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TH#S&AMECOCK — WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2005 —— g-g * gg Buell named interim engineering dean By JASON REYNOLDS THE GAMECOCK Former professor and chairman of the Computer Science and Engineering Department, Duncan A. Buell, has been appointed interim dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology as of Aug 1. Buell succeeds Ralph White, who returns to teaching and research in the department of chemical engineering. In a USC news release, Mark Becker, USC provost and vice president for academic affairs, said Buell was widely respected by colleagues and has the qualities necessary to act in a transition period in which the college begins a national search for a full-time dean. Buell said he is looking forward to working with faculty and students in the coming year. “1 am honored to have been selected as interim dean,” Buell said. One of Buell’s goals as interim dean is to leave the college in a great Dosition for the new dean. “We have a lot of great DUNCAN A. things going on, we just BUELL need to make sure that we don’t lose track of those during the interim period,” Buell said. “We have a very strong research program and we need to maintain it. We will need to try to use current initiatives within the college to attract a greater number of undergrads.” Buell said a focus for the upcoming year would be to capitalize on several different initiatives within the college that deal with getting the colleges message out to potential students. “It’s a way of getting students to know who we are and what we do,” Buell said. One such initiative is a national program, “Project Lead the Way,” that trains high school teachers in courses that expose high school students to what USC’s engineering programs would be like. ♦ BUELL, page 3 MARY PINCKNEY WATERS/THE GAMECOCK USC’s College of Engineering and Information Technology has named Duncan A. Buell interim dean. ROAD LESS TRAVELED LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH/THE GAMECOCK Officials say some construction projects will be completed on time, but some students are skeptical. ♦ PAGE 3 FOR FULL STORY. USC inks deal with German group By RYAN SIMMONS THE GAMECOCK USCs fuel-cell program branched into Europe on Monday with the signing of a second international partnership with a leading energy research institute, this time in Germany. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany, officially partnered with USCs College of Engineering and Information Technology and the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells in an effort to allow the exchange of students and scientists in coordination of its research projects. “It is in our mutual interest to interact. We recognize Fraunhofer as one of the leading institutes in Europe for fuel-cell related research,” said Anthony Boccanfuso, director of research and economic development at USC. The partnership was made possible because work done at USC on fuel-cell related projects is world class, Boccanfuso said. USC’s fuel-cell center has grown rapidly since its establishment by the National Science Foundation in 2003, and its impact has been felt globally since a similar partnership was formed between the school and the Korea Institute for Energy Research in June. The center also partners with businesses and industries that pay for access to data and research done by the center. Boccanfuso compared the steps in the fuel-cell center’s growth to. pieces of a puzzle. When the process is complete, we will have something GRAPHIC BY LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH useful to a lot of people, he said. Researchers. at the center work on a host of projects related to the fuel cell and other energy technologies, including the production and storage of various materials, particularly hydrogen, and the development of software used in these processes. Boccanfuso noted that the center in Columbia has a particular expertise in the creation of software ♦ FUEL CELL, page 3 IN THIS ISSUE ^ INDEX Comics & Crossword..8 Classifieds.12 Horoscopes.8 j Online Poll..5 Police Report..2 — — - - - ... - ♦ SPORTS On Foreign Soil Miquel Jacobs catches up with Olga Gritsaeva as she puts up stunning numbers in the European Championships. Page 10 ♦ THE MIX Artists Family Profile The S.C. State Museum celebrates the history of silhouette-making in the Rice family with the exhibit "Southern Shadows." i Page 6 L