Here are two fantastic quotes about what having a positive attitude can do for you.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” – Helen Keller

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” – Albert Einstein

These are the positive messages that we should be conveying to our current students as well as to perspective students. ECU’s College of Technology and Computer Science is where the 21st century worker will find all the skills needed to survive, not just in North Carolina, but globally too.

Our College administrators, faculty and staff must provide the starting point for the future success of our students. In addition, this positive attitude will produce continuous growth of our departments, foster new business relationships, and strengthen the capability for enhanced exposure for all involved.

I don’t believe that we should be expected to apologize for what has happened nor for who we have become in this technologically driven world. The global marketplace is growing so fast that most fields can’t even keep up. However, we must stay ahead of the curve and be prepared to grow and adapt to the changing demands ahead of us.

We must not let the past stand in our way as we continue reaching for future goals. We are aware that change is inevitable and adaptation is required. Our university population numbers will surpass 33,000 in the near future.

Change will happen and growth will happen. Let’s be ready and provide the positive attitude needed to take the next steps forward.

Making Headlines

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT DEDICATES HIGH BAY LABORATORY AFTER CATERPILLAR AND GREGORY POOLE

PIECES OF EIGHT AND DAILY REFLECTOR

East Carolina University hosted a special dedication ceremony on Saturday October 6, 2007 to thank two major contributors. ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard honored Caterpillar, Inc. and the Gregory Poole Equipment Company for their donations and efforts by re-naming the High Bay Laboratory after both companies.

In 2006, the Caterpillar Excellence Fund and Gregory Poole, a Caterpillar dealer, agreed to donate $500,000 over a five year span to the Department of Construction Management. This will be a major asset to Construction Management in a variety of areas to include, but not limited to, faculty development and training, equipment, materials as well as lab maintenance and student activities.

The High Bay Laboratory is the perfect example of how students receive a hands-on education. Professors and instructors take what is learned in the classroom and implement it into the working environment provided by the High Bay Lab. The partnership of Caterpillar and Gregory Poole is a significant reason why Construction Management at ECU has become one of the top programs in the country with a 100% employment rate for its graduates.

ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard was joined by national and regional executives from Caterpillar, Inc. and Gregory Poole Equipment Company for this special dedication ceremony. Following the ceremony, many of the honorees were Chancellor Ballard’s guests at the East Carolina Football game against Central Florida.

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER FROM FORTUNE LIST OF “AMERICA’S MOST ADMIRED COMPANY” TALKS WITH CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT STUDENTS

The East Carolina University Department of Construction Management welcomed a special guest speaker to campus on Thursday, September 27, 2007. David Blakely, a District Engineer for Kiewit Southern Company, spoke to group of nearly 200 East Carolina freshmen and sophomores who are interested in potential construction-related careers.

In 2007, Kiewit Corporation was named the most admired company in the Engineering and Construction industry on FORTUNE’s 2007 list of “America’s Most Admired Companies.”

Blakely, Kiewit and ECU’s Department of Construction Management have had a working relationship for about eight years. Kiewit will participate in the upcoming College Fair on October 4th and will be represented by two ECU alums now working for Kiewit, one of North America’s largest and most respected construction and mining organizations.

“We believe it is important to link the professional and educational worlds in Construction Management,” said Dr. Erich Connell, ECU Construction Management Assistant Professor. “Our good relations with the construction industry allow us to draw upon companies like Kiewit to show current and relevant examples of work, processes and activities that students will eventually encounter when they graduate and begin the professional careers.”

Connell and Construction Management instructor Ron Sessoms were invited to visit Kiewit job sites this summer in Miami and then bring back important information to their students.

Blakely looks forward to opportunities like this to come on campus and interact with students because it he says it opens doors to careers that most kids don’t even know exist.

“It gives them a chance to see who we are and what we do plus they get to hear about the construction industry and can really open eyes to available opportunities locally and across the country,” said Blakely.

Blakely delivered a 35 minute presentation which included pictures of current and past major Kiewit projects from highway interchanges to off-shore drilling operations to airport runways. Following the presentation, students participated in a question and answer session with Blakely.

“It’s great for us to see what we’re getting into, career wise, instead of getting deep into our education and realizing this isn’t for me,” said Javier Zapata, an ECU freshman. “Now I am more driven than ever to go forward because there are so many areas to pursue and chances to succeed.”

Connell added that Construction Management has much more to offer than just construction careers. “Students interested in finance, banking and several other related careers often need a working knowledge of the construction industry and our department can deliver that as well.”

Dr. Behm Hosts Virtual Meeting for ASSE Local Chapter Featuring NC Commissioner of Labor

The Eastern Carolina chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) had a problem, a rather large problem to be exact. The 75 members of the chapter are spread out so far across Eastern North Carolina that coordinating schedules, locations, and simply finalizing general logistics prevented several chapter meetings from taking place.

The national ASSE organization began encouraging the chapter to find ways to get together, become more involved and active locally and regionally.

Dr. Michael Behm, an assistant professor in the Department of Technology Systems, came up with the idea of holding a virtual meeting online which would allow members disconnected because of the rural layout of the region to participate.

“There are 100 ASSE chapters across the country and I just knew there was a way to make sure the Eastern Carolina chapter didn’t drop out of touch,” said Behm.

Behm was asked to present his solution during the ASSE National Leadership Conference held in Chicago back in September. The members of the Executive Council encouraged Dr. Behm to move forward as swiftly as possible to implement the virtual meeting plan to the local chapter and report back to the national organization with the results. “This was a chance to demonstrate this technology and its possible applications to a group of chapter leaders from around the world (ASSE has more than 31,000 members in 153 Chapters). The session was very well received, and was broadcast from both ASSE headquarters in Chicago and from ECU so they could demonstrate this technology to the session attendees.”

The date was set for September 26th and a guest speaker was finalized.

“Cherie Berry, the North Carolina Commissioner of Labor, agreed to speak to the members about new policies, hot button issues related to our state and then field questions from those in attendance,” said Behm. “This was perfect for Commissioner Berry because she was able to reach out to a very important group in the eastern part of North Carolina, yet she never had to leave her office in Raleigh.”

Commissioner Berry spoke on a number of topics related to OSHA, specifically addressing administrative updates, vital statistics and emphasis on new and current programs.

The virtual meeting, hosted via Centra, was attended by 30% of the Eastern Carolina chapter and Dr. Behm created an archived edition of the meeting to be viewed at a later date by the remaining members of the chapter or anyone else from ASSE.

“Dr. Behm has been a champion of this technology with the Eastern Carolina Chapter for some time,” said Jim Morris, ASSE Region VI Vice-President who viewed the meeting from Virginia Beach.

Dr. Behm hopes to continue working with the local chapter in the coming months and demonstrate the advantages of conducting virtual meetings.

“Academic institutions, like East Carolina University, have been using tools like this for Distance Education for a number of years,” added Behm. “Our goal is to utilize the current technologies available to us to its highest capability and at the same time, create new advancements in technology to meet our growing needs.”

East Carolina event 'eggs' on future engineers
by Josh Humphries
Daily Reflector
Saturday, November 3, 2007

Raj Patel got some hands-on experience Friday morning in the field he plans to pursue in college.

Patel plans to attend North Carolina State University to study engineering, and the ninth-grader got a chance Friday to test his skills at Engineering and Technology Day at East Carolina University.

Patel, a freshman at South Central High School, built a bridge of popsicle sticks with three teammates. It finished second in a competition that tests a bridge's weight, its ability to bend 2 inches and to hold the most weight.

Patel said he has been preparing for the competition all semester and designed the bridge - made of about 140 popsicle sticks - prior to the competition.

"It was a great experience," he said.

Patel said the event spurred his already booming interest in engineering.
Experiences like Patel's were exactly what Ralph Rogers was hoping for.

Rogers, dean of ECU's College of Technology and Computer Science, said Friday's event was about unveiling new horizons.

"It is about showing them what the future is and how they can get there," Patel said.
About 300 students from 11 eastern North Carolina high schools participated in Friday's events.

Besides the bridge-building exercise, they faced off in an egg-drop competition. For that exercise, they were challenged to build a device that would keep an egg safe from a 30-foot fall. The overhead walkway between science buildings served as a launch point.
Rogers said the event was not about attracting students to ECU, though it would be an added benefit. He said the event is about preparing for a future with more technology driven jobs and stoking economic development.

"If they can get the skills, there will be jobs for them," Rogers said. "If we can get them preparing here, in North Carolina, we will be able to attract more technology companies and more jobs."

The event was sponsored by the North Carolina's Eastern Region Economic Development Commission.

Albert Delia, president and CEO of the commission, said the event is important to the region.

"Nothing is more important than providing opportunities to keep them (the students) here," Delia said.

Mamta Singh, science teacher at South Central High School, said the event offered students fun and healthy competition.

"It is very positive. It shows that the community is involved in making their futures," Singh said.

"It gives them a lot of exposure to what they can do," she said.

The competition gave students real-world experience in engineering, something that doesn't always happen in classrooms, Singh said.

Students and faculty learned about potential careers and toured a variety of laboratories and facilities before beginning the competitions.

The Daily Reflector
Monday, October 22, 2007
Professor Presents Paper

A Department of Technology Systems professor presented a paper about the ability of students to perform computer laboratory experiments at a conference over the weekend.

Professor Philip Lunsford presented the paper entitled paper entitled "Using VPN Technology to Remove Physical Barriers in Linux Lab Experiments" at the Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education Conference held last week in Destin, Fla.

Professor Lee Toderick was the paper's lead author.

Physical environment has traditionally limited the ability of students to perform computer lab experiments. Toderick and Lunsford recently started using a technology that allow student computers to connect to a private lab network and perform experiments from home or the dorm, at any time.

The East Carolinian
Tuesday November 6, 2007
Industrial Distribution students return from California conference
Students took advantage of networking opportunities
William Hall

Five ECU students in the industrial distribution and logistics program recently returned from the American S upply Association (ASA) conference in Anaheim, Calif.

The conference, held Oct. 24-27, was a nationwide gathering of wholesalers, manufacturers and contractors, in the plumbing and piping industry.

The students were given the opportunity to raise awareness about the program to national businesses.

The industrial distribution and logistics program is a part of the College of Technology and Computer Science, and specializes in the wholesale industry in the global market place.

The participating students are educated on the tools of the industry, such as the management of goods and services across the world.

"We know we're in a global marketplace now, and we're preparing our kids for it," said Mark Angolia, a teaching instructor for the department of technology who accompanied the students on the trip.

"Our goal is not just to get our kids an education, but to get them a job."

The students also attended many seminars on topics like marketing, sales, motivation and the impact that the new generation of college graduates will have on the industry.

Angolia and the students took part in a panel presented to over 100 people concerning program recruitment techniques.

The conference also gave the students a chance to network with corporate CEOs and executives in hopes of gaining employment after graduation.

"The current generation of people in the distribution industry is pretty close to retirement age," Angolia said.

"They're looking to the younger generation to fill the void that they're going to create."

There were 12 job interviews among the five students.

Reginald Knight, an industrial distribution and logistics major, conducted interviews with consultants from Kenney Plumbing and Chicago's Porter Pipes Supply Company.

Knight was introduced to the field through his father, who worked at the container-shipping company, Maersk, in Portsmouth, Va.

"I was always interested in the industry. The job placement is very high, so I made it my major," Knight said.

When the students returned to ECU they had to work on Power Point presentations about the trip to show in classes and to the Professional Association of Industrial Distribution.

"It was an excellent trip," Knight said.

Even though the ASA conference was held with the wildfires still burning nearby, no one was directly affected by them.

"You could smell the smoke when the plane touched down," Angolia said.

"People said they could see the flames from the hotel room."

Members of the industrial distribution and logistics program have also attended conferences in Las Vegas and Philadelphia.

The Daily Reflector
Monday, November 12, 2007
Tech programs reaccredited

Four programs in the College of Technology and Computer Science have been awarded re-accreditation by the National Association of Industrial Technology.

The bachelor of science programs in design, information and computer technology, industrial distribution and logistics and industrial technology were re-accredited at the association's conference held in Panama City Beach, Fla., last month. The re-accreditation is effective through October 2013.

The association's accreditation ensures that ECU has met a series of standards to provide industry with highly competent employees and assures the graduate they are receiving a marketable degree.

This is the fourth time NAIT has accredited the university's industrial technology programs, with the original accreditation occurring in 1985.

Faculty News

Gene Dixon - Department of Engineering - Provided a four part tutorial entitled The People Side of Project Management, for the Society of Women Engineers in Nashville, TN. He also presented two papers at the recent American Society for Engineering Management’s annual conference. The conference was held in Chattanooga TN, November 7-10, 2007. Dixon’s presentations focused on his research and classroom innovations. The presentation, Service-learning, Project Management and Experiential Learning, explored his personal experiences in the classroom teaching project management to engineering with a experiential pedagogy and using service-learning projects as part of an integrative and collaborative process for applying project management fundamentals. This presentation has been given in various forms across the country including a presentation for the Engineering Project in Community Service conference in 2006.

The second presentation, Followers Revealed Redux, covered ongoing research by Dixon in the area of the leadership process dealing with followers. Dixon’s premise is that there are no leaders without followers and he continues to explore ground breaking research in follower behaviors.

Merwan Mehta - Dept. of Technology Systems - Made three presentations at the 16th Internatio nal Conference of Industrial Engineers in Mexico. The theme of the conference was Minds and Machines. It was held at the Technological Institute in Saltillo, Mexico, on October 24, 25 and 26th.

Mehta also made another presentation at a Lean Conference in Atlanta. His presentation in Atlanta was called “Ultra-quick lean six-sigma process simulation.” Using a simple process and volunteers from the audience, how process metrics of lead time, lead time standard deviation, first pass yield, percentage value-added time, efficiency of the process and total FTEs needed for the process can be tracked and improved, using lean and six-sigma principles will be demonstrated in this simulation. Three rounds of the process with improvements will show how a process under control has the minimum variation in the lead time to complete the process.

Congratulations go out to Technology Systems’ Phil Lunsford named Outstanding Industrial Technology Professor Award for Region 3 at the NAIT Conference in Panama City Beach, Florida. He was also elected to a two year term as Region III Director.

At the same NAIT conference, nearly 10 faculty and staff made presentations and four of our programs were re-accredited. (Design, ICT, IDIS and Logistics and Industrial Technology)

Construction Management majors on the football team selected Dr. Douglas Kruger and Ron Sessoms to serve as guest coaches at two recent ECU football games. Ron was a guest coach against NC State and Dr. Kruger was a guest coach against UAB. Serving as guest coaches included attending team meetings, practices, the team dinner, a tour of the training room, locker room and equipment room. On game day, they ran through the tunnel with the team and stood on the sidelines for the game.

Congratulations to Dr. Erol Ozan in Technology Systems on his award of $36,908 current funding for your proposal entitled “Partnership in Information Assurance Scholarship & Capacity Building Program” sponsored by U.S. Department of Defense.

Ron Sessoms and members of the Construction Management student organization, ECCA, are getting ready to break ground on an exercise course at Northwest Elementary School.  The ECCA has also recently completed a tennis center shelter at DH Conley High School which will be officially dedicated in the next couple months.

Mary Gabrielsen and Amy Frank in the Advising Center participated in a poster session at the NACADA (nah-kay-da) conference in Baltimore about the High Tech Advisor’s Desk.   It discussed the effective and inexpensive ways to bring new technology to the advisor’s desk? This poster session was designed for learning how to creatively use existing and available technology to equip the advisor with tools that will increase productivity and enhance student privacy. These simple applications require no technical expertise or skills and increase communication with staff and faculty which lead to more effective advising with students. Best of all, no high-end equipment needed.  Amy also officially received her 2007 Advisor Award in a Primary Role, NACADA’s highest honor.

Congratulations to Dr. Jerry Micklow in the Department of Engineering for being accepted to the Editorial Review Board by Scientific Journals International.

David Batts, Technology Systems was a presenter at the 2007 North Carolina Community College Faculty Association Conference, October 7 - 9 at the Embassy Suites in Greensboro, NC. He spoke on:  A Work Force Development Success: Degree Completion for AAS Graduates.  Paul Kauffmann and John Garner, ECU Department of Engineering also presented at this conference.

On November 5, 2007, Stephanie Sullivan, Department of Engineering presented at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers 2007 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Her presentation was entitled Functional Nanofibers from Biomaterial Complexes.  Finding biologically safe and improved means of drug delivery is one exploration of electrospun nanofibers. Milk proteins such as the globular whey proteins (i.e., β-lactoglobulin, α-lactalbumin) have been found to be safe and nutritionally beneficial and, hence, are being used and developed for a variety of applications – from food supplements and coatings to biofilms and drug delivery vehicles. In this study, we seek to combine the inherent advantages of nanofibers with that of whey protein. Solution electrospun nanofiber mats comprised of whey protein and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) have been accomplished and these results will be presented. Our results show that addition of PEO leads to significant changes in viscosity and viscoelasticity. These rheological changes in turn translate to bead-free and uniform final nanofiber morphology. The concept has been further extended to develop nanofibers of other biological polymers including pullulan as well as those otherwise poorly spinnable such as dextran. The effects of various process and solution parameters on rheology as well as final fiber quality will be discussed and correlated.

Photo Gallery

The College of Technology and Computer Science recently participated in a number of recruiting events, fairs and conferences.  Here are some of the photographs from those events.

STATE FAIR IN RALEIGH

SOUTHTEC IN CHARLOTTE

Student Spotlight

Kenneth Lewis, Jr. - Technology Systems - was selected to receive the 2007 NAIT Foundation “Clois Kicklighter Doctoral Scholarship” of $2,500. Ken is one of TSYS’ consortium PhD students and will be finishing up this semester. Dr. Bob Chin forwarded this student’s accomplishments.

Ginger Yancey - Construction Management - was selected to present at the 40th Annual NAIT Convention in October. She was one of just four doctoral and master’s graduate students who were selected to present research and compete for the “Best Graduate Student Research” awards. Ginger’s presentation was titled “Managing Construction through Online Collaboration Tools.” She was also featured in the Industrial Client Group Newsletter. This information was submitted by the David Batie.

Brian Briley - Technology Systems - received a very nice mention in the National ASSE Society Update newsletter on his research presented at the Regional ASSe conference in September. The conference featured a student poster competition where students highlighted research in SH&E. Brian won second place for his presentation of “Perception of Job Risk and Safety Training Housekeepers at a Local University.” Dr. Michael Behm forwarded this student’s accomplishments.

Lauren Ward - Technology Systems - was one of just 30 winners nationally to receive the NETLAB+ Scholarship Award from CCNA 3 & 4 from the CISCO Learning Institute. The purpose of the scholarship program is to encourage the continuation of CCNA training beyond CCA course 2 by partially funding enrollment in CCNA course 3 and 4 during the academic year. The winners come from post-secondary institutions in the United States from several hundred applications. The $500 scholarships will be paid directly to ECU and applied toward Lauren’s tuition fees. Lee Toderick and TJ Mohammad forwarded this information.

Upcoming Announcements and Events

December 6th
Faculty and Staff Communications Seminar 9am-Noon C207
TECS Holiday Party (1st Floor Science and Tech Building)

December 14th
Graduation and Recognition Ceremony - Noon

Birthdays and Special Events

For Giggles

DID YOU KNOW?

• All of the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.
• No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
• "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
• Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
• In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
• Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
• The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It’s A Wonderful Life".
• The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz".
• John Lennon's first girlfriend was named Thelma Pickles.
• The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
• There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
• Assuming proper typing, "Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.

YOU MIGHT BE AN ENGINEERING MAJOR...

• If you have no life - and you can PROVE it mathematically.
• If you know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.
• If you've actually used every single function on your graphing calculator.
• If you frequently whistle the theme song to "MacGyver."
• If you always do homework on Friday nights.
• If you think in "math."
• If you have a pet named after a scientist.
• If you laugh at jokes about mathematicians.
• If you can translate English into Binary.
• If you have to bring a jacket with you, in the middle of summer, because there's a wind-chill factor in the lab.
• If when your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have accidentally determined its momentum so precisely, that according to Heisenberg it could be anywhere in the universe.