Globalization initiative receives a major boost by Brian Parker Editor-in-Chief On Thursday, November ninth WPI President Edw ard Parrish signed a memorandum o f understanding with representatives from the University o f Puerto Rico, thereby establishing W PI’s first physical off-campus center. Lo cated at the UPR campus in Mayaguez, this new center will facilitate joint pro grams between the two institutions, such as faculty and student exchanges as well as projects. Professor Noori. head o f the ME Department, gave a few remarks al the signing, stating: "This is a great histori cal moment for both institutions” and that he was “glad to see that this is taking place.” He went on to note that the excitement had apparently gotten the best o f Parrish as well as Dr. Stuart Ramos, Chancellor of UPRM and rep resentative of the President o f UPR Dr. Norman Maldonado and Dr. Manuel Gomez, Director o f the Center for Re sources for Science and Engineering, who had begun signing before he had
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money was left over (they had been very generously funded), the agencies were approached with the possibility of using it to fund the new center. The UPR administration was successful in convincing them to do so. Another cooperative effort that has already taken place, besides M Q P’s and student exchanges, are three pro posals which have been submitted to NSF, the O ffice o f Naval Research and the Department o f Energy. The center will allow more o f this type of work to be done as well as promote minority recruitment to W P l’s graduate pro grams. This has been identified by NSF as being highly im portant in the years to come. The representatives from UPR were interested in this “bridge” Ph D. pro gram, which is a new concept in educa tion. UPR has not been able to create graduate programs in all of its areas o f study because the faculty literally does not have time to research. This is due in part to the fact that they often teach up
work was done on their part. D octor Davoodi claims that he was the chance to speak. Noori was invited to go down and “a catalyst to the p rocess.. .1 know how Dr. Ramos com m ented: “ 1am happy visit UPR last year and as a representa things work here and how they work to be here as the representative o f the tive of W PI, he talked with many m em president of the University o f Puerto there. T his was m ostly p rofessor bers of the UPR faculty about WPI in Rico. I am sure that the agreem ent will N oori’s id e a .. .it will be a good oppor general. There was a lot of interest in tunity foreveryonc involved.” Davoodi be fulfilled and that this is the begin the globalization program here, as well had a very good experience at W PI, ning o f a long relationship with WPI. I as the project-based curricu hope to see it expand into lum. During his May 1994 other areas, such as the arts visit, Noori was able to meet and sciences. 1 am proud to "I am su re that th e agreem ent will be f u l many depart ment heads, deans be here and would like to f ille d a n d th at this is the beginn in g o f a long and chancellors of UPR and thank you for your kindness relation sh ip with WPI. I hope to see it exp a n d the tw o WPI alumni on the during our stay. We will into oth er areas, such as th e arts a n d sciences. ” UPR staff proposed on-site come back again, but it will -Dr. S tu art Ram os, C h ancellor o f U PR M be in the sum mer.” representation for WPI at UPR. T he T hird International President Parrish stated Stochasitc Structural Dynam thal he was: "delighted to ics Conference, held in January o f this graduating in 1989, he has only good have you here and I hope to visit you in year, was organized by UPR, WPI and things to say about the faculty here. “ I M ay ag u ez.. .There is a lot that we can Rice University and sponsored by the do together and I hope that you do come learned to SCUBA dive from professor National Science Foundation, Xerox, Sacco. . .and one reason why I am a back.” the International Science Foundation, professor is because o f my professors The signing was the culm ination o f Exxon and numerous other industries. over a year and a hal f s work on the part here, like professors N oori, Boyd, This conference was attended by repre Hagland.Grandin, Christopher and oth of WPI M echanical Engineering D e sentatives from 47 countries and repre ers.” partment head M oham mad Noori and sented a good cooperative effort be D octor N oori’s version has the WPI UPRM Associate Professors Ali Saffar tween the schools. and Hamid Davoodi (both o f whom are alumni giving the initial spark for the W hen som e o f the sponsorship partnership, but either way a lot of WPI alumni), along with others.
See Puerto Rico, continued on page 2. Also, see photo below
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
N e w sp e a k , Tuesday November 14 , 1995
Volume Twenty-three, Number Twenty-four
Toys and clothing being collected by the Counseling and Student Development Center Staff The director of the WPI counseling and Student Development Center, Tom Balistrieri, has friends on the Rosebud who have called to say that winter and the holidays look particularly bleak to the people this year. Government bud get cuts have cost many people their jobs and parents are having trouble affording to buy their children winter clothing and holiday gifts. What is needed are used and new toys for children o f any age. What also is needed are good used or new jackets.
sweaters, hats, and gloves for children. Snow covers the ground and the tem perature has already hit below zero out on the Rosebud. The people could really use our help. If you wish to donate a gift please do the following. Bring your gift down to the WPI Counseling and Studeni Devel opment Center at 157 West Street. It is up to you whether you wish to wrap the gift or not. Either way please do the following: On a card write down your name, address, a greeting, and place the card in an envelope (include a picture if you like). On the outside o f the envelope indicate whether the gift is for a girl or
boy, the age group for which the gift is designed, and attach the envelope to the gift. If you are sending clothing indicate the size. Mailing the items will be ex pensive for us so we also appreciate any monetary gift you can offer which will be used to pay postage costs. We will be mailing gifts by Decem ber 1st though we will be sending cloth ing in batches as it comes in. Please deliver any items lo the CSDC begin ning immediately through December I st. If you have any questions please contact the CSDC at x-5540. Thank you so much and have a happy holiday season. Mitakuye Oyasin (We arc all related).
President’s IQP Award finalists announced The following students have been named finalists in the 1995 President’s IQP Awards Competition: Barry DeCoster, Michael Dupont and Peter Manolakos for “Proposal for a Client-Satisfaction Measurement Sur vey Prepared for the Royal Hospital for Neurodisabilty" advised by English Pro
fessor Kent P. Ljungquist; Joseph Batcha, Matthew Dei, Daniel Horgan and Chris topher Michalak for “An Assessment of Pedestrian Mobility in the San Juan Area" advised by chemistry Professor Stephen J. Weininger; Bradley C. Forrest, Chad M. Hamel, Martin C. Rosner and Tim o thy M. Tully for "Feasibility of Subma
NEWSPEAK STAFF PHOTO / ED CAMERON
ASME is sponsoring a holiday raffle in which two $50 cash prizes will be awarded each week for ten weeks. Tickets are $20, and will be available starting November 13. To purchase tickets or for more information contact John Albert (email albert®wpi). Pictured from left to right are John Albert, ASM E President; Professor Mohammad N oori, ME Department Head; Cindy Mitchell, ASME Treasurer, and Prof. Jim Hernianson, Faculty Advisor of ASME.
A look at W P I's T r a d itio n s See page 2
‘
rine Sand Extraction in Puerto Rico” advised by Chemistry Professor Stephen J. Weininger; Jesus M. Beltran, Erin E. Brophy, and Alex Cardenas for “A C om puterized Catalog o f Outdoor Art in Dorsoduro, Venice” advised by Dou glas W. Woods, professor and head of the Social Science & Policy Studies Department, and Fabio Carrera, coordi nator of the Venice Project Program; and Jospeh W. Beauchemin. Samuel J. Fix and John F. Coolidge for “ Proposal for the Deep Sea Gallery forthe National M aritim e Museum (Greenwich, En gland)” advised by English Professor Kent P. Ljungquist. The com petition will be held in Higgins House on Wednesday, Nov. 29. Presentations begin at 2 p.m. The win ners will be announced that evening after dinner.
Red Cross blood drive A Red Cross blood drive will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14, and Wednesday, Nov. 15, in Founders Hall. Walkins are welcome.
new spea k
STAFF PHOTO / ERIC WILHELM
There was excitement in the air last Thursday as (left to right) Puerto Rico’s Director of the Center for Resources for Science and Engineering Dr. Manuel Gomez, WPI President Parrish and UPRM Chancellor Dr. Stuart Ramos signed the memorandum of understanding which establishes a center at UPR Mayaguez.
MQP Lab Safety Training sessions a success by David Messier Environmental Health & Safety Officer Over the past m onth, five training sessions w ere held to train our M QP students w orking in WPI lab o rato ries w ith hazardous m aterials. A total o f 116 students attended these sessions w hich focused on risk m an agem ent, standard operating p ro ce dures in a lab, personal protective eq uipm ent, hazardous w aste m an agem ent and em ergency response prep ared n ess. The train in g was endorsed by the O ffice o f the Provost and the C am pus Safety C om m ittee. T hough not m an d ato ry , som e d ep artm en ts, as well as individual faculty m em bers, made it c lea r to their students that p articipation was indeed required if they w anted to co n tin u e w orking in a lab. The three departm ents with the
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World N ew s ..................................................................................... 2 N ew s ..................................................................................................2 Sports .................................................................................................3 Arts & Entertainment............................................................ 5, 11 Commentary .................................................................................... 6 C C C ................................................................................................... 6
largest num ber o f students w orking in hazardous m aterials labs are B i ology and B iotechnology, C h em is try and B iochem istry, and C hem ical E ngineering. T hese departm ents had the follow ing attendance rates : BBT - 70% CBC - 77% CM - 83% O ther departm ents participating in the training included Fire Protection Engineering and Material Science. The effort this year yielded a much better attendance rate than last year’s effort. This can be attributed to the support which Lance Schachterle, As sistant Dean of Undergraduate Stud ies, and Jack Hanlon, Chair, Campus Safety Com m ittee put forth in com municating the importance of under graduate lab safety training to W P I's academic departments. The depart ment heads and faculty members in these departm ents also contributed to the improved yield this year.
Contents Announcem ents .............................................................................7 Club C orner ....................................................................................8 Greek Corner ................................................................................. 9 Classifieds ..................................................................................... II Police iM g ..................................................................................... 12 What’s Happening ...................................................................... 12