."

The risk of food-borne sickness is a significant public health problem. Illnesses include nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, gastroenteritis, fever, headache or fatigue. Most people recover within days, but some food-borne illness can cause long-term health problems or even death for babies, young children, pregnant women, the elderly, sick people and those with weak immune systems.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 5,000 deaths and 76 million illnesses each year are directly linked to food-borne pathogens.

Infants and children 5 years old and younger are at greater risk of contracting a severe food-borne illness than other population groups, according to Fraser. Her research plan notes that children cared for outside the home are more likely to experience diarrheal disease than those cared for in their family home. In the United States, 11.6 million (63 percent) of the 18.5 million children who are under 5 were reported to be in some type of regular child-care arrangement.

Fraser will be working with food-safety experts Sheryl Cates of the Research Triangle Institute in Durham, N.C., and Lee-Ann Jaykus of N.C. State University in Raleigh. They are gathering information from 100 licensed child-care facilities in the Carolinas. Researchers will observe food-handling, hygiene and sanitation practices of child-care workers and take samples from child-care workers' hands and surfaces for specific pathogens and levels of microbes.

The information will be used to develop training for educators who provide food-safety training to child-care workers. The teaching materials will be developed, delivered, evaluated and disseminated via the FightBAC! Web site — fightbac.org — created by the Partnership for Food Safety Education.

The partnership brings together representatives from industry associations, professional societies in food science, nutrition and health consumer groups and federal agencies to educate the public about safe food-handling practices needed to keep food safe from bacteria and prevent food-borne illness.

For more information contact: Ms. Marisa Moazen, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, P.O. Box 117, MS-36, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, Phone (865) 241-6958, Email: info@rise.orau.org.

Paid research-based internships available in India for U.S. graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and medical disciplines.

The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) announce a prestigious research-based exchange program that will provide opportunities for American graduate students to conduct research in India and for American institutions to host Indian graduate students and faculty in the U.S.

The India-U.S. Research Exchange Program (REP) includes two unique elements. The first is the Research Internship in Science and Engineering (RISE), which offers paid internships in India for U.S. graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and medical disciplines. The second is the opportunity for U.S. academic institutions, industrial facilities, and research laboratories to network with Indian institutions and access global talent by hosting Indian doctoral students or faculty members.

The American graduate students selected to participate in RISE will have the opportunity to live and work in India, gain practical experience, and advance their understanding of the future of science, engineering, medicine, and technology. Students will work closely with international teams and get the chance to build lifelong networks of academic and professional contacts.

Internship locations in India include top national laboratories, federal research centers, academic research institutes, and private research and development laboratories. Internships provide mutual cultural and professional enrichment for both the interns and their Indian host institutions.

Student interns in RISE receive a monthly stipend, accommodations, and airfare to and from India. Internships can range from a minimum of 3 months to a maximum of 6 months.

U.S. students participating in the prestigious RISE program will have the opportunity to gain invaluable perspective into the world of international research, as well as to develop lasting research partnerships with leading Indian researchers and institutions.

The RISE internship program is open to graduate students studying a science, engineering, medical, or technology discipline at a regionally accredited institution of higher education in the United States. Applicants must be U.S. citizens.

The application deadline for the RISE internship program is February 12. For application guidelines and format, please visit http://rise.orau.org.

Institutions interested in hosting an Indian researcher should contact our office for more information.

For more information contact: Ms. Marisa Moazen, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, P.O. Box 117, MS-36, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, Phone (865) 241-6958, Email: info@rise.orau.org.

Rao was recognized for developing methods of synthesizing carbon nanotubes and for elucidating the properties of carbon nanotubes through Raman spectroscopy, a technique used in condensed-matter physics and chemistry to study vibrational, rotational and other low-frequency modes in a system.

Rao and his team have gained international recognition for advancing nano-scale electromechanical sensors that have the potential to read and alert us to different toxic chemicals or gases in the air. He also has invented a way to make beds of tiny, shock-absorbing carbon springs that may be used to protect delicate objects like cell phones from being damaged by impact.

"Congratulations to Dr. Rao," said Dean Esin Gulari of the College of Engineering and Science. "This high honor is a true testament to the value of his research in the physics arena."

The American Physical Society was founded in 1899 and today has 46,000 members. The group is active in public and governmental affairs and in the international physics community. It conducts extensive programs in education and public outreach. Its mission is to be the leading voice for physics and an authoritative source of information for the advancement of physics and the benefit of humanity.

The Clemson University student chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) will host the annual IIE Regional Conference for the Mid-Atlantic Region Feb. 5 to 8. The conference will include a career fair for local and regional employers.

Participants will have the opportunity to hear from professional speakers, tour plants of local companies, compete in industrial engineering activities and network with professionals and potential employers.

The conference will draw between 200 and 250 students from Clemson University, Eastern Carolina University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, North Carolina State University, South Carolina State University, Tennessee Tech University, University of Tennessee, Virginia Tech University and West Virginia University.

The career fair will be held on Friday, Feb. 6 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Madren Center. Companies interested in participating should contact Kevin Taaffe at (864) 656-0291 or (864) 908-6836 or Danielle Lanigan at dlaniga@clemson.edu.

Students will also have the opportunity to tour local plants, including the Thomas Creek Brewery in Greenville, the Walgreens Distribution Center in Anderson, the Taylor Made Adidas Golf factory in Westminster and the BMW Manufacturing Plant in Greer, the only BMW plant in the United States.

Other activities will include a technical paper competition and a competition for the best chapter at the conference. Evening social events are also scheduled.

The theme of the conference is "Sustaining Our World Through IE Innovation."

Clemson University professor of chemistry Dennis Smith received the American Chemical Society (ACS) 2008 Charles H. Stone award.

The Charles H. Stone award is given annually by the ACS Carolina-Piedmont Local Section to the most outstanding chemist in the southeastern United States. It recognizes chemists for contributions to the field through activities in the scientific community, public outreach, education and research.

"As only the third Clemson chemist to win this award after professors Shiou-Jyh Hwu and Darryl DesMarteau, it's an honor to be included in this group and help the recognition of Clemson chemistry. It is also personally satisfying my Ph.D. research advisor, professor Ken Wagener of the University of Florida, won the award in addition to his Ph.D. advisor, the late professor George Butler of the University of Florida and pioneer in polymer chemistry, who was the first recipient," said Smith.

Smith's research interests include synthesis, mechanism, structure/property relationships and application of polymeric materials and composites.

Smith is the cofounder and associate director of Clemson's Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET) and the chair of the American Chemical Society's Division of Polymer Chemistry. He also cofounded Tetramer Technologies LLC in 2001 to commercialize research done at Clemson.

Smith received a B.S. degree from Missouri State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He worked as a Rhone Poulenc Graduate research fellow in Lyon, France, and a Dow Chemical postdoctoral fellow in Rheinmuenster, Germany. Smith joined the Dow Chemical Company Central Research Laboratory as senior research chemist and was promoted to project leader. He joined Clemson University in 1998.

Automotive-engineering graduate students at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) collaborated with a unique vehicle development company to design an automotive suspension system that can handle speeds in excess of 240 mph.

Because CU-ICAR fills the gap between basic research and commercial application of automotive technologies, DiMora Motorcar challenged it to assess suspension-technology options for the Natalia SLS 2 sport luxury sedan. A team of students, under faculty supervision, accepted that challenge last semester.

"This kind of project provides our students invaluable real-world experience, and the quick turnaround time and results show they were up to the challenge," said Steve Hung, associate professor of mechanical engineering and team faculty leader.

Based in Palm Springs, Calif., DiMora Motorcar crafts automobiles designed to exceed expectations for safety, performance, technology, ecology, beauty, comfort and luxury. It reveals the design, production and testing of its automobiles via the Internet so that people around the world can learn from and participate in the process.

"DiMora Motorcar is about showcasing new technologies," said Carl Flesher, CU-ICAR director of Global Business Development. "CU-ICAR is about developing the methods and people to make showcase technologies ready for the automotive original-equipment manufacturer market."

Road conditions vary greatly, so experts agree an automobile's suspension is crucial to a safe and smooth ride. An effective suspension system will maximize the mechanical grip between the tires and the road's surface, enhance steering stability and provide a comfortable ride for the occupants. The Natalia sedan has to thrive in all road environments, including bad weather, so the suspension must be compatible with all-wheel drive and have the ability to clear common road obstacles. On the other hand, the vehicle also must be controllable at speeds above 240 mph, so body response to driver input and road excitations must be well controlled across a broad speed range. A unique design-driven requirement is the use of 275/40R24 tires.

Using numerous advanced digital design and verification processes, preliminary DiMora Motorcar vehicle parameters and computer-aided-design for the Natalia, the CU-ICAR graduate team generated a solution that includes short-long arm architectures for both front and rear suspensions, titanium control arms and wheel carriers, and combination air spring and damper units.

The concept design services the requirement for all-wheel drive, minimizes suspension weight and allows for rear-wheel steering to enhance directional stability at high speeds as well as maneuverability at low speeds. The concept design also will help DiMora Motorcar package other vehicle systems that yield the right levels of performance without significant changes to the suspension system.

"This was our first opportunity to test the ability of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research to tackle a difficult engineering problem that is critical to meeting the performance parameters we have set for the Natalia," noted DiMora Motorcar Founder Alfred DiMora. "The designs they produced are excellent. We were already impressed by CU-ICAR's facilities, equipment and staff. Now we know that the graduate students working here are outstanding as well. We look forward to a long and productive association with Clemson University."

About CU-ICAR

Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) is a 250-acre advanced-technology research campus where university, industry and government organizations collaborate. Offering the nation's only Ph.D. program in automotive engineering, the master's and doctoral programs are among the most exceptional in the country due to the world-class faculty, industry involvement in curriculum development and more than $40 million of research facilities and equipment.

Successful automotive-technology application requires availability of methods that span design-development integration of technologies to parts, systems and vehicles; manufacturing and supply integration of processes from material sourcing through part creation, assembly and delivery; and concurrent engineering integration of design and development with manufacturing and supply. CU-ICAR conducts research that provides value by addressing the need for these integration methods.

CU-ICAR is a place for entrepreneurial collaboration and partnership between the university, industry and government to quickly address market needs together in ways that facilitate economic growth. To learn more about CU-ICAR, visit http://www.cu-icar.com/.

About DiMora Motorcar

The founder, CEO and driving force behind DiMora Motorcar is Alfred DiMora, who produced two of America's finest luxury automobiles, the Clenet (as owner) and the Sceptre (as co-founder). When President Reagan declared 1986 the Centennial Year of the Gasoline-Powered Automobile, DiMora's Clenet was selected as the Official Centennial Car. As a result, he and the Clenet were honored at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Michigan. He also founded Starbridge Systems Inc., where he developed the world's fastest FPGA supercomputer. Using his technological and automotive backgrounds, Alfred DiMora blends the two worlds together to create this new experience in automotive history: the Natalia SLS 2 sport luxury sedan. For more information, please visit http://www.dimoramotorcar.com/.

The National Science Foundation has awarded $400,000 to a Clemson University environmental engineer. Shelie Miller, an assistant professor in the department of environmental engineering and earth sciences, received an NSF CAREER Award, which distinguishes young scientists and provides funds to advance their research and visibility.

In her research, Miller conducts life-cycle assessments. Everything from computers to cups of coffee have a beginning, middle and end. She identifies the life-cycle steps, ranging from raw materials through disposing or recycling, then she evaluates a product's cumulative impact on the environment. Life-cycle assessments provide industry and public leaders with "cradle to grave" analyses of how products and processes affect the environment.

Miller currently is analyzing switchgrass, a hardy perennial grass that shows a lot of promise as a biofuel. Biofuels are plants that can be processed into ethanol and other energy alternatives. To be a realistic option to fossil fuel, a biofuel needs to provide a net energy gain, environmental benefits, be economically competitive and be producible in large quantities without reducing food supply.

Clemson researchers say non-food plants, such as switchgrass and some sorghum varieties, which can grow on marginal lands and need less fertilizers and pesticides, offer advantages for bio-based energy, more so than food crops like corn and soybeans.

Researchers at the Clemson Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence and on campus are finding ways to unlock the energy stored in plant materials. Miller's role is to figure out if switchgrass as a fuel produces a net benefit to the environment after all its costs are identified and evaluated.

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is among the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty members who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.

Clemson University programs in architecture and landscape architecture have been recognized as some of the best in the country by the Design Future Council publication DesignIntelligence.

Clemson's graduate program in architecture is ranked 11th nationally and the planning and landscape architecture program is 12th among undergraduate programs.

DesignIntelligence also ranked Clemson a "World Class School of Architecture with High Distinction."

Clemson's landscape architecture program is the youngest to be ranked in the top 15. The program was established in 1988 and was fully accredited for the first time in 1996. It had 115 undergraduate students in the 2006-2007 academic year, with the number of alumni reaching 162 this year.

"Entering the DesignIntelligence rankings for the first time at the 12th spot is a real accomplishment for our young program," said Umit Yilmaz, director of landscape architecture. "I am proud of the achievement of our program and our students as we continue to pursue excellence in landscape architecture education."

Landscape architecture students experience a wide variety of off-campus and study-abroad opportunities, international collaboration and studio projects. Clemson's landscape architecture program is the only one of its kind in South Carolina.

Graduate students in the architecture program take advantage of Clemson's "fluid campus" to develop a broad understanding of the discipline. In addition to the main campus at Clemson, students also pursue studies in permanent programs in Charleston; Barcelona, Spain; and Genoa, Italy.

"The rankings are generated through an extensive survey of architectural firms around the country that employ the graduates from all U.S. schools of architecture and, as such, they reflect the quality of graduates from all schools. Being ranked among public universities is a great position to be in and a testimony on the quality of our program," said Jose Caban, professor and interim chairman of the Clemson University School of Architecture.

The Design Futures Council began its ranking of accredited architecture, landscape architecture and interior design programs in its journal, DesignIntellegence, a decade ago. This ranking has since become the established ranking system for design programs across the United States.

A native of Richmond, Ky., Grigsby was employed as a student services program coordinator for international admissions in Clemson's Graduate School.

Grigsby is survived by his wife, Cherilyn Grigsby, and a daughter, Amy Beth. The Grigsbys also operated Savannah's House, a bed and breakfast in Seneca.

A memorial service will be conducted in Richmond on Jan. 31.

Another service for local friends and colleagues will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 6, in Tillman Hall auditorium.

Condolences may be sent to the family at:
222 Kathmaette Drive
Seneca, SC 29678

Clemson University will host the sixth annual FIRST Robotics Competition Palmetto Regional March 26-28 at Littlejohn Coliseum. It is the second year Clemson hosts the event that attracts up to 1,000 high school students who vie for top honors in a competitive contest that is described as a rock concert and sporting event rolled into one.

Teams already are signing up, and this year's competition will feature an international squad from Brazil. Teams from North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, West Virginia, Alabama, New Jersey and Missouri also will compete.

"The College of Engineering and Science at Clemson is delighted to host this event once again," said Dean Esin Gulari. "The dedication, enthusiasm and fun that the participants have in the name of engineering and science is truly inspirational."

Teams will receive their marching orders for the competition at a kickoff event at the Madren Center Jan. 3. Kits are handed out with a specific assignment to build a robot no heavier than 120 pounds that can complete a task in a certain amount of time. The teams have six weeks to assemble their robots and ship them back to FIRST for the regional competition. Teams are judged not only on point accumulation, but also on design, team spirit, professionalism and perseverance.

Regional events lead to an international competition April 16-18 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. More than 35,000 high school students participate on more than 1,600 teams in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands and England.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen, developer of the first portable insulin pump and the first portable kidney dialysis machine, to "create a world where science and technology are celebrated, where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes."

For more information on the competition, go to the FIRST website at: www.usfirst.org, FIRST Robotics Competition or http://www.ces.clemson.edu/main/FRC/index.html

Clemson is a nationally recognized research university where approximately 5,500 students are enrolled in engineering and science undergraduate and graduate courses. There are 350 faculty members in the College of Engineering and Science. Connect to http://www.clemson.edu/ces for more information.

Joseph Drew Lanham, a professor in the Clemson University forestry and natural resources department, is the recipient of a new national fellowship designed to advance the work of individuals with outstanding potential to help shape a brighter environmental future.

Lanham is one of only 40 people selected from competitors nationwide for the TogetherGreen Conservation Leadership Program, part of a new conservation initiative of the National Audubon Society with support from Toyota. Fellows receive specialized training in conservation planning and execution, the chance to work and share best practices with conservation professionals and assistance with project outreach and evaluation. Each fellow will receive $10,000 for a community-focused project to engage local residents in conserving land, water and energy and contributing to greater environmental health.

For his fellowship, Lanham will contact, educate and provide technical support for African-American rural landowners across South Carolina, learning firsthand how a significant but underserved population of potential conservationists value and manage their property.

In a project called "The Color of the Land," he will provide technical assistance and record the stories of the unique relationships people of color have to the land. Lanham also will help them develop strategies to implement sustainable timber and wildlife management practices. His ultimate goal is to introduce the landowners to sustainable means of natural resources management that will help them improve soil, water and wildlife resources on their properties and ultimately those downstream.

While his project will help maintain rural landscapes that are diverse ethnically and ecologically, he also aims to define the conservation ethic and preserve the land legacy that has helped sustain generations of rural African-American landowners.

"Drew is the kind of person who can make a real difference in the health of our environment and the quality of our future," said Audubon President John Flicker. "Each of our TogetherGreen Fellows demonstrates exceptional environmental understanding and commitment, combined with tremendous potential to inspire and lead others. Together, they represent the talented and diverse leadership the environmental community will need to tackle the huge challenges and opportunities confronting us now and in the years to come."

"The TogetherGreen Fellowship is significant in that it allows me to focus my time and talents on an issue that is heartfelt and personal to me," said Lanham, a wildlife ecology professor. "By serving both people and wildlife, I hope to elicit outcomes that help strengthen the human-nature bond and move us to a conservation ethic in the best tradition of Aldo Leopold. I am honored and humbled to have been selected from such a diverse and well-qualified pool of candidates."

An Edgefield native, Lanham, received both a Ph.D. in Forest Resources and a Master of Science in Zoology from Clemson University.

Landowners interested in participating in the project can call Lanham at 864-656-7294 or by e-mail at lanhamj@clemson.edu. There is no cost to participate.

A complete list of the 2008 TogetherGreen fellows can be found at www.TogetherGreen.org. The TogetherGreen initiative and grants programs are funded by a $20 million Toyota gift to Audubon, the largest in the conservation group's history.

About Audubon

Now in its second century, Audubon connects people with birds, nature and the environment. Its national network of community-based nature centers, chapters, scientific, education and advocacy programs engage millions of people from all walks of life in conservation action to protect and restore the natural world. Visit Audubon online at www.audubon.org.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations in the United States in 1957 and operates 10 manufacturing plants, with another under construction in Mississippi. Toyota is committed to being a good corporate citizen in the communities where it does business and believes in supporting programs with long-term sustainable results. Through its corporate initiatives, manufacturing operations and philanthropy, Toyota supports numerous organizations across the country, focusing on education, the environment and safety. In 2007, Toyota contributed more than $56 million to philanthropic programs in the U.S. For more information on Toyota's commitment to improving communities nationwide, visit http://www.toyota.com/community.

Students from any discipline--humanities, arts, social sciences, computer science, engineering, etc.--are encouraged to apply. The competition emphasizes visionary, thoughtful, or critical concepts rather than technical knowledge as such.

* ELIGIBLE: Undergraduate or graduate students anywhere in the world.

* AWARDS: 1st prize, $3,000; 2nd prize, $1,000, 3rd prize, $500.

* SUBMISSION FORMAT: Description of an idea and imaginative realization, embodiment, or illustration of the idea in a variety of possible formats (e.g., an essay, story, script, application sketch, fictional business plan, etc.).

* DEADLINE: January 30, 2009.

For more information, see the full competition announcement
(http://socialcomputing.ucsb.edu/contest2020/).

________
COMPETITION ORGANIZERS

UCSB Social Computing Group (http://socialcomputing.ucsb.edu)
(A working group in the UC Transliteracies Project:
http://transliteracies.english.ucsb.edu)

* Kevin Almeroth - Department of Computer Science; Associate Dean for Advancement and Planning, College of Engineering.
* Jennifer Earl - Department of Sociology; Director, Center for Information Technology & Society.
* Andrew Flanagin - Department of Communication; Co-director, Credibility and Digital Media@UCSB Project.
* James Frew - Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.
* Alan Liu - Chair, Department of English; Director, UC Transliteracies Project.
* Miriam Metzger - Department of Communication; Co-director, Credibility and Digital Media@UCSB Project.

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) has awarded Clemson University mathematical sciences professor Warren Adams the Frederick W. Lanchester Prize, an international research award.

The Frederick W. Lanchester prize was awarded to Adams and colleague professor Hanif Sherali of Virginia Tech for the best contribution to operations research and the management sciences published in English. They developed a mathematical methodology called "Reformulation-Linearization Technique." It is used to reformulate a difficult problem and perform a mathematical transformation called linearization. The technique makes previously difficult, unapproachable problems easier to solve.

The criteria for receiving this award includes the extent to which the contribution advances the state of the art of operations research and the management sciences, the originality of the idea or methods, the new areas of application it opens up, the degree to which existing theory or method is unified or simplified, the clarity and excellence of the exposition and the degree to which the contribution provides value for future application or improved practice.

The Frederick W. Lanchester Prize includes a commemorative medallion and $5,000 cash. It was presented to Adams and Sherali at the INFORMS national meeting in Washington, D.C., in October.

INFORMS

Established in 1995, INFORMS is the largest professional society in the world for those in the field of operations research. It serves the scientific and professional needs of educators, investigators, scientists, students, managers and consultants, as well as the organizations they serve, by publishing scholarly journals that describe the latest operations-research methods and applications. It also publishes a membership magazine with news from the field. INFORMS organizes national and international conferences for academics and professionals. It serves as the focal point for operations-research professionals, allowing them to communicate with each other and other professional societies.

Present at the signing ceremony on November 7 were (front row, left to right): Dr. Esin Gulari, dean of Clemson's College of Engineering and Science; Dr. Bruce Rafert, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School; Dr. Manual Ontiveros Jimenez, CONACYT director; Clemson Provost Dori Helms; (back row)Dr. Bill Ferrel, associate dean of the Graduate School for international issues; Dr. Anand K. Gramopadhye, chairman of Clemson's industrial engineering department; Dr. Nadim Aziz, chairman of Clemson's civil engineering department; Maria Dolores Maldonado Manjerrez, assistant to the CONACYT director; and Dr. James Cross, vice provost for the Office of International Affairs at Clemson.

Nikon Instruments Inc. has provided an in-kind donation of microscopy equipment to help Clemson University's College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences biological sciences department start a new core microscopy facility. The facility will be the first of its kind in the Southeast, equipped with one of the most technologically advanced system Nikon Instruments Inc. has installed anywhere in the United States.

Nikon recognizes Clemson as a top-tier research university in the Southeast, capable of bringing together its science and technology with industry needs and applications. Nikon plans to take advantage of the diverse research capabilities at Clemson to develop new products and applications, as well as establish the facility as a premier training facility in these top crossover instrumentation uses.

"Nikon chose to provide this donation to Clemson University's biological sciences department because of Clemson's unique commitment and blending of biological and material science imaging studies," said Stan Schwartz, vice president of product and marketing at Nikon Instruments Inc. "Today's microscopy tools allow for multi-modality imaging techniques to complement each other. Whether the specimens to observe are large or small, transparent or opaque, the interchangeability and compatibility of the optical instrumentation and analysis software will provide for superb crossover applications to be conducted."

"The donation by Nikon dramatically expands microscopy capability and enhances the development of new imaging techniques on campus," said Hap Wheeler, chairman of the biological sciences department. "Combined with another partnership in the university's electron microscope facility, Clemson is positioned to be a leader in advanced-imaging analysis. This is an excellent example of a public-private collaboration that will benefit Clemson students, facilitate state-of-the-art research and generate economic growth in the state, region and global economy."

Andrew Mount, Ph.D., was instrumental in developing the project in collaboration with Nikon and will lead a six-member research group at the facility.

The microscope package is valued at $620,000, toward which Nikon made an in-kind donation. Clemson University entities supporting the center with funds include the Office of Research and Economic Development; Public Service Activities; the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences; the biological sciences department and individual research faculty members.

Clemson was one of 39 colleges and universities honored at the National Role Models Conference last month in Arlington, VA.

Clemson was recognized for its success in several high-profile diversity programs, including Call Me MISTER, One Clemson, Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), Programs for Educational Enrichment and Retention (PEER), Emerging Scholars, disability services, international affairs and the Charles H. Houston Center for the Study of the Black Experience in Education, said Leon Wiles, Clemson's chief diversity officer.

"This recognition reaffirms Clemson's commitment to diversity and projects to the world community Clemson's inclusive character," said Wiles. "Clemson is going to great lengths to prepare students to succeed as global citizens."

"It is fitting for Minority Access to recognize and publicize the advances colleges and universities are marking toward diversifying their campuses, especially their student population," said Andrea Mickle, president of Minority Access Inc. "We are pleased that our research data supplied by the office of educational statistics at the US Department of Education has resulted in Minority Access' recognizing colleges and universities that genuinely seem to appreciate the value of diversity in creating a well-rounded educational experience."

Located in Hyattsville, MD, Minority Access was incorporated in 1995 with the mission of assisting colleges and universities, federal agencies and corporations to diversify their campuses and worksites. For more information, visit www.minorityaccess.org.

Clemson University Tuesday celebrated its long-time connection with Nobel Prize-winner Charles H. Townes by naming its state-of-the-art optical science laboratories in his honor.

Townes was joined by his wife, Frances, and together they unveiled the sign for the Charles H. Townes Laboratories for Optical Science and Engineering located at the Advanced Materials Research Laboratory in the Clemson University Advanced Materials Center. Townes is most well known for his research that led to the development of the laser, for which he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1964. (See Charles H. Townes' biography.)

Charles H. Townes"It is an honor to return to Clemson to see the establishment of the Townes Laboratories," he said. "Facilities such as these enable future generations of students who have a dream to go beyond science as we know it today."

The dedication follows the 2005 creation of the Townes Fellows program, a joint effort by Clemson and Furman universities to bring Furman undergraduates to Clemson to conduct optics research with the COMSET (Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies) program.

Clemson has major initiatives in optical materials, bio-optics and laser technology while Furman is renowned for strong undergraduate programs in physics and chemistry. This premier program in the United States is comprised of research and educational initiatives centered on optical sciences and engineering. The first student to participate in the program now is a graduate student at Clemson.

A native of Greenville, Townes received his undergraduate degrees in literature and physics from Furman. He received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1964 for his research on the maser (microwave amplification by stimulation emission of radiation), which led to the invention of the laser, one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 20th Century. Lasers are used in nearly all aspects of life today, including fiberoptics communications, laser processing in the manufacture of automobiles and many other commercial products, ophthalmology, medicine, defense and space applications.

Townes has received numerous international accolades over his career. Chris Przirembel, Clemson's vice president for research and economic development, noted that Clemson was among the first to acknowledge Townes' achievements with an honorary degree in 1963 when he delivered the commencement address (pdf).

"The Nobel Prize Committee followed our lead in 1964 by awarding Dr. Townes that most impressive and well-deserved award," he joked.

On a more serious note, Przirembel added: "What an honor it is to have the name and the inspiration of Dr. Townes associated with this laboratory complex and with this program. I can think of no greater example for our students and faculty to follow as they pursue the future of optical science and engineering. His contribution to the world of optics is inestimable, and his personal examples of the pursuit of science and of a life well-lived are unmatched."

Townes has continued an informal connection with Clemson over the years. He returned to the university in February 2000 to deliver the Godfrey Distinguished Lectures in Astrophysics. And two Clemson faculty members, Przirembel and Caron St. John, director of the Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, received the Charles H. Townes Individual Achievement Award from InnoVision, an Upstate organization that promotes excellence and leadership in technology.

John Ballato, COMSET director and associate vice president for research and economic development, spearheaded the move to name the laboratories for Townes. He said the association is powerful.

"Dr. Townes has spent his distinguished career committed to educating future generations," said Ballato. "We are deeply grateful that his name will be associated with our program as a daily reminder of what has been and can be achieved. Dr. Townes is the first to remind students that they too possess the ability to make the next great discovery."

In addition to being a Nobel Prize laureate, Townes also is a Templeton Prize recipient for contributions to the understanding of religion.

"A lot will be happening in the next 50 years," Townes said. "We will be modifying humans and our genetics. We need to ask, 'do we want to do that?; ask how and why. It will bring responsibilities. Let's see us use those new powers well."

Since 1967, Townes has been a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, where he and Mrs. Townes live.

The money will provide a fellowship for one graduate student every year. Distinguished students will be selected by a committee with input from Stäubli.

"Companies supporting the fellowship program will be supporting a unique student population composed of top-notch engineering talents from different parts of the world," said Mohammed Omar, coordinator of the automotive-engineering graduate program. "This generation of students is being trained on the state-of-the-art technologies, facilities and acquiring unique technical skills along with business and cultural training."

There are 55 students--35 master's students and 20 PhD students--enrolled in Clemson's automotive-engineering program, which started in 2006. The students have graduated from 17 different universities from 10 different countries. Students can pursue specialties in four areas: vehicular electronics, automotive-manufacturing systems, power trains and alternative engines and vehicle performance and development

The program also requires six months in an industrial and international internship and proficiency in a foreign language, as well as courses in business administration and policy-making.

"The international internship is built into the program to provide the students with the platform to practice their foreign language and experience cross-cultural training. This requirement enables the student to function effectively and successfully in a global environment within an international company," Omar said.

Students have held internships at companies such as BMW, Goodyear, Magna, Lang Mekra, Okuma and Dale Earnhardt Inc.

"Stäubli Corporation has always focused its strategy and efforts on developing the most innovative and advanced products in the world," said Stäubli CEO Yves Stäubli. "Our sponsorship of the CU-ICAR program represents the ongoing commitment of Stäubli to help set new benchmark standards in the consumer and high-performance automotive industries. This dedication will help to ensure the current success and future development of the next generation of automotive technologies which will benefit all humanity."

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in automotive engineering, please visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/AutoEng.

About Stäubli
Stäubli is a mechatronics-solution provider with three dedicated divisions: textile machinery, connectors and robotics. With a workforce of 3,000, Stäubli has a presence in 24 countries and agents in 50 countries around the world with its North American headquarters in Duncan.

Visit www.staubli.com for more information on the company and its products.

Students in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at Clemson University are among the "most competitive" in the United States, according to Princeton Review's "The Best 296 Business Schools."

This year the program, housed in the College of Business and Behavioral Science, appears seventh on the top-10 list of most-competitive students, which is based on student assessment of how competitive classmates are, how heavy the workload is and the perceived academic pressure.

"The Clemson MBA program has given me the skills I need to bridge the communication between R&D and the business world," said Joanna Isbill, a dual-degree student working on a master's in bioengineering as well as an MBA. "I have been taught how to understand very technical concepts, but, perhaps even more importantly, the Clemson MBA program has taught me how to present these technical concepts to a business audience.

"I feel like the Clemson MBA program has provided me with high-level skills that I can carry with me throughout my career."

Caron St. John, associate dean for graduate programs and research in the College of Business and Behavioral Science, is pleased to see the program appear on this particular top-10 list.

"We are very fortunate to have dedicated and competitive students in the MBA program," St. John said. "This recognition also speaks to the quality and rigor of the courses offered by our faculty."

Academics, student life and admissions in the College of Business and Behavioral Science at Clemson are outlined in a two-page article in the best business schools guide. In the profile, Princeton Review editors wrote, "Native South Carolinians seeking the MBA will have a hard time beating the ratio of value to quality that they'll find at Clemson University. Thanks to lower in-state tuition costs, Palmetto State residents can earn a highly regarded business degree for a small fraction of what their peers elsewhere in the country spend."

"This is a tremendous honor for me as a scientist and an engineer," said Gulari. "On the NSB, I will be in a unique position to make contributions on a national level. I hope that my participation will bring distinction to the University and focus a national spotlight on Clemson, and more specifically, the exciting work going on in the College of Engineering and Science."

The NSB is an independent body of advisers to both the president and Congress on broad national policy issues related to science and engineering research and education. It also serves as an oversight body for the National Science Foundation. Members are drawn from industry and universities, representing a variety of science and engineering disciplines and geographic areas. Gulari was selected for her preeminence in research, education and public service. She will serve a six-year term to expire in May 2014.

"Congratulations to Dean Gulari," said Clemson President James F. Barker. "The caliber of this appointment to the highest science board in the country is a reflection of her expertise and talent as a scientist. Clemson University could not be more proud."

Gulari is the first woman to serve as dean of Clemson University's College of Engineering and Science and its nearly 5,000 students. The college includes 14 academic departments, 23 undergraduate and 45 graduate degree programs and 11 research centers, including the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).

Since coming to Clemson in June 2006, Gulari has created two new units within the college. The first is the School of Computing, which has the mission to prepare students for all aspects of computing as part of a universitywide emphasis on information technology and high-performance computing. The aim is to allow for rapid development of emerging, interdisciplinary research and academic programs. The department of engineering and science education is the second unit established and is designed to improve the educational methods and pedagogy of teaching science and engineering at the university level and to reach out to K-12 education with innovative strategies in math, science and engineering.

Prior to becoming dean, Gulari served as professor and chairwoman of the chemical engineering and materials science department at Wayne State University. She has private-sector experience having served as chief technology officer of nanoSEC, a startup company formed to manufacture and market nanocomposites produced using supercritical fluid processing.

From 2000 to 2004, Gulari served at the National Science Foundation, where she was director of the Chemical and Transport Systems Division in the Engineering Directorate, and during most of that time as acting assistant director for the Engineering Directorate.

Other National Science Board nominees include: France Córdova, president, Purdue University; Bud Peterson, chancellor, University of Colorado, Boulder; and Diane L. Souvaine, professor and chairwoman, department of computer science, Tufts University. The following board members were re-nominated to serve a second term: Barry Barish, professor of physics emeritus and director, LIGO Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; Ray Bowen, president emeritus, Texas A&M University; and Douglas Randall, professor and Thomas Jefferson Fellow, University of Missouri, Columbia.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs within the College of Engineering and Science, please visit: www.clemson.edu/ces/prospective-students/degrees.html.

Project RESULTS is a recently funded grant from the US Department of Education that aims to prepare six new special education doctoral students to become effective educators, researchers and school leaders in special education.

The program is four years long, with cohort support in place for the entire time. The coursework includes an expanded major in special education within the existing PhD in curriculum and instruction.

Each student will receive a fellowship that includes a $12,000 stipend per year, tuition and fees for four years and support for travel. The program will begin in January 2009.

"The project will prepare six PhD-level students to serve in leadership roles in special education," Correa said. "As leaders in the field, they will impact the quality of services provided for students with disabilities and their families in the state and nation. Graduates of the RESULTS program will be qualified to become faculty at institutions of higher education, to become administrators in state agencies or serve as leaders in public schools."

The Distinguished Moore Professor of Early Childhood and Special Education, Correa received a bachelor's degree in special education from Georgia State University, a master's degree in special education from the University of Georgia and a PhD in special education from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Her research interests include early childhood special education, multicultural education, teacher education and Latino families of young children.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs within the School of Education, please visit: www.hehd.clemson.edu/schoolofed/ac_grad_prgms.php.

MPA students Katherine Brackett and Casey Rice presented their co-authored paper entitled "Market Reform Theory and Public Education" while MPA student Loyd Patterson presented a co-authored paper (with Dr. Bob Smith) and hosted a panel discussion entitled "Ethics and Compliance for Government Contractors: Views from the field on Navigating, Maneuvering and Meeting Requirements and Expectations in the 21st Century."

Having Clemson MPA students selected to present their papers at SECoPA was a hallmark for the program and a testimony to the fine scholarship and research of students pursuing the Clemson MPA. Congratulations Katherine, Casey and Loyd!

Dr. Bob Smith, chair of public administration at Clemson University, was elected to the executive committee of SECoPA at the conference and will serve a one-year term. "This is quite the honor to be recognized by colleagues and then elected to serve on the executive committee of the southeast's premier public administration organization" Smith stated.

SECoPA was incorporated in the State of Florida in 1978, and is primarily concerned with the advancement of the art and science of public administration in the southeast and the nation.

For more information about Clemson University's graduate program in public administration, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/PubAdmin.

The workshop will provide students with practical tools and skills for interviewing with success at any professional or academic interview by covering basic interview questions and questions specific to academia and other career paths. It also will cover interview dress, questions to the employer as well as follow-up after the interview.

For more information, visit the Michelin Career Center's website at http://career.clemson.edu or call 864-656-6000.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Naren Vyavahare, Hunter Endowed Chair and professor of bioengineering at Clemson University, more than $1.5 million over four years to develop durable bioprosthetic heart valves (BHVs).

Pig heart valveAortic valves taken from pigs are used in thousands of human heart valve replacement surgeries annually, but they have a high rate of failure due to degeneration and calcification. It is estimated more than 50 percent fail within five to 15 years of implantation. Vyavahare's goal is to extend the biological durability of BHVs beyond 20 years.

"We've identified a problem where viscoelasticity is lost during tissue fixation and after implantation, and maintaining the structural integrity of the tissue matrix in the processed tissue is essential for these types of implants to work," said Vyavahare. "Our recent studies show that the chemical linking of neomycin to tissue, an inhibitor of the enzymes that degrade the tissue matrix, lead to significantly better stabilization of the valve tissue."

Vyavahare says improvements in durability will allow surgeons to implant the valves in the younger patient population.

Vyavahare and his group at Clemson have studied the problem of calcification in arteries and heart valves for nine years. The long-term fatigue damage study funded by NIH is unprecedented in the BHV field. The Clemson group has collaborations with the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Minnesota.

Peebles, who graduated from Clemson in 1949 with a degree in economics, was the second president of Ferguson Enterprises, an operating company in Wolseley's North America Division. The David Peebles Room, located on the second floor of the Hendrix Student Center, is a multipurpose room used for meetings, student activities, receptions and special events.

"Ferguson is pleased to honor David Peebles by dedicating a room in his honor at Clemson University," said John Stegeman, president and CEO of Ferguson. "David has left an immeasurable legacy to Ferguson, and it is only fitting that we honor him with a legacy to Clemson students. By investing in the future of students, there is no doubt that Clemson will produce more great business minds like David Peebles."

Under Peebles' leadership, Ferguson grew to be an industry leader by idealizing the American dream of owning and operating a business. Ferguson managers who started locations under their own names were entrepreneurs who structured their businesses based on local market demands. Peebles instituted the Management Training Program, which was designed to attract the best and brightest the work force had to offer. Peebles' philosophy of aggressive expansion and his vision of what the company could become served Ferguson well during this period of growth. By 1982, when the company was acquired by Wolseley, Ferguson had 76 locations in 11 states. Today Ferguson operates just under 1,400 locations.

The gift will be used to maintain and enhance programs the Michelin Career Center offers to students and corporate recruiters. Wolseley also will be recognized for the gift with the naming of the Wolseley Interview Room in the Michelin Career Center, located on the third floor of the Hendrix Student Center.

"The Princeton Review rated our career services in the top 10 in the nation based on student surveys," said Flora Riley, director of the Michelin Career Center. "This gift will enable us to continue to offer the high level of career services our students have come to expect. It will allow us to continue to serve as an effective liaison between students and the world of work. The career center serves as a bridge for companies to start the process of hiring Clemson students and recent graduates."

Peebles, who lives in Ordinary, Va., has been honored at Clemson before with the Distinguished Service Award in 1984, the university's highest alumni honor, given to recognize service to the community and the university. A scholarship endowment also bears his name: the Peebles Endowment Fund.

______
About Ferguson and Wolseley

Headquartered in Newport News, Va., Ferguson is the country's largest wholesale distributor of plumbing supplies; pipes, valves and fittings; heating and cooling equipment; waterworks; mechanical and industrial; bathrooms and appliances; tools and safety equipment; and fire protection products. Ferguson has sales of $11 billion and 22,000 associates in nearly 1,400 service centers located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Caribbean. 

Ferguson is part of Wolseley plc, the world's largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing and heating products to professional contractors and a leading supplier of building materials in North America, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Group revenues for the year ended July 31, 2007, were approximately $31.6 billion. Wolseley has approximately 75,000 employees in 27 countries. Wolseley is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: WOS) and is in the FTSE 100 index of listed companies.

Research at Clemson University holds the promise of making the World Wide Web a user-friendly place for everyone, young and old.

Richard PakRichard Pak, an assistant professor of psychology, has received a $50,000 gift from Google to study how older adults navigate the Web and what Web site design features make searches easier. The grant will fund an extension of his research on aging and technology.

"The study of cognitive aging is all about finding out how our minds change as we get older. The results from decades of research are that some things get worse but also that some things improve with age," Pak said. "For example, our ability to solve abstract problems might get worse as we get older. However, at the same time, other things get better as we get older. Just by virtue of being alive longer, we ‘know' more information."

Pak said one example is seen in a well-known finding in the cognitive aging literature. That finding is that older adults, those age 60 and over, have better verbal abilities and general knowledge than younger adults between 18 and 27.

Pak's recently published paper, "Designing an information search interface for younger and older adults," compiled his research into how these strengths might be applied to Web navigation.

"The findings are that when you take a Web site and organize it hierarchically — like how you might organize your documents on your computer with folders within folders — older adults are much slower and make more errors when they are searching for information compared to younger adults," Pak said. "We think that this is the case because the situation does not allow older adults to use their greater knowledge toward the situation. However, when you take that same Web site and organize it around keywords or concepts instead of folders, older adults are able to bring their wealth of general knowledge to the situation and perform almost equivalently to younger adults in the task."

That is, older adults seem to perform better using so-called "tag-based sites," which are Web sites that organize their information around frequently used keywords. Pak said that while tag-based sites are still relatively new, several popular sites use tags. These include Amazon.com, Gmail.com, and the photo sharing Web site Flickr.com.

Pak said that future research into the topics of older adults' Web use will combine objective measures, such as bringing participants into the lab to observe how many navigation errors they make, with subjective measures such as interviews and focus groups aimed at determining why older adults have trouble with technology.

"Of course, this research couldn't happen without the willingness of older adults from the community. When we have new studies, we call our list of older adults from the area and they are always more than happy to come in to do a study," Pak said.

Ultimately, he hopes that his work will help make Web navigation a better experience for participants like these.

"While my results are a bit far from direct application and more research is needed, eventually I'd like to figure out how to design an information-retrieval interface that is usable for people of all ages," Pak said. "Accessing information online is rapidly moving from convenience to necessity and if we don't tackle issues of access, the existing digital divide will only get greater."

Valentini will explain to a general audience the nature of quantum physics and clarify some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding it.

Valentini studied mathematics and physics at Cambridge University and received a PhD in astrophysics from the International School for Advance Studies in Trieste. He has held postdoctoral positions and the University of Rome and Imperial College London. He has several publications, his most recent including "Hidden Variables and the Large-Scale Structure of Spacetime," "Extreme Test of Quantum Theory with Black Holes" and "Black Holes, Information Loss, and Hidden Variables."

The lecture is open to the public. A reception will follow the lecture.

The Sobczyk Public Lecture is a joint physics, math and astronomy endeavor sponsored by the Clemson University departments of physics and astronomy and mathematical sciences.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in physics, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics.

Clemson University physics professor Terry Tritt has been recognized with the 2008 Governor's Award for Excellence in Scientific Research.

In announcing the award, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said, "This is a testament to your hard work and outstanding talent as an educator and researcher. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to further scientific research in South Carolina and throughout the world."

Tritt has received international attention for his study of thermoelectric energy. He says that energy now lost from hot engines could save billions of dollars if it could be captured and converted into electricity. He will be a keynote speaker at the Automotive Industry's Global Powertrain Conference in Chicago in October.

"Thermoelectric energy conversion is a solid-state technology that is environmentally friendly. One of the more promising down-to-earth applications lies in waste-heat recovery in cars and trucks," said Tritt.

Tritt maintains that more than 60 percent of the energy that goes into an automotive combustion cycle is lost, primarily to waste heat through the exhaust or radiator system.

Clemson research focuses on developing higher-efficiency thermoelectric materials that could increase savings significantly. Research into the electrical and thermal properties of new materials could reduce the world's reliance on fossil fuels and has shown promise with two classes of materials: low-dimensional systems for enhanced electrical properties and increased phonon scattering that leads to inherently low thermal conductivity.

Tritt heads up the Department of Energy's Center of Excellence in Thermoelectric Materials Research at Clemson, one of the leading laboratories for thermoelectric materials in the world. The national center focuses on the next generation of thermoelectric materials for power conversion and refrigeration. Researchers in physics, materials science and chemistry screen promising new classes of materials in order to achieve higher-performance thermoelectric materials. DOE has renewed the program with $1.5 million a year in research funding for the next three years. He also has a contract with the Air Force for work on thermoelectric materials development.

The Governor's Award for Excellence in Science honors an individual or team in the state whose achievements and contributions to science in South Carolina merit special recognition and promotes wider awareness of the quality and extent of scientific activity in South Carolina. Earlier this year, Tritt received the Clemson Alumni Award for Research and the College of Engineering and Science Award for Achievement in the Sciences.

Since 1982, the Forest Service has utilized this great fellowship program to recruit and ultimately hire new employees from a variety of fields including public policy, business management and economics, biology, forestry, natural resource management and law; 12 to 15 were hired per year since 2000 and are stationed across the country holding a variety of positions within the agency. By drawing graduate students from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, the PMF Program provides a continuing source of trained men and women to meet the future challenges of public service.

The PMF program was established by Executive Order in 1977 to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs.

Applicants can be graduate students from various academic disciplines, but must expect to complete a degree program during the current academic year in order to be eligible. In addition, applicants must demonstrate a breadth and quality of accomplishments, capacity for leadership and a commitment to excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs.

For more information about the Forest Service PMF program, including fellowship description, application details and deadlines, visit www.fs.fed.us/fsjobs/pmf/index.html.

Clemson University is the 22nd best national public university in the country, according to the annual ranking by U.S.News & World Report. In a new category Clemson also received recognition as a school to watch.

Clemson is No. 2 among national public universities in the "up and coming" category as "a college that has recently made striking improvements or innovations--a school everyone should be watching," according to the magazine.

"It is truly great news for Clemson that we are now ranked No. 22 among national public universities and second on a new list of 'up and coming' institutions," said Clemson President James F. Barker. "What this means to our students and alumni is that their Clemson degree is more valuable now than ever. For faculty and staff it means we will continue to recruit great students and be even more competitive for grants and so forth.

"What it means to all of us is that Clemson can work together to achieve anything," Barker added. "We set our sights very high, and we are close to making our vision a reality. For that I have to thank all parts of the Clemson family."

The No. 22 ranking is the university's highest ranking to date. Last year, Clemson was No. 27 among the 164 public, doctoral-granting institutions in the country. The climb in the rank is attributed to improvement in a number of areas at Clemson: the graduation rate has gone up from 75 percent to 78 percent; the freshman retention rate is up from 88 percent to 90 percent; and alumni giving increased from 27 percent to 28 percent. The university has more classes with fewer than 20 students and more freshmen--52 percent--in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating classes.

Clemson's "Writing Across the Curriculum" initiative once again was singled out. Colleges cited in the "Writing in the Disciplines" category make writing a priority at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum.

Clemson's undergraduate engineering program ranked No. 51 among those at all universities, up from 57 last year.

U.S.News & World Report rankings are based on statistical measures, such as student SAT scores, graduation rates and faculty salaries, as well as a subjective measure of academic reputation. The list of public doctoral-granting institutions ranks universities across the country that offer a wide range of undergraduate majors, as well as master's and doctoral degrees.

America's Best Colleges 2009 will be published in the U.S.News & World Report magazine to be on newsstands Monday, Aug. 26.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has awarded more than $500,000 in grants to Clemson University's environmental engineering and earth sciences department to help broaden the pool of candidates needed in the environmental and safety arena of a burgeoning nuclear industry.

The U.S. NRC Nuclear Education Fellowship Grant is for $398,932, awarded to scientists Timothy DeVol, Robert Fjeld and Brian Powell.

"Because of a renewed interest in nuclear power in this country and the world, this grant will be used for funding graduate students who will become the next-generation nuclear workforce, specifically in radioactive waste disposal, radiochemistry and the environmental aspects of nuclear power generation," said DeVol. "Expertise in these areas is a critical issue because of attrition as well as possible expansion of the nuclear power industry. Nuclear power is one part of an integrated approach to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and strive toward energy security."

The NRC awarded a second grant of $125,151 for nuclear education and curriculum development with a goal of understanding and protecting the public and the environment from the harmful effects of radiation.

"The Nuclear Education and Curriculum Development Grant that we received last year was used to update much needed radiation-detection and measurement equipment for the teaching laboratories," said DeVol. "This year, we'll be developing a new course as well as expanding another course with advanced portable radiation spectroscopy systems that will be purchased with the grant. Grants like these keep our students at the cutting edge of technology but with a fundamental understanding of the underlying principles."

The Nuclear Environmental Engineering and Science (NEES) program is a graduate-only academic program established in the 1980s within the department of environmental engineering and earth sciences at Clemson. It is a combination of classroom and laboratory instruction and research. The NEES program focuses on the environmental aspects of nuclear technologies, including environmental health physics, radioactive waste processing, environmental risk assessment, environmental radioactivity, radiation detection and measurement, environmental radiochemistry and environmental remediation.

For additional details, go to www.ces.clemson.edu/eees/programareas.htm.

Lynn K. Pershing, professor emeritus in the department of dermatology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, delivered the keynote address "Process and Communication: Pillars to Expediting Discovery into Commercialization" at the Victor Hurst Convocation at Clemson.

"There are several key elements to successfully taking an idea through research and to application," said Pershing, who has more than 25 years of experience in academic medicine. "Don't limit yourself. Take unexplored paths.

"Also find your passion and be at the right place at the right time," she added.

Pershing's passion and persistence led to a patented device that, when placed on a mole or other superficial skin mark, can detect with accuracy almost equal to that of a traditional biopsy whether or not a skin mark is cancerous without the invasiveness of surgery.

"I was stubborn enough to make my own path," Pershing said. "Researchers should be willing to take calculated risks and look into new funding methods. The road less traveled is less competitive and can provide more opportunity."

"Clemson is a place where intellectual development goes hand in hand with research and economic development," President James F. Barker said in his address to the convocation. "We believe research and education must co-exist, must reinforce each other. They must be in balance."

Clemson professor Robin Kowalski received the Prince Award for Innovation in Teaching at the convocation. The annual award is named for Clemson President Emeritus Philip Prince and recognizes outstanding teachers who demonstrate creative and novel teaching methods in the classroom.

Kowalski is a psychology professor whose research into bullying and cyber bullying has been quoted and studied worldwide. She has degrees in psychology from Furman University, Wake Forest and UNC-Greensboro.

In 2005 Kowalski received Clemson's Mentoring Award of Distinction, the College of Business and Behavioral Science Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the Psi Chi Teaching Award.

Bierbauer kicks off the Calhoun Lecture Series on Sept. 9 at the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts on the Clemson University campus. His presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. and the public is welcome to attend. There is no charge for presentation.

Bierbauer will speak about how the public has gained its information, including the significantly increased impact of the Internet on the upcoming election.

Bierbauer became the first dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies when it was created in 2002. He came to the University of South Carolina after an award-winning, globetrotting journalism career.

From 1981 to 2001, Bierbauer was a correspondent for CNN in Washington. For nine years, he covered the Reagan and Bush administrations as CNN's senior White House correspondent. He joined CNN as its Pentagon correspondent, covered five presidential campaigns from 1984 to 2000, and spent five terms as the network's Supreme Court correspondent.

This year's Calhoun Lecture Series will be the first since the death of Dr. William H. Hunter, a devoted founder of the program. Dr. Hunter believed that it was vital to a rigorous education that students be exposed to provocative, thoughtful views by bringing nationally and internationally recognized figures to campus to be challenging and challenged in a lively exchanges of ideas.

A team of Clemson University researchers, led by Apparao Rao, professor of physics, has invented a way to make beds of tiny, shock-absorbing carbon springs which possibly could be used to protect delicate objects from damaging impacts. With collaborators at the University of California at San Diego, the team has shown that layers of these tiny springs called coiled carbon nanotubes, each a thousand times smaller than a human hair, can act as extremely resilient shock absorbers.

The corresponding scalebar is in the unit of 1 micrometer (a millionth of a meter) and a nanometer (a billionth of a meter).

Similar coiled carbon nanotubes have been made before, yet Clemson researchers say this method is unique since beds of coiled carbon nanotubes can be grown in a single step using a proprietary hydrocarbon-catalyst mixture.

The group also envisions coiled nanotubes in soldiers body armor, car bumpers and bushings and even as cushioning elements in shoe soles.

"The problem we have faced in the past is producing enough of these coiled carbon nanotubes at a reasonable cost to make a difference," said Rao. "Because our current method produces coiled nanotubes quickly in high yield, it can be readily scaled up to industrial levels. After formation, the coiled nanotubes can be peeled off in one piece and placed on other surfaces to form instant cushioning coatings."

In earlier studies, Rao and his team, along with UCSD collaborators, tested more conventional straight carbon nanotubes against coil-shaped nanotubes. When a stainless steel ball was dropped onto a single nanotube layer, the coiled nanotubes completely recovered from the impact, while the straight ones did not.

"It's like an egg toss," said Rao. "If you move your hand backward as you catch the egg and increase the time of contact over which the impact occurs, the impact will be less forceful and the egg will not break. It is the same phenomenon experienced in catching a baseball."

In previous work, Rao's group developed a process that coaxes a traditionally straight carbon nanotube to split into a "Y" shape. When powered by electrical voltages, the Y-branched nanotubes behave like tiny switches or transistors that process information.

"Our studies with carbon nanotubes have been ongoing for quite some time," said Rao. "Each step along the way has led to the next breakthrough, and each time we've learned more about how they grow and what their applications could be. We believe that carbon nanotubes have tremendous potential for the lives of each one of us."

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in physics, please visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics.

The university has selected Burt Hill Inc., a planning, architecture and engineering firm headquartered in Washington, to develop a master plan for the Clemson University Restoration Institute.

Burt Hill is highly regarded for its experience and qualifications, ranging from architecture and master planning to ecological restoration and economic development. Thirteen teams submitted qualification statements for this project.

Selecting a master planner is a significant step in a process that will transform a brownfield site into an 86-acre state-of-the-art park, said Alan Godfrey, the Restoration Institute's director of real estate and financial affairs.

Burt Hill's team will work closely with university faculty and staff to develop an inter-disciplinary research park that encompasses the Restoration Institute's six focus areas: advanced materials, methods and processes; community revitalization; historic preservation and materials conservation; renewable energy; resilient infrastructure; and restoration ecology.

"Burt Hill will help lay the foundations of what will be an innovative campus in North Charleston," Godfrey said. "This planning process is just the beginning."

Planning and initial design work is expected to take about a year to complete.

Burt Hill previously worked with the Noisette Co. at the Navy base. The Clemson site will involve partnerships with local and national firms to help develop the master plan.

Davis & Floyd of North Charleston will address issues related to civil engineering, land surveying, site utilities and cost estimating. DesignWorks of Charleston will assist with site planning and landscape architecture.

More specialized firms, such as Tidewater Environmental of John's Island and Washington-based ERA Associates, will deal with business market analysis and ecological restoration, respectively.

Harry Gordon, Burt Hill's chairman and chief operating officer, said he is proud the company was selected to develop the North Charleston campus.

"Clemson's leadership in research that enhances the restoration economy fits perfectly with Burt Hill's business direction and we are excited to be a part of the institute's endeavors in defining its campus," Gordon said.

In addition to Burt Hill, in July, Mount Pleasant-based architectural firm McKellar & Associates was chosen to renovate the first two buildings that will become key elements of the Institute.

McKellar will provide design services to transform a former Navy barracks, known as Building 658, and the historic Building 590A — the former U.S. Coast Guard station — into modern facilities. The two buildings were built in 1964 and 1934, respectively.

The Restoration Institute is the first formal academic organization focused on the restoration economy, bringing together experts and researchers and to drive economic growth through restoration industries and technology.

When developed, the site will offer laboratories and facilities for public-private partnerships, research and development outlets involved in restoration processes and Clemson research and graduate education.

For more information on the Restoration Institute and the North Charleston Research Park, go to www.clemson.edu/restoration.

"Clemson has always been known for the quality of its undergraduate teachers," said Brown. "Having spent time at Clemson as a married student where both of us earned our degrees and paid for our education, we experienced the caring nature of the faculty and the local Clemson family. This has prompted my desire to give back to Clemson in a manner that supports the faculty."

"The generosity of Mr. Brown is greatly appreciated. Such endowments enable us to attract and retain faculty members of the highest caliber," said mechanical engineering department chairman Imtiaz Haque. "And of course top faculty make a tremendous difference in the education of our students."

Brown serves on the Clemson University Foundation board and is an active member of the nominations and finance committees. He is a past member of the Alumni National Council and earned a master's degree from the University of Florida in nuclear engineering. His company, United Mechanical Corp., a mechanical contractor serving both the commercial and industrial markets in the Carolinas, is located in Charlotte.

The article by Chronicle staff writer Paul Fain focuses on Clemson's cautious but strategic approach to reaching that goal - something he says is unusual in higher education.

The article, "Clemson U. Balances Growth With Focus/A public institution nurtures strength, avoids trendy new programs," is being published in the July 25 of the Chronicle and is posted online at http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i46/46a00102.htm.

Fain writes that Clemson is staying true to its roots as an agricultural college while focusing on eight academic emphasis areas, research and technology. He also writes about the administration's desire to maintain the size of its student body, recruit top-notch students and its mission to improve the state's economy.

Fain conducted interviews for the article when he visited the campus this spring. He became interested in writing about Clemson after meeting with Barker when he was on a trip to Washington, where the Chronicle is based.

Paul VenhovensPaul Venhovens comes to the university from BMW's Research and Development headquarters in Munich, Germany, where he worked in the field of systems integration since joining the company in 1995. He most recently served as the leader for Functional Concept Design for the 1 and 3 series with responsibility for functional design and integration of vehicle safety, NVH (noise/vibration/harshness), durability, performance, fuel economy and vehicle dynamics.

Imtiaz Haque, Clemson's mechanical engineering department chairman, to whom Venhovens will report, said the university's decision process for this position was the most challenging of the four CU-ICAR-related chairs funded by the state and private investors in 2003 as part of the S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence program.

"Systems integration is the unique focus, one might say the ‘brand' of CU-ICAR research and education efforts," Haque said. "The graduate engineering program is designed to meet the complex needs of the worldwide automotive industry and ultimately of consumers by conducting cutting-edge research into the process of integrating the many systems and people that result in the automobile of today and of the future.

"It was essential that we find an individual with both academic and industry perspective to lead our team, to provide our students with a depth of understanding of both academic and industry environments and to deliver on the promise that CU-ICAR will be the premier automotive and motorsports research and educational facility in the world. In our five-year search, Dr. Venhovens stood out as the candidate who clearly fulfills our needs. We are very excited about the broad range of experience he brings to the program."

In addition to Venhovens, the other CU-ICAR endowed chairs include Tom Kurfess, BMW Endowed Chair in Manufacturing and director of the Carroll A. Campbell Graduate Engineering Center at CU-ICAR (hired in 2005); John Ziegert, Timken Endowed Chair in Automotive Design and Development (hired in 2006); and Todd Hubing, Michelin Endowed Chair in Vehicular Electronic Systems Integration (hired in 2007).

Venhovens received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1993 from Delft University of Technology in his home country of the Netherlands. Before joining BMW, he conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) in Ann Arbor, Mich., in the area of simulation and control design for ITS (lane departure warning and control) applications.

At BMW his experiences ranged from supervising research projects in Driver Assistance Systems and software engineering at such major universities as Stanford, UMTRI and the University of California-Berkeley, to developing new methods of testing and software tools for functional integration of BIW (literally body-in-white, refers to the basic steel vehicle frame before any components are added), chassis and drivelines to mitigate noise, vibration and harshness.

Tom Kurfess, who chaired the search committee that recommended Venhovens for the position, said he and faculty colleagues welcome the perspective Venhovens brings.

"The concept of this program, with a campus that includes both academic and industry partners in daily contact, offers students, faculty and our partners the best of both worlds," Kurfess said. "Adding Dr. Venhovens — with his impressive automotive-industry experience — to the Clemson team gives us additional strength in educating the automotive engineers of the future. We welcome his expertise and believe his presence will attract many young researchers to our program."

Clemson University has been recognized as a Center of Excellence for Watershed Management by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is only the third such center to be designated in the Southeast and the first center in the nation that focuses on using remotely sensed monitoring data, enabling scientists to collect and analyze information through this type of data network.

Students use water column to calibrate instruments.Clemson officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the EPA and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) during a ceremony on the university campus. The center is part of Clemson University's Restoration Institute.

"This designation recognizes our shared commitment to restore and protect South Carolina's watersheds," said Jim Giattina, EPA Region 4 Water Management Division director. "EPA and our partners, like Clemson and S.C. DHEC, are taking a broader approach to managing water resources by looking at watersheds more holistically."

"The Restoration Institute's work in protecting South Carolina watersheds is vital to our future," said Clemson Vice President John Kelly. "This center can be an important resource for local governments, industries and community groups who recognize the need for a comprehensive approach to water management."

Students construct a flume to measure stream flows.Gene Eidson, director of Clemson Restoration Institute's ecology program, said the center will provide innovative resources to support development of cost-effective watershed management for communities throughout the state.

"At this challenging time for water resources, we are very excited about the additional coordinated resources such a center will bring to our watersheds," said Eidson. "We're committed to connecting graduate students and additional resources directly to watersheds where the groundwork is being done."

The center is taking a leadership role in water resources and watershed issues in South Carolina and is developing strong partnerships with other institutions and agencies. An example of this commitment is organizing a statewide water resources conference Oct. 14-15 at the Charleston Area Convention Center.

Installing instruments to measure stream water levels."S.C. DHEC is very excited to be part of this MOU. The Center for Watershed Excellence is the first of its kind in South Carolina, and we as an agency believe it will increase awareness and facilitate improvement in water quality across the state," said David Wilson, DHEC Water Bureau chief. "The center will provide excellent resources to various stakeholder groups, regulated entities, academia and any other parties interested in maintaining and improving water quality in South Carolina. We believe that this agreement is a testament to our commitment to working collaboratively to protect and restore water bodies throughout South Carolina."

One of the major projects being developed by the Clemson center is the cyber infrastructure-based digital watershed.

"Having real-time data to monitor environmental characteristics - water quality, storm-water runoff, even tree growth - from any Internet access point can improve watershed management," said Eidson. "This system of remote sensors will provide real-time information to the public, scientists and professional environmental managers. The system will provide hands-on practical information to help promote objective, science-based discussions about economic growth and the environment. For South Carolina to prosper, both economics and ecology must be considered together and ultimately shift the paradigm of river management."

Measuring to deploy a water-quality sensor.The university awarded a $1.5 million grant to the Center for Watershed Excellence to develop the cyber platform and four demonstration projects. These projects include real-time monitoring of 215 miles of the Savannah River watershed, a low-impact development project in Georgetown County that is part of the Program of Integrated Study for Coastal Environmental Sustainability, a small watershed project at Lake Issaqueena in the Clemson Forest in Pickens County. Another is a segment of the Saluda River Watershed in Greenville County that is part of the Changing Land Use and the Environment program. The cyber-infrastructure network will be in place and online by October 2008. The platform will host regional projects, watershed group projects and other resources.

In addition to the digital watershed program, the center is working with the City of Aiken, S.C., and Hitchcock Woods Foundation to formulate an ecological restoration master plan for the Sand River. This plan will describe the existing ecological conditions and prioritize individual restoration and remediation projects for the area.

Another project is the Pickens County Strategic Water Supply Plan. This project brings together all water-supply groups in Pickens County to formulate a 20-year plan to address population growth and water needs.

To become a recognized Center of Excellence, the institution must demonstrate technical expertise in identifying and addressing watershed needs; involve students, staff and faculty in watershed research; have the capability to involve the full suite of disciplines needed for all aspects of watershed management; be able to become financially self-sustaining; deliver and account for results; be willing to partner with other institutions; and receive support from the highest levels of the organization.

Some of the benefits of being a recognized Center of Excellence include receiving EPA technical assistance where needed (from instructors, speakers, etc); being able to promote the Center of Excellence to stakeholders; having EPA letters of support for grant opportunities; and identifying opportunities for Center of Excellence involvement in local and regional watershed issues.

For decades, the EPA protected the nation's lakes, rivers and wetlands by regulating specific points of pollution; the most common of these being sewage treatment plants and factories. Although this approach led to the successful cleanup of many waterways, others still remain polluted from sources not as easily regulated, such as more subtle sources include farms, streets, parking lots, lawns, rooftops and other surfaces that come in contact with rainwater. Today, the EPA takes a broader approach to water protection, looking at both the individual waterway and the watershed in which it is located.

Started in 2007, the EPA Region 4 Centers of Excellence for Watershed Management Program works with colleges and universities from across the Southeast to provide hands-on, practical products and services for communities to identify watershed problems and solve them. Each EPA-designated center actively seeks out watershed-based stakeholder groups and local governments that need cost-effective tools for watershed scientific studies, engineering designs and computer mapping, as well as assistance with legal issues, project management, public education and planning.

The Clemson center has formed partnerships with groups across the state, including: Coastal Carolina University; the College of Charleston; the Medical University of South Carolina, biomedicine and environmental sciences; the University of South Carolina School of the Environment; NOAA-Hollings Marine Laboratory and Coastal Service Center; the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control Water Bureau and Ocean and Coastal Resource Management; the S.C. Department of Natural Resources Hydrology and Marine Research; and the USDA Forest Service. The center also is teaming up with other groups at Clemson University, including Computing and Information Technology and the Genomics Institute.

For more information on the Center for Watershed Excellence at Clemson University: www.clemson.edu/restoration/ecology/.

For more information on EPA priority watersheds in the Southeast: www.epa.gov/region4/water/watersheds/priority.html.

Clemson University requires all full-time (9 hours or more), on-campus graduate students to have health insurance coverage. All international graduate students are required to have health insurance, as well.

Students with assistantships recieve a subsidy to pay most of the cost of the student insurance plan.

The Journal of Business Venturing is the eleventh most influential journal in the business category of the Social Science Citation Index, which measures the scholarly importance of journals. "Our success depends on the quality of our reviewers and among our well-qualified, talented pool, Bill was one of our truly top reviewers. We very much appreciate his service," said Dean A. Shepherd, Randall L. Tobias Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Kelley School of Business (Indiana University) and associate editor of the Journal of Business Venturing.

According to Shepherd, over and above being thorough, Gartner was also fair. His reviews contained a balance between general and detailed comments. These comments also pointed out current problems and deficiencies as well as specific suggestions for improving the manuscript. His suggestions were specific on how the authors could improve the paper and bring it closer to publication. "Dr. Gartner is one of our most distinguished scholars, having been recognized internationally for excellence in research. This recent recognition is evidence of his role as a thought leader who gives of his time to advance the study of entrepreneurship," said Dr. Caron St. John, associate dean of graduate programs and research in the College of Business and Behavioral Science.

For more information about Clemson's graduate program in managment, visit http://www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Management/index.php

Clemson is ranked seventh in the nation among programs that do not offer a PhD, and 10th in the South among all graduate programs.

The city and regional planning program at Clemson is offered through the department of planning and landscape architecture. The professional master's degree program emphasizes sustainable land development while recognizing the balance of physical, economic, financial, social and policy dimensions of planning. Students pursue specializations in areas such as development planning, environmental and land-use planning, urban design and transportation planning.

Other non-PhD programs ranked highly by Planetizen include California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and California State Polytechnic University in Pomona in the No. 1 and 2 spots, followed by University at Buffalo-State University of New York, University of Minnesota, Michigan State University and University of Virginia.

Among a 14-state Southern region, Clemson's program ranked 10th, in company with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.

Clemson University also has one of the 10 best graduate programs in historic preservation, according to Planetizen, which listed Clemson, Columbia University, Cornell and the University of Southern California among the 10 best. The institutions were not ranked by number in that category. Also, Clemson was No. 4 in a ranking of financial aid per student.

"We are pleased with the company we are keeping with increased national recognition for the program," said James B. London, who was director of the graduate program until his recent appointment as associate dean for research and graduate studies. "We are proud to deliver a program that prepares professionals who lead communities into the future."

Planetizen enlisted the help of a professional opinion research firm to survey hundreds of professionals, educators and students to produce the 2009 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs.

Planetizen is a news and information resource for the urban planning, design and development community. The Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs is published by Planetizen Press, a division of Urban Insight Inc.

For more information about Clemson's graduate program in city and regional planning, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/CRP/index.php.

For more information about Clemson's graduate program in historic preservation, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/HistPres/index.php.

Clemson University bioengineer Martine LaBerge has been inducted as a Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering at the World Biomaterials Congress in Amsterdam.

The international honor is reserved for accomplished members and role models in the field of biomaterials science and engineering.

In addition to being professor and chairwoman of the department of bioengineering at Clemson, LaBerge is president of the Society for Biomaterials. The organization is a professional society that promotes advances in all phases of materials research and development through cooperative educational programs, clinical applications and professional standards in the biomaterials field.

Her current research projects include the investigation of the wear performance of total knee-joint replacements, total knee-joint design and dynamic contact mechanics, as well as the mechanisms of friction, lubrication and wear of vascular implants.

Also in the department of bioengineering, Shalaby W. Shalaby, adjunct professor, was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He was recognized for his pioneering role and innovation in the field of polymeric medical devices.

The College of Fellows consists of outstanding bioengineers in academia, industry and government. These leaders in the field have distinguished themselves through their contributions in research, industrial practice and education. The College of Fellows leads the way in technological advancement, advocating for public policies facilitating progress in medical and biological research and development to benefit the public. Since 1991, AIMBE Fellows have helped to revolutionize medicine, engineering and related fields that enhance and extend the lives of people all over the world.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in bioengineering, please visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Bioeng/index.php.

This conference offers a "how-to" approach that focuses on the nuts and bolts of programs with a proven record of success. It consistently attracts many of the country's top leaders and advocates for black students. You are encouraged to attend and/or send in a proposal to be one of this year's featured speakers.

Share your expertise. Present Clemon's best-practice programs that help African-American students succeed.

To learn more about the conference or how to submit a proposal, visit www.clemson.edu/bestpractices.

Consignment of $1.1 million of Okuma machine tools and $400,000 in training and support from Morris South will benefit post graduate-level education and research in areas that include automotive, industrial automation, production launches and proposal development.

Okuma America Corp. is the US-based affiliate of Okuma Corp., a world leader in the development of computer numeric controls and machining technology. Under the terms of the agreement, Okuma and regional distributor Morris South will provide equipment and support services for the automotive engineering research and graduate education programs in the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center (CGEC), the academic anchor for CU-ICAR. Okuma also will provide an annual internship with the company for a student enrolled in the automotive engineering graduate program.

CGEC Director Tom Kurfess announced the first Okuma intern, Chan Wong, already is working in the company's US headquarters in Charlotte, NC. He noted that with locations throughout the world, Okuma offers students outstanding internship opportunities.

Instead of donating specific equipment, Okuma is providing state-of-the-art equipment in a consignment agreement that will continuously upgrade equipment for new versions as improvements are made. The arrangement also enables the CU-ICAR team to effectively tailor their capabilities to meet industry needs by working with Okuma to identify and provide the best possible equipment for newly initiated research and education projects.

"Okuma is committed to making sure our students and faculty have access to the latest technology," Kurfess said. "They have allowed us to avoid obsolescence, one of the biggest problems we face in terms of equipment. We do not have to dispose of or replace equipment; they will update as new generations of this machinery become available. The assurance that they will be working on the latest equipment from one of the world's most outstanding machine tool companies is extremely important for our current and potential students, and it is also important for those who will be hiring our graduates. We are very grateful for the very generous terms of this agreement."

The Okuma equipment will be used in both research and education programs, according to Kurfess. Research applications will include machining, metrology and machine-integration research projects--such as National Science Foundation and US Army machining projects--as well as serving as available resources for developing new proposals. The equipment will be integrated directly with graduate engineering classes such as automotive manufacturing processes, production preparation and launch and industrial automation. The faculty will use the equipment to provide demonstrations and data to reinforce class concepts.

After spending many years in the automotive industry, Bob Kral, vice president of operations for Okuma America, sees extensive value in automotive industry research.

"As a car guy, I know how important it is to find those new innovations that break through the technological barriers we are particularly facing now in the domestic market. Okuma appreciates the opportunity to be a part of a premier global initiative that supports research for advanced manufacturing and promotes higher learning."

Kurfess said the partnership with Okuma and Morris South will improve the automotive engineering graduate program significantly by providing practical reinforcement of modeling and control concepts.

"It improves our capabilities to enable research in advanced machining and machining control areas, which is critical to automotive manufacturing," he said. "Through the expert support the companies will provide students will also interact with some of the machine tool industry's top control-system developers. Additionally, domestic and international internships are a critical part of our graduate program, and this partnership offers our students tremendous opportunity. We look forward to working with these outstanding companies."

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in automotive engineering, please visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/AutoEng/index.php.

---

Okuma America Corp.
As a world leader in the development of computer numeric controls and machining technology, Okuma machines are known for their power, control, reliability and repeatability. Okuma offers vertical and horizontal machining centers, lathes, double-column machining centers, grinders and wheel machines to meet a wide range of industry needs.

Located in Charlotte, Okuma America is the US-based affiliate of Okuma Corp. which was founded in 1898 in Nagoya, Japan. Okuma builds machines that have the balance of power, speed and size to meet most any application--machines that can hold tight tolerances, perform sophisticated cuts and create precision-crafted parts. Only Okuma engineers and builds each component on every machine, including the Automatic Tool Changer, motor/drive/encoder, base casting, turret, spindle and the Microsoft Windows-based THINC-OSP control with its 40 GB open architecture plug-and-play capability.

Providing superior service and support through the Okuma CARE program, 44 distributor partners also provide One Source sales, service, training, engineering and more throughout North and South America. Okuma initiated Partners in THINC to meet the evolving needs of industry as a one-stop facility and concept. More than 30 collaborating partners from ABB to Zoller work under the same roof to provide advanced-technology solutions to customers.

Visit www.okuma.com or www.partnersinthinc.com for more information.

Morris South
Located in Charlotte, Morris South, Machine Tool Systems has been serving Southeast manufacturers for more than 25 years. Morris South, Machine Tool Systems offers the full line of Okuma products; fully automated turnkey solutions, manual lathes, mills, electronic lathes, transfer equipment and CMMs. Visit www.morrissouth.com for more information.

CU-ICAR
The Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research is an advanced-technology research campus where university, industry and government organizations engage in synergistic collaboration. With more than $200 million in commitments, it represents the ultimate public-private partnership, directly fueling a knowledge base critical to the automotive industry.

CU-ICAR is strategically located in the rapidly growing southeastern automotive and motorsports region. The 250-acre campus in Greenville, SC, is midway between Charlotte and Atlanta on the Interstate 85 corridor. This is where Clemson University offers the nation's only PhD in automotive engineering, contributing to the University's continued climb in national reputation. For more information, visit www.cuicar.com.

Clemson's chapter was selected for its strong relationship with the Pickens County Habitat for Humanity affiliate and for being a leader in green building practices.

Last year the chapter sponsored a design contest with Clemson's Emerging Green Builders as a service-learning project for architecture, landscape architecture and construction science students. Students designed environmentally friendly houses, and the winning design, named "Green House," was constructed at 101 Zion Street in Easley. The chapter now is working on a house that will apply for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. That house is under construction at 225 Stephens Road in Clemson. It will be the first Habitat house in South Carolina to be LEED certified.

"This award is certainly a testament to the dedication of Clemson students to provide affordable housing to the local community. I am honored to be a part of this enthusiastic group of student leaders who do not settle for mediocrity," said Chelsea Reighard, 2007-2008 president of Habitat for Humanity at Clemson and a Clemson native who graduated in May with degrees in genetics and language and international health.

The award comes with a $20,000 grant that the chapter can use to participate in a Global Village trip to another country.

"This grant will allow our chapter to reach beyond our corner of South Carolina and give Clemson students an opportunity to fulfill Habitat for Humanity's mission in an international setting," Reighard said.

The LEED house will be the chapter's 27th house. The chapter has built more houses than any other campus Habitat for Humanity chapter in the nation.

Clemson's Habitat for Humanity chapter also was honored this year by Clemson's community service office with the Outstanding Service Collaboration Award for its partnerships with the Pickens County Habitat for Humanity chapter and YouthBuild, a local organization that works with high school dropouts.

For more information about Clemson's chapter of Habitat for Humanity, please visit http://people.clemson.edu/~habitat.

Liska has more than 35 years of experience in construction and construction education, including 23 at Clemson University. He chaired the department once before and returned to the faculty to serve as director of its Center for the Improvement of Construction Management and Processes, a position he still holds.

Dean Clifton S.M. "Chip" Egan awarded the post to Liska again after a university committee conducted a national search.

Liska has developed and taught more than 300 continuing education courses for the construction industry worldwide, including in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and China. He helped develop and currently facilitates and teaches in the Supervisor and Project Manager Academies in conjunction with the National Center for Construction Education and Research.

The professor is the author of numerous books, articles and research reports on management, education, safety and training in the construction industry. Liska chairs the board of governors for the American Institute of Construction Constructors Certification Commission. He is past national president of both the American Institute of Constructors and the American Council for Construction Education and serves on the boards of both organizations. He is co-founder of the Construction Industry Cooperative Alliance and is a Fellow in the American Institute of Constructors, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Chartered Institute of Building in the United Kingdom.

For more information about Clemson's graduate program in construction science and management, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/CSM/index.php.

The 31st edition of the TOP500 list was released Wednesday at the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany. Since 1993, the list has been produced twice a year and is the most extensive survey of trends and changes in the global supercomputing arena.

"Clemson is on the move in a big way," said Jim Bottum, Clemson's vice provost and chief information officer. "In a very short period of time we have moved from outside the top 500 computing sites in the world to solidly within the top 75. That is tremendous progress toward Clemson's goal of becoming a top-20 public university, but even more important is how this enables and empowers our faculty, students and staff to conduct competitive, engaging and collaborative work in a global environment."

Bottum said he was brought to Clemson to build a world-class cyberinfrastructure for education, research and service. However, he maintains that enabling learning and discovery is more than just offering compute cycles; it requires creating a collaborative environment where IT specialists work in partnership with faculty and students to create an advanced cyberinfrastructure that serves the needs of a multi-disciplinary set of programs.

The Palmetto Cluster, for which Clemson is ranked 62nd, is an example of the collaborative partnerships driving Clemson's progress. It also enables research and other computationally intense work that could not be done prior to the development of the system.

"This ranking recognizes Clemson's new role as a leader in campus-based high-performance computing systems," said Jim Pepin, Clemson's chief technology officer. "Plus, our academic community is now equipped to compete for and win contracts and grants that were previously out of reach."

For more information on the top 500 supercomputing sites go to www.top500.org/. Read more about the development of the Palmetto Cluster here. For information about CCIT visit www.clemson.edu/ccit/.

Rendering by The Boudreaux GroupLocated on SC 187, a stone's throw from Interstate 85, the innovation center will serve as a high-tech business incubator, providing space for advanced materials-related start-up companies and so-called "landing parties," companies exploring the viability of locating new businesses or relocating existing businesses in the area.

Clemson University President James F. Barker said the Clemson University Advanced Materials Center already offers tremendous value to advanced-materials businesses.

"The state-of-the-art Advanced Materials Research Laboratory features exceptional research laboratories and equipment and one of the finest electron microscope facilities in the nation," Barker said. "Even more important, however, is the intellectual power housed here. An interdisciplinary group of scholars in such fields as chemistry, physics, photonics and other materials science and engineering disciplines is increasing the body of knowledge and educating the graduate students who will become the next generation of leaders in their fields."

Completion of the new facility, he noted, will complete the "innovation chain" from basic research to the startup companies that take a discovery to the marketplace.

"The location so near Interstate 85, in the heart of the eighth-largest regional economy in the world, offers the advanced-materials industry many advantages, and we look forward to significant growth and collaboration," he added.

Barker praised the commitment of Duke Energy and AdvanceSC to the project. Each contributed $1 million toward the innovation center.

"Today we celebrate the dedication of these two organizations to the economic health of South Carolina and to the Anderson community," he said. "Their support is essential to the success of the innovation center and to the growth of the advanced materials industry in this area."

Barker said the Clemson University Advanced Materials Center follows the same economic development model that created the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville.

"It takes the focus and commitment of everyone in the state--business, academic and government entities--to move South Carolina ahead economically," Barker said. "The economic-development model we have followed matches academic strength with the needs and goals of private industry in the state with support from public and private sources."

The state of South Carolina provided $5 million toward construction of the building through the South Carolina Research University Infrastructure Act. Innovate Anderson, a public-private partnership focused on stimulating economic growth in Anderson County, purchased the remaining property in the Advanced Materials Center for $1.3 million for recruitment and development of advanced materials-related business.

Ellen Ruff, president of Duke Energy Carolinas, noted that company's interest in the economic health of the region and the importance of maintaining a manufacturing base.

"When I visit with customers, they make it very clear that for manufacturing to thrive in the region, they must have a strong academic knowledge base, a well-trained workforce and reliable, cost-effective energy. This initiative brings those three priorities together into a partnership where everyone benefits," Ruff said.

Carol Burdette, president of the AdvanceSC board of directors, said the board voted unanimously to support the innovation center project.

"AdvanceSC remains very excited and honored to assist in the creation of this new innovation center," Burdette said. "This facility well represents three of the main focus areas of our organization: education, economic development and manufacturing competitiveness, and we look forward to seeing the impact it will have across the entire region."

Mike Panasko, president of Innovate Anderson, said Anderson County leaders are poised to make the most of the opportunity the innovation center provides.

"The Innovation Center is a great example of what it takes to build your community's future in a progressive and positive manner. The impact this facility will have on raising not just Anderson County's value, but the region and state as well, is tremendous," he said.

Chris Przirembel, Clemson's vice president for research and economic development, added that the South Carolina Research Authority will build a $4-million companion facility adjacent to the innovation center to house SCRA contract and classified research.

"The financial commitment by SCRA was a very important element in matching the research infrastructure funds and making this entire project possible," Przirembel said.

"We are pleased to join with Clemson University and our private partners to fulfill the vision of our legislators in delivering this Innovation Center," said SCRA CEO Bill Mahoney. "Our partnership will provide two side-by-side facilities that will accelerate discovery and commercialization of advanced materials for both military and corporate applications, and help generate higher-paying, knowledge-based jobs in South Carolina."

Construction of the complex is expected to be complete by August 2009.

---

About Duke Energy
Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers energy to approximately four million US customers. The company has approximately 36,000 megawatts of electric-generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas and natural gas-distribution services in Ohio and Kentucky. Duke Energy also has more than 4,000 megawatts of electric-generating capacity in Latin America, and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. For more information go to www.duke-energy.com.

About AdvanceSC
AdvanceSC supports education, economic growth, existing manufacturing and public-assistance agencies in Duke Energy's South Carolina service area. Established as a limited-liability company by Duke Energy in 2004, AdvanceSC is funded with profits from the company's Bulk Power Marketing program and is managed by a board of Upstate South Carolina leaders.

About Innovate Anderson
Innovate Anderson is a public-private non-profit organization formed by Anderson County, the City of Anderson, the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce and private businesses to encourage economic development in Anderson County. Innovate Anderson is an important catalyst for future-oriented economic development strategies that will help Anderson County compete in a challenging global economy.

About SCRA
SCRA is a global leader in applied research and commercialization services with offices in Anderson, Charleston and Columbia. SCRA collaborates to advance technology. SCRA provides technology-based solutions with assured outcomes on behalf of industry, government and research universities like Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina.

The Cyber-Institute Center of Economic Excellence at Clemson University combines faculty expertise in computer and electrical engineering with Clemson's growing computing power to create a strong research program, industrial partnerships and technology-transfer opportunities. The center will enhance the University's competitiveness in research areas that rely on storage, processing and transmitting large amounts of data. Clemson expects the center to provide rapid computational prototyping and to serve as an educational and testing facility.

The new endowed chair will be a faculty member in the department of electrical and computer engineering but will report to Clemson's vice provost for computing and information technology and will be housed in the Information Technology building at the Clemson University Advanced Materials Center. This collaboration between the academic department and the University's computer infrastructure was noted by the review board as a positive factor in the potential for success.

The Center of Economic Excellence in Optoelectronics will strengthen Clemson's photonics research program that exists in the Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies. The proposed chair, which will be housed in the department of electrical and computer engineering, will lead that department's initiative in hiring additional optoelectronics faculty members.

The addition of a $4 million chair to an already internationally reputable program will enable Clemson to recruit a world-class faculty leader to the state and to the collaborative research environment that the review board noted as a particular strength of Clemson's proposal.

"Taken individually, these centers and associated chairs represent significant advancement in research strength for Clemson University," President James F. Barker said. "Together they show the kind of synergy we have come to expect from our interdisciplinary approach and an efficiency in combining our research strengths with the objectives and needs of the public and private sectors. We intend to be good stewards of the investment in Clemson University by the state of South Carolina through this funding and by the private sector that will provide matching funds. We are very grateful that the review board saw the strength of these proposals, and we are eager to move forward with what they will enable us to do at Clemson."

Clemson also was included in a $5-million funding package that supports a Center of Economic Excellence in Advanced Tissue Biofabrication led by the Medical University of South Carolina with endowed chairs at MUSC, Clemson and the University of South Carolina. The center will focus on collaborative and multidisciplinary studies combining computational and development biology and bioengineering with a focus on vascular regeneration as a basis for tissue generation.

Graduate students Sukumar Anekar and Swathi Korpu and PhD student Priyank Alluri from the Clemson department of civil engineering represented the state of South Carolina in the competition. To bring home first prize and a $3,000 scholarship, the students defeated other teams from North Carolina State, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia in the preliminary round and Georgia Tech, Southern Polytech and Mississippi State in the final round. The finals had an audience of more than 200 transportation professionals who attended the conference.

For the fifth year in a row, Clemson also took home the Southern District ITE Outstanding Student Chapter Award. Clemson is in the running for the International ITE Student Chapter Award. The award is based on all the activities of the chapter for the previous year.

"We received tremendous feedback on the performance of all of our students in the competition," said student chapter faculty adviser and associate professor of civil engineering Wayne Sarasua. "This is a wonderful testament to our civil engineering program at Clemson."

Assistant professor of civil engineering Jennifer Ogle is co-adviser of the chapter. The Clemson student chapter has more than 20 members from a variety of majors.

One of the activities of the Clemson ITE chapter this year was to perform a pedestrian safety study on the university campus. The chapter, along with students from psychology and civil engineering, monitored 50 intersections and crossings, then made short-term and long-term recommendations to Clemson officials for safety improvements.

ITE is a professional society of transportation engineers, planners and other professionals in more than 70 countries. The goal of the Clemson student chapter is to introduce students to the transportation profession and supplement their classroom and laboratory experiences.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in civil engineering, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/CivilEng/index.php.

Currently, intelligent transportation systems use video cameras, traffic sensors, message signs and advisory radios to monitor and control highway traffic in real time with the aid of wired and wireless communication infrastructure. A single failure can cause a domino effect that results in chaos. Public agencies have a mission to ensure that communication infrastructure not only is in place, but is reliable during extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes and floods.

To meet this requirement, new generation communication alternatives could be the answer to keeping systems up and running efficiently without the risk of failure during emergencies.

"Yan Zhou's work will focus on finding systematic methods for assessing the cost, reliability and adequacy of communication alternatives for transportation system safety and security," said Ronnie Chowdhury, Clemson civil engineering assistant professor and adviser. "It is an extremely important work that could mean the difference between life and death or serious injury to travelers during a highway incident or evacuation where prompt response is essential."

The Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship provides funding for the pursuit of master's degrees or doctorates in transportation-related fields. The objective of this highly competitive award is to attract qualified students to the fields of transportation education and research and advance transportation workforce development. The program is intended to help upgrade the scope of knowledge of the transportation community in the United States and encompasses all modes of transportation.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in civil engineering, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/CivilEng/index.php.

Students from EES 486/686 Pollution Prevention and Industrial Ecology wrote a successful proposal for $10,000 to the EPA People, Planet and Prosperity program to address the solid waste management problem of waste tires on the island of Dominica. Dr. Shelie Miller served as principal investigator for the team of students consisting of Jim Chamberlain (PhD, EEES), Roger Flynn (PhD, Policy Studies) and Laurie Robbins, (MS, Construction Management). The team received Honorable Mention at the 2008 EPA People, Prosperity and Planet National Sustainable Design Expo held in Washington DC on Earth Day.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in environmental engineering and science, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/EnviroEng/index.php.

Ginger Bryngelson and Hala Eid run a telescope at Kitt Peak. Ginger Bryngelson, a Clemson University physics and astronomy graduate student is part of the team that observed and compiled data on supernova SN2008D in a galaxy 90,000 light years away from Earth. Usually not seen until one to three weeks after an explosion, this supernova was captured immediately by the Swift X-ray Telescope as the star exploded and emitted a bright outburst of X-rays.

Bryngelson's and the group's observations and research on the birth of the supernova is featured in Thursday's issue of Nature in an article titled: "An extremely luminous X-ray outburst at the birth of a supernova."

The unprecedented observation has the potential to alter the way scientists view exploding stars. Until now a supernova's first moments have been shrouded in mystery.

"Seeing a core-collapse supernova this early on is unprecedented," said Bryngelson. "Core-collapse supernovae are stars that are so massive they explode because they can't support their own weight. Not a lot is known about the early explosions. My part in this research was to look at how quickly the light in the optical energy bands diminished after the explosion. And from that we can determine what physical and chemical processes are occurring."

A long list of researchers from across the world contributed to this study. They include researchers from Princeton University, Max-Planck Institute in Germany, the University of Chicago, the University of California-Berkley and the University of Texas at Austin, among others. Bryngleson collaborated with Peter Milne of the University of Arizona using data obtained with the Super-LOTIS Telescope. Clemson astrophysicist Mark Leising is Bryngelson's adviser.

Bryngelson is the daughter of June and Jay Bryngelson of Waco, Texas.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in physics, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics/index.php.

Galluch and Roberts were also accepted to the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) consortium. Clemson was the only school in the world to have two students accepted to the AMCIS doctoral student consortium.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in management, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Management/index.php.

The unpublished study by researchers at DePaul University compile the H-index, which provides an estimate of the importance, significance and broad impact of a scholar's academic achievement.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in management, please visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Management/index.php.

This marks a significant step in Clemson's evolution as it joins the ranks of other top-20 universities across the nation with similar doctoral programs. McArthur states, "The RCID collaborations encompassing art, digital media, communication and writing are on the cutting edge of academic exploration. This type of study is advancing Clemson University as a center for innovative approaches to the study of the humanities."

McArthur successfully defended his dissertation entitled, "Instructional Proxemics: Creating a place for space in instructional communication discourse" on Friday April 11, 2008 and was recommended for graduation by his committee. "Instructional Proxemics" blends the study of theories in instructional communication; space and proxemics; and information/user-experience design to investigate the influence of space on the interactions of students and teachers as mutual learners.

In a message to the Clemson administration, Dr. Andy Billings, chair of this dissertation committee, wrote that this dissertation is "an excellent example of the type of work that can be produced at the doctoral level in this field." Alongside Dr. Billings, Dr. Bryan Denham (Communication Studies), Dr. Bill Havice (College of Health, Education and Human Development) and Dr. Sean Williams (English, Professional Communication) served as members of the dissertation committee.

The defense, held in the Class of 1941 Studio, was attended by more than 25 members of the RCID family who rallied to support their colleague on this momentous day for the program. This success is just the beginning of a bright future for the RCID community at Clemson.

For more information about Clemson's RCID graduate program, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/RCID/index.php.

Hodgson will write/develop his dissertation titled, "Logos of Possibilities: Rhetorical Inventions/Inventional Rhetorics," both in print literacy for the Graduate School and in electronic literacy using Sophie to demonstrate the differences between paper/PDF files and a multimedia dissertation that still meets all the required scholarly conventions of a dissertation.

"Learning to use the multimedia platform of Sophie as another option to my scholarship should allow for a 'historical' examination of the potentialities and limitations of a text-based print dissertation with those of a multimedia/multimodal creation. Engaging in this dualistic approach, and attempting to articulate my ideas in both the 'traditional' dissertation platform and the multimedia platform, will allow me to not only fulfill my requirements here at Clemson (in terms of my dissertation work), but also open a way for engaging the very technologies (and their possibilities) that my research on rhetorical invention is examining," said Hodgson.

"The competition was tough across the country and one of our students-one of two across the entire country-was selected. This says great things about our students and the program itself," said Hodgson's committee chair and RCID program coordinator, Dr. Victor Vitanza.

For more information about Clemson's RCID PhD program, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/RCID/index.php.

These fellowships offer PhD students individual supplements of $10,000 a year in addition to the graduate stipend and benefits package. The awards are performance based and renewable for up to three years.

Students who receive these fellowships will study and conduct research at the new Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center (CGEC) at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research. The CGEC is a 90,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility housing a set of automotive testing resources valued at over $10 million. The CGEC provides graduate students the best possible educational experience as they prepare for international internships, and ultimately, careers in the automotive sector (OEM and suppliers). The facility is home to advanced automotive engineering research and development in conjunction with international corporate partners, including BMW, Michelin, Timken, Sun Microsystems and Mazda.

Sponsored by the Mazda Foundation, the fellowships will be available in Fall 2008. You can learn more about the program by going to www.ces.clemson.edu/me/automotive/ or by contacting our graduate student coordinator at tierraj@clemson.edu or 864-283-7230.

Hallman was told throughout her childhood that she should become a teacher, but she wanted to be a lawyer. A job at a daycare center while she was in college provided the turning point in her life. Reflecting on that experience, Hallman said, "I was lucky enough to have a director and a head teacher who saw me for what I was-a teacher in a confused young adult's body."

As State Teacher of the Year for the 2008-09 school year, Hallman will represent South Carolina's 50,000 teachers and participate in a yearlong residency at the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement (CERRA). She also receives a $25,000 cash award, a 2007 BMW Z-4 roadster to use for the year and a SMART board (an interactive whiteboard that turns a computer and projector into a teaching and presentation tool). She will participate in Leadership South Carolina and attend Notre Dame's prestigious three-day Excellence in Teaching Symposium. In addition, she was awarded a Dell laptop computer, a set of Michelin tires and a ring from Jostens.

"Jenna truly believes that every child can experience success," Rex said. "She uses a variety of strategies to help her students connect science to other subjects and real life. She's champion of young people and a strong advocate for public education."

Four Honor Roll teachers who were finalists for the award each received $10,000, a Dell computer, a set of Michelin tires and a Jostens ring. Each district teacher received $1,000, and all 83 district nominees received various gifts donated by corporate sponsors.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in administration and supervision, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/AdminSuper/index.php.

Ain Shams University students from Cairo will spend 10 days on campus and touring South Carolina as they work with their Clemson counterparts on a proposal for an area at the foot of the Giza plateau, home to the Great Pyramids of Giza.

The ongoing partnership reaches a significant milestone this summer when Clemson and Ain Shams professors present their plans to the governor of Giza, who has the authority to implement the ideas.

The transcontinental collaboration started in 2006 when students from the two schools teamed up to provide design solutions to challenges in Luxor, Egypt, where the Avenue of the Sphinxes along the Nile River has experienced centuries of unplanned urban growth. Their proposal for Luxor is currently in the hands of Ahmed Nazif, prime minister of Egypt.

Much like the challenge in Luxor, the students' current project is to find solutions to a rapidly changing urban fabric, this time in an area in the very shadow of the world's most famous pyramids.

According to Clemson landscape architecture professors Hala Nassar and Rob Hewitt, the pyramids of Giza are on top of one plateau, and the future site of the New Grand Egyptian Museum is on another nearby plateau. Between them and to the east a sprawling and unplanned fabric has developed over the past 50 years.

According to Nassar, who used her academic contacts in Egypt to establish the collaboration, the students and their faculty leaders are seeking practical solutions to the unplanned sprawl, but solutions that will remain sensitive to the cultural and economic needs of the residents.

"This is an amazing opportunity for the students of these two universities, a chance to have an impact on an ancient site," Nassar said. "They're working and studying in a place where they leave their footprints on thousands of years of civilization."

This is the second trip to Clemson for the Ain Shams architecture students. The landscape architecture students of Clemson University have made three site visits to Egypt--in February 2007, July 2007 and February 2008--where they visited Luxor, Giza and Cairo.

For more information about Clemson's graduate program in landscape architecture, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/LandArch/index.php.

Materials engineering major Alexandra L. Foguth of Central and Holly C. Tuten, an entomology major from Clemson, were awarded fellowships, which provide a $30,000 annual stipend and a total award of up to $121,000 per student. Lisa N. Cox, a biological sciences major from Evans, Ga.; Amanda F. Land, a biochemistry major from Clemson; and Mary K. Watson, a biosystems engineering major from Summerville, all received honorable mention.

"Overall, the acceptance rate is about one in 10. But when you figure in the huge numbers of NSF-GRFs that are awarded to students at the top five or 10 universities in the country, the actual acceptance rate for all other schools combined is more like one in 50," said Bruce Rafert, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. "To have two recipients and three honorable mention students from Clemson is an outstanding achievement."

All of the Clemson students recognized are women, Rafert said. "This is an indication that Clemson is a great place for women in science to pursue their graduate degrees." The Graduate School provides individual and group guidance for students submitting GRF proposals. Since the program was established, Clemson has had at least two recipients each year.

Clemson alumni who obtained their undergraduate degrees at Clemson and moved on to graduate school elsewhere also were well-represented in the GRF awards this year. Four received GRFs and five earned honorable mention.

"Our goal is to pave a pathway for SCSU's students and for those from other predominantly minority colleges and universities to PhDs in physics and astronomy at Clemson and elsewhere," said Mark Leising, astrophysics professor and principal investigator on the project at Clemson. "These students are hugely underrepresented among doctoral students in the physical sciences."

Leising says Clemson's role is to collaborate with SCSU, provide research projects and observing opportunities for their students and prepare and mentor those who come to graduate school.

"There are bright students interested in science at universities like SCSU, but few go on to get doctorates and become leaders in the physical sciences. Our experience is that students who get the chance to participate in forefront research, discovering new knowledge rather than just reading about it, are more likely to pursue a career in science," said Leising.

Clemson will offer the expertise of its astronomy faculty and access to observing facilities, including its part of the 36-inch diameter SARA telescope along with some of its time on the four-meter diameter Mayall telescope, both on Kitt Peak in Arizona. Students will research the largest explosions in the universe, the production of the elements in stars, the formation of solar systems and exotic double-star systems.

For more than 100 years, the disciplines of engineering, science and textiles have been at the heart of Clemson University as it strives toward excellence and leadership. Today, Clemson is a nationally recognized research university where approximately 5,500 students are enrolled in engineering and science undergraduate and graduate courses.

For more information on physics and astronomy at Clemson, go to http://physicsnt.clemson.edu/.

The foundation is a non-profit organization established by the Federal Republic of Germany for the promotion of international research cooperation. It enables highly qualified scholars not living in Germany to spend extended periods for research in Germany and promotes the ensuing academic contacts.

The fellowship will support a year of research. Muth will work with his German sponsor, Paul Enck, director of research of the Department of Internal Medicine, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Hospitals Tubingen.

Muth and Enck will research eating disorders.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to build international collaborations and get reacquainted to a research area that I have been away from for some time," Muth said.

As a graduate student, Muth worked in the area of gastrointestinal psychophysiology and completed a dissertation examining factors that influence functional dyspepsia, a disorder of the upper gastrointestinal tract associated with symptoms such as nausea and bloating with no apparent physiological cause. However, following graduate school, he spent three years in the US Navy as an aerospace experimental psychologist working on applied human factors problems.

"Much of the research I have completed here at Clemson has been a continuation of that applied human factors work," he said. "Recently, Dr. Adam Hoover, my collaborator here at Clemson, and I have become interested in developing biofeedback devices to help individuals become more aware of their physiological need to eat. My fellowship and collaboration with Dr. Enck will form the basic science foundation for the applied work we are doing here at Clemson."

Muth will examine the utility of a "water load test" to differentiate between genders, eating patterns and healthy subjects versus patients with eating disorders and obesity. The long-term goal of this work, according to Muth, is to determine if the maladaptive component of an eating disorder or obese patient's eating pattern is perceptual, physiological or both. This would potentially allow for treatment to be focused on correcting the perceptual, physiological or mixed problem. For example, individuals with maladaptive eating patterns could be given biofeedback from their stomach's electrical rhythms and trained to pay more attention to their physiological state, allowing them to adopt a better eating pattern.

Clemson Vice President for Research and Economic Development Chris Przirembel said the Humboldt Research Fellowship is highly competitive and awarded only to researchers who are recognized internationally for their academic qualifications.

"It is an honor for Clemson University to have one of our faculty members receive this internationally prestigious fellowship," he said. "We look forward to seeing the results of professor Muth's work and the long-term impact of the associated collaborative research programs."

The Humboldt Foundation promotes an active worldwide network of scholars. Individual sponsorship during periods spent in Germany and longstanding follow-up contacts have been hallmarks of the foundation's work since 1953. For more information go to http://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/index.htm.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in psychology, please visit: www.clemson.edu/psych/graduate/index.htm.

"Education in computing is as much about learning how to think critically about issues and how to solve problems as it is about how to create and use technology," said Hodges. "The technology is continually changing, but the problem-solving skills learned in computing classes can serve a student throughout life."

The School of Computing at Clemson was formed in 2007 as part of Engineering and Science Dean Esin Gulari's mission to prepare students for all aspects of computing and as part of a university-wide emphasis on information technology and high-performance computing to allow for rapid development of emerging, interdisciplinary research and academic programs.

"Larry Hodges, in the position of director of the School of Computing, brings to Clemson a tremendous vision," said Gulari. "The goals are to maintain a nationally competitive computer science division that is a leader in the definition and advancement of emerging academic fields in computing through the development of divisions that integrate computation with the arts, humanities, sciences and engineering."

The School of Computing initially will focus on three divisions: computer science, computational arts and human-centered computing.

"Human-centered computing is a new area in that it is concerned with understanding both how to make computational technologies more useable and how computational technologies affect society," said Hodges. "This new area will develop strong ties with existing programs on campus, such as industrial engineering; electrical and computer engineering; engineering and science education; CU-ICAR; and the disciplines that study human behavior, such as psychology and sociology."

According to Hodges, computational arts will leverage the interdisciplinary Master of Fine Arts program in digital production arts, which has successfully launched many Clemson graduates into animation careers.

Hodges has a record of helping build successful programs in computing and in collaborating with researchers from other disciplines and backgrounds. He was a founding member of the Graphics, Visualization and Usability (GVU) Center at Georgia Tech, where he and collaborator Barbara Rothbaum of Emory University developed virtual reality exposure therapy to help patients with anxiety disorders, such as a fear of heights, overcome their phobias.

"In computer science, it is unusual for people to write and say to you that your research has transformed their lives. The best part of this work has been the number of patients who have said virtual reality therapy changed their lives for the better," said Hodges.

Hodges received his PhD from North Carolina State University in 1988. His research in 1995 investigating the use of virtual reality in treating phobias garnered international attention. In 2006 he received the IEEE Virtual Reality Career Achievement Award for his contributions to clinical virtual reality.

In addition to his research work in clinical applications, Hodges has maintained an active research agenda in numerous other areas of virtual reality, visualization and 3D user interface design with more than 150 published papers. He has served as general chairman of both the IEEE Virtual Reality Conference and the ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology. He currently serves on the steering committee of the IEEE VR Conference and on the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in computer science and digital production arts, please visit the following sites, respectively:
www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/CompSci/index.php
www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/DPA/index.php

Dr. Ma is an assistant professor in mechanical engineering, and the Department is very proud of this recognition of his work. This is the second article in 2008 to come out of the mechanical engineering department and receive national/international acclaim. Dr. Jim Qiao's paper was recently recognized as one of the best of 2007 in the Journal of Physics.

The Graduate School would like to congratulate Drs. Ma and Qiao and thank them for being such great representatives of Clemson.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in mechanical engineering, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/MechEng/index.php.

She has been elected to the grade of Fellow of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). SPIE Fellows are recognized for their achievements and for making outstanding contributions in the field of optics, electro-optics or related scientific, technical or engineering areas. SPIE is an international society representing 138 countries advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light.

Richardson was recognized for making important technical contributions to the field of optical materials science and engineering, in particular to understanding the properties and performance of infrared glass and other optical materials. She is recognized for her efforts in ion-exchange strengthened laser glass, infrared glass material development and photo-induced structural modification of amorphous materials. She also was commended for her longstanding contributions to optical science and engineering education, especially for her efforts with K-12, and undergraduate student research.

An active member of SPIE, Richardson is also a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and a Fellow of the Society of Glass Technology.

Richardson also has received the Scholes Award and recently presented the annual Samuel R. Scholes Award Lecture at her alma mater, Alfred University. The lecture is given each year by a distinguished glass scientist or engineer invited for his or her contributions to the field. Prior award winners span the international glass community and are among past and present leaders in the field.

"These are two very prestigious awards for Dr. Richardson, and they underscore the strength and depth of the School of Materials Science and Engineering here at Clemson," said College of Engineering and Science Dean Esin Gulari.

Richardson joined Clemson in 2005 from the University of Central Florida's College of Optics and Photonics. She graduated from Alfred University with a bachelor of science degree in ceramic engineering in 1982, a master of science degree in glass science in 1988 and a PhD in ceramics in 1992.

For more than 100 years, the disciplines of engineering, science and textiles have been at the heart of Clemson University as it strives toward excellence and leadership. Today, Clemson is a nationally recognized research university where approximately 5,500 students are enrolled in engineering and science undergraduate and graduate courses. There are 350 faculty members in the College of Engineering and Science.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in materials science and engineering, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/MSE/index.php.

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) awards the annual prize each year for projects that show a creative marriage of classroom ideas and real-life challenges.

One of Clemson's winning entries explored how innovative architecture improves healthcare environments. The other localized global climate change by illustrating how Charleston's historic peninsula might be defended against the twin threats of rising sea level and increased storm severity.

To illustrate the work of the Architecture + Health program at Clemson, three projects were entered as examples:

* a proposal for a green health clinic for the Joseph P. Sullivan Center linked programming, health administration and studio courses
* a patient room prototype brought together architecture, industrial design and fine arts students
* a studio/seminar explored a New Orleans project to rebuild medical facilities lost to Katrina. Students twice visited the 74-acre site in New Orleans and helped officials and the community visualize plans for a new medical center planned by Louisiana State University and the Department of Veterans Affairs. In all of these Architecture + Health projects, students interacted with professionals in a variety of ways.

David J. Allison is director of the Architecture + Health program. He worked with associate professor Dina Battisto and professor Stephen Verderber on the submitted projects.

The NCARB Prize to the Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston was earned on the strength of its study "Global Climate Change and the Charleston Peninsula."

Based on the January 2007 report of the International Panel on Climate Change, students worked with scientific consultation from Greg Carbone of the University of South Carolina's department of geography to examine the primary urban design impact on the peninsula. They produced proposals at four levels of magnitude that showed how planners could manage increasingly severe storm events, a rising water table and the incursion of seawater.

The Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston is under the direction of Robert Miller, professor and architect. Ray Huff, assistant professor and a practicing architect in Charleston, helped lead the project.

Each of the prizes earned $7,500. The $25,000 grand prize went to California State Polytechnic University. Other winners were Arizona State, Savannah College of Art and Design and a joint submission from the University of Arkansas and Washington University in St. Louis.

NCARB is a non-profit federation of architectural licensing boards. The NCARB Prize for Creative Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy supports excellence and innovation. Submissions must represent unique efforts to integrate education and practice while allowing students to earn academic credit.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in architecture, visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Arch/index.php.

The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship was created to encourage women to excel in computing and technology and become active role models and leaders. Scholarships are awarded based on the strength of candidates' academic background and demonstrated leadership. Wahba and Feaster both received a $10,000 scholarship for the 2008-2009 academic year. Remaining finalists received $1,000 each.

"I didn't expect to get the scholarship because all those who received it from previous years were from the top 10 universities, and less than 10 percent of those who apply received it," said Wahba. "I was extremely happy when a representative from Google called me to inform me I received the scholarship. It was a great sense of satisfaction and I'm assured that I'm going in the right path in my career."

In order to receive the scholarship, applicants must fulfill the following requirements: be entering their senior year of undergraduate study or be enrolled in a graduate program in 2008-2009 at a university in the United States; major in computer science, computer engineering or a related technical field; be enrolled in full-time study in 2008-2009; and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5.

"I feel extremely honored to have been selected for this scholarship. Anita Borg was a champion advocate for women in the science and technology field, and I commend Google for honoring her life work with these scholarships," Feaster said.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in computer science and computer engineering, please visit (respectively): www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/CompSci/index.php
www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/CompEng/index.php

To obtain a better sense of this exciting program--the first of its kind in the nation--and to build on a recent article, Dr. Julie Eggert, program coordinator for heathcare genetics, answered some additional questions.

How would you define "healthcare genetics"?
This is a degree for persons who have an interest in genetics AND healthcare. With the completion of the sequencing of the human genome we are going to see new roles and jobs created for persons who have this degree. In addition, there are three cognates (tracks) for their specialization. The first is translational or "bench to bedside;" the second is interventionist for persons wanting to work with patients, families and/or communities with a genetics/genomics problem; and the third is the "bioethics/policy" track which is much behind the technology of genetics.

What was the main catalyst to get this program up and running?
We've been working on it for almost 3 years. The School of Nursing has been interested in developing a PhD program since the 1970's. We mailed a survey to areas of NC, TN and GA in addition to the SC Upstate in the spring of 2006 to determine if there was nursing interest in a PhD. We had a phenomenal "YES!" response, so we initiated the full application process.

What sorts of students will the program look for?
Students in the life sciences with a special interest in genetics and a desire to be in the healthcare environment. Individuals with an interest in learning to develop a program of research. One of our desires was to focus on the healthcare needs/disparities in SC, so there is plenty just in our state to keep our students and graduates busy!

Are there particular undergraduate degrees or master's degrees preferred in students interested in the program?
Life sciences, including nursing. Others might be biochemistry, psychology, genetic counseling or bioengineering. Students can apply for the program even if they don't have a master's degree.

Have there been any new developments in the past few months?
We've had MANY inquiries. It has surprised us that most are from interdisciplinary students and not nurses. We had anticipated that most of our applicants would be graduates from nursing programs.

The healthcare genetics program expects to enroll six students in the first year and grow to about 20 over the next four years. For more information about Clemson's School of Nursing and its programs, visit www.hehd.clemson.edu/nursing.

Lamont A. Flowers Flowers is a Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership in the Eugene T. Moore School of Education and executive director of the Charles H. Houston Center for the Study of the Black Experience in Education.

The award is given to scholars who have made significant contributions to the understanding of issues which disproportionately affect minority populations and minority scholars who have made a significant contribution to educational research and development within the first decade after receiving their doctoral degrees.

"This award signifies to all that Dr. Flowers is a scholar of note and a voice within the research community. We are proud to have him at Clemson University and in the Eugene T. Moore School of Education," said Michael J. Padilla, director of the school and associate dean for educational collaborations.

Flowers' research and scholarship is focused on the experiences of African Americans from pre-kindergarten through college. He has authored or co-authored more than 65 scholarly publications.

The AERA annual meeting was March 23-27 in New York. AERA is an international professional organization with a primary goal of advancing educational research and its practical application.

For more information about Clemson's graduate program in educational leadership, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Edlead/index.php.

The Coastal Plain Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration elected Gene Eidson March 19 to represent South Carolina on its executive board.

Eidson joins other restoration ecology scientists, landscape architects and engineers from more than seven southeastern states to serve on the executive board.

"We are proud to have Gene on our board and look forward to a strong collaborative partnership with Clemson and all the exciting work they are doing in the field," said Randy Mejeur, president of the society.

Eidson is a professor in the biological sciences department at Clemson and director of restoration ecology for the Clemson University Restoration Institute.

Edison has been nationally recognized for his restoration work at the Phinizy Swamp Nature Park, a 6,000-acre floodplain swamp in Augusta, Ga. He has also led the restoration of 2,000 acres at the Kennecott-Ridgeway Gold Mine in Ridgeway, S.C. Both venues offer educational and research facilities for students in grades K-12 and in undergraduate and graduate college courses, as well as for public outreach. He is the founder of the Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy, where much of his research continues.

The Clemson University Restoration Institute hosted the chapter's annual symposium and membership meeting at the Madren Conference Center at Clemson March 18-19.

Keynote speaker Valerie Wilson, executive director of the BeltLine Partnership, in Atlanta spoke on the power of community engagement when seeking support for restoration and redevelopment projects.

The partnership supports the BeltLine, which is planned to combine greenspace, trails, transit and new development along 22 miles of historic rail segments that encircle Atlanta's urban core.

This nationally recognized restoration project addresses brownfield remediation, affordable workforce housing, sustainable land use and economic development.

Wilson said that the benefits of this restoration project are manifold.

"Not only will we clean up the neighborhoods, but we will conserve them for years to come and connect these neighborhoods in new ways that will promote economic development and a greater sense of community pride."

The $2.8 billion project would not have been possible without significant community engagement. Thousands of citizens have participated in tour, neighborhood clean-up and planning meetings thus far.

"This is the kind of community engagement we need to galvanize local residents for the projects spearheaded by the Restoration Institute across the state and beyond," Eidson said.

For more information on the Restoration Institute, go to: www.clemson.edu/restoration.

For more information on the Coastal Plain Society for Ecological Restoration, go to: www.ser.org/content/Plain.asp.

For more information about the Atlanta Beltline Partnership, go to: www.beltline.org/.

Jim BottumInternet2 brings US researchers and the academic community together with technology leaders from industry and government around the world for collaboration on work that can have a fundamental impact on the Internet and how it enables both research and education.

"We are extremely gratified to have Jim representing Clemson and the state in such a visible and impactful position," said Clemson President James F. Barker. "The work that Clemson is doing in cyberinfrastructure not only positions us as a national player; it is garnering international recognition that Clemson is an innovative leader in the areas of IT-enabled research and education."

Bottum is the only generally elected CIO representative on the board, which includes university presidents from top-tier schools like California Institute of Technology, Princeton and Carnegie Mellon. Internet2 members represent a wide range of research and academic disciplines from more than 300 member institutions, including leading US universities, corporations, government research agencies and not-for-profit networking organizations.

Full details on the I2 elections and a complete listing of the I2 board members are at www.internet2.edu/elections.

Clemson President James Barker and AT&T Executive Bob Ferguson "CU-ICAR is an investment in the future of our state and region," said Clemson President James F. Barker. "By leveraging the strengths of Clemson's engineering programs and the automotive expertise present in our state, we can, with AT&T's continuing partnership, enhance economic development, educate tomorrow's engineers today, and bring more good jobs and high technology expertise to South Carolina and South Carolina residents."

AT&T's multi-year gift includes both financial contributions from AT&T Inc and the AT&T Foundation, the company's corporate philanthropy organization, as well as infrastructure support. Clemson also announced that the auditorium in the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center will be named the AT&T Auditorium. The Campbell Center is home to master's and doctoral degree programs in automotive engineering. It is the anchor of CU-ICAR Technology Neighborhood One, the first area of the 250-acre campus to be developed.

"In South Carolina, we compete in a global marketplace, and maximizing our opportunities is vital to our success and that of the next generation. CU-ICAR takes that challenge seriously. It builds upon the existing strengths of our great state, developing new ideas, new products and services and a new generation of high-technology workers," said AT&T South Carolina President Pamela Lackey. "We are pleased to be a part of CU-ICAR and its work and mission and look forward to the collaboration announced today for our future."

At the preview of the AT&T Auditorium that is designed to showcase the automobile, guests were invited to view the Number 31 AT&T Chevrolet, which is driven competitively by Jeff Burton of Richard Childress Racing. The race car is the first vehicle to be displayed in the auditorium.

For more information, visit: www.clemson.edu/autoresearch.

In his research, Ke discovered that certain mammalian colon cancer cells contract when cell membranes interact with nanoparticles. This experiment offered a first-hand look at how nanomaterials interact with cell membranes and may trigger toxicity. His research also looks at how nanoparticles coated with different matter react in different aquatic solutions and in the food chain.

Nanoscience is the study of how materials behave when their dimensions are reduced to the nanoscale: 100,000th the size of a single human hair.

"With the mass production of nanomaterials in research labs and on the consumer market it has become imperative to understand the potential impact of these materials after they are incorporated into biological systems or discharged into the environment," said Ke, who is a professor in the department of physics and astronomy. "A major effort in our lab is to decipher the behaviors of nanomaterials in living systems and relate the biophysical studies to practical issues, such as gene- and drug-delivery and toxicity."

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organizations.

Ke and his research interests also were featured recently on the flagship page of Nature.com. The Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter named a review paper, "Carbon Nanomaterials in Biological Systems," that he wrote with collaborator Rui Qiao, a professor of mechanical engineering, one of its top papers of 2007. According to the journal, the selection includes the papers and review articles that are considered the very best contributions from 2007--those with the highest importance and that receive the highest number of downloads.

"These are great and much deserved honors for Pu-Chun Ke," said associate vice president for research and economic development John Ballato. "Given the accelerating pace of scientific advancements in today's technology-driven world, it's always a fight to stay at the cutting edge of the state of the art. This international recognition clearly points to the caliber of Dr. Ke's research and further validates Clemson's strength in advanced materials."

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in physics, visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics/index.php.

If Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif approves the plan put together by Clemson and Ain Shams University students and faculty, he could push through the funding required for implementation.

Hala Nassar and Robert Hewitt joined their counterparts from Ain Shams to present the architecture and landscape architecture plans.

The two universities have collaborated since 2006 on a master plan that would restore and rejuvenate two temples and the Avenue of the Sphinxes in the city of Luxor, including a waterfront area on the Nile River.

The ancient temples of Luxor and Karnak are connected by an avenue lined with ram-headed sphinxes. Much of the ancient site has fallen to ruin or been overrun by centuries of encroachment. Much of the two-mile avenue is covered in layers of unplanned and haphazard sprawl.

The idea for the universities to collaborate emerged when Nassar returned to Egypt to visit family and colleagues. She discovered that Ain Shams has a great architecture program, but no landscape architecture tradition, which is one of Clemson's strength disciplines. The master plan presented to Prime Minister Nazif included architecture and landscape architecture elements.

Clemson students first visited the site in Luxor in 2007, when they and their Ain Shams counterparts documented current conditions. Their challenge was to find a solution to preserving the ancient area while remaining sensitive to the needs of modern inhabitants.

For more information about Clemson's graduate program in landscape architecture, visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/LandArch/index.php.

The announcement was made at the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center on the CU-ICAR campus with Mazda representatives.

The Mazda Foundation will provide an initial pledge of $30,000 to CU-ICAR for the Mazda Annual Graduate Fellowships program. The fellowships are performance-based and renewable for up to three years for a potential total of $90,000. In addition, the company will donate a CX-7 crossover SUV, drive trains, sub-assemblies and other components to be used as learning tools by Clemson students and faculty.

"We are delighted to welcome Mazda to CU-ICAR," said Esin Gulari, dean of the College of Engineering and Science at Clemson. "The strength and visibility of the Mazda brand worldwide makes this a key partnership, and we look forward to having our students interact and learn from this automotive leader. This connection with Mazda will open many doors for them as they continue into their careers. The fellowships are critical to the success of our program and the availability of Mazda automotive products for real-world study is invaluable. We look forward to a long and productive relationship."

As part of the agreement, three $10,000 fellowships will be provided to graduate students majoring in automotive engineering through the department of mechanical engineering within the College of Engineering and Science.

"We are thrilled to affiliate with this dynamic new research facility with support from both the Mazda Foundation and Mazda North American Operations. The work that the CU-ICAR graduate students undertake now will lay the foundation for groundbreaking advancements in the automotive industry in the future," said Robert Davis, senior vice president, Product Development and Quality, for Mazda North American Operations and a 1985 Clemson graduate.

Known for creating cars that are stylish, insightful and spirited, as well as affordable and fun to drive, Mazda infuses the "soul of a sports car" into every vehicle it builds, Davis said.

Mazda North American Operations oversees the sales, marketing, parts, accessories and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada and Mexico through nearly 900 dealers. Operations in Canada are managed by Mazda Canada Inc., located in Ontario, and in Mexico by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City.

As the corporate foundation of Mazda North American Operations, the Mazda Foundation has awarded nearly $6 million to worthwhile causes across the United States since its inception and initial awards in 1992. Reflecting Mazda's commitment to youth and education, the new fellowship program at CU-ICAR joins several other college scholarship programs sponsored by the Mazda Foundation. These include scholarship programs at Dillard University and University of North Carolina at Pembroke as well as a scholarship program funded through the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

CU-ICAR is a new model for economic development in South Carolina, matching Clemson's strengths in automotive engineering with the state's strong automotive economic cluster. Located in the heart of the Interstate 85 corridor, midway between Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, GA, CU-ICAR is ideally situated in the Southeastern automotive and motorsports economy.

CU-ICAR is a 250-acre "technopolis" where BMW, Michelin, Timken, Sun Microsystems and other corporate partners are joining with Clemson to focus on automotive research and other transportation and advanced-manufacturing issues.

The state of South Carolina also is a key partner, having created legislation to support economic development and innovation. For example, the Research Centers of Economic Excellence Endowed Chairs Program matches private funding to recruit top faculty. CU-ICAR has four endowed chairs created through the program. Three of these chairs, along with five junior faculty positions, have been filled. These faculty members, along with other faculty from the main campus, form the academic team for one of the nation's most exceptional master's and doctoral degree programs in automotive engineering. The doctoral program is one of the first in the country.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in automotive engineering, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/AutoEng/index.php.

Haque has conducted research on the dynamics of vehicle systems since 1975, contributing to a fundamental understanding of the behavior of rail and automotive systems. He is a long-time member of ASME and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

With industry leaders and faculty at Clemson, Haque has led the effort to develop an exceptional graduate program in automotive engineering along with the development of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) campus. This has resulted in a unique curriculum that is currently ranked as a top international automotive engineering program in the country.

"This is a very deserved honor for Dr. Haque from ASME," said Esin Gulari, dean of the College of Engineering and Science. "This is the most highly recognized organization in mechanical engineering and Dr. Haque has made tremendous contributions to the field. It is a pleasure to see him achieve the rank of fellow."

Haque has served as a major research advisor to 80 PhD, master's and undergraduate students and to six post-doctorate and research scholars. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 peer-reviewed papers.

For more about Clemson's graduate programs in mechanical engineering, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/MechEng/index.php.

Clemson's MBA Program is participating in the 20th annual Duke MBA Games, along with MBA teams from the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, the University of Michigan and Vanderbilt University.

Interim director of the full-time Clemson MBA program Jani Spede, who will travel with the students to the event, said, "I am thrilled that our MBA candidates are participating in this rewarding event--it will give our candidates a better understanding of social stewardship, which is maturing in corporations. At the same time, it will provide everyone involved the opportunity to further develop team and interpersonal skills while directly impacting the lives of Special Olympians."

Building on the leadership and teamwork skills developed in the classroom, MBA candidates will team up with several Special Olympians to compete in the events. The weekend's events will also include networking and socializing events in the Durham area.

Chris Bauer, president of the Clemson MBA Student Association, said, "As we continue to build the reputation of the program, it is important for Clemson MBA's to show our support for worthy causes. Participating in events similar to the Duke MBA Games not only begins to establish the kinds of positive associations found among highly-ranked programs, but these opportunities also give our MBA's a chance to network with other future leaders of the business community."

The Clemson MBA Student Association is organizing Clemson's participation in the event, and the group is also investigating local social awareness activities for next year.

The Duke MBA Games have raised more than $1.6 million since its inception in 1988. Special Olympics North Carolina is a volunteer-driven organization that involves more than 38,000 athletes in competition through 20 sports and supports children and adults with disabilities.

To sponsor the Clemson MBA program in the event, visit: http://www.firstgiving.com/mbagames-clemson.

---
About the Clemson MBA
As the largest graduate program in Clemson University's College of Business and Behavioral Science, the Clemson MBA program ranks in the top 20 percent of AACSB International-accredited programs nationwide, according to U.S. News & World Report. The innovative MBA program prepares business professionals for senior-level management positions in the global marketplace. Whether enrolled in the full-time, on-campus program (typically completed in 18-24 months) or the flexible, part-time working-professionals program (offered in the evenings in Greenville), Clemson MBA professionals gain an analytical, theoretical, strategic and real-world perspective on leading businesses. Classes are taught in-person, creating an engaging environment in which to learn among a diverse, team-like class culture.

Uniquely, about 50 percent of MBA candidates in the full-time program are awarded graduate assistantships, many of which include the opportunity to serve as business opportunity analysts who work on an array of projects for inventors, entrepreneurs and established businesses.

Numerous dual-degree options also are available, as are study abroad programs in Belgium, China and Italy.

For more information about the Clemson MBA, visit www.clemson.edu/mba or e-mail MBACareers@clemson.edu.

Approved in January by the state Commission on Higher Education and given the green light this month by the academic accrediting agency Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the program takes an interdisciplinary approach to scholarly work in genetics and health care.

Graduates of the program will find careers in a broad range of professions from genetic epidemiology to industry research. The program also will prepare university professors in nursing and other disciplines.

"The impact of genetics on health care has the potential to be greater than any earlier scientific advancement. For all of that promise to meet its full potential, health-care providers and scientists must work together in developing new skills and practices," said Rosanne Pruitt, director of the Clemson University School of Nursing. "This PhD in health-care genetics will help build that collaborative culture by pulling on expertise from many disciplines."

The program will be housed in the School of Nursing, but tap deeply into other areas of the university and off-campus partners like the Greenwood Genetics Center, Bon Secours St. Francis Health System and the University of Iowa. On-campus partners include the Clemson University Genomic Institute; the Strom Thurmond Institute; the Eugene T. Moore School of Education; the departments of psychology, political science and genetics and biochemistry; and the LPN to Professor program, which includes AnMed Health, Oconee Memorial Hospital, Palmetto Baptist Hospital and Cannon Memorial Hospital with the Duke Endowment.

"In recent years, a surge of new information and research in genetics has outpaced policies and practices," said Julie Eggert, doctoral program coordinator for the School of Nursing. "We plan to facilitate interdisciplinary development and application of ethical guidelines and health policy in genetics while translating the expanding knowledge of genetics from 'bench to bedside.'"

The program expects to enroll six students in the first year and grow to about 20 over the next four years.

For more information about Clemson's School of Nursing and its programs, visit www.hehd.clemson.edu/nursing.

The Council for Children with Behavior Disorders (CCBD), a national organization, is dedicated to supporting the professional development and enhancing the expertise of those who work on behalf of children with challenging behavior and their families. CCBD is committed to students who are identified as having emotional and behavioral disorders and those whose behavior puts them at risk for failure in school, home, and/or community. CCBD supports prevention of problem behavior and enhancement of social, emotional, and educational well-being of all children and youth.

For more information about Professor Katsiyannis, visit his website at http://people.clemson.edu/~antonis.

For more information about Clemson's graduate program in special education, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/SpecialEd/index.php.

Visual representations of science and technology provide a valuable connection between scientists, artists and the general public. For the past two years, "Science as Art" has challenged Clemson University students, faculty and staff to share the powerful and inspiring visual images produced in our laboratories, workspaces and learning environments. The results have been impressive and have drawn the attention of scientists, artists and members of the community. The winning entries were featured in Clemson World, and are on display in Rhodes Engineering Research Center and Holtzendorff Hall.

Clemson students, faculty and staff are once again invited to submit original works to Science as Art 2008. Entries can be produced by individuals or teams; multi-disciplinary collaboration is encouraged. While images need not be research-based, they should convey a significant or captivating scientific concept or event.

Categories for entries include photographs, illustrations, electronic media (interactive and non-interactive, including video) and explanatory graphics. Winners in each category will be awarded gift certificates to Clemson Variety and Frame.

Entries will be judged by a panel of artists and scientists from the community, based on visual impact, effective communication, and freshness and originality. A "People's Choice" award will be given based on a campus-wide poll of the entries. All entries will be displayed in the library April 7 through May 9, and winners in five categories will be honored at the Sigma Xi spring banquet on Tuesday, April 8 and rewarded with $50 gift certificats to local merchants.

Sponsors for this event include the Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films; the Provost's office; the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences; the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities; the College of Engineering and Science; the College of Business and Behavioral Sciences; the College of Health, Education and Human Development; and the Clemson chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.

For entry forms and more information, go to the Department of Engineering and Science Education website, www.clemson.edu/ese/cp/saa, or contact Lisa Benson at lbenson@clemson.edu.

Wine, cheese and heavy hors d'oeuvres will be served. For directions visit www.clemson.edu/research/ottSite/ottDirections.htm.

For more information about Science as Art 2008 and this event, visit www.clemson.edu/ese/cp/saa/, or contact Lisa Benson at lbenson@clemson.edu.

This event is sponsored by the Clemson University Research Foundation.

This free event is open to the public.

Dr. D. Quinn Mills of the Harvard Business School will speak on accounting and financial fraud. Mills is the author of Buy, Lie and Sell High: How Investors Lost Out on Enron and the Internet Bubble, which analyzes the accounting scandals of 2001-2003.

Dr. Stanton E. Samenow is a criminologist and psychologist in private practice as well as author of Inside the Criminal Mind. Samenow, who frequently appears on national radio and television broadcasts, will discuss criminal behavior, emphasizing the similarities between "criminals in the suites" and "criminals in the streets."

Dr. Terry Leap, professor of management at Clemson University and author of the newly released Dishonest Dollars: The Dynamics of White-Collar Crime, will address future issues affecting white-collar crime.

The event is sponsored by the College of Business and Behavioral Science and the Robert J. Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson University.

For more information about the white-collar crime symposium and to RSVP, email Dr. Terry Leap at tleap@clemson.edu.

As part of an ambitious push to restore and rejuvenate the two temple complexes, as well as the Avenue of Sphinxes and the surrounding city of Luxor, government officials in 2006 invited American students from Clemson University to join Egyptian students from Ain Shams University in Cairo to collaborate on a master plan for the city of Luxor.

During the spring 2007 semester, the first steps of this project were taken by Clemson students as those enrolled in the landscape architecture urban design studio began work with students at Ain Shams in parallel studio courses. The Clemson students visited Egypt in February 2007 to see Luxor first-hand and engaged in an urban analysis of the city. They also met their collaborators at Ain Shams University. Upon their return, students in the studio course worked to provide a variety of urban design solutions for key areas of the city. In particular, these students worked on landscape designs that complement the architectural plans of the Ain Shams studio; their work primarily addressed the temple and avenue areas but also included landscape development plans for the west bank of the Nile, including the Valley of the Dead.

For the full-text article in Clemson World, visit www.clemson.edu/clemson-world/2008/winter/article5.html.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in these fields, visit the appropriate websites below:
*City and Regional Planning - www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/CRP/index.php
*Environmental Design and Planning - www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/EDP/index.php
*Landscape Architecture - www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/LandArch/index.php

Kilgallin will address "Research Ethics Today" during the colloquium, which is free and open to the public.

While in the Upstate, Kilgallin will address "Research Ethics and the Private Sector" during a program at the Commerce Club in Greenville at 11:30 a.m. on March 4.

Both events are co-sponsored by the Rutland Institute for Ethics, the Clemson Graduate School and the Clemson Office of Research and Economic Development.

Kilgallin serves as legal adviser to the associate inspector general for investigations, supervises the investigative legal section and provides legal advice to the Office of Investigations on issues that arise in the investigation of all civil, criminal and administrative allegations of wrongdoing (including research misconduct) involving NSF activities. He also oversees outreach efforts, which are designed to develop and improve partnerships with institutions, the foundation and members of the research and education communities.

Prior to working for NSF, Kilgallin served as a member of the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps for 21 years, where he served as executive officer for the US Army Trial Defense Service and chief of international law for the United States Central Command. Prior to that, he worked in intelligence law, managed two large legal offices and litigated at the trial and appellate levels.

Kilgallin received a bachelor's degree in political science from The Catholic University of America. He received his law degree from Hofstra University School of Law and his LLM from the Judge Advocate General's School at the University of Virginia.

For more information about both programs--including registration information--please visit: www.clemson.edu/ethics/events/kilgallin.php.

The researchers are developing drug-free ways to keep chickens and humans from contracting illnesses.

More than 200 million broilers and layers are raised in the Palmetto State. The industry has moved toward bigger broiler farms with flocks of between 150,000 and 300,000 birds becoming common.

Chickens are susceptible to disease. An illness in a handful of birds can spread throughout a facility housing thousands. Vaccines and medications can be effective but pose risks to growers and consumers. Each flock has particular health and immunity profiles, so chicks from different breeders do not respond to vaccines and diseases the same way. What's more, bacteria can build up "antibiotic resistance" making the drugs less effective.

For consumers, poultry can harbor bacteria, viruses and fungi that do not affect them but do cause human illnesses, especially when poultry is undercooked or mishandled during food preparation.

Researchers are looking for drug-free alternatives. Clemson scientists have made a promising discovery using nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is tiny science--working with materials 1/100,000th the size of a human hair. Scientists are seeking to shrink materials down to the scale of atoms, creating particles that show promise for making better medicines, faster computers and safer foods.

Jeremy Tzeng and Clemson colleagues Fred Stutzenberger, Robert Latour Jr. and Ya-Ping Sun have built nanoparticles that mimic the host cell surface in poultry and locks to the targeted pathogens. The particles then bind together and are purged through the bowel. Tzeng calls it "intelligent chicken feed."

"If we use this physical purging, physical removal, we are not using antibiotics so the chance of the microorganism becoming resistant to it is really small," Tzeng said.

To protect the discovery, Clemson technology transfer officials are patenting it. Tzeng says that it will take more research and testing before the nanoparticle is ready to be used, but in the not-so-distant future, chickens and humans may live better lives due to intelligent chicken feed.

For more information on Clemson's related graduate programs, visit the appropriate link below:
*Biological Engineering - www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Bioeng/index.php
*Biological Sciences - www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/BioSci/index.php
*Chemistry - www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Chemistry/index.php
*Microbiology - www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Microbio/index.php

The Journal of Disability Policy Studies addresses compelling, variable issues in ethics, policy and law related to individuals with disabilities. A major focus is quantitative and qualitative policy research. Articles have implications in fields such as education, law, sociology, public health, family studies, medicine, social work and public administration. Occasional special series discuss current problems or areas needing more in-depth research, for example, disability and aging, policy concerning families of children with disabilities, oppression and disability, school violence policies and interventions, and systems change in supporting individuals with disabilities. The journal is published by the Hammill Institute on Disabilities and SAGE Publications.

The Graduate School would like to congratulate Professor Katsiyannis on his distinguished honor and thank him for being such a wonderful representation of Clemson University.

For more information about the Journal of Disability Policy Studies, please visit: http://dps.sagepub.com.

For more information about Professor Katsiyannis, visit his website: www.hehd.clemson.edu/schoolofed/dir_fac_profile.php?uName=antonis.

For more information about Clemson's graduate program in special education, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/SpecialEd/index.php.

Clemson students, faculty and staff are once again invited to submit original works to Science as Art 2008. Entries can be produced by individuals or teams; multi-disciplinary collaboration is encouraged. While images need not be research-based, they should convey a significant or captivating scientific concept or event.

Categories for entries include photographs, illustrations, electronic media (interactive and non-interactive, including video) and explanatory graphics. Winners in each category will be awarded gift certificates to Clemson Variety and Frame.

The deadline for submitting an entry is March 7, 2008. Entries will be judged by a panel of artists and scientists from the community, based on visual impact, effective communication, and freshness and originality. A "People's Choice" award will be given based on a campus-wide poll of the entries. All entries will be displayed in the library during April, and winners in five categories will be honored at the Sigma Xi spring banquet on Tuesday, April 8.

Sponsors for this event include the Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films; the Provost's office; the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences; the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities; the College of Engineering and Science; the College of Business and Behavioral Sciences; the College of Health, Education and Human Development; and the Clemson chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.

For entry forms and more information, go to the Department of Engineering and Science Education website, www.clemson.edu/ese/cp/saa, or contact Lisa Benson at lbenson@clemson.edu.

Dr. Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studies tropical meteorology and climate, with a specialty in hurricane physics. His interests also include cumulus convection and advanced methods of sampling the atmosphere in aid of numerical weather prediction. He is the author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and two books, including Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes, recently released by Oxford University Press and aimed at a general audience. It received the 2007 Louis Battan Author's Award from the American Meteorological Society. He was named as one of Time Magazine's 100 Influential People of 2006, and was highlighted in Time's April 2006 issue: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187251,00.html

To commemorate the contributions of bioengineers that have benefited so many since the 1960s, Clemson University hosts the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) History Summit Feb. 20-22 at the Madren Center. The society's founders and past presidents, an international group, will gather to record an audio history of the society and origins of bioengineering inventions and devices from the last four decades.

"This is an unprecedented gathering of the greatest minds in bioengineering," said Martine LaBerge, chairwoman of the department of bioengineering and president of the SFB. "It is a great honor for Clemson University to host this memorable event where the enthusiasm of participating past presidents and founders of the SFB is only surpassed by their dedication for a field that is the cornerstone of medical technology today."

Recording sessions take place from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in the Teleconference Room.

The outcome of the summit will be the audio recording and the publication of a monograph that captures the historical background of the society to be shared and built upon by present and future bioengineers.

"We are, in essence, passing the torch," said Samuel F. Hulbert, chairman of the event and president-emeritus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He also is the founder and a past president of the SFB. "The outcome of this summit will assure that the SFB's rich past and the foundation for an exciting future is not forgotten."

The SFB is the premier professional society that promotes advances in all phases of materials research and development by encouraging cooperative educational programs, clinical applications and professional standards in the biomaterials field. More than 1,500 members worldwide represent industry, medicine, academia and regulation.

The SFB has been a pillar in Clemson University's international reputation as the landmark for the field of biomaterials. In 1969, Clemson hosted the first in a series of annual symposia that lead to the founding of the Society for Biomaterials in 1974. The SFB annually recognizes three outstanding researchers in the field through the prestigious Clemson Award for Contributions to Literature, the Clemson Award for Basic Research and the Clemson Award for Applied Research.

For information about the C. William Hall Biomaterials Documentation Center and the SFB History Summit at Clemson, go to: www.ces.clemson.edu/Hall_CTR/news.html.

For information on the Society for Biomaterials, go to www.biomaterials.org.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in bioengineering, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Bioeng/index.php.

Three winners will be selected from all entries for two grand prizes of $500 each and one audience-choice prize of $500. The audience choice will allow people to vote online for their favorites, between February 20 and 22. Winners will be notified by February 25.

Some general rules include:
-The contest is open to current full-time undergraduate or graduate Clemson students who are at least 18 years old.
-Entries must be no longer than 90 seconds.
-Teams are allowed.
-Multiple entries are allowed (up to five).
-Videos are accepted until 4:30 p.m. EST on February 15, 2008.
-To enter a video in the contest, submit the signed Official Contest Rules/Entry Form and Release with your video on DVD or CD format to 114 Daniel Drive (Littlejohn House), Clemson, SC 29631, ATTN: Dave Dryden.

For official contest rules and more information, visit www.clemson.edu/curoar.

For Dr. Ke's full profile on the website for Nature, visit http://network.nature.com/profile/ke.

For more information on Clemson's graduate programs in physics, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/Physics/index.php.

The deadline for entries is Feb. 29. The award winner and runner-up will be recognized at the statewide U.S. SBA small business awards program in Columbia on April 1.

"The Spiro Institute's mission includes outreach programs that promote entrepreneurial activity," said Spiro Institute associate director Kim Dawson. "By organizing this competition, we are able to reward and encourage these creative student entrepreneurs."

Both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in South Carolina colleges are eligible to compete. Previous years' applicants have come from schools including Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, the Medical University of South Carolina, The Citadel, Anderson University, Presbyterian College, Charleston Southern University, Wofford College, Erskine College, Columbia College, Greenville Technical College and Midlands Technical College.

"As in past years, we expect to receive entries from students at schools all across the state representing a broad range of businesses from Internet-based specialty sales to jewelry boutiques," said Dawson. "This competition is a way to recognize students who have succeeded in running a small business while maintaining a full academic schedule."

The application for the 2008 South Carolina Collegiate Entrepreneurship Award is available online from the Spiro Institute website at: http://business.clemson.edu/Spiro/index.htm.

For more information, contact the Spiro Institute at (864) 656-7235 or spiro@clemson.edu.

A Clemson University research team affiliated with the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research will receive $1.9 million to develop new technology with Michelin North America, one of CU-ICAR's founding partners. The project will focus on reducing automotive tire rolling resistance, improving vehicle fuel economy. Michelin chose Clemson to conduct a significant portion of the research after a competitive bid process for universities.

This award is the direct result of academia and industry working together to create innovative solutions for one of the most pressing problems of our time, the global energy crisis," said Tom Kurfess, Clemson researcher on the project and director of CU-ICAR. "It is an important partnership because no one individual could accomplish this alone."

The project will engage the talents of more than 20 professors, graduate and undergraduate students. These mechanical engineering professors are working on the project:

* Tom Kurfess, holder of the BMW Chair in Manufacturing, focusing on manufacturing issues;

* John Ziegert, holder of the Timken Chair in Automotive Design and Development, focusing on design issues;

* Georges Fadel, focusing on integration issues;

* Paul Joseph, focusing on material modeling and design issues;

* Joshua Summers, focusing on design issues; and

* Laine Mears, focusing on manufacturing issues.

Michelin North America and Clemson University officials at the research agreement event.Michelin was one of the first partners in CU-ICAR, funding an endowed chair and associated laboratory in February 2004.

CU-ICAR is a new model for economic development in South Carolina, matching Clemson's strengths in automotive engineering with the state's strong automotive economic cluster. Located on the Interstate 85 corridor between Charlotte, NC, and Atlanta, GA, CU-ICAR is situated in the center of the Southeastern automotive and motorsports economy.

The 250-acre "technopolis" is where BMW, Michelin, Timken, SUN, SAE and other corporate partners are joining with Clemson to focus on automotive research and other transportation and advanced manufacturing issues.

The state of South Carolina also is a key partner, having created legislation to support economic development and innovation. For example, the Research Centers of Economic Excellence Endowed Chairs Program matches private funding to recruit top faculty. CU-ICAR has four endowed chairs created through the program. Three of these chairs, along with five junior faculty positions, have been filled. These faculty members, along with other faculty from the main campus, form the academic team for one of the nation's most exceptional master's and doctoral degree programs in automotive engineering. The doctoral program is one of the first in the country.

For more information about a degree in automotive enginnering, visit http://www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/AutoEng/.

Vice President for Research and Economic Development Chris Przirembel said Ballato is charged with being the University-wide champion for research and economic development in advanced materials. He will explore opportunities for major research initiatives and work with faculty to facilitate collaboration through interdisciplinary research teams. He also will coordinate Clemson's role in a major economic development initiative in the Advanced Materials Center in Anderson County, formerly Clemson Research Park.

With the final funding approval by the South Carolina Budget and Control Board for its 28,000-square-foot Innovation Center, Clemson anticipates construction will begin this summer. The Innovation Center is part of a research complex to support and assist private industry and leverage Anderson County's ability to attract advanced-materials companies.

"We are fortunate to have John take on this critical role," Przirembel said. "Advanced materials are a key research area at Clemson, last year accounting for one-fourth of the external funding the university received for research. John's knowledge of the field and his experience and success in competitive grants will be of great assistance. He also understands and appreciates the importance of industry collaboration in moving research from the university to the marketplace, and we look forward to increased activity in that area under his leadership."

A professor of materials science and engineering at Clemson, Ballato also directs COMSET, the Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies, which is a South Carolina Research Center of Economic Excellence. He earned a bachelor's degree in ceramic science and engineering and a PhD in ceramic and materials engineering from Rutgers University.

He has received numerous awards for teaching and research, most notably the Schwartzwalder-PACE Award from the National Institute of Ceramic Engineering recognizing "the nation's outstanding young ceramic engineer whose achievements have been significant to the profession and the general welfare of the American people."

Ballato was chosen as a Liberty Fellow (2005). The Liberty Fellowship program inspires values-based leadership among young South Carolina leaders. In 2006, Ballato was selected as the Distinguished Young Alumnus for Rutgers University's Graduate School and also was selected as the faculty representative to Clemson's board of trustees.

He has published more than 120 archival publications and been a principal investigator on $40 million worth of sponsored programs, gifts and contracts. Ballato is an associate editor of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society and an active participant on the "Optoelectronic Glasses" technical committee for the International Commission on Glass.

For more information about Clemson's graduate programs in materials science and engineering, visit www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/MSE/index.php