NASA to launch Virginia Tech engineering student rocket project
Cathy Herman, leader of the Virginia Tech Sounding
Rocket Team, affixes the Hokie Birdto the payload section the team designed.
A project that began in 2002 will culminate in May 2005 when a team of Virginia
Tech engineering students watches a payload section they designed lift
off aboard a single-stage Orion sounding rocket from a launch pad at the
NASA Goddard Wallops Island Flight Facility and travel 59 miles into space.
The Virginia Tech-designed payload section
will carry and support 'MAGIC,' a Naval Research Laboratory atmospheric
experiment. The MAGIC experiment will be housed in a nose cone, which is
one of five major components of the payload section. Altogether, the payload
and its supporting section weigh about 190 pounds and the section is more
than 10 feet in length. If all goes well, the payload section will deploy
the experiment, which will collect atmospheric particles and then make
a safe reentry and landing in the Atlantic Ocean.
Cathy Herman, a senior in aerospace and ocean engineering (AOE), is the
leader of this year's design team. Other team members are Rebecca Buxton,
a junior in mechanical engineering ( ME);
AOE seniors Jeremy Davis, Cari Faszewski, Aswad Jahi ('Oz') Hinton-Lee
and Kenneth Kawahara; and Tiffany Murray, a senior in ME.
"We learned to work as a team to improve the design," said Herman. "We
had to make sure the design would meet all of the criteria for the launch.
In particular, we came up with ways to reduce the payload section weight
so the rocket can reach the desired altitude."
The project is sponsored by the NASA Sounding Rocket Program Office and
Northrop Grumman's NASA Sounding Rocket Operations Contract (NSROC). "Since
2002 Virginia Tech students have worked
with NSROC engineers to design the payload section of the rocket, to integrate
the experiment into the payload section and to evaluate all of the performance
capabilities," said AOE professor Christopher Hall, faculty advisor for
the team.
Three of this year's team members have worked for NSROC during the past
year as interns or Cooperative Education employees. Herman worked in the
flight performance department and ran pre-flight trajectory and stability
analysis. Kawahara worked in NSROC's mechanical
engineering department
on payload design and technical drawings. Hinton-Lee researched foam and
performed buoyancy calculations to make sure the payload will float upon
reentry.
"The purpose of the project is to give Virginia Tech engineering students
the design experience," said Jan Jackson, education outreach coordinator
for the NSROC program. "The program is a prime example of government and
businesses working with the academic community to hone the skills of America's
future space scientists."
During the launch, the Virginia Tech team
will work with NASA and NSROC personnel to man the Wallops Command and
Control Center, the ground stations and the Wallops Island blockhouse,
said Jackson. A second Virginia Tech-designed
payload project is scheduled for launch in 2007.
Dankowicz and Shukla win White House honors for their research
Two College of Engineering faculty were honored at an awards ceremony at the White House in September 2004 as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest national honor for researchers in the early stages of their careers. Harry Dankowicz, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics, and Sandeep Shukla, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, were among 57 researchers selected nationally as PECASE honorees.
Dankowicz
Dankowicz's development of methods to predict changes in stability and to
design against instability in dynamic systems is based in the abstractions
of differential equations, but aimed toward practical applications such as
improved ride comfort in automotive suspension systems or wearable devices
that could reduce the number of fall-related injuries.
In particular, Dankowicz is interested in the prevention of fall relatedinjuries,
and one innovation he plans as part of his research is a model of scuffing
contact between the human foot and the ground during gait. This research could
lead to the design of prosthetic and orthotic devices that would help reduce
instability for people who are at risk of injuries from falls. In addition,
Dankowicz hopes to create a predictive methodology that can be applied to a
range of mechanical systems, such as automotive systems and industrial machinery.
Dankowicz, who joined the Virginia Tech faculty
in 1999, received a $400,000 National Science
Foundation Faculty
Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award in 2003 to support his research
and educational innovations.
Shukla
Shukla, who came to Virginia Tech in 2002,
is aleading researcher in designing, analyzing and predicting performance of
electronic systems, particularly systems embedded in automated systems. The
research that attracted Shukla's PECASE award focuses on power/performance
trade-off analysis for designing embedded systems, and includes a related educational
component.
Embedded computers are becoming the brains behind mechanisms that we rely on
in our everyday lives, such as wireless devices and cars, and also constitute
the backbone of our complex systems, including space mission controls, avionics
and weapons systems. Using a probabilistic analysis and modeling tool called
PRISM, with which he has worked at the University of Birmingham in England,
Shukla is devising power usage strategies for embedded computers. His goal
is to support the current and future designs of embedded computers by developing
a power usage strategy that can guarantee maximum performance while reducing
the power usage.
Like Dankowicz, Shukla received a NSF CAREER
award in 2003 that supports his research and educational innovations.
Table of Contents
Ashley White: Marshall Scholar and USA Today First Team pick
Ashley White, a University Honors senior pursuing degrees in both materials
science and engineering (MSE) and
music performance, has had a stellar academic year. She received a prestigious
British Marshall Scholarship, was named to USA Today's All-USA College Academic
First Team and was chosen the College of Engineering's Outstanding Senior.
The two-year Marshall scholarships, which are worth about $75,000 each and
cover all graduate study and living expenses at Cambridge University in England,
are awarded to only 40 undergraduates in the U.S. each year for their accomplishments
as intellectually distinguished undergraduates.
White was one of only 20 undergraduates selected from a field of more than
600 students nominated by colleges and universities throughout the nation for
the All-USA first team. The USA Today honor recognizes students for outstanding
scholarship and leadership and for extending their intellectual talents beyond
the classroom.
Since 2000 White has performed as student concert master with the New River
Valley Symphony, and in 2001 she became first violinist for the Virginia Tech
Spring String Quartet. During the summer of 2003, she used her University Honors
Scholarship to fund an 11-week tour of Paraguay and Mexico, where she worked
with youth orchestra programs.
White spent the 2004 spring semester in Italy, studying engineering and music
at the University of Rome, and during the summer worked as an engineering intern
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also has interned at NASA
Langley, the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Cornell University
and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Ashley White and MSE Department Head
David Clark
Already a published researcher, White is co-author of a scientific paper on
aerogel materials published in the Dec. 2003 issue ofthe Journal of Non-Crystalline
Solids and of an experiment published in the 2000 Virginia Junior
Academy of Science Proceedings. She is a member of the ceramics research
group led by David Clark, MSE department
head.
As a graduate student at Cambridge, White will work in the area of materials
engineering and she plans to conduct research in bio-materials. "There is no
doubt that her research will be highly valuable in designing advanced materials
for a diverse range of future applications, including the biomedical field,"
Clark said.
Dean Hassan Aref departs College of Engineering-- Four candidates emerge from national search
Aref
Hassan Aref, dean of the College of Engineering,
is stepping down from the post he has held at Virginia Tech since spring semester
2003. Four candidates for the position have been selected through a national
search conducted by a university-wide search committee.
"Over the past two years, Hassan Aref implemented a number of changes that
position the college for sustained growth and development in the years ahead,"
said Virginia
Tech Provost Mark McNamee. "His leadership in faculty recruitment, curricular
enhancement, the development of the System X supercomputer, and the launch
of the new Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, are significant
achievements during his tenure as dean."
"I am very proud of my record of accomplishments at Virginia
Tech," said Aref. "Administrative leadership of the terascale computer
project, System X, was a thrill that I will always cherish. The transformation
of Engineering Fundamentals into the Department of Engineering Education has
brought new life to this unit. The hiring of four excellent department heads
and some 40 faculty of high quality bodes well for the future of the college."
Before coming to Virginia Tech as dean of engineering,
Aref was head of the Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Department at the University
of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. During his previous tenure as a professor of
fluid mechanics at the University of California at San Diego, he held the concurrent
position of chief scientist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
"I have had the distinct privilege of getting to know Hassan Aref during his
tenure as Dean of Virginia Tech's College of
Engineering," said Pat Artis, a 1972 graduate of engineering
science and mechanics (ESM) and president of Performance Associates, Inc.
"His accomplishments are impressive in such a short time. During his tenure,
I cemented my own gift, a bequest of over $5 million, to the ESM department.
Dean Aref's vision and accomplishments were instrumental in my decision to
do so. I believe many other alumni found Dean Aref to be a very strong promoter
of the College, and consequently, we knew our donations were wise investments
in higher education."
On March 11, McNamee announced the names of the four candidates to be interviewed
for the position of dean of engineering: Richard C.Benson, professor of mechanical
engineering and head of the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
at Pennsylvania State University; Robert L. Clark Jr., the Thomas Lord Professor
of Engineering, senior associate dean for research, and director of the Center
for Biologically Inspired Materials and Materials Systems at Duke University;
Jerry M. Harris, professor of geophysics and chair of the Department of Geophysics
at Stanford University; and William R. Knocke, the W. Curtis English Professor
and head of the Charles E. Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
at Virginia
Tech.
Table of Contents
Creation of System X wins international accolades
Varadarajan
The creation of System X, the fastest supercomputer in academia, brought two
national honors to Virginia Tech in 2004.
The university received the Computerworld Honors 21st Century Achievement Award
in Science, presented in June at a black tie event at the National Building
Museum in Washington, D.C. Apple nominated Virginia Tech for its development
System X, originally built with a cluster of 1,100 Power Mac G5 computers.
In 2003, its first year of existence, System X was ranked as the world's third
fastest with the best price, $5.2 million, and performance for a top supercomputing
facility.
"Virginia Tech is using information technology
to make great strides toward remarkable social achievement in science," said
Daniel Morrow, executive director of the Computerworld Honors Program.
Srinidhi Varadarajan, assistant professor of computer
science in the College of Engineering and
director of the Virginia Tech Terascale Computing
Facility, was named to the 2004 list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators
by Technology Review, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Magazine
of Innovation. The TR100, chosen by the editors of Technology Review and an
elite panel of judges, consists of 100 individuals underage 35 whose innovative
work in technology has a profound effect on today's world.
Varadarajan, the lead designer of System X, conceived the idea to use off the-shelf
commercial products to design a supercomputer and built his system in a little
less than three months. Varadarajan also developed 'Deja vu,' a software package
that brings stability to large clusters.
The College of Engineering collaborated
with Virginia
Tech's Information Technology group to build the supercomputer. In addition
to naming Varadarajan director of the terascale facility, the university appointed
Jason Lockhart of the College of Engineering and
Kevin Shinpaugh of information technology as associate directors. Pat Arvin,
retired associate vice president for information technology, and Glenda Scales,
associate dean for distance learning and computing in the College
of Engineering, provided the overall direction for the project. About 160
student volunteers helped construct System X.
Table of Contents
BSE receives Exemplary Department award and NSF grant
The Department of Biological Systems Engineering (BSE), part of both the College
of Engineering and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was
recognized in 2004 as a University Exemplary Department by the Office of
the Provost. BSE was selected for the honor primarily because of the department's
continuing efforts to incorporate research and hands-on experience into the
undergraduate curriculum.
Since 1997 BSE has participated in the National Science Foundation's Research
Experience for Undergraduates program, which is designed to create an environment
for guided independent discovery and develop students' interests in research
careers. 'This program has effectively linked undergraduate education with
research and scholarship, impacting not only our graduate program, but those
of many other universities,' said Saied Mostaghimi, BSE department head.
Recently, BSE faculty collaborated with colleagues from the Department of Engineering
Education in securing a $1 million National Science
Foundation grant to revamp the BSE undergraduate curriculum in bioprocess
engineering. This project will serve as a model for other engineering departments
in enhancing undergraduate research and education.
DoE awards $12 million grant for mining technologies research
The Center for Advanced Separation Technologies (CAST), a multi-university
and industry consortiumlead by Virginia Tech,
has received a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's National
EnergyTechnology Laboratory. The grant will advance separation technologies
used by mining industries in order tomeet national energy and environment goals.
Established in 2001, CAST develops advanced technologies in solid-solid and
solid-liquid separations to help the mining industry produce high-quality solid
fuels in an environmentally acceptable and sustainable manner. "The objective
has been to create the knowledge base and technologies necessary for the economical
and efficient recovery of coal and other minerals," said CAST director Roe-Hoan
Yoon, professor of mining and minerals engineering at Virginia
Tech.
For the three-year project, CAST will conduct broad-based research to develop
advanced technologies in physical separation, chemical/biological separation,
and environmental control, which have cross-cutting applications in the mining
industry. CAST is the only center devoted to separations research as applied
to mining industry in the U.S.
"Congressman Rick Boucher of Southwest Virginia, Congressman James Moran of
Northern Virginia, and U.S. Senators John Warner and George Allen have been
instrumental in bringing funding to CAST," Yoon said.
Pat and Nancy Artis bequest $5.5 million to ESM
Pat and Nancy Artis
When Pat Artis was a young boy, he built a rocket, launched it, and promptly
blew a hole in the family's truck window. Rocketry remains his favorite pastime,
but the 1972 graduate of Virginia Tech's Department
of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) has become a designer in ways that
are far more lucrative. In 1986 Pat and his wife, Nancy, a Radford College
graduate, launched Performance Associates, Inc., a company that covers a large
niche in the complex world of information technology and serves a number of
Fortune 500 clients.
Recently Pat and Nancy, who are still in their early 50s, made a bequest of
more than $5.5 million to ESM.
"The generosity of Pat and Nancy Artis is overwhelming," said Hassan Aref,
dean of the College of Engineering and
a member of the ESM faculty. "In the future, this bequest will assist the ESM
department in funding scholarships and fellowships, and provide it with opportunities
that would otherwise be unavailable."
The couple were both working for software companies when they started Performance
Associates, Inc. Together they have grown their company, which focuses on software
products, education, and consulting related to the performance, sizing, and
management of rotating magnetic storage.
Pat and Nancy also have established the Performance Associates Faculty Fellows
Program in ESM. The fellows will be appointed for a semester and provided support
to develop a new interdisciplinary research program that anticipates emerging
technologies. This generous gift also makes it possible to invite prominent
seminar speakers and short-course instructors who will address emerging research
areas. The first speaker brought to campus by the program was Brian Binnie,
who piloted SpaceShip One in its historic civilian space flight in 2004 and
secured the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
Over the past few years, Pat and Nancy have focused more time on their shared
interests of flying, wildlife photography and travel. In addition, they have
moved from the congestion of southern California to the San Juan Mountains
of southwest Colorado. They also are able to return more often to Blacksburg,
trips that include visits to ESM.
"We were given a chance, and we worked hard," Pat said. "We still have many
close friends in the College of Engineering and our gift embodies our belief
in the value of the education that it provides. Everything else in life is
embroidery."
In 2004 the College of Engineering Committee
of 100 recognized the extraordinary accomplishments of nine alumni by naming
them to the Academy of Engineering Excellence. Shown here at the Academy induction
banquet are (left to right) Haller G. Prillaman, John H. Kroehling, Douglas
L. Dwoyer, Mary Berry, Kyle T. Alfriend, Dr. Sidney C. Smith, James K. George,
Dean of Engineering Hassan Aref, Eustace Frederick and Kelso S. Baker.
HOKIES HELPING HOKIES
Virginia Tech students want to learn more about careers, majors and things that other Hokies are doing. Who better to tell them than fellow Hokies? By becoming a Virginia Tech Career Link volunteer, you can also help young alumni who may still be unsure what path they want to follow or other alumni who may be considering a career change. It's easy to volunteer, simply complete the online registration at http://www.career.vt.edu/VTCLHokie/
Several College of Engineering alumni received prestigious honors at Virginia Tech during 2004.
Turner
James E. Turner Jr. was awarded the William H. Ruffner Medal,
the university's highest honor, in recognition of his outstanding service and
generosity to the university. Turner, who graduated in 1956 with a bachelor's
degree in agricultural engineering, is a former (retired) president and chief
operating officer of General Dynamics and a member of the National Academy
of Engineering.
Turner served as a member of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors and as rector
from 1997 to 2002. He also has served on the board of directors of the Virginia
Tech Foundation and is a member of the College
of Engineering Committee of 100, the Ut Prosim Society and the Golden Hokie
Club.
Wade
L. Preston Wade, retired chief executive officer of the engineering
firm Wiley & Wilson, received the university's Alumni Distinguished Service
Award for his outstanding support of the university and the Alumni Association.
Wade, who served as Regimental Commander of the Corps of Cadets, graduated
in 1955 with a degree in civil engineering.
Wade is a member of the College of Engineering Committee
of 100 and the Ut Prosim Society, and has served on the boards of the Alumni
Association and the Virginia Tech Foundation.
In 1984, he established the L. Preston Wade Endowed Professorship in Engineering.
Martin
Harold L. Martin Sr., chancellor of Winston-Salem State College in North Carolina, received the Graduate Alumni Achievement Award from Virginia Tech's Graduate School and the Alumni Association. Martin received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Virginia Tech in 1980. Although an accomplished computer engineer, Martin has spent his career as a university administrator and has worked to improve the quality of minority higher education in North Carolina.
Belz
Steven M. Belz, a senior human factors engineer for Eastman Kodak Company, received the university's Outstanding Alumnus Award for Engineering. Belz earned all three of his degrees at Virginia Tech in industrial and systems engineering, completing his doctorate in 2000. His area of concentration was human factors and ergonomics, and he conducted research on auditory displays and truck safety with John Casali, the Grado Professor of the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
ROBOTIC ARM WRESTLING
In March three Virginia Tech engineering science and mechanics (ESM) students traveled to San Diego with a robotic arm they designed and built to compete in an arm wrestling challenge against a human. Along with robotic arms constructed by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research and Environmental Robots Inc. of Albuquerque, the Virginia Tech creation faced San Diego high school senior Panna Felsen, who defeated all three of her opponents. Pictured here (left to right) are the Virginia Tech team's advisor, John Cotton, ESM assistant professor; and ESM seniors Steve Deso, Noah Papas and Steve Ros. For its artificial muscle, their robotic arm uses electro-active polymers, which respond to external electrical stimulation by displaying a significant shape or size displacement. The arm also has a composite skeleton and an integrated control system.
Programming teams advance again to world competition
Computer science student programming teams captured four of the five top places
in the 2004 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Mid-Atlantic Regional
Programming Contest. Virginia Tech teams placed
first, third, fourth, and fifth in the regional competition, among a field
of more than 160 university teams.
The first place win secured an invitation for the Virginia
Tech students to the international competition, to be held in China in
April 2005. They follow in the tradition of previous Hokie teams, who have
been invited to the international programming competition 20 times out of the
past 22 years, more often than any other university in the world. 'We haven't
lost regional in more than a decade,' said Sallie Henry, associate professor
emerita of computer science and programming team advisor for 22 years.
Student philanthropists top nation in giving
Virginia Tech's Student Engineers' Council (SEC) topped the $255,000 marker in 2005 in giving to the university during the past seven years, making it the most philanthropic council in the country. The SEC generates its funds by hosting a career fair each fall. Engineering Expo, one of the largest career fairs of its kind in the country, is attended by companies whose registration fees the SEC then channels back to the engineering student body. For 2005, the SEC awarded grants to the freshman design program, the undergraduate research fair, and to an open electronics lab.
ISE students win national design competition
In 2004, for the third year in a row, a team of students from the Grado Department
of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE)
won first place in the national Material Handling Student Design Competition
for their design of an industrial facility.
Sponsored by the College-Industry Council on Material Handling Education and
Modern Materials Handling magazine, the competition challenged students to
solve a case-study facility design problem inonly five weeks. Each team submitted
a facility design report that included an AutoCAD (computer-aided design) drawing
of the new facility, a material handling analysis and other specifications
such as a manufacturing equipment list and personnel analysis, said the team's
advisor Russell Meller, associate professorof ISE and
co-director of the Dover Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Integration.
ISE winning team: (l to r) Rohith
Kori,
Janet Wolf, Will Chen and Andres Marquez.
Team members were rising seniors Andres Marquez from San Salvador, El Salvador,
and Janet Wolf from Morristown, Tenn.; master's student Rohith Kori from Bangalore,
India; and Ph.D. student Will Chen from Beijing, China.
Competition judges evaluated the design reports based on criteria including
product flow, equipment and space utilization, operational plan, overall integration,
economic justification, writing quality, analysis and presentation. The sponsors
awarded $1,500 to the team and $500 to the ISE department.
"This year's report was the best entry I've seen in the five years that I've
been advising students in the competition," Meller said.
Hands-on Training Gives Virginia Tech Students a World-class Advantage-- Transforming Engineering Education
Today's Virginia Tech engineering students don't have to wait until they're established professionals to succeed in the international design arena. Thanks to unique hands-on training that begins freshman year, undergraduates learn skills that help them dominate a variety of world-class competitions.
Human-Powered Submarine "Spector"
Piloting 'Specter,' a half-composite, half-human entry, Virginia Tech engineering students set two world speed records and won two first-place prizes during the international Human-Powered Submarine Contest in Escondido, California. The 2004 team, shown here preparing for an underwater race, upheld a proud tradition, from 2000 to 2002, Virginia Tech teams placed first overall with their 'Phantom' series of submarines.
Optimus, Johnny-5, and Gemini's designers
With their creations Optimus, Johnny-5, and Gemini, the Virginia Tech Autonomous Vehicle Team won first place overall--as well as six out of nine categories and $12,200 in cash awards--at the 12th annual Intelligent Ground Vehicles Competition in Rochester, Michigan. They were the only team from the U.S. to place in any event category.
Students with "Rocky"
Engineering students are turning "Rocky,' a XRT-1500 Club Car, into a fully autonomous vehicle for the 2005 Grand Challenge race across the Mojave Desert in October. Shown here, members of the Virginia Tech Grand Challenge team, all undergraduates, are making modifications to Rocky with faculty advisor Charles Reinholtz, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. The prize for this year's competition is $2 million. In 2004, Virginia Tech's 'Cliff' was one of only 15 entries out of an original field of 106 to qualify for the race, which no vehicle completed. To win, an autonomous vehicle must maneuver the 100-plus mile course through the desert with no human intervention allowed past the starting line.
Centuria's Team
"Centuria," a single-engine jet aircraft designed by a team of undergraduates from Virginia Tech and Loughborough University in the U.K., won the Best Overall Award in NASA's 2004 Revolutionary Vehicles and Concepts Competition. This marks the second year in a row and the fourth time in seven years that Virginia Tech/Loughborough teams have won first place in NASA-sponsored design competitions. Here the team shows off the Centuria mock-up in the Virginia Tech Stability Wind Tunnel.
Three ECE faculty win NSF CAREER grants
Hou, MacKenzie, Martin
Thomas Hou, Allen MacKenzie and Thomas Martin, all assistant professors in
the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, have received National
Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early
Career Development Program (CAREER) awards worth more than $400,000 to advance
their research and education efforts. CAREER grants are the NSF's
most prestigious awards for creative junior faculty who are considered likely
to become academic leaders of the future.
The goal of Hou's CAREER project is to develop a theoretical foundation for
the design and deployment of wireless sensor networks, which are formed by
locating a number of micro-sensor nodes throughout a large area. Wireless sensor
networks are capable of collecting and transmiting a broad range of data and
are being developed for surveillance and monitoring applications for the military,
the environment, healthcare and numerous other complex systems.
Hou will investigate three areas critical to the design, deployment and operation
of wireless sensor networks: developing optimal network routing for sensing
data, understanding network performance limits and trade-offs, and uncovering
inherent properties of energy-related network problems.
In addition to the CAREER Award, Hou also has received an Office of Naval Research
Young Investigator Award and a NSF Information
Technology Research grant since coming to Virginia
Tech in 2002.
MacKenzie's CAREER project also focuses on wireless networks, but with a distinct
twist, he is investigating the use of game theory to create an analytical framework
for wireless networks.
Game theory is an analysis tool that has been used to explain complex economic
systems. Wireless networks, whether used for Internet access or public safety
services, are complex systems whose dynamic interactions make it difficult
to analyze and predict performance. MacKenzie's research is aimed at developing
a theory to explain how wireless network nodes with disparate and limited information
can cooperate to achieve network-common goals.
This research could lead to more efficient power control and interference avoidance
for wireless networks, and also could provide analytical tools to other researchers
who are working to create more powerful networks for a variety of applications.
Martin's CAREER research is a continuance of his work in designing e-textiles,
cloth interwoven with electronic components, for use as wearable computers.
Martin and his colleagues in the Virginia Tech E-Textiles
Lab are attempting to develop 'smart' clothes that appear and feel normal but
provide sensing and computing capabilities.
Because the wires and sensors in e-textiles are woven into the fabric, wearable
computers can be constructed as shirts, pants, hats, gloves or other clothing
items to monitor an impressive range of factors from how fast and far a jogger
is running to the blood pressure and heart rate of a cardiac patient. The immediate
goal of Martin's CAREER research is to design e-textiles that can sense their
own shapes, the wearer's motions and the positions of the sensing elements.
In the past few years, Martin and ECE associate
professor Mark
Jones have secured a number of grants supporting their work in developing
e-textiles formilitary, industrial and medical uses. The ultimate goal of this
work is to create a complete e-textiles design framework that will enable novel
applications that are not possible with the existing technology.
Center for Photonics Technology invention wins R&D 100 award
A fiber optic sensor system inventedby researchers with the Center for Photonics
Technology, led by Professor Anbo Wang of electrical
and computer engineering (ECE), was
selected by R&D Magazine as one of the 100 most technologically significant
new products of 2004.
The sensor system was developed to help make oil wells more productive. According
to the U.S. Department of Energy, two thirds of oil discovered in the United
States remains in the ground, largely because of incomplete data about oil
reservoirs. The sensors developed by Wang and his colleagues measure temperature,
pressure, flow and acoustic signals.
Wang's group developed the technology relatively quickly after securing a $2
million National Petroleum Technology Program grant in 1998. The research also
received support from Chevron.
The new fiber optic sensors are about the diameter of a human hair and can reach depths exceeding 10,000 feet. The tiny sensors can be hydraulically deployed through a small tube.
Wang
The new fiber optic sensors are about the diameter of a human hair and can
reach depths exceeding 10,000 feet. The tiny sensors can be hydraulically deployed
through a small tube, which means they can be pumped into place and retrieved
without pulling the well head and casing.
The sensors require no down-hole electronics or electrical power. Light issent
the length of the fiber to the sensor and reflected back. The message is extracted
from the light signal using a PC plug-inspectrometer card, which makes the
retrieval system low cost and portable. Since the optical fibers are the same
as those used in the telecommunications industry, the cost of the fiber is
also very low.
Wang's group achieved another research win in 2004, securing a $500,000 Sensor
Initiative Research Grant from the National Science
Foundation to develop optical fiber sensing networks for realtime monitoring
of civil and industrial infrastructure.
Claus and Nayfeh honored by Commonwealth for achievements
Two of the College of Engineering's faculty were honored recently by statewide recognition of their achievements as academicians.
Nayfeh
Ali Nayfeh, University Distinguished Professor of engineering
science and mechanics (ESM), received the 2005 Lifetime Achievement in
Science Award, presented by the Science Museum of Virginia during a ceremony
in Richmond on Feb. 10.
Since joining the Virginia Tech faculty in
1971, Nayfeh has maintained a remarkable pace of scholarship in the field of
nonlinear dynamics. As one of the most prolific researchers in the field of
nonlinear dynamics, he has written 10 books, some of which are translated into
Russian and Chinese, as well as more than 400 journal articles and 530 conference
presentations. Currently, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief of both Nonlinear
Dynamics and the Journal of Vibration and Control.
Among his research achievements, Nayfeh has developed a new methodology for
controlling ship motions, a novel method for analyzing acoustic waves in aircraft
engine-duct systems, and a system for controlling the pendulation of military
and commercial cranes for use on container cranes and ship-mounted cranes.
He also developed the method of choice for treating nonlinear vibration problems.
In September Nayfeh will receive the newly established Lyapunov Award for lifetime
contributions from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Among previous honors accorded him are the Kuwait Prize in Basic Sciences (physics),
the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Pendray Aerospace Literature
Award and the ASME J. P. Den Hartog Award.
Rick Claus, the Lewis Hester Chair of Engineering, received a 2005 Outstanding
Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).
Claus was one of 12 recipients of the award, which is the Commonwealth's highest
honor for faculty at Virginia's public colleges and universities.
"Everyone benefits from the dedication and knowledge of these outstanding individuals,
students, institutions of higher learning and the Commonwealth of Virginia,"
said Gov. Mark Warner. The awards were presented during a ceremony on Feb.
15 at the Virginia State Capitol.
Claus
Claus, who holds joint appointments in electrical and computer engineering
and materials
science and engineering, is the founding director of the Fiber and Electro-Optics
Research Center (FEORC). Since joining Virginia
Tech in 1977, Claus has served as the principal investigator on more than
500 separate research programs totaling nearly $35 million.
Within FEORC, Claus has submitted more than 100 patent disclosures and published
more than 950 papers on lightwave technology and applications. He holds 30
issued patents, six of which are licensed and the basis of manufactured products.
Since FEORC's initial funding in 1985, a total of 20 companies, employing more
than 200 Virginians, have been spun off from Claus' work with students.
Claus received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Optical Engineering
Society in 2002 and was named Virginia Outstanding Scientist by the Science
Museum of Virginia in 2001.
College of Engineering to host Association of American Railroads lab
Railroad traffic, both freight and passenger, has increased to record levels
in the U.S. during the past few years, and the railroad industry is in need
of new technologies to help ensure the future of railway infrastructure and
operations. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) has chosen the Virginia
Tech College of Engineering to host
an affiliated laboratory for research in critical technical areas.
The AAR, whose members include Amtrak and the major freight railroads in the
U.S., Canada and Mexico, is the world's leading railroad policy, research and
technology organization focusing on the safety and productivity of rail carriers.
The AAR agreement with Virginia Tech includes an annual grant of $200,000 that
the College of Engineering will use to establish the Railway Technologies Laboratory.
"This relationship will forge closer ties and research collaborations between
the university and the railroad industry, opening up new funding opportunities
from private and government sources," said Mehdi Ahmadian, a mechanical
engineering professor who will serve as director of the new lab. The AAR
also supports affiliated labs at Texas A&M and the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. To secure the third lab, Ahmadian said, the Virginia
Tech engineering college competed with a group of schools that included
Pennsylvania State University and the University of California-Berkeley. Virginia
Tech engineering faculty conduct research in a broad spectrum of technological
areas important to the railroad industry, including wireless communications,
sensor technology, railroad vehicle dynamics simulation and modeling, smart
materials, and technologies for improving railroad operational efficiency,
safety and security.
"Our selection as the host for the Railway Technologies Laboratory is the result
of AAR representatives being impressed by the research capabilities at Virginia
Tech," said Ahmadian.
AdvanceVT awards numerous fellowships and grants
In 2003 the National Science Foundation awarded
a $3.5 million grant to Virginia Tech for the
AdvanceVT program, an initiative aimed at increasing the number of women in
academic science and engineering careers at all levels, particularly in leadership
roles. In less than two years, AdvanceVT has awarded a number of fellowships
and research seed grants and has established a leaderships development program.
Two of the three Virginia Tech women who have
received AdvanceVT Ph.D. fellowships are engineering graduate students. Olga
Pierrakos of mechanical engineering (ME)
is modeling the flow-past mechanical heart valve prostheses and the left ventricle
of the heart. Miriam Stewart of civil and environmental
engineering (CEE) is looking at a new technology called columnar reinforcement,
which stabilizes roadway embankments.
Seven engineering assistant professors have received seed grants worth $10,000
to $20,000 in support of their research: Maura Borrego of engineering education(EngE)
is studying Cultural Change in Engineering Education; Naira Hovakimyan of aerospace
and ocean engineering (AOE), Active Vision Control Systems; Linsey Marr of
CEE, Measurement of Urban Air Pollutant Emissions; Leigh McCue of AOE, Modeling
of Vessel Capsize; Kathleen
Meehan of electrical and computerengineering ( ECE),
Active Surface Plasmon Resonance Structures with Application in Biosensing
and Optical Computing; Corina Sandu of ME,
Computational Tools for Advanced Modeling and Simulation of Off-Road Vehicles;
and Tess Wynn of biological systems engineering (BSE), Continuous Sediment
Monitoring.
Andrea Dietrich, an associate professor of CEE, was one of two Virginia
Tech faculty awarded an AdvanceVT leadership fellowship, designed to give
tenured faculty administrative experience. Dietrich is using her fellowship
to learn how to start and manage a center for drinking water research.
Four associate professors of engineering are among those selected for the AdvanceVT
Leadership Development Program. Janis Terpenny of EngE, Mary Kasarda of ME, Amy
Bell of ECE and Mary Leigh Wolfe of
BSE will participate in workshops and other activities aimed at building leadership
skills.
NSF approves $12.5 million CPES funding renewal
The National Science Foundation (NSF)
has approved a four-year, $12.5 million funding renewal for the Virginia
Tech-based Center for Power Electronics (CPES), a university/industry coalition
working to help resolve the nation's power problems.
One of only about 20 active NSF Engineering
Research Centers in the U.S., CPES was the first such center based in Virginia.
The NSF established CPES
in 1998, with Virginia Tech as the lead university
in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, University of Puerto Rico-Mayag'ez and North Carolina A&T State
University.
The funding renewal marks a successful sixth year review of CPES efforts by
the NSF,
which already has awarded about $18 million in funding to the center since
1998. The academic coalition is additionally supported by funding of more than
$1million annually from an industry consortium that includes 78 industry affiliates.
Fred Lee,
founding director of CPES
The major goal of CPES research is development of power electronics technology
that can lead to significant savings in energy consumption and also help increase
U.S. competitiveness in the market. The coalition efforts are led by CPES founding
director Fred Lee, a University Distinguished Professorof electrical
and computer engineering at VirginiaTech.
CPES researchers and students can count among their successes 56 Ph.D. dissertations,
hundreds of journal and conference publications and 24 patents. In fact, out
of 20 patents issued to Virginia Tech researchers in 2004, seven belong to
CPES faculty and student associates.
"About 15 years ago, power electronics devices were so large and expensive
that they were used primarily by the military," said Albert J. Tucker, a member
of the CPES Scientific Advisory Board. "But microelectronics circuitry has
decreased the size and lowered the cost of power electronics. We're in a period
now in which this technology is becoming widely used. CPES is helping to train
a new generation of power electronics researchers and engineers."
NSF project aimed at stopping decline in engineering graduates
As part of an effort aimed at increasing the number of engineering graduates
in the U.S., which is experiencing a significant decline in new engineers,
the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Science and Technology Expansion Program has awarded a $2 million, five-year
grant to the Virginia Tech College
of Engineering for expansion of its undergraduate mentoring and retention
programs.
"The target students for the project will be engineering freshmen and transfer
students,' said Bevlee Watford, the College's associate dean for academic affairs
and director of the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity. 'The
freshman-to-sophomore transition is critical," said Watford, who is co-principal
investigator for the NSF grant. "The majority
of drop-outs among engineering undergraduates occur at this stage, but most
students who make a successful transition to sophomore year will graduate."
Watford and associate professor Jean Kampe of the Department of Engineering
Education will oversee three new programs to be funded by the NSF grant.
All three are based on existing programs developed over the years by Watford
and her staff, which in the past have helped improve retention and graduation
rates for under-represented engineering students.
Currently the Virginia Tech College
of Engineering's retention rate for undergraduate students through graduation
is 52 percent. Watford and Kampe have high expectationsfor the new NSF funded
programs, their ultimate goal is to increase freshman and transfer student
retention into the second year to a level of 85 percent. "This should translate
into about 300 more Virginia Tech engineering
graduates annually," Watford said.
DoD funds JOUSTER unmanned vehicle project
Using a multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, College
of Engineering researchers are developing an experimentation site at
the Virginia International Raceway near Danville as an initial step in the
Joint Unmanned Systems Testing, Experimentation, and Research (JOUSTER) program.
"The new program could receive as much as $12.2 million in defense grants over
the next three years for research to advance the technology of unmanned military
air and ground vehicles," said Alumni Distinguished Professor Charles Reinholtz
of mechanical engineering( ME).
Reinholtz and ME Professor Al Wicks are
the lead researchers for the JOUSTER project.
Unmanned and autonomous vehicles play an increasingly important role in military
and search-and-rescue activities. Advancing the technology through programs
like JOUSTER will make it possible for unmanned machines to do more of the
dangerous work, such as finding land mines and conducting close-range air surveillance
in military conflicts.
"Virginia Tech has played an important role
in defense research over the years, and this grant for unmanned vehicle development
will help Virginia Tech and Southside continue in that strong tradition," said
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), who announced congressional appropriation of JOUSTER
funding during a ceremony at the speedway. JOUSTER's administrative headquarters
are in Danville at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.
"We conducted two sets of unmanned air-ground vehicle experiments in 2004,"
said Reinholtz, who, along with Wicks, has directed research and student projects
on unmanned and autonomous vehicles for a number of years at Virginia
Tech. "To our knowledge, this is the first experimentation site devoted
to both unmanned air and unmanned ground vehicles."
Currently, few standards exist for unmanned vehicles used by the military,
Wicks said. JOUSTER tests will help determine standards and evaluate whether
these vehicles are functioning as required. The experiments also are aimed
at finding out how well unmanned vehicles interact with humans who monitor
and remotely control vehicle activity. In addition, the researchers want to
find ways to increase the autonomy of unmanned vehicles so that the machines
can operate effectively with less, or no, human intervention.
Congressman Virgil Goode (left) and Senator John Warner admire 'Cliff,'
one of Virginia Tech's autonomous vehicles,
during their announcement of the multi-million dollar Congressional appropriation
to fund the JOUSTER project.
NIOSH funds $3.4 million construction safety research program
Falls from buildings, scaffolds and ladders constitute the leading cause of fatal injury in the construction industry and each year about 38,000 construction injuries are reported, according to the U.S. Labor Department. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health ( NIOSH) hopes to reverse this trend and has awarded Virginia Tech $3.4 million to investigate ways to help reduce work related accidents, injuries and fatalities in the small construction industry.'We are looking at introducing research-based changes to the entire construction system to improve the health and safety of construction workers,' said Brian Kleiner, lead investigator on the NIOSH project and an associate professor in the Grado Department of Industrialand Systems Engineering (ISE). The researchers are interested in developing advantageous work system designs, which could include technical, social and organizational issues that affect construction workers. Construction safety is an issue in jobs ranging from individual tasks, such as operating a jackhammer, to the team effort of building entire residential communities. With the NIOSH funding, Kleiner and his colleagues are forming the Center for Innovation in Construction Safety and Health. Researchers and advisors represent several disciplines, including ISE, civil and environmental engineering, mining and minerals engineering, building construction, mechanical engineering, and engineering science and mechanics. The research group also will develop strategic partnerships with a diverse group of construction industry stakeholders.
Brian Kleiner (right), lead investigator for the $3.4 million NIOSH project,
visits the construction site of the new Virginia
Tech Alumni and Conference Center.
Engineering Is a Contact Sport
Another great Hokie ACC football season is fast approaching
and this year the College of Engineering will host four Engineering Is a Contact
Sport pre-game tailgates. All engineering alumni are invited to enjoy free
food, beverages and entertainment at the Contact Sport Tent on the lawn in
front of Holden Hall.
Visit with former professors, reminisce with old friends, renew acquaintances
and talk with our current faculty and students. Award winning student projects
will be displayed, including the Human-Powered Submarine, Mini-Baja all-terrain
vehicle, the hydrogen-powered Hybrid Electric Vehicle, robotic arms and more.
Start times for the Saturday games have not been announced yet, but mark your
calendar that our tailgate events will take place two hours before the games
listed below.
Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005 College of Engineering Homecoming Hokies vs. Ohio Bobcats
This is the College of Engineering's
official Homecoming game and we'll have special activities, food and fun at
the Contact Sport Tent. For registration information visit http://www.vatechalumni.com/reunion/index.html
Remember last's year's exciting contest between the Hokies and Yellow Jackets! This is a great rivalry between two great engineering schools.
Virginia Tech Homecoming game with parades and floats and announcement of the Homecoming queen and court.
Night game! Start time for the game is set for 7:45 p.m., so the Contact Sport Tent will open at 5:45 p.m.
We don't want to run out of burgers and hot dogs, so
please let us know if you're coming to any of the tailgates. You
can RSVP before game day to Lisa Young, alumni associate, at lgyoung@vt.edu
or call toll free 1-800-822-5146.
Start times for the Saturday games will be announced over the summer and early
fall. Check the Alumni Relations website often at: /index.php/alumni/alumnirelations_sport.php.
We'll update it as soon as times are announced.
If you have questions about the tailgates, please contact Linda Stroh, director
of engineering alumni relations, at lstroh@vt.edu or call toll free 1-800-822-5146.
Engineering News
Spring 2005 Credits
Dean, College of Engineering: Hassan
Aref
Editor / Writer: Elizabeth Crumbley
Contributing Writers: Lynn Nystrom, Karen Gilbert, Susan Trulove
Designer: David Simpkins
Photographers: Rick Griffiths, John McCormick, Michael Kiernan
Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, national origin, religion, or political affiliation. Anyone having questions concerning discrimination should contact the Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Office.
College of Engineering
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