LehighNow Volume 02, Issue 10

              LEHIGHNOW
February 13,2002
Volume 2, Issue 10
IN BRIEF
HONORS/AWARDS
LU Hispanic
engineers
ter earns
chapte
recognition
The Lehigh University
Chapter of the Society of
Hispanic Professional
Engineers has been
nominated as one of the
outstanding medium-
sized clubs in the country
by the organization's
national office in Los
Angeles. This honor is
particularly noteworthy,
says chapter advisor
Michelle Samuels, since
the Lehigh chapter has
only been in existence for
five years.
"This is outstanding
news," says Samuels,
assistant dean of
students. "This is a
terrific group of motivated, hard-working
students who richly
deserve this recognition."
Formed by three
Hispanic engineering
students, the Lehigh
chapter now has 33
members and includes
students of African-
American, Asian, and
Indian descent.
"The goal of this
group is to achieve
educational excellence,
economic opportunity
and social equity," says
Diana Van Den Essen
'02, former president of
the chapter. "This group
Please see ENGINEERS
page 3
RCEAS Dean
El-Aasser
receives top
award
Mohamed S. El-Aasser,
dean of the P.C. Rossin
College of Engineering and
Applied Science, has been
chosen to receive the Roy
W. Tess Award in Coatings
for 2002 from the American
Chemical Society's Division
of Polymeric Materials
Science and Engineering.
El-Aasser, who is
renowned internationally
for his research in polymers, will receive the award
and give an address Aug.
26 in Boston, at the 224th
meeting of the ACS.
A one-day symposium
honoring El-Aasser will be
held at the meeting, with
presentations by colleagues
and former students and by
international researchers
who have served as visiting
professors and scientists at
Lehigh's Emulsion
Polymers Institute.
In three decades as a
professor of chemical
engineering at Lehigh, El-
Aasser has made
groundbreaking contributions to a range of topics
related to polymers,
colloids and coatings,
particularly polymer
latexes and emulsion and
mini-emulsion polymerization. Applications of work
in these fields range from
latex paints, adhesives and
printing inks to medical
diagnostic tools and
calibration standards.
In 1983, El-Aasser helped
design a reactor that, in
zero gravity aboard the
Challenger STS-6, synthesized the first products
ever made in space. The
polystyrene latex
microspheres were certified
as standard reference
materials for calibrating
microscopic objects. For his
efforts, El-Aasser was named
" NASA Inventor of the Year
in 1984," an honor he shared
with the late John W.
Vanderhoff and Fortunato J.
Micale, professors emeritus
of chemistry at Lehigh.
El-Aasser is also credited
with building the Emulsion
Polymers Institute (EPI),
which he directs, into what
some have called the leading
organization of its kind in the
world. He also founded
Lehigh's Polymer Interfaces
Center, and is former director
of the Center for Polymer
Science and Engineering.
El-Aasser has published
more than 300 journal
papers, edited six books and
received nine patents. Since
joining the faculty in 1974, he
has served as major adviser
to 55 Ph.D. students and 53
M.S. candidates, and as co-
adviser to 20 Ph.D. students.
Barkey
receives
grant to study
Cyprus
situation
Henri J. Barkey, professor of
international relations at
Lehigh University and Dr.
Philip H. Gordon of the
Brookings Institution have
received a $100,463 grant to
push the escalating situation
on Cyprus Island into the
political limelight. Lehigh
University will oversee the
grant provided by the Smith
Richardson Foundation.
The project will take on a
three-phase operation that
will begin with interviewing
key political figures in
Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, the
United States and the
European Union.
During the second phase of
the project, Barkey and
Gordon will turn to high-
profile figures to capture the
world's attention during a
two-day workshop in
Washington, D.C.
The project will conclude
with the publication of
Barkey and Gordon's policy
report in the form of a
journal article and a series of
shorter articles.
The grant comes after the
publication of Barkey and
Gordon's article, "Cyprus:
The Predictable Crisis," in
The National Interest. The
article appeared in the winter
2001/02 issue of the
quarterly magazine that
showcases pressing issues in
foreign policy.