ITems | April 2005

IT survey: Alumni companies employ 500,000, generate $90B annually

The University's claim to being Minnesota's economic engine has just received a boost from a survey of IT graduates. The survey shows approximately 4,150 alumni-founded companies active today, two-thirds of them operating in Minnesota. The Minnesota companies employ more than 175,000 people and generate approximately $46 billion in annual revenue.

Worldwide, IT-founded companies employ more than half a million people and generate $90 billion in annual revenue.

Companies founded by IT alumni span many high-tech fields, including manufacturing, biotechnology, communications, software, electronics, and engineering. But alumni also branched out into other fields, from health care to the hospitality industry.

The survey, conducted last fall, drew more than 15,000 responses from the college's 48,000 alumni. IT released a publication detailing the survey results April 26.
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Deans endorse strategic positioning plan

IT dean Steven L. Crouch was among 20 members of the Twin Cities Deans' Council who endorsed the University's strategic positioning plan in a letter delivered to President Bruininks April 21. The plan is part of a wide-ranging, consultative process now underway to plan for the institution’s future, with the goal of becoming one of the top three public research universities within a decade. Earlier this month, 31 Regents Professors and Distinguished McKnight University Professors publicly expressed strong support for the recommendations and urged the administration to engage a diverse cross section of the faculty andUniversity community to implement them quickly.

Among the recommendations is a call for the creation of a task force to identify ways to better integrate and promote academic synergies, teaching, and research among IT, the College of Biological Sciences, the College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences, and the College of Natural Resources. The task force will examine possible reconfigurations of these programs, including consolidating colleges and creating new interdisciplinary institutes.

Roberts, Lilja named department heads

IT dean Steven L. Crouch has announced the appointment of two new department heads.

Professor David Lilja will succeed Professor Mos Kaveh as head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, effective May 1, 2005. Kaveh, who served as department head since 1990, became college’s associate dean for research and planning in March.

On September 1, Distinguished McKnight University Professor Jeffrey Roberts will take over as head of the Department of Chemistry. He succeeds Professor Wayne Gladfelter, who has held the post since 1999.

State approves funding for Kolthoff Hall renovation

The Kolthoff Hall renovation is among the projects to receive funding under the $886 million capital bonding bill signed by Governor Tim Pawlenty April 11. Under the bill the University will receive $112 million in state funds for construction and renovation projects on its various campuses. The University's capital request was originally submitted to the Minnesota legislature during the 2004 session, but when an agreement could not be reached on a state bonding bill last year, the University resubmitted its request this session.

For years, “temporary” biology labs occupied a large portion of Kolthoff Hall. As those labs relocate to new biosciences facilities elsewhere on campus, IT will reclaim that space to meet the need for additional chemistry research and teaching labs. Kolthoff's building systems will be renovated in order to meet new code requirements and provide a healthy environment for faculty, staff, and students.

U, IT announce 2005 awards

IT faculty, alumni, and staff have received numerous University-wide and collegiate awards this spring. Among the most recent award winners are professors Jeffrey Roberts (chemistry) and Shashi Shekhar (computer science and engineering), who received the 2005 Distinguished McKnight University Professorship, which recognizes and rewards outstanding mid-career faculty. Recipients of the University-wide honor are chosen on the merit of their scholarly achievement and potential for greater attainment, the quality of their teaching and advising, and their contributions to the wider community.

Roberts is internationally renowned for research on chemistry at complex interfaces. His studies have opened fields of research leading to better understanding of atmospheric chemistry and have answered fundamental questions about the growth of materials.

Shekhar is a world leader in the area of spatial databases, an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of computer science and geographic information science. His expertise is widely sought after by policymakers in the U.S. and abroad. Find out more...

The IT Web site features an updated list of 2004-05 award recipients, many of whom will be honored at a precommencement ceremony May 6.

IT honors retiring faculty, staff

A chemist, a computer historian, and a longtime administrator were honored for their contributions to the University at IT's annual retirement reception April 26. The event — which culminated in a ceremony hosted by Associate Dean Roberta Humphreys — celebrated three careers totalling nearly 100 years at the University. The honored retirees were chemistry professor Ron Gentry, who joined the IT faculty in 1970 and served as department chair from 1989 to 1999; computer science and engineering professor Arthur Norberg, who joined the history of science and technology faculty in 1981 and later served as director of the Charles Babbage Institute; and administrative director Leane Hewitt, who joined the math department in 1969 as a secretary and held a number of key positions during her career.

In memoriam: E. Bruce Lee

E. Bruce Lee, Vincentine Hermes-Luh Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and an IT Distinguished Professor, died April 15 at age 73.

Lee was the longtime leader of the systems and controls group in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He was a founder of the Center for Control Science and Dynamical Systems and was its codirector for many years. The strength of his reputation helped attract some of the world’s top control scientists and engineers to Minnesota and also helped forge collaborations with faculty and students in several IT departments.

During his University career he also served terms as head and acting head of the electrical engineering department and as acting head of computer science.

Lee studied mechanical engineering at the University of North Dakota, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1955 and a master’s degree in 1956, and then received a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1960. He was a senior research engineer with Honeywell from 1956 until 1963, when he joined the University of Minnesota as an associate professor of electrical engineering.

A leading educator and scholar in his field, Lee supervised over 50 Ph.D. and numerous master’s theses. His book, Foundations of Optimal Control Theory, which he coauthored with L. Markus, is considered one of the most influential textbooks in this area and has been translated into Russian and Japanese.

Lee was elected a Fellow of the IEEE and a Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He received the Warsaw University of Technology Medal for the development of control theory and establishment of cooperative research with Polish scientists. He held visiting professorships at California Institute of Technology, Technical University of Warsaw, Université de Montreal, and the University of Florida, and also was a senior visiting fellow at the Science Research Council, England.

In lieu of flowers the Lee family has asked that donations be made to the Hartig Fund, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota Foundation.

UMRA connects retirees and U

University employees are intellectually curious, civic-minded, dedicated, and involved—and so are our retirees. For nearly 30 years, the University of Minnesota Retirees Association (UMRA) has served our retired faculty and staff through its advocacy efforts and programs that encourage them to remain active members of the University community. This year the group has arranged special discount rates for UMRA members with the University Bookstores, Intercollegiate Athletics, Recreational Sports, and Parking Services. In addition, the group has worked to ensure continuing access for all retirees to the University’s e-mail system and other programs.

Through its representatives on various University governance groups, UMRA works actively on behalf of retirees’ health care and other benefits. “We’re making a special effort this year to address the impact of the limited, pre-1963 retirement benefits program on older faculty colleagues,” says UMRA president John Howe. “We’re also drawing attention to the faculty retirees’ “bill of rights”  [approved by the University Senate in 1998] and the Regents Policy on Faculty Emeriti [2000] to the attention of administrators and others in the university community.” The group is also urging consideration of appropriate, counterpart policies for civil service and professional and administrative retirees. UMRA also hosts monthly Campus Club luncheons and sponsors the Retirees Volunteer Center, which organizes hundreds of hours of volunteer service on campus and in the Twin Cities community.

UMRA is a wonderful way to stay connected to the U and meet a fascinating group of people. Find out more...

Honors

Chemical engineering senior Jonathan DeRocher has won a Gates Cambridge Scholarship for 2005-06. This prestigious scholarship, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates in 2000, is awarded to 78 people worldwide (35 in the United States) each year for study at the University of Cambridge in England. DeRocher is the first University student to receive the award.

Professors Steven Girshick (mechanical engineering) and Evan Skillman (astronomy) received the 2005 Best Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) Award from the Graduate School. Sharon Kressler (geology) and Julie Prince (chemical engineering and materials science) received the Best DGS Assistant Award. The Graduate School will host a celebration and awards ceremony on May 5, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., 101 Walter Library.

Professor Yongdae Kim (computer science and engineering, Digital Technology Center) has been awarded a National Science Foundation Career Award for his work on “Reconsidering Security for Storage and Distributed File Systems.”

Aaron McGowan, a Ph.D. student in physics, is one of 50 graduate students in the U.S. selected to attend the 55th Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany, this summer. Participants will attend lectures by the Nobel laureates and will meet with the Nobel Prize winners to discuss a wide range of issues about their research and other activities. Physics professor Marvin Marshak is McGowan’s advisor.

Chemical engineering and materials science senior F. Rodrigo Molina received the 2005 IT Student of the Year Award at the IT Week banquet and awards ceremony April 14. Molina also was selected to be the keynote speaker at the annual celebration banquet of the Academic Programs for Excellence in Engineering and Science (APEXES).

IT undergraduates Bradley Froehle (physics and math), Loren Greenman (chemistry and chemical engineering), Katie Lee (chemistry and biochemistry), and David Molitor (math and physics) are among a select group of students chosen this spring to receive a Goldwater Scholarship, the premier national award for undergraduates majoring in the sciences, mathematics, or engineering.

IT seniors Ryan Peterson (math and physiology) and Matthew Sauter (geology) are members of the U's championship College Bowl team, which took top honors at the national tournament for the second consecutive year. The five-member team beat Truman State University of Kirksville, Missouri, at the 16-team championship tournament April 22–24 in Seattle.

Events

MOT Executive Institute: Unleash the Power of Strategy, Technology, Intellectual Property, and Innovation

May 2–5: The Management of Technology (MOT) Executive Institute, a short course presented by the Center for the Development of Technological Leadership, is designed for executives and senior managers who lead at the intersection of strategy, technology, and innovation. The schedule includes full-day sessions on strategy for technology intensive-organizations, leveraging new technologies for growth, probing the business issues of IP, and developing and managing innovation. Institute faculty members are drawn from IT and its MS/MOT program, the Carlson School of Management, and the University of Minnesota Law School. Fee. Register by April 25 (registrations after that date accepted only on a space-available basis). For more information call 612-624-5747 or email executive_institute@cdtl.umn.edu. West Bank Office Building.

UMAA Annual Celebration: U's Night with Aaron Brown

May 10: Aaron Brown, anchor of  CNN’s flagship evening newscast, will be the keynote speaker at the UMAA’s 101st annual celebration. For group sales information (10 or more tickets) call 612-625-8878; for individual tickets call 612-624-2345. Student discount available. Social hour and dinner, 5:30–7:30 p.m., Coffman Union; program, 8:00 p.m., Northrop Memorial Auditorium.

Annual Meeting, North-Central Section of Geological Society of America

May 19–20: The Minnesota Geological Survey, in conjunction with the Department of Geology and Geophysics, will host the 39th annual meeting of the North-Central Section of the Geological Society of America. Registration fee (special rates for students, K-12 teachers, guests). Standard registration deadline is April 18. On-site registration will be available (higher registration fee). Register online. Radisson Hotel Metrodome.

Meeting of the American Astronomical Society

May 29–June 2: The Department of Astronomy will host the 206th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, a conference that will bring together astrophysicists from across the U.S. and the world to discuss their latest discoveries. The Kaufmanis Lecture for the general public will be given on May 31st at 8 p.m. at the convention center. This year's distinguished speaker is Dr. Carolyn Porco, head of the Cassini/Huygens imaging team, who will discuss the exciting new spacecraft results from Saturn and Titan. Register by April 29. Fee. Minneapolis Convention Center.

Looking ahead

Second International Symposium on Nanotechnology and Occupational Health

October 3–6: The Second International Symposium on Nanotechnology
and Occupational Health will be the premier global meeting of 2005 addressing the potential implications and applications of nanotechnologies in the workplace. The symposium will
provide a multi-stakeholder forum for presenting, assimilating, and discussing the latest breakthroughs and activities in addressing nanotechnology and worker safety and health. Space is limited, and early registration (by August 1) is highly recommended. For further information contact Katie Kjeseth at 612-624-3708 or conferences5@cce.umn.edu.