Business college picks tech and management exec of the year

The Eller College of Business and Public Administration and the College of Engineering and Mines have named Louise Francesconi, president of Raytheon Missile Systems and Raytheon Company vice president, as the 2002 Technology and Management Executive of the Year.

She will be honored at the annual Technology and Management Awards Luncheon on Thursday at noon, at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale. The luncheon celebrates the contributions of high-tech enterprises and entrepreneurial ventures to the economy of the state of Arizona.

Francesconi runs the world's largest missile company, overseeing nearly 40 missile programs that support every mission area of U.S. and allied military forces. Prior to the merger of Raytheon and Hughes operations in 1997, Francesconi worked for Hughes Aircraft Company. In October, Fortune magazine named Francesconi for the second time as one of the nation's "50 Most Powerful Women."

UA seismologist Îfingerprints' man-made events forensically

If you think seismology concerns only earthquakes and plate tectonics, think again.

Terry Wallace represents a different breed of seismologist ÷ that of forensic seismologist. By using seismic stations as "little ears to the ground," Wallace continues to push the forefront of forensic seismology by studying the sinking of submarines, industrial explosions, nuclear weapons testing, landslides and other unidentified phenomena that leave their mark by shaking the ground.

Wallace, a geosciences professor, says that seismographic records can provide the tools necessary to reconstruct a sequence of events on land or in the ocean.

"Seismological tools and theory can be used as constraints to tell when an accident occurs or something that's not accidental, like a nuclear explosion. We can then put behind that some ideas of how big an explosion might be, or if it's a landslide, how big the landslide might have been, or how far the rocks have fallen, for example," he explains.

Walkabout applauds Mirror Lab for biohealth, safety leadership

Safety has become an integrated part of operations at the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory. And the Industrial Hygiene and Safety Intern Program, launched three years ago, has made a significant impact on improvements.

Richard Powell, vice president for research and graduate studies, recently toured the lab to acknowledge the organization for it's unique approach to achieving outstanding health and safety performance. The laboratory is best known for being the only one in the world that can produce large-scale binocular telescope mirrors.

Powell has been identifying organizations across the UA campus that have developed effective systems for managing risks as part of the Walkabout for Biosafety Excellence Project. Based on the success of the Walkabouts, the project has expanded beyond biosafety into the many facets of health, safety and environmental management. Powell visited the lab to find out how health and safety was incorporated into its organizational culture.

Karen Kenagy, program coordinator for the mirror lab, said the industrial hygiene intern position originated in August 2000 out of a critical need to create a safe working environment for Mirror Lab employees.

The Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, College of Public Health and Risk Management and Safety Department organized the program.