Accolades: Jan. 14, 2002

Mark Holmes, professor and chair of mathematics, wrote a paper titled "Breaking Down Traditional Disciplinary Boundaries in the Classroom" that was chosen as one of the best at the upcoming 13th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, to be held this April in Jacksonville, Fla. Out of approximately 400 entries, less than 20 are chosen for this honor. The paper will be published in the conference's "Selected Papers" journal. More details on the conference can be found at http://www.fccj.org/
Teaching%26LearningConference/final.html. 1/14/02

James Tien '66, professor and chair of decision sciences and engineering systems, has been re-elected as vice president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Publications, Products and Services for a second one-year term. Tien is responsible for publishing activities of the IEEE, the world's largest technical professional society. Tien, an IEEE fellow and IEEE Millennium Medal recipient, has been an IEEE member since 1966.1/14/02

Nicolle Zellner, director of the public observing program at the Hirsch Observatory at Rensselaer, has been named a Solar System Ambassador for NASA. Zellner is the first to graduate from Rensselaer with a Ph.D. in multidisciplinary science. Her specialty is the studies of the origins of life, funded through Rensselaer's NSCORT Center. Ambassadors in the Solar System Ambassadors Program, sponsored by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., organize and conduct public events that communicate exciting discoveries and plans for exploration in solar system research and technology. There are now 278 Ambassadors in the 50 states and Puerto Rico. 1/14/02