CAMP director recognized by ACS and IBM
Distinguished University Professor S.V. Babu, CAMP director, and former vice provost of research, was one of three presenters to receive awards for research papers delivered during the symposium on "Application of Polymers in Manufacturing of Integrated Circuits" at the American Chemical Society's 229th National Meeting and Exposition this spring. The paper, coauthored by graduate students Udaya B. Patri, Youngki Hong, and Vinay G. Meled and delivered by Babu was titled "Chemical Mechanical Polishing of Polymeric Low-k Dielectric Films: A Brief Review."

Babu also received a 2004 IBM Faculty Award in recognition of the quality of his research in the field of chemical-mechanical planarization, an area of critical importance to semiconductor device manufacturing.

Jha named AIAA associate fellow
Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Ratneshwar Jha has been named an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Jha is currently the principal investigator (PI) for a NASA-sponsored project "Microgravity Vibration Suppression Using Adaptive Predictive Controllers" and is co-PI for the NYSERDA-sponsored research project "Wireless Intelligent Sensor Network for Transportation Infrastructure."

President Collins elected to Independent Colleges Board
Clarkson President Tony Collins has been elected to the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu) Board of Trustees. His three-year term began at the 49th annual cIcu meeting on March 7 and 8 in Albany. cIcu represents the chief executives of New York's 100+ independent (private, not-for-profit) colleges and universities on issues of public policy.


Chemist's research among most frequently cited
Chemistry Professor Dipankar Roy's research ranks among the top one percent of the most frequently accessed articles in a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (England). The article "Surface Kinetics of Electrodeposited Silver on Gold Probed with Potential Step and Optical Second Harmonic Generation Techniques" published in the prestigious Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) describes research by Roy and his graduate students Michael Walters and Christopher Pettit in thin film materials for applications in electrocatalysis.

Young named provost
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Thomas Young has been appointed University Provost. Young will oversee the development and enhancement of Clarkson's academic programs and research endeavors. He will work closely with the University deans and center directors to implement Clarkson's long-range planning initiatives and engage the University's constituents in those initiatives as they unfold.

He joined the University in 1977 and was named chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1999 and the associate dean for Academic Programs in the Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering in 2004.

Three earn tenure
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering faculty member Ratneshwar Jha, Department of Chemistry faculty member Devon Shipp, and Clarkson School of Business faculty member Kevin Siqueira have each been promoted to associate professor and granted tenure.

Shipley Lecturer and Nobel Laureate
John B. Fenn and Prof. Egon Matijević

Nobel Prize-winning chemist delivers 2005 Shipley Lecture
John B. Fenn, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, member of the NSF, and research professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, presented two lectures at Clarkson in April. The talks were part of the University's annual Shipley Distinguished Lecture Series.


$276,000 NYSTAR grant
Clarkson has received a $276,000 grant from the state to partner with Nexpress Solutions LLC in a project focused on the transfer of spinning disk reactor technology developed by Roshan Jachuck, research associate professor of Chemical Engineering, for the manufacture of chemically prepared toners. The grant was administered through the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) Technology Transfer Incentive Program (TTIP). TTIP grants are designed to promote, encourage and facilitate economic development in New York through university-based or corporate-sponsored research which assists companies within the state to commercialize high technology products and bring them to the marketplace.

Hopke appointed to International Air Pollution Study
Philip K. Hopke, Bayard D. Clarkson Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been appointed to the EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee's (CASAC) Ozone Review Panel. Hopke recently completed a four-year tenure as chair of the CASAC, which was established as an independent scientific advisory committee responsible for reviewing the scientific basis for air quality standards covering the major pollutants.

Hopke was also recently appointed by the National Academy of Sciences to participate in a study that will examine urban energy use, policies and associated air-pollution challenges faced today by China and the United States as they pursue their separate, distinct energy and economic pursuits. NAS will conduct the study in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAS/CAE).

Bradburd named chair of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Daniel A. Bradburd has been named chair of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences effective July 1. Bradburd joined the Clarkson faculty as an assistant professor of Anthropology in 1984, was promoted to associate professor in 1989, and professor in 1996. He has published three books and over 40 articles, chapters and reviews, and has received external research funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His research interests involve economic and historical anthropology, drugs, trade and labor, political economy, pastoralism, tribe and state, commodities and consumption.

Clarkson's Steel Bridge team at
construction competition.

Clarkson hosts collegiate engineering competitions
Twelve teams from universities throughout New York State and Canada participated in this year's regional collegiate conference of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) concrete canoe and steel bridge collegiate competitions. The two-day event was hosted by Clarkson and organized by the Unviersity's ASCE Student Chapter.

Students from Clarkson, SUNY Canton, Cornell University, Ecole de Technologie Superieure in Montreal, Rensselaer Polytechnic University, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Institute of Technology, University at Buffalo, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, University of Ottawa, Union College, and Hudson Valley Community College participated in the competition.

"Overall, we were pleased with our performance," said Clarkson steel bridge team member Jessie Cunningham, a first-year civil engineering major from Buffalo. "We were able to construct the bridge in less than 15 minutes and our weight deflection was around 5/16". It has been a great learning experience for me and a lot of fun."

Ziarani receives $400,000 NSF CAREER Award
Alireza K. Ziarani, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received an esteemed National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. As part of this honor, Ziarani will receive a total of $400,000 in grant funds from NSF over a five-year period to support his work and research as director of the Signal Processing Laboratory, a graduate student research facility of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Ziarani and his team hope to develop a fast, efficient and inexpensive hearing testing technique that will substantially improve existing auditory investigations by negating such performance inadequacies as a slow estimation process and sensitivity with regard to background noise.

The NSF CAREER Program recognizes and supports early career-development activities of new and promising teacher-scholars who demonstrate potential leadership in their academic fields.

State budget awards $1 million for agricultural energy research
The 2005-06 New York State budget approved by legislators and Governor Pataki includes a $1 million appropriation for Clarkson to research ways that waste remainder from cheese manufacturing, animal waste, and other agricultural byproducts can be used as feedstock to produce biogas to generate heat and electric power on New York State farms. The research team is led by Susan Powers and Stefan Grimberg, professors in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.


Charles J. Robinson named director of Center for Rehabilitation Engineering, Science and Technology
Charles J. Robinson has been named director of the newly established Center for Rehabilitation Engineering, Science and Technology (CREST). His appointment also includes the Herman L. Schulman Endowed Chair.

Robinson has held teaching and research positions in engineering, medical and allied health schools. Most recently he served as director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation Science at Louisiana Tech University. He has been responsible for developing independently and in collaboration more than $20 million in funded grants from various private and federal granting agencies. Robinson has authored more than 60 full publications and edited 12 major books and publications. He has received many honors and awards including, most notably, selection as a Founding Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 1999, the IEEE Richard M. Emberson Award for distinguished service in 2001, and an IEEE Fellow in 2004.

Michael Thompson, winner of the 2004
Linux Scholars Challenge and Prof.
Jeanna Matthews.

Clarkson once again dominates international Linux Scholars Challenge
Michael Thompson, a graduating senior computer science major from Eden Prairie, Minn., was one of only two United States winners in the 2004 Linux Scholars Challenge, an international student competition sponsored by IBM. Only 20 winners were selected worldwide and Thompson is the fourth Clarkson University student to earn a nod in the Linux Challenge. Of the 65 winners in the three-year history of the competition, only 13 have come from the United States. Four of these 13 winners have come from Clarkson. The only other North American school with more than one winner in the three competitions is Cornell University with three winners. In the first Linux Scholars Challenge, Clarkson also won the overall university prize, a z800 series e-server, valued at approximately $250,000.

"Clarkson has seen four students win the IBM Linux Scholars Challenge from just 15 entries, a remarkable achievement considering the thousands of submissions offered internationally," remarked Jeanna Matthews, assistant professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, who advised students who submitted projects for this year's competition and all four Clarkson winners.

Thompson will receive an IBM Thinkpad laptop with an approximate retail value of $2,500 and has been selected for a prestigious internship with IBM's Linux Technology Center in Austin, Texas.

Clarkson magazine editor retires
For the past 14 years, Clarkson magazine has been edited by Stephen Hopkins, director of Publications. On June 1, Hopkins retired from Clarkson and this issue of the magazine has been jointly edited and written by Suzanne F. Smith, who will be responsible for future editions.

"Working at Clarkson has been a wonderful experience," Hopkins says. "My colleagues and friends on campus are not only tremendously talented, but are also the finest people one could hope to meet."

"I have been privileged to work closely with three highly talented but very different presidents – the late Richard Gallagher, Denny Brown, and Tony Collins."

"I will always be proud of having played a communications role at one of the nation's finest universities."

Making Poet Wallace Stevens accessible to literary scholars and children
Professor of Humanities and author John Serio introduces young readers to the life and poetry of Wallace Stevens in a new illustrated book for children. Wallace Stevens is part of the Poetry for Young People series published by Sterling Publishing Company.

Serio also was instrumental in developing and launching a complete online concordance to Stevens' poetry for use by literary scholars, teachers and students. It is available through the Wallace Stevens Society Web site and is the only concordance available to Stevens' poetry. The last one, published in 1963 by Thomas Walsh, has been out of print for nearly two decades.

MBA students win ethics competition
Clarkson MBA students Chad Moore, Srabonti Ganguly, Sachin Aggarwal, and Erik Johnson won the annual ethics competition hosted by St. Michael's College in Vermont. Addressing the question, What role do food conglomerates play in the growing problem of obesity?, the students delivered written and oral arguments that moved beyond traditional stakeholder analysis and drew on classic writings from moral philosophy.

Gregory Slack named Director of Research and Technology Transfer
Gregory C. Slack, a 13-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry in both research and manufacturing facilities, has been named director of Research and Technology Transfer.

Slack brings over 10 years of supervisory and management experience, including the ability to lead project teams with diverse backgrounds; an understanding of technology transfer requirements; experience in coordination of research funding between academics and industry; the ability to foster relationships among industry, academics, and professional educators; and experience in coordinating internship programs and implementation of new technology. Slack received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry (Separation Sciences) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1992.

Fraternities and sororities earn high marks in the classroom and in the community

Fraternities 5K run raised
$900 for the Potsdam Animal
Shelter.

This past year, we celebrated 100 years of fraternity and sorority life at Clarkson. Thus, it was particularly gratifying to be recognized — once again — with a national award by the Gamma Sigma Alpha Greek Honor Society for scholastic excellence. This is the third time in the past three years our organizations have been awarded this top honor.

The fraternity and sorority members' commitment to high scholastic standards is also evident on our own campus as they continue to achieve higher grade-point averages than their peers. In the past 14 semesters at Clarkson, the all-sorority average has been higher than the all-female average and the all-fraternity grade-point average has been higher than the all-male average for all but one semester. [See chart below] In fact, this spring semester the fraternity and all-affiliated averages were higher than a 3.0.

We also earned praise from the local community for our students' community service and philanthropic programs and the "good deeds" of our chapters continue to benefit our region and beyond. Since the fall of 2001, the fraternity and sorority community has raised over $63,000 for area and national charities and performed over 16,000 hours of community service. This year alone, the fraternities and sororities raised almost $20,000 for local charities.

In the spring, the undergraduates convened a strategic initiative planning process to develop goals for academics, risk management, and recruitment, as well as social and charitable programs. These goals include offering first aid and CPR training for chapter members, increasing membership from 15 to 20 percent of the student body, and holding a forum with student leaders and members of the administration to discuss issues affecting the fraternity and sorority community.

ACADEMICS	All-Male Avg.	Fraternity Avg.	All-Female Avg.	Sorority Avg.
Fall 1998	2.779	2.802	2.982	3.063
Spring 1999	2.82	2.863	3.049	3.184
Fall 1999	2.777	2.692	2.932	3.005
Spring 2000	2.852	2.856	3.003	3.084
Fall 2000	2.786	2.929	3.062	3.199
Spring 2001	2.843	3.011	3.095	3.162
Fall 2001	2.78	2.951	3.004	3.098
Spring 2002	2.873	2.956	2.913	3.098
Fall 2002	2.795	2.911	2.999	3.103
Spring 2003	2.893	2.9762	3.1234	3.107
Fall 2003	2.734	2.8899	2.919	3.1256
Spring 2004	2.843	2.8934	3.005	3.1506
Fall 2004	2.794	2.8623	3.042	3.1593
Spring 2005	2.869	3.085	3.079	3.154