Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 1 Spring 2019 | Page 5

05 The Lead Click the logo to become a 2019 Giving Day Ambassador To designate a gift to Mechanical Engineering on Giving Day: On the 'Give' page, select College of Engineering, and then use the dropdown menu to select ME. If you don't see your preferred gift designation, call 1-800-533-1144 to make your gift over the phone. Chris Williams, John R. Jones III Faculty Fellow, has been selected to receive the Graduate Alumni Advising Award by the university. The award is presented an- nually by the Office of the Provost to a faculty member who has been particularly dedicated to and effective in the advising of graduate students. Recipients are select- ed by a committee of former award winners. The Center for Tire Research will hold their semi-an- nual Industry Advisory Board April 2-3. The meeting is attended by representatives from the center's 20 member companies in the global tire, vehicle, materials and test- ing industries. In its eight years of operation, CenTiRe has funded research work of interest to industry and placed students into internships and employment. At left, graduate students present at an IAB meeting in 2018. Professor Corina Sandu with 20 students of the students who visited mechanical engineering March 1 to take part in a graduate student open house put on by the department. In all 23 students from schools such as UC Berkeley, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Bangladesh University of Engineering, Carnegie-Mel- lon, and more came to get a close look at Virginia Tech. Beth Howell, a mechanical engineering department program manager, received her Diversity Advocate certification from the University Office of Professional Development. The 58-hour course was offered to peo- ple who had successfully completed the Diversity Ally certification.