LehighNow Volume 01, Issue 09

              LEHIGHNOW
March 14, 2001
Volume 1, Issue 9
Marvin White
elected to NAE
IN BRIEF
HONORS/AWARDS
For materials:
$4.5M from state
Lehigh has received $4.5-
million from the Pennsylvania Department of
Community and Economic Development to
promote the revolution in
in advanced materials.
Lehigh is sharing the
five-year grant with
Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of
Pittsburgh, using it this
spring to offer web-based
graduate and professional
courses in materials science
and engineering, and to
bolster the universities'
characterization and
microscopy facilities.
Martin Harmer, director
of Lehigh's Materials
Research Center, says the
grant will support a field
that has played a key role
in the development of
fiber-optic cables, cell
phones, computers,
medical-imaging
equipment, artificial
human joints, quartz
watches, and 'smart' skis.
Specific goals of the
researchers include
development of
nanotechnology, better
prediction of material
behavior, new interdisciplinary initiatives in
biomaterials and
photonics, acquisition of
a Focused-Ion Beam
instrument to repair
microstructures, and
development of high-tech
classrooms at Lehigh for
delivery of web-based
courses.
Photo by Rob Upton
Marvin White (left) directs the Microelectronics Lab, where
students design, fabricate and test microelectronic devices.
Marvin White, whose
research into solid-state
imaging and semiconductors has led to the development of medical imaging
tools, military imaging
systems, camcorders and
other consumer products,
has been elected to the
National Academy of
Engineering.
White, the Sherman
Fairchild professor of
electrical engineering and
director of Sherman
Fairchild Center for Solid-
State Studies, will join 73
other newly elected NAE
members at an induction
ceremony Oct. 7 in
Washington, D.C.
Election to the NAE, one
of the most prestigious
distinctions bestowed on an
engineer, honors those who
have made "important
contributions to engineering
theory and practice," and
demonstrated "unusual
accomplishment in the
pioneering of new and
developing fields of
technology."
White, who holds 27 U.S.
patents, was cited by the
academy for "contributions
to solid-state imagers and for
advances in silicon devices
and technology."
The NAE election was the
fourth time in four years
White has been honored for
lifetime achievement. In 1997,
he received the J.J. Ebers
Award, the top award from
the Electron Devices Society
of the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE). EDS said White
helped develop the concept of
correlated double sampling
to remove noise in imaging
arrays and analog signal
processing circuits. His
findings were applied to
military and NASA imaging
systems, and helped lead to
the development of
camcorders, faxes,
videoconferencing and
medical diagnostic tools.
White also received Lehigh's
Libsch Research Award in
1997. In 2000, he received the
Masaru Ibuka Consumer
Electronics Award from IEEE
for "pioneering and innovative contributions to the
development of low-light
level, solid-state imagers
used in consumer products."
-Kurt Pfitzer
Endowment
fund posts gain
Despite declines of nearly 40
percent in the NASDAQ, 9
percent in the S&P 500 and 6
percent in the Dow, the
Lehigh endowment fund's
total return for 2000 was up
3.5 percent, reports Treasurer
Denise Blew.
"Our fund's performance
was very goqd in comparison
to the benchmarks," says
Blew. "Our investments are
diversified, which helps when
markets suffer a decline like
they did last year."
The endowment fund is
invested 65 percent in stocks
and 35 percent in bonds and
a small sum of cash. The
stock portfolio is both
growth- and value-oriented,
and represents a mix of large-,
medium- and small-cap
global and U.S. companies.
The endowment is made up
of gifts, donations, reinvested earnings, and realized
and unrealized gains. The
fund supports more than 10
percent of Lehigh's operating
budget and 18 percent of
financial aid. The fund's
market value has grown
from about $226 million in
June 1989 to $755 million
today. Over the last 25 years,
the average total annual
return has been 13.2 percent
- about the same as the
composite index.
In 2000, the endowment
benefited from the performance of its value stocks
and its bonds, which gained
about 11 percent.
Despite the market
turbulence of 2000, particularly in technology, the
endowment's professional
managers likely will not alter
their strategies in 2001. "The
past year hasn't made them
timid," Blew says.
-Rich Harry