Leland D. Melvin ('91), 2004 Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate Award

Fall 2004 -Virginia Engineering

Several alumni, faculty, and staff were honored at the October 2004 Thornton Society Dinner with VEF Awards.

Leland D. Melvin (MSE ’91) was awarded the 2004 Young Engineering Graduate Award from the Virginia Engineering Foundation.

Leonid V. Zhigilei awarded NSF-NIRT (Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams) grant

Fall 2004 -Virginia Engineering

Ioannis Chasiotis (MAE) and Leonid V. Zhigilei (MSE) with three other collaborators from Case Western Reserve University and Michigan Tech were awarded an NSF-NIRT (Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams) grant. This is a four-year grant with an original total budget of $1.6 million, which has a focus on the experimental and computational study of biological and organic nanofibers

Matthews Family Contributes Additional Funds to Wilsdorf Hall

Fall 2004 - Virginia Engineering

The family of the late John W. Matthews, a former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia and a groundbreaking materials researcher, has pledged $500,000 in his memory to the School of Engineering and Applied Science. 

Professors Doris Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf and William Jesser,
Valerie Matthews and Dean James H. Aylor at the 2004
Thornton Society Dinner

Matthews, whose son is the rock music composer and performer Dave Matthews, was an IBM Corporation research scientist who had a long-term research affiliation with the Engineering School.The gift will support the construction of a connector between Wilsdorf Hall and the Chemistry Building. Wilsdorf Hall is an under-construction materials science building that will serve as a research and teaching facility. The building will also house conference rooms and faculty offices. Previously, the Matthews Family contributed $500,000 for construction of a 1,000-square foot laboratory in the building in honor of Mr. Matthews’ long relationship with the Engineering School and with Professors William Jesser and Doris Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf.

Professors Elzey and Fitz-Gerald lead Wheelchair Translation Project

Spring 2004 - Virginia Engineering

The Wheelchair Translation Project group was confronted with a real-life problem here on Grounds this past fall: how to design a device allowing wheelchair users to navigate up and down stairs while avoiding the use of ramps.

Wheelchair project team

 In team fashion, students from the pilot classes taught by Professors Elzey and Fitz-Gerald designed, built and tested two separate wheelchair translation systems to solve the problem.