| Whiting
School of
Engineering
1996 Annual
Report Cover Page
Table of Contents
Report from the
Dean
Highlights
Statistical Profile
Awards and
Distinctions
Biomedical
Engineering
Chemical
Engineering
Civil Engineering
Computer Science
Electrical and
Computer
Engineering
Geography and
Environmental
Engineering
Materials Science
and Engineering
Mathematical
Sciences
Mechanical
Engineering
Center for Language
and Speech
Processing
Center for
Nondestructive
Evaluation
Chemical Propulsion
Information Agency
Instructional
Television Facility
Part-Time Programs
in Engineering and
Applied Science
Teaching and
Research Initiatives
Reasons to Celebrate
Corporation,
Foundation, and
Organization
Support
Grants and Contracts
Publications
Administration and
Committees
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Exploring the Intricacies of Finance
Since 1990, the Whiting School has used the Intersession break to expose
undergraduates to concepts and ideas not necessarily associated with a
traditional engineering curriculum. In 1995, attorney Michael Curley spent four
days teaching engineering students about Clean Water Laws: The Next
Generation. In addition to classroom discussions and debate, students traveled to
Washington, D.C., to meet with Congress members and Office of Water staff at
the Environmental Protection Agency.
The 1996 Intersession offering was the brainchild of Gordon Croft ’56, vice
president and director of the Baltimore-based investment management firm
Croft-Leominster, Inc. During the three-day course, Educating for Technological
Leadership—Financial Strategies, approximately 40 students examined investment
philosophies and the merits and risks of investing in various types of securities.
“My hope is that students—as engineers—can use the world of finance as a tool
and an ally to further their ambitions,” says Croft. “A knowledge of finance and
investments can help get new ideas to market.” Croft invited to campus financial
experts, whose affiliations included the well-respected firms of First Boston, J.P.
Morgan, Oppenheimer, Salomon Brothers, Sanford Bernstein, and Smith Barney.
As part of the course, students visited Lockheed Martin as an example of a large
publicly-held firm.
Nine New Faculty Provide Expertise in Many Areas
During the 1995-96 academic year, six engineering departments added nine highly
qualified faculty to the Whiting School’s academic community. It is clear from the
following brief profiles that the new faculty are a diverse and exceptional group.
The computer science department is pleased to count Yair Amir among its
newest faculty. The assistant professor received his Ph.D. in computer science in
1995 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Amir brings expertise in distributed
systems, advanced network protocols, and replicated databases.
Cheng Cheng is a new assistant professor of mathematical sciences. Until his
appointment, Cheng was a postdoctoral research scientist at the Upjohn Company
in Kalamazoo, Michigan, working in the computer-aided-drug discovery unit.
Cheng earned his Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from Texas A&M University in
1993. His research interests include function approximation/estimation methods
for analyzing noisy data.
One of two new assistant professors in civil engineering, Roger Ghanem
graduated from Rice University in 1989 with a doctorate in civil engineering. After
post-doctoral research at Rice, Ghanem was an assistant professor at the State
University of New York, Buffalo, until his Johns Hopkins appointment. He is
interested in computational mechanics, probabilistic modeling and computational
stochastic mechanics, dynamical systems modeling and analysis, and system
identification and control.
Benjamin Hobbs is a new professor in the Department of Geography and
Environmental Engineering. He received a Ph.D. in environmental systems
engineering from Cornell University in 1983. Among several honors, Hobbs won a
National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1986. In
his research, Hobbs uses systems engineering and economics to solve problems
concerning the supply, quality, and conservation of energy, water, and
environmental resources.
Computer science professor Russell Taylor is a Hopkins alumnus, class of ’70,
who earned a doctorate in computer science from Stanford University in 1976.
Since then he has worked for IBM, most recently as manager of the
computer-assisted surgery group at the company’s T.J. Watson Research
Laboratory. In 1991, he won an IBM Group Achievement Award for the
“Robodoc” system for hip replacement surgery, followed by an Outstanding
Technical Achievement Award for the same system in 1993. In 1994, Taylor was
named an IEEE Fellow for his contributions to programmable sensor-based robot
systems.
A second new assistant professor in civil engineering is Todd Ude, who received a
Ph.D. in civil engineering from Stanford University in 1994. Prior to his academic
appointment, Ude conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford. His research
focuses on basic mechanics, structural analysis and design, structural dynamics,
earthquake engineering, and computer-aided engineering.
John van Zanten is a new assistant professor of chemical engineering. He earned a
doctoral degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Los
Angeles, in 1992. Van Zanten comes to the Whiting School from the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, where he was a staff scientist and
chemical engineer in the polymers division of the materials science and
engineering laboratory. He brings expertise in the chemical physics of complex
fluids, polymers, colloids and interfaces, and biophysics.
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering welcomes Timothy Weihs
as an assistant professor. Weihs graduated with a Ph.D. in materials science and
engineering from Stanford University in 1990. He was a postdoctoral fellow at
Oxford University from 1990 to 1992 and continued postdoctoral research at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory until coming to the University. Weihs’
research interests include basic studies in and applications of multilayered
materials.
Also new to the faculty of the computer science department is David Yarowsky.
An assistant professor, Yarowsky received a doctoral degree in computer and
information science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995. He is interested
in developing machine learning algorithms for lexical ambiguity resolution in
speech and language processing.
Distinguished Leaders Lecture the Engineering Community
In 1988, Carolyn and Edward Wenk, Jr. ’40 endowed a lectureship in technology
and public policy that would “contribute to the education of engineers through
understanding the crucial influence of technology in our culture....” In 1995,
Albert Westwood, vice president of research and exploratory technology at
Sandia Laboratories, presented “Technological Challenges, Human Choice, and
Public Policy.” In 1996, Rustum Roy, professor of science, technology, and
society atPennsylvania State University, discussed “Re-Inventing U.S. Research
and Development After the Superconducting Supercollider and The Endless
Frontier.”
Also in 1996, Norman Augustine, president and chief executive officer of defense
giant Lockheed Martin, delivered the Whiting School’s third annual Sydney and
Mitzi Blumenthal Lecture for Contributions to Management in Technology.
Augustine titled his informative and humorous lecture, “If at First You Don’t
Succeed, Hire an Engineer.” He followed Michael Bloomberg ’64 and Allan
Huston ’66 in giving the annual presentation, which the Blumenthals established
with a generous gift in 1993. The lectures, designed to enrich the undergraduate
experience, feature noted speakers whose careers have successfully bridged
business with technology, capped by managerial accomplishment.
A Dedication to Remember
When alumnus Julian Sinclair Smith ’52 began a career in the broadcasting
business, little did he realize the impact he would ultimately have on engineering
at Johns Hopkins. In May 1996, the Barton Hall lobby was dedicated in his honor,
thanks to a $2 million gift from the Smith family. A portion of that gift will go
towards renovating the building, with $1.5 million set aside to provide a
professorship in electrical engineering. Smith’s wife, Carolyn, and four sons
wanted their pledge to the Whiting School’s “Designing for Technological
Leadership” campaign to memorialize his life, vision, and achievements as a
distinguished broadcast industry pioneer.
Smith became interested in the television market while running a commercial radio
station, WFMM-FM, during the 1960s. His station, WBFF-TV, hit the airwaves in
1971 and quickly gained popularity as the “telemovie” station. Also known as
Channel 45, the station became affiliated with the Fox network in 1986. In that
same year, Smith and his family established the Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
Sinclair is now the seventh largest company of its kind in the nation.
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