His resignation is effective August 8. Why resign? "I wish to continue research and to teach again." said the Dean. "I have been fortunate to work with and serve the very best faculty, alumni, staff associates and students. I have said many times, I am a lucky person. I have always respected the excellence of ourfaculty and would like to think that I can be part of that wonderful "team of professionals"."

Reaction from President John Hitt, "Dean Wanielista's contributions to UCF and the College are unparalleled. His commitment and his passion for learning and achievement have established a lasting legacy." From Provost Gary Whitehouse, " I have worked with Marty in one role or another for the past 25 years and he has been outstanding in everything that he has attempted. The college has flourished under his leadership."

Fortunately, the Dean will remain in the College as the founder and leader of the newly created Stormwater Management Academy. The Dean is recognized across the country as the "guru" of stormwater management. Among the Dean's more than 20 major honors and awards is the Central Florida and State of Florida Engineering Societies Engineer of the Year award.

Interim Dean Named

by Wayne Weinberg

Dr. Louis Chow

After reviewing nominations and faculty sentiment, Provost Dr. Gary Whitehouse has named Dr. Louis Chow as Interim Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. He becomes Interim Dean August 8th. "I feel honored and appreciate the support of faculty and staff," said Dr. Chow upon learning he was chosen to lead the College while a national search for the permanent Dean is carried out. Dr. Chow joined UCF in December 1995. He served as Chairman of the Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering Department for five years. As Interim Dean, Dr. Chow pledges to:

1. Continue to seek and receive input from faculty, staff, students, alumni and industry leaders.
2. Ensure students continue to receive a relevant and outstanding education.
3. Continue to recruit and retain more national merit scholars, lead scholars and honor students.
4. Continue to recruit and retain outstanding faculty.
5. Conduct more interdisciplinary research in order to attract large research projects, which will provide more opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.
6. Establish a faculty committee consisting of top researchers from each discipline charged with forming teams to compete for large national research projects.

Dr. Chow is a renowned expert in heat transfer and miniaturization of engineering systems. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978. Before coming to UCF, Dr. Chow was a professor and director of graduate studies at the University of Kentucky.

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Reynolds, Smith

by Marie Aguilar

L-R Bruce Furino, Martin Wanielista, James Avitabile, John V. Quattrone, Alex B. Paradiz

Dean Wanielista and Bruce Furino, Director of Special Programs for the college were called on by Reynolds, Smith and Hills, Inc.representatives. James R. Avitabile, Vice President, Transportation/Infrastructure, John V. Quattrone, VP, Institutional Program Leader, and Alex B. Paradiz, Transportation Engineer presented the college with $2500 to develop a technical focus with an engineer from Reynolds, Smith and Hills, Inc.,. The contribution will be used by multiple pre-college student teams from Central Florida in the 2003-2004 Internet Science Technology Fair (ISTF) Program. The engineer will become an on-line technical advisor to participating student teams and provide subject matter guidance during the four-month competition. Reynolds, Smith and Hills, Inc., is also represented on the ISTF Technical Advisory Committee.

Lockheed Martin

by Marie Aguilar

The college is fortunate to have the continued support of the Lockheed Martin Management Club. The Lockheed Martin Management Club annually sponsors a $3000 scholarship. This award is made to a BSE student in the School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. Must at least be in their Junior year and have at least one semester of course work remaining before graduation. The receipient should hold membership in an Engineering related organization, should have completed at least 2 courses in the engineering electives area as well as 2 courses in the core-required work, should have been enrolled as a full-time student for the majority of his/her course work at UCF and have maintained an overall UCF GPA of at least 3.0 and an Engineering GPA of at least 3.0.

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To make a gift or receive further information, please contact:

Jeff Snow, Major Gifts Officer
College of Engineerinng & Computer Science
jnsnow@mail.ucf.edu or 407-823-5883
or
Wayne Weinberg, Director of Development
College of Engineering & Computer Science
wweinber@mail.ucf.edu or 407.823.6742

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First Trustee Chairs Named Include College Professor

by Susan Loden

Five premier faculty members are making plans to enhance their renowned research with more than $1 million awarded to UCF’s first Trustee Chairs. The appointments of Glenn Boreman, Henry Daniell, Peter Delfyett, Eduardo Salas and Kay Stanney (Industrial Engineering) "reward them for doing an outstanding job and provide incentive for them to continue to excel," says Dick Nunis, chair of the UCF Board of Trustees.

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Changes at the Top

by Wayne Weinberg

Familiar faces are assuming new roles of leadership in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. After five years of distinguished accomplishments including establishing the computer science Ph.D program as one of the ten best in the nation, Dr. Erol Gelenbe has stepped down as Director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He will be succeeded by Associate Dean for Academic Affairs-Graduate Programs Dr. Issa Batarseh. Associate Dean for Research, Dr. Debra Reinhart will serve as interim chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She replaces Dr. Essam Radwan, who chaired the department for more than 13 years. Other changes include Edward Hampton as Assistant Chair in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, and Dr. Ahmad Elshennawy is Graduate Program Coordinator for Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.

Alumnus Takes Helm of Shuttle Program

by: Susan Loden

Bill Parsons

University of Central Florida alumnus Bill Parsons will lead the space shuttle’s return to flight. An experienced NASA manager and director of Stennis Space Center in Mississippi since last August, Parsons is now working out of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he once was a deputy director. Michael Kostelnik, deputy administrator for the International Space Station and space shuttle programs, announced the appointment in Mayat NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. He introduced Parsons, saying the depth of his experience makes him an excellent choice. "This is not a job that just anybody could do and this is not a time for other than the very best."

Parsons earned his master’s degree in engineering management from UCF. His son is a senior in the college.

Whitehouse is First Provost Emeritus

By Susan Loden

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Gary Whitehouse will step down from his post in August with enhanced status. He is UCF’s first Provost Emeritus, after more than a decade at the side of President John Hitt. Next spring, Whitehouse will return to the college to teach industrial engineering with his lifetime connection to the university sealed by emeritus status.

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We are the Champions

By: Mimi Perez-Falcon

From L-R: Kristi Sinykin, Mimi Perez-Falcon, Marie Ronah, Michelle Hanson, Brenda Keenan

Congratulations to the students who participated in the 2003 Florida Water Environment Association (FWEA) Student Chapter Design Competition. The challenge was to design an alternative to the City of Altamonte Springs current treatment and disposal of biosolids. The students had to submit a document describing their selection and its design. The 1st place winner's design will be considered for possible implementation at the facility. Our team came in 1st place. The team consisted of Michelle Hansen, Brenda Keenan, Mimi Perez-Falcon, Marie Romah, and Kristi Sinykin. They were presented with a check of $8,000 and will be representing Florida by competing at the national conference, WEFTEC (Water Environment Federation), in October in Los Angeles, California. This was also a big victory for UCF, giving our university statewide and soon nationwide recognition. For the past three years the University of Florida has won this competition. UCF's five all-female, all-undergraduate team beat three teams from UF, each with seven or more members, some of which were graduate students. A total of five teams competed, one from UCF, one from USF, and three from UF.

Other Student Accomplishments

The student chapter of the Associated Builders & Contractors has been awarded the 2003 ABC Excellence Award making it the National Student Chapter of the year, and chapter president Matt Irwin was named National Student Chapter president for 2003.

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter Steel Bridge Team came in third overall at the Southeast Regional Student Conference hosted by Florida International University in Miami.

Mini Baja

By Jerry Klein

There was mud, there were bumps, there was water, there was heat… the perfect combination to test the mettle of the cars and drivers from 40 colleges and universities that came to UCF this past weekend for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Mini Baja East 2003.

Photo by Malita Anders
Driver's are challenged with water hazard obstacle courses

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War And FEEDS

By Kim Small

The Engineering Technology department offers upper division undergraduate courses at a distance for the BS Engineering Technology Operations degree program and the BS Information Systems Technology degree program. IST student, Technical Sergeant Joseph Balchunas was called to active duty for deployment overseas in the middle of the Spring 2003 semester. TSgt. Balchunas a member of the Florida Air Nation Guard, United States Air Force, was committed to completing his course work for the Spring semester while serving his country overseas in the Philippines. Through distance learning courses, better known as FEEDS which stands for Florida Engineering Education Delivery System he was able to accomplish this The courses were delivered by video stream and exams sent by email to one of the Master Sergeants of the unit. Distance education enabled this student to successfully continue his education while serving his country abroad.