Clark School Accomplishments in Fall 2002

These are truly exciting times for the University of Maryland’s Clark School of Engineering. The Clark School continues to set new records in its many endeavors and is moving forward, at an accelerated pace, toward achieving its strategic goals. We continue to attract talented students, recruit outstanding new faculty members, offer innovative educational programs, launch new research initiatives and actively engage in outreach and economic development programs, especially through technology transfer and technology entrepreneurship activities.

I am delighted to share with you highlights of the accomplishments of the Clark School faculty, staff and students from June-December 2002. During this time, 12 outstanding new faculty members joined the college in areas of strategic importance to our growth; a new graduate-level Bioengineering Program was established; and several new research initiatives, including two major institutes funded by NASA were launched. Our faculty, students and alumni received numerous prestigious awards and recognitions, and our nationally acclaimed Hinman CEOs program recently received the Price Foundation Innovative Educators Award and was recognized as a national leader in entrepreneurship during the prestigious Roundtable on Entrepreneurship Education for Engineers (REEE) at Stanford University.

Following is a more detailed description of these achievements, as well as a very special invitation for you to join us on Monday, February 17, 2003, for the Jeong H. Kim Engineering and Applied Sciences Building “Virtual” Groundbreaking Ceremony and the inauguration of the Charles and Helen White Symposium featuring keynote speaker, Nobel Laureate Dr. Arno Penzias.

I hope you join us for these exciting events, and please stay in touch with the Clark School.

Nariman Farvardin

New Faculty

The Clark School continues its extraordinary success in attracting outstanding senior and junior faculty. We are honored to have these new faculty: Dr. Hani Mahmassani as the Charles A. Irish Sr. Chair in Civil Engineering and director of the Maryland Transportation Initiative; Drs. Elise Miller-Hooks and Kelly Clifton, also in the area of transportation systems; Drs. Maria Klapa and John Fisher in bioengineering; Dr. Alison Flatau in Smart Small Systems; Dr. Ankur Srivastava in VLSI design and embedded systems; Dr. Thomas Murphy in optical communications and Dr. Ricardo Medina in earthquake engineering and structural reliability.

In addition, three members of the National Academy of Engineering joined the faculty of the Clark School this year: Dr. Robert Fischell as the Professor of Practice in mechanical engineering; Dr. Howard Frank, dean of the Robert H. School of Business, as an affiliate professor in electrical and computer engineering; and the Honorable Jacques Gansler, professor of public affairs, as an affiliate professor in civil and environmental engineering.

Faculty Awards and Recognitions

As a result of their outstanding scholarly work, Clark School faculty have received prestigious awards and recognitions, and assumed important leadership positions in their professional societies. Highlights of these accomplishments include several prominent editor positions with highly regarded and mainstream technical journals, numerous awards and prizes from professional societies, appointment to high-level and influential boards, delivery of keynote speeches at prestigious conferences, and election to the rank of fellow in professional societies and associations.

Student Accomplishments

Our students continue to receive recognition and top place honors for their outstanding achievements in national competitions and design projects, as well as awards and prizes for their research accomplishments.

Major New Grants

Our faculty and researchers are extremely successful in forming cross-disciplinary coalitions and securing major block grants to fuel our research engine. The number and total dollar value of sponsored research projects continues to grow. In fiscal year 2002, the total research expenditures of the faculty of Clark School and Computer Science combined were $115,000,000. These expenditures come from a very large number of small contracts and grants as well as a growing number of multi-year, multi-investigator and multi-disciplinary block grants.

Significant Alumni Awards

We are proud of the accomplishments of the Clark School Alumni as they continue to make significant contributions to their field and to society.

Technology Entrepreneurship Programs

We remain steadfast in our commitment to aggressively expand our various technology entrepreneurship programs. We launched two new programs: Technology Ventures Club and Technology Enterprise Accelerator, and the Hinman CEOs program began its third year with a very successful Technology Startup Bootcamp.

New Bioengineering Program Launched

New initiatives and dedicated resources support a superior level of study and research. A Bioengineering Graduate Degree Program was approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Maryland, and will accept new students beginning this January 2003. This highly cross-disciplinary program falls to the leadership of Dr. William Bentley, the first Herbert Rabin Distinguished Professor of Engineering.

Other Notable Accomplishments

U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Maryland's engineering undergraduate program 24th, up from 26th place. Dr. Eyad Abed, professor of electrical and computer engineering is appointed director of the Institute for Systems Research, and a recent article in the Washington Post names Dr. Nariman Farvardin, dean of Maryland's Engineering School, one of five to watch in 2003.

A Special Invitation to You

Currently under construction on the site of parking lot G3, the Jeong H. Kim Engineering and Applied Science Building will house some of the most sophisticated engineering research and educational laboratories in the nation. Please join us for a “virtual” groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, February 17, 2003 at 2 p.m.

As part of this special day, we will inaugurate a significant academic activity, the Charles and Helen White Symposium. We are privileged to present keynote speaker, Nobel Laureate Arno Penzias. The symposium will be held from 10 a.m. to Noon.

These events will be held in the Marriott Inn and Conference Center, College Park, Maryland.

Published December 20, 2002