President's Report - Wentworth Institute of Technology

2 ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS
through an X-Box, a PC, or the Wii mode virtual reality device.
Deligiannidis is the mentor for the gaming club students and
he hopes to use their talent and that of his faculty to write and
produce virtual reality games for children whose movements are
limited due to disabilities.
Design & Facilities
Interim Department Head Suzanne Kennedy received the
International Facility Management Association (IFMA) “Educator
of the Year” award at World Workplace, the annual conference
and exposition of IFMA in New Orleans, LA, in October 2007.
Assistant Professor Mikael Powell presented research at
the Transitive Materials Workshop of the 9 th International
Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp 2007) in
Innsbruck, Austria.
Professor Herb Fremin led a faculty evaluation team for the
selection of students to represent Wentworth in national and
regional scholarship competitions. The program’s success
was noteworthy; Kaitlyn Putaski received second place in the
national Brinkman Gensler Scholarship, earning a $1,500
scholarship and an internship at Gensler.
Electronics and Mechanical
Department Head Sandeep Dilwali launched the first Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Discovery Program
in summer 2007. The successful three-week program was
developed to inspire students’ interest in math and science
subjects and their applications in the engineering professions;
to introduce students to some of the tools they will need to
excel academically in science and math; and to expose students
to the professional opportunities that can be pursued by
studying STEM subjects. After a successful first year, the
program was offered again in summer 2008.
Professor Masoud Olia participated as a science consultant on
the WGBH children's show called “FETCH” in summer 2007. In
the episode “Monster Mash,” Olia appeared in all segments
and helped the children with the engineering design process
for a cake protector. Olia also published a text, “Review for
the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam.”
Professor Mansour Zenouzi was elected as a chair of the System
Analysis and Fuel Cell Committee of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Advanced Energy Systems
Division for 2007. He was also elected as a member of the
Executive Committee of the Advanced Energy Systems Division
of ASME.
Humanities, Social Sciences, and Management
In May 2007, Dr. George Katsiaficas was recognized by
the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board as a Fulbright
scholar grantee to Chonnam National University in Gwangju,
South Korea. The research award focuses on studying East
Asian democracy movements in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Katsiaficas travelled to Korea in January 2008, to continue
his research, which assisted him in the completion of a book
he authored entitled “South Korean Democracy: Legacy of the
Gwangju Uprising.”
Professor Barbara Karanian is spending 2008 on sabbatical
at Stanford University where she is observing the master’s
course “Engineering Design Entrepreneurship” and writing a
collaborative paper entitled “Engineer as Entrepreneurial
Leader: An Artistic Balancing Act.”
Professor Joanne Tuck was the winner of the Margot Stern
Strom Teaching Award from Facing History. The award,
established in 2006, honors outstanding local educators and
supports teacher-designed classroom projects that build upon
the “Facing History” mission and resources, educating high
school students about the Holocaust and genocide.
Professor Hossein Noorian was cited by the Internal Revenue
Service for his work on the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
(VITA) program. Through the CLP, the VITA Program offers free
tax help to local area residents who cannot prepare their own
tax returns.
Professor Marilyn Stern and Associate Professor Mark Carter
both presented at the American Culture Association/Popular
Association Meeting in spring 2008.
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