Alumni enter UMR academies
Twenty-four alumni were inducted into the UMR Academy of Civil Engineers, the UMR Academy of Chemical Engineering, the UMR Academy of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the UMR Academy of Mines and Metallurgy at the groups' annual meetings, held on campus this past spring.

Born to be wired!
Professor helps connect bikers on the Internet

Building a Place in the Sun
UMR students are building a place in the sun this summer as they put the finishing touches on their solar-powered house. The solar house will be a home away from home for several students this fall, when they live in the home on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as part of the Solar Decathlon.

Ceramic engineering faculty recognized
UMR ceramic engineering faculty were recognized during the American Ceramic Society's annual meeting, held April 28-May 1 in St. Louis.

Crow named UMR's Woman of the Year
Mariesa Crow, professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate dean of the School of Engineering, was named UMR's Woman of the Year for 2002 in recognition of her efforts to improve the campus environment for women and minorities.

Dizzy Dean: the "school marms'" nemesis
St. Louis Cardinals pitching great-turned-sports announcer Dizzy Dean was well known in Missouri for his broadcasting style, which was full of mangled grammar and malapropisms.

Getting smart in the battlefield
When the Army wanted to update its 50-year-old process for identifying hazards in the battlefield, it turned to UMR for help.

Going... going... gone
UMR researchers demonstrated two very different technologies -- one for blowing up bridges, the other for holding them together -- with the 98-year-old Sappington Bridge, located near Sullivan, Mo.

Lindsay Bagnall named alumni director
Lindsay Bagnall, a 1976 graduate of UMR and currently assistant director of alumni and constituent relations, will become director of alumni and constituent relations on July 1.

NRC certifies three students to operate reactor
Nuclear engineering students Dan Estel, Craig Heimericks and Jeremy Gorelick last spring became the first undergraduate students in a new training program to become certified as nuclear reactor operators.

New institute deals with natural hazards
UMR experts in earthquakes, floods and other natural hazards joined together last February to create the UMR Natural Hazards Mitigation Institute, a vehicle for promoting research into natural hazards and raising public awareness.

Putting a new face on security
At UMR's nuclear reactor, faculty and staff are using their faces instead of keys to gain access to secured areas. The face-recognition technology being used at the UMR reactor is an evaluation in security that could help aid the nation's security concerns, says Dr. Akira Tokuhiro, assistant professor of nuclear engineering and director of the nuclear reactor.

SME honors Elifrits
SME honors Elifrits

Student teams compete
Putting their mettle to the pedal - Students win human-powered vehicle competition.

UMR graduate wins Academy Award
Roll out the red carpet for Dr. Steve Sullivan, a 1989 electrical engineering graduate of UMR, who has won an Academy Award for technical achievement.

Washing away land mines
Ridding the world of land mines isn't child's play, but UMR researcher David Summers has learned a thing or two about neutralizing the deadly explosives from, of all things, a child's plastic water pistol.

$69 million corporate grant sets the PACE for UMR
A donation of $69 million -- the largest single corporate grant ever to UMR -- will provide state-of-the-art computer workstations and software for UMR's manufacturing engineering program, officials announced Oct. 13.

Energy crunch fuels demand for nuclear engineers
Just as interest in nuclear power may be reviving, the nation will be running low on the nuclear engineers needed to keep reactors running.

UMR takes first step toward residential college
In the first step of a residential life plan that will change student life at the University of Missouri-Rolla as well as the campus' appearance, the University of Missouri Board of Curators approved on Friday the selection of a consultant to design two new residential buildings at UMR.

Children's classics make up UMR Family Series
The Missouri Arts Council recently allocated funds to UMR in support of the 2002-2003 UMR Family Series. The series includes four productions this season: "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor" (Oct. 6), "Snowflake" (Nov.16), "The Snow Queen" (Jan. 25, 2003) and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (April 6, 2003). All performances will be at 3 p.m. in Leach Theatre of Castleman Hall on the UMR campus. The Family Series is presented by the UMR Division of Student and International Affairs.

Eco-friendly homebuilders charged up for Solar Decathlon
Their house now complete and running solely on sun power, students from the UMR/RTI Solar House Team are charged up about their entry in the Solar Decathlon, a competition to take place Sept. 26-Oct. 6 in Washington, D.C.

English professor pens book on the bard
In a new book about William Shakespeare, Dr. W. Nicholas Knight, a professor of English at UMR, pieces together evidence from the bard's legal documents and from his family life to strengthen the case that Shakespeare was indeed the author of his plays. In the book, Autobiography in Shakespeare's Plays , just released by Peter Lang Publishing, Knight identifies autobiographical elements in passages from several of Shakespeare's works. He also cites numerous examples of how Shakespeare's experiences with legal matters -- including his loss of an inheritance -- influenced the plots and texts of many Shakespearean plays.

Writing center to host art show
Writing is the theme of an art show to be hosted by the UMR Writing Center this fall. All Missouri artists, as well as members of the UMR community, are invited to submit their work.

UMR professor writes chapter in encyclopedia
ROLLA, Mo. - Dr. Xavier Jayaseela Avula, professor emeritus of mechanical aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at the University of Missouri-Rolla, is the author of the chapter on mathematical modeling in the 2002 Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology, Third Edition, Volume 9.

Biology of horror is subject of new book by UMR's Jack Morgan
ROLLA, Mo. - There is more to the element of horror in books and film than the gross-out, in-your-face horror of films like Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street, says Jack Morgan, an instructor in the English department at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

UMR graduate set to blast off
UMR graduate Sandra Magnus and a crew of four other astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut are scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Oct. 7 aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. This is Magnus' first space flight.

Freshmen get their hands on design
UMR freshmen engineering students are hoping to encourage recycling and raise environmental awareness while also learning hands-on design techniques.

Boeing gift supports product innovation
A recent $245,500 gift from Boeing Co. will help fund a new Product Innovation and Creativity Center (PICC) at UMR.

UMR assists Algerian university
Through a grant from the U.S. State Department, UMR is helping an Algerian university strengthen and expand its educational programs.

UMR grad is ABC's "Bachelor"
Aaron G. Buerge of Springfield, Mo., a 1997 UMR graduate, is the nation's most visible bachelor. Buerge is ABC television's "The Bachelor" this season.

Connie Eggert named vice chancellor for University Advancement
Connie Eggert, executive director for advancement at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Business and former assistant vice chancellor of marketing and development at UMR, will become UMR's new vice chancellor for University Advancement on Dec. 1, UMR Chancellor Gary Thomas announced.

Ethics expert is new Maxwell C. Weiner Professor
Dr. Caroline Whitbeck, an expert in science and engineering ethics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, has been named the third Maxwell C. Weiner Distinguished Professor of Humanities at the University of Missouri-Rolla. She will join the UMR faculty for the spring 2003 semester

Bioethics: a conversation with Dr. Carol Ann Smith
A discussion about biotechnology wouldn't be complete without a discussion of the ethics involved. Proponents of biotechnology argue that such research improves our quality of life in a variety of ways, such as treating or potentially eliminating diseases or increasing food supplies. UMR's ethics expert Dr. Carol Ann Smith, associate professor of philosophy, sat down with Mary Helen Stoltz to discuss possible ethical objections to advances in biotechnology. (From the Winter 2002 issue of UMR's alumni magazine, the MSM-UMR Alumnus)

Commencement to be broadcast online
UMR's Winter Commencement ceremonies will be broadcast over the Internet beginning at approxminately 5 p.m. CST Saturday, Dec. 21.

Three UMR students certified to run reactor
Three University of Missouri-Rolla students recently became the second group of undergraduate students to become certified as nuclear reactor operators through a new training program.

UMR professor wins Governor's Award
Dr. J. Keith Nisbett, associate professor and associate chair of mechanical engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, is the recipient of the 2002 Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

UMR, Naples university form partnership
As part of its new global education initiatives, UMR recently entered into a cooperative agreement with the University of Naples Federico II (UniNa) in Italy to develop and implement programs, including a student and faculty exchange program.

Minority engineering scholarships available
The University of Missouri-Rolla Minority Engineering Program will award up to 25 renewable freshmen scholarships to minority students (African American, Hispanic American or Native American) for the 2003-2004 academic year.

Old-time baseball and all that "jazz"
In the second of his three-volume study of old baseball terms, University of Missouri-Rolla Professor Gerald Cohen digs up the early meanings of "gunner," "kale," and the term that led to the book project in the first place: "jazz."

UMR Stonehenge featured in new book
The University of Missouri-Rolla's half-scale replica of Stonehenge is featured within the pages -- and on the cover -- of "Missouri Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff," a new book by Josh Young.

UMR developing Missouri's first interdisciplinary engineering program
Aided by a $100,000 planning grant from the National Science Foundation, educators at the University of Missouri-Rolla are mapping out a novel approach to teaching engineering -- one that will incorporate more hands-on design and engineering to better prepare students for emerging engineering careers.