|
from: Foundations:
The Newsletter of the UMass Amherst Foundation
Spring 2004
The view from their picture window is spectacular, with
wooded wetlands and the blue haze of hills in the distance,
just at the edge of campus. When John and Elizabeth
Armstrong are asked why they’ve become so connected to UMass
Amherst, Elizabeth laughs and nods toward the view: “You
look out the window and there it is.”
Though their ties
to UMass Amherst are many, proximity was indeed ?rst. Science
and education have been a predominant
part of their lives: John Armstrong has served on the National
Science Board that oversees the National Science Foundation,
and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Neither
of the Armstrongs are alums, but after their move to Amherst
in 1995, John began working as an adjunct professor in the
Physics Department, then joined the Dean’s Advisory
Council in the College of Engineering. Soon after they decided
to endow a scholarship in engineering. Then a professorship.
And then they waited.
The $200,000 seed money for the engineering scholarship
paid out ?rst, in 2001. Since then four students in electrical
and computer engineering have become Armstrong Scholars. “We
get emails from Rich,” John says, referring to Rich
Powers CSE ’02, who is now a master’s candidate
at the University of Washington. “He’s on his
way to being a ?rst-rate engineer. We expect great things
from him.”
Getting to know the Armstrong scholars has
been “a
fringe bene?t,” Elizabeth says. “You get a glimpse
of these students’ lives and how they’re growing.
It’s so gratifying.”
The scholarship is geared
toward undergraduate research. “I’m
a big fan of undergraduates doing hard stuff,” says
John, who earned his engineering degrees from Harvard and
worked for 30 years in research at IBM, where his positions
included vice president for science and technology and IBM
director of research. It’s not surprising, then, that
the Armstrong Professional Development Professorship would
also be used to encourage young professors to devote their
energy to the next level of “hard stuff."
"The
amount of effort required to get proposals out is huge,” John
says. “This [professorship] was to supplement young
faculty in their research. You could hardly hope to see clearer
results because of what’s happened with CASA.”
Elizabeth is quick to add: “We just got them to the
starting line. Now we root for them.”
CASA, the Center
for Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere, is the UMass Amherst’s
newest and largest National Science Foundation center, with
a $17 million grant from
NSF and some $25 million in state and industry funding. Two
years ago, the Armstrong Professorship was awarded to David
McLaughlin of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department,
who was the principal investigator for the CASA proposal
and currently serves as its director.
Two years ago, with
CASA just a good idea, McLaughlin says that the professorship
came at the perfect time. “I took
it as a vote of con?dence,” he says. “I felt validated.”
McLaughlin
also sees John Armstrong as a powerful mentor. “He
helps us think about how to mesh with industry, about management,” McLaughlin
says. “He continuously reminds us that we’re
in the big leagues.
"If I think back over my career, if I
count the in?uential people
on one or two hands, John is certainly on that list,” McLaughlin
says.
He’s not the only one with that notion. Other
Armstrong scholars expressed how thrilled and fortunate they
were to
receive the scholarship. Students like Dorinda Garcia ‘05,
electrical engineering: “If there weren’t people
like the Armstrongs, I couldn’t be here,” she
says. “My
parents (in the Dominican Republic) make in a year what my
college tuition is.” Like all the Armstrong scholars,
her resume is already ?lled with undergraduate research:
a semester with Professor Aura Ganz, a Hamilton Sundstrand
summer
internship with Professor Dennis Goeckel, and now research
with CASA.
"This is an investment in young careers,” John
says. “You
don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but you
only get real rewards if you take real risks.”
Behind
where the Armstrongs sit, and not far from their view of
the Amherst campus, there is a plaque commemorating the
Armstrong professorship, a UMass Amherst mug, a cluster of
pictures—three years of the Armstrongs standing with
their scholars. I ask them if they set out the mementoes
for my bene?t.
"Oh no,” says Elizabeth. “This
is our UMass shrine.”
She muses: “We may need
a special room just for the pictures.”
|
