Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Vol. 65, No. 03 1990

1990

^ i.

yr 9A

Tk

m

\

v x

^ **=* **

"For us to move beyond Earth's boundaries is as natural a thing to do as it was for Columbus to set off on his voyage."

—4tfchard Truly Director, NASA

Alsoitiside

The Final Frontier • Economic Development • Romancing the Roadster

7

. . . and only 15 minutes from Tech as the Yellow Jacket Flies

I TECH I OFFICIAL SPONSOR ALUMNI MAGAZINE

•

Lt Pickett Suite Hotels, we know how important it is to be able to relax after the Game . . . or after any visit to the Tech Campus.

In every Pickett suite, you'll find a spacious living room with conference and dining area. Plus a separate bedroom and dressing area.

That's why, as an official sponsor of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, we offer Tech graduates and families special rates:

At Pickett, there's room to work, to m e e t . . . to rest after cheering the Jackets to victory.

• •

2999 Windy Hill at Powers Ferry Road Atlanta, Georgia 30067

$65 w e e k e n d s $85 w e e k d a y s

For reservations, call direct: 404/956-9999

PICKETT SUITE HOTELS^' RESORTS Luxurious suites at room rates

• INNS

fffORGIATECH Alumni Magazine

VOL. 65 NO. 3

STAFF J o h n C. D u n n Editor Gary Goettling Associate Editor

y$r*''&

COTMS

0*

10

20

2 5 J o u r n e y to Jupiter: The Flight o f Galileo Written by John Toon

W a y n e Parker Advertising

3 0 A n Erector Set for Space Written byjeanie Franco Hallem

38 PUBUCATIONS COMMTTTEE

Š 1989 Georgia Tech Alumni Association

THE FINAL FRONTIER 2 1 N e w Voyages i n t o t h e Final Frontier Interview by Gary Goettling

Everett Hullum Design

Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine is published quarterly for Roll Call contributors by the Georgia Tech Alumni Association. Send correspondence and changes of address to: Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Alumni/Faculty House 225 North Avenue NAV Atlanta, GA 30332-0175 Editorial: ( Kit) 894-4646 Advertising: ( t04) 894-2391 Fax: (40a) 89-1-5113

Georgia Tech On Location A n e w video captures the contributions of Tech's Extension Service to businesses statewide.

Written by Susan Hawkins

Page 10

Gary Meek Margaret Barrett Photography

George A. Stewart Jr. '69, chairman W. Guy Arledge 7 1 Hugh A. Carter '64 Jack J. Faussemagne '65 Frank H. MaierJr. '60 L. Gordon Sawyer '46

WINTER 1990

Romancing the Roadster With inspiration from his former roommate, Tech grad Norman Garrett helps create his dream car.

Written by John Dunn

Page 25

TAEPARTMENTS

Page 38

3

Letters Force, not power; Bulldog crossing.

4

Technotes Crecine sets agenda; Jackets sting Georgia; Tech among top R&D universities; staff plays Santa.

47

Research A computer's "learning curve"; unlocking the secrets of fish's hearing; volcanoes on Venus?

50

Profile Philip Adler: The human relations professor.

On the Cover NASA director Richard Truly, a Tech graduate, looks toward the future as the Galileo spacecraft is launched into interplanetary trajectory by the inertial upper stage booster rocket. See The Final Frontier, beginning on page 20. Truly p h o t o by Margaret Barrett/NASA art.

Why •MowJackets FVDelta.

Yellow Jacket Country goes from Grant Field to Hartsfield and beyond.

Way beyond. .

That's why Delta and The Delta Connection* give Yellow Jackets over 4,000 flights a day to over 250 cities around the world.

And Delta gives you over 400 nonstop flights a day from Atlanta.

n •

T E C H P

OFFICIAL SPONSOR ALUMNI MAGAZINE

What's more, Delta has been ranked number one in passenger satisfaction among major U.S. airlines for 15 straight years, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation?

So next trip, whether you're flying to Yellow Jacket Country or some other country, fly Delta.

We'll make you feel right at home.

Delta. We Love To Fly And It Shows?

AOFTTA

The Official AirlineTAf The Georgia Teh Alumni Association.

Delta Connection flights operate with Delta flight numbers 2000-5999. *Based on consumer complaint statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation. ©1989 Delta Air Lines, Inc.

IE11EKS

^. \ 1

> ;

Power and Force Are Not Synonymous Editor: There must be something that was known "three centuries before the Industrial Revolution" by Leonardo da Vinci that Tech never told me. Back in 1950, when I received my degree, Tech wasn't saying a thing about using a gear train to "amplify power," as noted in a caption in the alumni magazine ["Leonardo was a Hell of an Engineer," Fall 19891.

Of course, that was before nuclear power and laptop computers, and we thought we couldn't escape a loss when power went through a gear train.

Force or speed gains, maybe; power is lost for sure!

If Detroit can utilize this before Japan, we'll solve

the trade imbalance of cars.

C.B. Haynie, ME '50 Tucker, Ga Indeed, Leonardo's meshed gears alter torque and speed.

Engineering Articles Add Value Editor: Commendations of the continued excellence of the alumni magazine. The inclusion of occasional technical and engineering articles adds to the value of the publication.

Herbert S. Saffir, CE '40 Coral Gables, Fla.

Bulldog Crossing, Prepare to Stop Editor: The graphic representa-

-

tion of the 43rd Annual ous act toward a fellow Roll Call drive on page 7 Georgian, Southerner, of the Fall '89 GEORGIA TECH American, etc., including a ALUMNI MAGAZINE does bulldog.

Georgia Tech a great disI'm offended by this service. The graphic representation of a proimplies: gram I support. My gifts • That any donation of are meant to support academics at Tech and the $48 to $10,000 and up is "exited" to other uses, gift has nothing to do with specifically away from tax breaks or Georgia Georgia Tech, and only rivalry. donations of $47.99 and Please revise this under really support Tech graphic to show everyone and actually make it to the what the Roll Call represchool. sents and how each alum• That gifts to the ni donation supports it.

Institute should be for tax Emil A. Slavik, reduction purposes and MS ARCH '86 not from the heart.

Chicago • That we should run over bulldogs (or Georgia All donations to Roll Call fans). Suggesting friendly , help provide Georgia Tech rivalry is great, but no with its largest source of affiliate of the Institute unrestricted funds in should suggest a dangersupport of academics.

Thank you to the official sponsors of the GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI MAGAZINE • Acme Business Products • Ball Stalker • C&S Bank

The Coca-Cola Company Delta Air l i n e s Dodson International Air

• First Atlanta • Pickett Suite Hotel • Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta

• Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead • Technology Park/Atlanta • Wyndham Hotel GEORGIA TECH • Letters

3

nrir*

TTJCHNOT^S

Creane Sets Bold Agenda resident John P. Crecine has set 1996 as a benchmark year to substantially reduce student-faculty ratios, double the number of female and black faculty members, strengthen undergraduate and graduate programs, increase the amount of sponsored research, and establish

P

State of the Institute Address Georgia Tech as a primary agent for economic development in Georgia.

In his annual State-ofthe-Institute address, Crecine told Tech's faculty members that academic restructuring has enabled Tech to create an organiza-

tional structure that supports the academic programs necessary to accomplish those goals.

"We are midway into what is the most ambitious and far-reaching academic reorganization of any major research university

during the past several decades," Crecine said. "The most important part of our academic reorganization, of our repositioning Georgia Tech for the future, is what comes next."

He said the restructuring plan should be completed by the end of the 1990-91 academic year.

"The students of Continued page 7

T

ailback Jeny Mays rushed for a career-high 207 yards to lead Georgia Tech to a 33-22 victory over Peach Bowl-bound Georgia before 46,064 fans at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

The victory capped coach Bobby Ross' first winning season at Tech, giving the Yellow Jackets a 7-4 record.

The win earned Ross a victory ride on the shoulders of his players.

Mays carried 39 times to earn his game-record

4

GEORGIA TECH • Winter '90

yardage, and caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Shawn Jones to give Tech a 33-1 1 advantage with 2:32 left on the clock.

Mays is Tech's all-time leading receiver with 115 catches, and is the second leading rusher (trailing only Robert Lavette) with 3,699 yards.

Freshman quarterback Shawn Jones earlier received Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie ol the Year award in voting by the Atlantic Coast Sports Writers Asso, i.ilion.

Banking Excellence From Any Angle No matter how you look at it, you can't beat the services and convenience ofC&S. We offer a full range of banking services including secured and unsecured lines of credit, Individual Retirement Accounts and other time deposits. We also give you a choice of MasterCard or VISA bank cards. And with our statewide network of C&S Instant Bankers, you'll have instant access to your accounts anytime you want, day or night.

For your business needs, C&S has 11 Commercial Banking Centers located throughout the Metro Atlanta area. And for the entrepreneur, our Enterprise Banking department is available to help you set up and finance your new business.

Get a whole new perspective on banking... stop by C&S today.

The Citizens and Southern National Bank Member FDIC

TH-HNOTrft From Page 4

Crecine Seeks Increased Participation of Minorities, Women Georgia Tech are outstanding now. but in 1996, we want those students to b e even smarter and more motivated." Crecine said.

"Our average SAT scores should rise from their current levels of 1,188 for the undergraduate student body to 1.225 or higher in 1996, and to 1,240 for our 1996 entering freshman class. In that entering class should be 175 National Merit Scholars, u p from 120 this year."

Crecine said that Tech should achieve a graduation rate close to 85 percent, instead of the current 60 percent, and maintain an undergraduate enrollment at slightly more than 9,000 while increasing the number of graduate students from 2,600 to 3,000. Bv 1996, he said,

two-thirds of Tech's graduate students should be pursuing doctoral degrees.

"It is my aim that by 1996, Georgia Tech should be the nation's largest producer of black and Hispanic Ph.D.'s in engineering, science and computing. For similar reasons w e have a goal to at least double the number of black instructional faculty by 1996, to 30 at minimum," Crecine said, adding, "We also aim to double the number of female faculty from 45 to at least 90."

Crecine expects the student-faculty ratio to drop from the current 21:1 to 15:1 by 1996, which he said would mean hiring 250 additional instructional faculty.

In the area of research,

• •

By 1996, T e c h ' s goal is to b e t h e nation's largest producer o f black a n d Hispanic P h D s i n e n g i n e e r i n g .

Crecine said the university and the Georgia Tech Research Institute currently perform $135 million per year in sponsored research, with the majority of that research being done in GTRI. Crecine anticipates sponsored research to grow at 15 percent annually, reaching $350

million per year by 1996, a goal h e called both achievable and desirable.

"In order to reach $350 million by 1996, two things must happen," Crecine stated. "First, w e must increase the overall size of the instnictional faculty....Secondly, as w e add faculty, the academic units must increase their Continued next page

Georgia Tech Alumni Association Officers Oliver 11. Sale Jr. '56 president B. foe Anderson '50 past president Shirley < Mewborn '56 president elect/treasurer fohn C. Siaton |r. '60 / ice president-activities II. Hammond Slithjr. '58 vice presidi nt-communications G. William Knight '62 '68 / ice p> es it tent-Poll Call John B. ( arter |r. '69 rice presidi nt/execntire director James Langley vice president

Trustees Thomas A. Barrow Jr. '48 James 1). Blitch III '53 Hugh A. Carter Jr. '64 Stanley L Daniels '60 II. Guy Darnell Jr. '65 Joseph T. Dyer '69 II. Allen Ecker '57 '58 Edwin C. Eckles '52 Jack J. Faussemagne '65 llal W. Field '51 Frank B. Fortson 71 Samuel O. Franklin III '65 Thomas B. Gurley '59 P. Owen llerrinjr. 70

Brian D. 1 logg '61 James R. [oily '64 G. Paul Jones |r. '52 James R. Lientz Jr. '65 Frank II. Maier Jr. '60 Ronald L. Martin '68 Robert E. Mason '60 Patriae M. Perkins-Hooker '80 James Richard Roberts III '69 L Gordon Sawyer Sr. '46 V. Haw ley Smith |r. '68 W. Clayton Sparrow Jr. '68 Francis M. Spears 7 3 '80 George A. Stewart '69 II. Milton Stewart Jr. '61 S. Joseph Ward '51

GEORGIA TECH • Technotes

7

TKHNorqs From Page 7

Growth a Goal in Industrial Extension Services velopment load in return." share of research relative Crecine said that Tech's to GTRI. Obviously, the 12 Industrial Extension second objective is confield offices, centered in tingent on the first."

Observing that service is GTRI and located throughout the state, are "an unone of Georgia Tech's matched resource for ecoprimary missions, Crecine nomic development." said, "Our service to the GTRI will expand its state—not just to Atlanta— field offices to 20 by 1996, is a critical and necessary staffed with six to eight component of Georgia professionals per office.

Tech's activities.

"Our goal is simple: By "Georgia Tech has not been hesitant to ask for its '1996, Georgia Tech should be recognized as a prishare from the state treamary agent for economic sury; we should not be development in Georgia," hesitant to shoulder our Crecine said. share of the economic de-

NSF Rankings Place Tech Among Top R&D Universities eorgia Tech has maintained its high profile in key research and development rankings based on current data compiled by the National Science Foundation.

The NSF rankings place Tech second only to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in research and development expenditures from industry sources, and third behind Johns Hopkins University and MIT in total research arid development expenditures in engineering.

The NSF rankings, the most authoritative compilation of research activity in the U.S., are based on fiscal year 1987, and contain

G

8

GEORGIA TECH • Winter 90

the most current information. "These rankings are important in reality and they are important in perception," said Dr. Thomas E. Stelson, executive vice president. "They are referred to by all government agencies and all industry.

"These rankings are used by a lot of organizations to pinpoint appropriate development opportunities, so we benefit from them," Stelson added.

"In the sponsored research area, quality and quantity go hand in hand," Stelson explained. "People who don't have the quantity often say they focus on quality. But the fact of the matter is that all this

ALUMNI STAFF DECKS ROOSEVELT'S HALLS. Santa Claus and Rudolph traveled by Ramblin' Wreck instead of sleigh to the Roosevelt I louse this past Dec. 15. The occasion was the annual holiday party conducted by Alumni Association staff for the residents of the city-operated highrise located on Techwood Drive. Food, gifts and prizes were donated by local merchants.

Enjoying a round of bingo are Jessie Mae Vines, Santa, Joe Tate and, standing, Executive Director John B. (Rudolph) Carter Jr.

money comes from nationwide competition through peer or organization review.

"It is head-to-head competition with the strongest research organizations in the country, when the quantity goes up, everyone knows it goes up because the quality is there."

Tech also improved in the NSF rankings for R&D expenditures in state and local government funds and institutional funds. In the Schools of Physics, Mathematics and Psychology Tech's ratings gained.

Stelson said Tech's most distinctive national ranking was in the category of

industry funds. "Industry can do whatever it wants, independent of regulations," Stelson said. "And industry is at least as conscious of quality as government agencies.

"Industry wants to fund programs with Georgia Tech because we have good students."

Tech received $23.6 million in industry funds, second to MIT, which received $35 million.

In total R&D expenditures, Tech received $84 million to rank third behind Johns Hopkins, which received S173 million, and MIT, which received $110 million. •

Charter Your Next Flight With Dodson.

It'll Be Time Well Spent.

Business data is transmitted in nanoseconds. But multimillion dollar corporate producers are made to wait idle in an airport, waiting for a connection. You can't afford to waste any of the valuable time of these valuable people Dodson International Air offers custom-tailored arrivals and departures and flies to any destination, large or small. We service those airports too small for major airlines, thus eliminating time wasted on ground transportation.

Charter their flight director DIA. Our interiors are designed to allow in-flight conference meetings (including phones and catering), further utilizing flight time.

Dodson International Air offers cargo transportation, private fleet management and staffing services as well as business charter.

Take a minute to call us. It'll be time well spent.

N T E R N A T I O 10075 Kinross Road, Roswell. Georgia 30076 (404) 475-8822

GEORGIA TECH eorgia Tech's influence extends far beyond its Atlanta campus.

Through the Industrial Extension Division of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Tech research and know-how helps pump an additional half-billion dollars into the state's economy annually. This expertise is channeled through 12 regional offices located in Rome, Gainesville, Carrollton, Madison, Augusta, Macon, Columbus, Dublin, Savannah, Albany, Douglas and Brunswick. The offices, staffed by resident engineers, provide many types of assistance, including productivity audits, office automation consultation, engineering problemsolving, economic development plans and management guidance.

This past summer, President fohn P. Crecine and TechVideo put together a nine-minute video presentation highlighting four Industrial Extension success stories. Their hope is to raise awareness of the valuable contributions made by Industrial Extension.

Our photographer accompanied Dr. Crecine on his tour of the state, and provided a glimpse of the many ways—large and small—that Tech helps boost the Peach State economy.

G

Among the many hats President John P. Crecine has worn this year, the one as executive producer of a video production may be the most provocative.

The plot is simple—to tell the story of Georgia Tech's Industrial Extension Service and its undeniable impact on Georgia's burgeoning economy.

"The contributions we make to the state by helping traditional indus-

tries modernize have a far greater impact on employment and the economy than some of our more well-publicized high-tech ventures," Crecine says.

Confirms Bob Futch, owner of Eastern Laser Co. in Nashville, Ga., whose company has used Tech's Industrial Extension Division many times, "It has meant increased sales, improved cash flow, just overall better business."

Continued next page

ONLOC&IION Written by Susan F. Hawkins

Photographed by Margaret Barrett

\ 10

GEORGIA TECH • Winter '90

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Tech & Economic Development

11

EXCERPTS FROM

THE VIDEO SCRIPT (1) AL GANDY: Five years ago I could count our competitors in the number of 20. Today I can count them on one hand. So keeping up-to-date and keeping cost efficient and ahead in technology is . . . LIFE! Tech has filled a void that helps us to be more competitive . . . it's played a very positive part in our growth.

(Fade to Dr. Crecine walking through Chaparral Boats.)

CRECINE: One of the reasons Tech was established was to provide service to Georgia.

We provide this service in many ways. . . . Our Education Extension division keeps thousands of engineers and professionals up-to-date with today's evolving technology. Our instructional and research faculties combine to perform nearly $130 million of sponsored research annually, and the field offices of the our research institute cover Georgia like a blanket.

(Dissolve to Buck Pegg, Chaparral president.)

PEGG: This is a computerized router. We had heard about this machinery but didn't have the time or expertise to look into it.

We found out Georgia Tech had a service that would do it for us.

I couldn't believe the response from them. They figured all the advantages of the machinery and even arranged for us to meet with different people that make similar machinery. They showed us how we could pay for the equipment in one year.

CRECINE: How has the router improved your boats?

PEGG: It's cut down patterns and pattern replacement. The savings have been tremendousâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;about 12 percent on materials alone, and we use approximately $2 million worth of plywood a year. The router just gives us a better quality boat at less money. . . .

I J*

From a list of hundreds of examples, the video staff selectedfour companies 12

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Winter '90

Russ Moore, director of TechVideo and producer of the video, and his staff amassed information on dozens of companies from Tech's 12 regional Industrial Extension Service offices, narrowing a lengthy list down to five or six of the best, four of which made the video.

For film purposes, in addition to

success, location was a maj< >r criteria.

To say that the presence of a videotape crew in the middle of a bustling business operation is an intrusion may be the consummate understatement. Yet in even' instance, at every company, the crew was met with warm smiles and

unbridled cooperation.

One stop was in Nashville, home of Chaparral Boats, a nationallyfamous manufacturer of sports boats, from small runabouts to cabin cruisers that sleep eight to 10 people.

Buck Pegg, CEO of Chaparral Boats, was host to Crecine for a video tour of the enormous facility.

Continued next page GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Tech & Economic Development

13

EXCERPTS FROM

THE VIDEO SCRIPT (2) (Dissolve to Crecine walking in the woods.)

CRECINE: This is the story of how a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket took the honey bee's honey and made it into gold.

(Cut to Josh Griffis of Griffis Packing.)

GRIFFIS: I really didn't expect them to do as much work as they did . . . and whatever we needed, they came through for us.

CRECINE (studio narration): Josh Griffis came to Georgia Tech a few years ago looking for help to start up a mechanized honeypacking operation. Tech's Douglas, Ga., field office designed his 10,000-square-foot facility, saved him 80 percent on the used equipment he needed, and just basically started things buzzing.

Today Griffis Packing is the only manufacturing facility for 30 miles around Fargo, and it's the

From boats toyarns, the Tech video reported Georgia success stories 14

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Winter '90

only place in South Georgia for local honey producers to pack their honey.

GRIFFIS: If it wasn't for Georgia Tech, they'd have to be deliverin; their honey to south Florida. . . .

CRECINE: And Griffis is more than just a honey packerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;he's also a honey exporter, packing as many as 1,000 cases of honey every day for shipment to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Yemen.

GRIFFIS: We took the plans and stuff that Georgia Tech had designed and we diversified them to be able to use in the world market and make our products cheaper and more competitive.

I can really say it has doubled our sales in the market.

But video production was an education for both men.

Moore staged the shots. First, he directed Crecine to walk through the bay door of the plant, shake Pegg's hand and engage in conversation.

The first take was almost acceptable, and by the fourth take, the director knew he had a winner.

The camera followed the two men as they walked and talked their way through the plant to a routing machine that was purchased on Tech's recommendation, saving Chaparral Boats significant time and money. A few takes there, and it was on to Crecine's stand-up part where tire reporter appears on

camera to narrate script. After a few takes, a Coke break, and a few more takes, it was off for Glennville, home of Rotary Corp., a distributor of lawnmower parts.

The modus operandi at this locale was similar to the first. The crew taped the interaction between marketing director Donald Fountain Continued next page GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Tech & Economic Development

15

EXCERPTS FROM

THE VIDEO SCRIPT (3) (Zoom in to map dot identified as "Glennville. "Dissolve to Crecine in front of Rotary.)

CRECINE: Georgia Tech has helped Rotary, the world's largest supplier of small engine replacement parts, overhaul its plant layout for maximum efficiency and minimum turnaround time filling orders.

(Dissolve to interior, show plant shots, dissolve to Rotary President Don Fountain.)

FOUNTAIN: We have increased our turnaround time from 6 days to a couple of days. At the same time we have been able to reduce our labor force and have also reduced our overtime. So it has really paid off for us.

CRECINE: How big is Rotary?

FOUNTAIN: We serve about 20,000 customers in the U.S. and also about 60 other countries. Our sales this year will reach about $27 million.

It took hard work to film and report the story of Tech's handiwork 16

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Winter '90

and Crecine as they toured the vast facility to inspect Tech's handiwork.

Moore arranged to include some warehouse activity in Crecine's stand-up. The shot opened on two warehouse workers picking parts from the shelves and placing them in aibber bins which they pushed along the tops of the roller/conveyor

system. As they moved past an aisle in the racks, Crecine stepped out of the aisle to the conveyor and delivered his lines.

The pressure was really on this time. Several workers gawked, more for the purpose of ribbing their coworkers who were experiencing their few minutes of fame than to rattle

the nerves of Tech's president.

Four or five takes later, Moore ''wrapped." The crew packed up the equipment and headed for the van.

With his day in the sun (and the lights) at an end, Crecine talked about the video-making process.

"It's a lot of hard work to get the takes right and to make sure that Continued next page GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Tech & Economic Development

EXCERPTS FROM

THE VIDEO SCRIPT (4) (Camera closes in on dot identified as "Milledgeville." Dissolve to Crecine.)

After our study, Meadows replaced 13 old air conditioning units with 21 new air wash units.

CRECENE: Energy is the lifeblood of industry. Georgia Tech's engineers have found that most plants use too much energy—they might as well be throwing away their money.

HAMDLTON: We are looking at, overall, $50,000 savings.

(Plant shots of Meadows Division ofBarnet & Sons.)

CRECINE (studio narration): One of the simplest and most efficient services Tech offers to Georgia's industries is the energy audit.

MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR CHARLES HAMELTON: When the energy audit was done it pointed us in the right direction ... to make dollar-saving changes.

Really an eye opener.

(Transition. Fly into Atlanta, skyline aerials, fly over Tech campus ... dissolve to Dr. Crecine standing with Tech Tower in the background.)

CRECINE: Georgia Tech's buildings are in Atlanta, but our impact is felt all over Georgia . . . .

In every example you've seen, and in hundreds you haven't— Georgia Tech is making a difference . . . more than half a billion dollars worth of difference this year alone!

Georgia Tech is one of Georgia's best success stories!

CRECINE: Meadows Division makes yam for carpets. Its typical power bill to cool the plant in summer months was $90,000.

Production of the extension service video may lead to JUming other Tech successes 18

GEORGIA TECH • Winter '90

what you do on camera, and what we show on camera, is not superficial, and that it conveys in some depth this whole process of transferring technology from an academic and research setting to a practical setting."

Crecine doesn't begrudge the work or the effort. Tech's industrial

extension success is a message he believes is worth telling. And, in fact, more video productions may be in the works.

"Video has been the communications medium of the 70s and '80s," says Crecine, "and I see no sign that it is becoming less important for the '90s." â&#x20AC;˘ GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Tech & Economic Development

19

-

In this artist's rendition, a U.S. spacelaunch veliiclc travels toward a manned space- station.

U-d by Dick Truly, NASA's renewed exploration into the mysteries of space promises to keep the United St on the forefront of technological innovation.

-

NEWMUNTO II THE .

RONHER k

Interview by Gary Goettling Photographs of Richard Truly by Margaret Barrett icbard Truly, more than any other individual, is responsible for the , United States' return to space following the Jan. 28, 1986, Challenger disaster. Truly, AE '59, who was head of the Navy Space Command at the time of the tragedy, ivas called hack to NASA as associate administrator for space flight.

He led the recovery team and also headed up efforts to redesign the shuttle boosters and revamp safely procedures. This past April he was nominated to head NASA by President George Bush and confirmed in the position by the Senate.

MiTEp

SS*

"In the late '60s there were almost 40,000 people working within NASA. Today we have 23,000 Nevertheless, today's challenge and the opportunities for space flight are very exciting, even though they are different from Apollo."

A rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, Dick Truly has been associated with NASA for 20 years, when he first became an astronaut after serving many years as a fighter pilot and test pilot.

A native of Fayette, Miss., he was a member of the two-man crews conducting landing tests of the shuttle prototype Enterprise in 1977.

In 1981, Truly piloted Columbia on the second shuttle mission. Two years later he commanded Challenger on the first night liftoff and night landing of the spacecraft.

Truly has retained strong ties to Georgia Tech. He was grand marshal of the 1983 Ramblin' Wreck parade, and has also participated in ROTC commissioning exercises on campus.

On the occasion of his class's 30th anniversary reunion at Homecoming this past October, Truly once again served as grand marshal for the Ramblin' Wreck parade.

In an interview conducted during Homecoming weekend, Truly spoke about his new job and the direction he sees for the beleaguered space agency.

It has been 17 years since w e last went to the moon. Has NASA abandoned manned exploration of other planets?

No. As a matter of fact, it has gotten new life. This past July 20, on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon, President Bush announced a long-term goal for NASA. First, we would build a space station in the '90s, and then early in the 21st century go back to the moon and establish a science outpost that would-do high-powered astronomy.

Following that, we would move on to human •• , exploration of the planet Mars. We're hard at work looking for how to put together a program that would do such a magnificent mission, so we haven't turned away from manned exploration at all.

President Bush's speech did not excite the public in the way that President Kennedy did when he called for a moon landing by the end of the '60s. Why

22

GEORGIA TECH • Winter [90

doesn't a Mars landing seem to have the appeal of the Apollo program?

There will never be another program like Apollo; that was a different time. The comparison is made, and there are a lot of similarities, but there are also a lot of differences.

For centuries, for thousands of years, men on Earth had looked up at the moon and wondered what was up there. They regarded it with a sort of mystique. Nobody imagined that in the 1960s a president could say. "Let's go to the moon," and then eight or nine years later that it would be done.

Landing there and sending back live television pictures had quite an impact on people —it was new, a first. And it's always hard to recreate the same level of excitement you get with something new. So even though we have a lot of exciting missions now, I think that it is going to be hard to ever compare to that type of mission. Nevertheless, the challenge and the opportunities for space flight are very exciting, even though they might be different from Apollo.

Money is a lot tighter now.

Money is a lot tighter.

At one point we were spending over 4 percent of the federal budget dollar on Apollo.

Today we're running the entire space program on less than 1 percent. In the late '60s there were almost 40,000 people working within NASA. Today we have 23,000. A smaller workforce means we have had to become more efficient. Look at all the space shuttle missions we're scheduling: We have a flight that's airborne now, another one a month from now, another one a month from then—till lor less than 1 percent of the federal dollar.

NASA is working o n something called the national aerospace plane. Could you tell me a little about it?

The idea of a hypersonic airplane using an engine generally referred to as a ramjet has been around for a long, long time. A few years ago a program was started to build an experimental research aircraft called the X-30 or the national aerospace plane. It's a joint program between NASA and the Air Force. The concept is an airplane that would be capable of taking off on a runway and then accelerating to hypersonic speeds, and finally propelling itself into orbit. We have engine contractors and

airframe contractors working < >n some of the technology challenges of it, which are very largeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;materials that haven't been demonstrated yet and an engine that has not been flown. So it's quite a challenge, but the gain, once we succeed, will be tremendous.

It sounds like a revival of the American supersonic transport, which was scrubbed back in the early '70s. The European version, the Concorde, hasn't been a resounding success for a variety of reasons.

You shouldn't confuse this with a supersonic transport such as the Concorde or the SST. That's another story. The idea of the national aerospace plane is to reduce the cost and make it easier to get into space, not to transport passengers from airport to airport.

It just si > happens, however, that there is going to be a market for several hundred supersonic transports in the first decade of the 21st century. There will be a big effort to position the United States to be competitive in that market.

The aer< ispace plane has often been portrayed as essentially a super airliner that would be able to go from Washington to Tokyo in less than two hours. It has been referred to as the "Orient Express."

Frank I v. 1 think that talk has hurt the program because we're a long way from having an airplane that would be a true Orient Express. The technology, once it's developed and reliable, might serve that role, but that's going to be a long time after I'm no longer the NASA administrator. Our main purpose is to build a research aircraft that will take the first step toward what's called a "single stage to orbit" vehicle rather than the series of multistage rockets we use now.

Does the public take space travel for granted?

Prioi" to the Challenger accident, a lot of people mistakenly took the flights for granted.

That tragedy threw some reality into the pub-

lic's view of a risky business like this.

It is still very risky, even though we think we're managing that risk very well. Overall, my view is that the public is very supportive of both our aeronautics programs and our space programs. Usually they're ahead of Washington in sensing where the country ought to be headed in the future.

NASA took quite a beating in the press after Challenger.

That's true. However, a lot of the things that people read about NASA were just not so. If you recall, people were saying that NASA was a weak organization. In fact, the NASA that made the recovery and is now flying, is the same NASA we had then, except with different leadership and a little different focus and direction. The people are the same workers and engineers and scientists.

The year after Challenger was an anomaly. I know a lot about it because I came to NASA about two weeks after the accident in order to rebuild the program. I would also say, here it is only three years later and the public is still very much with us.

"The idea of the national aerospace plane is to reduce the cost and make it easier to get into space, not to transport passengers from airport to airport."

Will civilians fly in space again?

I think so. I don't think that now's the time because we have only launched six flights since the return to space, and we've got a lot of important missions to do. I want to keep our focus on making those accomplishments, but, yes, I see the time when we'll do it.

If I have anything to do with it, we'll do it at a little more reasonable pace and we'll make sure that even though they fly, we recognize the risk that everybody's taking. Nevertheless, I think it's worth doing. It's a good program.

Continued next page GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Interview: Truly

23

Is it important that y o u are t h e first astronaut to h e a d NASA? It has gotten a lot of press, but I don't think it's particularly important.

Astronauts are like everybody else. Some are very attuned to doing certain things—management, leadership, good engineering, good science—and some are not cut out to be managers or to nin NASA or other organizations.

"We've got a n international competition today i n s p a c e that n o o n e would have d r e a m e d of."

As a n astronaut, diougli, y o u h a v e instant credibility b e c a u s e y o u ' v e b e e n there, y o u ' v e actually d o n e it.

Well, that's true. I do have an advantage in that I've been in and out of NASA for a number of years. I have flown, and I understand the space shuttle inside and out, so that helps me. I understand what's required, I think, and I try to apply it well.

D o y o u t h i n k it's t h e d e s t i n y o f h u m a n k i n d to c o l o n i z e space?

Yes I do. It's a long way off, but for us to move beyond Earth's boundaries is as natural a thing to d o as it was for Columbus to set off on his voyage.

D o y o u believe i n UFOs? I believe there are unidentified flying objects. But do I believe they are alien space ships or things like that? No. With so many stars in such an unbelievably huge universe, it's quite reasonable to assume that somewhere there are planets in solar systems where life could develop, possibly in a very different form from ours. But I've never seen any evidence to make m e believe that extraterrestrial intelligent life has visited Earth.

What w o u l d y o u say t o a n e w aeronautics e n g i n e e r i n g graduate?

When I was an AE graduating in 1959, going into-Navy flight school, I remember thinking that the airplanes that were in the fleet back then—the Phantom and the Crusader—were just the most modern airplanes that could b e built. But a much wiser person than I, w h o was an admiral at the time, said that during our careers in the Navy w e would see airplanes that w e couldn't imagine.

Sure enough, 30 years later, w e are flying fly-by-wire lightweight fighters and huge airplanes and space shuttles.

24

GEORGIA TECH • Winter 90

I think the business is still like that, so if I were talking to AE graduates today. I would encourage them to look forward to a terrific career in an industry that's going to change during their career in ways that we can't imagine.

As capable as the shuttle is today, we're going to see spaceships that are far more capable in the next generation. This new group of AEs will not only get to see them, but be a part of the design, building and flying of them.

Y o u r o w n p r o f e s s i o n a l e x p e r i e n c e is a g o o d e x a m p l e o f t h o s e k i n d s o f rapid changes.

It has really been amazing to see the difference in aerodynamics and, of course, in space flight.

Sputnik flew w h e n I was a junior at Georgia Tech. Alan Shepard and Yuri Gargarin had not flown when I graduated. Today, we've got a hundred people in the astronaut office. We've flown thousands and thousands of hours.

We've been to the moon. We've flown the space shuttle. We've got an international competition today in space that n o one wc iuld have dreamed of in those days, certainly not me.

Plus a competitive n e w market o p e n i n g u p o n t h e private side.

That's right. An important part of what we're trying to d o is to take some of the things that have been government operations, and turn them over to the private sector—expendible launch vehicles, for example. Probably a better example is communications satellites, which really are a commercial endeavor now.

Project Mercury turned a lot of kids o n to s p a c e flight. D o y o u t h i n k that NASA c a n h e l p inspire a n e w generation?

I have a tremendous interest in education, particularly math, science and engineering. I think NASA has a special responsibility in education for the simple reason that our programs, airplanes, space ships and astronauts can get to kids in a way that few other things can—except maybe dinosaurs!

Airplanes and space flight will gel to kids, and I think there is a way to use that l< > improve the quality of education. We can make a real difference in this country, and I h o p e to be a part of that.

•

the gravity o_ Venus, space Galileo l>egins il six-year v

>i

\

,*s*'

VJ

wmi

i . l i >K(.I \

I

By John Toon " hen NASA launched the Galileo ' spacecraft in October, casual fobservers might have wondered if this Jupiter probe would become the celestial counterpart of "Wrong Way Corrigan," the 1930s aviator who flew to Ireland after announcing plans for a California Propelled by destination. a "trick of celestial naviInstead of heading directly toward Jupiter, gation," Galileo Galileo left the space shuttle Atlantis on a will present course toward Venus, propelled by a small •the Earth's best solid-fueled rocket. It will make some observaviews of the., tions of that cloud-enshrouded planet before see the solar system's "looping.around it for a trip back toward Earth.

Earth as largest planet After passing Earth,- the .circuitous journey will they have seen —but scientists bring it around an asteroid in an ever-widening- • • other, .planets—from the must wait until orbit before a second and final pass within 300 vantage point of a craft" ap-"" 1995 to enjoy miles of its home planet. proaching from deep space. Galileo will map the scenery.

Each pass will help Galileo build up speed, the global distribution of "greenhouse" gases, enough to finally fly off toward its encounter study the Earth's magnetic field, and gain more with Jupiter in late 1995. information on our own moon. Galileo will The spacecraft will make the most extensive also make the first close approaches t< > two use ever of what NASA calls a "trick of celestial asteroids, Gaspra and Ida. mechanics," a clever scheme devised to build up kinetic energy from the gravitational pull of O u t despite these important stops. Jupiter planets. Without that, Galileo could not gain will still be Galileo's main course. enough energy to reach Jupiter—a long "Galileo is an interesting mission because it struggle against the Sun's gravitational pull. will be the first time that we will be launching "It's basically a game of billiards where they a probe into the atmosphere of an outer are using the gravitational pull and then deplanet," says Steffes, who helped design radio flecting off of one planet to speed Galileo up," links between the Galileo orbiter and the explains Dr. Paul Steffes, associate professor in probe that will enter the Jupiter atmosphere.

Tech's School of Electrical Engineering.

Man has previously probed Earth's two NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory had originearest neighbors—Mars and Venus—but has nally planned to launch Galileo from the space only flown past Jupiter, the solar system's shuttle with a large liquid-fueled Centaur largest planet, 450 million miles from Earth. rocket. Post-Challenger safety concerns ruled Galileo will orbit Jupiter for at least two out putting a liquid-fueled rocket aboard the years, giving scientists the first long-term look Shuttle, however, sending NASA engineers at an outer planet, providing perhaps the best back to the drawing boards and prompting the new information about Jupiter since its moons ingenious technique. were discovered by astronomer Galileo Galilei Though covering 3.86 billion kilometers and four centuries ago. Using gravity assists to alter its orbit, the vehicle will also study Jupiter's requiring six years—twice as much time as its moons, including the mysterious volcanic lo. original trajectory—the circuitous route will pay extra scientific dividends in the form of Scientists believe Jupiter is a dense ball of new information about Venus, the asteroids, gases, mostly hydrogen and helium, with some and even our own Earth. ammonia. That gaseous composition, they While passing Venus, Galileo will look for believe, has remained largely unchanged since flashes of light in the clouds and certain electhe formation of the universe. And because of tromagnetic energy which would be evidence its 16 moons, Jupiter resembles a miniature of lightning discharges. version of our solar system.

For the first time, scientists will be able to A close study of Jupiter should therefore give 26

GEORGIA TECH • Winter '90

a: • v i m : \

Earth scientists more clues to the origins of the universe, a better understanding of how the Solar System behaves—and more explanations for what has been seen.

"We saw Jupiter's clouds from Voyager as it flew by. and they were very colorful and turbulent." notes Steffes. "We really don't know what the clouds are made of, at what altitudes they exist, and how dense they are. The only way to really measure these Jupiter clouds is to be .physically there'.'"

To survey the atmosphere, Galileo will drop an instrument probe into the Jupiter atmosphere. In addition to its radio link with the main spacecraft orbiting the planet, the probe will carry temperature and pressure instruments, a mass spectrometer to determine the chemical composition of the atmosphere, a detector to sense the abundance of helium, a radiometer to study the thermal and solar energy present, a lightning and energetic particle detector, and a nephelometer to tell scientists more about the clouds.

Dr. Gerald Grams, a professor with joint appointments in the Georgia Tech Research Institute and the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, helped develop Galileo's nephelometer more than a decade ago.

It consists of a chamber containing a laser diode, ak >ng with five light-detection sensors.

Material from the atmosphere will be drawn into the chamber for analysis as the probe plunges through the atmosphere.

"The idea is to try to document the location of clouds and haze layers in the Jupiter atmosphere," Grains explains. "As it passes through clouds, aerosols or dust layers, the light from the laser will be scattered and picked up at different angles. The amount of light reflected is dependent upon the composition and shape of the particles."

The larger the particles, the more light will pass through the chamber. Smaller particles will scatter light more equally in more directions.

The nephelometer will also help scientists

understand readings from other instruments by telling them when the probe is passing through clouds or haze layers. Grams hopes to be involved with analysis of the data obtained by the nephelometer, whose principal investigator is Dr. Boris Ragent of NASA's Ames Research Center.

I h e much larger orbiter will carry a charge-coupled detector (CCD) camera to conduct detailed mapping of the planet and its moons, providing a level, of.detail" a"' thousand times better than Voyager offered in its brief 1979 encounter. It will also carry equipment to study the planet's magnetic field, measure invisible infrared and ultraviolet radiation, detect ions in its radiation belt, and study particles that may form the ringlets around Jupiter.

But for Steffes, a radio scientist, other experiments are of the most interest. NASA will study radio signals beamed to Earth from the orbiter, and signals sent to the orbiter from the probe during its 60-minute plunge into Jupiter.

"The deeper the probe gets into the atmosphere, the more the signal will be attenuated by various atmospheric constituents," he says.

"If we monitor the signal level as the probe penetrates the atmosphere, we can find out how mamy of these constituents are there."

Over several years, Steffes has created simulated planetary atmospheres in special chambers at Georgia Tech. By passing radio signals through these simulated atmospheres, he has learned how much signal absorption should be produced by the concentration of the gases in the Jovian atmosphere.

Scientists will also use radio techniques to monitor the speed of winds coursing in Jupiter's atmosphere. By measuring the Doppler shift—changes in frequency caused by the movement of the air—they will estimate wind speed. That measurement will be particularly tricky because both the probe and the orbiter will themselves be moving.

Finally, scientists will be able to study the atmospheric attenuation of the orbiter's radio

•• JOE SCHWARTZ PHOTO

By passing radio signals through simulated atmospheres, Tech's Paul Steffes has learned how much signal absorption should be produced by the gases in Jupiter's atmosphere

Continued next page GEORGIA TECH • Journey to Jupiter 2 7

Riding its booster rocket into space, the Galileo spacecraft enters a trajectory toward Venus.

Sweeping by Venus, Galileo will return to Earth for two energy-gaining, gravityassisted passes, gathering enough velocity to reach Jupiter. There it will transmit information o n the planet— thanks partly to atmospheric studies done

by Tech's Paul Steffes.

signals as they pass through the Jupiter atmosphere on their way home. This will provide additional information about atmospheric . constituents.

From his simulated atmospheric chambers, Steffes provided NASA with estimates on the absorption of radio signals in the Jovian atmosphere. That data was used to calculate how long the probe dispatched from Galileo will be able to send information to the orbiting spacecraft.

Since Jupiter does not have a surface, scientists denote location on the planet by the atmospheric pressure at each level. One bar corresponds to the pressure on the surface of Earth.

Steffes expects signals from the probe to be received for at least one hour, or until it passes into a region so dense that its pressure is 10 to 20 bars—10 to 20 times that of the Earth. At some point, the pressure will become so great that the probe will be crushed.

Because only one probe can be sent into Jupiter, its findings may not be representative of the entire planet.

"Like our own Earth, there are a lot of variations from location to location in the atmosphere over Jupiter," he explained. "It would be like asking what the weather is like on Earth and dropping a probe onto Atlanta and assuming the whole Earth is like Atlanta. We will get a very accurate measurement, but only over a very small area."

X he Galileo mission was conceived to follow up the successful Pioneer probes. Grams began his work more than 12 years ago, and his part of the effort has been completed for at least five years.

With such a long time between the initial concept and the final payoff in 1995, many of the original scientists will not be able to see the results of their work.

"We are expecting great results from it," concludes Steffes. "It will be exciting for me and the students here, but sad that a great many people involved in it will be retired by the time it actually encounters Jupiter."

That will be much too late for Galileo Galilei, the first modem scientist, who died in 1642, a prisoner in his own home for the heresy of believing that the Earth revolves around the Sun. • John Toon is assistant director, Georgia Tech Research Communications Office. -

28

GEORGIA TECH • Winter VO

GEORGIA TECH • Journey to Jupiter 2 9

AN ERECTOR

SET^SPACE Written by Jeanie Franco Hallem Tech photographs by Gary Meek

Two Tech professors' PEEK promises new potential for construction in space.

I

f NASA has its way, a space shuttle will lift off in 1995 with the first of 30 payloads of space station components.

Freedom, as the gigantic structure has been dubbed, will be the next important step in NASA's long-tenn goal of human exploration of the solar system.

While a permanent, manned U.S. space station has been on drawing boards and CAD terminals for more than 20 years, getting it into orbit has proven to be an incredible challenge.

Almost everything needed to build a habitable environment in space has had to be invented, including the structure itself.

Having heard about NASA's need for more effective space-age materials, Jonathan Colton, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and John D. Muzzy, professor of chemical engineering, were challenged to devise a NASA PHOTO/RIGHT: MARGARET BARRETT PHOTO

material to be used in a truss network that would be pliable during transport, yet rigid when assembled in space. It required llexibility, strength and tolerance to heat and cold; it also had to be compact.

With the help of their graduate students, the researchers have blueprinted the chemical makeup and design, as well as a production process, of a material that may portend the future of constmction in space.

Their invention is a tubular structure composed of carbon fibers with a woven < >r braided polymer resin called polyetheretherketone (PEEK). Think of an erector set, suggests Colton.

Prefabricated on Earth and brought into orbit, the structure has three primary elements: the flexible carbon fiber tube; an inner vacuum bag bladder; and an outer bag to help shape the part in space and protect it from s< Jar radiation.

Two elements help form the flexible tubing into the finished product: gas and solar energy.

Gas supplies the pressure needed to consolidate the material. Solar energy, obtained

To accommodate the difficulties of transporting building materials into space and working with weighty materials to construct space stations like the one proposed

by Rockwell Corporation (left}, Tech professors Jonathan Colton and John Muzzy (right) have blueprinted a material that may become the building blocks of space.

30

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Winter '90

HBB.

1

BBBV

^^^^^^^^^*aaal

aaaai

*i t-mw

la *af W I •-

f SH

This shouldn't be the way you turn on your copier.

AND you shouldn't need a Masters of Engineering from Georgia Institute of ^ Technology to keep it in proper running order.

But these days, if you don't know how to rewire your Coronas or replace your exposure

CALL SERUICE lamp, chances are your copier's down again. Now rather than accept copier breakdowns as inevitable, you have a choice. You can pick up the phone and call your service technician for the umpteenth time.

Or call your local Acme rep resentative for the very first time.

Before we show you the technology behind Ricoh's latest copiers, we'll inform you of the facts that stand in front

of them.

Like the fact that Ricoh is one of the largest manufacturers of copiers and facsimile in the world. And the fact that Ricoh engineers work to make certain that when you're on a deadline, your equipment's not on downtime.

Finally, we'll discuss a little something called commitment from Acme, a company with one of the most extensive service networks we hope you never use.

So, if you're having trouble keeping your spirits up every time your copier's down, DO WHAT THE GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION DID. Call Acme and ask about Ricoh. (Or call Tech's Admissions office, and ask for a student loan.)

With Ricoh products, Acme's 18 years experience and 18 offices throughout the Southeast, ACME IS YOUR SAFE CHOICE IN COPIERS AND FACSIMILE!

Presented by

Acme Business Products An ALCO Office Products Company

n

OFFICIAL SPONSOR ALUMNI MAGAZINE

For a free demonstration contact the Acme office nearest you.

Albany, GA 912/432-2344; Athens, GA 404/353-0368; Atlanta, GA 404/246-5500; Augusta, GA 404/863-2263: Brunswick, GA 912/264-6675; Columbus, GA 404/327-5114; Dothan, AL 205/793-0005; Ft. Walton, FL 904/664-2707; Gainesville, GA 404/531-0593; Griffin, GA 404/227-5566; Gulfport/Biloxi, MS 601/865-0406: Hilton Head, SC 803/686-2050; Macon, GA 912/788-7416; Mobile, AL 205/342-9458; Montgomery, AL 205/271-1413; Pascagoula, MS 601/762-3061; Pensacola, FL 904/474-0226; Rome, GA 404/295-7247; Savannah, GA 912/232-6576; Waycross, GA 912/283-2767.

through mirrors reflecting the sun's rays, melts the thermoplastic resin, which fills spaces between each fiber. The natural vacuum of space would draw off the gasses. A solid tubeshaped stmt is the result.

In the laboratory, the polymer is applied to each individual fiber. "It solidifies," says Muzzy, "so it will stay flexible during transport." In space it's melted and re-solidified. The fabrics are made to stick to one another to become one mass. "When heated, the PEEK becomes a continuous material."

Colton cc >mpares the PEEK, or polymer coating, to something familiar. "It's like spilling glue on your shirt," he says.

1 hough Colton and Muzzy had conceived the idea and were certain it would work in space, they needed to further develop and test the materials, and work out production details.

"It's a complex system design," says Colton.

"We knew what the weight of these materials would be; we just needed to figure the numbers out.

"It's really a new kind of dieless forming that uses air pressure to replace the die," Colton says. "We could fonn almost any size or shape of structure by weaving it properly, providing the appropriate constraints around the outside, and inflating it for consolidation."

Project requirements included a solar oven in which to bake the material; a vacuum, like that of space; and a small amount of pressure.

Transported materials such as gas have to be used sparingly because, Muzzy says, "whatever you need in space you must take with you."

The questions were: How much? And how long? The answers came from the classroom.

"Dr. Colton had a graduate design course and I suggested that it might be a good project," recalls Muzzy.

While the primary challenge was essentially

To build elaborate structures in space—as this artist's rendition of a space colony of the next century— Colton and Muzzy created lightweight, flexible materials.

Continued next page GEORGIA TECH • Space Station 3 3

The fibers, barely larger than threads, are round when they leave the Earth.

After being treated with the polymer, they become flattened like a ribbon, a great advantage in transport.

34

to discover how to blow up the tubes, the wrinkle was in determining the amount and duration of pressure and heat that would be needed to end up with a usable product.

Colton's graduate students were divided into three project teams: materials, formation and equipment.

To simulate a solar oven, the chemical engineering students used a "hot press."

According to Muzzy, "It's like a laminating press. You can heat it to the right temperature and create a vacuum inside the press."

A f t e r many tests, the mechanical engineering students found that changing the shape of this flexible material in space requires speedy baking at high heatâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;720 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes at 100 psi, to be exact.

Once the correct temperature is reached, the oven is turned off. "To shut off the sun, you simply block the mirrors," instructs Colton.

The tubular structure quickly hardens in the cold of space, where heat dissipates at 35 degrees per minute. At that point, the rigid construction members are ready to be assembled.

According to Muzzy, the fibers are round when they leave the Earth. After being treated with the polymer, they become flattened like a

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Winter 89

ribbon. "We blow high-pressured air onto the fibers to spread them out," explains Muzzy, "then we apply powder and fluidize it by bubbling air through it. If enough air goes through the bed of powder, it acts like boiling water."

The air is electrostatically charged and the fibers are grounded, so the powder bed becomes charged, then jumps onto the fibers.

"The air brings the powder with it," Muzzy says. "After this process, we nin the material into the oven, without touching it, to melt it.

Then the processed substance is coiled and wound onto a bobbin."

Colton gingerly handles a heavy sheet of black, metallic-looking material with a matte finish. "It's got sharp edges," he warns. A closer look reveals a woven pattern barely visible on the apparent flat surface. "Eight layers of carbon fibers," he explains. "You start with a plastic fiber or polymer. Then y< >u oxidize and graphitize and carbonize it."

JLn effect, the process changes the nature of the material. "You burn it, put it under pressure, then coat it with a plastic." he says, hitting one sheet with another, "and make it into this material."

"This composite has no disadvantages."

And if you'll do your part, we'll help others remember you, too.

The 1990 Georgia Tech Alumni Directory goes into production soon. As the most up-to-date list of all living alumni, it will be an invaluable resource.

Only the number of directories ordered will be printed, so send your request for either a %

hardbound or softbound right awayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and relive those Ramblin' Wreck memories with old friends.

Theim

Georgia Tech Ahimm Directory Drawing together good friends and goad

menutriesnS

J

And Now The Award For "Not Just Thinking About The Future, But Creating It..."

It all began with a vision.

With an idea of what the future held.

And apian to turn that dream into reality... the reality of Technology Park/Atlanta. Of Johns Creek. Of Lenox Park.

You're looking at perhaps the only thing

our Master Plan didn't include: Winning the very first Governor's Award for Excellence in Real Estate in 1989.

Our family of high-tech corporate tenants have always shared our vision. We hope they share our pride in accepting this award.

The Governor's Award Corporate Facility Excellence

1 o 8 >»

rECHNOLOGY PARK Sr/tcttom Cemmtititt tt/mmtm at mm auistaHeliHg

ATLANTA »YfOf«f« uitA (At Catpoeait Tact/tig

hioht titlie

Some People Just Think About the Future. We Create It.

TECHNOLOGY PARK /tTWNTAINC TECHNOLOGY PARK /ATLANTA • JOHNS CREEK • LENOX PARK

40 Technology Park/Atlanta

Suite 300

Norcross, GA 30092 404-246-6000

ISASA PHOTO

asserts Colton. The main idea was to make the parts on Earth and ship them out. PEEK has a long shelf life and can be reshaped under low pressure.

The composite is strong and "dimensionally stable," Colton adds. "It won't warp at different temperatures and is easy to manufacture, compared to other high-performance fibers."

Because the tubular structures are collapsible, they can save u p to 70 percent of space during transport—a b o o n to 4.5-meter cargo bays.

A n o t h e r advantage is PEEK'S ability to be repaired. NASA-developed truss networks are carbon and epoxy-based. This method uses a thermoset process, in which heat sets the polymer. "Our material softens and is more flexible with heat," Muzzy says. If an epoxy breaks, you must glue it back together or patch it like a tire. The Tech-developed material, however, can b e easily bent and repaired. In fact, its own adhesive holds it together.

"It's soil of self-healing," notes Muzzy. This innovative process, k n o w n as thermoplastic, applies the resin by melting it on, while existing techniques employ "thermoset," in which a resin is glued on.

Colton. Muzzy and their team developed two methods for storing the high-tech components. O n e is to wind the material onto a spool-like thread, which can be cut to desired lengths. The material can also b e collapsed and stacked, p< >pping u p one at a time like tissue from a box.

A c c o r d i n g to Muzzy, their innovation is the third generation of preforms used for space structures. The first was aluminum tubes; the second, carbon and epoxy. The third, he predicts, will Ire of carbon and PEEK composites.

"Technologically, w e can produce them, but not in our lifetime," Colton says. "There's not enough money."

Muzzy believes it may b e possible one day, however. "NASA has such a long lead time, I seriously doubt our concepts will make it into the initial start-up. They'll keep adding to the design into the next century as they become more concerned with shipping and making payloads more compact.

"But first we'd have to demonstrate how it's fabricated (>n Earth and take it to the stage that the materials can be made." • GEORGIA TECH • Space Station 3 7

N

'obody's happier that Vince Tidwell has a chic, red Mazda Miata in his garage than Tidwell's former college roommate, Norman Garrett III. It is the two-seat convertible sports car they dreamed about as Tech students. And Garrett, as layout engineer for the Miata, had a hand in seeing that the highly-touted sports car was specifically made for Vince.

What Garrett didn't anticipate is the breadth of rave reviews the Miata has received in automotive magazines, or how it has caught the fancy of the American public. But it was his ambition to build a roadster with "fire in its soul."

"Vince was the target customer in my mind," Garrett explains. "My job for six years was to get that car in his garage. He was my checklist. Every time we would be in a meeting and someone would say, 'Does a person need a hardtop?' I'd say, 'Yeah, Vince needs a hardtop.' He waf a clear personification of the target customer. The ghost of Vince was at a lot of meetings."

Garrett couldn't have picked a tougher customer. Tidwell is an engineer who knows the ins and outs of sports cars, having owned Triumphs, MGs and Porsches. It was i their mutual passion for Europeanstyled-and-engineered sports cars 38

Continued page 42 GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Winter '90

TmWEli/GARRETT PHOTOS

GEORGIA TECH • New Concept in Car

39

he Rilz-Carllon, Atlanta is offering a special rate for Yellow Jacketfans. Just $79 per room per night on weekends, subject to availability. Join us at Peachtree and Ellis Streets for the city's finest accommodations. Luxurious rooms. Gourmet dining. An elegant bar. Impeccable service. And an obsession for detail that shows in everything here. Rom fine art tofiesh cut flowers throughout the THE RITZ-CARLTON hotel. For reservations, call 404-659-0400 or 800-241-3333. Our doors are wide open for you.

ATLANTA MEWBER l ^ n W r o f f e l T E L S *

Putting People Firet Makes First Atianta Second lb None.

FIRSTATLANTA Second to None

Š 11*86 The First National Bank of Atlanta Member FD.I.C.

OFFICIAL SPONSK.JR ALUMNI MAGAZINE

Norman Garrett (left), Vince Tidwell and Friend at Tech's Hon that bonded their friendship at Tech.

During their student days, Garrett owned a Porsche and Tidwell a TR7.

Both were members of the Georgia Tech Sports Car Club and both helped build a hydrogen car in 197980 in the national Student Competition on Relevant Engineering.

Tidwell, who graduated in mechanical engineering in 1980, joined McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. He returned to Atlanta, earned an MBA from Georgia State, and is a senior project engineer with Selmix/Alco.

Garrett graduated in mechanical engineering in 1981 and went to work for Subaru. There he unsuccessfully tried to convince Subaru's management to build a sports car.

"I had an MGA at the time and kept it at Subaru. Every time I would see an executive, I'd say, 'You fchow, we ought to build one of these.' I t'A

actually went so far as to sketch out a layout using the Subaru engine because it's a flat four-cylinder—very easy to adapt to a nice, low, sports car. But it didn't get past the watercooler conversation stage there."

At Mazda, Bob Hall, a former automotive journalist who was product planner, had better success.

42

GKORGIA TECH • Winter '90

Garrett observes, "Lie's the guy that said, 'In 1979 MG sold 45,000 cars. In 1981 they sold zero. The market didn't go away, the car did.'" Mazda decided to let Hall unofficially explore the concept of building a British-style sports car. Garrett was hired on Aug. 1, 1983, as layout engineer.

"At that time, they had done some sketches and they had done one preliminary clay model based on a very crude package of the old GLC rear-wheel-drive stationwagon," Garrett recalls.

"It was a very off-line project. The difference between on-line and offline projects with Mazda is that offline means unofficial, not funded, but if you've got some time, you can go look at it. And that is really where some of the great ideas came from.

"The Miata was a real opportunity for me because I had been a motorhead since the day I could read," Garrett adds. "I had always wanted to do a sports car. At the time I joined Mazda, I had owned about 30 cars, of which probably 20 had been English sports cars. Set when somebody said, 'Do a sports car,' it was a natural thing for me to say, 'That's

fire in its soul. the one thing I know how to do.'"

In addition to Garrett ami Hall, the only other American inv< )lved with the Miata project at that stage was designer Mark Jordan, who is also a sports car enthusiast.

"I feel that Bob, Mark anil I knew more about how to design s< >mething like the Miata than any other group," Garrett says. "Singularly, there were a lot of people who knew how to do that, but none of them worked together for a company that could build the thing." arrett spent about 10 percent of his time in Japan working with Mazda engineers.

In all, some 75 key engineers and personnel, predominantly Japanese, were involved in the Miata project.

"We had a sense of—I ley. this is a unique opportunity.' For me as an engineer, I knew I would have had to be 50 years old and have been at GM the whole time to have had that kind of influence on a car— to have the chief hard-design guys sitting across the table and listening to you Continued page 45

l-i

A• When it's a contribution to Charitable Life!

Georgia Tech Charitable Life, Inc. ensures a lot of Tech's future for just a little money. Through the Charitable Life program, you can arrange for Tech to be the beneficiary of a $50,000 life insurance policy for premiums as low as $2.81 per day or less, depending on your age.

You can use this cost-effective method to support the Georgia Tech Foundation, Inc. and/or the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, Inc. Your gift helps guarantee a generous endowment for Georgia Tech.

Tuition at Georgia Tech turned out to be one of your best investments; now, make a good investment in the future of Georgia Tech through the Charitable Life program.

Yes!

I would like to learn more about Georgia Tech Charitable Life.

• Alumnus or friend • Insurance agent

Name.

Major.

Address.

Phone L Return this card to: William T.Lee Executive Director Georgia Tech Charitable Life, Inc. Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0220 or call (404) 894-4678

Year.

Jeff Lime never turns down a challenge.

magine walking into a management opportunity straight out of school. That's what h a p p e n e d to Jeff Time when he entered GE's Chemical & Materials Leadership Program.

GE needed a replacement for an experienced engineering managerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;someone to set u p the new waste treatment system for a major manufacturing plant. Jeff was asked to step in and he did, right into a leadership role.

Jeff helped GE plant managers and environmentalists join forces with the EPA to ensure a clean operation. It challenged not just his technological skills, but also his ability to communicate and take charge.

That may seem like an awful lot of responsibility for a j o b right out of college. But that's the GE way. We hire exceptional people.

T h e n we give them the chance to show just how exceptional thev are.

If you're looking for a challenge to live u p to, start looking at GE.

An equal opportunity employer.

Garrent urged hisJapanese co-workers to "get a commonjire in our gut and a common lovefor this concept." and taking notes on what you think a sports car ought to be. Of course, the Japanese are very good at that— not that my ideas were unique, but they listened to everyone and picked what they felt were the best ideas."

Garrett has a philosophy about what makes a great car.

"I made a speech to a bunch of Japanese gentlemen—the basic development teams working on the Miata. It was a philosophical statement about how the great cars of the past—Porsche, Lotus, Ferrari, Lamborghini—were designed by one man with a dominating personality and one dream of what the car should be like. It was not done by committee. Our biggest complaint at the Mazda think tank was that all Japanese cars are done by committees and computers— and they look like it, act like it, and feel like it.

That's why they don't have the kind of loyally that an MG might have.

"My statement was that we, as a team of people, have to think like one person, and somehow we have to figure out how to get a common fire in our gut and common love for this concept and build this car true to that love. I think those embers really caught fire in Japan. And those guys as engineers really got behind it. That is why the car is not really a typical Japanese car—because it has so much fire in its soul."

The first Miata was unveiled for inspection last February and the reviews have been full of praise.

Motor Trci id magazine called it "the best sports car buy in America."

Road & I rack rated it as one of the five best cars in the world. Car and Driver caWed Miata "delightful" and a resurrection of "those barnstorming sports car times in one spectacular, up-to-date package."

The car also won acclaim in Time, and in other automotive magazines

including Autoweek, Sports Car International, Automotive Industries and Automobile Magazine.

Tidwell is so pleased with the Miata that he not only owns one, but he stepped down as an executive with the BMW Car Club of America to become president of the Miata Club erf America. The club, endorsed

by Mazda, was founded by Garrett who also publishes a club magazine.

T

idwell was not unaware that his former roommate was working on the Miata.

Garrett contacted him and they maintained regular correspondence, exchanging micro-cassette tapes discussing the characteristics of an ideal sports car.

"The Miata is the most exciting sports car to appear on the scene in more than a decade," Tidwell says.

"It's a car that comes from the heart."

The goal of Mazda was to build the Miata as an "affordable sports car." The sticker price is approximately $14,000, but because demand is outstripping production, some dealers are selling the cars several thousand dollars above sticker price.

Despite the Miata's reasonable price, Garrett says, "The beauty of it is that the car, in its execution, is not a cheap car. The thing that is most satisfying to me is that it has really good engineering.

"If you blindfolded me and read the specs off to me—other than the cylinders—I would have thought you were describing a Ferrari Daytona, which is one of the greatest sports cars ever made," Garrett says. "The Miata's basic layout and structure are very similar. The level of technology in the Miata is equal to that or greater than the original Porsche 911It's an extremely sophisticated car."

A native of Greensboro, N.C., Garrett lived in Irvine, Calif., while working on the Miata. But after the birth of the first of their two children two years ago, Garrett and his wife returned to Greensboro, where he is senior product planning analyst for Volvo-GM Heavy Tmck Corp. As the publisher of Miata club magazine, he remains, close to the project.

"We kind of had a feeling of destiny when we were doing the Miata," Garrett says. "We didn't think it would sell like this, but we knew it would be popular. We knew we'd love it. We really built it as a car we selfishly wanted for ourselves." •

T H E FERE INSIDE: Miata

Data

Engine—Front-mounted 1597-cc twin-overhead-cam-shaft inline-4 with electronic fuel injection; compression ratio 9.4:1, horsepower 116 bhp at 6500 rpm, torque 100 lb-ft at 5500 rpm. Transmission—5-speed manual gearbox, fully synchronized, mounted behind engine and driving rear wheels; final drive ratio 4.30:1. Suspension—Front, independent with A-anns, coil springs, tube shocks, anti-roll bar; rear, independent with A-arms, coil springs, tube shocks, anti-roll bar.

Brakes—9.3-inch ventilated disc front, 9.1-inch disc rear. Weight— 2,182 pounds. Performance—acceleration, 0-60 mph in 8.6 seconds, quarter-mile in 16.6 seconds, reaching 85 mph; maximum speed 117 mph; estimated fuel consumption (EPA estimates) 25/35 mpg.

GEORGIA TECH • New Concept in Car

45

Yellow Jackets get special savings at the Wyndham Midtown Atlanta. For just $55 on weekends and $72 weekdays* you can relive those college days.

Only blocks from campus, we offer luxuriously appointed guest rooms and superb service. Popular dining and entertainment. And the state-ofthe-art Midtown Athletic Club. Call now for reservations at (404) 873-4800 or 800 822-4200.

As Ramblin' Wrecks from Georgia Tech you get a helluva Wyndham deal! *Rates are per room, per night, based on availability.

WYNDHAM MIDTOWN ATLANTA A TRAMMELL CROW HOTEL Official sponsor of The Georgia Tech Alumni Association.

Peachtree & 10th Streets, N. E., Atlanta, GA 30309 (404) 873-4800 U.S. 800 822^200 CANADA 800 63h4200

n â&#x20AC;˘

T C C H B

OFFICIAL SPONSOH ALUMNI MAGAZINE

RESEARCH Training Computers to Learn from Experience umans often solve new problems by remembering how they handled similar situations in the past. Georgia Tech computer scientists are teaching computers to mimic this process through a technique called casebased reasoning.

The cc >mputers can work with incomplete information, find workable—the >ugh not always optimal— answers, then adapt those solutions to changing conditions.

And they learn from each new situation, becoming more skilled with each problem they tackle and each mistake they make.

Scientists working on the project believe case-based reasoning may be an improvement over traditional artificial intelligence techniques.

Typical computer expert systems rely on a set of rules distilled from interviews with human experts. An

H

expert system for organizing factory operations, for example, uses rules provided by skilled operators who often lean heavily on their recollections of specific cases.

Instead of developing rules, the case-based approach stores infor mation about a large number of cases directly into the computer memory. With enough cases available, the computer can match almost any new problem to a similar case it has already "seen."

Because conditions change and new infonnation may be found during the search, the computer is flexible enough to re-direct its approach without starting over.

Working interactively with the operator, the computer can request additional

infonnation and suggest solutions until it finds one satisfactory to the human operator.

Continued next page

Volcanoes on Venus?

• ew measurements taken by radio telescope appear to show a dramatic 10-year decline in the amount of sulfur JL ^ dioxide in the atmosphere ol the planet Venus. The measurements, corroborating other data, could indicate volcanic activity on the cloud-shrouded planet, say Tech scientists.

Stiller dioxide absorbs certain frequencies of microwave energy at known rates, allowing the Tech researchers to calculate from the radio measurements the amount of the chemical present in the Venus atmosphere. The decrease in the amount of the compound in the atmosphere suggests that substantial volcanic activity occurred shortly before 1978.

The Magellan spacecraft now on its way to Venus may provide confirmation of volcanic activity with its surface-mapping radar.

The readar should be able to detect new surface features such as lava flows, telling scientists for sure if volcanic activity exists on the planet

In theory, a computer, like a human, should learn from experience. In practice, however, it is not always possible to predict what experience will teach.

GEORGIA TECH • Research

47

RESEARCH From Page 47

Shhhh! The Fish Are listening cientists at Georgia Tech are working to uncover the mystery of how fish hear with the hope of developing better underwater detection devices.

Currently, submarines "hear" with sonar, the signals from which also reveal the sending ship's location.

Tech scientists believe that fish use a different manner of sound detection which might be adapted for submarines, allowing them to scan the ocean undetected.

In a project sponsored by the U.S. Navy, Tech scientists have measured sound-induced vibrations produced

S

by various portions of " • „ goldfish. To study physical responses to sound without dissecting the fish, the scientists have developed a noninvasive vibration measuring device.

Previous devices used invasive tactics such as dissection or electrical impulses, both of which alter vibration of the object being examined.

Since the new device measures vibrations from outside the body, it may be modified to check for diseased tissue, kidney stones or glaucoma, providing doctors with a

new, non-invasive diagnostic tool.

Dr. Peter Rogers, mechanical engineering professor at Tech who is leading the study, speculates that fish hear by rocking gently as sound waves pass through the water. The fish's inner-ear interacts with the swaying body, sending electrical signals to the brain. •

J The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is pleased to present...

"THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE!"

by Wallene T. Dockery and Steve Williford THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE! profiles the exciting life-changing principles of Homer Rice, Director of Athletics at Georgia Tech, which have transformed a sleeping giant into a landmark sports program.

In this entertaining and informative book, Dr. Rice explains how his "Attitude Technique" can work for you as it has for Georgia Tech coaches, athletes and many others.

You'll learn how to set goals and achieve them, develop self-confidence in yourself and your abilities, and how the "boomerang effect" can change your life to be happier and more fulfilling.

THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE is a book for anyone, regardless of age or interest in sports.

It's a book you'll want to share with others... a book you'll enjoy today and benefit from tomorrow.

(The proceeds from this book will be donated to the Alexander-Tharpe Fund for the student-athlete Total Person Program.)

L 48

GEORGIA TECH • Winter 90

To order your copy Send check or money order made to: GTAA 150 Third St., N.W. Atlanta, GA 30332 Name Address

City

Street

Phone No. (

)

Number of books ordered at $11.95 plus $2.00 Postage & handling Total $

State

Zip

s

IF ' i

DONT LET OURYELIXJWJACKET WEBCENDFLYBY $100PERNIGHT Take off for a grand weekend at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. Where you can shop next door at Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square. Give our pool and fitness center a workout.

Then retreat to a gracious room with a lovely view of Atlanta. Just call 800-241-3333 or 404-237-2700 for reservations. And ask for the special Georgia Tech rate (subject to availability). At a price that doesn't sting.

THERITZACARLTON BUCKHEAD

n •

TECH

m

OFFICIAL SPONSOR) ALUMNI MAGAZINE

*S? ,^ofcIh^adin^Hotelsofthd:Woiid®

PBQFILF: The Human Relations Prof

I

f Georgia Tech sometimes seems like a boot camp, one of its bestknown drill sergeants is College of Management Professor Dr. Philip Adler Jr. In almost three decades teaching at Tech, Adler has whipped literally thousands of callow young recruits into shape.

"He demands performance from you," says senior Scott Reeves, who is completing his fifth class with Adler. "But you don't mind putting out for him because you see how successful his previous students have become."

"He prepared me for the leap into the 'unprotected' real world," says basketball star and former student John Salley.

Adler retired as a full colonel from the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1982 after 31 years of active reserve status.

In addition to teaching classes at Georgia Tech on personnel, manage-

ment and systems theory, organizational design, research and development, and public relations, he is a clinical associate professor of rehabilitation medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine. Adler has been honored with Alpha Kappa Psi's Outstanding Teaching Award and ANAK's Distinguished Professor Award. In 1981, he was named by the Technique as one of the top ten professors at Georgia Tech.

The stereotype of the cold and callous big university research faculty member ignoring struggling students is shattered by Adler's dedication and caring. Although his students must allow him to relax and eat dinner in the evenings, they've been given permission to call him as late as 1 a.m. with their personal or academic problems.

Stereotype-busting has always been one of Adler's specialties. He

The Adler File 1952: Graduates from Ohio State.

1957: Receives MBA from University of Florida (Miami).

1962: Joins Tech as assistant professor of inductrial management, 1966: Earns doctorate from Ohio State.

1967: Receives Outstanding Teaching Award from Georgia chapter of Alpha Kappa Pat 1971: Named a full professor at Tech.

1973-78: Coordinator of management theory area of instruction.

1977-80: Management consultant to White I louse Office of the Press Secretary to the President.

1979: Organization consultant to the Office of Management and Budget.

1981: Named one of top ten professors at Tech by the Technique.

1986: Receives ANAK Distinguished Professor Award.

1989: Named to Georgia Tech Athletic Association Board of Trustees. i

50

GEORGIA TECH • Winter 90

Written b y Charles Hyatt

intentionally steers his public relations classes away from the normal angle of media hype and sensationalism to focus on what he feels is the real mission of public relations— human relations.

"I stress the information conversion process to my students," says Adler, "and that involves listening and analyzing to gain a knowledge base for effective decisions. Paying attention to what's going on in the world around you is absolutely essential if you're going to attempt to influence it. For management and business communications, listening well is as important as speaking and writing well. My students are supposed to read the newspaper every day, and they're expected to know in depth the current issues and to discuss them in class."

Adler employs his own personal style of questioning in the classroom to the delight of some, and the terror of many. Rapid-fire drilling by the colonel keeps seniors on top of their readings. "I learned quickly never to come to class unprepared," says Gloria Griessman, an '86 management graduate who is now a vice president of an advertising firm in New York. "Adler made me learn how to be prepared, and so now when I have an important meeting with a client, I do my homework.

The discipline has paid off."

A dler began his communications /m^career in radio during high j L J L school as a gofer at WLW— "the nation station"—in his native Cincinnati. He helped set up the studio for the Andrews Sisters, Rosemary Clooney and other acts.

GARY MEEK PHOTO

Philip Adler: Tech's communications expert shatters stereotypes by emphasizing the human dimension.

Blessed with a deeply resonant voice, he moved behind the mike as an undergraduate at Ohio State at the school's radio station, WOSU. He later performed duties at the old Georgia Tech station, WGST. As a teacher at Tech, Adler has been influential in the lives of two future radio entrepreneurs.

"He did a lot to help me and my partner Kim King," says Charles A. Smithgall III. LM '66, who with King now owns and operates WCNN radio. "He teaches you about the real world of business and is just an amazing guy. I would say he's had as dramatic an effect on my business career as anyone I've ever come into contact with, and I went to Georgia Tech, Colorado State, Wharton and Harvard Business School."

Adler was asked to join Gov. Jimmy Carter's press corps as an organizational advisor, and he followed Carter to Washington to perform the same duties for the White House from 1977-80.

"I never had much say on policy," says Adler, "but there were 43 very sensitive positions to coordinate in an extremely busy and important office, and their efficient organizational management was of utmost importance. Some of the techniques we came up with were carried over into the Reagan administration, and I suspect even into Bush's."

Adler became involved with the Emory School of Medicine through consulting with the Centers for Disease Control of the U.S. Public Health Service. He became the first Georgia Tech professor ever to have a joint appointment with Emory medical school.

Graduates of Adler's boot camp seem to have an uncanny knack for becoming officers of the Federal Reserve Bank, with more than 30 former students employed by the southern sixth district and its Atlanta headquarters.

"He has helped us a lot with management seminars and with our

young recruits," says Jim Hawkins, IM '67, a former student of Adler's who is now senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Jacksonville, Fla. "I've known him 25 years now. He's timeless—he interacts with students as well now as when I had him in class. I remember he came down to our Gator Bowl Basketball Classic about three years ago.

We had a great time, except he didn't get to see any of the game because he must have known every Tech student in the stands! He's truly a remarkable man."

Adler believes that business and personal communication skills are quite similar. "Public relations is really first embodied in one's managerial style," he says. "Employees, stockholders and executives define an institution's internal image just as they define an external one—by interpersonal dynamics, by how you relate to people." • Charles Hyatt is a doctoral student in psychology at Georgia Tech.

GEORGIA TECH • Profile: Adler

51

Atlanta's Most Valuable ^ / ^""SquareFootof * i iir^Real Estate

Next, Ball Stalker sells more fine office furniture than anyone else in Atlanta. For the square foot of real estate your business decisions deserve, stop by the largest showroom in Atlanta where the business person has found the right solution for over three decades.

Is on the top of the desk of Atlanta's business people.

Where do you suppose Atlanta's business people look for their desks' Ball Stalker, of course. Ball Stalker can provide you with the largest selection of desks, chairs, conference rooms and computer related office furnishings.

What's more, Ball Stalker is the place to find the complete solution to your office environment. The staff at Ball Stalker will make the selection process exciting. They will insure that the results are well beyond your expectations. They are in the business of serving business so they understand budgets.

feua Ball Stalker Co. OFFICE FURNITURE

151 14th Street (at the Downtown Connector) Atlanta, Georgia 30318 (404) 876-8999

Ramhlin' round the world...

The 1990 Alumni Tour Schedule WINGS OVER KENYA Safari by Air J a n . 20-Feb. 3 LEEWARD ISLAND Aboard the Yorktown Feb. 11-18

Clipper

TIGER TOPS Thailand, Nepal and India March 3-20 SCANDINAVIAN CAPITALS Aboard the Crown Odyssey ' ay 21-June 4 JRNEY OF THE CZARS Wwow, Leningrad Volga River July 24-Aug. 6

Cruise

ALASKA Midnight Sun Express and cruise aboard the Sea Princess Aug.9-21 DANUBE RIVER CRUISE Munich, Vienna, Danube River Sept. 18-Oct. 1 Ration contact: gster Alumni Assn. ty House 0332-0175 1

The Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Georgia Tech Alumni Association Atlanta, Georgia 30332

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Atlanta, GA Permit No. 1482