1. Dr. Zhou�s Exhibit at the Smithsonian

Dr. Jack Zhou and graduate student Spiros Konhas attended the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. and exhibited their invention, a high-pressure optical cell, at the Special Exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute in March, 1998.

Their patented invention is entitled "Pressure Cell," and it enables researchers to observe initial molecular interactions in real time, thus gathering previously unobtainable data for use in biomedical, pharmaceutical, and food science research.

2. Dean Ray Landis Visit

On Monday, March 9, 1998, Dean Ray Landis from California State University�Los Angeles visited Drexel and gave a seminar: "Enhancing Student Success through a Model Introduction to Engineering Courses." The presentation described the results of a National Science Foundation Course and Curriculum Development grant in which faculty from thirteen universities worked collaboratively to develop and document an Introduction to Engineering course designed to enhance engineering student development, academic development, personal development, and orientation. Behavioral and attitudinal objectives that can be accomplished under each of the key themes were presented. Specific methodologies were presented for accomplishing three key steps in the development of successful engineering students: 1) Strengthen students� commitment to the goal of success in engineering study, 2) Change student behaviors to those that will bring about that success, and 3) Change student attitudes to those that will lead to those behaviors.

3. Professor Ronald K. Thornton Colloquium

Drexel had a special colloquium presented on April 16, 1998, by Professor Ronald K. Thornton, Center for Science and Math Teaching, Departments of Physics and Education, Tufts University. The topic was "Enhancing Physics Learning in Large Classes with Microcomputer-Based Labs, Interactive Lecture Demonstrations, Modeling, and Visualization."

The talk reported on sequences of interactive, microcomputer-based lecture demonstrations using real experiments to create an active learning environment in large lecture classes. Actual interactive lecture demonstrations were done in the area of dynamics using MBL motion and force probes. A video tape of students involved in interactive lecture demonstrations was shown, and the results of research studies at Tufts University and the University of Oregon were presented.

Professor Thornton�s work was partially funded by the NSF under the Student-Oriented Science Modeling Project and by The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE, US Department of Education) under the Tools for Scientific Thinking Project at Tufts University and the Interactive Physics Project at Tufts and Dickinson College. The Colloquium was sponsored by John Wiley and Sons, Inc. and the Gateway Coalition.