Spring 1997
The end of the academic year is always a time of rejoicing around the
college, as many a student is thankful to have survived the rigors of
the
year. Some, of course, look forward to doing better next year. Faculty
members,
who work with a host of individual student design and research
projects
that come to completion in May, look forward to the summer as an
opportunity to catch up and plan for the future.
As we near the end of this particular school year, the college has received some exciting news about programs that will benefit both our instructional and research plans and will keep us very busy indeed.
A team of faculty members in chemistry and mechanical engineering--led by our new professor Carmela Amato-Wierda and including professors Gross, Planalp, and Bauer--has won an impressive grant from the National Science Foundation to implement a materials science curriculum at the undergraduate level. This will provide our students early exposure to the critical problems in chemistry and mechanical engineering that need to be solved in designing, testing, and selecting new high technology materials for modern applications.
Professors Jim Krzanowski and Bob Leuchtner are leading another research effort to apply new material science techniques to the design of very hard coatings that have uses in industrial machines and the defense industry. Both of these new efforts strengthen and complement our new thrust in advanced material science that I have described previously as part of our Technology 2000 initiative.
On May 28th, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg announced the formation of a Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology at UNH. The Institute will provide a national focus for developing and fostering the use of innovative technology and new, integrated management approaches to the problems of land-based contamination of the nation's estuaries and coastal waters. It will be formed primarily from our own Environmental Research Group, led by Professor Taylor Eighmy of the civil engineering department, and will also include elements from ocean engineering and earth sciences, as well as many other departments and colleges at UNH.
The Institute will naturally focus much of its work on the local Great Bay Estuary and the nearby coast, but will coordinate research at many sites throughout the United States. This effort will provide wonderful opportunities for students in engineering and the sciences to work with the most current equipment and techniques in solving major environmental problems. Furthermore, this effort will lead to collaborations with companies around the region that can provide expertise in solving these problems.
The promise of these initiatives, along with signs of warm weather (finally ) here on the seacoast, make this year's commencement especially joyful. As always, we invite you to drop by whenever you're in the area to talk with any of us in the college about all the activity at UNH.
-Roy Torbert