Engineering FYI, May 2010

Ray LaHood, the secretary of transportation, spoke at MIT this week as part of a university lecture series.

Mr. LaHood challenged scholars at MIT “to use their prodigious research skills to help end the epidemic” of traffic fatalities from drivers using cellphones while driving.

Associate dean of engineering at MIT, Dr. Cynthia Barnhart, VT A ’81, said that MIT would use its Transportation@MIT program and other resources to help the government. “We’re living in a world where there’s a growing demand for mobility,” Dr. Barnhart said.

Read more from The Chronicle of Higher Education, including the other challenges Mr. Lahood gave to MIT, like “building a car that does not crash.”

Τ

Dr. Jonathan Smalley, OH I ’71, professor and chair of civil engineering at Ohio Northern University will be the featured speaker at ONU’s convocation this weekend.

Dr. Smalley is an advisor to the Ohio Iota Chapter of Tau Beta Pi. The topic of his May 8th speech will be, “On Scholarship and Character.”

Benjamin McPheron, OH I 2010, has also been chosen as the student speaker for ONU’s convocation. McPheron is president of the honors council and an officer of Ohio Iota. Read article for more information

Β

The Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine highlighted the candidates for the Alumni Association Board of Trustees in 2010. See full slate of nominations here

Two of the nominees are Tau Beta Pi members:

Al Trujillo, GA A ’81, running for the position of Chair is currently an adviser, investor, and director at NUBAC LLP.

Cayman James, GA A ’99, is running for a position as a trustee and is currently an environmental engineer at CH2M HILL.

Π