Architecture + Engineering = Impressive Results
When Virginia Tech engineering and architecture
students work together, the results are unique designs and the latest in problem-solving
technology. During the past year,student teams from the College of Architecture
and Urban Studies (CAUS) and the College of
Engineering have collaborated on an award-winning house for the national
Solar Decathlon and on the nationally televised construction of a family home
for the ABC Television Network's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
The Virginia Tech Solar Decathlon Team began
preparing in 2004 for the October 2005 competition on the National Mall in
Washington, D.C. Students and faculty from the CAUS departments of architecture,
industrial design, interior design, and landscape architecture joined colleagues
from mechanical
engineering, civil and environmental engineering,and electrical
and computer engineering to meet the challenge of designing and building
a solar house that generates its own renewable energy.
In fact, to meet the demands of the competition's primary sponsor, the U.S.
Department of Energy, each of the 18 Solar Decathlon entries were required to
generate enough energy to power all the needs of the house, as well as run
a small home-based business and power an electric car.
Innovations created by the Virginia Tech team
included a "floating," boomerang-shaped roof with photovoltaic panels;a translucent
exterior wall filled with aero gel, which provides excellent insulation while
allowing light to filter into the house; a ground-source heat pump system that
provides hot water and radiant floor heating; and a "smart house" computer
operating system.
Solar Decathlon judges were impressed. Among the first place awards presented
on the Mall to the Virginia Tech team were Best Architecture, Best Dwelling,
Best Daylight Lighting, and a tie for Best Electric Lighting. In the end, the
Hokies placed fourth overall.
Team Members
The production crew for "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" encamped in Blacksburg
for a week in December 2005 to film the construction of a new home for Carol
Crawford Smith and her two sons. Crawford Smith, a former soloist with the
Dance Theater of Harlem who came to Virginia Tech in
1991 as director of the Black Cultural Center, was diagnosed five years ago
with multiple sclerosis. Faculty and students from CAUS led the design for
a house that Crawford Smith can navigate more easily.
Building Specialists Inc., a general contractor in Roanoke, was chosen to oversee
the demolition of Crawford Smith's house and construction of her new home.
To meet the requirements of the television production, all of this had to be
done within just one week. Virginia Tech's
Center for Innovation in Construction Safety and Health (CICSH)was asked to
help ensure that the risks of accidents and injuries were kept to a minimum
during the whirlwind project.
Brian Kleiner, director of CICSH and a professor of industrial and systems
engineering (ISE), led a team of about
50 faculty and students from his department and from building construction, civil
and environmental engineering, and wood science and forest products. Dubbing
themselves the "Extreme Safety Corps," the team first went through a training
course designed for the occasion by Roby Robinson of the university's Environmental
Health and Safety Services.
The Safety Corps team then devised a Rapid Universal Safety and Health (RUSH)
system to promote safe coordination of the round-the-clock work at the site
by the Building Specialists crew and the hundreds of university and community
volunteers.
"Keeping the multitude of volunteers safe was an enormous challenge," Kleiner
said. In addition to coping with the risks posed by rapid construction, Safety
Corps had to deal with a complex traffic problem. Constant deliveries of materials
and supplies were competing with the comings and goings of crews and volunteers
and with continual movement of bulldozers,cranes and other heavy construction
equipment.
The extraordinary efforts of all the construction specialists and volunteers
met with great success. At the end of the week, Crawford Smith and her sons
returned to Blacksburg to find a finished home with stylish, easy-access design
throughout. The show aired on Feb. 12 as a two-hour special.
("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. David Goldbergis the president of Endemol USA. The series is executive produced by Tom Forman. The show airs 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET on the ABC Television Network.)Table of Contents
Former fraternity brothers pledge $10 million for school of construction at Virginia Tech
Two alumni who met each other some 30 years ago as undergraduates and as members
of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity are sharing equally in a $10 million pledge
to establish the Virginia Tech Myers-Lawson School of Construction at their
alma mater. The university, the College of
Engineering and the College of Architecture and Urban Studies will collaborate
to develop additional support for the school.
The two alumni, A. Ross Myers (civil engineering, 1972) and John R. Lawson,
II (geophysics, 1975), are the CEOs of two major construction companies, both
of which emphasize quality, standards and ethics in all business dealings.
Myers is the CEO of American Infrastructure, headquartered in Worcester, Pa.
Lawson is the president and CEO of W. M. Jordan Co., with offices in Newport
News, Va., and Richmond, Va.
The new school will enhance Virginia Tech's
strong position of national leadership in construction education and research.The
Vecillio Construction Engineering and Management Program in the Via Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and the Building Construction
(BC) Department in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, the primary
beneficiaries of the $10 million gift, already work together closely.
"Our primary focus will be on values-based leadership in the construction industry.
We want to build upon an ethical community of construction personnel," said
the school's Director Yvan Beliveau, the Georgia Anne Snyder-Falkinham Professor
and the BC department head. Associate Director Michael Vorster, the David Burrows
Professor of Civil Engineering, said the school will "combine the strengths
of two excellent programs to establish anew standard for construction education
and research."
"My investment in Virginia Tech's Myers-Lawson School
of Construction will provide the industry, including companies like mine, with
much needed, well-prepared, high content human capital. Beyond that I believe
the school will elevate the learning process to produce leaders prepared to
elevate an industry," Myers said.
John R. Lawson, II (left) and A. Ross Myers
"Virginia Tech has always had good building
construction and civil engineering programs, but we have a chance to be the
best," Lawson commented. "There are never enough graduating seniors to fulfill
the industry's demand. We have a chance to double the output while adding many
additional programs and features, including possibly some that are unique to
construction. I have personally benefited from my school and my industry. I
have an obligation to give back."
The new school will provide "both an engineering and a non-engineering approach
to construction education," Beliveau said. "The graduate level work will be
enriched as students in management, building construction, architecture, and
engineering work together and share ideas."
Three College of Engineering researchers win NSF awards
Pinpointing sources of unhealthy air pollutants, investigating
nanoscale thermal transport,and understanding cardiovascular flows are the
goals of three Virginia
Tech College of Engineering researchers
who recently
received Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) awards, the National
Science Foundation's most prestigious grants for creative junior faculty considered
likely to become academic leaders of the future.
Assistant professors Linsey Marr of the Via Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering Scott Huxtable and Pavlos Vlachos of the Department of Mechanical
Engineering won five-year CAREER grants, each worth about $400,000.
"Air pollution is a serious health problem that causes heart attacks, asthma,
and premature deaths," Marr said. "It also degrades visibility and drives global
climate change. My CAREER project takes a novel approach to measuring air pollutant
emissions."
Marr and her graduate students will mount instruments that measure pollutant
concentrations and wind velocity on the top of a van with an extendable mast
"like a TV news van," she said. The research team will travel to Roanoke,
Va., the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and Baltimore, Md., parking the van
in various locations. The pollutant trackers will measure carbon dioxide, which
is a greenhouse gas; nitrogen oxides and organic compounds, which are key ingredients
in smog formation; and airborne particles--the chief culprits for health effects.
"Current estimates of air pollutant emissions are highly uncertain," said Marr.
"We anticipate that our measurements will add considerable new insight to the
quantification of different types of emissions. Scientists can use this information
to improve their understanding of air pollution, and policy makers can devise
more effective plans to improve air quality."
Marr came to Virginia Tech in 2003 after a
year of post-doctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She completed her Ph.D. in environmental engineering at the University of California
(UC) at Berkeley,where she was a NSF Graduate
Research Fellow and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency STAR Graduate Research
Fellow. She earned her bachelor's degree in engineering science at Harvard
University in 1996.
Understanding the mechanisms responsible for thermal transport, or heat flow,
between dissimilar materials at the molecular level is the focus of Huxtable's
CAREER project. Huxtable will use laser techniques "timed by the picosecond,
or one-trillionth of a second" to determine at the nanoscale how heat is transferred
across the boundary between two materials. A primary goal of his project will
be discovering what types of chemical modifications can be made to the surfaces
of materials to control the flow of heat.
Understanding heat flow at this level could help engender the design of nanostructured
composite materials capable of controlling thermal conductivity. 'This research
could impact a wide variety of technologies,' said Huxtable, who began studying
nanoscale thermal transport as a graduate student at UC-Berkeley.
One example would be improved design of thermoelectric coolers, which offer
distinct advantages over conventional refrigerators and other cooling devices:
they have no moving parts to break down and do not use harmful chemicals, such
as ozone-depleting CFCs. However, thermoelectric devices are still highly inefficient.
Better control of thermal conductivity could lead to the development of high-efficiency
coolers.
Huxtable's research also could discover ways to better manage the intense heat
generated by power electronics and to create composite materials that can handle
extremes of thermal conductivity.
Huxtable received his bachelor's degree from Bucknell University and his master's
and Ph.D. from UC-Berkeley. He conducted post-doctoral research in materials
science, focusing on thermal transport, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
before joining the Virginia Tech faculty in 2003.
Vlachos hopes his CAREER research will help advance the understanding of cardiovascular
flows in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.
"Cardiovascular disease has historically been the leading cause of death in
the U.S. and accounts for about one-third of all deaths worldwide," Vlachos
said. "However, cardiovascular flows are not well understood. To improve disease
diagnostic tools and treatments for heart disease, we need to understand the
physics of blood flow through the body."
"As the heart pumps blood through the arteries and veins of the cardiovascular
system, it transfers nutrients and oxygen to all of the body's tissues and
organs," Vlachos explained. "The arteries and vessels in this large network
are short, curved, flexible pipes with many branches that deform as pressure
increases during each heartbeat." The curvature, branching, flexibility and
pressure pulse characteristics of these 'pipes' result in a complex environment
where flow disturbances can lead to the formation of plaque and arterial stenosis,
or narrowing.
Vlachos will construct experimental models of the cardiovascular system through
which fluids can be pumped. Using advanced optical imaging tools that will
perform tens of thousands of measurements simultaneously across the arterial
models, he hopes to discover how flow disturbances influence a variety of cardiovascular
disease conditions.
Vlachos joined the Virginia Tech mechanical
engineering faculty in 2003 after spending three years as a visiting assistant
professor and research assistant professor of engineering
science and mechanics at the university. He also is on the faculty of the
Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School
of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. He received his bachelor's degree in mechanical
engineering from the National University of Athens, Greece, and completed
his master's and doctorate in engineering mechanics at Virginia Tech.
Marr, Huxtable, and Vlachos
Exciting time of growth, Benson discovers
Benson
"In my entire career I have never been in an organization so poised for growth
as the Virginia Tech College of Engineering,"
said Richard Benson, who joined the college as dean in August 2005 after previously
serving as head of the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at
The Pennsylvania State University.
Reflecting, during his second semester as dean, on some of the college's "challenges,
goals, and aspirations," Benson cited the progress being made on the Institute
for Critical Technology and Applied Science ( ICTAS).
The interdisciplinary research consortium, spearheaded by the College
of Engineering, is a centerpiece of Virginia
Tech's strategic plan and "a priority of mine," he noted. The ICTAS-A
building, which will house the Advanced Materials Characterization Laboratory,
is under construction and "is destined to be a world-class materials research
facility that few institutions will rival." In addition, he pointed out,construction
on the ICTAS-I building will begin
in 2006.
Another major step forward, Benson noted, is the Myers-Lawson School of Construction,
established by a $10 million endowment from Virginia
Tech alumni A. Ross Myers, CEO of American Infrastructure and a 1972 graduate
of civil engineering, and John R. Lawson II, president and CEO of W. M. Jordan
Co. and a 1975 graduate of geophysics (see story on front page). "This is an
indicator of the engagement of the college's many stakeholders," Benson said.
"Engineering alumni should know that our reputation for excellence extends
across our nation and overseas."
Benson's perspective on Virginia Tech engineering's stature comes from abroad
base of academic and industry experience. He began his tenure at Penn State
as head of mechanical engineering in 1995;
three years later he administered the successful merging of the university's
mechanical and nuclear engineering departments.
He began his academic career in1980 at the University of Rochester in New York.
In 1981 he was honored as the top teacher in the College
of Engineering and Applied Science and in 1989 he was appointed the college's
associate dean for graduate studies. Three years later he was named chair of
the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
His research focus at Rochester was the mechanics of highly flexible structures.
With sponsorship from Eastman Kodak Co., Hewlett Packard, Bausch and Lomb,
Xerox and others, he and his advisees modeled magnetic disks and tapes, paper
sheets, soft contact lenses, photographic film and other easily deformed structures.
In 1984 he received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Henry Hess
Award, which recognizes an outstanding publication by a young researcher.
Before joining the university, Benson worked for Xerox Corp. in Rochester for
three years as a technical specialist and project manager. He received his
Ph.D.from the University of California at Berkeley and his master's degree
from the University of Virginia, both in mechanical
engineering. He
holds a bachelor's in aerospace and mechanical
engineering from Princeton University.
"Looking ahead, I'm inspired by the collective vision presented in our College
of Engineering strategic plan," Benson said. "It's an exciting time to be at
Virginia Tech. Our faculty ranks have grown by eight percent, our research
expenditures are up, the quality of our student body is increasing, our international
and distance learning programs are expanding, and we're adding critically needed
research space."
"The credit for these accomplishments rests with our faculty, staff and students--and with the support of our alumni," Benson added. "The current trends bode
well for our future together."
Cortes new lab manager
College of Engineering alumna Susan Cortes, pictured here between Virginia Tech Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team members Rachel Teune (left) and Shannon Reeves, has returned to her alma mater as the new manager of the Joseph F.Ware, Jr. Advanced Engineering Laboratory. As a graduate student in mechanical engineering ( ME) during the 1995-1996 academic year, Cortes (her last name then was Larkin) supervised the design and construction of Virginia Tech's first autonomous vehicles, CALVIN and BOB. In fact, with the help of ME professor Charles Reinholtz, Cortes initiated the perennially successful autonomous vehicle program at Virginia Tech. Since completing her M.S.in 1996, Cortes has worked as an engineer at Tyco Electronics Power Systems (formerly AT&T Bell Labs). Today she manages one of the first and most successful undergraduate design-and-build facilities in the nation, helping Virginia Tech engineering students create a variety of autonomous, hybrid and human-powered land, sea and air vehicles. Visit the Ware Lab web site at /index.php/warelab.
Table of ContentsUndergraduate program moves up to 14th in rankings
The Virginia Tech College of Engineering's undergraduate program jumped from a ranking of 19th in 2005 to a ranking of 14th in U.S. News & World Report's 'America's Best Colleges 2006.' The college is tied at the 14th rank with engineering programs at Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University and Texas A&M University. Among engineering schools at public institutions, the Virginia Tech engineering college shares the rank of eighth with Texas A&M. "Our rank of 14th puts us squarely among the finest engineering colleges in the nation, and speaks to the notice we're receiving for our innovative work as educators," said Richard Benson, College of Engineering dean. "This trend will continue. Virginia Tech will always be at the forefront of engineering education--attracting and graduating engineering students of unsurpassed skill." Eight of Virginia Tech's undergraduate engineering disciplines ranked in the top 25 nationally: aerospace 16th; chemical 25th; civil 11th; electrical 19th; environmental 11th; industrial 6th; materials 14th; and mechanical 15th.
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Betts
William E. 'Ping' Betts, Jr. was awarded the William H. Ruffner
Medal, the university's highest honor, in recognition of his outstanding service
and leadership to Virginia Tech, his profession, his community and his nation.
Betts, who graduated first in his class of 1932 with a degree in architectural
engineering, returned to the university to complete a master's in structural
engineering in 1934.
An officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, Betts was
among the Allied troops who landed on Omaha Beach at Normandy. He was awarded
the Bronze Star by the U.S. War Department and the Croix de Guerre by the French.
In 1938 he co-founded the Montague-Betts Co., a structural steel fabricator
of several major construction projects, including New York's World Trade Center.
Since 1956 he has served as chairman of the company.
Betts is a past director of the Virginia Tech Educational
Foundation and of the university's Alumni Association. He is a member of the College
of Engineering Committee of 100 and serves on the Virginia Tech President's
Council Membership Committee for the City of Lynchburg, where he resides.
Goodwin
The Virginia Tech Alumni Association honored William
H. Goodwin, Jr. with the 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award in
recognition of his endeavors of enduring value to society. Goodwin earned
his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia
Tech in 1962 and later received a master's degree from the University
of Virginia's Darden School of Business.
One of the nation's premier business leaders, Goodwin founded Commonwealth
Computer Advisors, a leasing company known today as CCA Financial, Inc. Today
he is Chairman of the Board of CCA Industries, Inc., a diversified holding
company.
Goodwin has provided support and leadership for a number of programs at Virginia
Tech, including Torgersen Hall, The River Course, and scholarships and
professorships for the College of Engineering and
Corps of Cadets. He and his wife, Alice, who reside in Richmond, established
the Commonwealth Foundation for Cancer Research.
May
The College of Engineering presented
its 2005 Distinguished Alumnus Award to Joe T. May, a member
of the Virginia House of Delegates (33rd District) and a 1962 electrical engineering
graduate of Virginia Tech. Known as the resident
technology expert in the Virginia General Assembly, Del. May is a registered
P.E. who holds 18 patents and is founder and CEO of Electronic Instrumentation
Tech (EIT), an engineering and manufacturing firm based in Sterling, Va.
May serves as chairman of the House of Delegates Science and Technology Committee
and of the Joint Commission on Technology and Science. He also is a member
of the House Appropriations Committee and is vice-chairman of the House Transportation
Committee.
In 1996 May received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Industry from the Commonwealth
and the Science Museum of Virginia. More recent honors include the Governor's
Legislative Leadership Award in Technology, the Greater Washington Area Engineer
of the Year Award, and the Virginia Biotechnology Legislator of the Year Award.
Juanarena
Douglas Juanarena received the 2005 College
of Engineering Distinguished Service Award. A 1975 electrical engineering
graduate, Juanarena has been a member of the college's Committee of 100 since
1983 and has served several terms on its Advisory Board. He also is a former
chair of the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering's
Advisory Board.
An active participant in the Virginia Tech Institute
for Critical Technology and Applied Science's ( ICTAS)
Task Force, Juanarena was instrumental in establishing the Materials Characterization
Laboratory, which will be the first of three ICTAS facilities.
In 1977 Juanarena founded Pressure Systems, Inc. in Tidewater and was a member
of the team at NASA-Langley that developed a unique sensing system for electronic
communication and measurement of wind tunnel pressures. Today, he is president
of Gen Tek of Blacksburg.
Jones endows program for ME
Mechanical Engineering (ME) alumnus John R. Jones, III of Dublin, Ohio, has created an endowment with a gift of $600,000 that enables the department to reward junior faculty for outstanding efforts in teaching, research and/or service. Jones, a member of ME's Advisory Board since 1998, worked with ME Department Head Ken Ball to determine how his gift could provide the maximum benefit.
Jones
The College of Engineering and its
Advisory Board recognized the extraordinary professional contributions of eight
alumni by naming them to the Academy of Engineering Excellence in 2005. Pictured
at the academy banquet are (l to r) Hassan Aref, former dean of engineering;
Neville Rowland, (agricultural engineering, '63); E. Towson Moore (electrical
engineering,'58); William C. McAllister (engineering mechanics, '65); Margaret
Franklin, accepting on behalf of her late husband, J. Stuart Franklin, Jr.
(civil engineering, '50); W. Robert Jebson, Jr. (metallurgical engineering,
'56); R. Sidney Barrett, Jr. ( mechanical engineering,'62);
Nicholas M. Mihlalas ( chemical engineering,
'59); and C. Howard Robins (aeronautical engineering, '58).
NASA astronaut Charles Camarda, who earned his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at Virginia Tech in 1990 and flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2005, visited his alma mater in November 2005 to speak to engineering classes and present a Virginia Tech flag that he took along on his space mission. As a mission specialist aboard Discovery, Camarda inspected the shuttle's thermal protection system and helped manage the orbiter docking system during the shuttle's rendezvous and undocking with the International Space Station. During his career asa research scientist in the field of thermal structures, Camarda received more than 20 NASA awards for technical innovations, as well as an award from Industrial Research Magazine for one of the top 100 technical innovations of 1983. He holds seven patents and is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Camarda was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in 1996. The Discovery mission was his first voyage into space.
Virginia Tech's SUV on ethanol rolls toward Challenge X
With the guidance of faculty adviser and mechanical engineering (ME)
professor Doug Nelson and the leadership of ME graduate
student Steven Boyd, the undergraduates on the Virginia
Tech Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team (HEVT) are transforming a Chevrolet Equinox
SUV into an ethanol-powered hybrid for the second phase of Challenge X: Crossover
to Sustainable Mobility.
The HEVT is among 17 university teams selected by the U.S. Department of Energy
and General Motors to compete in the three-year Challenge X, a national competition
that encourages engineering students to help develop designs and technology
for the next generation of energy-efficient,low-emissions vehicles. To this
end, the sponsors have given each team an Equinox and $10,000 seed money,as
well as up to $25,000 in automotive parts.
The Virginia Tech team is using an E85 engine,which
runs on 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. "It helps to have the15
percent gasoline in the fuel for cold starts," Nelson said. "From the beginning
of the competition, our goal has been to reduce the petroleum consumption of
the Equinox by 80 percent."
Steven Bushey, a senior in mechanical engineering, helped
transform a standard Equinox engine into a hybrid-electric system.
Ethanol "long popular as grain alcohol" is a renewable fuel typically distilled
from corn in the U.S. In addition to achieving the goal of reducing petroleum
consumption, the E85 fuel mixture produces fewer overall greenhouse gas emissions.
Through GM, the team obtained a Saab 2-liter E85engine that was built for use
in European automobiles. Nelson and the students "who come from the mechanical
engineering, electrical
and computer engineering and computer science departments" have integrated the Saab engine into the Equinox with a parallel hybrid electric
drive.
"With the E85 engine and two battery-powered electric motors, we can use either
to turn the wheels or we can use them together," Nelson said. "The motors also
can be used as a generator to absorb energy from the engine and recharge the
batteries."
Dedicated HEVT members put in some night work, preparing their Equinox
SUV for phase II of Challenge X.
To succeed in Challenge X, the HEVT must produce a fuel-efficient, low-emissions
Equinox that also retains all of its original performance and utility factors,
such as fully operating air conditioning, cargo space and acceleration performance.
"Designs like our Equinox hybrid demonstrate that alternative fuels and advanced
propulsion technologies can increase fuel economy and reduce emissions without
sacrificing vehicle performance or utility," said Boyd.
During this second year of the competition, the HEVT and other teams will take
their vehicles to GM's Mesa Desert Proving Grounds in Arizona to be judged
on design, fuel economy, performance and a number of other factors. After the
summer event, the teams will have another year to refine their entries for
the final competition event and judging in June 2007.
Creative Thinking = 1st-Place Designs
Every year, Virginia Tech engineering undergraduates are inspired by their 'hands-on, minds-on' experience to create innovative air, ground, and sea vehicles that dominate U.S. and international design-and-build competitions.
Achieving remarkable success as first-time competitors, the Virginia
Tech Aerial Robotics Team won first place overall in the 2005 International
Aerial Robotics Competition with a computer-controlled helicopter. The team
also won first place in the technical presentation portion of the competition
and third place in the design category. This was the 15th year of the event,
which is the longest running and one of the most difficult of all unmanned
ground or air vehicle competitions. The Virginia
Tech team was one of only two teams to complete the autonomous waypoint
navigation course.
They didn't win the $2 million DARPA Grand Challenge prize, but "Cliff" and "Rocky," the autonomous vehicles developed by the Virginia Tech Grand Challenge Team, out-performed all other vehicles entered by purely academic teams. Shown here rolling out of the starting chute at the beginning of the Oct. 8, 2005, race through the Mojave Desert, Cliff completed 42miles of the 132-mile course, placing eighth, and Rocky persevered for 39 miles, placing ninth. Out of 195 original entries, only 23 passed the qualifying rounds to go the starting line and Virginia Tech and Carnegie Mellon were the only competitors that each qualified two vehicles.
For the second year in a row, the Virginia
Tech Autonomous Vehicle Team swept the international Intelligent Ground
Vehicles Competition (IGVC), placing first, second and third and winning eight
out of nine event categories, along with $15,000 in prizes. Autonomous vehicles
are programmed to navigate with no human intervention. The three Virginia
Tech vehicles — Gemini, Johnny-5 and Polaris — are equipped
with navigational sensors including digital cameras, scanning laser range finders,
global positioning systems (GPS) and digital compasses.
Unique design ideas won First Place in Innovation for Virginia
Tech aerospace and ocean engineering students during the 2005 International
Human Powered Submarine Races at the Naval Surface Warfare Center's model basin
in Carderock, Md. Two team members shown here give a pre-race test to Phantom
5's innovations, including separate top hatches for pilot and equipment, a
linear pedal gear box, and a steering system that can be controlled by the
pilot or by an on-board computer.
Virginia Tech engineering students win scholarships
Cook
Sherri Cook, a sophomore in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
and a University Honors Program student, was one of 80 students chosen nationally
to receive a Morris K. Udall Undergraduate Scholarship for the 2006-2007
academic year. The Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental
Policy Foundation selected the scholars from a pool of 445 students nominated
by 224 colleges and universities.
Cook was recognized for her outstanding academic achievements and her goals
as a future environmental engineer.
Willeman
Michael Willemann, a graduating senior in materials science and engineering and a University Honors Program student, received a Fulbright Scholarship for the 2006-2007 academic year. As a Fulbright Scholar, he will spend the year at the Forschungszentrum J'lich, Germany, with the Institute for Thin Films and Interfaces, researching the fabrication of novel gallium nitride devices. While a student at Virginia Tech, Willemann participated in undergraduate research programs at both Cornell University and Clemson University. Willemann was also selected as the Virginia Tech College of Engineering's Outstanding Senior for 2005-2006.
Undergraduate research journal launches with Knobler issue
In November 2005 the staff of Virginia Tech's
Journal of Undergraduate Materials Research (JUMR) published the "Alfred Knobler
Inaugural Issue."
The creation of this journal fulfills Virginia
Tech alumnus Alfred Knobler's vision of increasing communication and cooperation
between two departments--English and materials science and engineering ( MSE)--as well as among graduate and undergraduate students. This innovative concept
provides an opportunity for exposing and publicizing a generally unacknowledged
subject, undergraduate research, said David Clark, head of MSE.
Clark and Diane Folz, senior research associate and adviser for the Virginia
Tech Materials Advantage Chapter, proposed the new research journal for
undergraduate work. Graduate and undergraduate students from English and MSE
formed
an editorial board to plan and publish the journal: Sarah Lewis from English
and Ben Poquette, Davis Eichelberger, Susan Holt, Steven Kyriakides, Navin
Manjooran and Seth Price of MSE. Six faculty
from the two departments serve on an editorial review board.
Knobler
Knobler received his undergraduate degree in ceramic engineering from Virginia
Tech in 1938 and founded the Pilgrim Glass Corp. in West Virginia in 1949.
In 2003 he established a $600,000 three-year gift to provide support for more
graduate students in MSE and English.
For more information about JUMR or to request a copy of the journal, send an
email to jumr@mse.vt.edu or visit http://www.jumr.mse.vt.edu.
Student Engineers' Council--the group that keeps on giving
The Virginia Tech Student Engineers' Council
(SEC), the most philanthropic organization of its kind in the nation, has contributed
close to $300,000 over the past eight years in support of the College
of Engineering's undergraduate programs. This year, SEC members voted to
contribute $7,386 to the Mechatronics Experiment in Engineering Exploration
and $12,615 to the Joseph F. Ware, Jr. Advanced Engineering Laboratory.
The Mechatronics Experiment, led by associate professors Vinod Lohani of engineering
education and Pushkin Kachroo of electrical
and computer engineering, is designed to give all engineering freshman
hands-on experience in mechanical construction, electrical and electronic circuits,
and digital circuits from computer engineering. The ultimate goal of the course
is for freshmen to use the engineering principles they learn to build a two-wheel
mobile robot. The SEC grant will help pay for the materials needed for this
project.
The Ware Lab, founded in 1998 through the generosity of alumnus Joseph F. Ware,
Jr. and his wife, Jenna, is one of the first and most successful undergraduate
design-and-build facilities in the world. It hosts a number of international
competition winners, including the Autonomous Vehicle Team, Hybrid Electric
Vehicle Team, Human Powered Submarine Team and the Mini-Baja Team. The SEC
grant will enable the Ware Lab's new manager, mechanical
engineering alumna Susan Cortes to 'spruce up' the
facility and its promotional materials in anticipation of an industrial affiliates
program.
The SEC earns the money it donates to the college by hosting the Engineering
Expo career fair each year. The next expo is set for Sept. 19-20 at Virginia
Tech. Companies interested in participating can visit the expo web site at
http://www.sec.vt.edu/expo.php.
Researchers to unlock the mysteries of interfaces
The National Science Foundation awarded a
$3.1 million Integrated Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) grant
to a team of Virginia Tech researchers to explore
the phenomenon of naturally occurring interfaces--the areas of contact between
substances and organisms where mass and energy transfer often take place.
The Virginia Tech project, Exploring Interfaces
through Graduate Education and Research (EIGER), will focus on interfaces among
minerals, water, air, and microorganisms. The research team itself represents
an interface of sorts, comprised of faculty from biology, civil and environmental
engineering (CEE), geosciences, institutional research, physics and psychology. The
CEE faculty involved are George Filz, John Little and professor emeritus Jim
Mitchell. Mike Hochella of geosciences is director of the project.
"It is a rare privilege and great honor to team up with some of the most talented
faculty on campus to work in a research field that means so much to science
and engineering in general, and the sustainability of Earth in particular,"
said Hochella.
In all, EIGER will involve 20 faculty from 10 departments and four colleges,
and will support about 27 Ph.D. students during the next five years. Research
will be conducted at 11 laboratories on five different continents, and EIGER
fellows, in teams of two, will engage in research at these international sites
in a novel program called 'paired internships.'
"Gaining an interdisciplinary understanding of these complex processes will
only be possible if we are able to transfer knowledge across the interfaces
between humans and between disciplines. EIGER is unique because we will study
these physical and psychological processes simultaneously," said Little, who
will serve as the project's international internship coordinator.
The National Science Foundation established
the IGERT program to help forge a cultural change in graduate education through
collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
"As part of EIGER, we'll develop a new graduate level course that will actually
teach students how to do interdisciplinary research in science and engineering," said
Filz, who will act as curriculum coordinator. "We will be offering this course
to Virginia Tech's EIGER Fellows and other
doctoral candidates. These graduate students are among the very best in the
country, and it's an exciting prospect to work with them in the classroom and
on research."
Football and Engineering
Murray receives highest academic honor
Murray
Thomas M. Murray, the Montague-Betts Professor of Structural Steel Designin
the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was recognized by
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for excellence in teaching, research, knowledge integration
and public service during a ceremony in February at the Library of Virginia
in Richmond.
Murray and Paul Sorrentino, a professorin the Virginia
Tech Department of English, were among 15 college and university faculty
selected from a state-wide pool of nominees to receive the Outstanding Faculty
Award, the Commonwealth's highest honor for faculty.
After coming to Virginia
Tech in 1987 to coordinate
the university's structural engineering program, Murray founded the university's
Structures and Materials Laboratory, where he and his graduate students developed
alternate methods for connecting beams and columns in buildings in areas that
experience high levels of seismic activity.
Among Murray's other accomplishments is the development of techniques for building
lightweight, affordable floor systems that reduce vibrations in large steel
and concrete structures, such as airports and shopping malls. The American
Institute of Steel Construction has honored him witha special citation for
contributions to the art of steel construction and with the T.R. Higgins Lectureship
Award.
In 2002 Murray was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the
highest honors that can be accorded an engineer. Academy membership recognizes
those who have made important contributions to engineering theory and practice
and have demonstrated unusual accomplishment in the pioneering of new and developing
fields of technology.
He was the first recipient, in 1998, of the Via department's Alumni Excellence
Teaching Award, an honor accorded him again in 2003. The Virginia
Tech student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers presented
him with the Faculty of the Year Award in 2002.
The Outstanding Faculty Award program, now in its 20th year, is administered
by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and funded by a grant
from the Dominion Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Dominion.
Quek's embodiment awareness research attracts $750,000 NSF grant
Quek
Francis Quek, director of the Center for Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
in the Virginia
Tech Department of Computer Science, won a $750,000 grant from the National
Science Foundation ( NSF) to study embodiment
awareness, mathematics discourse and the blind.
Quek uses the term "embodiment awareness" to convey the way in which a listener
accesses and comprehends communications. This area of research is grounded
in psycholinguistic theories that are based, in part, on the fact that when
we speak, our embodied behavior of gesture, gaze, posture and facial expression
become part of the communicative process.
"Our brain is designed to function within a body," Quek said. "True communication
includes the underlying mental imagery, which relates to what is said as well
as what is displayed." Gestures help reveal the major points of accompanying
words and help the listener focus on important elements of a conversation.
The NSF project also focuses on mathematics
discourse and education for blind students, who typically lag one-to-three
years behind their sighted fellow students in math, Quek said. Research with
individuals who are blind suggests that they have remarkable capacity for visual
imagery, memory and conceptualization and are able to access graphical content
through tactile image technology.
However, Quek believes that lack of visual access to the embodiment of the
instructor makes mastery of the material more difficult for blind students.
He proposes to remedy this problem by giving blind students the use of tactile
devices that can provide elements of embodiment awareness. "How do you keep
the student in communication with the teacher?" he asked. "One thing we can
do is to build a series of devices that will send images to blind students,
and make the images into something they can feel."
Quek has assembled a multi-disciplinary team of Virginia
Tech researchers from computer science,
psychology, education,and disabilities research and services. The team will
perform a series of experiments to test how well the embodiment devices work,
and a second series of experiments with blind and sighted students in mathematics
instruction.
"Providing a sense of embodiment awareness to students who are blind has not
yet been studied," Quek said, "and it has the potential for empowering such
students." He also predicts that understanding the channels for embodiment
awareness will affect the design of future distance learning systems, and will
provide insights on how best to provide embodiment cues to students in Internet-based
instruction.
Thole becomes first woman to receive a Virginia Tech engineering professorship
Thole
Karen A. Thole of mechanical engineering( ME)
is the first woman to be named to an endowed engineering professorship at Virginia
Tech. Thole has received the William S. Cross Professorship in the College
of Engineering, established in 1984 by a generous gift from William S. Cross,
Jr. of Greensboro, N.C.
Thole, whose primary areas of expertise are heat transfer and fluid mechanics,won
a highly competitive National Science Foundation ( NSF)
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award in 1996 while she was
on the ME faculty
of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Since coming to Virginia Tech in 1999, she
has been elected a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and
has been inducted into the Mechanical Engineering Distinguished Alumni Academy
at the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Ph.D. in 1992.
Thole has published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers and serves as an associate
technical editor of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Journal
of Heat Transfer. She is chair of the Academic Advisory Board of the U.S.
Department of Energy's (DOE) University Turbine Systems Research Program.
She also is one of the principal investigator son the NSF-funded
Advance VT Program at Virginia Tech,which is
aimed at increasing the participation and advancement of women in academic
science and engineering careers.
Thole has developed a number of unique testing facilities directed towards
gas turbine heat transfer issues and has been awarded two patents for a fillet
design, developed to reduce heat transfer at the leading edge of turbine airfoils.
Altogether, her research has attracted funding of more than $5 million from
agencies including the DOE, U.S. Air Force, Pratt & Whitney, Modine Manufacturing,
and Siemens-Westinghouse.
Mahajan named director of ICTAS at Virginia Tech
Mahajan
Roop Mahajan, an internationally known researcher with expertise ranging from
nanotechnology to bio-micro-electro-mechanical systems (Bio-MEMS),
will become the director of Virginia Tech's
Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science ( ICTAS)
on July 1.
"We are extraordinarily pleased to secure a person of Dr. Mahajan's stature
to become the director of our research institute," said College
of Engineering Dean Richard Benson, director of the ICTAS Stakeholder
Committee. Benson led the six-month search for the director.
Mahajan comes to Virginia Tech from the University
of Colorado at Boulder, where he is the founder and director of the Center
for Advanced Manufacturing and Packaging for Microwave, Optical and Digital
Electronics. He also is founder and co-director of MicroElectronic Devices
in Cardiovascular Applications, an interdisciplinary center that fosters scientific
advancement in the study and application of MEMS
in cardiovascular applications.He holds three patents and has five invention
disclosures.
"Dr. Mahajan's efforts in these interdisciplinary fields, as well in cellular
engineering microsystems, artificial neural networks, humanistic engineering,
thermal sciences, and solar energy, makes him a true Renaissance man for the ICTAS directorship," Benson
said.
The College of Engineering spearheaded
the establishment of ICTAS, a research
consortium that will leverage the university's research strengths and support
talented faculty in the pursuit of multidisciplinary research.Two ICTAS research
buildings are currently under construction and another is planned.
Mahajan, who holds the Roubos Chaired Professorship of ME at
Colorado, has received numerous awards,including the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers(AS ME) 2003 Charles Russ Richards
Memorial Award for outstanding achievement in Mechanical Engineering.He also
is a Fellow of AS ME and in 2002 he received
both the AS ME Heat Transfer Memorial Award
and the Subaru Educator of the Year Award.
Mahajan was employed by AT&T Bell Labs from 1979 until 1991 as a research leader
and supervisor in thermal and computational engineering. He received the Bell
Labs Fellow Award in 1989, an honor bestowed to only about one percent of the
entire technical community of Bell Labs. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell
University and his bachelor's and master's degrees from Punjab Engineering
College, Chandigarh, India.
Wireless researchers win DOD grant for communications network research
Hou
The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a $246,000 Defense University Research
Instrumentation Program (DURIP) grant to researchers in Virginia Tech's Bradley
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering ( ECE)
for advanced research on wireless communications networks that are critical
during military maneuvers. DURIP grants are highly competitive and are awarded
to enhance academic research capabilities in areas that are important to national
defense.
Thomas Hou, an assistant professor and principal investigator on the DURIP
project, will work with Jeffrey Reed, the Willis G. Worcester Professor of ECE and
director of Wireless at Virginia Tech, and
research scientist Shiwen Mao to create a test bed platform for wireless mobile
ad hoc networks and wireless sensor networks.The platform will be the first
of its kind at a U.S. university.
Military mobile ad hoc wireless networks can be set up to connect military
groups that need to maintain communications while on the move "including personnel
in the field, tanks and helicopters on maneuvers,or ships at sea," Hou said.
Wireless sensor networks, on the other hand, are stationary. They are often
deployed in areas hostile to humans and can relay a variety of observational
data "video and audio as well as scalar data such as temperature and pressure"
to military personnel stationed at safer vantage points.
The potential integration of these two network types is viewed as a key building
block for the "network-centric" communications infrastructure that the Department
of Defense wants to develop. However, ad hoc and sensor networks have fundamental
differences in their architectures and characteristics,and so far they have
been researched and developed separately.
Hou, Reed and Mao will use the test bed platform they are building with the
DURIP grant to investigate ways to integrate ad hoc and sensor networks in
order to make them inter-operational.
"We plan to construct a two-tiered logical network architecture, with a wireless
sensor network on the lower tier and a mobile ad hoc network on the upper tier,"
said Hou. "This architecture should seamlessly integrate the sensing capabilities
of the sensor network with the processing and communications capabilities of
the ad hoc network, all within a common platform."
The test bed platform will be housed in Virginia
Tech's Torgersen Hall, a building designed and wired to host advanced research
in communications and computing.
Smart Gifts
Like smart technology, "smart gifts" provide solutions. Deferred gifts--those that come to the College of Engineering at a future date--can effectively combine personal and charitable goals. You can help shape the future of engineering' and receive income for life--with a charitable gift annuity--Or you can create an engineering legacy--without touching lifetime assets--by making a bequest in your will or trust.Smart. To learn more about deferred gifts and other ways to support the College of Engineering, call Erin Edwards at (800)822-5146 or visit http://www.givingto.vt.edu.
COE graduates cover all 50 states
According to the Virginia Tech Alumni Association, there are about 48,000 College of Engineering graduates in the U.S. Virginia takes the lead with 20,000 resident Hokie engineers, followed by Maryland with about 4,000; North Carolina with close to3,000; California with about 2,200; and Florida with 1,770. There are Virginia Tech engineering alumni in every state--including the 27 who live in Alaska and the 45 in Hawaii.
Fund established in honor of Sallie Henry
Sallie M. Henry, a member of the Virginia Tech Department
of Computer Science faculty for 20 years, died on March 7.
During her tenure at the university, Henry served as adviser for the student
chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery and coached the student
computer programming team to numerous regional championships in the IBM-sponsored
international ACM competition. In 2001 the team finished second in world competition.
Under Henry's guidance, Virginia Tech programming
teams were invited to the international competition at least 20 times more
often than teams at any other university in the world. She continued to coach
the team after her retirement in 2003, leading the students to the world championship
in China in 2004.
In her honor, computer science has established
a scholarship fund. Those wishing to donate may send checks, payable to the Virginia
Tech Foundation, to the Dr. Sallie Henry Memorial Scholarship Fund, Departmentof Computer
Science, 660 McBryde Hall, Virginia Tech,
Blacksburg,VA 24061.
Engineering Is A Contact Sport!
Can you believe it--the Spring Game was April 15th! That means another great Hokie football season can't be too far away. This year the College of Engineering will host four Engineering Is A Contact Sport pre-game tailgates Held on the lawn outside Norris and Holden halls two hours before the games begin, these events are great opportunities to visit with former professors, reminisce with old friends, renew acquaintances,and talk with our current faculty and students. Enjoy free food, beverages and entertainment! Award-winning student projects will be displayed, including the autonomous vehicles, Human-Powered Submarine, Mini-Baja all-terrain vehicle, the ethanol-powered Hybrid Electric Vehicle, robotic aircraft, and more.
Sat., Sept. 16, 2006
College of Engineering
Homecoming
Hokies vs. Duke Blue Devils
Sat., Oct. 21, 2006
Hokies vs. Southern Mississippi Golden
Eagles
Thurs., Oct. 26, 2006
Hokies vs. Clemson Tigers
Sat., Nov. 25, 2006
Hokies vs. Virginia Cavaliers
We don't want to run out of food and drink, so please
let us know if you're coming and RSVP before game day to
Lisa Young atlgyoung@vt.edu or call (800) 822-5146.
Start times for the games will be announced over the summer and early
fall. Check the Hokie Sports web site for updates at www.hokiesports.com
We look forward to seeing you on campus this fall!
In addition to the College's events,the
student professional societies of the Department of Materials Science
and Engineering will host tailgates in front of Holden Hall two hours
before each of the following games:
September 2nd--Hokies vs. Northeastern Huskies
September 23rd--Hokies vs. Cincinnati Bearcats
September 30th--Hokies vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
November 11th--Hokies vs. Kent State Golden Flashes
To RSVP for the MSE tailgates,
email Diane at dfolz@vt.edu or call her at 540-231-3897.
Engineering News
Spring 2006 Credits
Dean, College of Engineering: Richard
Benson
Editor / Writer: Elizabeth Crumbley
Contributing Writers: Lynn Nystrom, Karen Gilbert, Susan Trulove,
Heather Chadwick, Netta Benton
Designer: David Simpkins
Photographers: Rick Griffiths, John McCormick, Michael Kiernan,
Dave Knachel, Karen Gilbert
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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Virginia Tech
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(540) 231-6641 www.eng.vt.edu