Message from the Editor-in-Chief

Richard E. Marburger, Ph.D.
President Emeritus
Senior Engineering Advisor
Lawrence Technological University

Lawrence Technological University is celebrating its 75th Anniversary and President Lewis Walker has proclaimed a year-long observation of this important event.  This Joint Newsletter has an unusually important theme which, in my view, adds luster to the large-scale University-wide celebration.

University Presidents come and go and all too often the departing President exhibits a Louis XV attitude:  Apres Moi, le Deluge.  Not so in our case!  When I left office in 1993, Lawrence Technological University was in excellent shape academically and fiscally with outstanding leadership.  Since then, under the direction of two successors, the University has gotten even better!  Our academic excellence has continued to increase monotonically.

How has this happened?  There are several heartwarming reasons but I will comment on one which I am uniquely qualified to discuss.  I was proud of the professional prowess of my four academic Deans.  My successors have put in place four Deans who are outstandingly credentialed and are unrivalled in supporting each other.  The resulting synergy is one of many things that sets LTU apart.  This is the theme that the Joint Newsletter illustrates.

Louis DeGennaro is Dean of Management and Glen LeRoy is Dean of Architecture and Design at LTU.  These outstanding executives are another part of the answer; this Newsletter focuses on Hsiao-Ping Moore, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (ladies first) and Laird E. Johnston, Dean of the College of Engineering.  I have worked closely with both of these academic leaders from the moment that they took office and have observed how their leadership has inspired productive cooperative efforts at all levels of their Colleges.

The general state of affairs at even the most widely acclaimed universities was portrayed wittily by the late Clark Kerr, famous academician, who effectively described a university as a collection of individual departments connected by a common plumbing system.  Thus, even more amazing is the synergistic interaction of Deans Moore and Johnston and their Colleges!

At this point, if the commentary above has had the desired effect, you would urgently like to become better informed about these two Deans and I am glad to oblige!  The following LTU press releases have been updated by the Editor.

Molecular biologist leads Lawrence Tech’s College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Hsiao-Ping H. Moore has served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Lawrence Technological University since 2005.

Prior to her arrival, Lawrence Tech’s College of Arts and Sciences offered some 16 degree programs through the master’s level in three departments: Humanities, Social Sciences and Communication; Mathematics and Computer Science; and Natural Sciences. Five new degrees have been launched by the College since she took office: a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Biology, a Master of Educational Technology, a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cell Biology, a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communication Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Media Communication.

Additionally, she has modernized the first floor of the Science Building which now features a lobby which is inviting to students and guests, hallways which are imaginatively decorated to “lift the spirits” and the impressively functional new Dr. Larry Johnson Conference Facility funded by the late Dr. Johnson and other supportive donors.

Moore served 20 years on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, and since 1993 has been full professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, where she has been researching the cell biology of intracellular transport and intercellular communication in neuroendocrine systems. Her position at Lawrence Tech was effective July 1, 2005.

She has also been a visiting faculty member at Harvard University; the University of California, San Diego; the University of Michigan; and Wayne State University.

A native of Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, Moore holds a B.S. from National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). She also received post doctorate fellowships at Caltech and at the University of California, San Francisco.

Moore describes her teaching philosophy as, “one of creating higher expectations and self-responsibility in the student, and fostering empathy and encouragement by the faculty. This creates bonds between the student and the professor based on mutual effort and respect.” As Dean, she establishes outreach and internships with companies, medical institutions, and universities, especially those serving markets in Michigan.

She has earned research grants and awards from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, American Cancer Society, and Cystic Fibrosis Society Inc., among others.  She has also served on review panels for the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, American Cancer Society California chapter, and a number of scientific journals. Moore has chaired numerous academic and advisory committees at the University of California, Berkeley, and her work has been published in some 85 peer-reviewed journal articles.  As a leading research scientist at LTU, she has authored four peer-reviewed research papers since her arrival in addition to her duties as Dean. 

High tech mission advanced by Lawrence Tech executive – 
Engineering Dean Laird E. Johnston

Southfield, Michigan – Lawrence Technological University’s emphasis on sophisticated technology received a significant boost with the appointment of a veteran computer and engineering executive.  Laird E. Johnston of Birmingham was named the new dean of Lawrence Tech’s College of Engineering.

Johnston’s experience includes a variety of high tech management positions at General Motors Corp. and Electronic Data Systems, including leading support for GM’s centers for systems, energy, reliability, vehicle launch, and noise and vibration.   He has served as GM’s technical process manager for engineering, as manager of the EDS computer aided engineering and test division, and manager of engineering and technical support for advanced product engineering.  He has also served as executive engineer responsible for computer coordination of GM’s engineering analysis systems.

Johnston holds four degrees in mechanical engineering, including the Doctor of Science, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a GM Fellow.  He has authored 11 patents and various technical papers on biomechanics, anti-skid brakes, vehicle design, and fuel injection controls.   He served on advisory boards for the Society of Automotive Engineers, MIT, Michigan State, Caltech, and Wayne State Universities, and is a member of several engineering honor societies.  He was formerly a teaching and research assistant at MIT and taught mathematics at Lawrence Tech.  Locally, he is past president of the board of New Horizons, a non-profit organization helping people with disabilities develop job skills.  He also led Scout and Explorer Posts.
 
During the past seven years at LTU, he has brought on line programs in Biomedical Engineering, Mechatronics and Alternative Energy.  Research efforts have been greatly increased and a unique new dynamometer has been installed in the Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory.  Cooperative work with the College of Arts and Sciences in Life Sciences has attracted widespread attention.  The pioneering work in the Civil Engineering Department features a fully funded new research building which is unmatched in the United States.

Dean Johnston has strongly supported Entrepreneurial Studies in the Engineering Departments and has utilized a DENSO grant to outfit a collaborative learning computer laboratory.  An extraordinary dynamometer, a wind tunnel and much other useful apparatus has been acquired and installed during his time in office.  He will be retiring at the end of the year and we will introduce you to his successor.

The unusual length of these biographical sketches is due to the fact that I took the news releases supplied to me by the LTU Marketing Office and added my own updates.  Thus, I would like to acknowledge this and other support from Vice-President Steve Brown of the University Advancement Office and his staff members Bruce Annett, Anne Adamus, Eric Pope, Brandon Spencer and Christian Forrest of the Marketing Office.

To conclude this message, I will tell you that you will find next in this Newsletter the Vision each Dean has for his/her College followed by up to date organization charts which will clearly delineate the scope of activities of the two Colleges, two premier examples of synergistic cooperation (Life Science degrees and Robofest) and other programs in each Department which are illustrative of how students benefit from studies at LTU.  In each case, one often finds Arts and Sciences faculty supplementing Engineering faculty and Engineering faculty supplementing Arts and Sciences faculty.

The final article is the LTU news release announcing the appointment of Dr. Devdas
Shetty as the new Dean of the College of Engineering at Lawrence Technological University.  The reader may accurately conclude that the Lawrence Tech tradition of excellence and preeminence will be vigorously continued as Dean Shetty takes office!