The ceremony for the awarding of the National Medal of Technology to Les Geddes and other Laureates will be webcast through the White House Web Site. The ceremonies, which will include the 2005 and 2006 Laureates for the National Medal of Technology and the National Medal of Science, is scheduled to begin at 1:50 p.m. Eastern -- which means you might want to log in a little early just to be safe.

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has named Weldon doctoral student Darryl Dickerson as chair of it's national executive board. The NSBE is one of the largest student-managed organizations in the nation, and dedicated to increasing the number of black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community. It was founded in 1971 at Purdue by Edward Barnette and Fred Cooper and has grown into an organization with some 20,000 members. Congratulations to Darryl on his new responsibilities.

Steven Lee, a junior in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, was honored with the $1,000 Bruce Helfert Memorial Award for outstanding junior majoring in science or engineering at the annual awards convocation. He has been involved as a Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Ambassador, implemented a peer-monitoring program for Honors Engineering and serves as president of Purdue's Engineering World Health, a student organization he helped establish to cater to the needs of the disadvantaged. Lee participated in an internship with Stryker Corp. and did volunteer work with the Timmy Foundation, which strives to improve the availability of quality health care to children worldwide. The Helfert Award is made possible through a gift from Sylvia Helfert in memory of her son, Bruce Helfert, a 1964 Purdue graduate. He was a surgeon at March Air Force Base in California, when he died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.