Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Vol. 69, No. 02 1993 by Georgia Tech Alumni Association

FALL 1 9 9 3

The Real View Of Virtual Reality ALSO INSIDE:

Hudiburg on Quality Rehabilitation Technology â€˘ITS vnamicsofCrew

ALUMNI MAG

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They Can Go Just About AnywhereThey Want. Deltaand the Delta Connect ion now offer over 4,900 daily flights to more than 300cities worldwide. We thought you should know this because, with a diploma from Tech,you're undoubtedly going places.

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Apply for a Georgia Tech VisaÂŽ or MasterCard? You'll get all the benefits of a NationsBank credit card. And the Georgia Tech Alumni Association will benefit every time you use your card to make purchases or get cash advances. Georgia Tech gave you a great education. The Georgia Tech Visa or MasterCard is a great way to give something back...at no extra cost, every time you use it. < -.

To apply, just call. 1-800-282-2273, Ext. 505

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Volume 69 Number 2 FALL 1993

A L U M N I I J M AG AZ I NE Page 38

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28 38 48

trgia tech, researchers not only try to define reality, they create it. At Georgia l e d Goettling Written by Gary

The Dynamics of Crew There's a lot of engineering involved when the Yellow Jacket rowers take to the water. Photo essay by Billy Howard and Gary Meek • Written by Gary Goettling

A Man of Quality John J. Hudiburg, EE '51, helped Florida Power & Light re-define customer and employee satisfaction; his enthusiasm for quality led to the creation of a prestigious Baldrige Award. Written byJohn Bninn

Designs of Hope ('icorgia Tech's Center for Rehabilitation Technology offers special products and services for unique situations.

Written by Phyllis Thompson Page 28

Departments

Technotes vv student IDs; Tech's Giving Tradition; Commencement speakers sought; Bioscience complex planned; New name; Fall sting; WRKK marks 25th anniversary.

Research The benefits of kud/.u; X-ray analysis; computers with heart.

Pacesetters High-tech surgeon; carpet-tile entrepreneur.

Profile Dr. John Templar: I lp the Lip Staircase.

Page' Cover Photo: The computer- GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI MAGAZINE generated world seen is published quarterly for Roll Call contributors by the Georgia Tech through a head-mounted Alumni Association. Send correspondence and changes of address to: display represents the GEORGIA Tun ALUMNI MAGAZINE, Alumni/Faculty House, 225 North Avenue trend toward making NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0175 • Editorial; (404) 853-0760/0761 human interaction with Advertising: (404) 894-9270 • Fax: (404) 894-5113 computers more lifelike. STANLEY LMRY PHOIU © 1993 Georgia Tech Alumni Association • ISSN: 1001-9747

GEORGIA TECH • Contents 3

Thank you to the official sponsors John C. Dunn, editor Gary Goettling, associate editor Gary Meek, Stanley Leary photography Everett Hullum, design Dudley Williamson, advetiising

Pubkations 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, Dunwoody, Ga. James M. Langley Vice President External Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta JohnB. Carter Jr., IE '69 Vice President and Executive Director, Georgia Tech Alumni Association, Atlanta Dudley C. Williamson, IMGT 74 Associate Vice President/ Associate Executive Director, Georgia Tech Alumni Association, Atlanta

The Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine is printed on recycled paper.

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

of the

GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI 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

• Marriott Courtyard Midtown Atlanta • 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 • Wyndharn Midtown Hotel

Georgia Tech Alumni Association Board of Trustees Officers G, William Knight IE '62, MS IM '68 president II. Hammond Stithjr. CE '58 past president Frank H. Maier Jr. IM "60 president-elect/treasurer IT. Milton Stewart IE '61 i ice presiden t/acth ities Hubert L. Harris Jr. IM'65 vice president/communications Francis N. Spears CE 73, MS CE '80 vice preside/ it/Roll Call John B. Carter Jr. IE '69 vice president/executive director James M. Langley vice president, external affairs Trustees A.F. Beachamjr. IE'60 William Hagood Bellinger EE '63 Charles G. Betty ChE 79 James W. Bowyer CE '64, MS SANE '66 Richard IT. Bradfield ARCH '60 L. Guydon Branch Mgt 71 Carey H. Brown IE '69 Albert W. Culbreth Jr. IM '68 Fred L. Cook TCH 71, PhD 75

Thomas F. Davenport Jr. IE 'S6 Charles F. Easleyjr. IM '86 Dwight Evans CE 70, MS SANE 73 Janice Carol Harden IE 74 PaulW. 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 IE '83 Jon Samuel Martin IM '64 David M. McKcnney Phys '60. IE '64 Francis B. Mewborn Cls '56 Charles D. Moseley Jr. IE '65 G. David Peake IE '61 Thomas J. Pierce Jr. ChE '6l Linda Poger-Wiiliams CE '81 J. Lamar Reese Jr. IM'55 Neal Allen Robertson IE '69 B. Jane Skellon IM 77 Haywood F. Solomon Jr. IM Hi Louis Terrell Sovey Jr. IE '52 William P. Sovey IE '55 Neal D. Stubblefield ME 79 Harry B. Thompson III IE '60 Rene L. Turner IE '83 Philip S. Vincent IE '66

The Alamo Georgia Tech Alliance Alamo is honored to be the Official Car Rental Company of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association. Members can enjoy $ 10 OFF ANY WEEKLY RENTAL OR A FREE WEEKEND DAY with Alamo's Association Program. And with Alamo, Alumni Association members can always expect unlimited free miles. In addition, you'll receive frequent flyer miles with Alaska, Delta, Hawaiian, United and USAir. Alamo features a fine fleet of General Motors cars and all U.S. locations are company-owned and operated to ensure a uniform standard of quality. As a member, you'll receive other valuable coupons throughout the year that will save you money on each rental. For member reservations call your Professional Travel Agent or Alamo's membership line at 1-800-354-2322. Use Rate Code BY and ID # 372108 when making reservations.

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$10 OFF • Valid for $10 OFF ANY WEEKLY RENTAL on a compact car or above (minimum of 5 and a maximum of 28 days ). • One certificate per rental, not valid with any other offers. Must be presented at the Alamo counler on arrival. Certificate may only be redeemed for the basic rate of the car rental which does not include taxes and other optional items. Once redeemed, this certificate is void. A 24-hour advance reservation is required. Valid on Rate Code BY only. • This certificate and the car rental pursuant to it are subject to Alamo's conditions at time of rental. Valid at Alamo locations in the U.S.A. only. The maximum value of this certificate which may be applied toward the base rate of one rental is $10.00 off. Certificate is not redeemable for cash. • This certificate is null and void if altered, revised or duplicated in any way. • Offer valid through 2/28/94, except 5/27/93-5/30/93, 7/1/93-7/4/93, 7/23/93-8/28/93, 11/24/93-11/27/93,12/16/93-1/1/94 and 2/10/94-2/12/94. For reservations call your Professional Travel Agent or call Alamo's Membership Line at 1-800-354-2322. Must Request Rate Code BY and I.D. #372108 when making reservations.

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ONE FREE WEEKEND DAY NATIONWIDE • Valid for ONE FREE WEEKEND DAY on rentals of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 4 days. Valid on all car types. • ONE FREE WEEKEND DAY valid on rentals when car is picked up after noon on Thursday and relumed by noon on Monday. • One certificate per rental, not valid with any other offers. Must be presented at the Alamo counter on arrival. Certificate may only be redeemed for the basic rate of the car rental which does not include taxes and other optional items. Once redeemed this certificate is void. A 24-hour advance reservation is required. • This certificate and the car rental pursuant to it are subject to Alamo's conditions at time of rental. Valid at locations in the U.S.A. only. • This certificate is null and void if altered, revised or duplicated in any way. • Offer valid through 2/28/94, except 5/27/93-5/30/93, 7/1/93-7/4/93, 7/23/93-8/28/93. 11/24/93-11/27/93,12/16/93-1/1/94 and 2/10/94-2/12/94. For reservations call your Professional Travel Agent or call Alamos Membership Line at 1-800-354-2322. Must Request Rate Code BY and I.D. # 3 7 2 1 08 when making reservations.

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Yellow Jackets get special savings at the Wyndham Midtown Atlanta. For just $69 on weekends and $81 weekdays* you can relive those college days. Only blocks from campus, we offer luxuriously appointed guest rooms and superb service. Popular dining and entertainment. And the state-ofthe-art Midtown Athletic Club. Call now for reservations at (404) 873-4800 or 800 822-4200. As Ramblin' Wrecks from Georgia Tech you get a helluva Windham deal! *Rates are per room, per night, based on availability.

WYNDHAM MIDTOWN ATLANTA A TRAMMELL CROW HOTEL Official sponsor of The Georgia Tech Alumni Association. Peachtree & 10th Streets. N. E.. Atlanta, GA 30309 (404) 873-4800 U.S. 800 822-4200 CANADA 800 631-4200

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TPI iNntPs IDs of a Different Stripe By Gary Goettling

f lis fall, all Georgia Tech students have new identification cards that officials hope will be more convenient, and will also spell the end of forged 11) cards. The new cards bear a magnetic strip encoded with the student's number, a lost-card code and a location code. The cards are read by scanners, and may be also used to gain admitBURDELL, GEORGE PETIT 999-99-9999 PO-39999

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fund-raising drive, says Frank Spears, CE 73, MS CE '80, vice president for Roll Call. Georgia Tech is expanding in many areas— especially in terms of curriculum and the quality of its students—that benefit directly from Roll Call dollars, he says. Such growth "would not be possible without the generosity of the many Tech alumni and friends, who have shown a willingness year-in and year-out to continue their support and loyalty to Georgia Tech." The money is put to good use, Spears points out. Student scholarships receive

28 percent of the proceeds, faculty and academic initiatives account for 41 percent and the remaining 31 percent goes toward alumni services including career services, alumni programs—and this magazine. The goal for this year's Roll Call is $5.6 million from 27,000 donors. Pam Cottrell, associate director of Roll Call, says that payment can be made by check, VTSA or MasterCard, either at one time or in monthly installments. In addition, many companies match their employees' contributions, so alumni should check with their

employers to see if they qualify, she adds. Contributions should be sent to: 47th Roll Call, Georgia Tech Alumni Association, Alumni/Faculty House, Atlanta, GA 30332-0175.

Speakers wanted If you've always wanted to help select a Georgia Tech graduation day speaker, the Commencement Speakers Committee wants to hear from you. "Having an interesting person deliver the commencement address is something Georgia Tech TecbNoies continued on pane 10

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Georgia Institute of Technology

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tance to athletic events. The new cards are the first step in the transition to the so-called One Card, which will serve as ID, a meal card, debit card for books and other expenses, and a dorm and facility access card.

It keeps growing, and growing... "Growing Through a Giving Tradition" is an appropriate theme for this year's

GEORGIA TECH • TecbNotes 7

If Those Mega-Banks Call Atlanta Home;ThenThis Must BeTheir Driveway iWMVZU

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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. i 1993 Bank South Corp. Member FDIC.

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Look who's just landed at Georgia Tech. We're the Lockheed Georgia Employees' Federal Credit Union. And we'd like to invite all Georgia Tech alumni to take advantage of our uniquefinancialservices. With assets totaling a quarter billion dollars and more than 50,000 members, the Lockheed Georgia Employees' Federal Credit Union offers the strength, security and reliability of a well-established financial institution. Members can count on convenient . personal services including interest-earning savings and checking accounts; low-cost home and auto loans; "Phone-a-Loan" service plus same-day approval; low-interest Visa cards;

direct deposit; and low-cost insurance policies. Better rates. Convenient Banking. Extensive services and the comfort of knowing your money is secure. It's all waiting for you at the Lockheed Employees' Federal Credit Union. For more information on memberships, call us at 404-421-2596 or 1-800-541-8921. Or write to Lockheed Georgia Employees' Federal Credit Union, P.O. Box 1188, Marietta, GA 30061.

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TeehNotes feels is important," says committee chairman Richard Truly, AE '59, director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute. "The committee wants a very open process so we can consider potential speakers nominated by students, faculty, family and friends of Georgia Tech." The selection process is ongoing, so nominations may be submitted any time, as often as one likes. Include a biosketch of the nominee, and a statement of why you would like the nominee to speak at Tech. Mail nominations to Chairman, Commencement Speakers Committee, Georgia Tech Research Institute, 400 10th Street, Atlanta, GA 30332.

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The name change, which was approved by the Board of Regents, was made to reflect that the school offers undergraduate degrees in both electrical engineering and computer engineering. Coon Building is slated for renovations to accommodate new lab space as part of Tech's bioscience complex.

Bioscience Complex Over the next three ' years, the areas of biochemistry, biology and bioengineering will be brought together to create a bioscience complex at Georgia Tech. The facilities will be located in the Coon and Weber buildings, which will undergo reno-

Homecoming reminder Dig your rat cap out of the attic and dust oil tin >se pom poms—it's alnic >st time for Homecoming. The weekend of Nov. 5-6 oilers traditional activities such as the Kamblin' Wreck parade, football (versus Baylor), alumni luncheon and Tech Today. The agenda includes a performance by comedian James Gregory at the Georgia Tech Theatre for the Arts on Nov. 5. Reunions will be held by the classes of 1933, 1938, 1943,

1948, 1953, BJ58, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1978 and 198.3. The (.lass of Old Gold, comprised of alumni who graduated in 1942 and earlier, will also meet, for more information about I lomeeoming activities, call Catherine Martin at the Alumni Association at (404) 853-0758. i

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

vations to accom-modate new lab space. One or both of the structures may also get an addition. Construction is set to begin in 1995 and be finished before the start of the Olympics the following year. The bioscience center is funded by a $3 million grant from the Whittaker Foundation, and will be named for the late F.L. "Bud" Suddath Jr. Dr. Suddath, a vice president of Tech who died last summer, was a driving force behind the complex.

The name game The School of Electrical Engineering is now the

Sting time It's fall, and yellow jackets are out in force, according to entomologists at the University of Georgia Co-operative Extension. A report published in The Atlanta Constitution notes that the best ways to not get stung by the ill-tempered insects are: • Don't disturb their nest. • Don't wear perfume. • Be careful when consuming sweet beverages outdoors. • Avoid wearing bright colors. Like red, perhaps? •

Happy Birthday, WREK It was the year that "(Siltin' On) the Dock < >l i heBay" won a Grammy for best rhythm-and-blues song, and "By the Time ! Get to I'hoenix" won the award for top album. 1968 was also when WREK 91.1 I'M took to the airwaves as Atlanta's first non-commercial radio station. Over the past 25 years, the student-run enterprise has evolved from Top 40 pop at a piddling 10 watts to a diverse format of .36 programs bit tadcasl at a respectable 40,000 watts.

NO DAWGS ALLOWED The Atlanta Doubletree Hotel proudly welcomes Georgia Tech with an exceptional rate simply not available to the "other"

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For $69.00* on the weekends and $89.00* during the week, you can enjoy superb accommodations in the exclusive Perimeter area of North Atlanta. Savor classic f ,H=^» continental cuisine in our four diamond W

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winning Acacia Restaurant, or more casual fare in the Cafe Marmalade, featuring it's own award winning Sunday Brunch. Shape up in the 80,000 square foot Concourse Athletic Club, or shop at nearby Perimeter Mall. Just make a beeline to your phone and give us a buzz * f p ^ 8 at (404) 395-3900 for reservations or information. And next trip you won't have to stay in the Dawg house.

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The Benefits o f . .. Kudzu?

udzu has been called some unprintable words, but that may change. Kudzu possibly has a printable futureâ€”as a source of paper. Dr. Jeffery Hsieh, director of pulp and paper engineering programs at Georgia Tech, and his students, in an exploration of non-wood fiber alternatives have turned to the vine that has been called the curse of the South. Originally brought to the U.S. from Japan in the late 1800s for livestock

feed and decorative greenery, in the 1930s kudzu was planted across the Southeast as an erosionpreventing groundcover. But the strong, tough vines have taken over many areas. Growing up to 60 feet in just one season, the vines smother any other type of vegetation. Hsieh said he and his students stumbled upon the idea of pulping kudzu, researched literature for references to previous attempts and found none. The researchers tested kudzu in four different

pulping conditions. They found that the results are best when anthraquinone, a chemical catalyst, is added to the process. But they found overall yields were low compared to wood pulp, although there is much research that could be done. Should kudzu become a feasible source of paper manufacturing it has one big advantageâ€”it grows much faster than the average of 30 years for one tree.

X-Ray Analysis Technique Has Broad Potential

Dr. Jeffery Ilsieh surrounded by kudzu The South's curse may contain a blessing: "kudzu paper" research offers promise.

cientists have developed an X-ray analysis technique that for the first time enables them to visualize the step-by-step formation of a ceramic composite material in three dimensions and in microscopic detail. The technique, X-ray tomographic microscopy, appears to have important potential applications in a variety of fields ranging from materials science to bone studies where researchers need to observe the behavior of complex materials as time passes. The work, a collaboration between Lawrence

The May 7 Science magazine cover shows spatial orientation and interconnectedness of porosity in a silicon carbide composite reconstructed from data produced by highresolution X-ray tomography.

Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory and Georgia Tech, was featured as the May 7 cover article of the journal Science. The technique is comparable to, but has better resolution than, medical X-ray techniques in which physicians take X-rays from different angles and then reconstruct them computationally into a three-dimensional picture of an organ. X-ray tomographic microscopy techniques developed at the labs are similar in some respects to the CAT scans used in medical diagnostics, but with a factor of 100 times better resolving power. It also has the unique ability to collect data for up to 1,000 tomographic slices at a time, compared to only one at a time for medical and commercial instrumentation. The system then reassembles the data electronically to form a three-

GEORGIA TECH â€˘ Research

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Research

Rakesh Mnllick demonstrates PERFEX, a system that interprets 3-D tomographic heart images. dimensional picture of the interior of the object. When used to study ceramic-matrix composites during fabrication, the images show researchers in three dimensions how vapor deposition progresses, and allows quantitative measurements which can help them understand deposition problems. Georgia Tech researchers on the team include Thomas L. Starr, Stuart R. Stock and Mark D. Butts.

Take Two Aspirin and Call The Computer

octors who are seeking a second opinion may soon be consulting their computers. Before long, cardiolo-

gists and radiologists may turn to a computer system known as PERFEX, short for Perfusion Expert, for its diagnosis involving coronary artery disease. The system interprets 3-D tomographic heart images that show how well blood is flowing through the heart muscle. "PERFEX provides a suggestion or recommends conclusions regarding the presence or absence of coronary artery disease," explains Dr. Norberto Ezquerra, associate professor in the College of Computing. "The system can help a novice or expert physician interpret all the information and justify the decisions that are being made. PERFEX also can be a teaching aid, helping students understand diagnostic decision-making."

Researchers are negotiating with medical imaging system manufacturers to produce PERFEX for use in nuclear imaging equipment in hospitals. The project anticipates

integration of a variety of reasoning, methods—rulebased, temporal and probabilistic models, and is also exploring connectionist paradigms, wherein algorithms learn from examples. Such algorithms interpret image patterns that are difficult to decipher. No other approach to interpreting myocardial perfusion images currently has combined all these methods. Ezquerra and Tech graduate student Rakesh Mullick are collaborating with Emory University colleagues on the project, which is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. The Georgia Research Alliance, through the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technology, is also funding the work.

Atomic Details * n atomic force microscope image shows atomic-scale . surface details of a fluid-cracking catalyst widely used to "crack" .—^—^—-^^ petroleum into transportation fuels such as gasoline. Information ahum the microscopic cracks, pits and ridges seen in the surface scan could help scientists improve the performance of this type of catalyst, said Dr. Mario I.. Occelli. principal research scientist at GTRI. The research was done with scientists at (Taremont College and Seniees.

GEORGIA TECH • Research

JUST A QUICK Y+FROM THE , HIVE.

Yellow Jackets don't have to fly far to get back to the hive when they stay at the Atlanta Renaissance Hotel. We're the closest hotel to Tech and we've got special rates for all Yellow Jackets. $72.00 on Friday or Saturday and $85.00 for Sunday through Thursday.* Enjoy spacious rooms, international style and service, La Brioche restaurant and the best skyline view of Atlanta from our rooftop lounge, 590 West. So whether you're buzzin' in for the game or in Atlanta on business, the Atlanta Renaissance Hotel is your choice. â€˘Rates are per room, per night. Valid thru Dec. 30,1993.

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COME BACK TO GEORGIA TECH FOR THE BEST IN HOME FINANCING.

Take Advantage Of An Exclusive Mortgage Opportunity...Especially For Georgia Tech Alumni. The Alumni Home Financing Program" can help you avoid the traditional hassle ofgetting a mortgage... whether you 're planning to purchase a new home or refinance your existing mortgage. It all begins with just one toll-free telephone call. Our mortgage counselors can help you determine the best financing option for your situation. And you can handle (lie entire application process, right up until closing, over t/iephone.

You '11 enjoy substantial savings with these program benefits: • A competitive interest rate • A reduced origination fee • A refund of your appraisal cost after closing • A 60-day rate lock option Just call Prudential

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1-800-331-1866, at your convenience 8:00 a. m. to midnight, Eastern time, Monday-Friday. It might just lielpyou have tire best homecoming ofyour life.

I'he Ahtmnt Honu / irtiiiuing ISogrum i\ a service mark oj Ike Brudrntml Insurance Company id Amebta,. . 0 / 09 ? W Pwdevtiat Insurance (UmsfHiny of America. All loans are originated fry The Prudential Home Mortgage. Company, hu. The lindential Home Mirrtgagr Company, Inc., 8000 Maryland Avenue, (Mtytdn,'Missouri; isan affiliate of The Prudential Insurance Company of America, doing business as PH. Mortgage Company, Inc. in Ohio. New York office: 400 Post Avenue, Suite 101. Westbuty. New York 11590; Arizona UK S40S;Florida Luensni Mortgage lender: Illinois llesidential Mortgagr ftcensee; Licensed Mortgage Banker/NewJersey I'tepartment of Banking; Calif. Broker I mder. All California loans will be made pursuant to a California Department «j ('.orporatwns (Ion \ u nun 11 nance I/nzder license orflommrrtial Finance lender license. Ftptal Housing Opportunity.

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Is Real? .4/ Georgia Tech. researchers not only try to define reality, they create it. By Gary Goettling Photograph) In Oan Meek and stanli-N Lean

You can just see a little peej) of the passage in Ijooking-glass House if you leare the door of our drawing room wide open: and it's reiy like our passage as far as you can see. only, you know, it may be quite different on beyond. Oh. Kitty how nice it would be if we could only get through the Looking-glass House! —Alice

lthough lewis (Carroll never set f(K)t in cyberspace, the premise of his classic through the Looking-glass sounds very much like a remarkable new field of computer science called virtual reality. If a computer screen is a window, virtual reality—\ R to initiates—is a d<x>r you can open and walk through.

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.n the popular press, the term has been tossed about with abandon to impart all kinds of new computer developments with hightech Sex appeal And while there is no pat definition of virtual reality—also called cyberspace—its broadest sense means an artificial environment in which an individual becomes completely immersed. By that measure, dreams, movies or engrossing novels are everyday examples of virtual reality. My four-year-old, for example, is completely transfixed while watching Barney on television, even dancing and waving his arms in his virtual extension of the popular character's environment. As it pertains to computers, virtual reality is a graphics interface that allows the user not only to view information, but to manipulate and interact with it. Thus, rather than a specific technology, VR is really a trend toward making computer images and interaction with humans more lifelike. "For me, VR has three key ingredients," says Dr. James Foley, director of Georgia Tech's Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center. "They are: realistic appearance, realistic behavior and realistic interaction. That's what flight simulators provide;—a realism that provides the sensation of actually being in a certain environment. Traditional 3-D graphics are not virtual reality because they don't have

the realism of being immersed within an environment. "We can leverage this immersion to go beyond the things that are real to us and that we already know about. We could create a virtual extension of the environment we're in, or create artificial environments that couldn't possibly exist, or that we couldn't possibly experience in our own lives."

he heart of a typical VR setup is a database describing the appearance, sounds and sometimes Sensations associated with a particular environment, be it a room, machinery,

;

planet or even a molecule. The database's computer is wired to a helmet—known as a head-mounted display or HMD—equipped with earphones and two small stereoscopic screens. By donning the headgear, the user perceives only the computer-generated image. By wearing input devices such as a dataglove or datasuit, the user brings himself into the scene, and can

Dr. James Foley, left, says that a key ingredient of a virtual world is realistic appearance, as one might see through a head-mounted display, above.

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

manipulate objects within that environment. At Georgia Tech, you can ride a glass elevator to the top of the downtown Marriott Marquis without leaving campus. The trip is made via a computer model of the hotel atrium, viewed inside a head-mounted display studded with sensors to track head movement. Look up, and you can see to the 52nd floor. Turn to the left or to the right and your perspective changes accordingly. By holding a tracking device, you bring

your hand into the picture to activate the elevator's up button, and the ascent begins. Slowly the lobby recedes as you pass the fabric sculptures suspended in space. Activate the down button, and in a minute or so you're safely back on the ground. Ever practical, Tech researchers are developing the simulation as a possible way to treat acrophobia—the fear of heights—says Larry Hodges, principal investigator at Georgia Tech for the project, a venture among the GEORGIA TECH • Virtual Reality

GVU center, Emory University, Clark Atlanta University and the Eisenhower Medical Center. "Virtual reality can provide stimuli for patients who cannot imagine well," says Hodges. "Unlike traditional therapist-assisted techniques, VR therapy will be performed within the confines of a room, thus avoiding public embarrassment and violation of patient confidentiality." Virtual environments have the added advantage of offering greater flexibility in acclimating acrophobics to different heights, "and allow the ability to isolate the virtual height parameters that are essential in generating a phobic response," Hodges says. Georgia Tech graduate student Dave Burgess is enhancing the simulation with sound, in line with his work in a VR offshoot he calls "audio virtual environments." "We make things sound like they're above you, behind you—all around," he explains. "We use a lot of the same equipment and techniques as the other virtual environments, except there's no visual component."

eleconferencing with a windows application involving several people is one example of how 3-D audio might be used, if the sound comes out of one little speaker and everyone talks at once, you won't understand anything, Burgess says. "On the other hand, if we use two speakers we can pan the audio in such a way that the position of the audio corresponds to the position of the talking head. That makes it a lot easier to pay attention to what you're trying to listen to." Electronic "ventriloquism" could also improve shared radio communications, such as that used by a' fighter-plane squadron or a police department, by using sound to prioritize messages, and to indicate the participants' positions relative to each other. Other important areas of VR work at Tech include improving imaging methods atid ways of navigating through virtual space, and 22

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

better object-manipulation techniques. Related research is ongoing in animation, multimedia and data visualization. The potential applications of VR-related techniques are enormous and wide-ranging. Planning a construction project is very complex. Once the process begins, corrections or improvements are costly and difficult. Georgia Tech faculty members and students are devising a virtual construction simulation that allows an individual to walk through the site and among the equipment to look for logistics problems before the ground is broken. In the future, an architect—or architecture students—could design a virtual house in which a client could walk through and make refinements in the layout of doors, windows, lighting and interior walls. History students may one day be able to walk across the battlefield at Antietam, or to venture inside the wreck of the Titanic. Virtual reality could literally add another dimension to computer-aided design and engineering process-planning—two areas that are receiving much attention at Tech. A VR tool called telepresence uses a "stereo camera" to supervise the work of a robot or machinery at a remote location, while sophisticated controls allow an operator to direct the activity. Telepresence could have important adaptations in situations too hazardous for humans, and could open a whole new way of exploring outer space. More fertile ground for VR may be found in the area of training. Norberto Ezquerra, associate director of research at the GVU center, is devising the graphics for a laparoscopic surgery simulator. Laparoscopic surgery is a relatively new procedure that relies on a miniature camera lens and tiny instruments inserted into small incisions. The doctor watches a television monitor instead of the patient to perform the operation. "If the simulation is going to be clinically useful, it has to be realistic in its behavior and interactions," says Ezquerra, who is working with surgeons and medical illustrators at the Medical College of Georgia to develop computer models of organs. "It's computationally demanding. One has to portray complex scenes of various organs and have them behave realistically. One has to simulate pulling and cutting and tearing, for instance.

At Georgia Tech, Larry Hodges, above, is researching the visual clues needed to make a virtual environment appear real to the viewer. A dataglove, right, allows interaction with that environment.

"It's a seed program," he cautions. "We are far from showing anything medically useful because all we have are very basic models of a gall bladder and various other organs." Would medical students or, more important, medical licensing boards accept computer training over the traditional hands-on approach? Ezquerra points out that laparoscopic surgeons already view their work on a TV monitor, so the adjustment to a simulation GEORGIA TECH* Virtual Reality

should be a relatively easy transition. Many other adaptations of VR technology are underway all across the country. At the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., NASA scientists have used satellite data to construct a virtual tour of the Vallis Marineris section of Mars. Researchers at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore are constructing a head-mounted display that enables vision-impaired people to read. A camera magnifies and digitizes printed pages and displays the type in 3-D against a contrasting background. Chrysler engineers are experimenting with designing new-car dashboards in virtual space, while at Northrup, air ducts for the remodeled F-18 are first assembled in a virtual environment to see if they will fit in the fighter's existing structural frame. The models even have a sense of touch so engineers can tell when they bump into something. At the University of North Carolina Medical School, VR techniques have also been used to create 3-D models of brain tumors from CAT scans. The computer also calculates the right amount and placement of radiation treatment. The general public's first taste of VR will likely be as entertainment. For example, at Dave & Buster's, a huge entertainment complex in Cobb County, Ga., folks line up to pay $4 each for four minutes of virtual gunplay with one another. Similar games are popping up all over the country, and at least one company is planning a chain of all-VR arcades. Sega has announced it will offer a home version of the HMD with four games sometime this fall.

espite its potential, VR has a long, long way to go. There are tradeoffs because of limits on computing power: a few highresolution images versus many animated graphics. Most systems opt for the latter, with the result that one feels immersed in av car24

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

toon rather than a real environment. The graphics tend to be angular and simple— curves take up too much precious power— with a fuzzy resolution. The field of vision in an HMD is narrow, and the systems themselves are susceptible to heat prostration. The amount of programming necessary to represent a virtual anything is mind-boggling. Each point of an image requires thousands of computations to describe position, color, texture and shadowing. And the image must be re-drawn almost instantaneously to ensure smooth transitions in changing perspectives. Image libraries—sort of a virtual reality clip-art files—have been established and help cut the programming time to a manageable level, but the sheer amount of power required strains even the best massively parallel computers.

ut perhaps the biggest obstacle VR faces is the gap between its promise and its present No doubt mindful of the hype over artificial intelligence, many researchers are quick to downplay high expectations of near-term, widespread VR deployment for business and industry.

Flight simulators like Delta's MD-111 are so realistic that pilots can undergo all of their fliglit testing on them, and make tlieir first "real" flight with passengers on board.

nr (* ->â€˘

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'ut Jay Bolter looks at it a little differently. A professor in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture w h o is involved in VR research, Bolter says the publicity surrounding artificial intelligence, while raising unrealistic hopes, also helped change the perception of the computer from that of a glorified number cruncher to being also a symbol

manipulator; that is, it could be used to process words as well as numbers. "VR might have that same role to play in the '90s because graphics are the next revolution in our understanding of what the computer can do," h e says. "In addition to being a symbol manipulator, the computer is n o w what I call a perceptual manipulator. It can create graphic environments, multimedia environments, in which it approaches us from multiple modes. VR is the most visible example of the computer as a graphics machine." O n e thing seems certain: Some day this infant virtual-reality technology will b e on display at the Smithsonian. You'll be able to sec it in Washington—or by turning on your n e w 3-D TV. • The Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center holds an open house the fourth Thursday of each month. For information call (404) 853-0672.

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The Dynamics of Crew &

ited at the intersection of railroads rather than rivers, and with the nearest ocean 250 miles away,

Atlanta lacks the maritime footprint of many U.S. cities. That's why it may be surprising that Georgia Tech's largest sports club is an activity usually associated with Northern, Ivy-League universities.

•

Although rowing or crew has been around for centuries, the Georgia Tech team—60 members strong—is a mere eight years

old. Yet in that short time

the Yellow Jackets have won

numerous gold and silver

medals in regional action

against some of the top

crews in collegiate racing.

The embrace of crew

at a landlocked Southern engineering school makes sense if viewed in its parts as an inteimingling of technology, tradition and immutable natural laws. • The boats or shells, once made of mahogany and oak, are now constructed from Kevlar and carbon-fiber materials, as are the oars or sculls. Modem advances in lighter, stronger composites help make the sport increasingly competitive as the basic equipment design becomes more efficient.

•

The act of rowing is a series of coordi-

nated moves in which precision and teamwork are paramount, and which also requires power, balance, timing and concentration. Indeed, there are so many nuances to the sport, so many considerations and complexities, that crew rightly may be considered an engineering exercise in itself, as the

following pages show. • Photography by Billy Howard and Gary Mask • Written by Gary Goe 28

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

• V w

.body immersed in fluid is

buoyed or supported by a force equal to the weight of the liquid it displaces.

GEORGIA TECH â€˘ Fall 1993

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GEORGIA TECH • The Dynamics of Crew

n a closed system, an

increase in internal energy is equal to the heat supplied to the system, minus the work done by the system.

GEORGIA TECH â€˘ Fall 1993

n a flowing stream, the total energy in a

particular mass is the same at every point in its path flow, and equals the sum of the potential energy, the kinetic energy, and the energy due to pressure. Thus along the path of the moving particles of a fluid, pressure is greatest where velocity is least, and vice versa.

GEORGIA TECH â€˘ The Dynamics of Crew

GEORGIA lit M« The Dynamics of Crew

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GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

A Man of Quality John J. Hudiburg's quest for quality led his U.S. company to win the Deming Prize, Japan's most coveted quality award His greater achievement has been to Americanize the prize—helping create the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award >

By John Dunn Illustration by Mac Evans

or a moment, John J. Hudiburg, a leading prophet of total quality management, looks weary. It is his second address of the day, and the former chairman and CEO of Florida P< >wer & Light is about to retell a story that must leave a bittersweet taste. Still, it is a story he tells with the zeal of a crusader. Hudiburg has abandoned his coat in favor of a shirt and tie, which seems to fit the informal audience. Most of the 30 Georgia Tech administrators and faculty members who have bn >ught their lunches to a "brown bag" session at the student center are curious, some skeptical and some enthusiastic. Earlier Hudiburg, a 1951 Georgia Tech electrical engineering graduate and 1972 graduate of Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program, assumed the role of visiting professor to speak to a class of Georgia Tech students. Later he is to be interviewed by the press. It's a schedule he takes in stride. The author < if Winning with Quality, Hudiburg travels 200.000 miles a year lecturing at 50-70 engagements, preaching his message in a wilderness of zero-based budgeting, integrated planning and control, management by objectives, and a plethora of business fads and theories. Hudiburg has become an unabashed crusader of total quality management (TQM). Yet like almost every businessperson who has encountered that management style, he started as a skeptic. "I thought it was the biggest bunch of nonsense—the dumbest thing that I had ever heard," Hudiburg acknowledges. "Until I saw it work."

Ten years ago when Hudiburg became CEO of Florida Power & Light, the fourthlargest public utility in the U.S., he joined forces with chairman Marshall McDonald in an effort to make the company the best-managed public utility in the country. The experience radically changed Hudiburg's concept of management. The quest led FPL not only to embrace Japan's total quality management system, but Convinced that the in 1989 to become the first company outside concepts of total Japan to receive the Deming Application quality management Prize, that country's most coveted quality can make American award. The prize is named for American business more comstatistician W. Edwards Deming, who intropetitive, John J. duced statistical quality control to Japan. Hubiburg wrote Hudiburg's greater achievement, however, Winning with Quality. has been to Americanize the concept of His own experience Japan's Deming prize. Hudiburg encouraged with total quality legislation, lobbied Congress, and raised management had funds for the creation of the Malcolm Baldtaught him "when rige National Quality Award, which since you're with a com1988 has become the most prestigious quality pany that knows how award in the U.S. Hudiburg was the Baldrige to do it and enjoys it, Foundation's vice president in 1988, its presibeing at work with dent in 1989, and is one of nine members of people like that bethe Baldrige board of overseers, the policycomes so much fun it making body. must be sinful.''

udiburg paints a dark picture of some U.S. management practices. "I was absolutely taught throughout my entire career—in fact I probably learned some of those ideas right here at Georgia Tech— top-down, hierarchical, military-type management. The basic assumption is that people in the company are no damn good. They're lazy, they're dishonest, they're stupid, and a pretty trashy bunch. The way you organize

GEORGIA TECH • Hudiburg: A Man of Quality

AnnouncesBaldf,

such riffraff is to get a few of us who are honest, intelligent and energetic, and we'll make all the decisions and we'll tell everybody what to do and we'll have to have a wall full of procedures. We'll have upper-management, middle-management, lower-management—supervisors and fore men to convey those instructions down. And we'll have inspectors and auditors to be sure they are doing it—we don't trust them either. And you just pound on people. This is an exaggeration, but that's a very typical management style, and one that is very common in the U.S." In contrast, Hudiburg states, "For TQM to succeed, you have to assume that most people, by far the great majority, want to do a good job, will do a good job if they are trained, coached, assisted and given the resources, encouragement and recognition. And then they'll take care of all kinds of problems. Those problems will just disappear. They become a self-managed work-group." Hudiburg is accustomed to skeptics. "There is nothing wrong with skepticism," Hudiburg says. "When you convert a skeptic—oh, boy, are they converted. A cynic is different. They are the poor souls—Tm no good, you're no good.' There is nothing you can do or say that is going to convince them differently. They are sort of the lost souls of the world. However, there are only 4 percent of the people in the U.S. who are absolute cynics. But skeptics are fine people like,me.

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

In a White House ceremony in 1987, President Ronald Reagan announced the creation of the Malcolm Baldrige award to symbolize quality management Before the end of his term, Reagan also presented the award to the first winners.

"Skeptics are not going to be transformed until they see impn jvement, and middle management has the worst skeptics in every organization that I have talked to. "We kept a survey," Hudiburg adds. "Top management was the most supportive of teaching TQM, union rank and file the next most supportive, bi-weekly employees the next, and noticeably worse—professionals, engineers, lawyers, etc., and much lower were middle managers. They are tough. But they will come around when they see it make their jobs better."

udiburg began his 38-year career at Florida Power & Light as a student engineer in 1951. His rise included positions as division manager, executive vice president for finance, president in 1979, chief executive officer in 1983, and chairman in 1986. It was in 1984, when FPL was seeking to fulfill its new corporate vision "to be the bestmanaged electric utility in the U.S." that Hudiburg says he encountered the full impact of total quality management. FPL executives were visiting Kansai Power Co. in Osaka, Japan, a company that had just won the Denting prize. A 1982 study by the management consultants, McKinsey & Co., determined FPL was a wellmanaged company with the potential to become one of the best. Hudiburg, who is very knowledgeable in the operation of an electric utility, realized that Kansai Electric Power Co. had already become the best. "There was no one else close to them," Hudiburg says. "I flipped. I said, 'This is what we've got to do.' And I became a true believer.

They were doing things so much better it just blew your mind." For example, while FPL customers would average 85 minutes t >f power outage per year, Kansai customers had only 7 minutes of outage. The concept of total quality management is anchored in serving the customer, Hudiburg states. "This was *» begin the B»' the customer-driven qualitymanagement system we needed. "There are four principles upon which the entire process is based: customer satisfaction, management by fact, the plan-do-check-act cycle of problem solving, and respect for people. But first and foremost is customer satisfaction." Hudiburg explains. "Their ideology says first comes customer satisfaction, then sales, then profits."

QM as a management theory has been described as a process-oriented system, as contrasted to a results-oriented system—the logic follows that if the details are right, the results will be right. In 1985. Professor Noriaki Kano of the Science University of Tokyo and four other Japanese consultants were hired to transport the Japanese management system to FPL. "There's a lot of pain in making change," Hudiburg concedes. "But as success begins to feed on itself, people get excited about what they are doing and their morale goes sky high." FPL, serving approximately half of Florida, has 3 million customers. Company surveys showed that customer complaints were reduced by 70 percent, and the percentage of "extremely satisfied" customers increased from 41 percent to 62 percent. The company

• „ Award

achieved "equally dramatic improvement" in service availability, reliability, nuclear plant safety, employee safety and employee satisfaction, Hudiburg says. "When you're with a company that knows how to do it and enjoys it—I'm speaking of Florida Power & Light, that's the only one I'm an expert at—going to work and being at work with people like that becomes so much fun it must be sinful."

0 n J Hu

' <*burg, w h o

John J. Hudiburg, right, stands with W. Edwards Derning, the American who influenced the "quality movement" that was embraced by the Japanese but rejected by American companies. Hudiburg, too, "thought it was the dumbest thing that I had ever heard. Until I saw it work."

n September 1989, Hudiburg became chairman emeritus of FPL, and in October .the company won the Deming prize. Hudiburg retired in February 1990. In the meantime, the board of directors brought an outsider aboard as the holding-company chairman, and in May, TQM was de-emphasized and the company was steered toward decentralized management and individual decision making. The disappointment Hudiburg feels is apparent, but he shrugs. "Some people will say it didn't work because it was Japanese, and Americans won't listen to Japanese; they resent it. That's somewhat true, but it's not a major problem. Others say, 'Well, the Florida Public Service Commission didn't like it, therefore it was a mistake.' The FPSC disliked its cost, but they liked the results wholeheartedly. That is not why Florida Power & Light cut back. The reason was that the new chairman came in and he had other fish to fry. TQM was John Hudiburg's thing. He wanted to do his own thing. "There are critics," Hudiburg adds. "Somebody is always going to say that didn't work so well or that's not so great.

GEORGIA TECH • Hudiburg: A Man of Quality

"TQM has to have the strong support of top management to keep it in place. The top guy has to profoundly believe in it, and also the people that he works with directly, or it's not going to be there. It's sort of an unnatural thing. The natural style is to say, 'Get out of my way and I'll tell everybody what to do

t was also in 1985 that Hudiburg, seeing the effect the Deming prize has on Japanese firms, decided to investigate the creation of a similar prize in the U.S. He contacted Florida Congressman Don Fuqua, chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and learned that the committee was planning a fact-finding mission to Asia. A presentation for the committee on the Japanese quality management system and the Deming prize was arranged. In December, the presentation was made by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa, one of the original four leaders in the quality movement in Japan and a prolific writer on the subject. When the committee returned, the process of preparing the legislation to create a national quality award began, and in 1986, Hudiburg testified ata. Congressional hearing. Reservations about a national quality award came from an unexpected quarter, the Department of Commerce, which was to administer the award. Hudiburg was among a group of proponents for the bill who met with Malcolm Baldrige, secretary of Commerce. By the end of the meeting, Baldrige had become a strong supporter.

GEORGIA TECH â€˘ Fall 1993

Legislation passed in the House in 1987, cfcÂťir and 1 ludiburg vafV helped organize support in the Senate. Shortly after the bill passed out of Senate committee, Malcolm Baldrige, an avid horseman, was killed in a rodeo accident when a horse fell on him. The Senate immediately amended the legislation to honor Baldrige, who had urged its passage, and the bill passed on the day of his funeral. President Ronald Reagan, a close friend of Baldrige, signed the bill, announcing that with 18 months remaining of his second term, he wanted to present the first award. Organizing the award process fell to the National Bureau of Standards, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which called on Hudiburg, as one of the principal architects, to help raise funds. Hudiburg was also named to the board of overseers to help formulate policies for the award process. A board of examiners was established to manage the judging process. Hudiburg prevailed on Sandy McDonnell, CEO of McDonnell Douglas Corp., to help raise funds to support the award. The original goal of $7 million had been increased to S10 million. Hudiburg and McDonald raised $11 million. President Reagan made the first awards at the White House in November 1988 to Motorola Corp. and Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel.

,)o^^rs^< Secretary of Commerce William Verity, left, John J. Hudiburg, center, and American quality expert J.M. Juran have worked to make the Baldrige Award a success.

ost of us felt that the judges had done well and set high standards for future .winners," Hudiburg observes. "The second year's winners, Xerox and Milliken, were also world class in their quality results and processes and, if anything, brought the standards for the 1990 winnersâ€”Cadillac, Federal Express,

The official Georgia Tech Watch by Seiko > A Seiko Quartz timepiece. Featuring a richly detailed three-dimensional re-creation of the Georgia Institute of Technology Seal, finished in 14 kt. gold. Electronic quartz movement guaranteed accurate to within fifteen seconds per month. The leather strap wrist watches are $200 each and the two-tone bracelet wrist watches are $265 each. There is a $7.50 shipping and handling fee for each watch ordered. On shipments to Pennsylvania, add 6% state sales tax. A convenient interest-free payment plan is available with seven equal monthly payments per watch (shipping, handling and full Pennsylvania sales tax, if applicable, is added to the first payment). To order by MasterCard or Visa, please call toll free 1-800-523-0124. All callers should request Operator E72LS. Calls are accepted weekdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Eastern Time). To order by mail, write to: Georgia Tech Alumni Association, c/o P.O. Box 670, Exton, PA 19341 -0670 and include check or money order, made payable to: "Official Georgia Tech Watch". Credit card orders can also be sent by mail â€” please include full account number and expiration date. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. Actual diameters of watches are as follows: men's 1-3/8" and ladies 15-16"

IBM Rochester, and Wallace—even higher. "I think all of the winners of the Baldrige have done well, but you have to keep in mind that General Motors didn't win—Cadillac did. IBM didn't win—IBM Rochester won. Those portions of those companies are doing spectacularly well "I think the Baldrige has succeeded because it is truly national," Hudiburg says. "The Baldrige, I think, is fantastically successful. It was blatantly patterned after the Deming prize and has subsequently been improved." The Malcolm Baldrige award has become the model for national awards around the world, inspiring similar honors in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Sweden, Venezuela, and the European Commonwealth.

Hudiburg lakes a long view regarding the impact of companies that embrace the TQM style. "It is going to be Hudiburg Mkl,.' chicken and feathers for John J. Hudiburg the rest of this century. TQM takes time to signs the quality install." banner in Japan, But he is confident about the outcome. where in 1989 Florida "There are going to be spectacular sucPower & Light became cesses," Hudiburg predicts. "And those comthe first company panies are absolutely going to just eat the outside Japan to lunch of their competitors. They are going to receive the Deming be so far out in front taking market share Prize. away from their competitors, making money, making good products, gaining all sorts of recognition. Their competitors are going to wonder what in the world hit them. A lot of them will come back and revisit the whole question of TQM." •

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GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

"Winning with Quality By John J. Hudiburg \\\%f T^} is I' that Americans, or others, so frequently % M / ICJ: - Din when they arc in competition withJapa ™ f nese companies? More importantly, why do consumers in a free market so often choose products made by Japanese over all others? Are Japanese products really the best value and are consumers making the proper choice, or is their success a result of unfair competition or some particular kind of Far Eastern skilllulness? I sttongh believe that consumers are making wise choices and know exactly what they are doing. How did this come about? How has Japanese management done such a fantastic job of transforming their companies into international superstars? Why is the quality of their goods and services so high, and improving? Their competition in the U.S. and elsewhere is getting better, and yet, if anything, the quality gap appears to be widening. I think I know how they do it. The Japanese taught me and my associates [at Florida Power & Light I how, openly and without any reservations. As Dr. Noriaki Kano, one our of counselors, told us, you don't get to play center field for the New York Yankees by reading a book on baseball. Nor do you gel there by watching the Yankees play. To play the game like a champion, you must get down on the field and take part in the real thing. And you must practice and practice and practice, and then you have to play the game against the very best.

: was Friday evening, the 18th of August 1989. The occasion was the celebration after the conclusion of our Denting Prize audit. We had just finished two weeks of an intensive examination by eight Japanese university professors who had thoroughly reviewed our quality improvement activities from top to bottom. Not just top management, but middle managers, first-line supervisors, and also journeymen, meter readers, clerks and others, had stood up and told their quality stories. The) had brought about dramatic improvements, knew exactly how they had done it, and were proud of their accomplishments. It was one of those rare instances in a lifetime when a group does something important as a leant. They had been working arduously for four years to perfect a company-wide quality-improvement process. They had been practicing for the Denting exam every weekend for the past four months. Now. they had just

nailed it, and they knew it, The following month, I made a speech in Europe on the subject of quality management. The speech seemed to go over very well, and my ego was really pumped up. When I got to the airport for my return home, however, 111)' ego was quickly deflated as I returned to the more familiar real world. The area around the ticket counter was like a mob scene from some old World War II movie—total confusion. Masses of displaced persons of all ages, each with his or her own pile of bundles and baggage, were packed in wall-to-wall. By the lime my wife and 1 finally got through this mess and onto the plane, we were an hour late. Then we had to wait at least another hour for the last of the passengers to straggle on board. Everyone, passengers and crew alike, was in a bad mood by the time we took off. From then on things just got worse. 1 began to think about what we had done at Florida PowerS Light and about the enormous improvements we had been able to achieve in customer service and satisfaction, l reflected on this, and compared it to the string of air travel experiences 1 had just gone through. All day long, time after time, 1 had seen a world crying out for a better management system, I don't think managers and employer's want to do a poor job. They don't enjoy working all day with angry, dissatisfied customers. And yet, everywhere one goes the need for improved quality is manifest. Everyone knows that there has to be a better way. People don't want someone giving them hell all day long. • Reprintedfrom Winning with Quality: The FPL Story hy John /. Hudiburg, Copyright 1991, with permission of the publisher, Quality Resources, White Plains, N.Y. Johnj. Hudiburg, PR '5/. began his 38-year career with FPL as a student engineer, and was named CEO in 198. > and chairman in 1986. In IPSO be was awarded the American Society ofMechanical Engineers' Outstanding leadership Award for Energy Engineering Sciences, and in PISS he was awarded the I '.S. Department of Com merce Distinguished Service Award. Hudiburg served as vice•president of the Malcolm ISaldrige National Quality Award h'ot nidation in 1988 and was named its president in 1989.

GEORGIA TECH • Hudiburg: A Man of Quality

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How to Order Your Own Georgia Tech Alumni Stadium Blanket Complete this order form and mail with payment to the Alumni Association at the address shown, your blanket is available plain or can be personalized and sent via UPS in 6-8 weeks. For phone orders usins VISA or MasterCard, call 404/894-9272 weekdays b e t w e e n 8:00am-5:Q0pm eastern time. Offer expires 12/31/93. I prefer to pay j . In Full Ely Check Enclosed is my check or money order for $49.95 ($45 + $4.95 s&h) for each blanket made payable to "Georsa Tech Alumni Association" In Full By Credit Card Please charge the • full amount of $49.95 per blanket to my credit card after shipment has been made.. _ VISA _ MasterCard Full Account Number i

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Designs of Hope Georgia Tech's Center for Rehabilitation Technology offers special products designed to meet the unique needs ofpeople with disabilities. By Phyllis Thompson Photography by Mark Sandlin

ames Register was only 17 when a diving accident left him a quadriplegic. He had grown up on a farm near Valdosta, Ga., and loved the hard work. Now, he was confined to a wheel chair. What would he do with the rest of his life? When, after therapy, Register could move the fingers on his left hand and both shoulders, it seemed a real victory. He decided to finish high school through an equivalency course. By mail, he studied electronics and started his own business. But a crushed vertebra caused him to lose strength in his right shoulder; it became increasingly difficult to work. "That was scary," he says. "It looked like a long way down." Then his rehabilitation counselor, Todd Key, told him of a program that might help. Every year, Georgia Tech's Center for Rehabilitation Technology (CRT) helps hundreds of people with disabilities live productive, fulfilled lives. For some, says CRT's Director Jim Toler, that means receiving advice through an 800-number about products that make certain tasks easier. For others, information about computer software or hardware may be in order. For others, like Register, help may involve a long series of consultations and research to adapt work space, office equipment and living quarters. It may require job training, even literacy training. "Our program is needs-driven," says Toler. CRT is located on the Tech-campus in what was once a church. The education 1/

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

building was renovated into office space, the fellowship hall into a lab where products are designed and created. A hallway joining the two areas bears evidence of success: photos of products—everything from a baby swing to dorm-room renovation—and those who have been helped by them. CRT engineers spent hours with Register at his television repair shop, paying attention to even the smallest details of the tasks he needed to perform. They designed a portable work station that could be moved around the shop. Operating from a motorized five-foot turntable, Register can repair televisions without assistance. The engineers also designed an innovative orthotic device incorporating a cordless screwdriver that Register can attach to his right hand, making it useful for the first time in 30 years. "I can't tell you how hard those guys worked," says Register. "And you think about it: This is a one-shot deal. They aren't going to make money off their inventions or market them to millions of people. They did it just for me. I don't think I could even begin to tell them how much I appreciate it." Now, Register has so much business in his shop that he has hired two more repairmen. "We have all the work we can possibly do."

RT began in 1978, in Georgia Tech's Industrial Design Program, under the College of Architecture, when Professor Richard Martin encouraged students to incorporate the needs of disabled persons into design projects. In 1986, the center began

In an interview session with client John Grey, Ben Manley discusses work-station needs. Manley, an office-autoniation specialist, is one of several Center for Reliabilitation Technology workers who design unique environments to meet the unusual needs of people with disabilities. GEORGIA TECH â€˘ Rehabilitation Technology

receiving state funds. Today its services include seven main areas of expertise. TechKnowledge is a comprehensive database of current information on technology and services for those with disabilities. Through an 800-number, information specialists working with TeclVfinowledge staff give unlimited personal attention, often spending an hour or more talking on the phone with counselors or disabled individuals before they even begin to do research. "Many of the people I work with can't even wipe their faces," says TechKnowledge information specialist Zena Rubin. "Just imagine their joy at learning of tools that will allow them to do all kinds of thingsâ€”without help." The Adaptive Design Lab is staffed by a team of industrial designers and engineers who specialize in making products to meet specific needs. Many of their designs are oneof-a-kind or limited editions, such as the work station designed for Register, because the sales volume would not be great enough for items to be sold commercially. And' most of the inventions are not so complex. For another of CRT's clients, Jennifer Elias, a cerebral palsy patient, the inven-

tion was a simple plate situated on a lazy susan, with indentions that allowed her to turn the plate with her chin. A napkin on an egg-shaped roller ball and a fruit holder that made it possible for her to bite whole fruits completed the package. While Jennifer still cannot use her arms to feed herself, the independence gained from the simple invention has been life-changing. Her mother, who had cared for Elias full-time, was able to go back to work, and Elias entered trade school. "It is wonderful to see the dramatic changes in people's lives." says Toler.

he Computer Access Lab can adapt existing software or hardware to meet specific needs, and staff give advice about programs or products that make tasks easier, or at least possible. These include environmental controls, such as voice-activated products that enable the person to turn lights and appliances off and on, answer the phone and the like. The Technology Access Program is designed to help state rehabilitation counselors determine how to make homes, offices, and

"Many of the people I work with can't even wipe their faces," says specialist Zena Rubin (above). "Imagine their joy at learning of tools that allow them to do thingsâ€” without help."

From its control room at Tech, the Georgia Satellite Literacy Program broadcasts literacy classes by satellite to 75 locations throughout Georgia. Aided by on-site volunteers such as Anita Anderson (left), students interact with the class at Tech via telephone or fax. "Those who attend are not required to be disabled," says Toler, "because CRT recognizes illiteracy as a disability." 50

GEORGIA TECH â€˘ Fall 1993

schools accessible and useful for their clients. Through the efforts of four field engineers and an Atlanta advisor, disabled people throughout the state receive help—at no cost. It was through that program that Register first learned of CRT. The Accessibility Group, a team of architects and rehabilitation engineering design experts, many of them students, work with public and private groups who want to make their buildings more accessible. CRT also works to prepare those with disabilities to re-enter the work force. Through Information Technology Training, students learn computer programming, desktop publishing and PC specialist skills. "But the program goes much deeper," says Toler. "For many, this is the first interaction with people other than family members." Course work includes help with hygiene, social etiquette, life skills. It also includes an extensive job-placement effort. The Georgia Satellite Literacy Program recognizes that many times more people than those with physical disabilities have difficulty attending traditional schools. To help them learn to read, literacy classes are transmitted by satellite from Tech to 75 locations throughout Georgia, four times weekly. Aided by onsite volunteers, students attend class in their area and interact with the class at Tech via telephone or fax. "Those who attend are not required to be disabled," says Toler, "because CRT recognizes illiteracy as a disability." CRT Inc.. a group of businesspeople with strong interest in rehabilitation, is the fundraising arm of CRT. Through its efforts, funds from suite, federal and private sources make it possible to continue existing programs and to initiate new ones. Register's workstation is equipped with what CRT calls AbleOffice: automated files, carousels, rotating storage bins, magnetic tool caddies and an overhead tool trolley. CRT also houses an AbleOffice model reminiscent of "Star Trek." Everything can be operated through either voice, rocker switch, mouth stick or robotic arm. With a voice

command, the computer can be turned on and told what to type, files can be stored, moved from one space to another, created. Toler believes CRT will eventually develop the technology for people to perform tasks and operate equipment without using visible or audible commands. He believes that through what he calls "virtual reality field," one day CRT products will receive commands through brain waves. "This will allow even the most severely disabled, such as those with brain damage, to do productive work." Toler also looks for CRT to make strides in applying motion-analysis technologies to the task of human-performance evaluation. He believes the same equipment that measures the velocity of a golf swing or a baseball pitch can be adapted to define the range of movement in a disabled person—and to measure progress through rehabilitation. Likewise, he argues that technology similar to that used in computer games will eventually make it possible for satellite literacy students to respond easily to test questions. "Too often when people think of Georgia Tech, they think of cold technology," Toler says. "But this is where technology becomes much more. This is where it becomes very rewarding on a human level." •

CRT specialist Nicki Elder works on an automated art easel for a wheelchairbound student at Kennesaw College. Such individualized response is typical of CRT projects, some of which include job training—even literacy training. "Our work is needsdriven," says CRT director Jim Toler.

Phyllis Thompson is an Atlanta-based freelance writer.

GEORGIA TECH • Rehabilitation Technology

Meeting Human Needs By Tarik 0. Kenyatta

ounded by industrial design faculty to create products and services for disabled persons, Georgia Tech's Center for Rehabilitation Technology has become a national leader in applying science and technology to meet special human needs. With a staff that has grown from 5 to 25 members in its 13-year existence, the center combines innovative design and engineering to solve specific rehabilitation and disability problems. Its interdisciplinary approach to problem solutions requires a thorough understanding of form, materials and human needs. Cabell Heyward, ID '83, was chief designer for the center until this past August. He discussed the center's activities from a design point of view.

What was the Impetus behind creating the Center for Rehabilitation Technology?

HEYWARD: In the past, rehabilitation was approached from the point of view of the occupational therapist. Many designs were done by the therapist who had no design background. Founding CRT director Professor Richard Martin of Tech's industrial design program in the College of Architecture felt that advanced technology had not been fully utilized in the field of rehabilitation, so the center was created to develop rehabilitation technologies using architecture, product design and engineering. CRT creates products for the workplace, classroom, home, or recreational site for people who have lost the use of any senses or limbs, making it easier for many disabled and elderly people to be much better integrated into the mainstream of society.

Since its founding, the center has become a multifaceted instimtion. What other services does the center offer?

HEYWARD: We provide instruction on the use of all products and devices we design and produce, in addition to extensive courses in both basic literacy and information technology. Sometimes a user may also need other training, such as for basic computer programming, and we accommodate these needs. .< Our Adaptive Design Lab is the focal point of all the center's leading-edge products for the disabled, while our Computer Group provides computer hardware and software adaptations. The Computer Group staff identifies existing commercially available software and hardware and, when necessary, incorporates modifications to adapt these products to an individual's specific needs. For pxample, there is voice-activated computer equipment and hands-free telephone equipment that can be adapted for use by 52

GEORGIA TECH • Ml 1993

disabled persons. Also, keyboard-toggling equipment that can be adjusted so that a person can use a finger c >r a mouth-stick to operate a computer. We afeomaintain TechKnowledge, which is a major clearinghouse for rehabilitation and disability-related information. We provide information and advice to people all across the country via our toll-free telephone number—1-800-7269119—and are in the process of making this information accessible via computer networks.

What impact has the Americans with Disabilities Act had on the CRT?

b the CRT unique? If so, doesn't it attract clients from all over the country?

HEYWARD: This law requires employers to alter work environments and practices to deal with disabled employees. As a result, our client volume has grown significantly, especially in the computer-applications and information-clearinghouse areas. Many of our clients come to us because their problems cannot be solved by any other convenient resource or at any other convenient facility.

HTiYWARD: The federal Veteran's Administration Centers undertake research-oriented activities, but very few states offer the breadth and depth of service, instruction and research that we offer here at Georgia Tech. In the South, South Carolina has a rehabilitation engineering center similar to ours, and there's one just getting started in Tennessee. We have done some design projects for clients outside the state, but since we are funded by state agencies, the bulk of these projects are for individuals in Georgia. TechKnowledge, however, responds to calls fix >m across the U.S., and even several foreign countries.

From a designer's point of view, what does working at the center do for you and your staff? HEYWARD: Each project is different. We must be able to present ideas through drawing, model-making or other presentation techniques, plus have the skill to sell ideas. The work gives us air opportunity to analyze each client's personal lifestyle, then create design solutions to enhance their professi< >nal and personal lives. Helping the disabled improve their quality of life gives us a tremendous reward. • Tarik O. Kenyatta, ID '72, is director of the Committee for the College of Architecture of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, and a member of the advisory board for Tech's industrial design program.

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Pacesetters High Tech Surgeon By Shetyl S. Jackson

he doctor begins an appendectomy by making three incisions, each less than one inch in length, in the patient's abdomen. He inserts a long tube-like instrument into one of the incisions, and turns to watch the television monitor, which now displays the inside of the patient's abdomen. Keeping a close watch on the monitor, the doctor attaches miniature instruments to slender 18-inch rods equipped with handles. The rods are inserted into the other two incisions, and the doctor performs surgery while watching the monitor. Less than 24 hours later, the patient returns home to recover. The operation is a marriage of medicine and technology. Laparoscopic surgical technology is a great advance in general surgery, observes general surgeon John S. Kennedy, M.D. "The instruments used in laparoscopic surgery are engineering marvels," Kennedy says. "Trie tiny scissors, staples and clips are incredible. Laparoscopic surgery is a far more sophisticated, elegant and precise way of doing tilings." Kennedy appreciates engineering's contribution to surgery since his wall of

Surgeon Kennedy: "I like medicine because the help I give people is very direct and obvious."

diplomas and certificates includes a prominently displayed 1977 engineering science and mechanics degree from Georgia Tech. Doctors and medicine have surrounded Kennedy all of his lifeâ€”his father was a doctorâ€”but "I spent 18 years saying that I didn't want to be a doctor. I chose to pursue an engineering degree because I had always had an interest in math and its applications. Engineering seemed a natural field." After exploring different opportunities as he worked on his ESM degree, Kennedy decided that he did indeed want to go into medicine. After graduating from Tech, he went to medical school at Temple University in Phila-

delphia, then returned to Atlanta to complete his surgical training at Emory . University's affiliated hospitals. In 1984, while interning at Grady Memorial Hospital, he married Kay Bohanan, a student nurse. The couple now lives in Stone Mountain with their two children, Rachel, 5, and Michael, 2. Kennedy has been in private practice since 1987, and serves as a clinical assistant professor with Emory University's School of Medicine. "Surgery appealed to me because it is a very technical, very precise way of solving a medical problem," he says. "I like medicine because the help I give people is very direct and obvious. I identify the

problem, intervene and correct it. After that, the person's life improves." In laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon uses a laparoscope, which has a small video lens at its tip. Inserted into a small incision, the telescope-like instrument projects a magnified image of the internal area onto a television monitor. Miniature instruments needed during surgery are inserted through other small, sometimes only halfinch-long, incisions. Recovery from laparoscopic surgery is usually much quicker than from conventional surgery, since muscles and tissues in the abdomen are not disrupted. There is less scarring because the incisions are generally so small they

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"Hiring more people may not be the answer." No one knows whether we're on the verge of a major recovery-or a short-term comeback. But many companies will choose to gamble. In their rush to take advantage of rising shortterm demand, they'll add long-term staff they don't need-and incur expenses they simply can't afford. There's a more prudent way. With

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Pacesetters At Tech "I learned to be analytical and I learned problem-sohing skills that apply to any field," can be covered by a bandage, and many of the procedures can be done on an outpatient basis. "Gynea >logists have used scopes in surgery for years, but only since 1989 have general surgeons had the technology," says Kennedy. "The first general surgical procedure was gallbladder removal, or cholecystectomy," Kennedy adds. "N( >w, laparoscopy is standard for appendectomies, and I also perform colon and hernia procedures with laparoscopes." But laparoscopic surgery may not be the best technique for everyone, Kennedy says. It can be more expensive than conventional surgery, although the total expense may be reduced by eliminating or shortening the hospital stay. Convenience, cost, recovery time and a patient's lifestyle all need to be considered, he says. Currently, the patient and doctor decide together. But what impact will healthcare reform have on the doctor-patient relationship? "I hope it doesn't change significantly," he says. "Insurance compa-

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nies or managed-care plans will have more influence, but I believe that they will need to be receptive to the input from the doctor and to the desires of the patient. Otherwise, everyone will be so dissatisfied with the system that we'll be in a constant state of healthcare reform." Kennedy's interest in engineering, math and computers influence his professional life. His office staff depends on computers to generate forms, analyze data related to patient treatment and outcomes, conduct literature searches, and prepare educational presentations. "I may be more receptive to new technology than some physicians, since I had the opportunity to develop a background education in computers and bioengineering," says Kennedy. "I also realize that medicine is changing so quickly that we can't rely on old medical school textbooks. We have to continually educate ourselves by reading current literature." Although Kennedy took a less-traditional path to medical school, he says Tech "was good preparation for my career as a surgeon. I learned to be analytical and I learned problem-solving skills that can be applied to any field." • Sheryl S. Jackson is a freelance writer in Atlanta.

Carpet king Anderson: Anticipating change is vital to success.

World Market Leader By John Carroll

ay C. Anderson caught his vision in 1973—carpet tile. In the 20 intervening years, he has shaped that vision to become the world leader in marketing his product—the man Forbes magazine called the "Carpet-Tile King." Anderson, chairman and chief executive of Interface Inc., based in LaGrange, Ga., says three Georgia Tech mentors

have had a major influence on his own success. A 1956 industrial engineering graduate of Georgia Tech, Anderson says his life was greatly influenced by three men: Carlton Lewis, a former Tech baseball star who was his high school coach in the late 1940s and early 1950s; Bobby Dodd, Tech's legendary football coach for whom he played in the 1950s; and Fuller Callaway Jr., TE '26, his boss and mentor at Callaway Mills

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Pacesetters during the '60s. A tough competitor and savvy entrepreneur, Anderson, 59, says all three men helped create a foundation and establish attributes that have been crucial to his business success. Since its founding, Interface has grown from $800,000 in sales to nearly $600 million in 1992. Today, Interface is the world's largest manufacturer of carpet tiles, and its products are sold in 91 countries. "Lewis taught his players how to compete," says Anderson from his highrise office in the Atlanta suburb of Vinings. Lewis coached West Point High School in baseball, football and basketball. Anderson played all three. "We won state championships in football and baseball." In 1952, Anderson entered Tech on a football scholarship. His freshman year, Tech won the national championship by beating Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl. Anderson played in only one varsity game that year—a 30-0 defeat of Florida State, but he scrimmaged with the first team, helping prepare them for the championship game. "We really sacrificed our bodies for the Sugar Bowl," recalls Anderson with a chuckle. During his sophomore year, Anderson suffered a career-ending shoulder injury. Yet "Coach Dodd

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

"I fell in love with an idea: carpet tile." Anderson took the British concept, infused capital and an American management style, and created Interface in 1973. kept me on a scholarship until I got my education." After graduation, Anderson worked at Procter and Gamble until 1959, when he joined Callaway Mills. Owner Fuller Callaway "awakened an entrepreneurial urge in me. He spoke in such glowing terms of his father, who founded Callaway Mills, that I adopted entrepreneurship as the measure of success. For a long time, I wanted my own company before I actually had my own company," says Anderson. In the early 70s, Anderson's opportunity came. "I fell in love with an idea," he says: carpet tile. These 18- and 50-centimeter-square carpet segments were popular in England, but American interior designers had never seen such a product. Anderson took the British concept, infused capital, added an American management style, and created Interface in 1973. "Trre first thing we did

was buy 10 acres of pine trees in LaGrange, build a factory, put machinery in, and get it running," recalls Anderson. "Our first products went to the marketplace during the 1974-75 recession, the worst since 1929." That followed the 1973-74 oil embargo, when raw materials were scarce. "We lost $400,000 on $800,000 in sales that first year, nearly a third of our beginning equity," recalls Anderson. "In 75, sales tripled and we made a profit. That was the singlemost-important thing we have ever done. That first profit convinced the banks that we were viable." Interface has become a multinational company that dominates the carpet-tile industry, controlling over 40 percent of the world market. "Our strategy is to diversify and integrate worldwide," says Anderson, who has visited half the countries that Interface serves. "There is a science to geographical diversification. You expose the company to more opportunity and spread the risks. But all of that is at the expense of complexity. And managing complexity is a challenge to your people and your financial systems." Anderson's goal is to take Interface sales over the $2 billion mark. He foresees more acquisitions and joint ventures to expand Interface's product

line. Also, Anderson is optimistic in developing the company's Envirosense Consortium, a strategic alliance of commercial interior businesses that promote environmentally friendly products. Interface has developed a proprietary chemical called Intersept, which fights bacteria and fungi in the indoor work environment. "There are three kinds of managers," Anderson observes. "The kind that doesn't know what's happening, the kind that does know what's happening, and the kind that makes things happen. I try to know what's happening, and through my management team, make things happen. "The world is going through some wrenching changes," Anderson says. "There's a labor surplus all around the world. China is entering the world scene in a big way. India is opening up for Western investment. Capital moves easily now—you can expect capital to move to take advantage of labor surpluses. The industrial world is adjusting to a whole new condition. "The most important thing that-I do is anticipatechanges, then make decisions at Interface that respond to those changes." • John Carroll, Mgt 89, is a free-lance writer in Columbus, Ga.

GEORGIA TECH BOOKSTORE CATALOG

1993

TECH'

HCH

0 3 4 5 o

LRSILVERGRA) HOOPS M I \l TOP THREADS ASH GRAY OR NAVY SWEATSHIR1 S.M I \l mOO RUSSELL NMD SWEATSHIRT WITHSEAl S M I,XL $25.00XXL $.V00 BASKETBALL REGULATION Sl.'l $1300 IASKET8ALI SMALL Sl.l $10.00 RUSSELL WHITE SWEATSHIRT WITH SEAL S M I \l • • sun RUSSELL PRO COTTON SWEATSHIRT. S M.I \l $49.00XXL $5000

llllll KING ONI PIECL PIAYSUIl IOM IBM POM $1. \B) llM IIIII Oil OOP $3.00 .; BABYBOTTLt $4.00 5 &6 HMD HIP Oil Mil Ml Oil Willi III $!< 00 T.S8 IM ONI PIECL 0,01 P Oil Will IE SUIT. 6M. IOM. IBM $12.00 SWEATSUTI 6M. POM IBM $19 00 10 SOUKS 0 UM $0 00 I 5 1/2. 6-7 1/2 $0 00

iSs?<

1 01III 111 IACER OUTFIT 2. 3. 4. 5. ft 7-S25.00 TH SIZES S.M I $27.00 2 Llllll KINO, JOGGING SUIT. 2. 4. 6-S29.00 8 10 $0100 \ I NAVY SWEATSHIRT OR SWFATPANI so i 5/6 siooo •I INI AN I Oil IOPPIIII BASEBALL CAP-$700

5 Ill I'l ICA OF BUZZ 71/2'HIGH :•• 6 LATLONGSLEEVL I SHIM 2.3 4 $10.00 7. SIGNET YOUTH T-SHIRT XS. S. M. L $900

k JLX . ^ t , - ,

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1 ^

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CEORGIATECl

/ 2 3 4 5.

LMl BLACK OR NAVY T-SHIRT. M. L XL-$13.00 XXL-$14.00 YOUTH M. L. XL-SU.OO POCKET T-SHIRT WITH FULL BACKIMPRINT M. L. XL-$13.00 CHAMPION BASEBALL T-SHIRT S. M. L. XL-S13.00 XXL-$14.00 'THE GOOD. THE BAD. THEUGLY" T-SHIRT. S. M, L. XL-$13.00 XXL-S1400 CAROLINA CONNECTION ASH T-SHIRT. S, M. L. XL-$13.00 XXL-$1400

CALL TOLL FREE 1-80 0-4 4 8-5 4 5!' 3A

/. UNIVERSAL A THLETICS YOUTH T-SHIRT S, M, L, XL-$9.00 2.&5. CAROLINA CONNECTION NAVY OR ASH GRAY YOUTH SHORTS. S, M. L-$10.00 3.8,4. CAROLINA CONNECTION NAVY OR ASH GRAY YOUTH T-SHIRT. XS, S, M, L-$9.0 6. SMALL FOOTBALL-$10.00

3B 1. WOODEN COASTER SET-$25.00 2. WALLET-SW.OO 3 LADIES OR MENS WA TCH-$37.00 4. PLASTICMUG~$6.00 5. PEWTER GOLFDIVOT-$7.00 6. BUZZ KEY RING-$5.00 7. KEY RING WITH SEAL-$3.00 8. ALUMNI KEY RING-$5.00

CE0RCM

rtcH EUO"'MWrr:

/. NAVY WOOL WITH GT ADJUSTABLE-$130 2. THE GAME NA VY TWILL WITH GOLD BILL-S13.00 NEW ERA WHITE WOOL WITH GOLD GT

AND BUZZ-$16.00 4. THE GAME NAVY TWILL ADJUSTABLE-$12.00

5. THE GAME WHITE TWILL WITH NAVY BILL-$13.00

( *

6. THE GAME NAVY BAR DESIGN. ADJUSTABLE-$12.00 7

NEW ERA WHITE WOOL WITH GOLD G T ADJUSTABLE-$16.00

3D /. DIVOT'S WHITE GOLF SHIRT. M, L, XL-$30.00 XXL-$32.00 2 3

DIVOTS EMBROIDERED GOLF TOWEL-SW GOLF CLUB COVERS. SET OF THREE-$30

4. GEAR NAVY FULLY-LINED NYLON WATER PROOF JACKET. S, M. L. XL-$60.00XXL~$65.0

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5. WHITE CLOTH SUN VIS0R-$9.00 6. All APPAREL YELLOW GOLF SHIRT. M, L, XL-$30.00 XXL-S32.00

7. SET OF THREE IMPRINTED GOLF BALLS-SW.OO

GEAR POL Y-COTTON WA TERPROOFPOPLIN JACKET. S, M, L. XL-$80.00 XXL-$85.00

3F 1. T WITH BUZZ TIE TACK-S6.00 2 GOLD COLOR GT LAPEL PIN-$6.00 3 BLACK GT WITH BUZZ LAPEL PIN-S6.00 4TIECLIP-$6.00 5. LARGE BUZZ POST EARRINGS-S7.00 6. SMALL BUZZ DANGLE EARRRINGS-$7.00 7. BUZZ DANGLE EARRINGS-$7.00 8.SMALL BUZZ POST EARRINGS-S7.00 9. NA VY TIE WITH SEALS15.00

ON THE COVER ;. GEAR WHITE SWEATSHIRT. S M. L. XL $38.00 2 GEAR NAVY SWEATPANTS S.M.L.XL-$34.00 3. GEAR NAVY SWEATSHIRT. S. M. L, XL-S38.00 4. GEAR SILVER GRAY SWEATPANTS. S. M. L. XL-$34.00 5. MV JOGGING SUIT. S. M. L. XL -$85.00 XXI $9000

GEORGIA TECH

1. NAVY OR GOLD SILK SCARVES $18.00 2. GT RHINESTONE PIN $15.00

1. JANSPORI NAVY OR GREEN SWEATSHIRT WITH EMBROIDERED APPIIOIII S. M. L. XL $50.00 2. NAVY VISOR-$9.00 3. BUZZ MASCOT GOLFHEAD COVER-$21.00

4A /. SHAKERS-$2.00 2. MEGAPH0NES-$2.00 3. BEACH TOWEL~$19.00

4B 7. CAROLINA CONNECTION T-SHIRT WITH SEAL. S. M, L, XL-$13.00 XXL-$14.00 2. SHORTS WITH POCKETS.-$18.00 3. NORTH AVENUE TRADE SCHOOL T-SHIRT. S, M, L, XL-$13.00 XXL-$14.00 4. RUSSELL ASH GRAY SHORTS. S, M, L, XL-$14.00 5. ALUMNI T-SHIRT. S, M, L, XL-$13.00 XXL-$14.00 6. SHORTS WITH POCKETS.-$18.00

1. RUSSELL TANK TOP S.M.L. XL-S12.00 XXL-$I3.00 2. MJ SOFFE NYLON SHORTS. S. M. L. XL--$15.00 3. CHAMPION MESH NAVY TANK S. M. L. XL-$26.00 4. CHAMPION MESH NAVY SHORTS. S. M. L. XL-$25.00 XXL-$26.00

IE /. 2 3 4. 5 6. 7.

WALNUT LETTER HOLDER $18 00 ACRYLIC DESK CL0CK-$23.00 WALNUT BOOK ENDS $32.00 WALNUTPENCIL HOLDER $11.00 WAt NUT CLOCK $32.00 GEORGIA TECH TELEPHONI $38 00 WALNUT PEN AND PAD HOL DER$33 00 8. RAMBLIN WRECK MATCHBOX CAR $7.00 9. WALNUT BUSINESS CARD HOLDER $11.00

4G 1. 2 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

GEORGIA TECH TAG FRAME-$8.00 WHITEGTMETAL TAG-$5.00 RAMBLIN WRECK METAL CAR TAG~$5.00 NAVY METAL TAG-$5.00 ALUMNI TAG FRAMt-$8.00 ALUMNI METAL TAG WITH SEAL-$5.00 GOLD METAL TAG-$5.00 BLACK PLASTIC TAG WITH SEAL-$5.00 BLACK METAL TAG-$5.00 ALUMNI METAL TAG-$5.00

GEORGIA TECH BOOKSTORE ORDER FORM 350 FERST DRIVE, NW, ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30332-0453 • PHONE NUMBER OUT OF STATE-1-800-448-5458/IN STATE-404-8 Ship to (only if different than ordered by): Name Box/Apt No.

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Size

Cost

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Subtotal $3.50 $5.00 $6.00 $7.00

6% Sales tax for GA residents Shipping/handling TOTAL

Atlanta. For reservations, call your travel professional or 404-659-0400 or 800-241-3333 and ask about the Yellow Jacket Weekend. For just $109 a night, you can stay at a legend when you cheer one on.

A special rate for Tech fans only. Weekends throughout football and basketball seasons. Afterward, relax with a drink. Or enjoy dining in The Restaurant or The Cafe. Then settle back in a luxurious room at the heart of downtown

THE RTT2-CARLTON' ATLANTA (DOWNTOWN)

Profile Up the Up Staircase BySamHeys

he 23-year odyssey of Georgia Tech Regents' Professor John Templer has been joyously uphill, an ascent up the stairway of time. It started with a phone call in 1970. Someone called Columbia University's school of architecture and asked why so many people fell down the stairs at the Metropolitan Opera House at New York's Lincoln Center. Templer was a 42-year-

old graduate student in architecture at Columbia then. The question piqued his interest. He found little had been written about stairs or stairway safety. When he, his wife and her sister visited the Met, his sister-in-law fell down the steps, and the journey was on. Stairs became the subject of his dissertation. They became a never-ending source of questions and insights, solutions and then more questions. The dissertation became a

The Templer File Born—April 30, 1928 at Oxford, England Education—BS, architecture, I hiversity of Pretoria, 1963; MS, architecture, Columbia University, 1970; PhD, architecture, Columbia University, 1974. Personal—Married for .38 years to Joan Templer, an artist and associate professor of visual communications at Georgia Tech's College of Archilcc ture. father of two grown children, Achievements—Regents Professor, 1983-93; assistant dean of rest-arch. College of Architecture, Georgia Tech 1977-83; president of Architectural Research Center Consortium, 1980; director of doctoral programs. College of Architecture, 198.3-88. < omiook—Templer is a citizen of the world. For the past 20 years, he has used his architectural skills pro bono publico in India, where he has helped design a 300 bed community hospital, a shopping center, restaurant, and visitors center. He is currently working on a library and 1,000seat auditorium. Leisure Interests—Sailing and reading.

GEORGIA TECH • Fall 1993

manuscript—rewritten, edited, added to. When the manuscript didn't sell initially, his quest didn't end. It took him to Rome's 300year-old Spanish Steps and all over Europe, searching for the footsteps of mankind imprinted on a stairway. The rewriting and polishing continued. So did the research. In one of the most publicized research projects in Georgia Tech history, subjects—wearing a shoulder harness and a rope tied to the ceiling— were paid to stumble on Templer's booby-trapped mechanical stairs. The manuscript was published last year by MIT Press and is appropriately titled The Staircase. The ripples from its warm reception are still being felt. In June, Templer and his book were the subject of a seven-page article in Smithsonian magazine. The BBC will do a onehour program next spring, and a Belgian TV network crew has also been over for filming. The British newspaper, The Guardian, listed The Staircase as one of its "books of the year" in 1992, and the Los Angeles Times did a two-page spread on the book. Other reviewers include Scientific American, the Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Times.

The Times said the twovolume book "neatly divides a fascinating subject into its functional and esthetic components." and even praised Templer for being able to say "so much so briefly and so well." "That was a great surprise to me," he says. "I've always hated most scientific writing because it was so boring. I decided that if I was going to write something that I'm interested in, I had to find some way to write it so that it's interesting."

he recognition of his life's work is a fitting going-away gift f < >r Templer, who retired from Georgia Tech's College of Architecture in September. He leaves behind a legacy of notable research, including work for the U.S. Department of Transportation on the pedestrian needs of the disabled. He has been the principal researcher for a attracts totaling $1.5 million. Templer, 63. arrived at Tech in 1975 upon receiving his doctorate from Columbia. Born in England, he attended high school in Kenya, where his father had been chief f< >rester, and then college in South Africa. He spent two decades in South Africa— studying, teaching and in professional practice—be-

AKY MEFK PHOTO

Tech's John Templer on the staircase of his home: His designs add safety to the risky venture of walking up and down the stairs.

fore coming to Columbia.

n his Ix x>k, Templer calls stairs both "architectural theater" and "some of the mc >st dangerous artifacts in our environment." He says facetiously that they should come with a seat belt or a warning from the surgeon general. In America alone, more than 4,000 deaths a year are caused by falls on stairs, and another 2 million injuries require a visit to a physician or a day's recuperation. Templer believes the number of fatalities is conservative. "An elderly female breaks her hip falling on a stair, and is admitted to a hospital and eventually dies of, say. pneumonia,"

he says. "Well, they don't call that a stair accident." Templer contends one reason stairs are not as safe as they should be is that no federal agency takes serious responsibility for building safety. Although the elderly are the victims of two-thirds of all stair accidents—"their eyesight is not so good, their balance is not so good, and their reaction time is not so good"— descending a staircase can be precarious for anyone. "Our natural gait is, of course, precarious," he says. "We're always offbalance, standing on oneleg and then swinging the other leg forward and then regaining our balance. On a stair, we're going through

this same cycle, where we're letting ourselves fall forward and then catching ourselves. The problem on stairs is that if you screw up—lose your balance— you're going to fall forward or backward and you're going to hurt yourself. "It requires skill. You've got to be looking where you're going to make sure your feet continue to sort of mesh accurately with the steps." Templer likens the skill to hitting a ball with a bat. He says if eye-brain-arm coordination is always perfect, the ball can be hit solidly every time. "But we're imperfect," he laments. Many building codes call for a tread of 10 inches

or less—a proportion that dates back to the late 1600s. Templer, however, believes the tread should be no less than 11 inches wide. "Some of my recommendations—wider treads, and risers that are not as high—found themselves included in various building codes," Templer says. "But the National Association of Home Builders waged a sort of war to try to get them appealed. I really don't know why. Their argument was that the costs would be so expensive that people would not be able to buy houses any more." • Sam Heys is an Atlantabasedfree-lance writer.

GEORGIA TECH • Profile: Templer

The Official Georgia Tech Lamp Sirrica, LTD. is proud to announce the availability of the Georgia Tech Lamp. The distinctive Georgia Tech Seal is vividly recreated in gold on the black parchment shade. This classic desk lamp is hand-polished and handassembled of the finest solid brass and features a solid black marble base and centerpiece. Indeed, the lamp makes an impressive statement of quality about the owner. You can also have your lamp personalized with an engraved brass plate affixed to the marble base. The Georgia Tech Lamp is a tremendous value as you are able to purchase direct from Sirrica, Ltd. Of course, you must be completely satisfied with the quality of your lamp or you may return it within fifteen days for exchange or refund. Whether selected for your personal use or as an expressive, thoughtful gift, the Georgia Tech Lamp is certain to command attention. For faster service, credit card orders may be placed by dialing toll free

1-800-346-2884. All callers should request to speak with Operator 711GT.

Symbolizing a tradition of excellence for the home or office. Solid Marble; Ht. 22"; Wt. 8 Lbs.; Solid Brass

NOTE: For Christmas delivery, all orders must be telephoned or postmarked by December 10.

REPLY FORM

GEORGIA TECH LAMP

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Georgia Tech Lamp(s) @ $159.00 each. (Include $8.00 for insured shipping & handling charges.)

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I wish to have my lamp personalized @ $20.00. PERSONALIZED Year of Graduation

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*On shipments to North Carolina, add 6 > sales tax I wish to pay for my lamp(s) as follows: I I By a single remittance of $ which I enclose I I By charging the amount of $ to my credit card indicated below

MAIL ORDERS TO: SIRRICA, LTD. P.O. Box 3345 Wilson, N C 27895 Please allow 4-6 weeks for shipment

CREDIT CARD PURCHASERS MAY CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-346-2884 All Callers should ask for Operator 711GT.

_made payable to Sirrica, LTD., PLEASE PRINT PURCHASER'S NAME CLEARLY. IF "SHIP TO" ADDRESS IS DIFFERENT, PLEASE ATTACH SHIPPING ADDRESS TO ORDER FORM.

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Georgia Tech Grandfather Clock W e take great pride in offering the Georgia Tech Grandfather Clock. This beautifully designed commemorative clock symbolizes the image of excellence, tradition, and history we have established at Georgia

Tech. Recognized the world over for expert craftsmanship, the master clockmakers of Ridgeway have created this extraordinary clock. Special attention is given to the brass lyre pendulum which depicts the Official University Seal in deeply etched bas relief; a striking enhancement to an already magnificent clock. Indeed, the clock makes a classic statement of quality about the owner. a. Each cabinet is handmade of the finest hardwoods and veneers in a '• process that requires oyer 700 separate steps and the towering clock measures an imposing 83"H x 23"W x 13"D. Finished in brilliant Windsor Cherry, the clock is also enriched with one of the most advanced West German timing mechanisms. Exceptionally accurate, such movements are found only in the world's finest clocks. Enchanting Westminster chimes peal every quarter hour and gong on the hour. If you prefer, the clock will operate in a I silent mode with equal accuracy. Beveled glass in the locking pendulum door and the glass dial door and sides add to the clock's timeless and handsome design. You are invited to take advantage of a convenient monthly payment plan with no downpayment or finance charges. Reservations may be placed by using the order form. Credit card orders may be placed by dialing toll free 1-800-346-2884. The original issue price is $899.00. Include $82.00 for insured shipping and freight charges. Satisfaction is guaranteed or you may return your clock within fifteen days for exchange or refund. Whether selected for your personal use or as an expressive, distinctive gift, the Georgia Tech Grandfather Clock is certain to become an heirloom, cherished for generations.

Please accept my order for _Georgia Tech Grandfather Clock(s) @ $899.00 each. (Qu.„„„,) (Include $82.00 per clock for insured shipping and freight charges). I wish to pay for my clock(s) as follows: CI] By a single remittance of $ made payable to "Sirrica, LTD.". which I enclose. |~1 By charging the full amount of $_

J o my credit card indicated below.

I~l By charging my credit card monthly @ $89.90 for a period of ten (10) months. Freight charges will be added to the first payment. I understand there is no downpayment and no finance charges, i—i HMjB I—I

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Mail orders to: Georgia Tech Clock, % P.O. Box 3345, Wilson, NC 27895. • Purchaser's Name: Address: City, State, Zip: Credit Card purchasers may call toll free 1-800-346-2884. All callers should request Operator 742GT. NOTE: All orders telephoned or postmarked prior to December 5 will be guaranteed Christmas delivery. Installment orders subject to credit approval.

Symbolizing a tradition of excellence. 83" H x 23" W x 13" D

HOLY LAND April 29 to May 10 12-Day Adventure to the Best of the Holy Land Jerusalem • Tiberias • Tel Aviv • Rome $3,399 including round-trip international airfare from New York

DANUBE CANAL May 7 to 20 14-Day Adventure on the Rhine, Main and Danube Rivers Austria • Germany Aboard the M.S. Switzerland • Vienna Post-Cruise Option From $4,149 including round-trip international airfare from Atlanta

1994 Travel Programs

GREEK ISLES and MALTA

Join Fellow Alumni &

Their Families on New X

June 22 to July 4 13-Day Air/Sea Cruise , ^^~ • Valletta • Naxos/Taormina • Itea/Delphi • Corinth Canal • Heraklion • Rhodes p "njij • Santorini • Mykonos • Piraeus • Athens Featuring a 7-Night Cruise Aboard the Luxury Yacht Renaissance • London Pre-Trip Option From $4,448 including round-trip international airfare from Atlanta Reserve by December 30, 1993, and save up to $1,000 per couple

Travel Programs

7711 BONHOMME AVENUE

Brochures will be available approximately six months before departure.

For reservations or free travel brochures, contact: Georgia Tech Alumni Association Alumni/Faculty House Atlanta, GA 30332-0175 or call (404) 894-9278 All prices are per person, double occupancy ana subject to change.

GetjwaM AL U M N I O M A G A 2 I N E

Georgia Tech Alumni Association Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0175

•«.»

2 **T

wtt ' _'i'

gMa

August 1 to 13 13-Day Journey by Land and by Sea Fairbanks • Anchorage • MidnightSun Express train • Denali Park&r Mount McKinley • Inside Passage Cruise Aboard the Crown Princess to Vancouver • Vancouver Post-Cruise Option From $3,299 from Fairbanks/Vancouver Reserve by December 17,1993, and save up to $1,300 per couple

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ENGLISH/FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE August 20 to September 4 16-Day Intimate Exploration of Southern England and Northwestern France • Chester • Wales • Stratford-Upon-Avon • Bath • Stonehcnge • London • Chunnel Transit •Paris • Caen/Normandy Beaches • Mont-St.-Michel •Chateaux Country $4,199 including round-trip international airfare from Atlanta

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Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Vol. 69, No. 02 1993

Published on Oct 10, 2013

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