Engineering News

The Lockheed Martin Corporation has given a $1.5-million gift to fund the Vance D. Coffman Endowed Chair in Aerospace Engineering. The gift honors aerospace engineering alum Dr. Vance Coffman, who retired as CEO of Lockheed Martin in August. He continues as chair of the board of directors. Coffman, who received his BS at Iowa State in 1967, joined Lockheed’s space systems division as a guidance and control systems analyst that same year. While working for Lockheed, he earned his MS and PhD degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in 1969 and 1974, respectively. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society, Coffman was one of the first inductees into the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni last April. (For more information see news release.)

Stephen Schultz, vice president of engineering for Lockheed Martin Tactical Systems, presents a $1.5-million gift to Interim Dean Charles Glatz.

Volunteers (faculty, staff, spouses and friends) are needed to help with the College of Engineering Tailgate on Saturday, September 18 starting at 8 a.m. The game against Northern Illinois begins at 11:30 a.m. The CoE tent is on the southeast side of the stadium near the S-4 parking lot. Volunteers will get free tailgate tickets and have first dibs on any unsold football tickets. If you’re interested in volunteering, contact Kristin Littlejohn (4-8857) by Friday, September 10. This is a great opportunity to mingle with co-workers, alumni, and friends. Don't miss out on the fun!

An enthusiastic group of students are busy putting the final touches on a full slate of activities and events for Engineers Week 2004. The events are planned to involve students, faculty, staff, and alumni in a celebration of engineering at Iowa State. The weeklong celebration includes the 7th Annual Golf Tournament on September 19; a kick-off picnic on September 20; the Career Fair at Hilton Coliseum on September 21; a student/faculty event on September 22; and the Engineers Ball on September 25. Tickets for the Engineers Ball and E-Week t-shirts are on sale in the Marston Lobby this week and next week. For more information on these and other planned activities, visit the Engineers Week Web site.

Thanks to collaboration between the College of Engineering, Academic Information Technologies, and the Virtual Reality Applications Center, 144 Howe Hall is home to an innovative technology that will help close the gap between students who are participating in classes from remote locations as well as enhance the effectiveness of other cross-institutional efforts. The Access Grid (AG), implemented in over 150 institutions worldwide, is an advanced multimedia technology that supports group-to-group communication through high quality video and audio over the Web. As a result, participants at each site can hear and see all the other participants and view materials being presented as if they were in the same physical location. This fall, Associate Professor Carolina Cruz-Neira is using ISU’s new AG node to co-teach IE 584, Introduction to Virtual Reality, with her former student Dr. Laura Arns, now a research assistant at Purdue University. Students at Iowa State and Purdue are taking the course for credit at their respective institutions. (For the complete story about the Access Grid see Inside Iowa State.)

E-News will be distributed twice a month by Engineering Communications & Marketing. If you have questions or news items to suggest, please contact Mary Jo Glanville at mglanvil@iastate.edu or call 4-8787.