Virginia Tech College of Engineering’s Torgersen Award winners announced


Left to right: Eric Williams, chairman of the Torgersen Awards Committee and a member of the College of Engineering Graduate Student Committee; Carolyn Hampton, a master’s student in biomedical engineering; Don Leo, associate dean of research and graduate studies with the College of Engineering; Michael Johnson, a master’s student in biological systems engineering; and Yaoshun Jia, a master’s student in electrical and computer engineering
Blacksburg, VA , April 15, 2009

The College of Engineering Graduate Student Committee held the Paul E. Torgersen Graduate Student Research Excellence Awards.

In its 19th year, the annual competition showcases the top research performed by graduating master’s and doctoral students from the College of Engineering.

Winners were:

M.S. Oral Presentations:

First: Michael Johnson of Blacksburg, biological systems engineering, Novel Attachment System for Production of Algal Biodiesel

Second: Carolyn Hampton of Elsinboro, N.J., biomedical engineering, Limits of Permissible Crash Damage in Strong-Post W-Beam Guardrail

Third: Yaoshun Jia of Nanjing, China, electrical and computer engineering, Demonstration of a Single-Carbon-Nanotube-Based Fluorescent Nanoprobe

Ph.D. Oral Presentations:

First: Rajesh Sudarsan of Tamil Nadu, India, computer science, A Scheduling Framework for Resizable Parallel Applications

Second: Anoop Varghese of Trivandrum, India, engineering science and mechanics (graduated), Strain Localization in Glassy Polymers

Third: Sung Yeul Park of Sungnam City, South Korea, electrical and computer engineering, A Wide Range and Precise Active and Reactive Power Flow Controller Using Admittance Compensator

M.S. Poster Presentations:

First: Michael Sano of Albany N.Y., engineering science and mechanics

Second: Matthias Hofman, Zürich, Switzerland, electrical and computer engineering

Third: Mohammad Zareian-Jahroni of Esfahan, Iran, electrical and computer engineering

Ph.D. Poster Presentations:

First: Lee Bryant of Oak Ridge, Tenn., civil and environmental engineering

Second: William Miles of Gainesville, Fla., chemical engineering

Third: Brijesh Raghavan of Mumbai, India, aerospace and ocean engineering

The awards program was named after Paul Torgersen, dean of the College of Engineering from 1970 to 1990, and president of Virginia Tech from 1993 until 2000.

The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college’s 5,500 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a “hands-on, minds-on” approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 1,800 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology.

Steven Mackay
smackay@vt.edu
(540) 231-4787