Recognizing Innovation: Past & Present

The Washington Post wrote the obituary for John C. New, MO A ’42, an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

New is responsible for the “methods and facilities for testing satellites during the early days of space flight.” Ed Powers, a former engineering colleague, said, “He was an early pioneer at NASA. He was absolutely the initiator of this operation. Many, if not most of the major facilities he established in the early ’60s and ’70s are still in active use.” Read the full article

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With the “electrification of the vehicle” SAE is hosting a webinar on August 19th to offer “valuable insight into how electrification is creating new career opportunities.”

The webinar is open to SAE International members, SAE student chapter-sponsored sites, and displaced automotive industry professionals. Read the press release for more information.

Also, read this article from the Hudson Star-Observer about the future of electric cars in the United States.

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National Instruments has awarded the 2010 Application of the Year award to the Virginia Tech Blind Driver Challenge project.

Launched in 2004, Virginia Tech was the only group to undertake the project proposed by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). The collaborative effort has resulted in a buggy that can “create novel non-visual user interfaces that will allow a blind person to drive an automobile safely and independently.”

Click here, for the press release on the recent award, or visit Virginia Tech’s website for more information on the vehicle and its design. Students working on the project were under the direction of Dennis Hong (WI A ’94), associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory.

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