Home : Volume 27 : Spring 2001 :
Faculty News

Associate Professor Leyuan Shi, industrial engineering, and Professor Bob Meyer, computer sciences, have received a three-year, $400,000 NSF grant to research supply chain optimization. The project's goal is to develop metahybrid approaches and corresponding algorithms to efficiently solve large-scale supply chain optimization and other massive combinatorial optimization problems. Shi has also received a three-year, $216,000 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to study production scheduling with flexible resources. As a result of this research, Shi hopes to provide manufacturers with tools to improve daily scheduling decisions with flexible resources.

Assistant Professor Wendy Crone, engineering physics and biomedical engineering; Professor Walt Drugan, engineering physics; Professor Art Ellis, chemistry; and Professor John Perepezko, materials science and engineering, have received nearly $1 million over three years from the Department of Energy to study nanostructured shape-memory alloys. These alloys are on the leading edge of materials development and could lead to advances in such areas as miniaturized devices and microfluidics — particularly in microfluidic applications to combustion. They will investigate the novel properties that result from combining nanoscale material structures and shape memory. The group hopes to devise methods to synthesize nanostructured shape-memory alloys and characterize and understand their behavior.

Assistant Professor Akbar M. Sayeed, electrical and computer engineering, is one of 26 researchers from around the country to receive a Fiscal Year 2001 Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Program Award. Sayeed will use his award to explore new theory and methods for understanding the fundamental structure of the space-time channel of wireless communications. This can lead to more reliable and seamless wireless connectivity in a variety of harsh environments while maximizing system capacity.

Professor John G. Webster, biomedical engineering, is the editor of a new book entitled Minimally Invasive Medical Technology, (2001, IOP Publishing).

Weijia Zhou, director of the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), has received a three-year funding commitment from International Flavors and Fragrances, Inc. (IFF). IFF will contribute an average of $135,000 per year to WCSAR during this period. The grant will fund development of novel commercial products in the micro-gravity environment using technologies/facilities developed by WCSAR.

Assistant Professor Lei He, electrical and computer engineering, has received two grants. A three-year contract of $450,000 from the Semiconductor Research Corporation will fund research on power-efficient high-performance processors in deep submicron technology. It is a joint project with Professor James E. Smith, ECE and computer sciences. In a separate project, Hewlett-Packard will fund a three-year study of power modeling and optimization for high-performance VLIW processors. HP donated a $20,000 workstation to He for use on the project. He also recently received gift computers from Sun Microsystems.

Associate Professor José Pincheira, civil and environmental engineering, was selected by the North Central District of Chi Epsilon to receive the James M. Robbins Excellence in Teaching Award. Pincheira, was nominated by the UW-Madison student chapter of the national civil engineering honor society because of his devotion to teaching and students.

Professor and chair Sindo Kou, materials science and engineering, received the Charles H. Jennings Memorial Award from the American Welding Society at its annual meeting. The award honors writers of the most valuable paper published in the Welding Journal in the previous year. Kou shares the award with his former PhD student, Chaowalit Limmaneevichitr, now a lecturer in King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, Thailand. The paper is titled, "Visualization of Marangoni Convection in Simulated Weld Pools."

Wisconsin Distinguished Professor Rod Lakes, engineering physics and biomedical engineering, has been selected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers. Lakes' research interests include holographic and optical experimental mechanics methods; viscoelasticity; the characterization of materials such as fibrous composites, cellular solids, biomaterials, dissipative piezoelectrics, and human tissue such as bone; novel foams development; and materials with a negative Poisson's ratio.

Michael L. Corradini, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of nuclear engineering and engineering physics, will receive a Marquette University College of Engineering 2001 Professional Achievement Award. He received his BS degree from Marquette in 1975. He will be honored during the alumni association's National Awards Weekend in April.

Procter & Gamble Professor in Total Quality Don Ermer, industrial engineering and mechanical engineering, will receive the Eugene L. Grant Medal from the American Society for Quality. The medal is presented to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the development and presentation of a meritorious educational program in quality control.

(Joseph M. Juran was the first recipient of the award. Eugene L. Grant received a BS in 1917 and MS in 1926 in civil engineering, both from UW-Madison, and was a faculty member at Stanford University from 1930-62. Grant received the College of Engineering's Distinguished Service Citation in 1964, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1987.)

Content by perspective@engr.wisc.edu

Date last modified: 22-May-2001

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