Faculty News
Research News:
Prof. Azim Eskandarian's (CEE) intelligent signal processing method to detect drivers' drowsiness has been licensed by a commercial vehicle OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) through GW's Office of Tech Transfer. This is the product of one of his research areas at the Center for Intelligent Systems Research (CISR) at GW’s Virginia Science and Technology Campus. A patent application entitled "Unobtrusive Driver Drowsiness Detection System and Method" by Azim Eskandarian and Ali Mortazavi (a former CEE GW doctoral student now at CCIT UC Berkeley) is pending.
Conferences & Papers:
Prof. Samer Hamdar (CEE) participated in the National Evacuation Conference, where he presented the paper “A Coordinated Control System for Emergency Evacuation,” and he chaired the session “Evacuation Simulation in Planning and Pre-Planning.” The conference was held February 3rd – 5th in New Orleans, LA.
Other News
Scholarship opportunity: Current SEAS graduate students and current SEAS undergraduate seniors who will be graduate students here next year are potentially eligible for the Hyundai Scholarship. The application deadline is February 12th. The purpose of the scholarship is to enable South Korean and American scholars to pursue advanced degrees in specific fields of business administration, management science, and engineering. Awards are made annually to both South Korean and U.S. citizens. Interested applicants must be students in SEAS or the School of Business. Please visit the Hyundai Scholarshipwebsite for more information on eligibility and the application process. The award includes full tuition (fees excluded) for one academic year.
Graduate Research Assistantship: Prof. Alex Li (ECE) is seeking a graduate student who is interested in research in computer architecture. The ideal candidate would have good knowledge of modern superscalar and multicore microprocessor architectures. The research project involves in-depth investigation and analysis of future parallel computer architectures and/or reliability of future billion-transistor microprocessors. Essential requirements include C/C++ programming knowledge, experience in the use of architecture simulators, and strong analytical/critical thinking skills. In addition, the preferred candidate would have knowledge in OS, compiler, and/or programming languages. One expected outcome of the research project is publications in top-tier conferences and journals in computer architecture. Priority will be given to doctoral students. Interested students should contact Prof. Alex Li, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: at [email protected] or (202) 994-7175.
Guest Vignette
GW Pre-College Summer Course Inspires the Next Generation of Biomedical Engineers
The beginning of summer is always exciting for SEAS doctoral student Huda Asfour, because summer is a time for her and Prof. Matthew Kay (ECE) to focus on her doctoral research in cardiac arrhythmias. It is also exciting because Ms. Asfour begins to plan new ways to inspire the next generation of engineers. She does this through her role as a teaching assistant in the GW Pre-College course entitled “Explore Biomedical Engineering: An Interdisciplinary Program.”
In May, as SEAS students graduate to begin their engineering careers, Ms. Asfour is hard at work in the BME labs of Tompkins Hall. She is there troubleshooting experiments that will provide high school students with unique insights into how engineering concepts are applied to medical problems. The BME Pre-College course is an intensive, 10-day program focused on problem solving, laboratory experiments, and a design project. With mentoring from Prof. Kay and other SEAS faculty members, Ms. Asfour takes the lead role in developing many of the exercises. Last year, Ms. Asfour worked closely with approximately 30 students. She helped them to perform measurements of the electrical activity of the heart (ECGs), the brain (EEGs), and skeletal muscles (EMGs). She also developed a four-day design project aimed at building a prototype heart rate monitor. She then guided eight student teams through the process of building the device. To complete the project, she assisted students in elements of analogue circuit design, data acquisition and signal processing, and programming a user interface. Each team successfully built a prototype and presented its results at the end of the course. During the presentations, Ms. Asfour sat quietly in the back of the room, delighting in the students’ enthusiasm for what they had accomplished.
Barbara Myklebust, PhD, assistant dean for student affairs, is the course director. Dr. Myklebust states that “Huda’s very hard work and her insights as both an engineer and an instructor have been crucial to the success of the program. The students always enjoy the time they spend with Huda. We are all extremely appreciative of her efforts to make the course exciting for the students.” Other SEAS faculty members adamantly agree. These include Profs. Kay, Ahmadi, Loew, Zara, and Zderic, all of whom have been assisted by Ms. Asfour in the lectures and workshops that they provide for the course. As spring turns to summer in 2010, Ms. Asfour might again be found in Tompkins Hall troubleshooting experiments to inspire the next generation of biomedical engineers. (Provided courtesy of Prof. Matthew Kay of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Upcoming:
ECE Colloquium: “Tensor Factorization Approach to Blind Separation of Multidimensional Sources”
Speaker: Ivica Kopriva, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
Friday, February 19th, 1:00 – 2:00 pm
640 Phillips Hall
CS Colloquium: “Models of Motivation”
Speaker: Glenn Becker, Unisys Corporation
Monday, February 22nd at 4:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
CS Colloquium: “Technical Publications in the Age of Social Networking: The periodicals of the Computer Society”
Speaker: Prof. David Grier, GW Elliot School of International Affairs
Monday, March 8th at 4:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
ECE Colloquium: “Biomagnetics: An Interdisciplinary Field Where Magnetics, Biology, and Medicine Overlap”
Speaker: Dr. Shoogo Ueno, University of Tokyo/Kyushu University
Thursday, April 22nd, 4:00 – 5:00 pm
640 Phillips Hall
National Engineers Week: February 14-20, 2010
SEAS will celebrate “E-Week” 2010 with a number of events and activities. A partial list is included below and more will be added as they become available.
Engineers Move America (Part of National Engineers Week)
Come learn about careers in transportation
Wednesday, February 17th
8:45 – 2:00 pm (lunch provided)
Jack Morton Auditorium (Media & Public Affairs Bldg)
Phoenix Project: Rebuilding the Pentagon
Speaker: Mr. Allyn Kilsheimer (SEAS ’63), President, KCE Structural Engineers
Thursday, February 18th, 2:30 – 4:00 pm
Jack Morton Auditorium (Media & Public Affairs Bldg)
SEAS Seminar Series on Entrepreneurship:
Please join SEAS for a four-part Seminar Series on Entrepreneurship. These events are free and open to the SEAS and GW community.
Intellectual Property
Wednesday, February 17th
6:00 pm: Reception, 7:00 pm: Panel Discussion
Funger Hall, Room 103
Access to Capital
Wednesday, March 24th
6:00 pm: Reception, 7:00 pm: Panel Discussion
Funger Hall, Room 103
Product vs. Service Entrepreneurs
GW Summit on Entrepreneurship
Thursday, April 15th
10:30 – 11:30 am: Panel Discussion
Duques Hall, Room 652
Sponsored by the GW School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Engineer Alumni Association.
SEAS Seminar Series in Engineering Challenges of the 21st Century:
SEAS continues the seminar series it initiated last semester with more discussions on engineering challenges facing us. More information will soon be available. In the meantime, please mark your calendars for the following dates:
POSTPONED: How Transparent Can Our Elections Be?
Prof. Poorvi Vora
Originally scheduled for February 9th
Life in "the Cloud" – Supercomputing
Prof. Howie Huang
February 23rd
6:30: Reception; 7:00: Presentation
309 Marvin Center
Pervasive Computing and Its Integration Into Our Day-to-Day Life
Prof. Susan Cheng
March 9th
6:30: Reception; 7:00: Presentation
640 Phillips Hall
Integrated Vehicle Safety: The Challenges and Opportunities for Intelligent Vehicles
Prof. Azim Eskandarian
March 23rd
6:30: Reception; 7:00: Presentation
310 Marvin Center
Arms Control and Environmental Treaties: The Challenge for Engineers and Scientists
Nicholas Kyriakopoulos
April 6th
6:30: Reception; 7:00: Presentation
414 Marvin Center
Systems Architecting: Taking a System from Concept to Reality
April 20th
6:30: Reception; 7:00: Presentation
101 Marvin Center
Sex, Lies and Videoclips: The Perils of Life Online
Prof. Dianne Martin
May 4th
6:30: Reception; 7:00: Presentation
309 Marvin Center
SEAS Career Services Events:
SEAS Industry Expo: A Professional Networking Event
Tuesday, February 16th
1:00 – 3:00 pm at the GW Marvin Center Grand Ballroom
Sponsored by E-Council, this event is exclusively for SEAS students. Students will meet with representatives from various engineering and IT organizations to discuss their career plans, network and learn about internships and jobs.