Notable
Awards and Achievements of Faculty and Staff

• The Engineering School's Office of Minority Programs (OMP) is among the recipients of the 1999 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. The award, administered and funded through the National Science Foundation, honors 10 individuals and five groups that have been exemplary in their encouragement of minorities, women and persons with disabilities to pursue careers in scientific, engineering and technical fields. President Clinton has said that they would "serve as examples to their colleagues and will be leaders in the national effort to train the next century of scientists, mathematicians and engineers."
  
  The OMP's primary objective is to increase the recruitment, retention and graduation of underrepresented students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering. This work has been carried out within the larger purpose of increasing the pool of talented minority high school students interested in engineering and heightening awareness of engineering within minority communities.
  
  OMP efforts include a week-long residential program for rising high school juniors and seniors, a summer bridge academy for first-year students, internships in the corporate sector, and research opportunities with U.Va. faculty. As a result of OMP programs, more than 249 underrepresented minority undergraduate students and 122 graduate students have received degrees from the engineering school during the last 10 years.
  
  
• The Darden Graduate School of Business Administration was one of 10 leading business schools that recently won an award in New York from the World Resources Institute and The Aspen Institute's Initiative for Social Innovation through Business. Their annual survey, "Beyond Grey Pinstripes: Preparing MBAs for Social and Environmental Stewardship," recognizes the Darden School as an innovator in training future business managers to address environmental and social challenges in business.
  
  
• Nicholas Sidiropoulos, assistant professor of electrical engineering, and colleagues, were the recipients of a $450,000 award from the National Science Foundation's Wireless IT & Networks Initiative for their proposal titled, "From Medium Access to Physical Layer: An Integrated DSP Framework for Wireless Packet Networks."
  
  
• Maite Brandt-Pearce, assistant professor of electrical engineering, was promoted to senior member of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
  
  
• John Parker, director of mail services, was recently recognized by the U.S. Postal Service with its Mail Center Manager Award. The award was presented at the National Postal Forum, held in Chicago in September. Parker helped establish a centralized mailroom operation and introduced such cost-saving measures as permit imprint controls, postage meter reduction and Business Reply Mail permits, saving the University more than $100,000. He also developed a unique post office box address scheme for the University Hospital, Grounds and students.
  
  
• The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities' Institute on Violence and Culture has received a $250,000, three-year grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to study faith and religion in war-torn worlds. Scholarship will focus on personal accounts, autobiography, poetry and fiction of victims, witnesses, perpetrators and instigators of war. Two to four senior Rockefeller research fellows per year will receive funding. For information, contact Roberta Culbertson at 924-3296, or visit the web site at: http://www.virginia.edu/vfh.