Taking technology into the canyons
Hickam's October Sky No. 1 on bestseller list
Herd of Hokies staffs Ohio firm
A truly spacey fellow
Pittman makes career of politics and humor
Kane earns kudos in media
Hokie Plate Man

Taking technology into the canyons

Until Paul Deshler (industrial engineering '89) mule-packed computers into the Grand Canyon, the Havasupai tribe had to wait two weeks to receive postal replies to their messages to the National Park Service 10 miles away.

Now, thanks to the Internet and a T-1 line, communication is almost instantaneous.

For his efforts while working for the U.S. Geological Survey's Colorado Plateau Field Station in northern Arizona, Deshler received the 1998 USGS's John Wesley Powell Citizenship Award, the agency's highest award.

Helping the Havasupai and another tribe, the Hualapai, log onto the information highway so they could contribute to biological research was the immediate goal of the five-year project, Deshler says, but forging communication partnerships with the tribes was a larger goal.

Just getting equipment to the Havasupai was problematic. Because there is no road, Deshler had to strap the computers to mules and hike eight miles into the Havasu Canyon, a side canyon to the Grand Canyon. "In the summer, you had to make this trip at night because the canyon walls heated to extreme temperatures in the day," Deshler says. Luckily, the Hualapai tribal headquarters could be reached by road.

Now each tribe has a web page and e-mail and has received training sessions on how to use the Internet. Deshler, who now works for the city of Flagstaff, Ariz., has acted as director, laborer, grant writer, and the all around guy who makes things happen.

In a letter informing Deshler of the award, USGS Director Charles Groat wrote: "You have developed the respect and trust of the Indians and non-Indians with whom you worked. Probably more than any equipment, data, or materials that you took them, the trust is your paramount achievement." Back to Contents

Hickam's October Sky No. 1 on bestseller list

The paperback version of October Sky, written by Homer Hickam (industrial engineering '64) was in its second week as No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list at press time. Hickam's book, Rocket Boys, was re-issued as October Sky after the Universal movie by the same name came out in February. Back to Contents

Herd of Hokies staffs Ohio firm

Not many Ohio companies of nearly 100 employees can brag seven Virginia Tech graduates, including two who are the top officers. Select Sires of Plain City, a firm that specializes in the collection and processing of cattle semen for artificial insemination, proudly makes that claim.
Select Sires boasts seven Virginia Tech graduates. Front row (l to r):	George Miller, Heidi Grove, Melanie Morrell Piwtorak, Mel DeJarnette. Back row: Clif Marshall, Todd Jennings, Richard Chichester.

CEO Dick Chichester (dairy science '56) and Clifton Marshall (dairy science M.S. '68), vice president of semen processing, know their alma mater--one of the last schools to retain a dairy science major--can produce the people the company needs.

"It's not that I'm playing favorites...I pick the ones who are the best for the job," Marshall says. When he was promoted to vice president, he hired Mel DeJarnette (animal science '88, M.S.) to fill his old job of reproduction specialist. "The titles get your business cards passed around quite a bit. But you have to be able to laugh. It's what we do in the AI (artificial insemination) business," Marshall says.

The company owns 1,400 bulls. Of the 5.7 million units of semen, Select Sires shipped to distribution centers last year, 93 percent were for dairy cattle. Most dairy cows never see a mature bull; artificial insemination is the method of choice for increasing and improving the genetics of a dairy herd. Back to Contents

A truly spacey fellow

Winfred Phillips (mechanical engineering '62, M.S. '63) joined elite company in May, when he was presented as a new Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), an honor reserved for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the AIAA's nearly 30,000 members.

Phillips, the dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Florida since 1988, is one of only four academics to be elected fellow this year. The fellowship honors his research work for the Apollo missions on lunar landings and atmosphere re-entry. He was also cited for work in academia, heading the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue and serving as the associate dean of research for the School of Engineering at Penn State.

Phillips also is a fellow and current president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Back to Contents

Pittman makes career of politics and humor

Never let it be said Melinda Pittman (theatre arts '75) is afraid of a little pun. She thrives on word play in her comedy acts that have toured the nation and entertained luminaries such as Hillary Clinton with what Pittman calls "saucy satires, musical mayhem, and topical tomfoolery."

In her latest production, Wonderbroads, Pittman's comedic troupe of four women, Angel's the Next Generation, performs a musical romp featuring influential women in the 20th century who interact in drama and parodic song. The characters--Alonis More-is-less, Bonnie Irate, Sa Mc, Cubic Zirconium--sing "We're everything our women's libber mamas ever wanted to be." One sketch depicts Susan B. Anthony talking with Mrs. Clinton.

Pittman makes no apologies for her slant on humor. She's a liberal and a feminist who delights in political commentary, mixed with "silly stuff," she says. The parodies include Special Counsel Man, a verse about Ken Starr, and Heavy Mattel, performed by Barbie as the doll laments her 40th birthday.

Pittman has been heard on National Public Radio and seen on ABC in an earlier troupe. Her schedule can be viewed at her website, www.angeltime.com. Back to Contents

Kane earns kudos in media

Michael G. Kane (communications '81) is earning plenty of ink for his achievement in the newspapers business. A reporter by training, Kane has found success as a marketing strategist, a role which put him on Presstime magazine's list of "20 under 40" members of the media who have distinguished themselves in their careers.

In the affluent suburban counties just north of New York City, Kane headed the consolidation of 10 daily newspapers into one 152,000-daily circulation paper, the Journal News, with four editions. The effort was three years in planning because, Kane says, "We knew we had to get it right."

The Journal News' parent company, Gannett, recognized the value of Kane's work, naming him the Market Development Executive of the Year twice in the past four years. Back to Contents

Hokie Plate Man

You may have seen him in the parking lot at Tech games--the man stalking Hokie license plates with his camera. Jim Meadows (mechanical engineering '82) was so impressed with the variety of Tech vanity plates that he decided to make a collage and market it to fellow Hokies.

"I wanted 50 to 80 good ones for a collage, but when I did a check with the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for license plates with Hokie names, I realized there were a whole lot I didn't have yet," he says. "So I extended the project."

Eventually, he persuaded the Virginia DMV to forward his letter to Tech vanity plate holders asking for a photo appointment with their cars. "All but four of the 22 I had listed responded," he says. Meadows grabbed for himself the two plates he found unclaimed: "TECH WON" and "82 HOKIE" and ordered a Hokie toy plate for his daughter's tricycle.

Meadows' finished product features 222 plate pictures, as well as Tech buttons, ticket stubs, and newspaper headlines, all arranged in a 24- by 20-inch poster. A small "EF" sits in the center, a tribute to Eddie Ferrell, the long-time football trainer who died just a week before the 1998 season opener.

"I guess I have so much spirit because it look me a long time to get into Tech," says Meadows. "I sort of goofed off in high school, so Tech didn't accept me into engineering school at first. I had to go elsewhere and earn a 3.65 average before Tech would take me."

Take a look at Meadows' vanity plates poster here and at Meadows' website, www.vanityplateimages.com. Back to Contents