On the Move, August 2013

The University of Arkansas has named John R. English, Ph.D., P.E., as the ninth dean of the College of Engineering. Dr. English, OK G ’88, began the position on July 1. Previously, he was the dean of the College of Engineering at Kansas State University. Dr. English is returning to his alma mater where earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Click here to read the news article

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The IEEE Spectrum recently profiled Veebot, a start-up company “hoping to automate drawing blood and inserting IVs by combining robotics with image-analysis software.” The company began in 2009 when Richard J. Harris, NJ D ’10, needed an idea for a project for his mechanical engineering undergraduate department at Princeton University. Richard’s father, Stuart Harris, Ph.D., was a founder of a pharmaceutical research company and “mentioned that he’d love to see someone come up with a way to automate blood draws.”

Together they co-founded Veebot in 2010. Today, they have built a machine that “can correctly identify the best vein to target about 83 percent of the time.” Richard Harris says, “If people don’t want a robot drawing their blood, then nobody is going to use it. We believe if this machine works better, faster, and cheaper than a person, people will want to use it.” Learn more by reading the article here

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The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) has announced the recipients of five of its annual awards. Two of this year’s recipients are Tau Beta Pi members. They are:

1. Timothy J. Anderson, Ph.D. – (IA A ’73) Chester F. Carlson Award; Dean, College of Engineering at the Univ. of Massachusetts at Amherst.
2. Teri Reed-Rhoads, Ph.D. – (OK A ’85) Sharon Keillor Award; Assistant Dean for Engineering & Associate Professor at Texas A&M Univ.

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