WPI announces tenure awards and promotions courtesy o f WPI News Service The Board of Trustees of WPI re cently promoted or granted tenure to 17 faculty members. Granted tenure and promoted were: Nabil I. Hachem of Shrewsbury, MA, to associate professor o f comput er science. Hachem, a native of Beirut, Lebanon, earned a B.Eng. in electrical engineering at the American Universi ty of Beirut and a Ph.D. in computer engineering at Syracuse University. A member of the WPI faculty since 1988, Hachem’s research and teaching inter ests are in scientific databases, very large data/know ledge-base systems and database machines. He and Michael A. Gennert and Matthew O. Ward, associate professor of computer sci ence, are collaborating on database management systems for global change studies under sponsorship of the Na tional Science Foundation. Sharon A. Johnson of Sturbridge, M A, to associate professor of manage ment. Johnson, originally from Ann Arbor, MI, received a bachelor’s de gree in industrial engineering and op erations research from the University
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to associate professor of biology and biotechnology. At WPI since 1988, Politz, who is originally from Belle Rose. LA, holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Louisiana State University and a doctorate in molecu lar biology from the University of Cal ifornia, Los Angeles. His research interests are in genetic and immuno logical aspects of nematode develop ment and parasitism, especially genes that control changes in the surface comp o sitio n of the nem ato d e Caenorhahditis elegans. He teaches genetics, introductory biology and graduate courses in developmental ge netics, signal transduction and immu nology. Kent J. Rissimiller of Worcester, MA, to associate professor of social science and policy studies. Rissmiller, originally from Kewanne, IL, earned an A.B. in political science and social sciences at Muhlenberg College, a J.D. in public law at Franklin Pierce Law Center, and an M. A. and Ph.D. in polit ical science at Syracuse University. He has been a member of the WPI faculty since 1988. A member of the Massachusetts Bar and the Federal Bar for the district of M assachusetts, Rissmiller has focused his research and
of Michigan and a master’s and doctor ate in that discipline from Cornell Uni versity. She has been a member of the WPI faculty since 1988. Johnson’s research and teaching interests are in operations research, dynamic program ming, production scheduling and wa ter resource systems. She has collabo rated with members of the manufactur ing engineering faculty on the devel opment of the master’s in management of manufacturing curriculum and has conducted applied research in areas that bridge these two disciplines. Vahid Motevalli of Marlboro, MA, was tenured and promoted to associate professor of mechanical engineering and fire p ro tectio n en g ineering. Motevalli, who is from Iran, earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral de grees in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland and joined the WPI faculty in 1988. His research and teaching interests are in experimental studies of fire-induced flow behavior, fire and smoke detection research, flame spread on horizontal surfaces (currently being supported by the Na val Research Laboratory), microgravity combustion, space-based fire safety systems and gas turbine combustion. Samuel M. Politz of Holden, MA,
teaching on environmental and energy law and policy, American politics, nor mative political theory and jurispru dence. Dalin Tang of Worcester, MA, to associate professor of mathematical sciences. Bom in Jiangsu, China, Tang received his bachelor’s degree in ap plied mathematics at the Nanjing Insti tute of Technology and his master’s and doctorate in applied mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He joined the faculty in 1988. His research and teaching interests are in biological fluid dynamics, theoretical fluid mechanics, nonlinear analysis, numerical methods and transport theo ryRichard F. Vaz of Groton, MA, to associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Vaz earned his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engi neering at WPI and was a visiting as sistant professor at the Institute for three years before being appointed as sistant professor in 1990. In 1991 he received the Joseph Samuel Satin Dis tinguished Professorship. Vaz’s re search focuses on machine vision, sig nal and image analysis, and communi cations. He and Professor David Cyganski co-direct the Machine Vi
sion Laboratory and have been collab orating on advanced image processing technologies; their work has been sup ported and has received recognition from ARPA, IBM and United Tech nologies. Vaz also has industrial expe rience with Raytheon Co., GenRad and MITRE Corp. He received the Electri cal Engineering Students’ Award for Outstanding Teaching and, in 1993, the WPI Trustee’s Award forOutstanding Teaching. Granted tenure were: Peter L. Levin, of Worcester, MA, associate professor o f electrical and computerengineering. Originally from Silver Spring, Md., Levin earned a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engi neering at Carnegie Mellon Universi ty, then spent six months as a DAAD Visiting Scientist at the Technical Uni versity of Munich. He joined the WPI faculty in 1988. In 1989 he founded the Computational Fields Laboratory, which serves as a resource for under graduate and graduate projects in nu merical analysis of electromagnetic systems and phenomena. In 1990 Levin received W PI’s Joseph Samuel Satin Continued to page 3
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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Tuesday , March 22, 1994
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Volume Twenty-two , Number Eight
BACCHUS and WPI Dining Services prepare breakfast for 1,000 by Jo h n Pelliccio President, WPI BACCH U S Never underestimate the advertis ing potential of free food. BACCHUS and WPI Dining ser vices learned this lesson on the evening of March I, smack in the middle of Cterm finals week. It was on this date that the Up All Night program, put on indefinite hiatus a while back, was revived with a bang. Originally planned as a study break for the students living near the Mor gan Commons area. Up All Night was SUPPOSED to have a maximum at tendance of 300 people or so. Food was ordered, informational placemats were designed by the able-bodied BACCHUS staff, and an entry form for the Geo Tracker giveaway were made ready. At 9:00 pm, the doors to
DAKA were opened. Half an hour later, the 250th person walked through the doors. Our careful preparations lasted m aybe forty-five m inutes. Much to our surprise, when the event ended at I l :00 pm, one thousand and nine members of the WPI community had showed up to hang out and have some breakfast. About 800 of the attendees filled out the safe spring break pledges and registered to win the Geo Tracker. And we thank each and every one of you. You see, this is the kind of program that BACCHUS strives to bring to the WPI campus. By the way, BACCHUS is an acronym for ‘Boosting Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students’. Whether it be providing mocktails for coffee house shows or setting up full-blown building parties in the residence halls.
the goal of BACCHUS is to provide healthy alternative prrf£rar<rniiig for the WPI community. Loosely trans lated, we want to show that you can have a pretty decent time without us ing alcohol and other drugs. Caffeine and aspirin (both consumed in ridicu lous quantities during finals week anyway) don’t count. WPI BACCHUS is not a single group; rather, it’s one of over 600 national chapters of the BACCHUS/ GAMMA peer education network. Together, these chapters comprise the largest collegiate student organiza tion in the WORLD, with over 23,000 members in more countries than we can count. Twenty-three thousand is just a round number. More people join BACCHUS every day. ‘U h-oh’,you say. ‘Here comes the membership
Students named 1994 Pfizer Fellows courtesy o f WPI News Service Two WPI students have been named 1994 Pfizer Undergraduate Summer Research Fellows. Jeremy Little of Thomaston, Maine, and Kevin Shea of Vernon, Connecticut, will each re ceive $3,500 for full-time, indepen dent summer research in chemistry; $1,500 will be given to the principal investigators in the WPI Chemistry Department for supplies and equip ment to support the students’ research. Pfizer Inc. is a diversified, researchbased health care company with busi nesses in pharmaceuticals, hospital products, consumer products, animal health, specialty chemicals and spe cialty minerals. Each Pfizer fellow spends 10 weeks working on campus with a faculty mentor. In the fall the students present their results at Pfizer Central Research in Groton, Conn. The fellowships were established
four years ago after James P. Dittami, associate professor of chemistry, ap proached Dr. Charles Harbert. Pfizer’s executive director o f medicinal chem istry research, to request funding for one or more students for undergradu ate summer research. The first stu dent to receive the fellowship was Steven J. Rigatti o f Enfield, Conn., who studied natural products synthe sis and organic photochemistry in Dittami’s laboratory. This work was published in Tetrahedron Letters, an international journal for the rapid com munication o f preliminary results in organic chemsitry. Rigatti, a chemis try major who graduated in 1991, at tends the University of Connecticut Medical School. Three years ago, Pfizer expanded the program to include other schools and the program now serves ^ c o lle g es and universities. “Our company has ongoing programs with local school
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Consortium career fair See page 6
systems and we provide fellowships and research grants for graduate stu dents,” says Dr. John F. Niblack, pres ident of Pfizer Central Research. “What makes this program unique is that it specifically targets undergraduates.” “It is our responsibility to contribute to the education o f future scientists,” adds Hebert. “We hope this opportunity will encourage these students’ interest in science and in the exciting and inter esting careers science offers.” Little and Shea are juniors major ing in chemistry. Little will work with chemistry Professor Stephen J. Weininger on electron transfer pro cesses in polycyclic aromatic com pounds. Shea will work with Dittami on approaches to the synthesis of Huperzine analogs. Huperzine, a drug from herbs, has been widely used in China forthe treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and myasthenia gravis.
pitch.’ Well, you’re right. If you would like to travel io exotic lands (Conferences in Florida and Missou ri), meet interesting people, try your hand at mixing exotic beverages (like the bright green drink featured at last Thursday’s Coffee Cave show), or just want to see what the organization is about, then stop by a meeting. BACCHUS meetings are at 7 pm ev ery Wednesday in Salisbury 104. Or just let your fingers do the walking and call the Healthy Alternatives Of fice at 831-5800. W e’d love to chat with you. This article wouldn’t be complete
without the typical gushy, effusive thank you speech. So here goes: Many thanks to WPI Dining Services for providing all the great food, and do ing so with courtesy and professional ism even when the lines stretched out thedoor. Thankstoall the BACCHUS members who were involved in the planning and execution of the pro gram. Thanks to campus police for keeping an eye on the whole event. And lastly, thanks to everyone who stayed Up All Night with us. Break fast was a blast.... let’s do lunch some time!
Tuition increase announced courtesy o f WPI News Service W PI’s Board of Trustees has an nounced a five percent increase for undergraduate tuition and room and board for 1994-95. Tuition and fees will be $16,060. A typical residential student’s cost for tuition, fees, room and board will be $22,860. WPI President Jon C. Strauss, in a letter to parents of WPI students, noted that WPI has held the line on costs and cut expenses wherever possible to min imize the need for tuition increases. “We have increased expenses only to continue to offer our first-rate faculty competitive compensation and to make the kinds of improvements to our pro grams that will assure that WPI re mains an outstanding and distinctive technological university,” he said. Strauss also observed that tuition revenue enables WPI to offer financial aid to students who otherwise might not be able to benefit from a WPI education. About 80 percent of the undergraduates receive financial aid. “Next year, we will make available from all sources more than $ 18 million in scholarship aid,” he said. The an
nounced tuition for the coming aca demic year is some 10 percent lower than those of comparative private insti tutions, the letter stated. Despite the price restraint and the financial pressures of recent years, the WPI faculty and students have contin ued to build upon an excellent record of achievement, Strauss said. The let ter reminded readers of some of the accomplishments of the last 12 months. These were: a No. 1 ranking among comprehensive institutions in the North by U.S. News & World Report', a new campus master plan helping in the plan ning for a campus center and for solu tions to the parking needs; the an nouncement o f a major renovation and expansion of Higgins Laboratories that will give the mechanical engineering department the resources it needs to build an innovative, 21st century cur riculum; the new Entrepreneurs Col laborative, giving students the skills they need to be entrepreneurs; and ex panded Career Development Center services. The graduate tuition charge was also increased by five percent to $532 per credit hour.
Table o f Contents In The N e w s ................................... .......................................... 2 ................................... 2,3,8 Arts & Entertainm ent.................... .......................................... 5 A nnouncem ents............................. .......................................6,7 Editorial........................................... .......................................... 8 C om m entary.................................... .......................................... 8
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Letter to the E d ito r................................. Newspeak H u m o r................................... Club C orner............. Greek Corner
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