Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Huge Grant Goes to Auburn Engineering
AU ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT GETS $400,000 GRANT FROM NSF FOR SCHOLARSHIPS
AUBURN -- The National Science Foundation has awarded Auburn University a $400,000 grant for the industrial and systems engineering" and mechanical engineering programs of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
The grant will provide scholarships for students at all degree levels who pursue a career in automotive manufacturing.
In addition to providing 29 scholarships per year for four years, the grant will fund community outreach to K-12 students and teachers and enhance recruitment and retention of women and African-American undergraduate and graduate students.
The program -- "Next Generation of Manufacturing Engineers for the Automotive Sector" -- earned the college the grant as its entry in NSF's Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics Scholarships Program national competition.
Seven entries were selected from hundreds submitted nationally, but Auburn's was the only program in the state of Alabama to receive the award. Both Auburn's and NSF's programs were established to support scholarship funding.
Alice Smith, who led Auburn's successful entry and is chair of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, said she hopes students can begin applying this fall. Selection will be based on financial need and academic potential of students enrolled in mechanical or industrial engineering.
"We want Auburn University to become a leader for engineering in automotive manufacturing," said Smith. "This project will ensure a supply of well-educated engineers in the growing automotive industry in the Southeast and help encourage further development of the automotive manufacturing industry within this region, one that historically has been economically and educationally disadvantaged."
Smith says the automotive industry is considered one of the most promising for the region's economic growth. Over the past decade, BMW, Nissan, Volvo and Saturn have built manufacturing plants in the Southeast, with Alabama alone landing Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Toyota, International Diesel, Hyundai and their suppliers.
Joining Smith's team are John Evans, a member of the industrial and systems engineering faculty and associate director of the NSF/Industry Center for Advanced Vehicle Electronics, and Peter Jones, a mechanical engineering faculty member and faculty advisor for the Formula and Mini Baja student race teams.
With AU's strength in automotive engineering, its minority engineering efforts, and CAVE -- the only center of its kind in the region -- Smith says she believes the match for a successful CSEMS project is perfect.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
The Dark Knight Returns.
The first volume of Batman: The Animated Series on DVD went on sale today. The packaging's pretty nice, and there are a couple good extras (including a commentary track for two of the 28 episodes), but all that's just icing on the cake.
The show is stellar, as good as I remember. Better, even, as I can now better appreciate the film noir look they were going for. (Click here for a review.)
I'm having some friends from church over Friday night, to sample from the four discs of Batman and the two discs of Samurai Jack. I could not give either set a higher recommendation, and I'm (not so) patiently waiting more from the good folks at Warner Bros.
The show is stellar, as good as I remember. Better, even, as I can now better appreciate the film noir look they were going for. (Click here for a review.)
I'm having some friends from church over Friday night, to sample from the four discs of Batman and the two discs of Samurai Jack. I could not give either set a higher recommendation, and I'm (not so) patiently waiting more from the good folks at Warner Bros.
