Deputy Chief Anthony Purcell attributed the drop to a combination of factors that together helped campus police crack down on crime.

"We're asking everyone on campus to be our eyes and ears. It is a team effort between all campus departments, students, and campus police," said Purcell.

Purcell says the police department has incorporated a philosophy of better campus communication to help reduce crime. Those communication efforts include campus-wide e-mail alerts that identify suspicious people and activity.

Crime within Zone 5 of the Atlanta Police Department, which Georgia Tech falls within, has seen a decrease in crime as well. Zone 5 covers Midtown, Downtown, a portion of 4th Ward, and a portion of Southwest Atlanta. Overall crime decreased 10 percent, robbery and auto theft were down 16 percent, and larceny-theft was down 8 percent within the zone.

Campus police are also relying on cooperation with other Georgia Tech departments, such as Facilities, which patrols campus and can alert police to any suspicious activity.

Tech Square also received high grades from Purcell in reducing crime.

"Technology Square and other Midtown developments have responded to our request for assistance by alerting us and/or APD to any suspicious behavior in the area. This allows us to 'check it out' and have a high visibility of patrol in the area. We believe this has helped with the decrease in crime," said Purcell.

Internally, Purcell says each officer is supportive of the plan that Chief of Police Teresa Crocker has set in place. He claims officers are excited about the success and being diligent about their work.

Purcell says that crime analysis has also helped with crime reduction.

"We track trends and patterns. If we identify a particular problem and track it as a trend, then we can place the appropriate personnel in the affected area to see if we can apprehend someone. I think when you arrest the people doing crimes, it is a great deterrent and crime will go down."

The campus police department also keeps track of repeat offenders. Rather than just keep track of criminals until they are jailed, officers also monitor release dates of criminals who have committed crimes on campus.

"It gives officers a chance to be more vigilant and more alert to see if they notice a particular individual on campus," says Purcell.

Campus police have also added two k-9 units that help deter crime. According to Purcell, the dogs' presence and loud bark are sometimes enough to keep potential criminals from acting.

Purcell says, "The staff's diligence in their day-to-day responsibilities has led to significant reduction in campus crime."

Now, a new device has the potential to reduce the cost of therapy while increasing access by performing many of the therapists' tasks robotically. Jay Alberts, assistant professor in the School of Applied Physiology, and colleagues from Emory University are beginning a two-year study to see if the Hand Mentor is a feasible complement to individual therapy.

"The question we're trying to answer is 'can we get the same level of improvement while cutting the time a patient spends with a therapist in half?'" said Alberts. "If we can, that could make treatment more accessible by making it more affordable for insurance companies to cover."

Stroke patient Herbert Brooks has difficulty controlling his right hand. A pre-trial participant, he slips his arm into the Mentor, resting his fingers on the hand grip. His therapist punches a few buttons on the device's computer. The Mentor's air muscles contract, extending his wrist to a programmed angle.

The rest is up to Brooks. The machine stops pulling and the therapist asks Brooks to extend his wrist the rest of the way. All the while the Mentor is measuring how far he extends, how much force he is using and how much electrical activity his muscles are experiencing. It also records the resistance he gives as the machine pulls his hand into position. If he's improving, the resistance should decrease.

Developed by Kinetic Muscles, Inc. in Tempe, Ariz., the Hand Mentor is used with a type of therapy known as repetitive task practice. Typically, patients who have difficulty
controlling a part of their body after a stroke learn to compensate with another limb. This acquired behavior, known as learned non-use, can prevent patients from improving the functioning of the affected limb. Repetitive task practice works by forcing patients to use the impaired limb.

"Active therapy may help the brain rewire itself to use different neurons for muscle movements that were impaired by stroke," explained Alberts. "In essence, we're training the brain as well as the muscles."

Alberts is collaborating with Steve Wolf and Andrew Butler in Emory's Department of Rehabilitation Medicine on the NIH-funded preliminary clinical trial. The 24 participants will spend four hours a day, five days a week for three weeks undergoing traditional repetitive task training, using just the Mentor, or both. Patients will undergo brain scans before and after the therapy regimen.

For more information on the trial visit the web link below.

Media Contact: David Terraso, 404-385-2966, david.terraso@icpa.gatech.edu

Technical Contact: Jay Alberts, 404-385-2339, jay.alberts@ap.gatech.edu

"We're gratified that the rankings are increasingly reflecting all we have to offer," said College of Management Dean Terry Blum. "Our highly selective MBA program is certainly one of the very best and this new rankings lends some credence to the direction of the program. It's a considerable jump in two years." The College was ranked 51st in the 2003 rankings.

"That is an unusually strong showing for any program and I'm very pleased for our business school," said Tech president Wayne Clough. "We've done a lot to invest in the College of Management and we've known that those investments would pay dividends. While rankings are not the sole measure of success, it's great to see such a strong, positive direction for the College. There is a lot of momentum there."

Tech's graduate Engineering curriculum maintained its national stature, once again ranked among the top five in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

Eight of the 11 programs within the College of Engineering ranked among the top 10 in their respective disciplines, led by Industrial and Systems Engineering. That program was ranked number one for the 15th straight year, an achievement almost unheard of in U.S. News rankings.

In the sciences, Tech's program in industrial/organizational psychology was ranked 6th, and the School of Psychology was ranked 77th.

"Quality and consistency over time are the two things you look for from these somewhat simplistic rankings," said Dr. Clough. "Fortunately, that is what were seeing at Georgia Tech. It is difficult to remain at the top in the nation, as we do in Engineering, and move up as noticeably as we have in both Management and Sciences. Those traits do not go unnoticed nationally and internationally. Our success is the direct outgrowth of recruiting and retaining the finest faculty and students possible and investing in the infrastructure that allows them to thrive. We intend to continue to do just that and if we do, the rankings will take care of themselves."

Tech's College of Engineering retained its position in the elite top five, behind only MIT, Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. The eight engineering programs ranked in the top 10 are: aerospace (4th), biomedical (3rd), civil (5th), computer (6th) electrical (6th), environmental (8th), industrial and systems (1st) and mechanical (7th).

"I'm very proud of the work done by our faculty, graduate students and staff to achieve these rankings," said Clough. "We're consistently competing well against some of the finest universities in the world. It's important that Georgia Tech maintain its excellence while improve in areas for which we're less-well known. I'm confident that those trends will continue and that our programs will gain prominence across the board."

Experts from the Federal Trade Commission and leading security and Internet organizations including CipherTrust, EarthLink (Nasdaq: ELNK), Internet Security Systems (Nasdaq: ISSX), RSA Security (Nasdaq: RSAS) and the Georgia Tech College of Computing will gather to discuss current security issues. The Summit will also showcase Atlanta's increasingly important role as a center of the security industry.

Orson Swindle, Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, will give the keynote address entitled, "The Road to Regulation: Do You Really Want to Go There?" Swindle was sworn in as a Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission in 1997, and he was appointed in 2001 as head of the U.S. Delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Experts Group to review the 1992 OECD Guidelines for the Security of Information Systems.

Following Swindle's keynote address, a panel discussion by leading security experts will outline the latest security issues facing the industry from their different perspectives as Internet service providers, information security firms, researchers and educators.

Panelists include:
· Garry Betty, president and chief executive officer, EarthLink (http://www.earthlink.net)
· Richard DeMillo, the John P. Imlay dean and distinguished professor of computing, Georgia Tech (http://www.coc.gatech.edu)
· Paul Judge, chief technology officer, CipherTrust (http://www.ciphertrust.com)
· Arthur W. Coviello, Jr., president and chief executive officer, RSA Security
(http://www.rsasecurity.com)
· Christopher Rouland, chief technology officer, Internet Security Systems (http://www.iss.net)

The panel will be moderated by Doug Isenberg, editor and publisher, GigaLaw.com and attorney practicing technology and Internet legal issues with Needle & Rosenberg, P.C.

More details about the Security Summit and participants are available at http://gtisc.gatech.edu.

About GTISC
The Georgia Tech Information Security Center, a National Security Agency (NSA) Center of Excellence in Information Assurance Education, conducts interdisciplinary research and development on all aspects of information security, including systems-vulnerability assessment, usable security, and public and organizational security policies. GTISC's three-pronged mission includes: conducting research that will lay the foundations for a discipline of information security and that contributes to the development and testing of systems, devices, strategies, policies, practical concepts, and techniques; educating and training information security professionals through degree and continuing-education programs, and to insure that information security awareness is instilled in all Georgia Tech students; and assisting industry, non-profit organizations, government, and individuals to solve information security problems through outreach programs and support of groups devoted to information security.

The interdisciplinary center is housed in the College of Computing and involves faculty from Computing, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, and the School of Public Policy.

The study, which spanned Fiscal Year 2004, was conducted by the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business. It was initially released in 2000 covering Fiscal Year 1999, updated in 2002 to report Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001, and has just been updated again to show a $1.7 billion increase in the System's economic impact since the 2002 study (identified as $8 billion in Fiscal Year 2001).

In addition to the $9.7 billion in "output impact" generated by the University System, the study found that public higher education is responsible for 2.8 percent of Georgia's workforce, or 106,831 full- and part-time jobs.

The Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP), an initiative of the Board of Regents' Office of Economic Development, commissioned the study by Dr. Jeffrey M. Humphreys, director of economic forecasting for the Selig Center.

This is the first year the study did not include the economic impact of construction projects on the University System's campuses. Because of this change, some University System institutions may show a decline in overall economic impact, despite the fact there may have been a significant increase in enrollment over the time period between the two studies.

"The single biggest factor driving the increase in the System's economic impact is the significant growth in the number of students enrolled in Georgia's public colleges and universities," Humphreys said. "Not only are there more students, but they are spending more. And of course, with more students, institutions are spending more to serve them."

The $9.7 billion "output impact" is a measure of sales in a community. The study calculated spending by each of the System's 34 institution on salaries and benefits, operating supplies and expenses ($3.8 billion), as well as spending by students who attend that particular institution ($2.6 billion). Of the $9.7 billion total, $6.4 billion (66 percent) is initial spending by the institutions and students; $3.3 billion (34 percent) is the multiplier effect of those dollars as they are spent again in the region. Humphreys found that on average, for every dollar of initial spending in a community by University System institutions, an additional 52 cents was generated for the local economy hosting a college or university.

Yet another component of the study is the analysis of the employment impact of all 34 institutions on their host communities. The impact on jobs is significant, accounting for $4.4 billion in salaries and wages for 106,831 full- and part-time employees. Approximately 62 percent of these jobs are off-campus positions in either the private or public sectors and 38 percent are on-campus employees of the University System. The study found that on average, for each job created on campus, there are 1.7 off-campus jobs that exist due to spending related to the institution. Jobs related to the University System account for about one in every 36 Georgia jobs.

Humphreys notes that the figures do not include spending by people who visit USG campuses to attend meetings, athletic events and reunions, spending by USG retirees living in a community, and income earned by USG employees through consulting and other activities.

"Another important aspect of this study is that we have very detailed data across institutions that can be used for a wide range of planning purposes by the Board of Regents or other state and local agencies and the private sector," said Humphreys.

For example the study shows that the System's two regional universities are significant economic players in their host communities. Georgia Southern University had a $439 million impact on the local economy and an employment impact of 6,252 jobs while Valdosta State University's economic impact was $258 million with 3,635 jobs.

In north Georgia, the combined economic impact of North Georgia College & State University and Gainesville College was $234 million with an employment impact of 2,910 jobs.
Seven institutions in the metro Atlanta area - Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Clayton College & State University, Kennesaw State University, Southern Polytechnic State University, Atlanta Metropolitan College and Georgia Perimeter College - accounted for $2.9 billion of the University System's $9.7 billion total, and 37,239 jobs.

The System's largest institution - the University of Georgia with 33,405 students - has the single greatest economic impact: $2 billion on the Athens-area economy, or 21 percent of the System's total statewide economic impact. The Augusta area receives a significant economic benefit from the presence of the Medical College of Georgia and Augusta State University. Together, these two institutions have a $951 million economic impact on the Augusta economy and produce 10,731 jobs.

The economic impact of two USG institutions in the Savannah area is significant. Together, Armstrong Atlantic State University and Savannah State University pumped $251 million into the Savannah economy and the two institutions produce for 3,315 jobs.

"This Economic Impact Report continues to be an invaluable study," said Joy Hymel, executive director of the University System's Office of Economic Development. "It conclusively demonstrates that beyond the almost incalculable benefits colleges and universities offer communities through a more educated society, cultural opportunities and other activities, our campuses have an ongoing and powerful economic impact on communities large and small."

Note: A complete copy of the report can be accessed on the web at: http://www.icapp.org/pubs/impact/

"People typically look at objects before naming them, it's part of the way they plan the words they are going to say, said Zenzi Griffin, assistant professor of psychology at Georgia Tech. "So, if people are rushing or being inattentive you might expect if they made an error that they spent less time looking at the object. But I found almost no difference in the amount of time people spent looking at an object when they made an error compared to when they didn't. In fact, people who made an error spent slightly more time looking at the object."

In the study, Griffin asked participants to name two or three line-drawn objects or describe the action in a scene, while she tracked their eye movements using video cameras outfitted with special software. She identified 41 full or partial speech errors uttered by 33 participants during eye-tracking experiments.

The results, said Griffin, show that at some level people know what they meant to say and that looking at the object doesn't help to ensure that they will name it correctly. They also suggest that when a person makes a speech error, knowing what they are looking at may be more informative of their intentions than the words they say.

That may be useful to designers of speech recognition software, said Griffin. "Gaze can potentially provide clues to what uncertain words are - at least when people are talking about things in their immediate environment, like in a cockpit or an automobile," she said. "Gaze can also help to disambiguate which object you are referring to, so if you say 'Open the door,' the software could know to which door you are referring."

Media Contact: David Terraso, 404-385-2966, david.terraso@icpa.gatech.edu

Technical Contact: Zenzi Griffin, 404-894-6771, zenzi.griffin@psych.gatech.edu

"The fabrication of most synthetic materials that we use involves using catalysts to promote reaction rates," said Uzi Landman, director of the Center for Computational Materials Science, Regents' professor and Callaway chair of physics at Georgia Tech. "Designing catalysts that are more efficient, more selective and more specific to a certain type of reaction can lead to significant savings in manufacturing expenses. Understanding the principles that govern nanocatalysis is key to developing more effective catalysts."

The current study builds on joint research done since 1999 by the two groups that found gold, which is non-reactive in its bulk form, is a very effective catalyst when it's in nanoclusters of eight to about two dozen atoms in size. Those specific sizes allow the gold clusters to take on a three-dimensional structure, which is important for its reactivity.

"It is possible to tune the catalytic process not only by changing the composition of the materials, but also by changing the cluster's size atom by atom," explained Ueli Heiz, professor of chemistry at Technical University Munich.

In these earlier studies of the reaction where carbon monoxide and molecular oxygen combine to form carbon dioxide, Landman's group used computer simulations to predict that when gold nanoclusters of eight atoms are used as the catalyst and magnesium oxide is used as the catalytic bed, reactions would occur when the bed had defects in the form of missing oxygen atoms, but would not occur when the magnesium oxide was defect-free.

Heiz's experiments confirmed this prediction and the teams concluded that the gold must be anchoring itself to the defect where it picks up an electron, giving the gold a slight negative charge. Theoretical simulations showed that the electronic structure of the gold clusters match up with the oxygen and carbon monoxide. The charged gold transfers an electron to the reacting molecules, weakening the chemical bonds that keep them together. Once the bond is weak enough it breaks, allowing reactions to occur.

Now, in this latest study, the group has found direct evidence that this is indeed what is happening. Using eight-atom gold clusters as the catalyst and magnesium oxide as the catalytic bed, the team measured and calculated the strength of the bonds in the carbon monoxide by recording the frequency of the molecule's vibrations.

"If carbon monoxide is a strong bond, then there is a certain frequency to this vibration," explained Landman. "If the bond of the carbon monoxide becomes weaker, then the frequency becomes lower. That's exactly what we saw - when we had defects in the magnesium oxide, we had larger shifts than when we had magnesium oxide without defects."

Lead author of the paper and senior research scientist in Landman's group Bokwon Yoon commented, "The agreement between the predicted and the measured values of the vibrational frequency shifts is very gratifying, confirming the charging and bonding mechanisms."

"And all this happens at low temperatures," said Heiz. Typically, reactions requiring catalysts need heat or pressure to get the reaction going, and that adds to the cost of manufacturing, but that isn't the case here. Since the properties of the catalytic beds can increase the rate of reactions for nanocatalysts, new and better low-temperature catalysts may be found.

"We knew the specific number of atoms in the catalyst and that defects in the catalytic beds are important. Now we know why those defects are so essential - because they allow the catalyst to be electrically charged. We hope these guidelines will lead to more research in search of nano-sized catalysts. It's possible that at the nanoscale you may find catalysts that can do things under more gentle and cheaper conditions," said Landman.

Media Contact: David Terraso, 404-385-2966, david.terraso@icpa.gatech.edu

Technical Contact: Uzi Landman, 404 894-3368, uzi.landman@physics.gatech.edu

The Biomedical Community Award was presented Jan. 19 at the GBP's annual awards dinner and 15th anniversary celebration at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta.

Biomedical Community Awards annually recognize the important contributions of individuals, companies or institutions to Georgia's life sciences community.

The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, a unique venture between Georgia Tech and Emory, created a highly successful program that is ranked second in the nation among university biomedical engineering and bioengineering departments by U.S. News & World Report. The Coulter Department's achievements have brought national and international recognition to Georgia, elevating the visibility of the state as a premier venue for scientific and educational success.

The GBP, founded in 1989, represents the life sciences industry in Georgia. GBP members include companies, research institutions and universities, government groups and corporate service providers involved in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, medical informatics and related businesses.

The 189,000-square-foot Management building, part of the eight-acre Technology Square complex in Midtown Atlanta, is one of the first Georgia Tech facilities to be fully funded privately.

More than 250 donors, many of whom made gifts and commitments at the major-gift level of $25,000 to $5 million, participated. More than $26 million was secured in the last 13 months.

"The majority of these donors are first-time major givers to the College, representing our rapidly growing base of supporters," says Terry C. Blum, dean of the business school. "Our trust in the generous support and leadership of our donors enabled us to accelerate our move into our spectacular new home."

Construction began in September 2001, and the College moved into the state-of-the-art building at 800 West Peachtree Street in July 2003. Only one of three buildings in Atlanta certified by the US Green Building Council for environmentally friendly design, the facility is at the heart of the Midtown renaissance.

"Locating the College of Management in the midst of Atlanta's high-tech business community further has enriched the educational experience of our students and opened new avenues of collaboration with start-up companies as well as the city's high-tech giants," says Georgia Tech President G. Wayne Clough.

Now the "front door" of the Georgia Tech campus, Technology Square also includes the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, the Global Learning and Conference Center, Economic Development Institute, Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development, and retail and restaurant space in addition to the College of Management.

Equipped with the latest educational technology, the Management building has evened the playing field for the College of Management to compete with the nation's other top tier business programs. Further advancement will require sustained effort, Blum says.

"Together we can build on this tremendous success with a focused effort to retain and attract the best and brightest faculty, students, and staff who share our passion for Georgia Tech and the desire to reach our full potential," she says. "Our fundraising efforts will now largely focus on increasing our endowment and operational resources to support our faculty, students, programs, and other strategic priorities."

Addressing the monthly meeting of the Board of Regents, Meredith recapped key strides made by the University System during the past 12 months in fulfilling the central themes of his administration: maintaining and enhancing academic programs and efforts, preserving access and quality, and operating more efficiently and effectively. Accountability was one of the central threads running through Meredith's report, and he outlined the System's progress in serving as good stewards of state dollars as well as developing programs to improve performance on key accountability measures.

"We have made significant progress in these areas, so much so that on a number of higher education issues, today Georgia is viewed as a national model," Meredith stated. The System's rise in national prominence, the chancellor said, is rooted in the Board of Regents' adherence to long-range thinking and planning. "Because of the Statewide Assessment we conducted," Meredith said, "we have initiated a mission review process that has the potential to change the face of the System. This will enable us to better meet the evolving demands and needs of Georgia in the 2005 to 2015 period."

A major development that emanated from that assessment is the Board of Regents' plan to convert the Gwinnett University Center to a permanent institution. "Proof of the wisdom of this (planning) process can be found in your request to the General Assembly to authorize the creation in Gwinnett County of the System's first new four-year institution in 30 years," Meredith stated. The campus, if approved by the legislature, is expected to help the Board of Regents meet burgeoning student demand anticipated over the next 10 years, particularly in metro Atlanta.

The USG reported record high enrollment in fall 2004 of 250,659 students -- the third straight year of record enrollment growth. The average SAT scores of entering freshmen also increased 6 points last fall, to an average score of 1,042, again surpassing the national average. Student retention also improved, another quality indicator reflecting the number of USG students who return as sophomores after completing their freshmen year. "We have focused on retention over the past several years," said Meredith. "This focus, in combination with better-prepared students, has led to a record high 81 percent System-wide retention rate."

Meredith would like to see improved performance in the six-year graduation rates of USG institutions, which is 54 percent System wide. Among the USG achievements attracting national attention, Meredith cited the appointment and resulting report of a special Graduation Task Force he empanelled in 2004. "Last January we were one of the first systems in the country to appoint a graduation rate task force," Meredith said. "Implementation of its recommendations is underway. It's the focus we should have -- on our educational outcomes."

Meredith also cited another national leadership role the USG had assumed, in tackling the costs of student textbooks. "I am pleased to announce that we will be holding a series of statewide forums on textbooks costs," Meredith stated. "These forums should attract national attention, as this has become a national issue with the heightened interest of Congress. Georgia is among the leaders looking at this issue." Three forums are slated statewide throughout February at USG campuses.

Other major issues addressed by the regents' during the past year include the formal relationship with foundations and the issue of presidential pay, improved audit reports for USG institutions, targeted programs to help provide both access and preparation for college, and the innovative construction of facilities. These specific accomplishments were among those highlighted by Meredith:

• The Board's ability to maintain Georgia's historic position as a low tuition state, despite budget cuts.
• A National Science Foundation $34.6 million grant awarded to the University System to strengthen math and science programs in 13 Georgia school districts through the Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics (PRISM) project. "The results of this initiative will be watched closely nationally," Meredith said.
• Development of the "Education Go Get It!" program to make more Georgians aware of the critical need for post-secondary education.
• The continuation of the USG's nationally recognized American-American Male Initiative that researched the reasons behind the decline in African-American males who attend college and developed recommendations and pilot programs to begin to reverse this decline. "African-American male enrollment in the USG has grown by 9.6 percent over the past two years," Meredith said.
• The continued responsiveness of the System in addressing emerging state workforce needs, as evidenced by the Intellectual Capital Partnership Program's (ICAPP) Health Professionals Initiative. Meredith noted that Phase One of the initiative, launched in July 2002, produced 632 new licensed healthcare professionals, surpassing the goal of 500.
• The Board's decisions to revise its basic memorandum of understanding with cooperative organizations and to move all presidential pay to state dollars, ending direct foundation presidential pay supplements. "This was a tough issue," said Meredith. "This board has exhibited national leadership on an issue that permeates public higher education."
• The use of creative public-private partnerships outside the state's normal construction bonding program to meet facilities needs. "We have constructed more than $1 billion dollars worth of construction in 60 plus projects around the System through public-private partnerships," Meredith said.
• The record increase in research grants and contracts to System institutions, which rose to $795 million in FY02 and $861 million in FY03.
• The creation of a "Best Practices" awards program to identify and highlight institutional programs that promote more effective and efficient operations.
• The USG's use of technology to create new distance learning and online course and degree programs such as WebMBA, as well as what Meredith characterized as work that places Georgia "at the national forefront of educational and administrative applications of information and instructional technology."

Meredith emphasized his gratefulness for the pending turnaround in the budget picture. "We deeply appreciate the fact that Governor Perdue has recommended a FY06 increase of 8.3 percent for the University System," he said. "If the Governor's budget recommendation is passed, we will be on the positive side."

Meredith also noted the ever-increasing impact of the University System on the state's economy, as measured in the recently released report produced by Dr. Jeff Humphreys of UGA's Terry College of Business. Humphreys cited the USG's economic impact in Fiscal Year 2004 at $9.7 billion, up from $8 billion two years ago. "Those dollars helped to create more than 106,000 jobs," Meredith said, "both on our campuses and in many communities throughout Georgia."

Note: Chancellor's Meredith's full "State of the System" address is available at: http://www.usg.edu/admin/oc/reports/2005/

Released last October, the 288-page book is a collection of essays, poems and photographs written by 18- to 24-year-old students from nearly 100 universities. The mission, said co-publisher Rob Grabow, is to prove that college students are anything but apathetic.

"I think college students are very aware of what goes on around them," said Pajak, "especially with the Internet and the many media sources that are out there."

Pajak's contributions to the book take a very personal approach to politics. "These big ideas like democracy play out in everyday life," she explained.

One of only eight authors to have two works in the book, Pajak wrote the poem, "An African-American Step Show" and the essay "On Being Different in the South" while she was an undergraduate at Agnes Scott College. While very different in style, both works speak to the different ways people respond to being alienated from the larger culture.

"We were attracted to Alexandra's contribution, 'On Being Different in the South,' said Grabow, "not only because of her wonderful storytelling ability and the fact that it is remarkably well written, but also because it spoke to the nature of prejudice and the notion of might making right. Her contributions were among the best."

Pajak said she got involved with the book after responding to an e-mail asking for political writings to address the perception of political apathy amongst young people.

"A lack of political discussion results in bottled up feelings and bottled up questions about the way people live," said Pajak. "It makes for a dangerous undertone in the community. Without discussion, it makes it easy to misunderstand. It's important to talk."

So far, she's been very impressed with the level of political discussion she's seen at Georgia Tech. Unlike at other universities, where political correctness seems to stifle honest political discussion, Tech's student body is very willing to talk, she said. "The atmosphere allows for a freer exchange of ideas."

Pajak is in her first year of a graduate program in the School of History, Technology and Society. After getting her degree, she plans on pursuing her interest in political writing in academia or journalism.

The book was published by College Tree Publishing, which was founded by Gonzaga University seniors Grabow and Dean Robbins. They are which is in the midst of compiling more essays for "What We Think II" and "What We Think About God."

Pajak is scheduled to sign copies of the book at the campus bookstore in early March.

Tech will now host Connecticut on Sept. 17 at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Grant Field, followed by a road game at Virginia Tech on Sept. 24.

The Georgia Tech Alumni Association has announced that the Clemson game on Oct. 29 will be the annual Homecoming celebration, while the Connecticut game will be Family Weekend.

Georgia Tech's 2005 football schedule opens at national runner-up Auburn on Sept. 3, while the home slate is highlighted by a Thursday night matchup with NC State and the season-ending rivalry game with Georgia.

Coming off a 7-5 season and a school-record eighth straight bowl appearance, Tech faces its most challenging schedule in recent memory, including road tests at Auburn, Miami, Virginia Tech and Virginia.

Eight of the 11 teams on Tech's 2005 schedule were bowl-eligible last fall: Virginia Tech, Miami, Virginia, North Carolina, Clemson, Auburn,
Georgia and Connecticut. Only NC State, Duke and Wake Forest were not bowl-eligible in 2004. Four teams - Auburn (No. 2), Georgia (No. 6), Virginia Tech (No. 10) and Miami (No. 11) - were ranked 11th or higher in the final polls, while Virginia (No. 23) was also in the final Top 25.

Following the opener at Auburn, Tech begins its home slate and its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule by hosting North Carolina Sept. 10 at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field.

For the 13th year in a row, Georgia Tech will be featured in ESPN's nationally-televised Thursday night package. The Jackets host NC State on Thursday, Oct. 6 at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Grant Field.

Other home games include Georgia (Nov. 26), Clemson (Oct. 29), Connecticut (Sept. 17) and Wake Forest (Nov. 5).

The complete Georgia Tech schedule is listed below. Times and television designations are to be announced.

Georgia Tech season tickets can be purchased or renewed on-line at http://www.ramblinwreck.com.

2004 Georgia Tech Football Schedule

Sept. 3 at Auburn
Sept. 10 North Carolina (Take a Kid to the Game)
Sept. 17 Connecticut (Family Day, Band Day)
Sept. 24 at Virginia Tech
Oct. 6 NC State (Thursday, ESPN, 7:30 P.M.)
Oct. 15 at Duke
Oct. 22 at Miami
Oct. 29 Clemson (Homecoming)
Nov. 5 Wake Forest (Georgia Tech Hall of Fame Weekend
Nov. 12 at Virginia
Nov. 26 Georgia

Tech2Nite offers personal enrichment classes at Georgia Tech's Global Learning & Conference Center, located in Midtown Atlanta in Technology Square on Fifth Street near Spring Street.

For spring, classes range from personal hobbies like digital photography, drawing and astronomy to business topics such as business etiquette, starting a business, financial planning, investing, home computing, and much more.

Faculty and staff from Georgia Tech as well as industry professionals teach the classes. The instructors, each an expert in their field, will pose questions and show examples through demonstration, lecture, and discussion.

The spring session is scheduled for March 8 - April 14, 2005* (some classes have alternative meeting dates). Classes meet Tuesday or Thursday nights for 2 hours (6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.) for 3-week to 6-week sessions and range in price from $95-150 per class. Georgia Tech employees receive a discount of $10 off a 3 or 4 week class, $15 off a six week class and $20 off the Spanish class only.

See detailed class descriptions and schedules online at http://www.pe.gatech.edu, then, click on the Tech2Nite icon. To register, call 404-385-3500 or register online.

Spring 2005 classes include:

Popular Astronomy
Freehand Drawing -- Just for the Fun of it!
Good Urbanism: Design Principles for Neighborhood Activists
Home Computing Basics: Networking, Security and Self-Support
Digital Photography Made Simple
Real Estate -- The Buying Process and Investment Strategies
Business Etiquette -- Protocol for Professionals
Investing for Financial Independence
Creating the Balanced Life: Relaxation and Renewal Through the 5 Elements
Roadmap to Prosperity: Planning for your Financial Future
Starting a Business in Georgia
Interior Re-design
Design Basics for the Novice
Film and Technology
Beginning Conversational Spanish
Becoming Media Wise -- How to Work with the News Media
Entertaining 101
Traveling Interior Decorating Show

The morning session, sponsored by the College of Architecture and the Georgia Tech Foundation, will include presentations of memorial designs by architect Julian Bonder of Roger Williams University and Harris Dimitropoulos, of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor Dimitropoulos, an architect and artist, was the designer of the memorial commemorating the bicentennial of the French Revolution, constructed in Paris in 1989.

Following Bonder and Dimitropoulos, Professor James Young of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and member of the jury that selected Michael Arad's design will discuss the difficult condition of the representation of tragedy. Professor Young is the author of The Texture of Memory: Holocaust Memorials and Meaning and At Memory's Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture.

Joining Professor Young will be Professor John Dixon Hunt author of numerous books including The Genius of the Place, Gardens and the Picturesque, and most recently, The Afterlife of Gardens. Professor Hunt is widely recognized throughout the world as the foremost historian of landscape architecture. He is founding editor of the Journal of Garden History, has served as Director of Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, and as Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

Alan Balfour, Professor and Dean of the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Yves Abrioux, Professor of Literary Criticism at the University of Paris: 3 will join Professor Ken Knoespel, McEver Professor of Engineering and the Liberal Arts and
Chair of the School of Language Communication and Culture at Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College as respondents.

The afternoon session will be the third annual Dean's Symposium on the Changing Nature of Practice. Sponsored by the Alumni Committee of the College of Architecture the afternoon will include a presentation by Michael Arad of his winning design for the World Trade Center Memorial in New York. Professor Young will join Arad for a discussion of the process of evaluation and selection by the jury of Mr. Arad's design. A reception will follow in the atrium of the West Architecture building

Please register if you plan to attend.

Federal regulations require that all organizations that receive federal funding for research involving human participants establish an institutional review board to oversee such research. IRBs are formal committees that review and monitor research involving human subjects, and approximately 6,600 IRBs exist in the U.S.

Funded by a dissertation research grant from the National Science Foundation, Eliesh O'Neil Lane, who recently completed her Ph.D. at the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology, studied seven top-tier universities' IRBs. She conducted 37 in-depth interviews with IRB members and observed IRB meetings at all seven schools to examine their decision-making processes, the makeup of the board memberships, and the participation and roles of IRB members. In her paper, University IRBs: Decision-Making at the Intersection of Science and Society, which is part of a larger dissertation research study, Lane explores the rationale for involving nonaffiliated IRB members and lay participants in the IRB process and compares the roles of each type of member who serves on an IRB.

Of the seven IRBs Lane studied, two review all types of human subjects research proposals for their universities, three focus on social and behavioral research only, and two reviewed biomedical research only. In the U.S., federal guidelines require IRBs to evaluate the potential risks and benefits to research participants and to judge the scientific merits of a given study. In order to do this, IRBs must make judgments about four key areas of the research protocol: scientific merit, research design, risk-benefit ratio and the adequacy of informed consent. However, federal guidelines do not provide specific criteria for all these areas, so each committee must decide how to interpret the baseline regulations and is encouraged to use the flexibility of the regulations when deemed appropriate.

An example of this flexibility is in the Common Rule, which requires that IRBs not be composed entirely of members from one profession or entirely of one gender. This rule also requires that at least one IRB member, sometimes called a "community member," not be affiliated with the research institution. In Lane's study, all of the nonaffiliated members were also non-scientists.

Through qualitative analysis of member interviews and IRB meeting observations to explore IRB members' experiences and perceptions of the IRB process, Lane draws three major conclusions regarding the role of IRBs and how to improve them.

First, the composition of the IRB can greatly affect the types of issues that are discussed during an IRB review. The roles of the scientists, non-scientists and nonaffiliated members need to be more defined. Such phenomena as deference to expertise and the common knowledge effect may further influence the review process and the final decision outcome.

Second, in theory, the non-scientists and the nonaffiliated members who represent non-experts are presumed to have an equal voice in the IRB decision-making process. The IRB process allows any member, whether expert or not, to question other members about the proposed research, issues of risks and benefits and scientific merit. However, Lane concludes that it is questionable whether these non-experts actually choose to exercise equal participation in IRB meetings.

Third, without full participation by all members, IRB decisions cannot fully reflect all the relevant perspectives. So, what is the point of requiring certain types of members to serve on these committees?

The full paper is available by request.

Media Contact: Elizabeth Campell, 404-894-4233, elizabeth.campell@icpa.gatech.edu

Technical Contact: Eliesh O'Neil Lane, 678-480-2809, eliesh@bellsouth.net

"Despite the enormous potential of e-commerce, its share of the total economy remains less than 1 percent worldwide," says Malhotra, lead researcher of the study "Internet Users' Information Privacy Concerns (IUPIC): The Construct, the Scale, and a Causal Model," which was recently published in the journal Information Systems Research. He cites a recent report showing that 94.5 percent of Americans worry about abuse of their personal information when they shop online.

Malhotra's study, which surveyed 742 households in one-on-one interviews, found that online consumers want to be aware of and have direct control over their personal information that is stored in marketers' databases.

"Consumers should be able to add, delete or modify at will any of their personal information," Malhotra says. "At the very least, companies should make sure that their consumers can easily verify their information and know how it is being used."

Online marketers want as much personal information as possible in order to provide individualized service to customers, including details about shopping behavior, lifestyles and finances, he explains. For instance, airlines can e-mail people customized fare offers if they know their destination preferences.

"This mass customization increases the efficiency of marketing and the value that customers can derive as long as marketers don't misuse the personal information collected," Malhotra says.

Many e-commerce firms retain the right to sell personal information to outside parties unless consumers specifically opt out. "Information should only be obtained from consumers in ways that don't violate any ethical or legal norms," Malhotra says. "Obtaining information without consent isn't appropriate."

Consumers are more willing to provide information voluntarily if online companies can engender a sense of trust, the study found. One way to do this is through the use of increasingly popular third-party "seal of approval" programs, such as the Better Business Bureau's BBBOnline, he says. Online vendors who want to participate in these programs must follow a set of standards concerning privacy and security.

In addition to examining the control and trust issues of online consumers, Malhotra's study established a new scale for researchers to use in measuring the depth of Internet users' information privacy concerns.

Technical Contact: Naresh Malhotra, 404-894-4358, Naresh.malhotra@mgt.gatech.edu.

"There is a lot of misunderstanding between the United States and Arab countries, based on differences in religion and ideology, but science is a language we all speak. The advances it brings can help fuel the economies of countries like Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, which don't have the tremendous oil wealth that some of the other Arab countries have," explained El-Sayed, who is director of the Laser Dynamics Laboratory and professor of chemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology. An Egyptian by birth, El-Sayed came to the United States in 1954 after earning his bachelor's degree at Ain Shams University in Cairo.

Likening the partnerships to a scientific version of the Peace Corps, El-Sayed reasoned that while this investment will not single-handedly reduce anti-American sentiment in the so-called "Arab street," the working partnerships it forms can help to foster an atmosphere of international trust and understanding throughout academia, which can have a trickle-down effect in other parts of society.

"We will never make them rich off these partnerships alone," explained El-Sayed. "But the level of communication that is necessary for a successful research partnership is a step towards getting people in Egypt and other Arab countries to see Americans as partners."

Egypt should be the centerpiece of any American effort in this area, he said, because it maintains good relations with both the United States and the rest of the Arab world. It also has the most to gain from scientific cooperation, since technological investment is poised to contribute more to the growth of its economy than oil. But even oil-rich countries should support these efforts, he argues, for the economic stability they can help bring to the region.

"Stability is in everyone's interest," said El-Sayed. "Advancements in science and technology have the potential to be stabilizing factors in the Arab economies and that has the potential to bring stability to both the streets and the region."

The U.S. Agency for International Development currently provides $3 million in support of Egyptian science, said El-Sayed. Half of this money is given to the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research to support Egyptian professors; the other half goes to the U.S. Department of State and the Egyptian Embassy to support American professors working abroad. The average award is $60,000 for two to three years. Forty percent of the applicants receive funds. The largest portion of the funding goes to biotechnology, followed by manufacturing technology, environmental technology and information technology.

The National Science Foundation also provides funds for research-about $1 million annually for the entire Arab world. El-Sayed suggested that more funds should be allocated to countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, which have a large number of scientists but are lacking in equipment and facilities.

"One potential solution for new funds is for the U.S. to encourage wealthier Arab nations to contribute money to the effort, while the U.S. could contribute matching funds," explained El-Sayed. "This would be an inexpensive way to make our good intentions known to our Arab friends, recover our influence in the region and regain their trust."

On February 19 at the 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, McCabe will present "The Economics of Open Access Publishing: A Strategic Perspective," during a session entitled, "Changing Scientific Publishing: Open Access and Implications for Working Scientists."

McCabe will present findings from his ongoing research on scientific communication with co-author Christopher M. Snyder of George Washington University. Their research compares the traditional business model of scholarly journals in which the "Reader Pays" for a (possibly electronic) subscription with the newer "Author Pays" or "Open Access" publishing model.

Many of the findings and lessons from the seemingly narrow domain of journal publishing apply to other two-sided markets, such as telephone networks and credit card payment systems. For journals, authors who benefit from greater impact and increased citations from appearing in more prestigious journals compose one side of the market. The other side of the market is made up of the readers, who benefit from the journals' content and prefer journals with more articles.

McCabe explores the conditions under which either model is "best" for profits, and/or society. McCabe and Snyder have developed a formal economic framework to study these questions and continue to build on this framework to add more realism in order to better examine the issues of which business model - "Reader Pays" or "Open Access" - is "best."

Major findings include:

McCabe and Snyder use a formal economic framework to sort out the complicated question of what business model is "best." The basis for this framework is the journal-mediated dynamic between readers and authors, referred to in economics literature as a 'two-sided' market. On one side of the market, authors benefit from greater impact and citations and thus prefer a journal that has more readers. On the other side of the market, readers benefit from content and thus prefer journals with more articles.

Determining the optimal balance between these two sets of players - whether from the perspective of the publisher or society - involves measuring the benefits that each side obtains from greater or lesser participation by the other side, calculating the costs of adding (or subtracting) authors and readers, and then identifying the set of prices, i.e., the author fee and subscription price, that maximizes profits or net societal benefits.

McCabe and Snyder's economic framework indicates that optimal prices will differ depending on the degree of competition in the market for journals. At one extreme, a monopoly journal seeking maximum profit will raise prices for both authors and readers, even with minimal distribution costs. Even with low distribution costs of electronic publishing, Open Access will not result in this scenario. So, journals with lower market power are more likely to adopt Open Access.

At the other extreme, with perfect competition between equal quality journals, Open Access appears efficient when distribution costs are minimal, and author and reader benefits are roughly equal. Under these conditions, Open Access maximizes the total net benefits for authors and readers and for society as a whole. However, if readers obtain disproportionate benefits from reading additional articles, it can be efficient to have positive reader fees in order to subsidize authors' submissions.

McCabe and Snyder have extended their economic framework to allow for articles and journals to vary in quality, which makes their model of journals more realistic. In this work they find that editorial quality may affect the profitability of adopting Open Access. However, given some level of editorial quality, they conclude that Open Access journals are no more likely than traditional journals to boost revenue by accepting "too many" articles.

The authors' full papers are available by request.

Media Contact: Elizabeth Campell, 404-894-4233, elizabeth.campell@icpa.gatech.edu

Technical Contact: Mark McCabe, 404-385-0512, mark.mccabe@econ.gatech.edu

New Georgia Tech research points to better ways to heal and regenerate bones using microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) imaging - a process 1 million times more detailed than a traditional CT scan. The new micro-CT scan technique simultaneously looks at both vascularization (the process by which blood vessels invade body tissues during repair) and mineralization (the process by which mineral crystals form to harden regenerating bone) by collecting three-dimensional images in vitro and in vivo.

Georgia Tech researchers used the new technique to help develop bone graft substitutes that combine the availability and structural integrity of bone allografts, or bone grafts taken from a human donor, with the better healing properties of bone autografts, or bone grafts taken from the patient.

Unlike a traditional x-ray that only shows the presence of bone in two dimensions, the new micro-CT technique provides high-resolution 3-D images of vascularization and mineralization during bone repair. This approach allows tissue engineers to optimize the design of implants.

The findings of the project, headed by Dr. Robert Guldberg, a research director at the Georgia Tech/Emory Center for the Engineering of Living Tissues and an associate professor in Georgia Tech's School of Mechanical Engineering, were presented Feb. 20 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

"We're applying 3-D imaging techniques to quantify vascularization and mineralization in order to evaluate which of these tissue engineering approaches is going to be able to best and most quickly restore bone function," Guldberg said. "We've always known that vascularization is very important to bone repair, but we've never really had a good method to measure the process."

Guldberg's team has used micro-CT imaging to study fracture healing and repair of large bone defects that can result from the removal of bone tumors or crushing injuries. Large bone defects are typically repaired with allografts because large structural pieces are available from human donors.

But allografts are processed to avoid transmitting any diseases from the donor to the patient, leaving the bone sterile but dead. Allografts therefore lack living cells that could help the implants better integrate with existing bone. Consequently, they don't heal as well as autografts and can re-break in up to 30 percent of patients within a year. Live autograft bone integrates much better, but large amounts of bone are needed to repair a site. They are often too large to remove elsewhere in the patient's body and cause substantial additional pain.

Georgia Tech's micro-CT imaging facility has been used to study tissue engineering approaches to enhance or replace the use of bone grafts clinically. Guldberg and his collaborators at the University of Rochester, for example, have explored various strategies to revitalize dead allograft bone. Wrapping allografts with biomaterials containing living marrow cells or delivering bioactive genes has resulted in significantly accelerated repair and integration of allograft implants.

While a traditional bone scan can give a doctor some idea of a bone's density, a micro-CT scan that provides high resolution 3-D data on vascularization and mineralization can provide much more detailed information about the bone's structure and blood flow. Although not yet available clinically, these techniques give researchers an unprecedented depth of data on how a bone implant is integrating into the body.

In addition to studying bone regeneration, the ability to look at detailed 3-D images of vascular networks can shed light on research into vascular injuries, disc degeneration in the back and help detect tumors early by pinpointing areas of increased vascularization (which often indicate tumor growth).

Combination products, devices that include a combination of drug, biological and device components, are expected to be the next big thing in biomedical devices. An example of a combination product is a tissue-engineered device that combines living cells with a polymer scaffold. When implanted into a patient, the device can replace or restore damaged tissue or organ function. While the response of the body to each component is well known, considerably less is known about how their new union may affect the body's reaction to a combination device.

According to new research from the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, the body can have a different - and potentially detrimental - reaction when there's more than one component involved. Findings from the study headed by Dr. Julia Babensee, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, were presented Feb. 20 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

When a biomedical implant is introduced into a patient's body, the body's response is a threat to the acceptance of the implant and could result in device failure. The body responds to biomaterials with an inflammatory reaction and to foreign biological components with an immune reaction. But the two reactions may affect one another when triggered simultaneously, as they would be in a combination device if the combination product contains any foreign biological material.

"If you're combining a polymer with a biological component, the body may respond differently to that combination than it would to either component by itself. The immune response towards a foreign biological component of the device may be affected by the inflammatory response to the biomaterial component," Babensee said.

According to Babensee, there is a need to better understand more complex combination products so that as they move into wider use, they can be designed to integrate as smoothly as possible into the patient.

Babensee's work focuses on strategies for designing biomaterials and devices that can best integrate into the body by controlling host responses. In some combination products, biomaterials (in the form of polymer sponges) are used in the medical device to provide sites for transplanted cells to grow on to help it be better incorporated, strengthening its connection to the body.

Initial in-vivo research findings indicate that the inflammatory response to a biomaterial can affect the immune response to a foreign protein that is delivered at the same time. The presence of the biomaterial (a polymer) enhanced the body's immune response to a foreign protein. The polymer boosts the immune response by spurring the dendritic cells (cells that direct immune responses) to mature so that they can effectively initiate an immune response.

The finding means that for combination devices, if there was a potential immune response to a biological component, the biomaterial component could further exacerbate the immune response, making it more difficult for the device to integrate smoothly.

To better understand the body's reaction to biomedical devices that incorporate both biomaterials and biological components, Babensee works with human blood cells, treating them with a variety of biomaterials to see what response is induced from the dendritic cells.

"These cells control which way the immune response will go, so if we can control their phenotype, the idea is that we can control immune responses," Babensee said.

But there are ways around triggering a response. Babensee's research has determined that immature dendritic cells don't cause an immune response, making them a good option for biomaterials used in combination biomedical devices.

"Eventually, this may be a way to integrate the control of immune responses towards a biomedical device through a biomaterial," Babensee said.

Different materials seem to have varying effects on the dendritic cells. This may indicate which biomaterials will be good for which application. For example, biomaterials that support dendritic cell maturation may be best suited as polymeric carriers for vaccine delivery and those that do not support dendritic cell maturation may be used as sponges in tissue engineering.

"It seems that there may be a way to control the immune response to a biological component through the use of different biomaterials," Babensee said.

Curry and Sion will receive the Weaver-James-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship, Gergen will receive the inaugural Jim and Pat Thacker Postgraduate Scholarship Award, and Thompson will receive the Weaver-James-Corrigan Honorary Award.

Gergen, a middle blocker from Topeka, Kansas, earned all-ACC and honorable mention all-America honors in leading the Tech volleyball team to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including trips to the Elite Eight and Sweet 16 the last two years. The Psychology major and Academic All-District selection graduates this spring and plans to attend graduate school at Georgia Tech.

Curry, a wide receiver from Miami, Fla., was Tech's second-leading receiver last fall and finished his career among the top 15 on the Yellow Jackets' career receiving lists. He graduated last May with a degree in Building Construction and has begun work on a second degree in Management. He has been named to the ACC All-Academic football team the last two years.

Sion, the 2004 ACC champion in the shot put, will graduate in May with a degree in Management and plans to work toward a physical therapy degree at Idaho State University in his hometown of Pocatello, Idaho.

Thompson, one of the nation's top amateur golfers and a native of Coral Springs, Fla., is a three-time all-America as well as an Academic All-District honoree. After graduating in May with a degree in Management, he plans to pursue a career in professional golf.

Complete biographical information for Tech's four honorees is below.

The Weaver-James-Corrigan and Jim and Pat Thacker scholarships are given to selected student-athletes who intend to pursue a graduate-level degree following graduation. Each recipient will receive $5,000 to use towards his or her graduate education. Student-athletes receiving the award have performed with distinction in both the classroom and in their respective sports, while demonstrating exemplary conduct in the community. In addition to those receiving scholarship funds, six student-athletes will receive Weaver-James-Corrigan Honorary Awards, recognizing for outstanding performance in both athletic competition and the classroom by athletes who intend to pursue professional or Olympic competition rather than post-graduate study.

The Weaver-James-Corrigan award is named in honor of the late Jim Weaver and Bob James as well as Gene Corrigan, all former ACC commissioners. The Thacker award, being presented for the first time, is awarded in honor of the late Jim and Pat Thacker of Charlotte, N.C. Jim Thacker was the primary play-by-play announcer for the ACC's first television network. Recipients of the award must demonstrate outstanding performance both in athletic competition and in the classroom and intend to further their education through post-graduate studies at an ACC institution.

Recipients of the Weaver-James-Corrigan Awards are as follows: Clemson * Mary Nell Green (rowing), Franchele Klaus (swimming), Gisele Oliveira (track & field); Duke * Michael Hatch (cross country/track & field), Stephanie Istvan (volleyball); Florida State * Aaron Cheesman (baseball), Mihaela Moldovan (tennis), Jezali Ratliff (soccer); Georgia Tech * Nate Curry (football), Zebulon Sion (track & field); Maryland * Megan Knepper (swimming), Katayoon Shahrokh (volleyball); Miami * Yassamin Haririnia (rowing); North Carolina * Carey Fetting-Smith (field hockey), Olivia Trusty (gymnastics), Catherine Wright (volleyball); NC State * Eric Hoverstad (track & field), Leslie Jimison (cross country/track & field), Anderson Smith (cross country/track & field); Virginia * Luke Anderson (swimming), Gillian Hatch (soccer); Virginia Tech * Thomas Blaszak (baseball), Erin Gibson (basketball), Jessica Morris (cross country/track & field); Wake Forest * Karin Coetzee (tennis), Ashley Hoagland (golf).

Recipients of the Jim and Pat Thacker Awards are as follows: Duke * Johanna Bischof (field hockey); Georgia Tech * Jayme Gergen (volleyball); Virginia * Christopher Greenwood (swimming).

Recipients of the Weaver-James-Corrigan Honorary Awards are as follows: Duke * Casey McCluskey (soccer); Georgia Tech * Nicholas Thompson (golf); Maryland * Justin Maxwell (baseball); North Carolina * JW Brown (football); Virginia * Jessica Trainor (soccer); Virginia Tech * Bryan Randall (football).

The 35 student-athletes will be honored Thursday, April 14, 2005, in Greensboro, N.C., at a luncheon hosted by the Nat Greene Kiwanis. The luncheon will be held at the Koury Convention Center.

Nate Curry, Georgia Tech, Football
Two-year starter and four-year letterwinner * Two-time member of the ACC All-Academic football team . . . Also named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll * Ranks 13th in Georgia Tech history in career receptions with 92 and 14th in career receiving yards with 1,185 * 2004 Team Captain * Georgia Tech Tower Award (presented by Office of Minority Education and Development to recognize academic achievement by minority students) * Awarded Bobby Dodd Scholarship for 2003-04 as Tech's top male scholar-athlete * 2004 ACC Top Six for Service Award * Three-year member of the Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board.

Jayme Gergen, Georgia Tech, Volleyball
Three-year starter and four-year letterwinner * Helped Georgia Tech to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances * 2004 Honorable Mention All-American and All-East Region by American Volleyball Coaches Association * 2004 First-Team All-ACC * Led the ACC and ranked 11th nationally in hitting percentage in 2004 * Ranks second in Georgia Tech career hitting percentage and fourth in total blocks * 2004 CoSIDA Academic All-District III Volleyball Second Team * Three-time ACC Academic Honor Roll honoree * Dean's List every semester at Georgia Tech.

Zeb Sion, Georgia Tech, Track & Field
Georgia Tech's top performer in the shot put the last four years * 2004 ACC champion in the outdoor shot put * Four-time All-ACC honoree in the shot put * Set new school record in the indoor shot put with a throw of 58'-7.50" * Owns the school record in the outdoor shot put at 59'-5.0" * Three-time ACC Academic Honor Roll recipient * Georgia Tech Dean's List (six semesters) as well as Faculty Honors last spring * Recipient of Mills B. Lane/Bank of America Scholarship.

Nicholas Thompson, Georgia Tech, Golf
Three-time All-American * Third-team All-America by the Golf Coaches Association of America in 2004 and an honorable mention All-American in 2003 and 2002 * Two-time All-ACC selection * Stands fifth in career stroke average in Georgia Tech history (72.04) * Has won two events this year, including the Jones Cup Invitational ... Has 13 career top-10 finishes * Runner-up at the 2002 ACC Championship; finished third at the 2004 ACC Championship * Low collegiate round of 64 * 2004 CoSIDA Academic All-District III At-Large selection * 2003-04 All-America Scholar by GCAA * Three-time ACC Academic Honor Roll selection.

Complete biographical information for the other ACC scholarship honorees is available at:
http://ramblinwreck.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/022305aaa.html.

The Georgia Tech recipients are Ali Adibi, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; David V. Anderson, an assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and William King, an assistant professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.

The Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, established in 1996, honors the most promising beginning researchers in the nation within their fields. Eight federal departments and agencies annually nominate scientists and engineers at the start of their careers whose work shows exceptional promise for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the twenty-first century. Participating agencies award these beginning scientists and engineers up to five years of funding to further their research in support of critical government missions.

Adibi was nominated by the Department of Defense for his research contributions to optical storage by exploring two-center holographic recordings and his contributions to chip-scale all-optical information processing modules by exploring wavelength crystals and nanophotonic approaches.

Anderson was nominated by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for pioneering the design of embedded signal processing and control systems that perform significant processing in analog as well as digital circuits. This research in cooperative analog-digital processing is enabling potential advances in low-power embedded systems and smart sensors, such as assistive devices for the hearing-impaired. Anderson's work is being integrated into an online master's design program and into outreach courses for practicing engineers and system designers from industry.

King was nominated by Sandia National Laboratories, a Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Defense Programs Laboratory, for his work on heat transfer and thermomechanical processing at micrometer - and nanometer - length scales, and for his innovations in nanomanufacturing. The award recognizes the importance of his research for homeland defense and nuclear security, as well as for the impact his work has had on the commercialization of nanotechnology.

About the Office of Science and Technology Policy
Congress established OSTP in 1976 with a broad mandate to advise the President and others within the Executive Office of the President on the impacts of science and technology on domestic and international affairs. The 1976 Act also authorizes OSTP to lead an interagency effort to develop and to implement sound science and technology policies and budgets and to work with the private sector, state and local governments, the science and higher education communities, and other nations toward this end. The Director of OSTP serves as co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and oversees the National Science and Technology Council on behalf of the President. For more information visit www.ostp.gov.

Like many areas of scientific exploration, nanoscience and nanotechnology exist on the borders between disciplines. NanoTECH brings together the research of more than 100 Georgia Tech scientists in an easily navigated Web site, showcasing groundbreaking work in the synthesis and characteristics of nanomaterials; properties of nanomaterials; nanoscale modeling and simulation; nanodevices, nanophotonics and nanomaterials; and nanomedicine and nano-biotechnology.

Georgia Tech researchers are committed to helping engineer a better world through nanoscience and nanotechnology. Important discoveries take place every day across Tech's campus, and NanoTECH provides a portal to these efforts, with information about educational initiatives, faculty research interests and laboratories and facilities dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology.

The NanoTECH portal is the first in a series of Web portals Georgia Tech will unveil in the near future. A portal highlighting research in optics and photonics is currently being created, and additional portals will soon follow.

The school is ranked No. 1 among industrial and systems engineering programs in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.

White, the Schneider National chair in Transportation and Logistics in ISyE, will assume his duties as chair July 1 from William Rouse, now director of the Tennenbaum Institute for Enterprise Transformation at Georgia Tech.

"I am very pleased that Chip White has accepted this responsibility," said College of Engineering Dean Don Giddens. "He is an outstanding scholar and academic administrator, and his vision for the future will help lead ISyE to even greater prominence."

White is also the director of Georgia Tech's Trucking Industry Program, a member of the Sloan Foundation's Industry Centers Network and executive director of The Logistics Institute.

His current research focuses on how real-time information can improve productivity and security in the transportation and logistics sector of the economy. He teaches courses on decision making under certainty and risk. His areas of research include optimization and artificial intelligence for problem solving in transportation, logistics and supply chain systems.

"I look forward to working with the ISyE faculty, our students, the administration, our alumni and our sponsors to continue the ISyE tradition of excellence and leadership in research, education and service," White said.

White is the past president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society and is former editor of several of the IEEE Transactions and a Fellow of IEEE. He is a member of the board of directors of several public and private organizations, including CNF Inc., a Fortune 500 transportation and logistics company.

"The healthcare system in the United States is a very complex system, suffering in terms of costs, quality of care, efficiency and productivity - issues which engineers are good at solving," says Francois Sainfort, the William W. George professor of health systems and professor of industrial and systems engineering. "Now is a good time to start bringing engineering solutions to healthcare and to look at ways to re-engineer and redesign the system."

Founded in 1958, Georgia Tech's graduate program in health systems is top ranked in the field. Faculty members bring their extensive experience in consulting, research and teaching to the classroom.

Courses offered include:
· Healthcare Financial Management
· Essentials of Statistics For Health Professionals (Basic)
· Statistics for Health Professionals (Intermediate)
· Decision Analysis in Healthcare
· Healthcare System Modeling and Operations Management
· Measurement and Management of Quality of Care
· Computer Simulation in Healthcare
· Measurement and Analysis of Health Outcomes
· Informatics and Healthcare Delivery (Fundamentals)
· Human Computer Interaction and Healthcare Informatics (Informatics Design)
· Optimization in Medicine

In addition, Sainfort will offer a free sneak preview of Georgia Tech's new health systems courses through a live webinar on August 2, 2005 from noon - 1 p.m.. Sainfort will give a brief lecture on "Re-engineering Healthcare Systems" for interested students.

All courses will be taught at Georgia Tech's new state-of-the-art Global Learning & Conference Center located in midtown Atlanta and are organized by the Professional Education division at Georgia Tech.

"Through these short courses, Professional Education at Georgia Tech strives to share Georgia Tech's expertise in a variety of disciplines with leaders in business, government and other organizations. It is our mission to provide the best educational experience possible," said Nelson C. Baker, associate vice provost for Distance Learning and Professional Education.

Detailed information about these courses and the sneak preview is available online at http://www.emarket.gatech.edu/healthcare.

Georgia Tech is hosting, "The Download: Free For All?" a panel discussion on the ethical and legal issues of file sharing joining students with representatives from the recording industry, file-sharing advocates and experts in copyright law. The event takes place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5, at Georgia Tech's Robert Ferst Center for the Arts.

As many as a 1,000 participants are expected to attend the discussion, which will cover such areas as the financial costs and benefits of file sharing, its effects on music and movie sales, copyright law and John Doe lawsuits against file sharers.

Featured on the panel is Linda J. Zerkelbach, associate counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Zerkelbach has played a key role in the industries litigation against music downloaders and the U.S. Supreme Court case MGM v. Grokster. The court heard oral arguments earlier this week on the case that could decide whether software distributors can be held liable for illegal acts committed with their products.

The event will be broadcast on WREK, 91.1 FM.

Panelist include:

·Linda J. Zirkelbach, Recording Industry Association of America,
Linda J. Zirkelbach is Associate Counsel of Legal Affairs, for the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry. The RIAA's more than 350 members create, manufacture or distribute more than 90% of all legitimate sound recordings sold in the United States.

At the RIAA since early 2003, Ms. Zirkelbach has been critical to the shaping of music piracy litigation. She has played a key role in many matters including: the thousands of lawsuits filed against individual infringers, the U.S. Supreme Court appeal in the Grokster secondary liability case, an enforcement program to address CD piracy at the retail level, litigation against CD plants pressing illegal product, and various other cases. She has also worked on numerous amicus briefs regarding copyright issues important to the industry.

·Adam Toll, BigChampagne,
Adam Toll is the co-founder of BigChampagne, the leading provider of information about popular entertainment online. BigChampagne measures activity on P2P networks, gathering information about online searches and
shared files. BigChampagne combines these data with information from other sources (radio airplay, retailers, "legitimate" download services) and provides statistical analysis of this information to its customers.

·Jon Bonus, Owner of Bonus Records

·Corrine Lee, Bass/Keys/Vocal for the Athens, Ga band Snowden.

The moderator of the event will be Brannon D. Anthony, intellectual property specialist from the law firm of Lord, Bissell & Brook, LLP.

"The Download: Free for All?" is produced by Georgia Tech's Honor Advisory Council, the Dean of Students office and the Office of Information Technology.

APS's citation recognized Landman "for pioneering computations that have generated unique insights into the physics of materials at the nanometer length scale, thereby fostering new theoretical and experimental research."

Known across the globe for his trademark phrase "small is different," Landman is a pioneer of using computer simulations to discover new phenomena on the nanoscale.

"We cannot use the way physical systems behave on the large scale to predict what will happen when we go to levels only a few atoms in size," said Landman. "In this size regime, electrons transport electricity in a different way, crystallites have different mechanical properties and gold nanowires have strength twenty times larger than a big bar of gold, and inert metals may exhibit remarkable catalytic activity. But we know the rules of physics, and we can use them to create model environments in which we can discover new phenomena through high-level computer-based simulations."

Among Landman's research interests are artificial atoms, known as quantum dots, which can be used to store massive amounts of information in a compact space. Other areas include nanowires, nanojets, and nanotribology, the study of friction at the nanoscale.

Landman is a Regents' and Institute Professor. He holds the Callaway Chair in Physics and serves as the director of the Georgia Tech Center for Computational Materials Science. His honors include the Beams Award for Excellence in Research from the American Physical Society in 1999 and the 2002 Materials Research Society Medal.

"I am very gratified by the confidence shown by College of Engineering Dean Don Giddens, the search committee and my colleagues in selecting me to lead the School of ECE," May said. "I am also humbled by the prospect of following in the footsteps of Roger Webb, whom I very much admire and respect, but excited by the challenges and opportunities that this new appointment entails."

The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is one of Georgia Tech's largest schools, with more than 130 academic and research faculty members and 2,300 students at all degree levels. U.S. News & World Report recently ranked both of Tech's programs (electrical and computer) sixth in the nation.

May earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Tech in 1985, moving on to the University of California at Berkeley for his master's and doctoral degrees. He returned to Georgia Tech as an assistant professor in 1991 and accepted the Motorola Foundation Professorship in 2001.

In addition to his teaching and research career, May has gradually become more active as an administrator. For the past three years, May has served as executive assistant to the president, acting as President Clough's chief liaison both on and off campus.

May has also been intimately involved in developing programs aimed at increasing the number of minority students who pursue advanced degrees. Two such programs - the Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Science (SURE) program and the Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science (FACES) program - have secured more than $11 million from the National Science Foundation.

Giddens said the breadth of his leadership experience made him the ideal choice.
"In his professional life, Gary May has demonstrated insight and commitment," said Giddens. "Not only has he amassed an impressive research and teaching record, but also he has dedicated himself to mentor and encourage students to earn advanced degrees and pursue careers in academia. Moreover, he has tirelessly represented his School, College and Institute with good humor and class. With thanks to the search committee for its effort, we are privileged to have Gary serve as the new chair of ECE."

President Clough thanked May for his service and counsel as his executive assistant, and congratulated him on his new appointment.

"Gary has proven himself to be an outstanding mentor, a first-rate researcher and an excellent member of my staff," Clough said. "While we will miss his daily presence, his leadership of ECE will be exceedingly important for the future of the College of Engineering and Georgia Tech. I'm very proud of his accomplishments on behalf of the President's Office and know that his best days are ahead. We're very fortunate to have someone of Gary's caliber follow in the sizeable footsteps of Roger Webb."

In the coming months, President Clough will appoint May's successor as executive assistant, initiating the transition process and the transfer of duties.

The study, released by Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, has far-reaching implications for job growth, economic development and education. The study examined successful university-based technology transfer and commercialization initiatives throughout the United States.

The report - Accelerating Economic Development Through University Technology Transfer - notes several factors that help states position their universities as centers of innovation and business growth, including strong academic leadership and research capabilities, availability of early stage capital, commitment to and support of entrepreneurship programs, and the existence of infrastructure such as innovation centers, incubators and research parks.

Georgia Tech was one of nine universities selected as a case study for the report.

The report states that, "Georgia Tech is one of the strongest universities in terms of its relationship with and assistance to industries of all sizes and its strong role in statewide economic development."

According to the report, "Perhaps what is most remarkable about the Georgia Tech model of technology-based economic development is how intertwined it is with state and local economic development initiatives. When one examines the economic development initiatives linked to the university, it is difficult to readily discern which initiatives are State of Georgia and which are Georgia Tech.

Moreover, the level of private sector involvement in helping shape and direct these initiatives is stronger than in almost any institution in the country. Georgia actively solicits industry input through advisory boards and councils at its colleges and research centers, and this has helped shape the institution's curriculum, R&D focus, and service orientation as well as encourage direct industry involvement."

The report acknowledges that there are certain issues that must be worked through by institutions in regards to balancing academic life with the corporate need for commercial confidentiality. It cites Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Georgia Tech as institutions that appear to have found a balance between achieving academic excellence and pursuing technology transfer and commercialization goals.

The report notes the importance of having early stage capital and a good incubator system. Sam Florance, director of the Gateways Program at Purdue University, agrees. "We have found that those firms (in Purdue's Research Park's incubators) that don't receive support in the early stages face a long, hard road. For those firms that do receive management, resource and technical support, they have about a 90 percent chance of a five-year survival."

The report praises the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) as one of the premier incubators in the country, and the Economic Development Institute (EDI) is also highlighted in the case study. "It is widely recognized as one of the strongest, if not the strongest, university-based economic development program in the nation," the report said of EDI.

Other universities selected for case studies include: Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Stanford University, University of California-San Diego, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin -Madison, and Washington University (St. Louis).

The study was conducted by Innovation Associates, of Reston, Va. on behalf of the Connecticut Technology Transfer and Commercialization Advisory Board of the Governor's Competitiveness Council.

The grant to Georgia Tech complements a previous donation of $4.25 million in 2001, which, among other things, helped the school set up permanent scholarship and fellowship endowments. Since that initial grant, Tech has seen a 125 percent increase in the number of Hispanic students enrolling as part of the fall freshman class.

The new gift increases the endowments for scholarships and fellowships to $4 million and sets up a new scholarship for non-traditional students. Thanks to the increase in funding, Tech will be able to almost double the number of scholarships and fellowships previously offered (currently 32 students receive this prestigious award). It also allows Tech to hire a program director who will administer the awards and support Hispanic/Latino recruiting.

"In the early '80s, when I was a student, there were no opportunities that I knew of for scholarships, grants or any kind of financial help targeted towards Hispanic/Latino students," said Jorge Breton, program director for The Goizueta Foundation Programs at Georgia Tech.

The scholarships and fellowships are open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are Hispanic/Latino, said Breton. This includes students of Portuguese and Brazilian descent.

The new scholarship for non-traditional students will be targeted to students between the ages of 25-40 who've had their education interrupted or delayed.

In addition to promoting and helping students apply for the scholarships, Breton said he will support students in other ways. "They can come to me and ask for guidance and I will tell them what resources we have on campus," he said. "I've been there and I know it's difficult to be away from home in a different culture."

The Goizueta Foundation was established by the late CEO and chairman of the board of directors of Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Company, Roberto C. Goizueta. In addition to setting up the initial scholarship funds, the foundation's previous gift provided $1.5 million to establish The Goizueta Foundation Faculty Chair, $500,000 to establish The Goizueta Foundation Junior Rotating Faculty Chair and $250,000 to go towards Hispanic/Latino recruitment and retention.

Since Tech does not use racial or ethnic preferences in admissions, student recruiting is central to the school's efforts to increase diversity.

"The gifts from The Goizueta Foundation have allowed us to broaden our recruiting travel to areas that we would not have been able to touch in the past," said Giselle Martin, assistant director of undergraduate admissions. "Our increased visibility has allowed Tech to not only increase the number of Hispanic students interested in Tech, but it has also increased enrollment. We've grown the Hispanic student population at Tech each year, at the same time we've increased the quality of the our Hispanic applicant pool."

The two faculty chairs are essential to Tech's efforts to increase diversity. Part of the money for the chairs goes to fund academic initiatives like the research of faculty chair J. Carlos Santamarina.

"The funds allocated for academic initiatives allow us to explore, new long-term research themes that would not be possible otherwise in the context of the typical short-term funding cycles of state and federal agencies," he said.

Santamarina uses part of the Goizueta money to help support his research on engineered particulate matter, which has applications in drug research and food products among other things. Undergraduate research assistants working on this project will get a chance to be listed as an author in publications about their work.

Both Santamarina and the junior rotating faculty chair, Rigoberto Hernandez, also use part of their funding to mentor students both within their individual research groups and as part of the larger Goizueta initiative at Tech.

"We feel that The Goizueta Foundation has given us an incredible opportunity that we cannot miss," said Santamarina. "We monitor the students' academic performance. As the early groups are beginning to graduate, we will incorporate activities to support them through this stage when they explore the next steps in their lives."

Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough says, "The Molecular Science and Engineering Building will provide an interdisciplinary environment for faculty and students to examine and explore materials at the atomic and molecular level. It supports Georgia Tech's role as a national leader in nanotechnology."

The Molecular Science and Engineering Building will be a 200,000-square-foot facility that will house 60 faculty members and their students. The internal design will maximize the interactions between faculty members and their students in both offices and laboratories, and the building will be connected to two of the other buildings in the Biotechnology Complex by pedestrian passageways. The building's laboratory design will be modular and easily convertible to new applications. Space assignments will be made to group researchers with common interests, intentionally crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries.

The estimated $60 million needed to build the Molecular Science and Engineering building is being raised through private gifts and grants from alumni, friends, corporations and foundations that will complement Institute funds generated through sponsored research grants and contracts. No state funds are anticipated.

Advances in understanding the chemistry, physics and engineering of materials will have an immense impact on human life. For example, magnetic nanoparticles may be used to treat cancer. Dispersions of nanoparticles in tumors, combined with the application of an external magnetic field, could kill cancer cells without damaging nearby healthy tissue. Clearly, the new building will allow Tech's inspired researchers to make discoveries that will lead to as yet unimagined improvements in the quality of human life.

Tech will celebrate the groundbreaking with a check presentation from Scientific-Atlanta and remarks from President Wayne Clough.

About Scientific-Atlanta

Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. (NYSE: SFA - http://www.scientificatlanta.com) is a leading supplier of digital content contribution and distribution systems, transmission networks for broadband access to the home, digital interactive set-tops and subscriber systems designed for video, high-speed Internet and voice over IP (VoIP) networks, and worldwide customer service and support.

"GTISC is committed to helping consumers and enterprises alike overcome security issues with new technologies, and the VoIP Security Summit is an important forum for examining the concerns and possible solutions for this exciting new option in phone service," says Mustaque Ahamad, director of GTISC. "We thank the executives from Avaya, BellSouth, Ciena, Covergence, Internet Security Systems and Telcordia for participating in the Summit and sharing their expertise with us."

At the Summit, Reed E. Hundt, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and senior adviser to McKinsey & Company, will deliver the keynote address, entitled "Brand New Day: Open Networks and Open Society." Hundt will explore whether the convergence of network technologies will or should lead to open networks and an open society.

Additionally, industry leaders from Avaya (NYSE: AV), BellSouth (NYSE: BLS), Ciena Corporation (Nasdaq: CIEN), Covergence, Internet Security Systems (Nasdaq: ISSX), Telcordia Technologies, Inc., and Georgia Tech will participate in a panel discussion moderated by Georgia Tech's John P. Imlay Dean and Distinguished Professor of Computing Richard DeMillo. The panel will examine security challenges and potential approaches for addressing them, including the role of regulation, from the perspective of the different sectors related to this new technology.

For more information about the GTISC VoIP Security Summit and its participants, please visit http://gtisc.gatech.edu.

About GTISC
The Georgia Tech Information Security Center, a National Security Agency (NSA) Center of Excellence in Information Assurance Education, is an interdisciplinary center involving faculty from Computing, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, and the School of Public Policy.

Starner is an assistant professor in Georgia Tech's College of Computing. He is a wearable computing pioneer, having worn a wearable as an everyday personal assistant since 1993. He holds four degrees from MIT, including his Ph.D. from the MIT Media Laboratory in 1999.

Starner has authored more than 90 scientific publications on mobile computing, intelligent agents, computer vision, and augmented reality and his work focuses on computational assistants for everyday use.

This talk will explore the current use of mobile devices and will describe studies on two promising technologies: dual-purpose speech and the Twiddler one-handed keyboard.

In addition, Starner will discuss the ongoing development of a one-way sign-to-English phrase translator, which may some day augment conversation between hearing and deaf individuals.

"John is the caliber of undergraduate student who comes along only once or twice in an advisor's career," said Steven McLaughlin, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of Georgia Tech Lorraine in Metz, France. "He is certainly the best undergraduate student I have worked with in my twelve years of teaching and research."

Parish came to Tech from Houston in the fall of 2002. When he was in middle school and high school, several people told him he'd never make it in college, especially in any field that was math or science related.

Now, he's working with McLaughlin on developing a method for encrypting communications that will be able to withstand the growing power of computers to crack them.

"A lot of the cryptographic methods in use now are still based on computational complexity," Parish said. "The idea is that computers are going to keep getting faster and people are going to be able to break those easily. If someone develops a quantum computer, you'd be able to break virtually any cryptographic protocol that's based on computational complexity."

One of the benefits of quantum cryptography over traditional methods is due to a rule in known as the uncertainty principle. That rule states that observing or measuring a quantum particle, such as a photon, disturbs that particle - meaning an eavesdropper would be easily detected because the very act of listening causes changes in the encoded bits.

But serious challenges remain before quantum cryptography can be used reliably. Since quantum cryptography relies on the distribution of one quantum bit between parties, it's currently very difficult to establish wireless communication between two parties if the receiver's location is unknown. It is also difficult to communicate with more than one party at a time.

Parish's research could help solve those problems. In a paper he's submitting for publication in a scientific journal, Parish proposes a solution.

Suppose Agent Base wants to send a secret message to Agent Field, who's in an undisclosed secret location. Base sends out a reference signal - comprised of many photons - in all directions. Field receives the signal and uses a device to reduce it to just one photon, which he encodes with a secret quantum key the two will use to decode their messages. He sends that photon back to Base, who measures it in order to find out the secret key. Base and Field can now communicate using the key to code and de-code their messages.

This method eliminates the need for Field to wear a tracking device, which could also be used by opposing agents. It also allows other agents that Base wants to talk with to receive the reference signal and beam back their own keys to Base.

"Using this you'll be able to have a multi-user free space system. The concept is totally new," said Parish.

Last fall, Parish began a new student organization, the Marine Robotics Group. The group is building a robotic submarine, which they plan to enter into a competition this summer.

As to his future plans, Parish said he would like to earn a doctorate and pursue a research career, most likely in electrical engineering.

Named in honor of the former Arizona senator, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Program is designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The award covers the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year for up to two years.

He knows who the president is and how many fingers the coach is holding up. But is he ready to get back in the game?

More than 750,000 mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) occur in the United States each year. When a player or soldier with even a mild concussion is sent back to the field, another blow to the head can lead to additional life long problems or even second impact syndrome, which has a mortality rate of up to 50 percent. But the injury is difficult to diagnose, even with a quiet room and a several-hour-long test.

Michelle LaPlaca, an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and David Wright, assistant director of Emory University's Emergency Medicine Research Center, have developed a new device to detect brain injuries right on the sidelines of a football game, on a battlefield or in the emergency room.

Called DETECT (Display Enhanced Testing for Concussions and mTBI system), the device is a fast, easy to administer and sensitive system for assessing problems associated with concussions. The DETECT device is an integrated system that includes software applications, a portable computer and an LCD display in the headgear.

While a typical mTBI test requires a quiet room and 1-2 hours of testing, DETECT performs neuropsychological tests in an immersive environment in about 7 minutes, regardless of surrounding noise and movement. So, a football player or soldier who just took a hard hit to the head can take the test and either be safely cleared to get back on the field or sent to receive medical attention.

The device blocks external stimuli that could interfere with testing, such as light and sound. This allows the test to be given in virtually any setting, even a bright football field with a roaring crowd.

When suffering from mTBI, a person will have difficulty with certain types of thinking controlled by a different areas of the brain, such as working memory, complex reaction and multi-tasking. DETECT runs the wearer through three types of neuropsychological tests that measure the function of several parts of the brain as it attempts to perform the tests.

For example, the first shows the wearer a series of shapes with different colors and textures and gives voice instructions. The wearer uses a simple controller similar to a video game controller to respond to the commands. The device then measures the wearer's response times and answer selections. If the response time is too slow or the incorrect answers were provided, it indicates impairment.

The DETECT system includes a laptop to run the software, a head-mounted display, earmuffs that also act as headphones and an input device (controller). The display projects the visual aspect of the test, the headphones provide the verbal instructions and the controller records the wearer's response.

In addition to the advantages of its speed and portability, DETECT can also be administered by a non-medical personnel such as a coach or parent rather than a trained neurophysiologist.

While the device has already been tested in the lab and in a hospital emergency room, the Georgia Tech football program recognizes the need for improved concussion assessment and plans to test this new technology.

DETECT may have other potential cognitive testing applications, such as helping assess cognitive impairment related to Alzheimer's disease or drug use. The test would be brief and could be performed in a general physician's office.

DETECT is expected to be commercially available in the next three to five years.

From 1987 to 2004, Atlanta has averaged 37 bad air quality days each summer. The worst year was 1999, when we experienced 69 bad air quality days. The best was last year, 2004, when we only experienced 11, said Chang.

"Changes in weather have a dramatic effect on air quality," said Chang. "Generally, hotter and drier summers lead to more bad air quality days, while cooler, wetter summers lead to fewer bad air quality days. A quick turnaround in air quality usually indicates the change is weather driven."

Chang is part of the Atlanta Air Quality Forecasting Team, a group of scientists from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and Georgia Tech that forecast air quality during the summer months. He has spent the past three-and-a-half years engaged in a $2.8 million study on assessing urban and regional air pollution in Georgia.

A Regional Approach to Air Quality

The Fall Line Air Quality Study focused on Macon, Augusta and Columbus, with Atlanta contributing to poor air quality in each of these cities. The study not only measured air pollution levels in these areas, but also pinpointed the source of pollutants and evaluated steps these communities and their neighbors can take to reduce pollution.

The study found that while Columbus and Augusta are likely to continue to meet federal air quality standards through 2012, Macon will likely need to implement more pollution controls if it wants to meet those standards by the federally mandated 2009 deadline and maintain it through 2012.

"The sources of air pollution in Macon are varied and include mobile sources, like cars and trucks as well as industrial sources, like factories and other manufacturing facilities," said Chang.

But regional sources, such as those in surrounding counties and neighboring metropolitan areas also affect air quality in Macon. Power plants located outside of the immediate Macon area, and the many sources in the Atlanta area were found to have a significant effect on Macon's air.

As such, regional efforts may also be cheaper than trying to reduce the sources of pollution in each city. The study found that if the controls that cost the least amount of money were implemented in Augusta and its environs, reducing the level of ozone in Augusta by 1 part-per-billion (ppb) would cost about $3 million. But, if only pollution sources in Augusta were reduced, the cost to trim ozone by the same amount would increase by 50 percent. In Columbus, the effect is even more pronounced. If Columbus takes a regional approach, its cost estimate is roughly the same as Augusta's. But if the city has to do it alone, that cost would balloon by 300 percent.

"If we can use the most cost effective controls, no matter where they are, we can do it much more cheaply than if we are restricted to controlling pollution within the city and county limits," said Chang. "If we are confined to the city limits, then the controls we put in place may not be the most cost effective. This drives up the price of clean air."

Many of the pollution controls have no cost at all, the study found. Discouraging school buses from idling and implementing a burning ban during certain months would cost virtually nothing. But the zero-cost solution that would have the biggest benefit on Macon's air is continuing to use Powder River Basin (PRB) coal for use at the Georgia Power plant in Scherer. PRB coal must be imported from Wyoming, but is cleaner than its East-Coast cousin. If all the zero-cost measures in the Macon area were used, said Chang, the area would see a 1.72 ppb reduction in ozone levels.

Other controls may open up new business opportunities. Adding electrical outlets to truck stops in Macon, Augusta and Columbus could reduce heavy-duty vehicle emissions in each locality by 2.6 percent. But truck stop owners could likely make up the cost by charging for electricity. And with the cost of gasoline continuing to climb, trucking companies may actually save money paying for electricity because it would mean that truckers no longer have to idle their engines to produce juice for their cab saving on high fuel costs.

"When we began this study, each of the three communities wanted to take immediate action to improve air quality, but they didn't know what they should do," said Chang. "Should they go after local sources or more distant ones - cars and trucks or factories and power plants? We have provided them with a menu of options that describe not only the actions they can take, but also the potential costs and benefits of those actions. While tough decisions still need to be made. Armed with the information from our study, Augusta, Macon, and Columbus, working with the state and federal regulatory agencies, can now develop a plan for improving or maintaining air quality that is effective, efficient, and equitable."

But biomedical nanotechnology might help shed light on the molecular mechanisms responsible for one of the U.S.'s deadliest diseases.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University $11.5 million to establish a new research program focused on creating advanced nanotechnologies to analyze plaque formation on the molecular level and detect plaque at its early stages. Plaques containing cholesterol and lipids may build up during the life of blood vessels. When these plaques become unstable and rupture they can block the vessels, leading to heart attack and stroke.

The multi-disciplinary program, part of NHLBI's Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology (PEN), is headed by Dr. Gang Bao, a professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. The program includes 12 faculty investigators from both institutions and will be based at Emory. It is one of four national PEN awards. The initiative is in accord with the NIH Roadmap's strategy to accelerate progress in medical research through innovative technology and interdisciplinary research.

The program's work will focus primarily on detecting plaque and pinpointing its genetic causes with three types of nanostructured probes - molecular beacons, semiconductor quantum dots and magnetic nanoparticles.

Healthy, undamaged cells lining the vessel wall do not attract platelets or cause a build-up of plaque. But in a diseased blood vessel, cells lining the vessel wall may have certain cellular and molecular characteristics that make them stickier, causing platelets to stick to the vessel wall, create plaque blockage and obstruct blood flow.

A molecular beacon is a biosensor about four to five nanometers in size that can seek out and detect specific target genes. It is a short piece of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in the shape of a hairpin loop with a fluorescent dye molecule at one end and a "quencher" molecule at the other end. The ssDNA is synthesized to match a region on a specific messenger RNA (mRNA) that is unique to the gene. The fluorescence of the beacon is quenched, or suppressed, until it seeks out and binds to a complementary target mRNA, which causes the hairpin to open up and the beacon to emit light.

The level of gene expression within a cell can reflect susceptibility to disease. The fluorescence from the beacons will vary with the level of the target genes' expression in each cell, creating a glowing marker if the cell has a detectable level of gene expression that is known to contribute to cardiovascular disease.

"With molecular beacons, we hope to follow the dynamics of gene expression in normal and diseased cells," Bao said. "We can find out how quickly these genes are being turned on and how the expression levels are correlated with factors contributing to early plaque formation."

To complement gene expression studies using molecular beacons, the team will develop quantum-dot nanocrystal probes and use them to study protein molecular signatures of cardiovascular disease. Quantum dots are nanometer-sized semiconductor particles that have unique electronic and optical properties due to their size and their highly compact structure. Quantum dot based probes can act as markers for specific proteins and cells and can be used to study protein-protein interactions in live cells or to detect diseased cells. These ultra-sensitive probes may help cardiologists understand the formation of early stage plaques and dramatically improve detection sensitivity.

Other research will include using magnetic nanoparticles to detect early-stage plaques in patients. The magnetic nanoparticles will target specific proteins on the surface of cells in a plaque, and serve as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This could provide an image of the plaque formation and could become a powerful tool for better disease diagnosis. The investigators will also develop ultra-sensitive probes for the free radicals inside cells and biomolecular constructs for molecular imaging and therapeutics.

The program will integrate the biomedical engineering strengths of Georgia Tech and the cardiology expertise of Emory University School of Medicine. The new program is part of the joint Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, established in 1997, and currently ranked third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

In addition to this cardiovascular nanotechnology award and an ongoing cancer nanotechnology program, the Georgia Tech/Emory group also plans to expand biomolecular engineering and nanotechnology to the detection and treatment of other diseases, such as neurodegenerative and infectious diseases.

"This program is only part of a larger scale biomedical nanotechnology effort at Georgia Tech and Emory," said Dr. Larry McIntire, The Wallace H. Coulter Chair in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory. "We are pleased to add cardiology to our growing breadth of nanomedicine research."

"The synergistic research relationship between Emory and Georgia Tech in engineering and medicine demonstrates the power of discovery that becomes possible when two institutions join their unique yet complementary strengths in an entirely new scientific approach to solving complex problems of medicine," said Dr. James W. Wagner, president of Emory University.

"The Programs of Excellence in Nanotechnology is a vitally important research effort that will spur the development of novel technologies to diagnose and treat heart, lung, and blood diseases," said Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. "The program brings together bioengineers, materials scientists, biologists and physicians who will work in interdisciplinary teams. By taking advantage of the unique properties of materials at the nano-scale, these teams will devise creative
solutions to medical problems."

Co-investigators on the project include Emory cardiologists Wayne Alexander, MD, PhD, Kathy Griendling, PhD, David Harrison, MD, Charles Searles and Robert Taylor, MD; and biomedical engineers from Georgia Tech and Emory Don Giddens, PhD, Xiaoping Hu, PhD, Hanjoong Jo, PhD, Niren Murthy, PhD, Shuming Nie, PhD and Dongmei Wang, PhD.

Bodman became the nations's eleventh secretary of energy on February 1. He has served in the Bush administration since 2001 when he joined the Department of Commerce to serve as deputy secretary. In 2004, he moved to the Department of the Treasury where he again held the position of deputy secretary.

Before entering public service, Bodman worked in the private sector for 30 years as a financier and executive. In 1987, he joined the Cabot Corporation, a Boston-based Fortune 300 company, where he served as chairman, CEO and a director. Prior to that he served as president and chief operating officer of Fidelity Investments and a director of the Fidelity Group of Mutual Funds.

Bodman received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University in 1961 and his science doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965. For the next six years he served as an associate professor of chemical engineering at M.I.T. and began his work in the financial sector as technical director of the American Research and Development Corporation, a pioneer venture capital firm. He and his colleagues provided financial and managerial support to scores of new business enterprises located throughout the United States.

Bodman is former director of MIT's School of Engineering Practice and a former member of the MIT Commission on Education. He also served as a member of the Executive and Investment Committees at MIT, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Trustee of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the New England Aquarium.

A Family Affair

This spring, four graduating students will be sharing the stage with family members. Mona Kashlan will receive her bachelor's in Management while her daughter Farah Kashlan will receive her master's in Public Policy. In addition, sisters Rosie and Gina Kwok will both receive their Master's of Business Administration (MBA).

It's fair to say the Kashlans are a die hard Georgia Tech family. Next year, there will be three Kashlans getting their diplomas at Tech. Mona Kashlan's daughter, Nadine, will graduate from the College of Architecture, while nephews Samy and Osama will get their bachelor's degrees in biomedical engineering and chemical engineering, respectively. Her son, Kareem, also has his eyes on becoming a yellow jacket, but he'll have to wait a few years. He's still a high school freshman.

"When I came here in 1986, I heard so many things about the school because my brother-in-law was in school at Georgia Tech," said Mona Kashlan. "I fell in love with the school and decided this is where I want to be."

Being a non-traditional student at Tech was tough, but worth it, she said. "After waiting all these years to get my degree, I didn't want just any degree. I wanted a Georgia Tech degree." She's graduating with highest honors, with an expected grade point average of 3.83.

Following graduation, she has her sights on a position in marketing or strategic management at a large international corporation. Daughter, Farah, is looking at Ph.D. programs and plans to work in public policy as a consultant.

Although her husband didn't go to Tech, Mona Kashlan said there's no one more proud of his Georgia Tech family. "If he wanted to put bumper stickers on his car, his would have to say 'My wife, my daughters, my money and my heart go to Georgia Tech'," she said. "I would like to thank him, because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here. It took a lot of adjustment."

Rosie and Gina Kwok didn't plan on graduating together, but it worked out that way. Rosie Kwok returned to her alma mater in 2002 to pursue her MBA but took an internship the next year at Disney World. Her sister, Gina, started Tech in 2003. By the time she returned from her internship, the sisters were scheduled to finish their degrees at the same time.

"When I left for a year and came back, I didn't know anybody else in the program because everyone I knew had already graduated. It was nice to come back and have a friendly face here with me," said Rosie Kwok.

"And when I started, she was gone," said Gina Kwok. "It was nice because I already knew a lot of her friends. They helped me get through my first year."

Rosie Kwok was working for AMB IT, a Smyrna-based company that makes timing equipment for the racing industry, when she decided to pursue her MBA.

"It's a small company and a lot of the things there I learned on my own, so I really wanted to come back to school to see how it's done," she said.

Gina Kwok was also working in the industry when she decided to make the jump to Tech. "I worked for a consulate here in Atlanta and I saw how much international business is conducted here," she said. "I knew that the MBA program at Tech is very well known in the international business community so I figured this would be a good way for me to build contacts."

Wanting to take advantage of Tech's international offerings, she spent a semester in South Korea last year at her parents' alma mater, Seoul National University. She also took a class in Singapore during spring break.

Rosie Kwok plans on returning to AMB IT after graduation, while her sister is still looking for something in the marketing or human resources fields.

Like the Kashlan's the Kwok sisters aren't the only ones in their family to have yellow jacket fever. Their brother Marcus graduated from Tech in December with a double major in computer engineering and mathematics. He's currently conducting research at The Johns Hopkins University.

"Gold nanoparticles are very good at scattering and absorbing light," said Mostafa El-Sayed, director of the Laser Dyanamics Laboratory and chemistry professor at Georgia Tech. "We wanted to see if we could harness that scattering property in a living cell to make cancer detection easier. So far, the results are extremely promising."

Many cancer cells have a protein, known as Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EFGR), all over their surface, while healthy cells typically do not express the protein as strongly. By conjugating, or binding, the gold nanoparticles to an antibody for EFGR, suitably named anti-EFGR, researchers were able to get the nanoparticles to attach themselves to the cancer cells.

"If you add this conjugated nanoparticle solution to healthy cells and cancerous cells and you look at the image, you can tell with a simple microscope that the whole cancer cell is shining," said El-Sayed. "The healthy cell doesn't bind to the nanoparticles specifically, so you don't see where the cells are. With this technique, if you see a well defined cell glowing, that's cancer."

In the study, researchers found that the gold nanoparticles have 600 percent greater affinity for cancer cells than for noncancerous cells. The particles that worked the best were 35 nanometers in size. Researchers tested their technique using cell cultures of two different types of oral cancer and one nonmalignant cell line. The shape of the strong absorption spectrum of the gold nanoparticles are also found to distinguish between cancer cells and noncancerous cells.

What makes this technique so promising, said El-Sayed, is that it doesn't require expensive high-powered microscopes or lasers to view the results, as other techniques require. All it takes is a simple, inexpensive microscope and white light.

Another benefit is that the results are instantaneous. "If you take cells from a cancer stricken tissue and spray them with these gold nanoparticles that have this antibody you can see the results immediately. The scattering is so strong that you can detect a single particle," said El-Sayed.

Finally, the technique isn't toxic to human cells. A similar technique using artificial atoms known as Quantum Dots uses semiconductor crystals to mark cancer cells, but the semiconductor material is potentially toxic to the cells and humans.

"This technique is very simple and inexpensive to use," said El-Sayed. "We think it holds great promise in making cancer detection easier, faster and less expensive."

The research team consisted of El-Sayed, along with his son Ivan El-Sayed, head and neck surgeon at the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center and Tech graduate student Xiaohua Huang.

U.S. astronaut William S. McArthur Jr., who earned a master of science degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech in 1983, and Russian cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev will serve on the International Space Station as the crew of Expedition 12. They will travel to the ISS on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft later this year for their six-month mission. McArthur is the Expedition 12 commander and Tokarev is the flight engineer.

Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, will also carry out a long-duration mission on the Station. He will fly to the Station aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS -121, planned for a September 2005 launch. Reiter will work on the Station as part of an agreement between the Russian Federal Space Agency and ESA.

Reiter's arrival on the Station marks the return to a three-person crew. Station crews were reduced to two members in May 2003, to conserve onboard resources until the Shuttle, with its considerable cargo capability, could again deliver supplies.

McArthur, Tokarev and Reiter are space flight veterans. McArthur and Tokarev trained as backup crew members for ISS Expeditions 8 and 10. McArthur has flown on three Space Shuttle flights: STS-58 in 1993; STS-74 in 1995; and STS-92 in 2000. He has logged more than 35 days in space, including more than 13 hours spacewalking. On his last two missions he visited the Russian Space Station Mir and the ISS.

McArthur graduated from West Point in June 1973 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Following a tour with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he entered the U.S. Army Aviation School in 1975. He was the top graduate of his flight class and was designated an Army aviator in June 1976. He subsequently served as an aeroscout team leader and brigade aviation section commander with the 2nd Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea. In 1978 he was assigned to the 24th Combat Aviation Battalion in Savannah, Georgia, where he served as a company commander, platoon leader, and operations officer. After completing studies at Georgia Tech, he was assigned to the Department of Mechanics at West Point as an assistant professor. In June 1987, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and was designated an experimental test pilot. Other military schools completed include the Army Parachutist Course, the Jumpmaster Course, and the Command and General Staff Officers' Course.

STS-121 is the second scheduled test flight for the Shuttle since the Columbia accident on February 1, 2003, and the first to transport a crew for a long-duration Station mission since 2002. Atlantis will carry supplies and equipment to the ISS, and the crew will test upgraded Shuttle safety equipment and procedures.

The report examines the degree of partisanship and the strength of connections among House committees in the 107th Congress (2001-2002) using network analysis (something like a mathematical version of the six degrees of Kevin Bacon).

Among other findings was that the Homeland Security Committee had very strong ties to the Rules Committee. It had very weak ties to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and shared no members in common with its Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee, which grew out of the bi-partisan group assigned to investigate the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The research is published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We use a tool called network theory, which we borrow from other situations like studies of the World Wide Web or of people who sit together on the boards of more than one company, " said Mason Porter, visiting assistant professor at Georgia Tech. "By looking at the number of members that pairs of committees and subcommittees share, we were able to determine the strengths of those connections."

Porter and colleagues studied these relationships in the House from 1989-2004 and provide detailed examples for the 107th Congress. Using a method known as singular value decomposition, they also examined the voting records for each of the 435 members to get an objective indication of how partisan they are.

"Every representative boils down to two numbers that you can put in a rectangle on a piece of paper. One represents how far they are on the extremes of the political spectrum - we called that partisanship - and the other represents how well they play with others," said Porter.

Current Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, along with Janice Schakowsky and James McGovern from Illinois were among the most partisan Democrats of the House. Among the most partisan Republicans were Thomas Tancredo from Colorado, John Shadegg from Arizona and Jim Ryun from Kansas. The least partisan members included Frank Lucas from Oklahoma, former congresswoman Constance Morella of Maryland and Ralph Hall from Texas.

The researchers assigned each member a color based on their degree of partisanship (in either party). Red denotes very partisan while blue denotes least partisan with orange, yellow and green falling somewhere in between. They then placed the members in each of their committees and, using the same color system, described the committees based on the average extremism of its members. Arranging the committees around a circular diagram, they drew lines between committees that shared members.

"What the colors do is make certain committees jump out at you," explained Porter. "That's how we discovered the strong ties between the Homeland Security Committee and the Rules Committee and how we found the extreme partisanship of both of those groups and the Judiciary Committee."

"Checking our study against the historical record, our study shows that network theory and singular value decomposition can accurately describe political bodies like the House of Representatives," said Porter. "Our analysis strongly suggests that committee assignments are indeed stacked, and that some of the most partisan committees share some unusually strong connections considering the differences in their jurisdictions. Our approach suggests that these types of analyses can be very useful to political scientists in the future."

In addition to Porter, the research team consisted of: Peter J. Mucha, assistant professor of mathematics at Georgia Tech; Mark Newman, associate professor of physics and complex systems at the University of Michigan; and graduate student Casey Warmbrand, from the University of Arizona. The project originated as Warmbrand's student project when he was an undergraduate at Georgia Tech in 2003. The research is supported by the National Science Foundation's Vertical Integration of Research and Education program (VIGRE).

In a recent study, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, along with colleagues from the IBM Watson Research Center and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland, found that while nanotubes are extremely stiff when pulled from the ends, they give when poked in the middle. The larger the radius, the softer they become. The finding, which is important for the development of nanoelectronics, is published in the May 6, 2005 edition of the journal Physical Review Letters.

"We know from previous studies that nanotubes are very stiff in the axial direction (end to end) but very little is known about their radial elasticity, mainly because when you're working with tubes that small it's very difficult to poke them without pushing them beyond the point where they will be irremediably damaged," said Elisa Riedo, assistant professor of physics at Georgia Tech.

Using an atomic force microscope (AFM) and testing it with a tip of 35 nanometers in radius, researchers lightly prodded the nanotubes to measure the elasticity.

"By making a very small indentation in the tubes, we were able to measure the radial elasticity of a number of single and multiwalled carbon nanotubes of different radii. What we found was that as we tested this technique with wider and wider nanotubes, the bigger tubes were much less stiff than the smaller tubes," said Riedo.

Riedo and colleagues began with a single-walled nanotube with a radius of only 0.2 nanometers and slowly inched, or rather nanometered, their way up to multiwalled nanotubes measuring 12 nanometers in radius. They tested 39 nanotubes in all.

"We started with single-walled nanotubes and then measured tubes with an increasing number of layers, keeping the external radius twice as large as internal radius," said Riedo. "Our experiments show that for nanotubes with small internal radii, increasing the radii makes them softer. This means that for these tubes, the radial rigidity is controlled by the magnitude of the internal radius, whereas the number of layers plays a minor role."

But, for the nanotubes with larger radii, the elasticity of the nanotubes is almost constant. This could mean that the softening that occurs as the internal radius of a nanotube is increased, is counterbalanced by the stiffening effect that occurs as the number of layers increases, up to the point at which the nanotube's properties reach those of graphite, she said.

Understanding just how much these nanotubes of various sizes and layers can bend is an important step in the development of nanoelectronics and the nanowires that carry electrical current through them. Recently, a team of scientists at the University of California, Irvine, demonstrated that transistors made of single-walled nanotubes can operate at much faster speeds than traditional transistors. Knowing just how far these tubes can bend may lead to even more efficient nanowires.

Since the team kept the external radius twice the distance as the tubes' internal radius in this round of tests, Riedo said the next step is to change this ratio and vary the number of layers, while keeping the internal radius constant and vice-versa to see how these changes affect the tubes' elastic properties.

"The University of Arkansas has an amazing opportunity to create something very special through its new Honors College," said McMath. "Georgia Tech has been my life for 33 years, and I will leave with a great deal of sadness. But the opportunity that has been presented to me at the University of Arkansas is the chance of a lifetime, and Linda and I are excited about giving it our best shot."

McMath, 60, joined the faculty in 1972 after receiving his doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has taught at Georgia Tech since then, and was named an honorary alumnus in 2004.

As vice provost, McMath oversees student academic services and coordinates campus-wide initiatives to improve the teaching and learning environment for undergraduates, including the design of a new undergraduate learning center. He continues to teach undergraduate courses and supervise graduate students. He has received the George W. Griffith Award for Outstanding Teaching and the Dean James E. Dull Administrator of the Year Award, as well as the Governor's Award for the Humanities.

"Quiet leadership is often the most effective," said Provost Jean-Lou Chameau. "Bob has proved it through his unparalleled leadership for undergraduate education and faculty excellence. Tech is losing an outstanding administrator, and I am losing a trusted advisor and friend."

McMath said that the decision to move to Fayetteville was not an easy one. "I have so many wonderful friends at Georgia Tech and so many memories of this outstanding institution. We have made so much progress over the last 30 years, and I know that progress will continue," he said.

"In my job as vice provost, I am supposed to wake up every morning and think, 'how can we make teaching and learning better for our undergraduates today?' and then go find good people who have the ideas and determination to bring about positive change. Although I'm sad to be leaving some important tasks unfinished, I do so knowing that they are in very capable hands with members of the Tech community - faculty, staff, and students - who will see them through. I hope to come back one day for the opening of the Undergraduate Learning Center!"

McMath will assume his new responsibilities at Arkansas on August 1. In the meantime, there is a lot of work to do in packing up more than 30 years of memories and materials. McMath is the author or co-author of seven books and numerous articles on American history and the history of the American South. He co-authored and edited "Engineering the New South: Georgia Tech, 1885-1985," which was published as part of Georgia Tech's centennial celebration. The book has been widely praised among historians as one of the best scholarly studies of American universities.

McMath hopes to bring the lessons of his Tech tenure to Arkansas to meet their undergraduate education challenges. The opportunity to have an impact on undergraduates is considerable and he feels that his work throughout his career here has prepared him well.

"I want to thank Wayne Clough and Jean-Lou Chameau for giving me a tremendous opportunity to lead and to develop new capabilities here at Georgia Tech. Whatever value I bring to the new position at the University of Arkansas is due to the lessons I learned here."

Bob's wife Linda is a public school administrator in DeKalb County. Their two children both live and work in the San Francisco Bay area. Bob and Linda are currently collaborating on a historical travel guide to the eastern shore of Virginia and Maryland.

But it is his impact on students that will be McMath's greatest legacy. "Bob has had a remarkable career at Georgia Tech: historian extraordinaire, teaching virtuoso, and Renaissance man of education," Chameau said. "His impact on our educational programs is unequaled."

"Our algorithm balances two trade-offs in a way that optimizes revenue in Google's advertising model," says Vijay Vazirani, professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech.

When Internet users perform a search on Google or Yahoo!, a separate list of advertising links appears to the right of each page of search results. Advertisers place bids for their ad links to appear with certain keywords, and the ads are ranked roughly in order of the amounts of the bids. (Search engines also take into account the popularity of the ad or "clickthrough rate.") An advertiser pays only when someone chooses to click on the ad link. On Google, advertisers can also specify a maximum daily budget for their ads. Once the budgeted amount is spent, an ad is dropped for the rest of the day.

Upon examining the Google ad model, Vijay Vazirani, together with his two Georgia Tech Ph.D. students, Aranyak Mehta and Amin Saberi, and Umesh Vazirani, a professor of computer science at Berkeley, realized that always giving the top spot to the highest bidder is not the best strategy for Google. The top bidders might rapidly exhaust their budgets and get dropped from the auction, thus reducing the competition for that keyword.

Google's profits will be higher, the researchers reasoned, if it somehow weighs both bids and remaining budget when ranking ads. They found a mathematical formula that finds the optimal trade-off between bids and remaining budget, maximizing what the advertisers are spending.

The research team has filed a provisional patent for their work to ensure that the research remains in the public domain. The team continues to explore other applications for their algorithm such as in engineering and for solving other computer science problems.

The goal of the project is to determine if offshore wind power is a feasible and efficient renewable energy option for power generation. The project concept is expected to include three to five wind turbines that could generate 10 megawatts of power, enough to power about 2,500 homes.

"We remain interested in finding viable renewable energy options that can play a part in meeting the growing demands of our customers," said David Ratcliffe, president, chairman and CEO of Southern Company. "Our partnership with Georgia Tech presents us a unique opportunity to assess offshore wind power as a cost-effective option for generating power in our region."

The first step of the project, a design and conceptual engineering phase, will be conducted starting in July using technical expertise from both Georgia Tech and Southern Company. The first phase of the project will evaluate various technology options for wind turbines, platforms/foundations, submarine cabling and grid interconnection. Detailed analyses of a site location and environmental regulations and jurisdictions, including permitting requirements, will also be determined.

The project is a continuation of research conducted by Georgia Tech's Strategic Energy Initiative, a research group devoted to testing both the scientific and economic feasibility of innovative energy technologies. The research was funded with a National Science Foundation grant focused on innovative energy options in the coastal Georgia region.

"To win in the competitive marketplace of the 21st century, our energy solutions must offer value that makes them worth the cost," said Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough. "We are enthusiastic about working with a long-time partner in the Southern Company to develop an energy source that is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly."

Though many discounted the Southeast as a possible site for offshore wind turbines, the Georgia Tech group, lead by Dr. Sam Shelton, was able to prove that there may be enough wind for power generation by analyzing six years of wind data collected from Navy platforms located off the coast of Savannah. The strong westerlies that blow along Georgia's coastal waters coupled with the technological advances seen in the last few decades make this offshore region the best site for an offshore wind demonstration project.

In addition to its plentiful wind, the area is also ideal for offshore wind because of its extensive amount of shallow water at distances beyond the shoreline view, which could reduce building costs and avoid the challenges of building and operating wind turbines in deep-water.

The project also has the potential to be the first offshore wind project completed in the United States. There are only two other planned U.S. offshore wind projects, one near Fire Island and Long Island off the coast of New York and another between Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts - but both are much larger than the Southern Co./Georgia Tech project and neither has been approved.

Southern Company has invested more than $6 million over the last five years in renewable energy technologies, such as evaluating wind, solar and biomass as possible options. The company has successfully tested switchgrass as a biomass fuel, as well as expanded research into biomass for power generation by testing a gasification process, which has the potential to be cost-competitive when compared with other forms of renewable energy.

With more than 4 million customers and nearly 39,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier super-regional energy company in the Southeast and a leading U.S. producer of electricity. Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states, a growing competitive generation company and a competitive retail natural gas business, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications. Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are 15 percent below the national average. Southern Company has been ranked the nation's top electric utility in the American Customer Satisfaction Index six years in a row. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States.

"Disruptions in the supply chain devastate corporate performance," says Singhal, who recently conducted several related studies of supply-chain failure in collaboration with Kevin Hendricks, associate professor of operations management at the University of Western Ontario. Their research shows that disruptions do long-lasting damage to companies' stock prices and profitability.

"Firms continue to operate for at least two years at a lower performance level after experiencing a disruption," says Singhal, whose study, "An Empirical Analysis of the Effect of Supply-Chain Disruptions on Long-Run Stock Price Performance and Risk of the Firm," appears in the latest issue of Production and Operations Management. "It does not matter who caused the disruption, what the reason for the disruption was, what industry a firm belongs to, or when the disruption happened."

Supply-chain disruptions are on the rise in many industries, partly because of the growing reliance on overseas' suppliers for components, Singhal says. For example, when Motorola introduced its first camera phone in late 2003, the company couldn't acquire enough lenses and chipsets to meet demand for the hot product. Sony, Boeing, Hershey, Nike and Cisco are just a handful of other big companies hurt by disruptions in recent years. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to the ill effects of disruptions because they're focused on fewer products and wield less clout with supply-chain partners, Singhal says.

Though sometimes the unpredictable result of disasters like earthquakes or terrorist acts, supply-chain disruptions often could be prevented by better risk management, he says. Symptoms of an impending disruption are usually evident well in advance, he notes. "As with a heart attack, companies suddenly feel a lot of pain, but there have long been plenty of indications that they're not doing so well," he says. "If the companies involved had planned better, the disruption could have been avoided."

Singhal and Hendricks' research shows that in the year leading up to the disruption, firms on average experience a 107 percent decrease in operating income, 7 percent lower sales growth, and an 11 percent growth in cost. They suffer 33 to 40 percent lower stock returns (relative to their industry benchmarks) over a three-year period, starting one year before and ending two years after the announcement of the disruption. Share-price volatility rises by 13.5 percent in the year after a disruption.

"Although it seems obvious that a supply-chain glitch would affect profitability, little has been done to measure the fallout," says Singhal, who analyzed more than 800 supply-chain disruptions that were publicly announced from 1989 to 2000. "We were very surprised by how much impact disruptions make."

Overemphasis on cost cutting has removed too much slack from supply chains, increasing the incidence of broken links, says Singhal, whose study, "Association between Supply Chain Glitches and Operating Performance" is due for publication later this year in the journal Management Science. "While efficient and lean supply chains are desirable objectives, they should not come at the expense of reliability and responsiveness," he says.

Executives should pay more attention to supply-chain issues because heightened scrutiny of corporate governance has made them more directly responsible for earnings forecasts, Singhal says. He recommends that they build more flexibility into the supply chain, increase the accuracy of demand forecasts, improve their risk-management strategies, and invest in available technologies that can provide early-warning of supply problems, among other steps.

For more information, contact Vinod Singhal at 404-894-4908 or vinod.singhal@mgt.gatech.edu.

There are about 2 million distinct proteins in the human body. That's a lot of proteins - and the future of personalized medicine depends on a better understanding of proteins, including their structure and interactions with drugs and medical devices.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a device that has the potential to significantly reduce the time needed to analyze these important proteins, shortening development time for new drugs and bringing down the overall cost of protein analysis technology. According to findings published in Applied Physics Letters, the device can potentially analyze proteins much faster, more gently and at a lower cost.

"The device has the potential to completely change the landscape of this field," said Andrei Fedorov, an associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech who leads the project. Fedorov's collaborators on the project include Professor F.L. Degertekin from the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Professor F.M. Fernandez from the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

The device is a critical component of a mass spectrometer, an instrument that can detect proteins present even in ultra-small concentrations by measuring the relative masses of ionized atoms and molecules. Mass spectrometers can provide a complete protein profile and essentially make proteomics, the study of how proteins are produced and interact within an organ, cell or tissue, possible.

"You need to be able to take a blood sample, pass it through a system and figure out the complete protein profile of the human plasma. It's an extremely technology-intensive process and you need to have a technology to do this kind of testing quickly and inexpensively," Fedorov said.

But before the mass spectrometer can analyze a sample, molecules must first be converted to gas-phase charged ions through electrospray ionization (ESI), a process that produces ions by evaporating charged droplets obtained through spraying or bubbling.

Georgia Tech's AMUSE (Array of Micromachined Ultra Sonic Electrospray) technology has several key advantages over currently available electrospray methods. In AMUSE, the sample aerosolization and protein charging processes are separated, giving AMUSE the unique ability to operate at low voltages with a wide range of solvents. In addition, AMUSE is a nanoscale ion source and drastically lowers the required sample size by improving sample use.

Also important, AMUSE is a "high-throughput" microarray device, meaning that it can analyze many more samples at a time than a conventional electrospray device.

This innovation will be particularly useful for the pharmaceutical industry. Drugs target certain proteins to achieve their designed effect on the body. The pharmaceutical industry must test large numbers compounds on even larger numbers of proteins to determine what effect a substance has on the body and whether or not it is safe. With AMUSE, the time-consuming process could be streamlined considerably, which could significantly shorten drug development time.

In addition to its ability to handle a much higher number of samples, AMUSE can also be manufactured more cheaply than current ESI devices. Conventional electrospray devices in mass spectrometers generally cost around $150 a piece and must be cleaned after each sample is analyzed. AMUSE could be made disposable and mass produced at a few dollars a piece, making Georgia Tech's device a key step toward more affordable mass spectrometers for clinical applications.

For example, to determine whether a patient has cancer, a small blood sample is typically frozen and sent out to a testing lab at another facility. This freezing process and trip to the lab have a significant impact, damaging the proteins and possibly giving an incomplete analysis. In the future, with a powerful and portable mass spectrometer, it may be possible for a doctor to take a sample directly from the patient, place it in the device and receive an analysis on the spot.

"Terry provided leadership at a very important time for the College," said President Wayne Clough. "Among a number of notable accomplishments, I think that she did an excellent job in leading the College across the Connector and into a more visible profile at Technology Square. The quality and sophistication of that space will help tremendously in continuing to recruit outstanding faculty, students, and staff."

When Blum became dean in 1999, she broke ground as one of the first women deans of an academic college at Georgia Tech. In addition to being a professor, she previously served as the director of the College's Center for Entrepreneurship and New Venture Development (1996-2000). She was named to the Tedd Munchak chair in entrepreneurship in 1996 making her the first woman at Georgia Tech to be awarded an endowed chair.

"As dean, Terry has accomplished what she set out to do six years ago," said Provost Jean-Lou Chameau. "She focused on improving the faculty, raising enthusiasm and support for the new business school building, increasing our global presence and improving external recognition of the technology-focused MBA program. She stabilized and improved the College and I'm very appreciative of her efforts."

A search process will be initiated immediately with the goal of selecting a new dean by the time Blum officially steps down.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to lead the College of Management during this exciting time of change and growth," says Blum. "We have accomplished a great deal over the last six years, some of it obvious and some of it more subtle. However, I'm ready to return to my research and teaching and leadership in other capacities than dean. I look forward to helping a new dean take over the leadership of this great college. Like all strong organizations, the best years lie ahead for the College of Management and I look forward to continuing to contribute to that. We are good, maybe even excellent," said Blum, "but the goal is to be GREAT. The real measure of my success will be how well my successor does in leading the College to new heights."

Dr. Blum has researched and published extensively on topics related to innovation and technology transfer in health services related to behavioral health care, an area of increasing importance in innovation strategy. In 1998, she co-received a Whitaker Foundation special opportunities grant (1998-2001) to develop and implement a curriculum in entrepreneurship and innovation for graduate students in biomedical technology and life sciences reflecting her interests in technology transfer and value creation. This curriculum has since been expanded to include students from all of the engineering, science and computing disciplines.

Blum currently serves as an advisor or director for several entrepreneurial endeavors including: Stanford's Roundtable on Engineering Entrepreneurship Education; MedShare International, a not-for-profit venture; Georgia Tech Technology Ventures; and Georgia Tech's Economic Development Institute. In addition, she is participating as an organizer and director of a community bank, Midtown Bank and Trust.

"Terry was the right person at the right time for the College of Management," said Larry Huang, chair of the College's Advisory Board. "She has left Management in better shape than when she arrived as Dean, and we certainly hope to be able to say that about her successor. I've truly enjoyed working with Terry to shape the strategic future of this outstanding College. Georgia Tech has a unique opportunity to make this program one of the finest among all public universities. Terry played a critical role in getting us to where we stand today."

Georgia Tech College of Management
The College of Management, the business school at Georgia Tech, prepares business leaders for changing technological environments through disciplinary and interdisciplinary educational programs for undergraduates, MBA students, PhD students, and executive audiences.

Each fellow at Tech will receive $45,000 over a two-year period that can be used without restriction in research of the fellow's choice. The awards, established in 1955, are the oldest program of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and are designed to give support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars.

Streelman, who is completing his first year at Tech, will use the award to supplement his study of the jaws and teeth of cichlid fish in Africa's Lake Malawi. Cichlid fish exhibit a trait known as phenotypic plasticity in their jaws whereby the same set of genes can result in widely different jaw types and sizes depending on the prey the fish eats. Fish who start out life eating prey that require crushing will develop strong jaws, while fish who eat more tender prey will have weaker jaws, even though the genes may be identical. As a result, cichlids exhibit tremendous diversity in the form and strength of their jaws. Streelman is studying the jaws to gain a more complete picture of how the genes and the environment result in different traits.

"We want to know the genes that control functional variation in the shapes of jaw and tooth skeletal elements," he said. In addition to looking at the jaws as a biological system, Streelman said they can be modeled as mechanical systems. "If we can measure the angles and components, we can treat them as if they were a synthetic material and ask how these models predict the force generated by the fish. The work has potential applications for mechanical as well as tissue engineering."

Kuzmich plans on using the award to develop long distance communications over quantum networks. Unlike traditional computer networks, which move information in bits of ones or zeros, quantum networks move information in quantum bits, which can be both ones and zeros at the same time. The upshot is that quantum computers may be able to do certain tasks - code breaking and simulations of quantum mechanics, for example - more quickly and more securely than conventional computers.

"In principle, classic communications networks are always insecure," explained Kuzmich. "With quantum communications, one cannot eavesdrop without being detected because the act of eavesdropping changes the states of the quantum bits. So it is always easy to see if someone is listening to what you are saying. This could have a big impact on commerce and government applications."

Weck will use the award to support his work in developing self-assembling, multifunctional raw materials. Weck explained that nature uses only a few building blocks to make a wide array of complex materials, such as DNA and proteins. His work involves trying to mimic nature's design motifs in making new materials.

"The amount of complexity you can get with these self-assembling motifs is potentially much higher than what you can get with covalent chemistry-based systems," said Weck.

Previous Sloan Fellows from Tech include: Saugata Basu (2003 Mathematics), Andrew Lyon and Z. John Zhang (2002 Chemistry), Robert Dickson (2001 Chemistry), Elizabeth Mynatt and Dana Randall (2001 Computing) and Rigoberto Hernandez (2000 Chemistry).

"The nice thing about the fellowship is the confidence that it gives you," said Streelman. "When I look at the list of people who've gotten it before, it's a pretty impressive group of people."

However, fundamentalists actually tend to form strong personal connections with particular product brands, according to a new study conducted by Wong in partnership with Aric Rindfleisch, associate professor of marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and James E. Burroughs, assistant professor of commerce at the University of Virginia.

The study's findings suggest that fundamentalists' brand connection stems from their need for predictability and certainty in a confusing world that is rapidly changing in ways that threaten their most sacred values.

"They seek cognitive security in the brands they buy and use," says Wong, who recently presented this study, titled "Religious Fundamentalism and Brand Connections," at the ACR Europe conference in Sweden.

Wong and her collaborators conducted their research in America first and then Singapore. While most of the 382 people surveyed in America were Christian, the sample of 300 Singaporeans was evenly divided among Buddhists, Christians and Muslims.

"Singapore is one of the few places with sizable percentages of adherents to three of the world's major religions," says Wong, whose research team wanted to see if the results of its American survey were replicable across other cultural settings and religious groups.

Their findings were consistent among all three religious groups in both countries for the product categories examined: cars and blue jeans in America, and cell phones and watches in Singapore. The researchers were careful to avoid products that might have religious associations, Wong notes.

Marketing scholars generally pay scant attention to religion, and companies often only acknowledge fundamentalists when faced with an organized boycott resulting from religious-based objections to a product, Wong says. However, the rise of fundamentalism among all major world religions is a movement that marketers can no longer ignore, she stresses.

"Based on our findings, firms may wish to take a much more proactive stance in terms of developing relationships with religious fundamentalists, as their need for predictability makes them a particularly attractive segment," Wong says. "Their ability to remain vigilant to a particular brand and shun competitive appeals is an increasingly valuable commodity in a hypercompetitive marketplace. Marketing campaigns that stress how a product or service delivers consistent and predictable performance should help attract these individuals to a brand and maintain them as part of its loyal franchise."

The Schneider National Chair Endowment Fund is funded by Schneider National, a premier provider of transportation, logistics, and related services in the United States. The chair will provide high-caliber undergraduate and graduate instruction and research at Georgia Tech. Students will have the opportunity to conduct individual projects in the logistics and supply chain management area with special emphasis on problems of carriers and shippers.

White came to Georgia Tech in 2002 from the University of Michigan, where he served as professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, as well as director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Research Center and co-director of the University of Michigan Trucking Industry Program. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in computer, information, and control engineering, and he additionally has served on the faculties of Southern Methodist University and the University of Virginia. White teaches courses about decision-making under uncertainty and risk.

"I am delighted to become the Schneider National Chair of Transportation and Logistics. Schneider National and its excellent leadership team have made significant contributions to the trucking industry and the nation's economy," said White. "We're especially proud that Schneider National's president and chief executive officer, Dr. Chris Lofgren, is an alumnus and dear friend."

"The newly created Schneider National Chair of Transportation and Logistics at Georgia Tech will bring a new level of visibility and permanence to the study of logistics engineering," says Christopher Lofgren, Ph.D., president and CEO of Schneider National. "As a Georgia Tech alumnus and a business partner through Schneider National, it is a privilege to help fund the future of an organization so ingrained in the knowledge, discovery, and advancement of supply chain management, logistics and transportation planning."

"Schneider National's commitment to this chair provides strong evidence of ISyE's track record for innovations in transportation and logistics," said Bill Rouse, ISyE School Chair and H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart Chair and Professor.

The School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

The School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech is the largest and most prestigious program in industrial engineering in the United States. More than 10,000 graduates of the School can be found in consulting, engineering, financial services, healthcare, transportation, nonprofit organizations, entrepreneurial enterprises, law, retail, and major academic institutions around the world. Nearly one in ten Georgia Tech ISyE graduates rise to the top positions of their respective organizations, and distinguished faculty members are internationally known for their research in virtually every subdiscipline of industrial and systems engineering and operations research. For more information about ISyE at Georgia Tech, visit www.isye.gatech.edu.

About Schneider National Inc.

Schneider National Inc. is a premier provider of transportation, logistics, and related services. Schneider National serves more than two-thirds of FORTUNE 500® companies, offering the broadest portfolio of services in the industry. Schneider National's transportation solutions include: One-Way Van, Dedicated, Expedited, Intermodal, Brokerage, Bulk, and Specialized. Schneider Logistics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Schneider National, provides supply chain management technology, managed services, engineering services, and freight payment.
Headquartered in Green Bay, Wis., Schneider National has a track record of providing expert transportation and logistics solutions. For more information about Schneider National and employment opportunities, visit www.schneider.com or call (800) 558-6767.

But cash-flow reports may not be any more trustworthy a measure, according to a new book, Creative Cash Flow Reporting: Uncovering Sustainable Financial Performance, written by accounting professors Charles Mulford and Eugene Comiskey of Georgia Tech's College of Management and published by Wiley.

The authors, who will hold a book signing at 5:00 PM on March 10 at the Management building, describe how generally-accepted accounting practices can be used to produce misleading operating cash-flow statements.

"Managers are well aware of the importance placed by analysts, investors, and creditors on operating cash flow," write Mulford and Comiskey. "Cash flow is the lifeblood of any organization. A boost in operating cash flow, even as total cash flow remains unchanged, communicates enhanced financial performance."

Their book, aimed at individual investors and other serious readers of financial statements, provides detailed instructions for revealing a clearer picture of a company's financial performance by calculating sustainable cash flow. Profitable operations are a must to produce sustainable cash flow, which is recurring cash, but companies often can generate positive operating cash flow without actually turning a profit, Mulford and Comiskey explain.

"I always assumed that operating cash flow was the last word when it comes to evaluating a company's results," writes Harry Domash, publisher of the Winning Investor newsletter and an investing columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and MSN Money. "No more! Mulford and Comiskey's latest effort opened my eyes to what really counts: sustainable cash flow."

Creative Cash Flow Reporting is the authors' follow-up to their best-selling 2002 book The Financial Numbers Game: Detecting Creative Accounting Practices, which generated extensive media attention in the wake of enormous accounting scandals involving Enron, Worldcom, and other corporate giants. The Financial Times recently ranked it among the very best personal-investing books ever.

Mulford and Comiskey also have collaborated on the books Financial Warnings (1996) and Guide to Financial Reporting and Analysis (2000).

The validation of probabilistic bits or PBITs is most significant in the area of reduced power consumption and increased processing speeds, resulting in making computer devices run faster and more energy efficient. A PBIT is like a conventional bit in that it takes on a 0 or a 1 value, except that one is certain of its value only with a probability of p. Current hardware, using conventional bits, expends large amounts of energy calculating with absolute certainty.

"Our PBITs model is now backed by measurements of an actual probabilistic CMOS device which we call PCMOS," said Palem, a joint professor in the Georgia Tech College of Computing and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Center for Research in Embedded Systems & Technology. "Our device takes advantage of noise at the quarter-micron (0.25 micron) level and uses probability to extract great energy savings. Noise and energy savings are becoming increasingly important as semiconductors approach the nanoscale."

This ability to cope with noise is also increasingly relevant in the context of the impact of noise as devices scale to increasingly small sizes as projected by Moore's Law-the doubling of transistors every couple of years. Palem's approach opens up an entirely new way of overcoming this hurdle. (See earlier discovery.)

"Finding ways to reduce energy demands and cope with probabilistic variations in future VLSI designs, thus sustaining Moore's Law past the next decade, is an issue faced by the entire semiconductor industry and Krishna Palem is researching novel ways to address this problem," said Shekhar Borkar, Intel Fellow and director of circuit research for Intel's Microprocessor Technology Lab. "I believe that Dr. Palem's research holds great promise for the industry, and look forward to the acceleration of his work from research to development."

"The most striking thing about the work to me is the idea that we can utilize a phenomena normally viewed as unwanted (noise on the chip) as a vehicle to address an important and limiting problem (reducing heat dissipation). There is something powerful and appealing about turning a problem into a feature!" says Ralph K. Cavin III, Ph.D., vice president for Research Operations at Semiconductor Research Corporation.

Using the physical measurements of PCMOS devices, the research team estimates that 100-fold improvements are possible to the energy consumed and performance of complex applications such as neural networks, which are used for pattern recognition and other applications such as spoken alphabet recognition programs used on cell phones. Palem announced these results at the DARPA-PACC meeting in Santa Fe, N.M on December 1-2.

Next Steps
Next, the research team would like to work on implementing a computing tile at the chip level for applications such as neural networks. Palem estimates this will take about one year to validate. Palem sees this technology being used in robotics, natural language processing, data mining, signal processing and a range of applications with a probabilistic and an embedded flavor. In addition, in bioengineering the low-power demands of this technology are promising for use in hearing aids and optical prosthetics.

"If successful, this will mean that the semiconductor industry could continue to offer increasing performance per dollar to customers and thus continue to provide society with the benefits from powerful miniaturized computing, communication, and sensing devices. I believe that the capability to continue the three decades of scaling according to Moore's Law is important to the economic growth and vitality of the nation's economy," says Cavin. "I am encouraged that early data obtained from evaluation of test chips is showing good correlation with the theoretical projections made by Dr. Palem and his team."

More information about this research is available at http://www.crest.gatech.edu/palempbitscurrent/, and the earlier background release is at http://www.gatech.edu/news-room/release.php?id=251.

"VoIP has the potential to provide service providers, vendors and customers alike with major economic and social benefits resulting in significant time and cost savings, increased productivity, and better usage of available resources," said Mustaque Ahamad, director of GTISC. "At the VoIP Security Summit, GTISC has begun to educate consumers and enterprises about the security issues associated with this technology, and promote solutions to these potential challenges."

More than 250 corporate executives, industry leaders and technologists from across the country attended the VoIP Security Summit, which was held in conjunction with the second annual Tom E. Noonan Distinguished Lecture on Information Security. Noonan currently is chairman, CEO and president of Atlanta-based enterprise security company Internet Security Systems. This year's Noonan Lecture, entitled "Brand New Day: Open Networks and Open Society", was delivered by Reed Hundt, the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and senior adviser to McKinsey & Company.

"Voice over IP presents a complex security challenge that requires change if it is to be addressed," said Hundt. "The starting point of a real solution is bringing together the right people, and at the VoIP Security Summit, GTISC accomplished that. I am very optimistic that GTISC has created the forum and assembled the stakeholders needed to resolve these issues, and I look forward to seeing their blueprint for the future of Voice over IP security."

Following Hundt's address, representatives from Avaya, BellSouth, Ciena Corporation, Covergence, Internet Security Systems, Telcordia and Georgia Tech participated in a panel about VoIP. Moderated by Richard DeMillo, the John P. Imlay Dean and Distinguished Professor of Computing at Georgia Tech, the panelists debated how security will impact the low service costs currently associated with VoIP, the role of public policy and regulation in leading security efforts, and whether security needs will be addressed before a major incident affects the network.

"As industry leaders in telecommunications and information security, BellSouth and the other organizations represented at the VoIP Security Summit have a responsibility to monitor the challenges of next generation technologies as they develop," said panelist Steve Zimba, director of voice strategy for BellSouth. "Providing our customers with convenient, affordable and safe means of communications is BellSouth's top priority, and we are looking forward to working with GTISC and other industry participants to tackle the security issues posed by Voice over IP."

For more information about the VoIP Security Summit and GTISC, please visit http://www.gtisc.gatech.edu/.

About Georgia Tech Information Security Center
GTISC, a National Security Agency (NSA) Center of Excellence in Information Assurance Education, is an interdisciplinary center involving faculty from Computing, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, and the School of Public Policy.

Researchers from several partner institutions and organizations have helped to successfully build, test and fly the first rotary wing UAV, a helicopter called GTMax, with capabilities of flight control fault identification and reconfiguration, adaptive control and agile maneuvering - all operating on a single vehicle and under a single software architecture.

Collaborators on the project include Draper Laboratories, Vanderbilt University, Scientific Systems Company Inc., Oregon Graduate Institute, Honeywell Laboratories and Boeing.

The flight represents the completion of a DARPA/Air Force project to develop an innovative new software-enabled control (SEC) system with applications to UAVs.

Based on this UAV success, Georgia Tech has now been awarded funding for two follow-on programs for multiple UAVs in an urban warfare environment and for transitioning the technologies developed under the DARPA/Air Force program to military vehicles.

Advances in rotary wing UAVs are particularly important because of their requirement to take off and land in difficult terrain and restricted-size areas, such as ship decks, and their ability to hover while they identify and inspect specific locations. With traditional aircraft, a pilot with years of training and flight experience is on board to react to problems, threats and weather conditions, and current UAVs must be flown much more conservatively and have limited reaction capabilities.

Georgia Tech's primary contribution to the overall project was continuing work started by Boeing on the new SEC system, an Open Control Platform (OCP), which gives the UAV the ability to reconfigure its software systems autonomously in flight.

The OCP is an object-oriented, real-time operating software architecture that can handle very large sets of data and computations in real time, similar to a pilot's brain reacting to enemy fire or changing weather conditions.

The system also gives the UAV more agility to help avoid danger without exceeding critical flight parameters.

During the final test at Fort Benning, Ga., the GTMax used eight different low-level flight control systems and three guidance systems in a single flight, including adapting to primary flight control system hardware failures, environmental factors and changes in aircraft configuration.

The final tests on Georgia Tech's UAV demonstrated several key advancements:

• The UAV is able to learn as it flies.

• The UAV is able to reconfigure after failures in primary flight control systems, including losing the ability to change the pitch of the main rotor.

• The UAV is able to automatically plan a route through obstacles.

• The UAV is able to maneuver aggressively.

• The UAV is able to fly using what it sees in its onboard camera, rather than using traditional navigation systems such as GPS.

• The UAV can be reconfigured in flight to select among several control and guidance systems.

The final experiment, recently conducted at the Military Operations Urban Terrain site in Fort Benning represents five years of collaboration between Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering.

Georgia Tech's principal investigators on the project are Dr. Daniel Schrage and Dr. Eric Johnson, professors in Aerospace Engineering; and Dr. George Vachtsevanos, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Georgia Tech team was selected by DARPA to be the systems integrator for the entire rotary wing UAV project, integrating engineering advances from a distinguished group of other corporate and university researchers.

"We're here to salute you who give your time, your talent and your treasure," said College of Management Dean Terry C. Blum. "We appreciate the time you take to guide us…. It's a lasting legacy to the students who follow you."

New members of the Hall of Fame, which recognizes leaders for their lifetime career achievement and commitment to Georgia Tech, include:

·Robert A. Anclien, IM 1969, MS IM 1970. After retiring from 32 years with global management and technology firm Accenture, Anclien recently began a second career in real estate development as general partner and owner of Liberty Land Group and of Windmill Point Resort and Yacht Harbor.

· Don L. Chapman, IM 1961. CEO of ChapCo Investments, Chapman has founded or led eighteen different companies over the course of his career, including the optical-superstore chain Opti-World and the airline-equipment maker Tug Manufacturing Corp.

· A.J. Land Jr., IM 1960, who is founder of Pope and Land Enterprises, one of Atlanta's leading private office development companies with more than $700 million in assets.

· Joseph W. Rogers Jr., IM 1968. Since becoming president of Waffle House in 1973, Rogers has helped grow the restaurant chain from seventy-five restaurants to more than 1,470 locations in 25 states.

· J. Leland Strange, IM 1965, who is president, CEO and chairman of Intelligent Systems, which has either founded, bought or invested in more than 50 technology companies since 1982.

New members of the Academy of Distinguished Alumni, which recognizes leaders for their contributions to business, Georgia Tech and society at large, include:

· Jerome A. Atkinson, IM 1971, who is executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer for Assurant Solutions, the largest subsidiary of Assurant, a diversified financial and insurance services company.

· Hubert L. Harris Jr., IM 1965, who has served as CEO of INVESCO North America since 2003.

· N. Richard Kalikow, IM 1964, a thirty-five-year veteran of the real-estate business who is a managing member of Manchester Real Estate and Construction, which he formed in 2002.

· Gregory J. Owens, IM 1982, who is chairman of Manugistics, a supply-chain and revenue management company with more than 1,200 clients, including nine of the top fifteen Fortune 500 companies.

· William J. Todd, IM 1971, a healthcare and technology administrator who has served as president of the Georgia Cancer Coalition since 2003.

John T. Salley, MGT 1988, is the newest member of the Council of Outstanding Young Alumni, which recognizes alumni for their career achievement and contributions to Georgia Tech and society. A twelve-year National Basketball Association veteran, Salley is co-host of the Emmy-nominated program The Best Damn Sports Show Period on Fox Sports Net and head of his own production company, Black Folk Entertainment.

One way to make nanotubes involves using a carbon arc to heat graphite to about 5,000 C. An electrical current is passed through the graphite in a chamber filled with helium gas. The result is a sooty deposit on one of the electrodes that contains columns filled with nanotubes.

"We were doing research on the electrical transport properties of carbon nanotubes when we noticed that the nanotubes had these little beads that looked like liquid drops on them, said lead author Walt A. de Heer, physics professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Much like archeologists studying artifacts to decipher what happened in centuries past, the research team began with the photos of the liquid-like beads coating the nanotube fibers and worked their way back to try to find out how they got there.

"Just by looking at them we realized that this has something to do with liquid," said de Heer. "So we asked the question, if the beads were once liquid carbon and the nanotubes they are attached to are also carbon, why didn't the liquid carbon dissolve the nanotube? The answer is that the liquid must have been a glass at a lower temperature than the nanotube."

It is well known that glass is made by rapidly cooling a liquid. The fast rate of cooling doesn't allow the molecules time to align themselves in the orderly arrangement of crystals and they remain in the disordered grouping of the liquid.

The research team saw that the beads had the disordered grouping characteristic of glass, while the nanotubes they surrounded had an orderly crystalline pattern. This lead them to conclude that the carbon arc must have melted the graphite into drops of liquid carbon, which had cooled at a much faster rate on the outside, giving it a glassy appearance.

Since the nanotubes in the interior had a crystalline structure, the team reasoned that the liquid carbon on the inside of the drops had cooled so slowly it became a supercooled liquid, which is a liquid below the temperature which normally turns it into a solid. As the temperature of any supercooled liquid drops to a certain critical temperature, it begins to crystallize. Which in this case, researchers reasoned, resulted in the orderly molecular structure of the nanotubes.

As the nanotubes continue to crystalize they lengthen - poking through the glass layer - causing the glass to bead on the tubes much like water beads on pine needles. This final portrait of the beads on nanotube fibers is the photo that began the research team's initial questions.

"Before we began this work, we had spent a lot of time investigating these fibers, because they had special significance for our work. Most people don't look at the fibers. They open them up to get the nanotubes inside, but the balls are on the surface." said de Heer. "It took us having to see them several times - actually they were quite annoying - but then we realized that they may have some significance by themselves We hope our results will open up the whole question of nanotube formation again."

The research team consists of de Heer and Zhimin Song from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Daniel Ugarte from Universidade Estadual de Campinas and Laboratorio Nacional de Luz Sincrotron (Brazil), Jefferson Bettini also from Laboratorio Nacional de Luz Sincrotron, Philippe Poncharal from Universite Montpellier (France), Claire Berger from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Laboratoire d'Études des Propriétés Électroniques des Solides (France) and Joseph Ghezo from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Media Contact: David Terraso, 404-385-2966, david.terraso@icpa.gatech.edu

Technical Contact: Walt de Heer, 404 894-5215, deheer@electra.physics.gatech.edu

Cathy Carpenter, Information Services Librarian said, "Libraries are in the business of sharing information and we thought the Georgia Tech library was the perfect venue to sponsor such a program and to help promote and disseminate research findings across the campus community."

Dr. Steve Potter, Biomedical Engineering Department, will kick off the speaker series with a talk entitled "Hybrots: Living Neuronal Networks" on February 22. Dr. Irfan Essa, College of Computing, will follow with a talk on "Sensing the Aware Home". April's speaker will be Thad Starner, College of Computing, and he will be discussing "Face to Face Discussion with Wearable Computers".

Lori Critz, Information Services Librarian said, "Our goal of the lecture series is to increase understanding of what is usually quite esoteric information. We hope to make research understandable to the average person."

All of the lectures are free and will be held at 2:30pm in the Wilby room of the Georgia Tech Library. Light refreshments will be provided.

Speakers

Feb. 22 - Hybrots: Living Neuronal Networks
Dr. Steve Potter, Biomedical Engineering Department

March 29 - Sensing in the Aware Home
Dr. Irfan Essa, College of Computing

April 26 Face to Face Discussion with Wearable Computers
Dr. Thad Starner, College Of Computing

This practice of partnering computer simulations with real-world experiments is becoming more vital as scientists delve deeper into realms where the actors are measured on the nanoscale, Landman told a group of scientists Thursday, February 17 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

"Small is different," said Landman, director of the Center for Computational Materials Science and professor of physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "We cannot use the way physical systems behave on the large scale to predict what will happen when we go to levels only a few atoms in size. In this size regime, electrons transport electricity in a different way, crystallites have different mechanical properties and gold nanowires have strength twenty times larger than a big bar of gold, and inert metals may exhibit remarkable catalytic activity. But we know the rules of physics, and we can use them to create model environments in which we can discover new phenomena through high-level computer-based simulations."

Computers are constantly becoming more powerful and capable of conducting more detailed explorations at the same time scientists across the globe are increasing their interest in the science of the small. The intersection of these two trends, said Landman, is allowing scientists to investigate realms that are too small for today's technology to explore experimentally.

It's not just a matter of making faster calculations, he said. "Experimentally, we can't always go down to the resolution we need to see, explain and predict things, but with computer simulations we can go to any resolution we need," said Landman. "Therefore, you can ask questions, deeper questions, on how materials behave on the small scale, even if you can't get to that fine resolution experimentally."

This doesn't mean that experiments aren't necessary, said Landman. "It's a supplementary and complimentary approach. The pillars of scientific methodology are composed now of experimentation, analytical theory and computer simulation."

In addition to their work on nanocatalysis, Landman and colleagues have used simulations to explore other phenomena, such as the possibility of producing and maintaining a stable flow of liquid on the nanoscale. Their models predicted that it is possible to produce liquid jets only six nanometers wide. To date, in collaboration with Landman's theory group, there are teams of engineers building nozzles that can produce jets in the 100 nanometer range. Within one year, said Landman, they expect to produce "nanojets" in the 10 nanometer range.

"The opportunity to make new discoveries in ways that weren't possible before is an incredible gift and it has come about only because we can now simulate environments on the computer that are either not yet possible, too expensive or too dangerous to do in the lab," said Landman. "We are now at a point in history where the science of the small holds the promise of producing a windfall of scientific discoveries. Computers serve tools for discovery in this exciting adventure."

Media Contact: David Terraso, 404-385-2966, david.terraso@icpa.gatech.edu

Technical Contact: Uzi Landman, 404-894-3368, uzi.landman@physics.gatech.edu

Durham, a three-time selection as the Sportscaster of the Year in the state of Georgia, is entering his 11th season at the microphone for the Yellow Jackets. He will be joined in the booth by Van Note as the long-time All-Pro center provides color analysis.

Van Note's NFL career covered 18 seasons, nearly 250 games over three decades, all with the Atlanta Falcons. After serving in a substitute role last season on the Tech broadcasts, Van Note has agreed to help out again this fall. He will continue to have a presence on the pre-game and post-game shows of the Atlanta Falcons this season as well, marking his 15th year of association with the Falcons' radio coverage. Additionally, he has provided analysis for the University of Kentucky and the Tennessee Titans in his broadcast career, along with coverage of the SEC Championship game.

Strom, the former Rambling Wreck quarterback, will join the broadcast with reports from the Tech sideline.

Strom played for the Jackets from 1983-87, starting 16 games at quarterback over the 1986-87 seasons. Following graduation from Tech, the Pittsburgh, Pa., native enjoyed a seven-year career in the NFL, playing for his hometown Steelers as well as the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions. Strom currently works for Manulife Financial in Atlanta.

"We're delighted to welcome Jeff Van Note and Rick Strom to the Yellow Jacket broadcast team," said Durham, who also serves as Tech's Director of Broadcasting. "To be able to have analysis and insight from two individuals who combined, have more than 30 years of experience in college and professional football will give Tech fans a very informative and enjoyable broadcast.

"We're also very happy to be able to add a sideline reporter for the first time, and I know Tech fans will enjoy the unique perspective that Rick will provide from the sideline."

The new initiative, to be known as Georgia Tech Commercialization Services, will also expand the transfer of technology to Georgia companies while providing stronger marketing and management for Georgia Tech's rapidly growing and increasingly specialized intellectual property portfolio.

Stephen Fleming, a successful Atlanta investor and entrepreneur, will head up the new unit as chief commercialization officer. A Georgia Tech graduate with private-sector experience at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Northern Telecom, Fleming has been a partner in two Atlanta-based venture capital firms, and has managed investments in more than 20 start-up companies.

"Better commercializing the technological innovations we develop will enable Georgia Tech to have a larger impact on the local, state and national economies," said Provost Jean-Lou Chameau. "To accommodate continued growth in our intellectual property portfolio, we need a more effective commercialization process, one that is worthy of the kind of institution we aspire to be."

Over the past decade, Georgia Tech's research program has more than doubled in size and the institution has set records for the number of patents filed, technologies licensed and start-up companies formed. The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), Georgia Tech's science and technology incubator, has won broad recognition for helping build the state's technology community through support of start-up companies.

As impressive as these accomplishments are, however, Georgia Tech wants to do more to put its powerful innovation engine to work for the local, state and national communities, said Wayne Hodges, Vice Provost for Economic Development and Technology Ventures.

"Our new commercialization initiative will speed the transfer of technology from Georgia Tech and make it easier for outsiders - including entrepreneurs and potential corporate partners - to work with us," Hodges said. "Moving more technology out into the community will lead to the formation of more start-up companies, create new high-paying jobs and help revitalize existing enterprises. By creating a more efficient and effective process, we will maximize the Institute's return to its stakeholders."

According to Hodges, the new initiative will:

* Create a clear process for the commercialization of technology developed by faculty members and students, and facilitate collaboration with experienced entrepreneurs in launching new companies;

* Provide a consistent set of expectations for business and industry partners who wish to commercialize Georgia Tech research, setting realistic goals for license terms and the time required for completing the licensing process;

* Help Georgia companies develop the new products and processes they need to compete in world markets by transferring technology innovations developed at Georgia Tech and partner organizations, and

* Set a new standard for technology commercialization, helping Georgia Tech meet its goal of defining the technological university of the 21st century.

"For Georgia Tech faculty members, the new organization will mean more rapid decisions about the patenting of research discoveries, more aggressive efforts to market intellectual property, and consistent terms - based on industry standards and established templates - for licensing technology to startup companies," said Jilda Garton, associate vice provost for research and general manager of the Georgia Tech Research Corporation. "We will help Georgia Tech faculty bring their innovations to the public through a better and faster process."

As chief commercialization officer, Fleming will be responsible for the complete commercialization process, including evaluation of invention disclosures, marketing of Georgia Tech intellectual property, and assistance to faculty members interested in forming start-up companies. The Georgia Tech Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) will continue to serve faculty members as the initial point of contact for invention disclosures and other activities involved in protecting intellectual property.

Changes and enhancements in Georgia Tech's new Commercialization Services organization will include:

* An enhanced evaluation process that will accelerate patenting and licensing decisions based on real-world information about commercialization opportunities;

* A new business development structure that will manage and aggressively market Georgia Tech's intellectual property portfolio;

* An educational initiative that will provide information about the commercialization process to help faculty members make good decisions about protecting and licensing the technology they develop, and

* Additional resources to accommodate the increasing number of invention disclosures and growing interest in licensing Georgia Tech intellectual property.

"Our intention is to streamline and accelerate the disclosure, patenting and licensing process while making it simpler and more straightforward for faculty members," explained Charles Liotta, Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies. To ensure that the new initiative meets real-world needs, it will rely heavily on guidance from advisory boards composed of Georgia Tech officials and outside stakeholders, he added.

A 1983 summa cum laude graduate of Georgia Tech, Fleming began his career with AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1979 while still a student. After graduation, he became a field engineer in Northern Telecom's (Nortel) optical cable division. In the early 1990s, Fleming became Nortel's "broadband evangelist," responsible for developing the first standards-based DSL modem and one of the first successful cable modems in the United States.

In 1995, he became a general partner at Atlanta-based venture capital firm Alliance Technology Ventures, managing 18 investments totaling more than $64 million. Investments made in companies based on Georgia Tech research included:

* Astracom (acquired by Ciena),
* Digital Furnace (acquired by Broadcom),
* RF Solutions (acquired by Anadigics),
* Synchrologic (acquired by Pumatech, now Intellisync), and
* Verifiber (still private).

During 2002 and 2003, Fleming served as an advisor to the ATDC before joining venture capital firm EGL Ventures as that company's third general partner.

"With a strong background that includes large companies, venture capital investing and start-up firms, Stephen has an ideal mix of experience to lead this new initiative," Hodges said. "Beyond his background, he also has deep roots in the Atlanta community and Georgia Tech."

According to a recent survey by the Association of University Technology Managers, Georgia Tech ranks first among U.S. universities in the rate of technology licenses granted to start-up companies. Overall for fiscal year 2004, Georgia Tech licensed technology to 15 start-up companies, received 35 patents, filed 277 invention disclosures and brought in $2.3 million in revenue.

After the award presentation, Wright will give a keynote address. Wright joins past distinguished recipients of the Prize: Senator Zell Miller in 2001, President Jimmy Carter in 2002, syndicated columnist Molly Ivins in 2003, and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn in 2004. The program takes place at The Biltmore in the Georgian Ballroom on West Peachtree near Technology Square. Doors will open at 12:50 p.m.; the public is invited to attend.

Wright's selection to receive the 2005 Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service reflects the robust digital media program in the College's School of Literature, Communication and Culture (LCC). The school offers several undergraduate and graduate degrees in digital media, including the nation's first doctoral program. The LCC faculty collaborates extensively with faculty in the College of Computing and the interdisciplinary Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center (GVU).

"Will Wright was selected because his life and his work reflect the values of the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service," says Janet Murray, professor and director of graduate studies in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture. "Will is a child of Atlanta who grew up to make a landmark game in which the player's role is to serve as a mayor-engineer.

"His games use sophisticated computing techniques to advance our understanding of the world. He exemplifies creativity in digital media, using the powerful affordances of computation to make complex games that help us to better understand a complex world.

"He has said that he would rather create communities than games, by which he means that he is constantly trying to give players more powerful tools for making their own places, their own characters, their own story worlds, and then sharing them with one another."

The celebration continues on Wednesday, March 16 with an all day symposium - Living Games World - honoring Will Wright and the tenth anniversary of digital media degree programs at Georgia Tech. Wright will participate in several sessions, and panels will feature experts from industry and academia discussing issues such as the future of entertainment, creativity and narrative and game worlds. Representatives from industry include Electronic Arts (EA), Turner Broadcasting, Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences, Klaus Entertainment, Schematic and more. The day closes with demos and exhibits. The detailed agenda is available online at http://gameworlds.gatech.edu.

Will Wright, Chief Designer and Founder, Maxis
Will Wright co-founded Maxis in 1987. Wright began working on what would become SimCity-The City Simulator in 1985. SimCity was released in 1989, and has since won 24 domestic and international awards. Wright co-designed SimEarth-The Living Planet in 1990. In 1991, Wright co-designed SimAnt-The Electronic Ant Colony. SimCity 2000 and SimCopter are also part of Wright's recent repertoire. SimCity 3000 Unlimited, the definitive version of 1999's best-selling game SimCity 3000, continued in the tradition. The long-awaited 4th generation, SimCity 4, was released in January 2003. SimCity 4's first expansion pack, SimCity 4 Rush Hour, and SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition were shipped in September 2003.

Wright's groundbreaking game, The Sims, puts players in charge of the lives of a neighborhood of simulated people. Released in February of 2000, this wildly popular title has become a cultural phenomenon. The Sims has inspired six expansion packs. Livin' Large, House Party, Vacation, Unleashed and Superstar allow players to put their simulated families into new extreme situations and settings. The final expansion pack, Makin' Magic, was released in October 2003. Taking its bow in December 2002 was Wright's much anticipated The Sims Online, which was featured in a cover story in Newsweek Magazine. The next generation of The Sims PC products debuted in September 2004 with The Sims 2, which became the fastest selling PC game ever selling more than a million copies in the first ten days worldwide.

In 1999, Wright was included in Entertainment Weekly's "It List" of "the 100 most creative people in entertainment" as well as Time Digital's "Digital 50," a listing of "the most important people shaping technology today." In 2002, he was #35 on Entertainment Weekly's Power List and was also inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. In 2003, Wright was featured in Game Informer's 'Top 10 Developer List of 2003.' Each year Wright, along with his daughter Cassidy, takes part in the annual Battlebot competition, which was broadcast nationally on Comedy Central. His interest in plastic models of ships and airplanes during his childhood in Georgia eventually led to his designing computer models of cities, ecosystems and ant colonies. In fact, Wright lived in Atlanta until he was 9, when his father - William R. Wright, a chemical engineer and 1954 graduate of Georgia Tech - died at an untimely young age.

Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
The Ivan Allen College is named for the late Ivan Allen Jr., who represented the essence of "the new South" and, among other achievements, is credited with helping ease racial tension in Atlanta during his two terms as mayor. Each year in March - coinciding with Mayor Allen's birthday - the College honors its namesake by presenting the Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service to a distinguished public figure.

So far this year, the Campus Recreation Center has been honored by Recreational Management Magazine (Outstanding Facility), the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (2005 Outstanding Sports Facilities Award) and Building Design and Construction Magazine (Gold Award).

"The fact that they basically started with an existing structure and built around it and made it an exciting building," said Mike Patterson, director of Design and Construction in Tech's Facilities Division, referring to the fact that the Campus Recreation Center was built around the Aquatic Center left over from the 1996 Olympics.

"The design firm we hired realized what they had with the height of the steel beams left over from the Aquatic Center. They knew what a great view they had. It is such an open building from a visual standpoint, but yet it is enclosed so that you can have the other recreational things going on, like handball and other sports. It is a great building from that standpoint."

Michael Edwards, director of campus recreation, says that students, faculty and staff all appreciate the quality of the Campus Recreation Center.

"Although the CRC combines aesthetically pleasing design and engineering innovation to create one of the nation's premier university recreation centers, it also demonstrates the commitment to a higher quality of student life Georgia Tech has made to its student body," says Edwards.

Patterson says that awards are nice but not necessarily a goal of each building project.

"We don't usually apply for the awards. It is usually an organization or a vender associated with the building," says Patterson. "We do have a great deal of pride that is associated with each project, and everyone likes to be recognized for the quality of their work."

For each building project, Facilities assembles a team that can work on that building for three years or more. Patterson says that is one reason why Facilities employees take ownership and pride in each building.

"I think it is important for anyone to get recognition," says Patterson. "It shows you're doing quality work. We have a big ownership with each project too, not only because we're from Tech, but also because we've had that experience for an extended amount of time. We very much get involved from the design process all the way through construction."

Patterson says there are many factors that determine the direction of the design and look of a building. Among them are functionality and making sure that a building fits into the surrounding area.

"As you look across campus, you can see there are many different periods of architectural design that don't match. So we really have a mixed campus," says Patterson. "We really try to look at each building and try to match it to the surrounding area."

Technology Square is another successful project that was honored with seven awards during 2003 and 2004. In 2004, the Urban Land Institute honored the new buildings with their Local Project of Excellence Award and the Development of the Year Award. The complex reunited Georgia Tech's campus with Midtown, fitting nicely into the urban environment.

Georgia Tech has several buildings under construction now and others that will undergo renovation. According to Patterson these projects all present the possibility for Georgia Tech to continue its new tradition of buildings that earn prestigious accolades.

Will Wright, designer of some of the most popular video games including The Sims, SimCity, and SimAnt, will present "Content, Compression and Creativity" at 8:45 a.m. and will participate in several additional sessions at the Symposium.

"Will Wright has shown that you can make best-selling games that engage people in complex problem solving about realistic situations," says Janet Murray, professor and director of graduate studies in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture. "When you play one of Will's games you are trying to make a city more prosperous without damaging the environment, or trying to make two roommates with opposing personalities get along better.

"His games are popular across demographic groups, with adults as much as kids and women as much as men. They are all characterized by putting the player in a creative role and allowing the players to share the fruits of their creativity with one another. Will Wright has tremendously expanded the possibilities of game formats and game play. Will has also played a crucial role in fostering serious intellectual discussion among game designers and between game designers and academic researchers."

Participants include:
* Will Wright, chief designer and cofounder of Maxis and designer of SimCity and The Sims
* Bing Gordon, chief creative officer of Electronic Arts (EA), the leading videogame company
* Steve Chiang, general manager, EA Tiburon
* Christopher Klaus, founder and CEO, Klaus Entertainment (Atlanta)
* Blake Lewin, vice president of new product development, Turner Broadcasting Systems
* Paul Marino, executive director, Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences
* Dale Herigstad, executive creative director, Schematic
* Lassi Tasajärvi, Evenlake Studios (Finland) and author of "DemoScene"
* And more...

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE
Registration is required. To RSVP and view the detailed agenda, visit http://gameworlds.gatech.edu.

8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Registration and Coffee

8:30 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.
Welcome and Overview
Sue Rosser, Dean, Ivan Allen College, Georgia Tech
Kenneth Knoespel, Chair, School of Literature, Communication & Culture, Georgia Tech
Janet Murray, Director of Graduate Program in Digital Media, Georgia Tech

8:45 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Will Wright, Chief Designer and Co-founder, Maxis
"Content, Compression and Creativity"

9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Panel: Procedural Narrative and the Future of Story Games
Steve Chiang (EA Tiburon)
Chris Crawford (Game Designer & Author)
Michael Mateas (Georgia Tech)
Jay Bolter (Georgia Tech), Moderator
Will Wright, Respondent

11:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. Break

11:15 a.m. - 12:45 a.m.
Panel: Procedural Content & the Creation of Game Worlds
Amy Bruckman (Georgia Tech)
Irfan Essa (Georgia Tech)
Ken Perlin (NYU)
Lassi Tasajärvi (Evenlake Studios & Author)
Steve Cross (Georgia Tech), Moderator
Will Wright, Respondent

12:45 a.m. - 1:45 a.m.
Lunch
Bing Gordon, Chief Creative Officer, EA
"Developing and Educating Creative Leaders at EA"

2:00 a.m. - 3:30 a.m.
Panel: Computational Power & The Future of Entertainment
Dale Herigstad (Schematic)
Chris Klaus (Klaus Entertainment)
Blake Lewin (Turner Broadcasting)
Paul Marino (Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences)
Janet Murray (Georgia Tech), Moderator
Will Wright, Respondent

3:30 a.m. - 5:30 a.m.
Demos, Exhibits, & Reception

School of Literature, Communication and Culture
The School of Literature, Communication and Culture (LCC) in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts offers several undergraduate and graduate degrees in digital media. The LCC faculty collaborates extensively with faculty in the College of Computing and the interdisciplinary Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center (GVU).

The full agenda is available online at http://gameworlds.gatech.edu.

The Joseph Mayo Pettit Alumni Distinguished Service Award was presented to Geoffrey C. Gill, IM 64, vice president of Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown; Parker Holmes "Pete" Petit, ME 62, MS EM 64, chairman and CEO of Matria Corp.; William Turner, Mgt 43, advisory director of the WC Bradley Co.; and Thomas W. Ventulett III, BS 57, Arch 58, senior principal and director of design at Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the Alumni Association for a lifetime of leadership, achievement and service to Georgia Tech and the community.

The Dean Griffin Community Service Award went to Wayne E. Kerr, Biol 73, MS Biol 74, who established a free medical and dental clinic for low-income families in Georgia's Rockdale County, and J. Lamar Reese Jr., IM 55, whose work on the Dougherty County School Board resulted in the panel naming a new magnet school in his honor.

Daren B. Pietsch, ME 91, was named the Outstanding Young Alumnus. During his tenure as president of the Golden Isles Georgia Tech Club in 2003-04, the group was recognized for recruiting, its local scholarship program, community involvement and Roll Call fund raising.

The designation of honorary alumnus was presented to Stephen L. Dickerson, Georgia Tech professor emeritus; John C. Dunn, editor of Georgia Tech Alumni Publications; and Anderson D. Smith, Regents professor and associate dean of the College of Sciences.

The awards were presented at a ceremony at the Atlanta History Center on March 17.