A Message from the Dean

Welcome to the New Year and to the Spring 05 semester.  During this time of the year at ECU, there are numerous calls for participation on university, college, and department committees.  All of these requests require our conscious and purposeful efforts.  The time and commitment required competes with all the other demands of our daily lives; however, participation in these activities is an essential and important part of belonging to an academic community.

By participating, we honor our colleagues and students; we are given a voice in the operation and governance of our university; and we bring visibility and creditability to ourselves, our departments, and our college.   Especially as a new and growing college on this campus, we must work hard to make ourselves heard and understood and respected by our peers within ECU.  I encourage you all to participate and actively engage in these activities when these opportunities arise.

Thank you.

 
Features

Caterpillar Donates Equipment to ECU

By Nancy McGillicuddy, ECU News Bureau

East Carolina University received two large equipment donations from Caterpillar, the manufacturing company of heavy equipment and machinery.

A presentation took place Friday, December 17, at the university's Grounds Department with university officials, staff members and representatives from Caterpillar present.

The two donated pieces of equipment - a Telehandler TH215 and a Caterpillar Skid Steer Loader - together are valued at more than $100,000. Construction management majors will use the machines to learn the operation capacity of the equipment.

"We're using muscle power now for some projects," said Ron Sessoms from the Department of Construction Management. "This equipment will add an element of speed and is a real nice addition."

Students will also use the equipment to help with Habitat for Humanity projects, said Douglas Kruger, chair of the Department of Construction Management.

"They need to be able to give back to the community and this is just one way to do it," Kruger said.

Scott Cooper, a senior project engineer and an ECU alum, helped to coordinate the donation.

TECS Graduate Recognition Ceremony

More than one hundred and fifty students were honored at the College of Technology and Computer Science's Fall Graduate Recognition Ceremony, held December 10 in Wright Auditorium.

The ceremony recognized bachelor's and master's degree candidates from the college's four departments: computer science, construction management, industrial technology and planning.  A reception for graduates and their guests followed the ceremony. 

Smith Book Reviewed in Computational Linguistics

A review of a book co-edited by Ronnie W. Smith, associate professor of computer science, was published in the December 2004 issue of Computational Linguistics.

Current and New Directions in Discourse and Dialogue, co-edited by Jan van Kuppevelt of the University of Stuttgart, offers archival proceedings for the Second SIGdial Workshop, which was held in 2001 in conjunction with Eurospeech.  SIGdial is the Special Interest Group of on Discourse and Dialogue of the Association for Computational Linguistics; its workshops have become the premier forum for empirical, formal and computational approaches to language use.

In his review, Matthew Stone, assistant professor of computer science at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, writes, "Van Kuppevelt and Smith have put together an inclusive, timely, and significant collection."

Current and New Directions in Discourse and Dialogue was published in 2003 by Kluwer Academic Publishers.  Dr. Smith was assisted in the compilation of the book by computer science graduate student Treena Larrew.

Behm Articles Published

Two articles by Dr. Michael Behm, assistant professor of industrial technology and graduate coordinator of the Occupational Safety Program, were published in Designing for Safety and Health in Construction: Proceedings from a Research and Practice Symposium in December 2004.

 Behm is the author of "Legal and Ethical Issues in Designing for Construction Safety and Health."  He co-authored "Pilot Study of the Viability of Designing for Construction Worker Safety" with John Gambatese of Oregon State University and Jimmie Hinze from the University of Florida.

The proceedings, which include contributions from practitioners and researchers in architecture, engineering, construction management, occupational safety and health and insurance, offer a wide range of perspectives on the feasibility and actual practice of designing for construction worker safety.

ECU Named ADDA Authorized Testing Site

The American Design Drafting Association has acknowledged East Carolina University as an authorized testing site sanctioned to administer the ADDA drafter certification examination. 

Sites are certified following a self-study and when assurance is provided the site can administer the exam in a condition and atmosphere that is in the best interest of those taking the exam and the association.  ECU's certification is effective through December 31, 2006. 

Drafter certification is a nationwide program that allows drafters to demonstrate their knowledge in drafting concepts and nationally recognized standards and practices. The American Design Drafting Association developed the exam to elevate the profession's standards.  Certification enables drafters to demonstrate professional capabilities and helps employers in identifying quality employees.

Focus on Research

 Submitted by Dr. Arun Aneja

A team of investigators primarily from the College of Technology and Computer Science (Tarek Abdel-Salam, Phil Lunsford, Merwan Mehta, Keith Williamson, David Pravica, Paul Gemperline, Jessica Cain, and Arun Aneja) is conducting research on "Micro Geometry Alteration of Polymeric Surfaces" with emphasis on fibers, films, and sheets.

The technology of nano surface fissures and imbibition is a novel and unique concept to engineer surface and/or internal cracks in a material under tensile stress. The material is exposed to a chemical environment thereby altering the morphological architecture with enhanced surface area. In either the same processing step or a subsequent one, the surface and/or internal voids may be imbibed with a solute to impart desired functionality. The technique offers greater manufacturing simplicity for many materials involved in missions for war-fighter and homeland defense personnel. The concept departs from the current technologies of material modification during synthesis and polymerization which are expensive or topological treatment which lack long-term efficacy. The experimental equipment is now fully operational with data collection underway.

Students In The News

Planning Student Awarded WTS Scholarship

Molly Rae Russell, a student in the Department of Planning, recently was awarded the 2004 Women's Transportation Seminar - NC Chapter undergraduate scholarship.  The scholarship was the only award of its kind given to an undergraduate student by the chapter last year. 

Molly is majoring in urban and regional planning and has conducted research on the economic and health benefits of greenways.  She is in the Honors Program and was the recipient of the John C. Ralph Scholarship last spring.  Molly aspires to use her planning skills in a career that allows her to influence transportation and land use decisions to improve accessibility and create more visually pleasing and vibrant urban environments.

 Founded in 1977, the Women's Transportation Seminar enhances professional and personal advancement and develops industry and government recognition of the increasing involvement of women in the field of transportation.

Engineering Students Present Designs

Students in ECU's first engineering class presented their own designs for improved farm tools on December 6 in the Global Classroom in the Science and Technology Building.

The students' designs were intended to reduce strains and sprains caused from excessive reaching, bending, lifting, gripping, squatting or twisting of hand, shoulders or body.

The solutions applied basic ergonomics principles and adapted ideas presented in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) publication no. 2001-111.  In keeping with the basic guidelines outlined in the NIOSH booklet, fabricating the designs should not cost much in relation to the benefit achieved; should result in quick savings; and should reduce injuries.

The bachelor's degree in general engineering with a concentration in systems engineering enrolled thirty-nine students in its inaugural class in fall 2004.  It is the first engineering program in North Carolina east of Interstate 95 and the only systems engineering concentration in the state.

Faculty & Staff Notes

The College of Technology and Computer Science welcomes Dr. Merwan Mehta, who joined ECU as an associate professor of industrial technology in fall 2004.

Dr. Mehta has been involved with the manufacturing industry since 1981. He has worked as a design engineer and a manufacturing engineer, as well as in management positions for large and small manufacturing companies, including some in which he had ownership.

Dr. Mehta received his PhD in engineering management from the University of Missouri-Rolla.  His research interests include flow improvement through lean manufacturing systems, the pursuit of quality through six-sigma principles and world-class manufacturing concepts and product design for rapid processing from concept to manufacturing prototype.

The College of Technology and Computer Science welcomes Carol Johnson as its new instructional technology consultant.  She received a BS in education with a concentration in science, math, and computer technology from UNC-Greensboro and an MLS from ECU.  She is currently working on a Director of Technology certification; her educational goals include obtaining an EdD in Educational Leadership from ECU.

Ms. Johnson taught science, math, and computer skills for 16 years and served as a media and technology specialist in Pender County and Whiteville City for the past four years.

Ms. Johnson's office is located in room 239.  Please stop by, email tecsweb@ecu.edu or call 9632 for her assistance.

Coming Events               

Technology & Computer Science Humor

 Murphy's Laws of Computing

1.  Whatever happens, behave as though you meant it to happen.

2.  When the going gets tough, upgrade.

3.  For every action there is an equal and opposite malfunction

4.  To err is human.  To really screw things up requires a computer.

5.  He who laughs last probably made a back-up.

6.  A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have evolved 

	 from a simpler system that worked just fine.

7.  The number-one cause of computer problems is computer solutions.

8.  A computer program will always do what you tell it to do, but rarely what 

	 you want it to do.

Have a favorite technology or computer science joke?  (Let's keep it clean!)  

Send it to jonesca@mail.ecu.edu for a future issue of The Nexus.

Did you know?
 

The Global Classroom has a new website.  Check it out at

http://gcweb.tecs.ecu.edu

The Nexus needs you!  Please submit news items (honors, awards, events, etc.) and humor for the  the college newsletter to Carla Jones at jonesca@mail.ecu.edu.