MICROSCOPES
Boeing awards grant for international aerospace engineering
program
The Boeing Company has awarded a three-year, $125,000 grant to aerospace
and ocean engineering at Virginia Tech for a program that gives undergraduates
the opportunity to collaborate on design projects with their counterparts
in other nations.
The College of Engineering s Multi-Disciplinary International
Design Program is in its third year. Engineering undergraduates have traveled
to France and England to work on aircraft design projects with European
students, faculty members, and industry representatives.
In 1997-98, 20 Tech students from AOE, industrial and systems engineering,
materials science and engineering, and mechanical engineering worked with
students at Loughborough University in England on an aircraft design project
for the annual Federal Aviation Administration/National Aeronautics and
Space Administration General Aviation Design Competition. In 1997 the Tech
team won third place in the competition for their design of the VenTure,
an amphibious sport utility aircraft.
This year, the Tech and Loughborough students will work on projects
proposed by industries and technical societies in both the U.S. and England.
Marc Sheffler of Boeing, who acts as liaison between the company and
Tech, described the program as “a pioneering effort in multinational, multidisciplinary
teams” and noted that “the increased relevance of this program to the modern
workplace impressed us so much at the Boeing Comany that we awarded (James
Marchman, AOE assistant department head and coordinator of the design
program) a $125,000 grant to continue the program. By combining the concepts
of integrated design/build teams with engineering in a global environment,
Dr. Marchman has taken aerospace education at Virginia Tech to a new level.”
Boeing also provided equipment and manufacturing samples to equip a
new Aerospace Manufacturing Laboratory, and sponsors two $3,000 scholarships
each year.
— Liz Crumbley, College of Engineering
K-12 kids connect to university research
Mechanical engineering, endangered species, mining technology, materials
science, and pharmaceutical testing are just a few of the atypical areas
of science K-12 teachers can now integrate into their classroom curriculums
through a unique university-public school partnership established by Virginia
Tech.
The Institute for Connecting
Science Research to the Classroom, coordinated by Joy Colbert in the
College of Human Resources and Education, is a confederation of laboratories,
centers, and sponsored research projects from seven colleges at Virginia
Tech. Through the institute, teachers have direct access to Virginia Tech
research in science, mathematics, and teaching technologies.
With more than 300 research projects sponsored by NASA and the National
Science Foundation, Virginia Tech serves as a testbed for a variety of
investigations that have tremendous potential for affecting education in
science, mathematics, and technology, says Colbert. "The institute s
goal is to demonstrate the practical applications of research to education;
to bring science, technology, and engineering career options to public
school students; and to connect corporations, public schools, community
colleges, and universities in improving science and mathematics education."
Bell Atlantic sponsors two programs that will help teachers take advantage
of technology - Technology Management for School Leaders, which will help
K-12 principals and superintendents make wise technology investments and
manage new teaching and learning technologies efficiently, and Teaching
Inquiry with the Latest Technologies, a train-the-trainer program that
will bring teams of teachers to Virginia Tech to learn about new technologies.
They, in turn, will return to their school districts and train their colleagues.
For more information, contact Institute Executive Director Joy
E. Colbert at 540-231-5467.
— Sandy Broughton
Horse center surveys racing injuries
Catastrophic racehorse injuries are a major cause of equine mortality
and financial loss in the racing industry. A study by the Marion duPont
Scott Equine Medical Center may help researchers better understand the
origins of musculoskeletal injuries, the primary cause of breakdowns on
the track.
The Virginia Horse Industry Board has approved the first year of a three-year
proposal from Nathaniel White, the Theodora Ayer Randolph Professor of
Equine Surgery, and center director, G.
Frederick Fregin, to investigate racing and training injuries at Colonial
Downs in New Kent County.
Musculoskeletal injuries — including injuries to bones, joints, tendons
and ligaments, muscles, and the hoof — are a major cause of decreased horse
use in the racing industry, according to White.
While the annual economic loss from these injuries remains unquantified,
White says, it is estimated to reach one billion dollars annually when
considering loss of training fees, lost purses, the cost of replacement
horses, cost of veterinary care, and the loss of sales for agricultural
products.
The researchers propose to use risk factor analysis in an effort to
better understand and perhaps identify some previously unknown causes of
musculoskeletal injuries in racehorses.
Previous studies have been primarily concerned with catastrophic injury,
White says. The EMC study will more broadly examine factors that increase
the risk of injury during both racing and training.
During the first year of the project, a survey system will be set up
to collect information from veterinarians and trainers about racing and
training injuries that occur at Colonial Downs, White says.
uring the following two years, information about horses with and without
injuries will be used to see if any injuries are associated with such factors
as toe grabs, training techniques, or horse conformation.
The information obtained will help identify factors that increase the
risk of injury and then help start programs that can decrease the injury
rate and improve safety for both horses and riders.
— Jeff Douglas, College of Veterinary Medicine
Public policy researchers study welfare reform
Virginia Tech s Center
for Public Administration and Policy (CPAP) has signed a three-year,
$2.4 million agreement with the Virginia Department of Social Services
(VDSS) to conduct an evaluation of Virginias welfare reform program.
Under provisions of the Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare
(VIEW) program, phased in across the state between July 1995 and October
1997, able-bodied parents are required to work. Families with a working
parent can continue to receive cash benefits as long as their income and
the benefits do not exceed the federal poverty level. Eligibility for cash
assistance is limited to a total of 24 months with an additional 12 months
of assistance with child care, transportation, and medical care.
Virginia Tech will work with VDSS and Mathematica Policy Research Inc., a large,
private research firm with 30 years experience in conducting evaluation
studies. The principal investigators are Renee
Loeffler, research scientist and director of CPAP’s
Institute for Public Policy Research, and Carole Kuhns, research scientist
and director for research and evaluation studies with the institute.
Loeffler says the study will examine the impact of the Virginia Independence
Program/VIEW compared with the old Aid for Dependent Children system and
determine the major challenges and most successful approaches in implementing
a welfare reform program such as Virginia’s. The study will also
look at what happens to families that reach the two-year time limit for
cash assistance.
There will be a descriptive study of families that are exempted from
the VIEW work requirement, and some employed VIEW participants will receive
special post-employment services to enhance job retention and long-term
labor market success. Virginia Tech researchers will evaluate the outcome
of this experiment and the university’s Center for Survey Research
will provide assistance and conduct some of the surveys for this project.
Funds for the study were provided by the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.
— David Nutter, University Relations
Financially distressed airline firms accident-prone
Do financially troubled firms tend to compromise quality and safety?
Virginia Tech finance professor Vijay
Singal has completed a study demonstrating that airlines with financial
problems are more likely to focus on maximizing current profits and less
likely to pay attention to quality, safety, and maintenance. Singal’s
findings offer the FAA and other agencies a new way to make airline regulation
more efficient.
Using airline bond ratings as a proxy for financial health, Singal found
that airlines with higher-quality bond ratings (i.e. in better financial
health) experienced fewer "mishaps" (includes "accidents" and "incidents")
than airlines with lower-quality ratings. "On average, an airline with
an investment-grade bond rating has a 25 percent lower probability of a
mishap than an airline with a below investment-grade rating," Singal says.
Although there has been much interest in the link between an airline’s
financial health and its safety, Singal’s study is the first that
provides evidence of the positive relationship between the two factors.
His findings suggest that regulators should spend a greater proportion
of their resources on inspecting financially weaker airlines. "The use
of bond ratings to measure financial distress makes it easy to implement
these recommendations," he says.
— Sookhan Ho, Pamplin College of Business
Molecular biology strengthens forest at desert’s
edge
Khidir Hilu, professor of biology
at Virginia Tech, has received a 1998-1999 Fulbright research award to
work in Morocco, where he will use modern science to preserve an endangered
forest. He will spend the summer of 1999 working in the biology department
at Universite Ibnou Zohr, in Agadir, Morocco.
Hilu will collaborate with Fouzia Bani-Aameur, who spent three months
as a Fulbright fellow in Hilu’s laboratory during the summer of
1996.
The argan tree (Argania spinosa) is valued for its highly unsaturated
edible oil, wood, and forage, and is valuable in land reclamation. The
kernel oil is used commercially for cooking and preserving foods as well
as in cosmetics. The oil is appraised as being highly unsaturated and very
stable and is consequently used in preserving meats and fish.
"Argan is very well adapted to arid and semi-arid regions," Hilu said.
"It is a vigorous and hardy species capable of resisting extreme drought
and high temperatures. It has been used in Morocco as a natural defense
against the encroaching desert. However, the argan forest is endangered
because of urban expansion and intense agriculture abuse. It is, therefore,
urgent to investigate the genetic components of this valuable species."
Hilu and Bani-Aameur will use molecular markers to identify genetic
and ecological types in the argan populations. "Due to the slow growth
of trees, identification of genotypes at the seedling stage is important
for saving time, space, and research money."
Information from Hilu’s study can be valuable in choosing desirable
genetic types for breeding and in maintaining a wide genetic diversity
in the cultivation of the argan tree.
Hilu has collaborated with scientists from Egerton University, Kenya,
since 1986 on a molecular biology study to examine the genetic diversity
of cereal crops called millets and to apply current technology to millet
breeding. He established a molecular-biology laboratory at Egerton University
for the use of molecular fingerprinting in plant breeding.
— Sally Harris
Learning more about the horse’s immune system
A new Center for Immunologic Investigation (CII) has been established
in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College
of Veterinary Medicine to conduct basic and applied research in domestic
animal immune system function.
The human immune system has been the subject of intense biomedical research
in recent years. Comprised of molecules and cells that recognize and eliminate
viruses, bacteria, and other infectious agents, the immune system also
plays an important role in preventing the growth of tumors.
While much has been learned about the critical role effective immune
system function plays in health and survival, much remains enigmatic, especially
the role it plays in the onset of such diseases as asthma, skin allergies,
and other auto-immune disorders.
"Very little is known about immune function in domestic animals, even
though many domestic species have diseases that are similar to those that
affect people," said Virginia Buechner-Maxwell, an assistant professor
in the college’s large animal clinical sciences department who helped
create the center.
Funded by a university Research Division grant, veterinary college researchers
hope to change that. CII researchers plan to develop methods for evaluating
immune function in domestic animals and establish a service laboratory
for performing immune function testing on individual animals and herds.
CII researchers have begun to study immune function in a variety of
domestic animal species, and they have already made considerable progress
with the horse. Diagnostic tests were developed in early 1998 that permit
evaluation of most aspects of equine immune system function. Once additional
research is conducted, researchers hope they can develop standards for
"normal" and "abnormal" immune response and function.
The CII will also examine the effects of several drugs on the equine
immune system. And researchers hope to learn more about the cause of "equine
heaves," a common respiratory problem in horses that is similar to asthma
in humans.
Expanding knowledge of immune disease in animals may further understanding
of the role of immunity in similar diseases that affect people.
— Jeff Douglas
