Faculty News
Media Mentions:
Prof. Joseph Barbera (EMSE) appeared on Fox 5 News on March 11 to discuss the search and rescue operations following the tsunami that hit Japan. Select video #2 to watch Prof. Barbera.
Prof. Pedro Silva (CEE) was interviewed by NPR on March 13, and his comments appeared in the article "Japanese Preparedness Likely Saved Thousands."
The CS Department was mentioned in "Kickball, Tennis and App Writing," a March 16 New York Times article on summer camps.
Papers:
Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi (MAE) and his doctoral student Paul Moubarak have published "A Mechatronic Perspective on Robotic Arms and End-Effectors," the first chapter of the book Intelligent Mechatronics. Vienna, Austria: InTech Publisher, Feb 2011, pp. 3–20. (ISBN-13: 978-953-307-300-2)
Profs. Shahram Sarkani and Thomas Mazzuchi (EMSE) published two papers with their students Jim Whitehead and Steve Stuban. Dr. Stuban's paper took 2nd place in the Defense Acquisition University Alumni Association's 2011 Annual Research Paper Competition. Dr. Whitehead's paper took 3rd place. The papers are as follows: E. C. Whitehead, S. Sarkani and, T. A. Mazzuchi. "Maximizing federal IT dollars: a connection between IT investments and organizational performance," Defense Acquisition Review, April 2011, pp. 176-195; and S. M. F. Stuban, T. A. Mazzuchi, and S. Sarkani. "Employing risk management to control military construction costs," Defense Acquisition Review, April 2011, pp. 144-159.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Martha Pardavi-Horvath (ECE) and her co-authors recently published the following papers in the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics: M. Pardavi-Horvath, G. S. Makeeva, and O. A. Golovanov, "Spin-wave resonances affected by skin-effect in conducting magnetic nanowire arrays at THz frequencies," IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol.47, no.2, pp.313-316, Feb. 2011; M. Pardavi-Horvath, G. S. Makeeva and O. A. Golovanov, "Interactions of Electromagnetic Waves with 3D Opal-Based Magnetophotonic Crystals at Microwave Frequencies," IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol.47, no.2, pp.341-344, Feb. 2011
Conferences & Presentations:
Prof. Tarek El-Ghazawi (ECE) gave an invited talk to the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Technical Forum on February 16. His talk was entitled, "PGAS Programming: From Manycores to ExaFLOPS." He also served as the general chair for the International Conference on New Technologies, Mobility and Security (NTMS 2011), which was held February 7-10 in Paris, France. NTMS is sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing and IEEE.
GW will host the 33nd International Electric Propulsion Conference (IEPC), a major electrical propulsion conference, in 2013. Prof. Michael Keidar (MAE) submitted the proposal for GW to host the conference.
Student News
Stephen Fortier (EMSE doctoral candidate) and Prof. Greg Shaw submitted the co-authored conference paper, "Using Process Modeling and Simulation to Define Requirements for Incident Response for Chemical Facilities," to the 34th Annual IEEE Software Engineering Workshop to be held in Limerick, Ireland, June 20-21. Stephen will present the paper, which is the topic of his doctoral research, at the workshop.
Two students of Prof. Adam Wickenheiser (MAE) presented papers at the SPIE Smart Structures & Materials Conference, held March 7-10 in San Diego, CA. Chris Blower (MAE doctoral candidate) presented the paper "Two-dimensional localized flow control using distributed, biomimetic feather structures: a comparative study" by Blower, Christopher J. and Wickenheiser, Adam M. Vishak Sivadas (MAE M.S. candidate) presented the paper "A study of several vortex-induced vibration techniques for piezoelectric wind energy harvesting" by Sivadas, Vishak and Wickenheiser, Adam M. SPIE is the international society for optics and photonics.
Guest Vignette
Precast/prestressed concrete girders are widely used in the United States for bridge construction. With the use of higher strength concrete, deeper girders, and significantly higher prestress forces, longitudinal web cracks are becoming more prevalent in these girders and, in some cases, larger.
As previously reported, Profs. Sameh Badie and Majid Manzari and doctoral candidate Amir Arab developed a finite element model in 2010 that is capable of providing a detailed map of stresses and strains in prestressed concrete members. In order to calibrate and validate the finite element model, the GW team (with the help of CEE students James Swanson and Katherine Farley, and Mark Wagner, senior supervisor of the SEAS engineering lab) collaborated with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WADOT) and the Concrete Technology Corporation to instrument eight girders of the Alaska Way Viaduct during fabrication to measure the stresses and strains at girder ends at time of release. The data collected in the precast yard during release showed high level of consistency, and the GW team is working on comparing these measurements with those obtained from the finite element model.
The GW research team and WADOT decided to continue monitoring the end zone stresses on these girders after they are installed on the bridge. The research team is interested in measuring the variation of the stresses in the end zone reinforcement at the following stages: (1) adding the concrete deck, (2) adding the superimposed dead loads, and (3) opening the bridge to traffic. The tentative plan calls for continuous monitoring on four girders. (Provided courtesy of Prof. Sameh Badie of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Upcoming Events
SEAS has teamed up with the National Gallery of Art to offer a two-part lecture series on engineering, science, and art. Beneath the Surface: The Intersection of Science, Engineering and Art explores how engineers and scientists are helping art conservators better study paintings. This lecture series has grown out of National Science Foundation-sponsored research that Prof. Murray Loew, his doctoral student Damon Conover, and a team of scientists and art conservators at the National Gallery of Art are doing. Their project uses image spectroscopy to digitally peel back the layers of art on masterpieces and look under the surface layer to learn more about them. More information about the research is available here.
Imaging Masterpieces: How Multiple Modalities Can be Used to Virtually Dissect Paintings
Tuesday, March 22
6:00 - 7:00 pm (Reception follows at 7:00)
103 Funger Hall
Speakers:
Dr. David Dolling, dean of the GW School of Engineering and Applied Science (moderator)
Dr. Murray Loew, professor of electrical engineering, GW School of Engineering and Applied Science
Dr. John Delaney, senior imaging scientist, National Gallery of Art
To RSVP for this event, email Rene Datcher.
SEAS Events:
MAE Seminar: "Carbon Nanotube-Based Devices for Single Cell Diagnostics"
Dr. Michael G. Schrlau, Drexel University & University of Pennsylvania
Thursday, March 24
2:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
More info . . .
MAE Seminar: "Microsystems for Biological and Medical Applications"
Dr. Xinyu Liu, Harvard University
Friday, March 25
2:00 pm
640 Phillips Hall
More info . . .
MAE Seminar: "Linear parameter varying control theory and application in complex systems"
Javad Mohammadpour, University of Houston
Monday, March 28
2:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
More info . . .
MAE Seminar: "Whispering-Gallery Mode Micro-Sensors: Real-Time Sensing Strategies for Nanofabrication Processes"
Tobias Rossmann, Rutgers University
Thursday, March 31
2:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
More info . . .
GW Institute for Crisis Disaster and Risk Management (ICDRM) Homeland Security, Emergency and Risk Management Forum: "A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea"
Joel Achenbach, Washington Post staff writer
Thursday, March 31
3:30 - 5:30 pm
309 Marvin Center
More info . . .
ECE Colloquium: "Improving SSD Read Performance Using Differentiated Error Correction Coding Schemes"
Xubin (Ben) He, Virginia Commonwealth University
Friday, April 1
3:00 - 4:00 pm
640 Phillips Hall
More info . . .
MAE/GWIBE Seminar Series: Engineering Feedback Control Systems in Microbes
Mary J. Dunlop, University of Vermont
Thursday, April 14
1:00 - 2:00 pm
640 Phillips Hall
More info . . .
Entrepreneurship Events:
Follow GW Office of Entrepreneurship activities on: Facebook: GW Office of Entrepreneurship, Twitter: GWInnovate, and www.gwu.edu/entrepreneurship.
$50K BizPlanComp: Deadline for Submission of Formal Business Plans
Monday, March 21
Submit your entries to: www.gwbizplan.com
Special Event: The Role of IP in Academia and in Science-Based Businesses
Stanley Lupidus, founder/CEO of SynapDX
Tuesday, March 22
12:00 - 1:00 pm
117 Ross Hall
RSVP to: http://special1.eventbrite.com
SEAS Seminar on Entrepreneurship: "Marketing: How to Find Your Customers"
Wednesday, March 23
6:00 - 8:30 pm
103 Funger Hall
Entrepreneur Office Hours in Old Main
Friday, March 25
1:00 - 2:00 pm
202 Old Main
1922 F St NW
RSVP to: http://officehour6.eventbrite.com
First Annual Start-up Career Expo
Thursday, March 31
4:00 - 6:00 pm
Marvin Center, 3rd Floor Grand Ballroom
RSVP through GWork: gwork.gwu.edu
Academic Success Events March:
Job Search Strategies for Graduate Students
Tuesday, March 22
4:00 - 5:30 pm
309 Marvin Center