ASU FC S 04 - Center for Adaptive Neural Systems - Arizona State ...

Crouch’s Comments
In February the U.S. Army awarded ASU a
$43.7 million, five-year cooperative agreement
to establish the Army Flexible Display
Center. It is the largest federal contract
award in the university’s history. The principal
investigator who led the contract pursuit,
Greg Raupp, is a professor of chemical
and materials engineering and is our former
associate dean for research.
The contract was the result of hard work
on the part of the pursuit team. But it was
also the result of much, much more. ASU has
pursued—repeatedly—similar large projects
in the past. And we have lost—repeatedly—
to other institutions or consortia. The pursuit
teams for those projects worked no less hard.
The difference this time was a combination
of skills, capabilities and leadership that
resulted in the right solution for the Army at
the right time. First, Greg Raupp spent his
Dean Peter Crouch
formative years at ASU working on large,
interdisciplinary proposals, and through
those efforts he has learned how to bring the entire university together in order to win.
Second, Raupp was able to engage the talents of key experts, three of whom are relatively
new to ASU. Tom Picraux, professor and director of materials research, was a remarkable hire
for the university in 2001. Frederic Zenhausern, who launched the Center for Applied
Nanobioscience in February 2003, brought an entire team of researchers with him from
Motorola. And George Poste, world-renowned researcher, scholar and science policymaker, and
director of the Arizona Biodesign Institute, joined us in April 2003.
The last major ingredient in this recipe for success was the setting in which it occurred. The
climate at ASU under Michael Crow’s administration facilitates undertaking big projects like
this one. So this may be the first, but it most certainly will not be the last.
We see ourselves differently than we used to. We aspire to bigger goals, to greater challenges,
to a worldwide stage on which to perform.
Students of history know that a golden age occurs when a civilization, which has grown and
matured to a certain level of readiness, is matched with a leader who has the right skills and
vision for that society at that time. ASU has reached a level of growth and maturity that is perfect
for the strategic leadership and vision of its president, and I believe we, too, are entering a
golden age.
As always, I look forward to sharing our progress with you in these exciting times. This
issue of Full Circle will bring you more information on the new Army Research Center and several
other significant accomplishments. We are also celebrating the achievements of a number
of our women students, faculty and alumni on the pages that follow.
All the best,
Contents
Feature Story
Engineering Faculty Lead
$43.7 million grant award . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
School News
Engineering software package ranked one of
the top educational resources . . . . . . . 3
Ten years of building satellites. . . . . . . . . . . 4
Computer Science and Engineering hits
warp speed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Corporate Leaders Program - world’s premier
high tech leadership development . . . . 7
Six Sigma program goes global . . . . . . . . . . 8
Student News
National Honors:
Society of Women Engineers . . . . . . . . 9
National Society of Black Engineers. . . 9
MAES student wins scholarship. . . . . . . . . 10
Bioengineering student selected as USA Today
academic all star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Mentorship program brings women
engineers together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Day in the life: Pamela Maass. . . . . . . . . . . 15
Women pick up the pace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Alumni News
CSE alumna gives back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Del E. Webb alumnus helps
the homeless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Alumna integrates engineering with
business savvy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Accolade - Subhash Mahajan honored . . . . 18
Faculty News
Annihilating Alzheimer’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
National leader in water quality research and
environmental sustainability comes to
ASU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
NSF CAREER Award winner seeks to
understand environmental effects of
biosolids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
AzBio researchers go from idea to application
to help people with disabilities. . . . . . 22
Former ASU engineering professor’s Unified
Approach applies to more than
measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2 IRA A. FULTON SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING – SPRING 2004