Sean O’Keefe
LSU'S Biweekly Newsletter for Faculty & Staff
December 2, 2005 |
VOL. 22, NO. 7 |
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| Sean O’Keefe |
LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe is now in the company of Jodie Foster, Sean Connery, Monty Python and Beethoven.
During a visit to LSU earlier this month, Charles Elachi, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, announced that an asteroid had been named for O’Keefe, putting him on a list that includes the likes of Connery, Beethoven and the others. He also presented O’Keefe with a plaque signifying the official designation of Asteroid 78905 as Asteroid Seanokeefe.
The plaque contains a photograph of space that points out the asteroid’s location, as well as an inscription that reads “Named in honor of Sean O’Keefe (b. 1956), for his vision and leadership in advancing the spirit of exploration during his tenure as the 10th NASA Administrator, 2001 - 2004.”
Asteroid Seanokeefe was discovered on Sept. 16, 2003, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Project, or NEAT, using a telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego.
At the time of its discovery, Seanokeefe was in the constellation Pegasus and was given the designation 2003 SK85 by the Minor Planet Center, an organization based at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory that collects, computes, checks and disseminates information about minor planets, including asteroids and comets. Designations are based upon the year, month and order in which the object was discovered and received by the center.
After enough observations had been made to provide an accurate orbit for the asteroid, it was given a number, 78905, and became available for naming. The name “O’Keefe” was submitted first to the International Astronomical Union, or IAU, but that name was already assigned to an asteroid. A few months later, the IAU accepted and approved the name “Seanokeefe.”
Seanokeefe orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
The International Astronomical Union was founded in 1919 in order “to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation.” There are more than 12,000 asteroids named officially by the IAU. A full list is available at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/MPNames.html.
The LSU College of Engineering recently renovated a conference center and opened a new Engineering Communication Studio.
A dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Nov. 7 for the Donald W. Clayton Excellence Conference Center in Room 3515 CEBA. This state-of-the-art, multi-media center for engineering students and faculty was recently renovated thanks to contributions from Donald Clayton totaling more than $50,000.
Clayton previously showed his support for the College of Engineering by funding the Donald W. Clayton Graduate Program in Engineering Science with a $3 million gift, through which the Donald W. Clayton University Professorship in Engineering Science, two Donald W. Clayton University Professorships in Engineering, and the Donald W. Clayton Engineering Excellence Awards for Outstanding Undergraduate Students were created.
Clayton and his wife are both 1959 LSU graduates, in petroleum engineering and elementary education respectively. As an active alumnus, serving as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board and a 1993 inductee of the College of Engineering Hall of Distinction, Clayton has forged a strong and beneficial relationship with the college. Clayton is a pioneer in the development of horizontal drilling and coal steam degasification technology and retired president and chief executive officer of Howell Corporation. His contributions to LSU and the College of Engineering have paved the way for numerous developments and advancements within the college.
In addition, as part of a collaborative attempt to enhance students’ written, oral, visual and technological communication skills, the LSU College of Engineering and LSU’s Communication across the Curriculum Program, or CxC, recently opened the new Engineering Communication Studio.
Located in Room 2302 of the Center for Engineering and Business Administration, or CEBA, the studio provides students with a high-tech applications center that features 17 computer work stations and an “Internet café atmosphere.” The studio houses a conference room equipped with a SMART Board, which is a touch-sensitive display that will allow for control of computer applications directly from the display, as well as writing notes in digital ink to be saved or shared via email. The studio also contains a three-dimensional printer that enables students to bring their designs to life through the creation of functional models directly from design files.
The Communication Studio is staffed by both communication and engineering instructors ready to provide group and individual instruction.
“The studio, planned by CxC, represents a collaborative effort of the College of Engineering, the Student Technology Fee Committee and the CxC staff, which proposed this approach to the provost and dean of engineering,” said Lillian Bridwell-Bowles, CxC director. “Using this studio as a model, we hope to open more studios in other colleges where students can learn communication skills using state-of-the-art technology, as well as seek expert advice about their projects.”
The Communication across the Curriculum Initiative promotes effective communication at LSU through communication-intensive courses, co-curricular programs and support for students and faculty. The program engages with all of LSU’s disciplines and professions in collaborative investigations of written, spoken, visual and digital media as vehicles for learning and discovery, as well as for conveying information. The CxC Initiative recognizes differences in communication styles and media and reinforces shared goals such as effective style, imagination, accuracy, critical thinking, mutual understanding and information literacy.
“Through the creation of the Engineering Communication Studio, students will have valuable tools readily available to them for enhancing their communications skills during their tenure here at LSU,” said Warren Hull, engineering communications coordinator. “As the inaugural studio of its kind on campus, we have an obligation to develop this unique resource into a recognized leader not only at LSU, but nationally.”
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| Shengmin Guo Assistant Professor Mechanical Engineering |
Shengmin Guo
Previous Position: Lecturer at the University of Manchester, England
Accomplishments: Guo’s main research covers the areas of gas turbines, fuel cells, numerical simulations, and advanced measurement techniques. While working at Oxford, Guo was the group leader of the Cold Heat Transfer Tunnel, or CHTT. Detailed heat transfer and aerodynamics data were measured on a variety of new film-cooled vane designs. The importance of his work to the gas turbine industry has been recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
In 2002, one of his papers won the ASME 2001 Best Heat Transfer Paper Award. Since coming to LSU, Guo has broadened the scope of his research into areas more in line with the focus of the Mechanical Engineering Department include experimental, computational, and analytical research regarding fuel cells.
In Their Own Words: I enjoy the academic freedom at LSU. It's a great pleasure to work with talented colleagues and hard-working students in the department. I also enjoy the extraordinary hospitality of local people, the fine cuisine and rich culture, heritage, history, wildlife and sports in Louisiana.
The LSU Community-University Partnership, or CUP, celebrated the transfer of more than 200 copies of taped interviews on the history of Old South Baton Rouge to the East Baton Rouge Parish Library System at a reception at the Carver Branch Library on Nov. 15.
This project culminates work that began in 1995 with a service-learning initiative involving McKinley High School students, who began the initial interviews of Old South Baton Rouge residents.
In 2004, LSU service-learning students in Social Work 7506 worked with a collection of 210 oral histories of the OSBR community, listening to the tapes and writing abstracts to accompany the audio material. Social Work students of Assistant Professor Lilly Allen formatted the materials electronically and in paper form to facilitate searches and borrowing.
The tapes tell the story of the rich history of this community from the perspectives of those who lived it: the thriving businesses and active churches; the history of McKinley High, the state’s first black high school; and the first bus boycott in the nation, even preceding the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Martin Luther King sought advice for his activism from OSBR residents.
These tapes, now housed at the Carver Branch of the EBR library system, give students and the general public the opportunity to listen to them. It is the hope of LSU CUP and the library staff that these tapes will provide a long-lasting memory of OSBR and play a significant role in formulating the future of this community.
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| Husband and wife Jim and Nan Huff of Hurricance Chemical are the winners of the 2005 “New Venture Business Plan Competition.” |
Charles D’Agostino, executive director of the Louisiana Business and Technology Center at the E. J. Ourso College of Business, recently announced that the husband-and-wife team of Hurricane Chemical is the 2005 winner of the 2nd annual “New Venture Business Plan Competition.”T
he announcement was made at the annual Top 100 Private Companies Luncheon of the Baton Rouge Business Report’s Louisiana Business and Technology Expo. The competition was sponsored by the E. J. Ourso College and the Business Report.
Husband and wife, Jim and Nan Huff, make up Hurricane Chemical. Together they have created a patented process of applying a preservative agent to sugarcane immediately after it is cut, rather than applying the preservative at the sugar mill – the method currently used. According to the Huffs, the process of applying the chemical agent in the field decreases the rate of spoilage by more than 50 percent, therefore increasing sugar yield for farmers. The product has been field tested and product demand has already been generated among numerous Louisiana mills.
The other two finalists in the competition were D.I.R.T Solutions L.L.C and The Omega Group. D.I.R.T Solutions, which stands for Digital Input Real Time Solutions, is a geotechnology company that plans to develop a state-of-the-art, soil boring imaging and information system that will create real-time, industry-standard digital soil boring logs. The product will allow subsurface investigators to more accurately analyze soil samples from an off-site location. The Omega Group has developed an aquaculture feed that increases the amount of the nutritionally beneficial omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in farm-raised catfish. Farm-raised catfish are notoriously low in omega-3 fatty acids. Research shows that increased dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids lowers serum triglyceride and cholesterol levels, and is recommended to decrease the incidence of cardiovascular disease, asthma, allergies, Alzheimer’s disease and some forms of cancer.
As the 2005 winner, Hurricane Chemical received office space in the E. J. Ourso College’s Louisiana Business and Technology Center, furniture and equipment, legal services, accounting services, human resource services, marketing assistance, advertising, business cards and letterhead and a company logo. In addition, they received a cash award from the Louisiana Business & Technology Expo and its sponsors. The expected total $20,000. All of these prizes were covered by local businesses. Business sponsors include Baton Rouge Business Report; SSA Consulting; HR Solutions L.L.C.; Jones Walker law firm; Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips L.L.P; Lee Michaels Jewelry; Object 9; and The Greater Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce.
In addition, the winner were featured in the Nov. 22 edition of the Business Report.
“The E. J. Ourso College of Business, through its business incubator, the LBTC, continues to assist innovative entrepreneurs in starting businesses that will bring jobs to Louisiana,” said Robert Sumichrast, dean of the E. J. Ourso College. “The level of interest in the ‘New Venture Business Plan Competition’ remains high because of the interests of the people of the state and the type of services available through LBTC.”
In May, the E. J. Ourso College and the Business Report opened the contest up to aspiring entrepreneurs at least 18 years of age who lived in the 10-parish capital region. Participants in the competition pre-registered their teams and submitted a 250-word business concept by June 1. Sixty teams registered to participate and launch the business plan competition. Of these 60 teams, 31 teams submitted expanded business plan summaries in phase I of the competition. During phase II of the competition, eight teams were invited to submit a complete business plan by Aug. 17. All eight teams submitted plans. Judges whittled down the teams from eight to the three aforementioned finalists to participate in phase III of the competition – oral presentations.
On Nov. 9, the three teams were allowed a strict 15-minute time period to present their business venture concepts, immediately followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer session by a panel of judges.
“As Jack Welch noted in the Wall Street Journal recently, entreprenuers will lead the charge in bringing our state back,” said Rolfe McCollister, publisher of the Business Report. “That’s what this effort is about - launching entrepreneurs in Louisiana. We’re proud to be a part.”
According to D’Agostino, the third annual “New Venture Business Plan Competition” will begin calling for entries in May of 2006. For more information about the competition visit http://www.bus.lsu.edu/lbtc or contact the LBTC at 225-578-7555.
The LSU Office of Academic Affairs; the Service-Learning Faculty Advisory Council; and the Center for Community Engagement, Learning and Leadership, or CCELL, are pleased to announce that service-learning grants worth up to $6,000 for faculty and departments/units are available.
Requests for proposals can be downloaded at www.ccell.lsu.edu. Contact Jan Shoemaker at 225-578-9264 or jshoema@lsu.edu for assistance with preparation of proposals. Proposals are due Friday, Jan. 13, at 4:30 p.m. in Coates B-31. Proposals received after that date will not be considered.
Grants valued at up to $6,000 will be awarded to departments, units and programs for conducting formal curriculum reviews to identify opportunities within a unit for institutionalizing service-learning as a required curricular component. All academic departments, units and programs are encouraged to apply. Special consideration will be given to degree-granting programs.
Incentive grants of up to $3,000 will be awarded to individual faculty members for planning and implementing new courses that fully integrate service-learning components into course learning goals or for courses previously taught but redesigned to fully integrate community-based learning. All full-time faculty members are eligible to apply.
The goals of the $5,000 TIAA-CREF Service-Learning Fellow award are to deepen the level of service-learning scholarship at LSU and to encourage a continued university-wide commitment to service-learning scholarship in accordance with PS-36. All full-time, tenured faculty members who have taught or are currently teaching a service-learning course at LSU are eligible to apply.
Faculty may be in tenure review process at the time of application but must hold tenure by the beginning of the year of designation as fellow. Faculty may be nominated by colleagues or initiate their own nomination process.