IN THIS ISSUE: Broadcasting | Education | Engineering | FAA | Secretariat |
broadcasting
The WILL-TV performance documentary, “The Song and the Slogan,” has won the 2003 Emmy Award for best music from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Mid-America Chapter. The Emmy Awards were presented Oct. 18 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in St. Louis.
Produced by WILL-TV’s Tim Hartin and featuring music sung by UI alumnus Jerry Hadley, the documentary incorporated a musical adaptation of Carl Sandburg’s poem “Prairie” written by composer Daniel Steven Crafts. Segments interspersed with the music looked at Sandburg’s life.
Winning along with Hartin for the documentary’s music were Crafts, Hadley, conductor Paul Vermel and music producer Barbara Hedlund.
The program, which aired on WILL-TV last February, was nominated for Emmy Awards in three additional categories: performing arts/entertainment, director and videographer.
WILL producer Alison Davis Wood was nominated along with Hartin for director. Tim Thompson and Steve Parker were nominated with Hartin for videography.
education
The College of Education was named one of three national Innovative Teacher of the Year award winners by Microsoft and the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. The award is associated with an Innovative Teachers Grant that the College Office of Educational Technology won in the fall of 2002.
The college program focuses on collaborative development of project-based learning models in the areas of literacy in reading and science. In partnership with the Office for Professional Development and Public Service at the university and the Champaign Unit 4 School District, the college has worked to develop model programs integrating technology into classroom instruction.
College faculty and staff members and students have had four projects highlighted as “best practices” on the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Web site since receiving the original grant.
Lynn Burdick, P-16 technology integration coordinator, and Shelley Chandler, director of Instructional Computing, both of OET, represented the college at the national awards ceremony in August.
National University in San Diego and Temple University in Philadelphia also were honored.
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engineering
Richard Alkire, the Charles and Dorothy Prizer Professor in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering and a senior research scientist at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, has won the 2004 Vittorio de Nora Award from the Electrochemical Society.
The de Nora Award is given for outstanding contributions to engineering and technology directed toward the use of electrochemical phenomena and processes. Alkire was recognized for his pioneering work in the field of electrochemical engineering, especially in bridging between fundamental science and applications of significant technological importance in electrochemical processing surface modification and corrosion.
The award consists of a gold medal, a prize of $7,500 and a wall plaque. The award is granted biennially and will be presented at the 205th meeting of the society next May in San Antonio.
Founded in 1902, the Electrochemical Society has become the leading society for solid-state and electrochemical science and technology.
David E. Goldberg, a professor of general engineering, has been named the first holder of the Jerry S. Dobrovolny Professorship in Entrepreneurial Engineering.
Goldberg is the director of the Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory. His research focuses on the design, analysis and application of genetic algorithms-computer procedures based on the mechanics of natural genetics and selection. His most recent book, “The Design of Innovation: Lessons From and for Competent Genetic Algorithms,” shows how to design scalable genetic algorithms and how such algorithms are similar to certain processes of human innovation.
Dobrovolny was a member of the general engineering department at Illinois for nearly 40 years. He served as department head from 1959 until his retirement in 1987. Goldberg’s investiture took place in September during a campus ceremony.
Yonggang Huang, the Grayce Wicall Gauthier professor of mechanical engineering, will be honored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers this month. He will receive the society’s Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award. The award is given to an engineering graduate who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in mechanical engineering within 10 to 20 years following graduation. Huang is internationally recognized as a creative researcher in the area of mechanics of materials.
George H. Miley, professor of nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering recently was honored by the Institute of Electrical and Electrical Engineers. He was presented the 2003 Fusion Technology Award by the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society. Established in 1997, the award recognizes outstanding contributions to research and development in the field of fusion technology.
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fine and applied arts
Donna Cox, professor of art and design and head of NCSA’s Experimental Technologies Division, will give attendees at the SC2003 conference a glimpse of the future of scientific advancement through the eyes of an artist during the conference’s keynote address later this month. Cox’s address, “Beyond Computing: The Search for Creativity,” will examine the fusion of high technology and high creativity.
SC2003, the international conference on high-performance computing and networking, will be Nov. 15-21 in Phoenix with the theme “Igniting Innovation.”
Commenting on Cox’s selection as the keynote speaker, conference chair James McGraw, deputy director of the Institute for Scientific Computing Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said, “The intersection of technology and art represented by (Cox’s) work and in her talk embodies our mission to spur creative thinking.”
secretariat
The Secretariat has named Mary Parsons the 2003 Boss of the Year. Parsons, administrative clerk in the department of electrical and computer engineering, was nominated by Sherry Beck, secretary IV in the department. Parsons received an engraved clock, a certificate, and her name was inscribed on a traveling plaque.
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