* WHO :* Former WVU professor Samy E.G. Elias; WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr.; College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Dean Eugene Cilento; WVU industrial and management systems engineering professor Jack Byrd Jr.; retired Personal Rapid Transit Director Robert J. Bates; and former PRT Advisory Committee member Burkey Lilly.

* WHAT :* Dedication of the Samy E.G. Elias Personal Rapid Transit System Engineering Station

* WHEN :* 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2

* WHERE :* Mineral Resources Building outdoor amphitheater near the station (Rain plan: Room 113 of Mineral Resources Building)

* DETAILS :* Samy Elias worked at WVU from 1965-82, serving as professor and chairman of the Department of Industrial Engineering and special assistant to the president. During his time at WVU , Elias also oversaw the development of WVU s Personal Rapid Transit, a guideway system of cars powered by electricity and controlled by computers. The projects first phasefrom Walnut Street to the Evansdale campuswas dedicated in 1972 and began carrying passengers in 1975. Phase IIwhich extended the system to the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center and added 28 more carsbegan running in 1979. To date, the PRT has transported more than 61 million passengers without accident or injury. Elias, now associate dean for research at the University of Nebraska-Lincolns College of Engineering and Technology, is widely regarded as thefather of the Morgantown PRT .In acknowledgement of this, the WVU Board of Governors in June adopted a resolution renaming the PRT s engineering station as the Samy E.G. Elias Personal Rapid Transit System Engineering Station.

* PARKING :* Area 41 between the Mineral Resources and Engineering Sciences buildings. Additional lots are in the vicinity of both buildings.