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6-27-97

Contacts:
Jim Bernard, ICEMT, (515) 294-0360
Les Schmerr, CNDE, (515) 294-3033
Anita Rollins, IPRT Information, (515) 294-1113
Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917

NASA OFFICIALS TOUR ISU JULY 1

AMES, Iowa--The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's chief technologist will learn first-hand about Iowa State University research related to the space agency. Samuel Venneri will be at ISU July 1, meeting with researchers from the Institute for Physical Research and Technology and the College of Engineering.

Venneri's visit is the second one by a high-ranking NASA official to ISU in the last four months. Administrator Daniel Goldin and Discovery astronaut Mary Ellen Weber visited in April at the invitation of Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA). Venneri is the principal advisor and advocate on matters concerning NASA's technology policy and programs.

Venneri will tour ISU's C2 facility, a virtual reality environment developed by the Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology (ICEMT). He also will visit the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE), a leader in the development of inspection technologies.

"We appreciate the opportunity to visit with Venneri on our research in immersive technologies," said Jim Bernard, ICEMT director and a professor of mechanical engineering. "We are developing the virtual environment as a tool to solve industrial and scientific problems. We are also working to make the virtual environment more realistic by adding such capabilities as the sense of touch, so that we can take full advantage of human knowledge as we explore problems."

At CNDE, Venneri will learn about work in integrated modeling "with an emphasis on ensuring the inspectability and safety of a part before its development," according to Les Schmerr, interim director of CNDE and professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics. CNDE also manages a Federal Aviation Administration program that looks at aircraft safety issues and develops technologies to address those issues.

ICEMT and CNDE are members of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology, a federation of research, technology development and technology transfer entities at Iowa State University.

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Revised 6/30/97