Jennifer Elisseeff pioneers a path that could lead to repairing bone, joints, and organs in a minimally invasive way. At least once a week, another letter lands on the desk of Jennifer Elisseeff. The contents are always the same—urgent requests from people who want to volunteer as test subjects for her research. “I just received…
Archive
Fall 2003
Blowin’ in the Wind: Tracking Pollen’s Path Features
A research center brings together like—and unlike—minds to apply expertise from a variety of viewpoints. Here are two centers that are bridging disciplines in the Whiting School and beyond. During the drought of Summer 2002, Grace Brush and several of her enthusiastic graduate students trekked through the fields at the Wye Institute on the Eastern…
A Step Closer to Detecting Landmines Features
Finding landmines by scientific methods rather than by chance has become an urgent mission. An estimated 60 million to 100 million landmines are buried in at least 68 countries around the world. Called by some the most dangerous kind of pollution, these anti-personnel mines and devices come in more than 600 varieties. Some are the…
ROB ROY ’28: Poo-Bah, Mentor, and Industrial Engineer Features
Innovation, high principles, and a personal touch were hallmarks of Engineering’s third dean throughout his two careers and long life. Rob Roy would have called it a brag. However, even today, the mere mention of his name triggers an unvarying response. For those former students, faculty, and alumni involved with the Johns Hopkins School of…
Studies in Excellence Making Waves
Meet the three Westgate Scholars who set the standard—and the professor who inspired the generous gesture. From every gift, two stories emerge—the one behind the giving, and the other that blossoms from the receiving. Such is the case with the Roger Westgate Scholarships in Engineering. In just four years, these extraordinarily generous merit scholarships have…
Associate Dean Douglas Named Interim Dean back on campus
For two decades, Andrew S. Douglas has served the Whiting School of Engineering in many capacities. On July 1, he began a new undertaking: serving as interim dean until a successor to Ilene Busch-Vishniac can begin. Since 1999, Douglas has been associate dean for Academic Affairs. For the previous two years, he chaired the Department…
Microgravity Research Has Undergraduates Flying High back on campus
It’s a basic law of physics: What goes up must come down. However, fly in the “Vomit Comet,” and you hope nothing comes up at all. That might have been on the minds of a group of seven Johns Hopkins University undergraduates, collectively known as Team STILLMix, as they got their first look at the…
Honors & Awards: Two Top Teachers back on campus
Charles V. Meneveau has spent more than a dozen years patiently guiding Whiting School undergraduates through the mathematically demanding field of fluid mechanics. This year, his students showed their appreciation by selecting the professor of Mechanical Engineering for a JHU Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award. “This was my first one, so it was extra…
Reflections on Five Years as Dean From The Dean
Webster’s defines legacy as “something handed down from one who has gone before.” In the academic setting, legacies are part of the rich tradition. They define the institution’s history, ensure its continuity, and guide it through turbulent times such as today. The legacies of the Whiting School of Engineering are embodied in its people—past and…
“I Have Fun Getting Things Done the wider world
For Harvey Kushner ’51, “to lead” is a very active verb ”When asked how he felt about receiving the Whiting School of Engineering’s inaugural Dean’s Special Recognition Award in April 2001, Harvey Kushner ’51, management and technology consultant, civic leader, and long-time Whiting School friend and supporter, responded with characteristic humility. “It was a surprise,”…
Blumenthal Lecture Highlights Engineering Expertise in Business Connections
The role of intelligence versus being lucky in entrepreneurship was the intriguing topic that drew almost 200 students, faculty, and staff to Maryland Hall in April. Rajendra Singh, telecommunications entrepreneur and University trustee, spoke on “Discerning Trends When the Business Environment Is Cloudy.” The occasion during which Singh was honored was the annual Blumenthal Lecture…
A Profile in Partnership Connections
For the philanthropic arm of the General Electric Corporation (GE), partnership can be a means to effect change. Joyce Hergenhan, who has been president of the GE Fund for the past five years, explains the philosophy behind the philanthropy. “For each initiative, we identify schools that have taken leadership on the issues central to that…
Freeware Predicts Structural Stability Lab Notes
Benjamin W. Schafer admits that some fellow researchers around the world consider him “a little odd.” Flying in the face of traditional academic practices, for the last six years the assistant professor of Civil Engineering at the Whiting School literally has been giving away his research. In fact, he urges designers of thin-walled structures to…
Raising the Bar on Bulk Metallic Glass Lab Notes
Todd C. Hufnagel remembers the day he first heard of metallic glass. As an undergraduate at Michigan Technological University in the late 1980s, where he majored in metallurgy, he read a textbook passage that described this unusual material. That ignited a keen interest, which Hufnagel eagerly has pursued at the Whiting School as an assistant…
The Clearest Windshield in the World High Performers
Through his research on data storage, Randal Burns helps global computer users quickly view massive amounts of information. In Steven Spielberg’s 2002 sci-fi thriller Minority Report, criminal investigator John Anderton (Tom Cruise) points his finger at a transparent screen and moves his arm. His glove-mounted sensor slides computer-generated visualizations around the screen. With a twist…
Innovators at the Intersections Editor's Note
The outdoor Commencement ceremony on May 22 was a first for Johns Hopkins University. And this year, graduating students followed another new path. They entered Homewood Field under a banner reading “From this crossroads of knowledge…go and touch the world.” Like these new graduates, the Whiting School of Engineering is at a critical juncture. As…
Fruitful Operation Covers
It’s hard enough finding a needle in a haystack. But try constructing a robot, then using it to guide a needle through a grape buried in Jell-O, as if you were a surgeon implanting radiation seeds in a cancer patient. Eight high school teams took up that challenge as they competed in the CISSRS Surgical…
Wired, Wireless, and Wowing Everyone Covers
Hodson Hall, the new academic building that opened in Fall 2002 on the Homewood campus, is 44,200 square feet and $15 million worth of high-tech media and education. It’s all wrapped up in an exterior that complements Homewood’s elegant Georgian architecture. Hodson Hall is wired for sound, video, the Internet, and more. As Civil Engineering…
A Decisive First Decade: SEA Celebrates 10 Years of Reconnecting Hopkins Engineers SEA
Early in 1992, David VandeLinde, at the time dean of the Whiting School of Engineering, commissioned a task force to evaluate the alumni relations program of the School, which had been founded 13 years earlier. Chaired by A. Paul Cox Jr. ’59, ’70 MS, the task force emphatically concluded that the School should establish a…