November 22, 2000

Features Staff Members Attend Recruitment Luncheon Staff members from every department were invited to a recruitment seminar and luncheon on Monday, November 20. Lane Dare presented an abbreviated version of the Recruitment Seminar that many department chairs and GPDs attended on November 3 at the new Virginia Beach Center. Recruitment is a responsibility shared by students, alumni, faculty and staff. Staff members in attendance included Sheila Hegwood (AE), Sue Smith and Jenice Coffey-Saxton (CEE), Gerri Dutton (ENMA), Priscilla Boteler (ET), June Blount and Diane Mitchell (ME), and Pat Beauter and Chantel Ross of the Office of the Dean. Thanks to the CoET students & staff who pitched in to help load VMASC equipment for the ITSEC conference in Florida. e-Interaction Poll The search is still on for a new name for the electronic bi-weekly CoET Newsletter. Email ldare@odu.edu with a suggestion. Be creative! Have fun! The new name will be announced in the December issue. The winner will receive a new CoET sweater vest! The following suggestions have been submitted: · Feedback from F.M. Williams – ET · e-COET (Electronic Culmination of Engineering Tales) from Nannette Bongiovi -- C2E2 · e-mcatm (electro-mechanical civilized aerospace technology management) from Zia Razzaq – CEE · e-nteraction from Bob Safford -- ENMA · e-press from Clair Dorsey -- Dean’s Office · e-Exchange from Sobi Walton -- TAC · Engineering Reader, Ingenuity, e-focus, and LEO" (Letters from Engineering Online or Links to Engineering Online or Learning about Engineering Online or Lectures in Engineering Online or Leaders in Engineering Online) from David Basco –CEE · e&t-zine from Dean Spik -- Dean's Office

Grants, Awards, and Honors
ECE Faculty $251K Grant Renewed

Pure diamond crystals synthesized using microwave plasma

Last year, NSF awarded a 3-year grant of $251,000 for a joint proposal entitled, "Chemical Derivatization and Reconstruction of CVD Diamond Electrode Surfaces," to Old Dominion’s Dr. John Cooper, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Dr. Sacharia Albin, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The award was recently renewed for the second year. This funding supports a PhD student, Bing Xiao, in electrical engineering and an MS student in chemistry.

Albin, co-Principal Investigator for the project, has conducted funded research on plasma synthesis of diamond films and their many properties for the last 12 years. Combined with Cooper's expertise in electrochemistry and surface chemistry, the team devised methods to study arrangements of carbon atoms on diamond films grown on oriented diamond crystals. The team is able to see how atoms rearrange themselves on the topmost layer of the film. They plan to modify this surface layer and bind other molecules to the diamond atoms and study the electrical, optical and electrochemical properties. Exciting applications are envisioned from this research leading to nanoscale sensors, light emitting devices and new electrocatalytic synthesis.

Arrangement of carbon atoms seen on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite

Arrangement of carbon atoms on epitaxial diamond film grown using microwave plasma

Coming Events and Important Deadlines Dean’s Tenure Track Faculty Seminar Series Continues Faculty are cordially invited to attend these helpful seminars, which will be held on Thursdays from 12:15-1:30. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP to Chantel Ross at 3-3789. 11-30 Workplace Ethics and EO/AA: Ms. Renee Dunman, Director of EO/AA (KH 103) 12-7 Role of Chairs in Faculty Success: E & T Chairs (KH 239) Events 12-2 CoET International Potluck Dinner 12-6 CHROME STARS Awards Dinner 12-9 JETS – TEAMS Competition FE Exam Application Information Applications for the April 21, 2001, FE Exam are available from the DPOR web page, http://www.state.va.us/dpor, or the CoET Office of the Dean, Kaufman 102. All graduate students must submit their applications directly to DPOR by December 22, 2000. Currently enrolled undergraduate students planning to graduate in December 2000 or May, August, or December 2001 may submit their applications to the Office of the Dean. The deadline for submission to the Office of the Dean is February 15, 2001. The application fee is $50.00; checks, VISA, MC, AMEX, and Discover (no cash) will be accepted. NASA-USRP Program NASA is pleased to announce its Undergraduate Student Research Program (NASA-USRP), which offers undergraduates across the United States mentored research experiences at nine participating NASA Centers during two sessions, Summer 2001 and Fall 2001. The NASA-USRP seeks applications from undergraduates enrolled full-time in an accredited U.S. college or university. Applicants must be rising juniors or seniors at the completion of the Spring 2001 semester/quarter. Eligible fields of study are academic major or demonstrated coursework concentration in engineering, mathematics, computer science or physical/life sciences. Information about the NASA-USRP program and application materials are available at the NASA-USRP web site, http://education.nasa.gov/usrp. The application deadline is January 26, 2001. For more information, contact Heidi B. Davis, NASA-USRP National Coordinator, at hbdavis@odu.edu or (757) 865-0726. Click Here for the CoET Calendar of Events Engineering Humor Two young engineers applied for a single position at a computer company. They both had the same qualifications. In order to determine which individual to hire, the applicants were asked to take a test by the Department manager. Upon completion of the test, both engineers missed only one of the questions. The manager went to the first applicant and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the job to the other applicant." "And why would you be doing that? We both answered nine questions correctly," asked the rejected applicant. "We have based our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed," said the Department manager. "And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" the rejected applicant inquired. "Simple," said the Department manager, "Your fellow applicant put down on question #5, 'I don't know.' You put down, 'Neither do I.'" Thanks to Dean William Swart for this contribution. Please submit your engineering humor to ldare@odu.edu. If we use your joke or anecdote in an edition of e-Interaction, you will win a humorous prize! Student News “Student News,” the newest department of Interaction and e-Interaction, will highlight news from engineering student organizations. Please send contributions to Lane Dare at ldare@odu.edu. Student Organizations on the Web! Home pages for engineering student organizations have been linked to the College web site, www.eng.odu.edu. To view them, click on ”Engineering Grads” or “Engineering Undergrads.” FMES and Volunteers for Special Engineering have already been linked to the College page. The Dean’s Office encourages all other engineering student organizations to forward the URLs of their web sites to ldare@odu.edu or dspik@odu.edu for posting to the web. Paper Presentations / Publications Two research papers were presented by CoET faculty at the recent Conference on Simulation Methods and Applications, held October 29-31, 2000, in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Rick McKenzie (ECE) presented his paper "Personality Comparisons in Trait-Based Command Decision Making", which was co-authored by Mikel Petty, A. Jafri, and T. Khan. Dr. Mikel Petty, VMASC Chief Scientist, presented his paper "Comparing the Power of the HLA Data Distribution Management Specifications 1.3 and 1516." Did You Know? According to the time-honored recruitment model of loading and squeezing and the current laws of direct mail, you must communicate at least six to nine times to a pool of 6,000 inquiries to achieve enrollment of 216. Apparently, there IS strength in numbers. Go for the percentages! Editor’s Note: Please email any suggestions, comments or contributions for INTERACTION to Lane Dare at ldare@odu.edu Looking for Past Issues? Check out The Archives.