Autumn 2002 PW 5 - Cranfield University

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14 ALUMNI EVENTS From strength to strength More than 30 alumni at the 5th MDA Alumni Conference ‘Managing Defence Resources: Post- 9/11’ were able to network with former colleagues and catch up on the centre’s latest developments and learning opportunities. Held at the Vincent Centre for Defence Management, Shrivenham, the conference featured speakers from academia, the military and industry. They included Col Michael Mahar, Air Attaché from the US Embassy, a self-confessed ‘nuclear bomber pilot-turned diplomat’, who gave an interesting US perspective on ‘Future Security Architectures – a Global Security Strategy’. Professor Keith Hayward from the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) spoke on ‘Globalisation and its Impact on the Defence Industry’, emphasising also the importance of globalised manufacturing, while Professor Chris Bellamy, Director of Cranfield’s Securities Studies Institute at Shrivenham, centred his talk around types of security and asymmetrical threats. Special guest and dinner speaker was Jamie Shea from NATO, who flew in to speak on ‘NATO: Modernisation or Marginalisation?’. A thriving alumni group from a thriving centre, its Academic Course Director, Professor Ron Matthews, said: “Our alumni, the centre and its progress are going from strength to strength. Next year’s cohort is expected to be larger than ever. “And, we are the first course to provide flexible, electronic learning which we have already introduced.” For further information on the MDA and Security Studies courses, visit: http://barrington.rmcs.cranfield.ac .uk/directories/postgrad Cranfield was in Greece over a weekend in mid-April, covering two events in Athens. On the Friday evening, more than 60 alumni from all three campuses attended the second Greek alumni reunion at the Titania Hotel in Athens. While many had already met the previous year, for a few it was a firsttime reunion since the early ’70s. Two of our Greek alumni representatives, Alexandros Skand-alakis (SIMS) and ‘Takis’ Panagiotis Alekos (Silsoe), were there to co-host the evening and talk about the aims of the alumni association in Greece. All in all, a most enjoyable evening, with some staying on until the small hours. Graduation is always an excellent opportunity for the alumni team to meet and talk to the very newest of our alumni – the graduates. Manned by Dot, Loraine and Shaun, the alumni stand always attracts a wide variety of visitors. More than 1,000 graduates and nearly 3,000 visitors attended the ceremonies at the Cranfield, Silsoe and Shrivenham campuses. The accompanying entertainments for graduates and their families included lunches, dining and dancing ’til dawn, firework displays, casinos, dodgems and exhibition stands. L-r: Loraine, Dot and Shaun on the alumni stand in the marquee on graduation day, Cranfield campus � www. cranfield.ac.uk/alumni WHEN A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL The rest of the weekend was spent at the British Council Education Fair for postgraduate student recruitment in Athens where some of the alumni came along to help on the stand by talking about Cranfield to potential students and visitors. More than 80 UK universities and a record number of visitors attended the fair over the two days at HELEXPO, situated close to the planned site for the Olympic Games in 2004. This is the second year Cranfield has been represented there, talking to some 140 visitors and answering many serious enquiries. Besides Dot Hill and Shaun Hope from the Alumni Office, Shirley Hyde (SIMS) Prof Peri Pilidis and Cheryl Anderson (SoE), and Ian Crawford (Silsoe) also attended. For further information on the Greek alumni association, please contact alumni@cranfield.ac.uk or visit the website www.cranfield.ac.uk/alumni �Theofilos Dimitriadis (left) talks to a potential student at the British Council Fair Attracting all the newest recruits
www. cranfield.ac.uk/alumni ALUMNI EVENTS MEETING the MASTER Sir Jackie Stewart OBE met with alumni from the first Motorsport MSc intake when, together with more than 100 leading figures from motorsport, he watched as the current students tested their innovative jack designs on a Prodrive Subaru rally car. The exercise, part of the Group Design Project, centred on a major problem for rally teams - improving the design of the portable rally jacks to cope with the technical demands while maintaining reliability and speed of use under extreme conditions. The event was well attended by clients, sponsors, alumni and staff connected with motorsport. All Group Design Projects are undertaken in partnership with an industrial organisation and, this year, Cranfield University is working with leading motorsport company Prodrive. Later in the year, Chris Witter, President of CMAA, accompanied by John Billingham, Head of SIMS and Jeff Alcock, Course Director for MSc � Left to right: Motorsport’s first alumni - Stuart Robertson, Chris Blakesley, James Vowels, Frederico Ribeiro, Chris Witter (President), with Sir Jackie Stewart (centre) and Cranfield’s Jeff Alcock on his right. Motorsport, attended the Motorsport Industry Association’s Summer Reception at the House of Lords. And Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering for Renault F1 and Hon President of CMAA, attended this year’s graduation as guest of Jeff Alcock. For further details visit: www.motorsport.cranfield.ac.uk/ alumni.htm Treated just like royalty Your convocation AGM will be held on Tuesday 12 November at 6pm in Mitchell Hall, on the Cranfield campus. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Frank Hartley, will give an address and there will be time afterwards to meet and talk to members, your alumni team and other colleagues over a buffet. If you would like to attend, please email the alumni office: alumni@cranfield.ac.uk 15 It is not often that soil scientists are treated like royalty, but at the 12th International Soil Conservation Organisation’s conference in Beijing in May, attended by NSRI Head of Landcare John Quinton, that’s exactly what happened. Soil erosion is seen as China’s most pressing environmental problem; so much so that China’s vice-premier Wen Jiabao, opened the meeting. Media interest was high, with the conference covered on China’s state television, a full page spread in the China Daily newspaper and on BBC world news. This was coupled with a mid-conference tour, which had the benefit of a police escort to get through the rush-hour Beijing traffic to ensure timely arrival at the field sites. John also had the chance to meet up with some Cranfield alumni. Dr Michael Zoblich and Joseph Mburu both studied Soil and Water Engineering at Silsoe, and Samran Sobatpanit attended a three-month short course on Soil Conservation. Michael and Samran are now president and vice-president respectively of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation. Opportunity to meet and greet
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Autumn 2002 PW 5 - Cranfield University

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