Professor Murray Sachs (Biomedical Engineering) and M. Gordon "Reds" Wolman (Geography and Environmental Engineering) were honored at a November 15 symposium in recognition of their election to the National Academy of Engineering. "Both Reds and Murray epitomize that which is best about the Whiting School," says Dean Busch-Vishinac. "They are marvelous scholars whose research has had a major impact, worldwide, and they are warm and gracious colleagues who have worked tirelessly to make Hopkins a great institution for students and faculty alike." The symposium featured two guest speakers: Dr. Michael Merzenich, University of California, gave a talk entitled "The Auditory Neuroscience of Murray B. Sachs;" and Dr. John Schmidt, Utah State University, presented a talk entitled "Rivers and People: Sustaining the Relationship."

Hodson Hall, the newest academic building on the Homewood Campus, opened this fall to students in both the Whiting and Krieger Schools. The building, named in honor of the Hodson Trust, has nine classrooms all with tiered seating, sound systems, data and power ports for computers, and wireless Internet access. These state-of-the art classrooms allow faculty all the amenities of a high-tech environment, including projecting high-quality slide images, showing multi-media files and simulations, accessing supplemental materials directly from the Web, and conducting virtual laboratory exercises during class, from a touch-screen podium. The building also has three lecture halls and a large first-floor auditorium. The Hodson Trust is one of Johns Hopkins most generous supporters and has also endowed the Hodson directorship of the Digital Knowledge Center at Johns Hopkins' Eisenhower Library; in addition to awarding significant annual support to the university for Hodson scholarships, the Provost's Undergraduate Research Awards, and other projects.

A new hydrodynamics testing facility — an indoor water tank 14 feet deep and 25 feet in diameter — has been installed in Maryland Hall that will foster advancements in underwater robotics here at Hopkins. Associate Professor Louis Whitcomb (Mechanical Engineering) and students have been developing and testing computer control systems on deep-sea robotic explorers, including the latest generation, the JHU Remotely Operated Vehicle. As director of this new facility, Dr. Whitcomb will continue to oversee underwater robotics research at Hopkins, continuing collaborations with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and others on projects such as Jason II, a deep-sea vehicle using navigation and control systems developed by Dr. Whitcomb and his students. For additional information, visit the Dynamical Systems and Control Laboratory website.

Assistant Professor Andre Levchenko (Biomedical Engineering) and team have discovered a biochemical "clock" in living cells that delivers signals or information to the genes in the nucleus of those cells. Researchers found that these signals prompt genes to send out their own instructions, which, in turn can cause the cells to thrive — or not. The team believes that by developing a better understanding of this message system at the cellular level, advances in the treatments of diseases such as cancer could be made. Dr. Levchenko and colleagues published their findings in the November 8 issue of Science. More details are available here.

Lester Su joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Assistant Prof. Su received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1995. His research interests include experimental fluid mechanics, turbulent mixing and combustion; laser diagnostics, combustion systems, interaction of experiments and simulations, and spray and droplet dynamics.

Tsz-Huei (Jeff) Wang joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Assistant. Prof. Wang received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2002. His research interests include bioMEMS and microfluidics, single molecule manipulation and detection, nano/micro scale fabrication, and conformational dynamics of biomolecules.

James West joins the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Professor West joins Hopkins after a career of more than 30 years with Bell Laboratories in the Acoustics and Speech Research Department at Lucent Technologies. At Bell, Dr. West's research specialized in electroacoustics, physical acoustics and architectural acoustics. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (and past president), and fellow of the IEEE, Dr. West holds 47 U.S. patents, has authored more than 100 papers and contributed to several books on acoustics, solid state physics and material science.

Program areas for the new center include Terahertz (THz) imaging and spectroscopy, Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) and Resonance Enhanced Multiphoton Ionization (REMPI)-analytical techniques used to sense and identify chemical species. Associated center members at Hopkins include Prof. Paul Dagdigian in the Department of Chemistry, and Dr. Robert Osiander and Dr. Joe Miragliotta with the Research and Technology Development Center at the Applied Physics Laboratory. Partner institutions under the MURI grant include the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stanford University, and Stanford Research Institute. Researchers will be working in close collaboration with the Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Maryland as well as the Army Night Vision Laboratory in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. Funding totals more than five million dollars over a five-year period. For additional information contact Dr. Spicer at: spicer@jhu.edu.

The Center for Imaging Science joins a prestigious group of universities that will create an imaging network to share research in connection with brain imaging. The project, funded by the National Center for Research Resources (a branch of the National Institutes of Health), will use a nationally linked, high-speed computer network established by the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN). This consortium of U.S. universities will distribute and share brain imaging data, including high-resolution digital magnetic resonance images (MRI) of brain structure and function, advanced 3-D microscopic images, and related genomic, structural and gene expression data. The ability to share this data is expected to expand our understanding of disabling brain illnesses such as schizophrenia and speed the development of new treatments.

The Whiting School and PTE are proud to announce that Suzanne Jenniches, Vice President and General Manager of Northrop Grumman Government Systems Division, will chair the new Advisory Council for the Part-Time Programs in Engineering and Applied Science. Suzanne Jenniches is a PTE graduate with a master's degree in environmental engineering. The Council will be comprised of representatives from the Baltimore/Washington business community and will focus on assisting PTE with advice and counsel related to offering quality degree programs to working adults.

More than 400 people braved snowy conditions on December 6 to attend the third annual "What is Engineering? Fair" at Hopkins' Montgomery County Campus. This event brings together high school students, their families and teachers, with professional engineers and faculty to learn about careers in engineering. The event features a number of exhibits from the private sector and the university with the goal of getting the message to students that engineering offers an exciting career choice — its all about being creative, solving problems, and improving our world.

In conjunction with this event, the Hopkins' HeadsUP program was signing up students for its summer courses. HeadsUP introduces high school juniors and seniors, as well as early-college students, to engineering by offering college credit, introductory summer engineering courses along with possible internships in technology/engineering companies. The application deadline is February 1, 2003 for students interested in being considered for an internship. For more information visit the website or call Richard Scott, director, at 301-294-7172.