Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Vol. 69, No. 01 1993

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Nanotechnology: Engineering on die Atomic Scale

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Volume 69 Number 1 SUMMER 1993

A L U M N I U M AG AZ I NE Page 14

Features 14

The Science and Art of Futurism American technology—and the industries it supports—will survive in the competitive world of the future only if managers anticipate trends.

Written byMcKinley Conway

26 32

On His Own ('.roomed for success, James I). Robinson 111 didn't wait lor it to come.

Written byJerry Schwartz Nanotechnology: The Big World of Small Georgia Tech researchers are shaping the future, one tiny part tit a time. The developing technology could offer amazing opportunities in many fields,

Written by Christopher Stanard

42

Departments

4

A Breath of Fresh Air An electric family car may be decades away, but until then, other clean-burning fuels could provide a little extra breathing room.

Written by deny Goettling

Page 42

Letters « Learning article pertinent; Peril of prediction.

7

Technotes Distinguished company; Three in a row; Relay team on track; No. I Buz/,; T Day; Homecoming reminder; Happy days; Marathoners take the Pi; Honor roll; Housing reunion.

51

Pacesetters

55

Research

Lamar Pedis. IB '49: Truck-stop entrepreneur.

The real ozone villain; Bonding chips; Traffic management; Robot teamwork; Circuit .simulator.

62 Cover Photo: Nanotechnology, trie of the biggest technological itf/< to/iinents in s< tence, is so smell it's hard to imagine. Here's one analnyr A nanometer-— one billionth of a meter-— is in si:e to a meter as a beai blxtU ts to the earth. u.i, nnuiiiiivi/iii

Profile Dr. James I). Foley: Leading a friendly revolution.

Page .12

GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI MAGAZINE

is published quarterly for Roll (.'all contributors by the Georgia Tech . Uumni Association. Send correspondence and changes of address /<».

GB KGIA TECH ALUMNI MAGAZINE, Alumni Faculty l louse, 22s North Avenue

N\v. Atlanta. GA 30332-0175 • Editorial: (404) 853-0760/0761 Advertising: (404) 894-9270 • Fax: ( 104)894 5113 0 1993 Georgia Tech Alumni Association • ISSN; 1061-9747

GEORGIA TECH • Contents 3

John C. Dunn, editor Gary Goettling, associate editor Gary Meek photography Everett Hullum, design Dudley Williamson, advertising Jerry Schwartz, Christopher Stanard, McKinley Conway, contributing writers

Publications Committee Chairman Louis Gordon Sawyer Sr., NS '46 Chairman, Sawyer-RileyCompton, Atlanta Members William "Guy" Arledge, IM 71 Manager/Advertising, BellSouth Corp., Atlanta McKinley "Mac" Conway Jr., GE'40 President, Conway Data Inc., Norcross, Ga. Hubert L. Harris Jr., IM '65 President, Investco Services Inc., Atlanta McAllister "Mac" Isaacs III, TEX'60 Executive Editor, Textile World, Atlanta George A. Stewart Jr., AE '69 President, Stewart Consulting Group, Dumvoody, Ga. James M. Langley Vice President External Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta JohnB. Carter Jr., IE'69 Vice President and Executive Director, Geoigia Tech Alumni Association, Atlanta Dudley C. Williamson, IMGT 74 Associate Vice President/ Associate Executive Director, Georgia Tech Alumni Association, Atlanta

4

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Summer 1993

Learning Article Pertinent for Times Editor: I appreciated the pertinent article o n "Learning Organizations," [Spring '93 ALUMNI MAGAZINE], which noted Tech's active continuing-education efforts.

This important area interfaces with its graduates and industry. I have sent copies of the article to our entire executive management team.

The article was timely for m e because I have been assisting my company in developing a total learning program to upgrade the organization's skills and knowledge.

As technical services manager of DesignTex Fabrics, I am involved in the training and information updating of our personnel as well as providing seminar services to our architectural, interior design and facility management clients and industry.

Also of interest should be the types of specialized courses w e have developed in the New York metropolitan area educational institutions for interior designers, architects and related professionals. As chair of professional development of the N.Y. chapter of the Institute of Business Designers, I have been part of a joint professional organizational effort of developing accredited programs for our associations, using existing courses or developing n e w ones as needed.

Perhaps it was as a graduate student in textile engineering that I was inspired with the need for special seminars. As a member of the Graduate

Senate, w e organized a seminar program where graduate students presented these to their fellow students and faculty.

Martin E. "Marty" Gurian.

MS MS '68 Woodside, N.Y.

Photophone Prediction Editor: The article about fiber optics in the spring magazine reminded me of my career experiences at AT&T, and of an article from The New York Times that I had framed and hung o n my office wall.

Dated Aug. 30, 1880, it reads in part: "The American Association of Scientific Persons...held a very interesting meeting at Cambridge on Friday last, in the course of which Prof. Bell...described his n e w invention, the photophone....

"What the telephone accomplishes with the help of a wire the photophone accomplishes with the aid t >f a SLinbeam....jrhe ordinary man. however, may have a little difficulty in comprehending h o w sunbeams are to be used.

Does Prof. Bell intend to connect Boston and Cambridge, for example, with a line of sunbeams hung on telegraph posts, and, if so, what diameter are the sunbeams to be, and h o w is he to obtain them of the required size? What will become of his sunbeams after the sun goes down? . . . .

"The public has a great deal of confidence in Scientific Persons, but until it actually sees a man going through the streets with a coil of No. 12 sunbeams on his shoulder, and suspending it from pole to pole, there will b e a general feeling that there is something about Prof. Bell's photophone which places a tremendous strain on human credulity."

Thomas B. Gurley, EE '59 Decatur, Ga.

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TechMes Three in a Row All-American golfer David Duval won his first Atlantic Coast Conference individual championship title and the Jackets won their third straight conference title at the ACC Championship in Rocky Mount, N.C., last April.

Duval, a senior, turned in rounds of 70, 69 and 67, finishing four strokes up on Clemson's Nicky Goetze. The Tech team finished the tourney five strokes ahead of No. 2 Clemson.

Daniel Papp is the Distinguished Professor Award recipient

Distinguished Company Dr. Daniel S. Papp, director of the School of International Affairs, received the 1993 Distinguished Professor Award at the annual Faculty/Staff Honors luncheon on May 26.

Dr. Bettina F. Cothran, assistant professor of modern languages, and Dr. Laurence J. Jacobs, assistant professor in civil engineering, were named Outstanding Teachers, while Dr. William J. Wepfer, associate director of graduate studies in mechanical engineering, received the Out-

standing Service Award.

An award for outstanding interdisciplinary activity was presented to Dr. Robert E. Fulton, a professor in mechanical engineering.

Dr. Barbara Blackbourn, a professor of modern languages, received the ANAK award.

In addition, 10-year service-recognition certificates were presented to two members of the Alumni Association staff: John B. Carter Jr., IE '69, executive director, and Pamela W. Cottrell, associate director for Roll Call.

Relay No. 1 Buzz Team on Track Tech's men's 4x400 relay team took first place while the team placed seventh overall at the NCAA indoor track-and-field meet in Indianapolis in March.

The championship relay squad—All-American Derek Mills, Guy Robinson, Julian Amedee and Derrick Adkins —posted a time of 3:06.23. Mills also placed third in the 400meter dash.

A panel of judges has confirmed what Yellow Jackets fans already know: Buzz is the No. 1 mascot in the country.

The occasion was the annual collegiate mascot and cheerleading competition finals, held at Sea World in San Diego last April. The Tech cheerleaders finished 10th among the 15 squads in the finals, making it their third top-10 finish in the past four years.

Buzz, who also won the top honor in 1988, has been played by Kevin Mawn and Glenn Goodrich this year.

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TechNotes T-Day Accompanied by warm sunshine and the strains of a Dixieland jazz band, more than 900 alumni and friends dug into lunch platters at the annual T-Day barbeque, held outside the Old Gym on Bobby Dodd Way. Sponsored by the metro Atlanta Georgia Tech clubs, the meal precedes the traditional spring

intra-squad football scrimmage, in which the Blue team outlasted the White by a 16-12 score.

Ticket sales from the barbeque and game raise money for the Dodd-Carmichael Scholarship Fund.

Last year, Tech clubs provided six $1,000 DoddCarmichael scholarships to high school seniors.

Homecoming Reminder Homecoming weekend of Nov. 5-6 is last approaching. Reunions will be held by the classes of 1943, 1948,1953,1958,1963, 1968, 1973,1978 and 1983. The class of Old Gold, comprised of alumni who graduated in 1942 and earlier, will also meet. For more information about reunions or any other Homecoming activities, call Catherine Martin at the Alumni Association at (404) 853-0758.

Happy Days With the number of Roll Call donors tracking ahead of last year's record-setting pace, Georgia Tech President John P. Crecine and Alumni Association President H. Hammond "Buck" Stilh Jr., CE '58, had plenty to smile about at the Presidents' Dinner on May 7. The annual affair honors Roll Call contributors of $1,000 or more, and was held at the Inforum in downtown Atlanta.

The 46th Roll Call, which closes its books on June 30, is Tech's largest source of unrestricted gift funds. The goal for this year's drive is $5.5 million from 26,000 contributors. (See the Roll Call art on page 9-)

Georgia Tech Alumni Association Board of Trustees Officers G. William Knight IE '62, MS IM '68 president H. Hammond Stith Jr. CE '58 past president Frank H. Maier Jr. IM '60 president-elect/treasuivr H. Milton Stewart IE '61 vice president/activities Hubert L Harris Jr. IM '65 vice pivsident/communications Francis N. Spears CE 73, MS CE '80 vice president/Roll Call John B. Carter Jr. IE '69 vice president/executive director James M. Langley vice president, external aJJ'airs

10

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Summer 1993

Trustees A.F. Beacham Jr. IE '60 William Hagood Bellinger EE '63 Charles G. Betty ChE 79 James W. Bowyer CE '64, MS SANE '66 Richard H. Bradfield ARCH '60 L Guyton Branch Mgt 71 Carey H. Brown IE '69 Albert W. Culbreth Jr., IM '68 Fred L. Cook TCH 7 1 , PhD 75 Thomas F. Davenport Jr. IE '56 Charles F. Easleyjr. IM '86 Dwight Evans CE 70, MS SANE 73 Janice Carol I larden IE 74 Paul W. Heard Jr. ME '65 L. Andrew Hearn Jr. EE '57 J. Scott Howell ISyE 75 Douglas W. Johnson IM '65 David R. Jones IM '59

Govantez L. Lowndes II '83 Jon Samuel Martin IM '6 David M. McKenney Pin s '60, IE '64 Francis B. Mewborn, Cls '56 Charles D. Moseleyjr. II '65 G. David Peake IE '61 Thomas J. Pierce Jr. Chi '61 Linda Poger-Williams CE '81 J. Lamar Reese Jr. IM '55 Neal Allen Robertson IF 69 B. Jane Skelton IM 77 Haywood F. Solomon Jr. IM 70 Louis Terrell Sovey Jr. IE 72 William P. Sovey IE '55 Neal D. Stubblefield MF, 70 Harry B. Thompson III 11'. '()() Rene L. Turner IE '83 Philip S. Vincent IE '66

TechMes Honor Roll

Meg Grantham and Gabriel Helrnlinger display their trophies.

Marathoners Take Pi Gabriel Helrnlinger, a mechanical engineering doctoral student from France, and Meg Grantham, a research assistant in the ME bioengineering lab, were the first male and female runners to cross the finish line at the 21st annual George C. Griffin Pi Mile Memorial Road Race.

Helrnlinger, a marathon runner who won the event last year, finished with a time of 15:19, besting his previous winning time of 16:37. Last year he placed second in the Peachtree Road Race.

Grantham, also a marathon runner, posted a time of 19:20. It was her first time to compete in the Pi Mile race, and she was surprised by her victory. "This is my first 5kilometer race in almost a year," she said. "I'm just getting back into short-distance training. I'm very happy that I ran a 19:20."

For the third time in five years, Georgia Tech has .. earned a place on the College Football Association's Honor Roll.

To be eligible for the recognition, an institution must have a graduation rate of 70 percent or better for its football players.

Tech was one of 19 schools listed on the current Honor Roll, which is based on the performance of the freshmen entering school in 1987.

"The No. 1 priority of our football program is the education of our studentathletes," said Coach Bill Lewis. "We are totally committed to ensuring that every Georgia Tech football player earns his degree, and this honor is evidence of that committment."

Housing Reunion Sine, being an RA was no picnic, but at least you're being invited to one.

The Georgia Tech Housing Office is trying to identify those former students who have over the years been known variously as inspectors, counselors, resident assistants or peer counselorsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; in short, anyone who has had a "duty card" on their door, according to Linda Henson, IE '84, Housing Office project coordinator. The office plans to hold a reuni( in of its former student employees and I Iall Council members during Homer oming weekend. The gathering

will likely be a family picnic on Sunday, Nov. 7, and will include tours of renovated and new residence halls. To be placed on the reunion mailing list, call Henson at (404) 894-2469.

Thankyou to the official sponsors ofthe

GEORGIA TECH AEUMNI MAGAZINE Acme Business Products Alamo Rent A Car Atlanta Marriott Northwest Atlanta Renaissance Hotel Bank South The Coca-Cola Company Delta Air Lines Diamond Brostrom Doubletree Hotel Georgia's Stone Mountain Park Georgia Tech Theatre for the Arts Lockheed Georgia Employees' Federal Credit Union Nationsbank Norrell Services Piedmont Hospital Prudential Home Mortgage Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead Six Flags Over Georgia Technology Park Atlanta Trust Company Bank Wachovia Bank of Georgia Wyndham Midtown Hotel

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ TechNotes

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Futurism American technologyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and the industries it supportsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;will survive in the competitive future in direct proportion to its ability to interpret the trends

SUPER METRO AREAS The leading cities of the world will, in most cases, have two or more perimeter routes integrating the center city with the hinterland.

The design concept of a loop highway encircling a city has moved rapidly from the status of a traffic by pass, to an economic development tool, to the urban plan for the 21st century. Many central cities will become multilevel environments, with one level below ground, another at grade and a third built on aitrights. There will be widespread construction over freeways and service corridors.

Written by McKinley Conway

A generation ago, when things moved / ,A more slowly, the economic system J L ML was more tolerant of firms that failed to anticipate change. Today, failure to anticipate change can be abruptly fatal.

That's why many large companies employ technological forecasters or futurists devoted to the study of future trends and their implications for the company.

Few doubt that technology will be a dominant political and economic issue of the 14

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Summer 1993

Out on the Prey L

et's accept the fact that our error rate in i forecasting may he large! We probably miss one-third to one-half of all the big developments that will occur in a forecast period of 10 years. Our 20-yearforecasts are even less reliable, and our 30-year predictions are, for the most pari, pure speculation.

NEAR-TERM FORECASTS, 0-10 YEARS

GENETK

MIENCE

REVOLl V Discoveries in genetic engineet ing will have a profound effect on politics, econom ics, homes and families.

In 1990, Congress funded the I luman Genome Project, a massive effort to map all ol the genes knmCi in the human body. The result will he a guide t< > the 50,000 to too.OOO

genes which control everything from vulnerability to dis-

ease t< > physical features. The use of 1)NA techniques for Identification will be rapidly expanded, beginning with infants anil criminals, massive data banks will hecreated. The possibilities for social and pi>litical contntversy are endless. People with "bad" genes may not he offered better jobs. Insurance firms nia\ refuse to cover individuals likely to encounter specific health problems

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BY MCKINLEY CONWAY

It seems safe to assume that the changes of the next. 10 years will be at least as numerous and dramatic as those of the past three decades. The time-scale of development will continue to collapse, with changes occurring with increasing frequency.

This is no time for the timid! World leadership will go to those who have the

imagination and creative ahility, the managerial genius and the courage to venture into unplatted areas. Mewing the world scene, some scholars suggest that ue are witnessing the end of history. The truth is that we are at the beginning of a bright new business world. Above and on the pages ahead, let's take a look at what is possible.

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Futurism: The Art of Planning

15

Futurists are most concerned with events Ukety in the next two decades, especially advances in technology.

tmmmm

POPULATION CONTROL future. Many believe that scientific prowess will be the key to world leadership. Certainly the art of predicting upcoming events—futurism—will also play an important role.

Thinking years ahead gives us warnings about such possibilities as global warming, ozone depletion, over-population, species extinction and many other hazards. Via futurism w e can identify threats and gain lead time in which w e can, it is hoped, take effective counteraction.

Futurism thus serves the early warning needs of nations and cities with regard to matters of security and quality of life. For companies and business ventures, futurism is a key factor in competitive survival and growth.

Futurists are generally concerned with events that may h a p p e n in the next 10 to 20 years. They are particularly interested in n e w technological breakthroughs and the impact of those breakthroughs o n society.

A distinction is thus drawn between futurists and, for example, market researchers, w h o are interested in a 0-10 time scale, and w h o typically evaluate already-identified trends. At the other end are science-fiction writers and philosophers w h o look 30, even hundreds of years ahead. They speculate o n what could happen, even if they d o not k n o w h o w it could happen.

Margin of Error A t any point in time there are unseen / >m forces at work which will yield surr™TM prises in the days ahead. No one. of Jm» J ^ course, can forecast all the events which will occur.

Examples abound, but consider the U.S. government's 1930s study of coming technical developments. It failed to forecast such inno16

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

The nations of the world will finally implement a realistic program for u controlling population as the general public i V k\ M becomes aware thai • A • , many < >l the \\< irld's pies-, W tt m wt m

ing problems—waste dis-

• • •

DOMED CITIES AND BUBBI

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There's a fast-moving trend toward innovative use of huge tent like dome structures. Agribusinesses sec the prospert for new "bubble farms" in vvliich thousands of acres are covered by dome units to protect tender seedlings as well as to control the growth i if new genetically engineered crops. Dome enclosures may be particularly suitable for new towns in the Arctic- anil other cold regions. Planners also see the possibility of using such structures on the ocean floor to re direct currents and create new fishing zones.

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•

posal, traffic, urban sprawl M I I M Al and environmental degrada lion—are directly connected ti population growth.

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• • •

i

NEAR-TERM FORECASTS, 0-10 YEARS * * * * * * * * *

GEORGIA TECH • Futurism: The Art of Planning

17

The task of forecasting the future is made more difficult by the everincreasing speed of development

vations as television, transoceanic jet service, lasers or microcomputers.

More recently, during the war in Kuwait, there was much gloom-and-doom forecasting by certain prominent scientists who predicted that the smoke from burning oil wells would cause global climate changes—a sort of "nuclear winter." They were badly wrong because they made a number of incorrect assumptions regarding the amount of smoke, its color and composition, and the altitude to which it would rise.

There are similar questions regarding forecasts of global warming, ozone depletion and other atmospheric changes. Scientists cannot agree on past events, let alone the future— witness the variety of explanations for the death of the dinosaurs or the'decline of various civilizations.

Our task is made more difficult by the ever-increasing speed of development. The transoceanic jetliner that flew in the late 1950s took about 15 years to advance from lab tests to commercial flight. The microcomputer exploded onto the scene during the 1970s in less than 10 years. With computerized design and automated manufacturing, we currently have the prospect of important new products having a gestation period measured in months or days.

Exploiting Change

T

i

I he technological forecasting objective of most business managers can be defined very simply—the avoidance of surprises. Many will settle for that.

But the more astute managers want something more. They are not just trying to defend themselves against change—they are determined to take advantage of change and use it for their own benefit. They want to gain a competitive edge by outguessing the opposition.

It is a long-established axiom that without change there are no new opportunities.

Almost every change brings with it exciting new opportunities for someone. Further, we know that there are three essential factors in 18

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

A GLOBAL SOCIFIY

The next decade will see the emergence of a new global society made tip largely of executives of global firms, governmen! officials and others who have learned how to be at

NEAR-TERM FORECASTS, 0-10 YEARS DESALINATED SEAWATER Breakthroughs in a process to desalinate seavvater using solar energy will foster tremendous development in some of the world's arid regions.

Areas likely to benefit include Baja California, the Atacama Desert in South America, and areas along the Arabian (rulf,

Ai\m-pommoN CRUSADE

home v\ herever they are. These new "globalists' are comfortable with a 24hour cloek set to universal time, the metric system, currency conversions and international telephone connections. Most impor-

tant, the globalists are eager to apply new technologies.

Already, many of them cany in their briefcases a small satellite antenna which permits them to receive inlormation wherever they may be.

'lite coming decade will see an unprecedented global commitment to largescale- projects aimed at destroying nuclear Weapons, cleaning up toxic wastes,

conserving rain forests and repairing damaged environments.

19

Fewfirmsdevelop operating plans covering more thanfiveyears—two years is long-range for many.

exploiting change: anticipating the change, being able to act quickly, and willingness to bet on one's forecast. Many people may anticipate change, but few are both willing and able to take advantage of it.

life Cycle/Recycle rM M 7 T h e r e or when does this process ^ ^L I start? The systems must be cusW W tomized, of course, to fit the orga• • nization. However, there are some common denominators.

The alert firm must have both a long-range plan and a long-range outlook. The former is a projected business activity and operations sequence. It is what the firm expects to do.

How far into the future sh'ould it go? There was a time when large corporations had formal plans for 10 years ahead, and some even prepared 20-year plans. Today, few firms attempt to develop operating plans covering more than five years, and many consider a two-year plan to be long-range.

A generation ago, a typical product life cycle was 15 to 20 years. A finn that obtained a patent could hope to enjoy a strong market position for the life of that patent, 17 years. A product that held market position for 10 to 15 years was commonplace.

Under such conditions, decision-making was much easier. Managers could make commitments for new plants and equipment and feel confident that they would see a good return on investment over a period of years. Similarly, they could recruit, train develop staff and could look toward years of service from them. '/ In today's volatile economy, good decisionmaking can be very difficult. Many product life cyles are measured in months, requiring great flexibility in the company's physical plan. Will 20

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

FASTER FLIGHT The first decade of the 21st century will see the introduction of exciting new aircraft. A new generation of supersonic transport will fly at about three nines the speed of sound with a range of 10,000 miles. Trips to the opposite side of the world will take less than half ol the present times. A new trans-atmospheric vehicle will afford virtual space travel for global executives, and will cut the time from the U.S. to Tokyo or Sydney to less than two hours. The effect on world business and government will be profound.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SMART CARS AND SMART ROADS These are .systems wherein vehicles are operated b\ automatic conlrols along specific routes. By the turn of the century, some municipalities will approve the operation of rohot-run vehicles On designated routes. I se will increase rapidly, and by 2010 robot vehicles will become

Solar power will

the feeder units lor mass transit systems. Eventu ally, improvet systems will serve highspeed traffic o n

become a significant economic factor in areas with abundant sunshine. The

merit of hydrogen as a new fuel will also be realized.

the inlerstates.

improving traffic How and safer],

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Futurism: The Art of Planning

21

In the days ahead, the CEO must develop an educated guess about future possibilities.

the new plant being occupied this year be suitable for producing the new product—as yet unidentified—to be launched three years hence?

These are some of the reasons that many companies are depending heavily on detailed one-year plans plus very sketchy five-year plans.

The collapsing time scale also requires companies to prepare their long-range plans more quickly. A plan developed slowly and deliberately over a year's time may be obsolete before it is promulgated. To develop valid plans quickly, most companies need to maintain vital data bases and employ automated systems for interpreting data and making instant extrapolations.

Vision of the Future

U

nlike the business plan, the longrange outlook is simply a vision of what may b e coming. There are n o constraints, economic or other, on the outlook. It can b e "far out" and purely speculative.

The outlook should extend as far into the future as possible to foresee even a hint of change. It may include programs and projects that are n o w but a gleam in someone's eye.

In the days ahead, the CEO must become a practicing futurist. By observing business associates, by intuition, and even through such informal processes as reading the newspapers, the CEO must develop an educated guess about future possibilities.

Technological breakthroughs are happening more and more quickly. And while that makes it more difficult to predict future developments, companies that completely ignore this change of pace will pay dearly. • McKinley Conway Jr., GE '40, is founder and chairman of Conway Data Inc. in Atlanta, founder of the Industrial Development Research Council and chairman of the World Development Council. This article is adapted from his book, A Glimpse of the Future— Technology Forecasts for Global Strategists.

22

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

[.UNO, I \H IR1 I M \ l K s i n

RESTORING SENSES

New discoveries in biotechnology will give artificial eyesight to the blind, hearing to the ileal'and voice to the mute. Millions of dysfunctional people will be elevated to new roles as more productive citizens.

NUCLEAR WASTE Effective means for neutralizing old nuclear wastes will be discovered. Already there is serious research into various transmutation schemes which use neutron bombardment to convert wastes into shorter lived isotopes. Eventually, such a process could convert hot wastes into non-radioactive materials.

VERY LONG-TERM FORECASTS, 20-30 YEARS

'

\ÂŁS.V . ...;._ . . _ _

'

^y

ASTEROID DISASTER PLAN The world will have in place a system to prevent disastrous collisions. It will consist of batteries of huge missiles which can be fired at incoming asteroids to alter their course.

BRAIN-COMPULER LINK The most exciting prospect is linking the human brain to a computer, allowing people to download thoughts or Upload information. The genius of great men and women could thus

be saved, stored and used again. The uploading mode would revolutionize education.

HUMAN-POWERED FLIGHT Improvements in the strength/ weight ratio in materials and in the

SPACE TOURISM Space travel will become commonplace, with rival companies offering inexpensive trips to

the moon. Space colonics will be established to sup pott mining and manufacturing o p erations as well as to handle tourists.

efficiency o f aerodynamic

components w i l l make

human-powered flight possible for non-athletes Fi applications will b in recreation, as pedaling around ll neighborhood at treetop height will supplant jogging ll many.

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Futurism: The Art of Planning

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The normally staid business of banking in Georgia has given new meaning to the term, "life in the fast lane." Because while those big, out-of-state banks claim to offer local service, their major decision-making power remains at headquarters. With men and women who neither work nor live in Georgia's unique social, financial and political arena.

At Bank South, every decision- in Treasury Management, Asset-Based Lending, Equipment Leasing, or any of our Corporate products and services-is made by people who know and understand both our marketplace and your position in it.

To see how you can benefit from over eighty years of local knowledge, give us a call at (404) 529-4202. Together, we can go a long way right here at home.

That's what I like about the South. Š 1993 Bank South Corp. Member FDIC.

James D. Robinson hasn't waited for success; he's gone after it.

Written by Jerry Schwartz PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOHN ABBOTT

On His Own t^Kmmim

w v H H t e i LHOUGH JAMES DIXON R< IBINSON III

WAS BORN INTO ONE OF ATLANTA'S MOST PROMINENT BANKING FAMILIES, THE 1 9 5 7 GRAIN ATE OF GEORGIA TECH'S SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT HAS NOT BEEN ONE TO WAIT FOR SI ICCESS AND PROMINENCE TO COME TO HIM.

FT WHILE MANY OF HIS PEERS MIGHT FLAVE BEEN CONTENT TO

ACCEPT FAMILY WEALTH AND AN AMERICAN EXPRESS GOLD CARD, JPM ROBINSON WENT TO NEW YORK AND GOT AMERICAN EXPRESS—THE WHOLE COMPANY,

ft

AT AGE 41, ROBINSON WAS

NAMED CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF AMERICAN EXPRESS C o . CASUAL OBSERVERS

F7

MAY HAVE VIEWED ROBINSON'S RISE AS AN EASY RIDE ON RAILS GREASED BY FAMILY CONNECTIONS. ft

BUT BY THE TIME FTE LEFT AMEMCAN EXPRESS EARLIER THIS YEAR FOLLOWING A GRI IES< IMELY

PUBLIC BLOODBATH INSIDE THE COMPANY'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS, IT WAS CLEAR THAT ROBINSON WAS A MAN WHO HAD OUT-WORKED AND OUT-THOUGHT SOME OF THE COUNTRY'S BEST BI SINESS I

EXECUTIVES TO ATTAIN HIS POSITION . . . AND A MAN NOT AFRAID OF A FIGHT TO MAINTAIN IT. 26

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

TheCmtpetkmeUrge

-JLoU IHAVE TO

GIVE JlMMY

CREDIT, SAYS WILLIS EVERETT, AN EXECLRTTVE WITH AN ATLANTA MONEY-MANAGEMENT FIRM AND A BOYHOOD FRIEND OF ROBINSON'S. "A LOT OF THE GUYS IN HIS PEER GROUP STAYED AROUND ATLANTA

"I got a little more focused when I went into the Navy.

Whatever water I drank, it made me a little more competitive than others."

P7

28

waiting for a fat and happy job. But somewhere along the line Jimmy decided he wanted to make it on his own. He sure did it, too. I don't know, but that might have had something to do with his father."

James Robinson Jr., known as "Big Jim," had been president of First National Bank of Atlanta (now Wachovia Bank). Before that, his grandfather and great grandfather also had been prominent Atlanta bankers.

But where "Big Jim" was an imposing 6foot, 4-inches and 200 pounds, his son was a slender 5-foot, 8-inch, 125-pound splinter.

During his Tech career, Robinson began an all-out weight-lifting regime that by graduation transformed the bantamweight into a chiseled 205-pound match for any linebacker.

That program—both the physical-fitness routine and the intense competitiveness— became a way of life he has kept up, and even intensified, to this day. "My father was a very tough-minded fellow," Robinson told one interviewer. "However hard I was working, he'd say, 'Work a little harder.' " It was a philosophy that didn't immediately take root, Robinson admits. Maximum effort was not a part of his modus operandi at Georgia Tech. "Well, I can tell you about Tech, but I'm not sure it's an answer you're going to like," Robinson says. "I had been at prep school in Virginia. I'd been away for four years and I decided to go to Tech, in part, because I wanted to get back to Atlanta.

"I imagined that I would go into banking or financial services rather than engineering, so that's_ how I picked the industrial management school. I have to say Georgia Tech was easy for me. I was on the dean's list most of the time. In hindsight, I might have done better to go into electrical engineering or one of the tougher schools down there. But I enjoyed myself and graduated early."

"I think he did reasonably well with a minimum of effort," says Wade Mitchell, executive vice president of Trust Company Bank and a Tech classmate of Robinson's.

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

"Probably the bulk of his time and attention was spent socializing, having a good time and going to school to get four years older."

Robinson went on to the Navy, became a supply officer, and reconnected with his boyhood pal, Everett, when both 'were stationed in Hawaii. "I have to say the impression I recall of Jimmy from Pearl Harbor was of someone you'd call an officer and a gentleman," Everett says. "My wife and I would see him and his wife for dinner and cocktails. I'm not sure I was aware at that point that he was a really driven person. It was clear he had a very quick mind. He did have a sense of humor, but it was not visible all the time."

Things changed when Robinson got to Harvard and began work on his MBA. "I had taken some correspondence courses while I was in the Navy and I had some experience at Trust Company of Georgia," Robinson recalls. "When I got to Harvard, I felt that I had a leg up on everybody because I had done those things. It didn't take me long to realize that my associates who had come from other backgrounds, who had learned in undergraduate school to think in the scientific, reasoning fashion, were going to outdistance me. I had the trade tools, but I didn't have the perspective," Robinson says. Compared to his Tech career, the Harvard MBA program was a struggle, he concedes.

Robinson says he's always been consumed by a desire to succeed, even though it may not always have been obvious to his associates. "When I found something that interested me, I pursued it aggressively. But I think I got a little more focused when I went into the Navy. Whatever water I drank, it made me a little more competitive than some others."

MVeJibian Flash

D

Y THE TIME HE COMPLETED

HIS MBA, ROBINSON ALREADY WAS A MAN MARKED FOR STARDOM. "EVERYBODY IN TOWN WANTED TO HIRE HIM WHEN HE CAME OUT OF HARVARD," HOWARD CLARK SR. TOLD BUSINESSWEEK IN

1988. It was nice that "everybody" was interested in Robinson, but the fact that Howard Clark Sr. wanted to hire Robinson became significant because Clark had decided he would retire early as chairman of American Express. After watching Robinson zoom up

li

the corporate ladder, first at Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. and later at White, Weld & Co., Clark indirectly offered Robinson the opportunity to join a dozen or so other men in the sweepstakes to succeed him at the AmEx helm. In that class of heavyweight contenders, it was James D. Robinson III who emerged as champion.

Seven years after he joined AmEx, Robinson was named chairman and chief executive officer, beginning a 16-year tenure at the head of one of the nation's most prestigious financial institutions.

Robinson and his second wife, Republican Party activist and public-relations executive Linda Gosden, were decidedly on New York society's "A" list. They counted among their friends—and Robinson's and those of AmEx board of directors colleagues—Henry Kissinger, opera star Beverly Sills, Urban League director Vernon Jordan and former President Gerald Ford. Jim Robinson was hardly out of place in such rarefied company. His voice carries a reserved, patrician air. He speaks in the confident, but measured cadence of diplomats and successful executives. The Robinsons were trendy, attractive, successful—even thing coveted in New York's penthouses and board rooms.

But there was more than flash in Robinson's approach to his job at AmEx, according to accounts of his associates. He had an immense appetite for work, and consumed information with the voraciousness of a mainframe computer.

Every moment counted: Flights were work

sessions; upon landing, Robinson would trade finished papers for a briefcase of new work needing his attention. Each year, prior to American Express annual meetings, Robinson required key executives to prepare exhaustive summaries of any questions likely to be asked by shareholders, along with the appropriate answers. Daily, Robinson was awake before dawn, throwing off the coils of sleep with an Olympian exercise routine, and on the way to AmEx's midtown office building before the garbage trucks had cleared the streets.

And though his family tradition may have been in the old school of conservative corporate management, Robinson was assuredly a man of his times—joining in the corporate acquisition binge of the 1980s with gusto. In 1981, Robinson led AmEx to a buyout of Shearson Loeb Rhoades. In quick succession, American Express acquired Investors Diversified Services, Trade Development Bank, Lehman Brothers and E.F. Hutton Group.

BusinessWeek said Robinson's acquisition strategy was "widely considered the most successful financial-services diversification drive of the 1980s." And an Industry Week poll of corporate head hunters in 1986 named Robinson among "America's Most-Admired CEOs." It is ironic, perhaps, that the Industry Week Class of 1986 included John Akers of IBM, and Roger Smith of General Motors. By late last year, all three of those blue-chip companies were reporting huge losses, and all three men were out of their jobs.

Though press accounts of the hour-by-

During flights on the American Express corporate Gulfstreani, Robinson usually worked his way through a full briefcase of papers. When he landed, associates would hand him another full briefcase.

GEORGIA TECH • Robinson -On His Own"

29

"A CEO shouldn't go more than eight to 12 years, 15 at the outside One reason is burnout...

But sometimes change for the sake of change is okay, too."

hour maneuvering at American Express paint a picture of Robinson as a man grimly determined to hang onto corporate power, whatever the cost, Robinson himself clearly is philosophical about his departure.

"I think there is a limited useful life for a CEO—10 to 12 years at the outside, seven or eight years probably is better. I stayed longer at American Express than I intended to.

"In the 1950s and 1960s, management turned over every five years because people aged. That was too fast for chief executives to set a direction and implement their strategies.

But a CEO shouldn't go-more than eight to 12 years, 15 at the outside if you own a good part of the company.

"The reason for burnout is both the freshness of capacity to look at what's going on and the ability to keep up. As you go along, there are always hotshots who are as good or better than you are. It's tremendously difficult to maintain momentum. The other aspect is that the world in that league is so competitive and aggressive, you've got to make it clear that there is room at the top for new blood or you're going to lose your young talent."

On the other hand, Robinson deplores a recent trend of almost management dujour, a switch in chief executives to fit every shift in business strategy. "There are times when the CEO's talents, because of the business situation, must be more focused on cutting or on investing and acquisitions, or what have you.

What you've got, hopefully, is the capacity to play on all those courts and the ability to

know how to manage through adversity.

"Boards of directors probably are feeling their responsibility more. Some of them try to prove that they are tough. But sometimes change for the sake of change is okay, too," Robinson says with a bit of a laugh.

A NtpP Ml'^om

-JL.HI-E CHAl CHANGE

IN HIS OWN

LIFE SINCE LEAVING AMERICAN EXPRESS IN JANUARY HAS BEEN GOOD FOR HIM, ROBINSON SAYS. H E ' S BEGUN A NEW YORK COMPANY THAT W ILL MAKE VENTURE CAPITAL INVESTMENTS IN NEW TH< :I I NOLOGIES.

"We're looking chiefly at information technologies, interactive kind of stuff that's a marriage between telecommunications, distributed computer database and media.''

Robinson says.

As to his penchant for physical fitness, it's only increased. "Absolutely," he says with emphasis. "I've stepped that up. 1 will put more discipline into getting to the gym."

Though he still carries a heavy workload, Robinson's grimly competitive zeal may have been tempered slightly by his American Express experiences. With a hint of autumn in his voice, he says, "I haven't felt this free in 22 years." • Jerry Schwartz is an Atlanta free-lance writer.

Robinson's competitive zeal has always found an outlet in exercise. He's stepped up the pace recently.

VI

30

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

NANOTECHNOLOGY The Big World of Small

By Christopher Stanard

T

hink small. Really

small. Got your old high school micro-

scope? Not good

enough. Your handy computer

microchip? Still way too big. ibhink about building machines only a few molecules or atoms in size—that is one aspect of nanotechnology,

50

/t0

a science of the future that is being created today.

• Nanotechnology is a term that encompasses scientific and engineering activities at the nanometer scale. A nanometer is onebillionth of a meter, or only a few atoms long. Using an array 32

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

of ultra-precise tools, scientists can create electric components and machines that are virtually invisible to the naked eye. Even genetic engineering and bioremediation, the use of microbes to eliminate hazardous wastes, fall under the broad definition of nanotechnology.

This is not science fiction but science fact.

Two years have passed since IBM scientists spelled out their company logo by moving 35 xenon atoms with a device called a scanningtunneling microscope. Yet in that short time, nanotechnology has demonstrated the potential to become an important, pervasive technology. Today, for example, microsensors tinier than the width of a human hair are routinely being used in automobile anti-lock braking systems.

G eorgia Tech Is Thiiiking Small A

t Georgia Tech, electrical engineers, t physicists, chemists, materials scientists and researchers from a host of other disciplines are involved in a number of nanotech projects.

Dr. Richard Higgins, director of Georgia Tech's Microelectronics Research Center (MRC) and one of the leaders of the Institute's nanotechnology movement, groups most nanotechnology research into three areas: modeling, measuring and making.

Tech is involved in all three.

The scanning-tunneling microscope is one of the workhorses of nanotechnology, and the progenitor of all other atomic imaging devices. Developed in the early 1980s, it was the first device to actually provide pictures of atoms. It can also move individual atoms and molecules.

Dr. Phillip First of the School of Physics and the MRC has used the instrument to make and measure novel nanostructure-like "wires" a mere two atoms wide. The problem 34

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Summer 1993

is that such "wires" can't carry electricity like normal wires; they are so small that classical rules of physics break down and quantum mechanics effects take over.

Dr. Thomas Gaylord, Dr. Kevin Brennan, and Dr. Elias Glytsis of the School of Electrical Engineering and the MRC have figured out how to turn quantum mechanical disadvantages into incredible advantages, which they believe will lead to a revolutionary new class of semiconductor devices using "electron-wave optics." These devices would be smaller, faster, and less expensive than anything currently on the market.

This development has profound implications. The growth of the $70 billion microelectronics industry has been predicated on making computers smaller and smaller, which has been done by putting as many integrated circuits and transistors as possible on a microchip. (An Intel 486 microchip contains about 1.2 million components.)

The semiconductor industry is fast approaching a size limit beyond which quantum mechanics will not allow conventional electronics to work. The reason is that at about 0.25 micrometers, electrons start behaving like waves. But by using electron-optics techniques, the 0.25 micrometer "barrier" can be broken, allowing "ultraminiaturization down to the atomic scale," says Gaylord.

This will mean new growth in electronics, computers and manufacturing industries, and could even lead to an entirely new industryâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; nanoelectronics, he says.

Ultraminiauirization will mean growth in electronics, computers and manufacturing, and could even lead to an entirely new industry, nanoelectronics.

c

hip-size Computers

R

ecently, scientists at Bell Labs used . Gaylord's patented designs to fabricate nanoscale devices with applications in "quantum electron wave-based lasers."

Cheaper and more versatile than conventional lasers, the devices "will be able to

Tech's Pliillip First uses the scanningtunneling microscope to make and measure nanostrucUire-like "wires" a mere two atoms wide.

replace lasers the size of an entire table with lasers the size of a grain of salt," Gaylord says. "People have been working with lasers for over 20 years, but n o o n e has ever thought of this approach."

Another result of Gaylord's work is "guided electron-wave integrated circuits."

This would be the next generation in integrated circuits—"a multi-billion-dollar industry," h e says. With this technology, you could

have "a powerful computer on a single 'quantum' semiconductor chip."

Tech physicist Dr. Uzi Landman's work with colleague Dr. David Luedtke in molecular modeling has made them recognized leaders in the field. Using a Cray supercomputer, they have produced computer-simulated "videos" of atomic interaction showing h o w a scanning-tunneling microscope can induce gold atoms to "jump"

Tech scientists have made the world's first magnetic microinductor and magnetic micromotor— gargantuan micromachines on an atomic scale, but a major step in the "small" direction.

Small Advances

By John Toon A new electron-assisted A new etching technique may offer breakthroughs in the next wave of microelectronics development

'••

LM etching technique JL J L underdevelopment at Georgia Tech may permit routine fabrication of naiK tmeter-scale electronic devices without the surface damage caused by existing etching systems, says Dr. I LP. Gillis, associate professor of chemistry at Georgia Tech.

"The impact on the microelectronics industry is tied to the ultimate impact of these devices, which will be quite important in the future."

Nanometer-scale devices boasting features a thousand times smaller than current circuits will fuel the next wave of development in the

microelectronics industry, The technology, will also be

important for electro optic devices, Optica] processing and radiation detectors.

36

GEORGIA TECH • Slimmer 1993

Gonventional ion-beam etching processes used to fabricate the tiny structures can damage their surfaces, altering optical and electronic properties and potentially limiting how the resulting devices can be used.

Because of their mass and high levels of kinetic energy,

the ion particles can disrupt the sensitive crystalline stun lure of the semiconductor surface and introduce unwanted materials.

The (ieorgia Tech process, however, uses lowenergy electrons in combination with reactive hydrogen gas to cut the required electronic features through the patterning process.

Because the electrons are lighter and carry less energy, the technique does not damage the semiconductor surface.

"We deliver simultaneously a beam of lowenergy electrons and a

beam of reactive molecules," Gillis explains, "These two species come together at the surface and the electrons stimulate the chemistry Itetween the reactive beam and the surface. The reaction happens only at locations where both the electron beam and the reactive gas arrive."

Gillis estimates that at least two more years of work would be required to produce a practical process which could be used routinely. While he does not expect the electron-assisted technique to replace conventional etching for the current generation of semiconductor devices, he believes it represents an alternative fabrication method for future generations of nanometer-settle devices. • John Toon is a writer with the (ieorgia 'lech Research Institute.

across nanometers of space to coat a probe.

These videos help scientists understand friction forces between unlubricated metals.

Tech physicist Uzi Landman and colleagues have produced computersimulated videos of atomic interaction that help scientists understand friction between metals.

icromachines and M Mcromotors

E

lectrical engineering professor Dr. Mark Allen is putting together some pretty impressive work of his own. Inside the MRC's futuristic clean-room, he is hard at work fashioning micromachines, microacruators and micromotors.

Allen's biggest challenges involve merging

the mechanical microstmctures with microcircuitry, developing new fabrication processes and developing new materials to advance the state of the art: Allen, working with PhD graduate students Chong Ahn and Yong Kim, has made the world's first magnetic microinductor and magnetic micromotor. Previous micromachines used electrostatic energy, but magnetic micromotors hold the potential to be much stronger, more durable, and more versatile. Allen stresses that what he is doing is not nanotechnology in the strictest senseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; his micromachines are still gargantuan on an atomic scale. However, it is a major step in the "small" direction.

Also at the Microelectronics Research Center, Dr. Kevin Martin and PhD candidate M.

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ The Big World of Small

37

V/A/r A J MA^M/A/uTi i ftf/A/K. A. Maldonado use a technique called electron-beam lithography to cut and fashion nanoscale devices. Examples of devices they have fabricated include the world's smallest

World's Tiniest Buzz No bigger than the diameter of a human hair, "nanoBuzz" was drawn by Dr. Kevin Martin of Georgia Tech's Microelectronics Research Center. He started with a silicon wafer and coated it with an ultra-thin layer of polymer film similar in makeup to plexiglass.

The next step was to bake the piece.

On a microscopic level, the wafer surface was covered

with a spaghetti-like tangle of irregularly placed molecular chains. A beam of energetic electrons was focused on the Wafer, where it cut the molecular chains as it was drawn across the film surface. A special developing solution eliminated all of the shorter polymer chains, leaving a tracing of the electron beam's path.

38

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Slimmer 1993

picture of Buzz, drawn with lines only a few nanometers wide; one-dimensional quantum wires for carrying electrons; zero-dimensional quantum dots; and electron turnstiles.

Martin and his associates do much of their work in the center's clean-room fabrication complex. In the same facility, Dr. Paul Kohl and PhD candidate Kirkland Voght of the School of Chemical Engineering use a process called chemical-vapor deposition to improve integrated circuits and semiconductors used in computers and electronics.

Work on nanotechnology is steadily progressing at other universities and laboratories in the U.S. The University of California at Berkeley and the National Nanofabrication Facility at Cornell are leading the way in developing many new techniques. Scientists at the University of California-Irvine have fabricated a battery only one-100th the size of a red blood cell. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Julius Revek Jr. has fashioned a molecule that can self-replicate, or copy itself.

Du Pont scientists have designed a protein that can fold predictably. The world is getting smaller and smaller.

Japan's Small Priority

J

apan, however, has embarked upon a national effort that dwarfs anything seen in the United States. According to the journal Nature, "Nanotechnology...seems to become Japan's next priority target for industrial research."

teAi^y,

$M AH-/

If the United States fails to pursue aggressively its research in nanotechnology, it could become a pauper in the new technological order.

L

v

Japanese government and industry have teamed together to fund a number of nanotechnology projects through the Exploratory Research in Advanced Technology (ERATO) program. The program funds groups of 15 to 20 researchers with up to $3 million per year to work on efforts such as: • The Yoshida Nanomechanism Project, which is focused on furthering microengineering technology.

• The Aono Atomcraft Project, which explores ways to move and bond atoms to create new materials.

• The Hotani Molecular Dynamics Assembly Project, which is concerned with molecular self-assembly and production of "intelligent" materials.

The Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry encourages similar efforts at universities and research centers across the

country. Kyoto University now has a Department of Molecular Engineering, and Tokyo Tech is tackling nanoscience through its recently restructured interdisciplinary programs.

The bottom line is that if the U. S. fails to pursue aggressively its own lines of research in nanotechnology, it could very well become a pauper in the technological New World Order.

rophet and E Pitfalls

D

r. K. Eric Drexler of Stanford University has been a leading proponent and prophet of this new science. "Nanotech-

Dr. Kevin Martin, left, and Dr. Richard Higgins, director of the Microelectronics Research Center, confer in the "clean room" fabrication complex of the center. There are several sophisticated processes in which materials are engineered on the atomic level. One such process, called electron-beam lithography, was used by Martin to draw a picture of Buzz with a line only a few nanometers wide (opposite page).

GEORG1A TECH • The Big World of Small

39

The future of nanotechnology is practically uncharted Its most predictable accomplishments promise to be incredible. And the "science fiction" forecasts may someday prove more accurate.

nology will mean ... thorough and inexpensive control of matter," he says. Drexler envisions factories of nanomachines building everything from computers to cars, houses, roads and subway tunnels. In medicine, tiny nanorobots may be able to perform "closedheart surgery" and other procedures without incisions. "Cellular surgery" may become the ultimate solution in the fight against the viruses and bacteria that are rapidly adapting to resist today's treatments.

Nanotechnology will even be able to "build up and restructure tissue" and "eliminate viruses from the body," he says. "Even missing teeth could be regrown."

Skeptical? Yon-have- plenty of-company.

Even though nanotechnology of some sort seems destined to become reality, Drexler goes too far for many of his colleagues.

"It's difficult to imagine. Somehow, I can't see it," says Georgia Tech's Martin of Drexler's radical predictions. Drexler is "overly optimistic," agrees Dr. Mark Allen, "but you never know." â&#x20AC;˘ Christopher Stanard, IE '90, MS IE 92. is a process technician with Michelin in Greenville, S.C. He researched nanotechnology as part of his master's work in technology assessment.

AVMttolilliput The images below, among the smallest ever entirely at Tech, the instrument is the only one of its kind in the world capable of BITM measurements at liquid helium Tech's scanning tunneling microscope (STM)/ballastic electron emission micro- temperature (4.2K). The low temperatures sccpe (BTTM). Designed and constructed allow unprecedented energy resolution. recorded, were obtained with Georgia

ABOVE: A graphite basal plane in which individual carbon atoms appear as bumps.

ABOVE RIGHT: A carbon replica grating, shown it in detail one million times larger than

A 40

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Summer 1993

a single carbon atom image. Such extreme manipulation of atomic-size material offers great potential in many fields, from genetic engineering to atomic-waste disposal.

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A Breath of Fresh Air In the race for clean-burning auto fuels, the winner will be the planet

By Gary Goettling

T

he first things to disappear were free highway maps. Then it was the gratuitous oil check and windshield wash.

The next thing to depart from gas stations will likely beâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;gasoline.

Political and environmental pressures to clean up the air are forcing automakers and fuel suppliers to develop new clean-burning transportation fuels that would drastically reduce tailpipe emissions of hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide.

"About 150 million Americans live in urban areas that consistently violate Federal airquality standards," says Wayne Parker, IMGT 74, co-founder and general manager of the Clean Air Vehicle Association. "Despite tougher emissions requirements, the increasing use of cars and trucks has resulted in more air pollution. With over one-half billion vehicles operating worldwide, the planet's atmosphere is choking on the exhaust of gasoline and diesel fuels. As a result, the federal government has mandated a phasedin switch to clean-air fuels."

The Clean Air Vehicle Association is based in Atlanta, one of 20 U.S. cities currently violating the maximum limits of ground-level ozone concentration. The year-old non-profit group promotes the use of alternative fuels as a means of protecting air quality while reducing dependence on overseas oil.

The umbrella term of alternative fuels includes compressed natural gas, methanol, propane and alcohol/gasoline blends. Electricity is also considered a gasoline alternative, but persistent (and, some

42

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Summer 1993

To demonstrate propane's compatibility with various automotive engines, this 1929 Ford roadster was modified to run on the fueL Propane, the most widely used alternative fuel, has powered vehicles for more than 60 years.

would say, underfunded) technical problems have kept practical electric vehicles only a dreamâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;at least for the near term.

The appeal for automakers and suppliers of fuels such as natural gas and propane is based on the here-and-now. All are currently available in large quantities, and work with existing automotive technology with only minor modifications. Conversion costs run anywhere from $1,500 to $3,500 per vehicle, and typically involve a new carburation device and fuel tank, line and instrumentation.

The selling points for the public are that clean fuels are cheaper than gasoline, vehicle maintenance costs are lower, and there is no appreciable reduction in driving performance.

A major drawback for the motoring public is availability at the retail level. Amoco, the most active big-oil company behind the clean-fuel effort, has two retail stations in Atlanta selling compressed natural gas, although a company spokesman says that five more will be opened this year.

Safety is also a concern. Alcohol fuels are more toxic and corrosive than gasoline, but the other alternatives may actually be safer than gasoline. Steel tanks for natural gas and propane must meet certain structural criteria, and in fact can enhance the structural integrity of a vehicle.

Propane is the most widely used alternative fuel in the U.S., powering about 350,000 vehicles. And although natural gas is a distant second with 30,000. it is well positioned to become the primary alternative fuel of the future.

The main reasons: oil com-

/â&#x20AC;˘! <"- G o r n x i y ; xn vm.

panies and utility companies like it, and it costs 25 percent to 40 percent less than gasoline.

But the race is not quite over. Detroit's Big Three automakers have each developed dedicated fuel vehicles as well as so-called flexible-fuel models that can operate on both gasoline and another fuel, usually methanol.

Some industry observers, citing the difficult

Ford Motor Co. is marketing a Crown Victoria that runs on compressed natural gas. The car is intended primarily for fleet use.

engineering challenges involved, say that flexible-fuel cars represent more the hedging on a specific alternative by automakers rather than a practical optionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a half-step rather than a leap forward. In addition, the Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988 provides incentives to car manufacturers that make cleanfueled vehicles that do not run on diesel or gasoline.

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Alternative Fuels

43

B

ut when evaluating clean fuels, "there may be no single winner," Parker says.

"In time, we may find our choices for fuel to be almost as broad as our choices in soft drinks."

That diversity was apparent at a recent Clean Air Vehicle Exposition in Atlanta sponsored by CAVA. Dozens of cars and trucks were on display including a 1992 Ford Crown Victoria powered by compressed natural gas, a 1929 Propane-fueled roadster, a solar motor scooter and a Ford EcoStar—an electric panel truck the company says it will test in Europe next year.

Georgia Tech's contribution was a propane-powered pickup truck, one of seven converted for the Physical Plant. Transportation superintendent Jerry Turnbull hopes to expand the propane fleet to 50 vehicles over the next three years.

"We wanted to have clean-burning vehicles ready for the Olympics," says Turnbull, who reports that he has had fewer oil and spark-plug changes with the propane trucks, and is generally very satisfied with their performance.

The Olympics also provide a handy marker for a metro-wide effort to convert to clean fuels.

"The future is now for alternative fuels," says Jeff Rader, MS CP '87, chairman of CleanAir Transportation—Atlanta, a coalition of government and business that is working with the Department of Energy in its first alternative-fuels demonstration project.

"What this program will do is remove any doubt in the public's mind that alternativefuel vehicles work and work well," Rader says. "At the same time, it will create a demand for the infrastructure such as refueling stations and mechanics, that are vitally necessary to overcome reluctance to purchase alternative-fueled vehicles."

Rader's group plans a campaign urging major purchasers in government and industry to purchase alternativefuel vehicles, or convert existing fleets. An offshoot of the effort-will P7

44

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

Alabama scientist Ed Passerini constructed Ids solar-powered SunLighter with offthe-shelf materials; even the photoelectric panels covering the car are readily available, he says.

be the public's increased awareness c >f clean fuels. The overall goal is to have 10,000 alternative-fuel vehicles operating in the metro area by 1996.

"In 1996, Atlanta will be a showcase for the world," says Rader. "If we are successful in this effort, this showcase will include the world's largest urban concentration < >f pollution-free vehicles."

If this push for alternative fuels seems imbued with a sense of urgency, you can thank Congress for getting the wheels rolling.

Virtually unnoticed by the press and public, the 1990 Clean Air Act provides thai centrally fueled fleets of 10 or more vehicles must meet stringent low-emission standards in serious ozone non-attainment areas, and must start to purchase clean-fuel vehicles by 1998.

By the year 2000, 70 percent of all newly purchased light- and medium-duty vehicles must operate on clean fuels.

The federal legislation also allows states to set their own emission standards. Smogbound California quickly seized the initiative and has adopted a program requiring manufacturers to produce—and sell—a rising percentage of vehicles meeting increasingly rigorous requirements over the next 10 years. At least 14 other states have adopted some aspects of the California model.

The most interesting aspect of the California plan requires that by 1998, two percent of all vehicles sold produce zero emissions. That figure escalates to 10 percent by the year 2003- And only one kind of vehicle produces no tailpipe emissions. In fact, it has no tailpipe.

"Eventually, whether it's 10 years from now or 30 years from now, we'll have a battery and a charging system that will give you the 200- to 300-mile range that yon have with a gasoline vehicle," says Mark Zweeker, IE 73, president of EPTI, a battery research and development firm, and a former director of the Georgia Office of Energy Resources. Most of the re* search and develop-

19ESE&

GARY MEEK PHi

ment money is channeled into building a better battery, he adds, but only a small amount inter finding a better way to charge them. His company is involved in the latter activity.

Z

wecker conceeds that even a nation of electric cars will not be completely free from environmental concerns. "Electricity is a fossil fuel in that when you burn electricity, you are in essence burning coal, and a smaller amount of nuclear energy." But he adds that sophisticated air-pollution control

Amoco Oil Co.'s service station in east Atlanta was one of the first in the city to offer compressed natural gas to the public. The company plans to have seven such outlets in the metro area this year.

equipment at large, central coal-burning generators would provide the additional electricity needed "without causing tremendous impacts on the environment."

Dr. Michael Meyer, director of Georgia Tech's Transportation Research and Education Center, agrees that electric vehicles will become commonplace, "certainly in the next 20-25 years."

The various alternative fuels actually represent "a transition phase to the electric vehicle," says Meyer, noting that the gasoline alternatives also possess potential drawbacks of their own in terms of environmental impact, availability and cost. "Are we taking a risk of replacing one form of pollution with another form of pollution?" he asks. "There is some research that has to be done on some of these differently fueled vehicles to see what it is we're really getting ourselves into."

But Meyer doesn't completely write off alternative fuels, and envisions two kinds of motor vehicles designed for different travel needs. "You would have a family car for longer trips that would either be fossil-fuel based or some other fuel based, and one for commuter-type trips" that could be electric.

An intriguing possibility for the commuter car of the future was also on display at the CAVA exposition. Parked off by itself, looking very much out of place among the automotive muscle dominating the room was a boxy, three-wheeled contraption called the SuriLighter. Covered from front to back with rows of solar cells to charge its pair of batteries, the two-seater has a range of 30 miles, according to its creator, Ed Passerini. A professor at the University of Alabama, Passerini drives to work in the car, and says it can hold its own in traffic at a top speed of 45 mph.

With an engaging, low-key intensity, Passerini describes his SuriLighter as the most economical and environmentally friendly vehicle possible with current technology.

His hope and conviction is that one day America's highways will be filled with thousands of solar cars. His fear is that they will be made in Japan. â&#x20AC;˘

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Alternative Fuels

45

F/

WRITTEN BY GARY GOETTLING PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY MEEK 46

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Summer 1993

ABOVE: Georgia Tech student Steve Marzec machines a part for the team's electric car while Brian Cox, EE '90 (left) and Lucas Grote confer about vehicle performance data.

RIGHT: last-minute problems kept them out of the race, but Tech's Andy Sheiley, Grote and Marzac are ready to compete in next year's Grand Prix.

Hear Those Mighty Engines Purr?

T

he scene at Atlanta Motor Speedway on May 15 could have been just another stock-car race. But when the starter's flag went down, something was missing: there was no mighty plume of smoke, no 'whining gears, no primal engine roar.

In fact, none of the vehicles had an internal combustion engine. They were electric, and they were out to make a point.

"We have to face the fact that petro-

Lucas Grote sands the car to prepare for the primer coat Most of the students' time was spent fixing up the VW Rabbit to make it road-worthy.

TOP: Grote checks connections on the lead-acid batteries used to power the Tech car. The team used 20 six-volt, high-density batteries that recharges in 12 hours.

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Alternative Fuels

47

environmental costs from the tremendous amount of pollution cars generate, and political costs because most of the world's oil is in a politically unstable region."

The Clean Air Grand Prix was part of a three-day exposition sponsored by

CAVA to highlight the feasibility of alternative fuels, including electricity.

The Grand Prix involved student teams from 11 Southeastern universities who had converted similar stock-compacts to electric power. Most of the hardware, including the cars,

P /

48

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

was donated expressly for the event.

The students had similar controllers and 20 hp electric motors, with greater flexibility in battery configurations. The event featured competitions to test energy efficiency, acceleration, endurance, range and

workmanship. The vehicles also raced on the speedway's high-banked oval and one-mile infield courses. The Grand Prix was the first such competition ever held in the region, says Parker, who would like for the race to become an annual event.

Muscle power pushes Clemson's entry to the starting line of the Clean Air Grand Prix. The 17-members of Clemson's Alternative Automotive Technologies group prepared the electric vehicle as part of their mechanical engineering senior design course. In the end, their work wasn't quite enough. The Tiger vehicle came in second to the University of Central Florida, whose car won overall honors and the $2,000 top prize.

A group of / » (

£ \ Tech students gained their first experience with electric cars by converting a Volkswagen Rabbit for the race.

Unfortunately, late technical difficulties forced the team to watch from the

sidelines.

The University of Central Fl( )rida won overall honors and claimed the $2,000 top prize.

i

Tech, Fort Valley State College, Duke and Alcorn State.

"We were a couple of hours short of working out the problems," laments Tech team

That group was followed by. in order, Clemson, Daytona Community College, Kentucky Advanced Technology Center, Ken-

D.

gree in mechanical engineering.

tucky-Tech, Berea College; Louisiana

leader Brian Cox, EE '90, who is working on a bachelor's de-

But the glitches have been fixed, he adds, and the Tech group has a roadworthy electric vehicle that reaches 55 mph—a good head start for Clean Air Grand Prix II. "Next year," says Cox. "Definitely." •

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Truck-Stop Entrepreneur

By John Dunn

T

he clays of the truck stop are numbered, says Lamar J. Perils, a 1949 industrial engineer whose entrepreneurial bend led him into the truck-stop business. The services provided by truck stops are not going to end, he explains, but the industry is undergoing a transformation.

In 1971. at age 46, Perils founded Pedis Truckstop along the asphalt ribbon of Interstate-~5 that passes by Cordele, Ga. A few years later, Pedis entered the Harvard Business School's Small Company Management Program, now the Owner-Management Program, and the truck stop, employing 160 people, became a Harvard Business School case study.

"The truck stop is a market niche," observes Pedis, past chairman of the National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO). "Its almost a misnomer. Today they're family-owned businesses."

Pedis says the modern truck stop is a multi-faceted business that not only caters to refueling diesel trucks and passenger cars, but often includes a restaurant, retail store, repair shop and motel. One truck stop even has a chiropractor's office located on the premises.

Truck stops owned by Tech grad Lamar Pedis have been trend-setters in a stereotyped industry.

GEORGIA TECH • Pacesetters: Pedis

51

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NATSO is considering changing its name to the National Association of Travel Centers, and Perlis is an ardent proponent of the change.

The modern truck stops will become, Perlis says, "shopping centers related to highway needs, appealing to every kind of motorist in an atmosphere that is compatible to all."

With his self-control and compact stature, Perlis defies the stereotypical image of a burly truck-stop operator. In May, he returned to Georgia Tech as a visiting professor and spoke to a group of students about entrepreneurship.

L

amar Perlis had his academic career internipted by World War II. He served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force and graduated two years later than his younger brother, Louis, IE '47. As a student, he was in the band, glee club and Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity. As an alumnus, Perlis has served on the President's Scholarship Committee.

"I grew up in what I would call an entrepreneurial family," Perlis said.

"We were basically country retail merchants." During the war, his mother rented out half of their home and his father acquired a factory that manufactured trousers for the military.

After the war, Perlis married and began devel-

"Entrepreneurs tendtoturn on a dime.

When we look at something, if we like it, we try it" oping a small shopping center in Cordele while helping manage the retail operation. The success of the shopping-center venture led to others. In the 1960s, he became intrigued with the possibilities of the truck-stop business. On a trip to Florida, he and his wife, Jackie, decided to start their own.

"An entrepreneur bets the farm on every deal that he makes," Perlis says.

"There's never enough money; there are never adequate resources. Those who cross the threshold and establish sophisticated management companies use all of the same managerial skills you develop at Tech. What I am saying to a large degree would suggest that I don't ascribe to the business teachings at Tech and Harvard. But I will tell you that a degree from an institution alone doesn't guarantee you success. If you ask me what one skill I would like, I would call it common sense. But the discipline that an education gives you is very great."

Perlis reflects that he entered the shopping-center development business

at the right time, and his timing for the truck-stop business proved to be right.

"Now the truck-stop industry has matured, just like the shopping-center business has matured," Perlis says. "Both of these industries are quite crowded; it's not an invitation to wealth."

While Perlis has the advantage of being established, he notes there is another side. "You can be established and be outmoded, losing business to more aggressive and larger companies. A larger corporation will do a market study and take a much more formal approach. Entrepreneurs tend to turn on a dime. When we look at something, if we like it, we try it. We had three truck stops, we have two now.

But a friend of mine who came along in the same era has about 30 and is considered the most successful in the business."

T

he Perlis brothers have been partners in a small chain of South Georgia retail stores, a real estate company, the shopping-center development company, the truckstop company, and a truck-parts business with a half-dozen South Georgia locations. At one time they had approximately 600 employees. The shoppingcenter operation was sold several years ago to a New

York stock-exchange firm.

Now the Perlis company has approximately 270 employees. The flagship truck stop in Cordele has approximately 150 employees and a weekly payroll of $26,000. Another truck stop in Cusseta, Ala., has approximately 75 employees.

When he hires someone, Perlis said, talent and experience are not the primary criteria. "We hire a lot of people who are starting out in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the cooks and the dishwashers and the fuel-island people.

But we look, not for experience as we once did, and not for the grand personality as we once did, but for the decency of the human being.

"I'm a control-type person," Perlis observes.

"What success I've had comes more from direct control than absentee. But in contradiction to my hands-on management style, the truck-parts business has almost no handson management from me, and neither does the truck stop in Cusseta.

"Where we have good people, we have success.

That has been a lifetime lesson for me," Perlis says.

"You can control physical things, but you cannot control human beings. You can help them develop, you can work with them, but you don't manacle them, and you don't control them." â&#x20AC;˘

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Pacesetters: Perils

53

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Research The Real Ozone Villain

E

fforts to control ozone in U.S. cities should focus on controlling nitrogen oxides, not man-made hydrocarbons, according to Dr. William Chameides, director of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech.

Analysis of atmospheric chemistry in urban, rural, tropical and unpolluted marine environments has found that elevated concentrations of ozone are associated with high levels of nitrogen oxides, explains Chameides.

Ozone forms in the atmosphere through a chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon compounds in the presence of sunlight. There are many different sources for the two types of compounds, but both types must be present before ozone can be created.

Scientists once believed they could ignore the presence of naturally produced hydrocarbons because they account for only a few percent of the hydrocarbons measured in a typical urban area. But laboratory studies of the biogenic compounds have since shown them to be much more reactive than their man-made cousinsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; so reactive that they actually account for more than 30 percent of the ozone-

forming chemical reactions in some urban areas.

This means, Chameides says, that even if all human-made hydrocarbons could be eliminated through tough air-pollution controls, enough biogenic compounds would remain to carry out the reaction that forms ozone.

The research studied actual air-chemistry mea-

surements in urban areas> such as Atlanta, Los Angeles, Detroit, Columbus and Baton Rouge; rural areas in Georgia and Pennsylvania; tropical rain forests in Brazil, and pristine environments in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

"The total hydrocarbon reactivity measured in all four areas is not essentially the same," Chameides

says. "However, the nitrogen-oxide concentrations increased by several orders of magnitude from the tropical and marine environments to the urban areas. This suggests that what is causing the ozone to be increasingly higher is not an increase in hydrocarbons, but the increase in nitrogen oxides."

Chameides argues that the current strategy, which costs an estimated $30 billion a year to implement, now needs revision.

"We have the technology to reduce nitrogen oxide levels, and we could change our patterns of fuel burning," he says.

Both hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides are formed by the burning of fuel in automobiles. Fossil-fuel burning facilities such as power plants also produce nitrogen oxides.

Bonding High-Speed Chips

T Dr. Paul Kohl, professor of chemical engineering, foreground, and graduate student Kirk Vogt, say a thin film of titanium oxide serves as an adhesive, bonding layers of integrated circuit materials together.

itanium, a lightweight metal best known for its use in advanced aircraft, has the capability of bonding groups of integrated circuits into multichip modules that could result in smaller and faster computer components.

Georgia Tech researchers say that a thin film of

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Research

55

Research

titanium oxide serves as an adhesive that helps bond electronic materials in an integrated circuit.

"This process may be of substantial value in integrated circuit and multichip module technology," says Dr. Paul A. Kohl, professor of chemical engineering. It could allow engineers to replace aluminum on integrated circuits with more conductive material such as copper, gold or silver, he said.

Although gold and silver are better conductors than aluminum, they do not form stable oxides and are more difficult to use in layering circuits. Kohl and graduate smdent Kirkland W. Vogt believe they have solved the problem by depositing a thin film of titanium metal on gold conducting films. The titanium adheres to the gold and forms an insulating oxide upon which researchers can build layers of silicon dioxide or polymers.

"It's a simple one-step process that allows us to switch back and forth between insulators and metals at will without having to worry about adhesion for each," says Kohl. "In our work with multichip modules, we use this exclusively to get adhesion.

It's a kind of universal adhesion layer for us."

Multichip modules will allow the miniaturization of computer components by allowing several inte-

grated circuits to be placed into a single package in the space normally required for just one circuit.

"This can replace several packages of chips inside a computer," Kohl explains. "All the interconnection is provided on the base material, so you end up with a very dense array of circuits."

Engineers would like to use the higher-conductivity metals to increase the speed of the circuits and to reduce the current they •must carry. Because the chips are closer together, the electrons carrying signals have less distance to travel, which adds speed to computing work.

Going with the Flow: The Best in Traffic Control A computer program IJk originally developed JL J L to help military pilots deal with enemy threats is now being used to ease a form of civilian combat—traffic congestion at major sporting events.

Computer scientists at GTRI have adapted a software program created for military operations to traffic control. The program, called TERMINUS, senses traffic conditions and regulates the operation of signal lights to optimize the flow of vehicles on city streets.

The initial application for

Getting to and away from a sports stadium parking area may be easier for Tech graduate smdent Khalid Elibiary—and everyone else—in the future, thanks to a new GTRI computer program.

the system simulates traffic conditions at AtlantaFulton County Stadium, home of the Atlanta Braves.

The system also incorporates the Georgia Dome and the Omni in preparing to control traffic during the 1996 Olympic Games.

The program displays an animated color map of streets, parking lots and traffic conditions in potential problem areas, and even provides a computergenerated sound of crashing vehicles to alert operators to traffic accidents. In addition to the network of streets and parking lots, the system's high-resolution color monitor shows the number of cars in each parking lot and each segment of roadway in the stadium area.

TERMINUS, which stands for Traffic Event Response and Management for Intelligent Navigation Utilizing Signals, simulates the flow of traffic in the stadium area by representing each intersection as a neuron, and each street segment between intersec-

tions as a neural interconnection.

Traditional serial computers operate in a sequential fashion: disrupting one link of a long chain threatens the performance of an entire operation. In neural networks, information neurons share data and function in parallel.

Communication Key to Robot Teamwork

T

he ways that animal societies such as army ants, birds and fish communicate are being studied by Tech researchers for the purpose of enhancing interaction among teams of robots.

"Our goal is to create a foundation theory that specifies, for a given task, the most reliable, efficient and robust means of interaction among a number of robots," explains Dr. Ron Arkin, professor of computer science, whose work is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Continued on page 59.

56

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

"The economy maybe coming back. But we're still staffed for a recession!'

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Research Researchers study ways to get robots to interact for greater efficiency when changes occur in environments.

Arkin's project, a computer simulation that demonstrates that simple communication among a group of robots can significantly improve their efficiency, was among the presentations at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation held May 2 -6 in Atlanta.

An estimated 700 international researchers from academia attended the event, which general chair Dr. Wayne Book of Georgia Tech called the premier research conference in robotics.

While multiple robots currently work together in predictable situations, such as automated guide vehicles that transport parts to other robots for assembly, Arkin and his colleagues are examining environments that are unknown or that change frequently, such as a mining operation involving human and vehicle traffic.

Cooperation among robots results despite lack of communication when one robot recruits others by bringing the target into their sensory fields. But in trials when robots are programmed to communicate, the simulated robots do so by broadcasting their "state"—one of three highlevel behavioral activities

PhD student Tucker Balch demonstrates a simulation of robotic teamwork.

they are involved in—to other robots. Companion robots in a wandering state listen to find the nearest robot that has spotted or retrieved a target. The wandering robot changes its behavior, making the successful robot its goal.

When it is sufficiently close to the target, that becomes its objective, and the robot joins in the task at hand.

"This is a minimal form of communication and is used only to make foraging more efficient," Arkin says. "It keeps the robots from wandering too far away from the others and the goals. That, in turn, increases the potentials for cooperation and speeding up the task completion."

Arkin adds, "Efficient behavior is obtained with communication, since we trade the random wandering for actual work."

XSPICE: Simulated Circuits and the license Is No Cost A software package Z A developed at Georgia JL J L Tech for simulating circuits and higher-level electronic systems is available to users at a no-cost license. Known as XSPICE, the program can also b e used to simulate the operation of some non-electronic systems.

"XSPICE provides very powerful analog simulation at the circuit-card level as well as being useful for system-level simulation," says Fred L. Cox, senior research scientist with GTRT. "It is especially appropriate w h e n you want to mix system-level simulation with analog simulation."

Introduced in 1992, XSPICE is an extended and

enhanced version of the popular SPICE analog-circuit simulation program developed at the University of California at Berkeley. XSPICE permits users to simulate analog, digital and even non-electronic designs from the circuit level through the system level in a single simulator.

XSPICE is available for UNIX workstations and is supplied in source code form; it also has b e e n used on HP/Apollo and Sun workstations. The XSPICE simulator and user's manual are available with a cost-free license arrangement for a distribution charge of $200.

For further information, contact the Office of Technology Licensing, Georgia Tech Research Corp., 400 Tenth Street, Atlanta, GA 30332-0415; (404)894-6287.

•

GEORGIA TECH • Research 59

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1 A Friendly Revolution ByJohnLXinn A primary goal of Dr. Z A James D. Foley, JL J L director of the Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center in the College of Computing, is making a computer as in-

dispensable, and every bit as friendly, as a telephone.

But Foley is not talking about making computers more friendly just for computer buffs or for an office environment. He's talking about making computers friendly for everyone.

The Foley File Born—July 20, 1942, in Palmerton, Pa, Education—BS, electrical engineering, Lehigh University, 1964; MS, electrical engineering, 1965; PhD, computer, Information and control engineering, University of Michigan, 1969.

Outlook—"Georgia lech is an institution . . . . poised for success. It has very exciting opportunities to move into the new Information age and the new age of electronically based information. It is an exciting, dynamic environment."

Professional Interests—Research includes interactive computer graphics, human factors of usercomputer interface, user-interface software tools, scientific data visualization and multimedia interlaces. For five years, he has focused his efforts on building the User-Interface Design Environment.

Achievements—IFFF Fellow, for contributions to computer graphics; National Computer Graphics Association 1991 Academic Award; editor-in-chief, ACM Transactions on Graphics, 1991-present; coauthor. Introduction to Computer Graphics t 199.5), Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, (1990) and Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics (1982).

Leisure Interests—Skiing', sailing, and "puttering" in the garden, Participates in Tech's fitness program.

Persons Most Admired—Professor John Karakash. head of electrical engineering at Lehigh and later clean of engineering, who is still active in his 80s as a mentor of students and researcher.

President Jimmy Carter for his post-presidential Involvement in significant causes.

62

GEORGIA TECH • Summer 1993

"We technologists cannot assume that everyone is going to be as computersophisticated as we are," he emphasizes. "If we make that assumption, we are going to limit what can be done with computers.

"The whole history of technology is that we don't keep doing business as usual. We evolutionize, and every now and then, we revolutionize. I'm talking about a revolution."

Foley is tall and relaxed, with an affable manner that is, well, friendly. He is seated in his office and on the bookshelf behind him are photographs of his family—his wife, Marylou, president of a travel company in Washington, D.C., and his two daughters: Heather, who works with her mother, plans to pursue a master's degree in business administration; and Jennifer, a sophomore at Vanderbilt University, who is taking a leave from her studies next year to participate in a wilderness expedition with the National Outdoor Leadership School. Behind his wireframed glasses, Foley's eyes are sincere. The revolution is real.

Nonetheless, just how friendly can a computer be?

F

l oley would like them to be on speaking terms, literally; to shoulder a lot more of the

work; and to be a great deal more accommodating in providing information.

And, while they're at it, how about a little showmanship?

If a student is researching President Dwight Eisenhower's cabinet, for example, Foley says the student should be able verbally to ask the c< miputer to "tell me about Eisenhower's cabinet." And when that happens, it should be show time.

From data bases around the country, the computer retrieves and organizes information about President Eisenhower and his cabinet. Using expert system techniques derived from artificial intelligence and principles of graphic design, the computer arranges the information for an aesthetically pleasing presentation.

On the same basis, Foley says, a businessman might tell the computer to show the relationship between sales for the past four quarters, corporate productivity for the past four quarters and the firm's inventory levels.

"The computer goes into the corporate data base, pulls out the information and visually, graphically portrays the information. Bang! There's the graph.

"This is user-friendliness taken to the next level—I

GARY MRKK I'HOTO

Georgia Teclvs Foley: Attempting to create an advanced user-friendly "learning envfromnent" in computer technology.

specify my objectives and let the computer figure out how to satisfy them."

Another project would take computer-generated animation to a new plateau. "I want a computergenerated animation of someone to walk in a door, circle around a coffee table and sit down in a chair. As a computer animator, I would like to simply say that and have the computer do the path and motion planning. All the detailed behavior is calculated by the computer."

Such a breakthrough could cut the time required for animated productions from months and years to hours and minutes.

Animation combined with a computer capable of reacting to verbal instructions would create opportunities that Foley sees as a whole new

"learning environment in a computer-generated environment." In learning a foreign language, French, for example, a person could interact with a realistic computer-generated animated Frenchman in a marketplace.

"You'll have a dialogue," Foley suggests. "I would like to buy some tomatoes. This simulated person picks up the tomatoes and shows them to you. Of course, if you said the word you thought meant tomato, but really meant potato, you would see him picking up potatoes instead."

One of the primary appeals of the GVU Center is its interdisciplinary focus, says Foley, former chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at George Washington Uni-

how to convey information versity. The center has 30 faculty members and more to people," Foley says. "It than 100 graduate students broadened my interest beyond the computer-graphfrom a cross-section of ics technology of how to campus disciplines. make realistic pictures to "Only about one-third of our faculty members are ' what the graphics images are used for and how to from the College of Comeffectively convey the inputing," Foley says. "Conformation. tinuing the momentum of interdisciplinary research is "That's really what it is absolutely essential. You about. How do you take can no longer look at a this great technology and single technology in isolaget it into the hands of tion. It is a question of people so that people can how it fits with other techdo useful things with it? nologies.

"Computers are full of "For us to be successful information," Foley obas a center, we must focus serves. "Our ability to get on taking the technology at that information has not and taking what we know been increasing at nearly about how people think, the rate at which the work and operate, and amount of information, or putting those together in a the complexity of informasingle lab. tion, has been increasing.

After receiving his PhD, But the number of instrucFoley taught at the Univer- tions per second that comsity of North Carolina. puters can execute keeps "I started thinking about going up tremendously. â&#x20AC;˘

GEORGIA TECH â&#x20AC;˘ Profile: Foley

63

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J o i n us as we enter our second season of providing Georgia Tech and the Atlanta community with the finest performers in the world. Season ticket sales begin July 15. For more season information contact the Theatre Box Office at 404-894-9600.

PILOBOLUS October 22 & 23 Contemporary Dance CANADIAN BRASS November 13 PENN & TELLER November 23 HOLIDAY SING December 3 AMERICAN INDIAN DANCE CO. January 26 & 27 LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA February 22 NYC OPERA NATIONAL CO. Madame Butterfly March 19 KRONOS QUARTET May 2 MASTERWORKS May 15

GEORGIA TECH t THEATREfirTO WHERE TECHNOLOGY MEETS THE ARTS

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