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In
this issue:
Project makes it easier for presidents to learn from history Smaller, faster microprocessor Links
within the Faculty
Expertise Research
Division Interdisciplinary
Research Virginia
Tech News Virginia
Tech Intellectual In previous issues: 2002 January 2002 - Volume 10, Number 1: Method to establish genetic markers receives patent. Making it easy to program your VCR — from the Internet. Forests can restore surface mined land. February 2002 - Volume 10, Number 2: Project makes it easier for U.S. presidents to learn from history; faster, smaller microprocessor technology developed at Virginia Tech; tree named for VT chemistry professor March 2002 - Volume 10, Number 3: One-stop-shop to access hundreds of databases used for Social Services Administration; Communicating across 10 time zones; Longer shelf life for shredded cheese E Only. April 2002 - Volume 10, Number 4: Examples of software developed for collaboration, virtual environments, libraries, instruction, engineering in various applications, etc. E Only. May 2002 - Volume 10, Number 5: Fiber-optic field sensor immune to EMI, Mapping plant genomes, Machine vision, Smart Road June 2002 - Volume 10, Number 6: One-way repeating transmission, Bi-directional AC-DC converter, Flight control E Only July 2002 - Volume 10 Number 7: Is accounting chicanery SOP? Affordable, detachable power for wheelchairs. Improving food security E
Only August 2002 - Volume 10,
Number 8 - Better winegrapes, Protecting the Bay, Preservng farm
land |
Volume
10, Number 2 
February
2002
EDGE newsletters contain brief descriptions of research activities and discoveries at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and provides links to researchers, centers, and sources of additional information.
Project makes it easier for presidents to learn from history
A book by Virginia Tech political science professors Karen Hult and Charles Walcott, Governing the White House: From Hoover through LBJ (Kansas, 1995), as well as other scholarly studies, have identified a lack of preparation for governing as a problem for new presidents. Thus, in 1997, the Presidency Research Group of the American Political Science Association initiated the White House 2001 Project, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and coordinated through the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution.
Among other activities, scholars with the nonpartisan project conducted extensive interviews between 1999 and summer 2000 with more than 80 White House officials who served in the Nixon through the Clinton administrations.
Hult and Walcott were among the presidential scholars who did analyses of the interviews and prepared essays combining documentary materials, institutional history, and advice from experienced veterans. The documents were furnished to the Bush and Gore campaigns and to the Bush transition team and members of the new administration. They are available to the public through the presidential libraries and at http://whitehouse2001.org.
Hult is president of the Presidency Research Group and on the advisory board of the White House 2001 Project.
Contact Dr. Hult at 540-231-5351 or khult@vt.edu or Dr. Walcott at cwalcott@vt.edu or 540-231-5491.
Intel microprocessor technology developed at Virginia Tech
The new generation of Intel’s microprocessor is operating at a much lower voltage and higher current, with a fast dynamic response in order to implement the sleep/power mode of operation. This mode of operation conserves energy and extends the operation time for battery-operated equipment. The challenge for the voltage regulator module in this case is to provide a precisely regulated output with fast dynamic response in order to transfer energy as fast as possible to the microprocessor. The first generation of voltage regulator module (VRM) was too slow to respond to the microprocessor’s transient energy demand.
At the request
of Intel, CPES established a mini-consortium, consisting of Intel, International
Rectifier, National Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics,
and Delta, to address power management for future generations of Intel
microprocessors, targeting 1.2 volt and 60-100 amps. The result is a multiphase
VRM.
By paralleling mini-converters and phase-shifting the clock signal, CPES
researchers were able to cancel a significant part of the output current
ripple and increase the ripple frequency. They demonstrated a four times
improvement in transient response, 10 times reduction in output filter
inductors, six times reduction in output capacitors, six times improvement
in power density, and three times improvement in profile.
Today, every Intel processor is powered by such multiphased VRMs developed by CPES. The center's researchers continue to explore new topologies in power semiconductor devices, magnetics, and innovative integrated packaging concepts.
Learn more at about CPES at www.cpes.vt.edu or call 540-231-1782.
Tree named for Virginia Tech researcher
A recent issue of the botanical journal Novon (vol. 11, 2001, pp 421-428) describes a newly discovered South American tree that has been named for David G. I. Kingston, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Tech. The tree belongs to the genus Cordia, and is named Cordia kingstoniana J.S. Miller.
It was named by James Miller of the Missouri Botanical Garden, who is a collaborator with Kingston in an International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) working in Suriname. According to Miller's article, Kingston "has contributed greatly to our knowledge of the medicinal value of plant-derived compounds, particularly those used to treat cancer. (He) is the group leader and coordinates the ICBG project."
Kingston says the tree has no known medicinal value.
Contact Dr. Kingston at DKingston@vt.edu or 540-231-6570 or learn more at www.chemistry.vt.edu/chem-dept/kingston/kingston.htm.