Faculty News
Conferences & Papers:
Prof. Rene van Dorp (EMSE) recently published the paper: J. René van Dorp and Jason R.W. Merrick (2009), "On a risk management analysis of oil spill risk using maritime transportation system simulation," Annals of Operations Research, DOI: 10.1007/s10479-009-0678-1, available online at http://www.springerlink.com/content/w168111018754401/.
Student News
Sylvain Motykca, an EMSE doctoral student working with Prof. Mike Duffey, is also the director of technology for the Solena Group. Solena has recently partnered with British Airways to establish the first sustainable jet fuel plant in Europe. Solena will gasify 500,000 tons of waste/biomass per year into a syngas. The syngas will be synthesized through a Fischer-Tropsch into liquid jet fuel. The plant will produce 16 million gallons of jet fuel per year, which BA has agreed to purchase. Mr. Motycka is in charge of directing the technology and engineering teams to design bio-power and bio-refinery plants that employ Solena's gasification technology. For his dissertation, Mr. Motykca is developing a methodology to aid system-level design of biomass-to-fuel facilities. For further information, please visit:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/bapress/public/en_gb
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8515620.stm
Other News
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
Following the devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti, Dr. Joseph Barbera of the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering was deployed for two weeks to Port-au-Prince, as a member of the Fairfax County (Virginia) Urban Search and Rescue Task Force. The Fairfax team is one of only two in the nation contracted by the United States Agency for International Development - Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID-OFDA) to travel internationally for search and rescue missions, and it includes search specialists, rescuers, structural engineers, doctors and hazmat technicians. The physicians’ role in the Task Force includes providing emergency medical care for victims still trapped and providing medical advice to expedite extrication. Dr. Barbera also assists with the management aspects of disaster relief. In addition to search and rescue operations in Haiti, the Task Force was responsible for collecting current information on the situation there for USAID, evaluating foreign field hospitals and assessing the structural integrity of local health care facilities. In some cases, they also stabilized and weatherproofed medical facilities and retrieved medical equipment from collapsed sections of buildings. Dr. Barbera has worked with USAID-OFDA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) since 1988 to develop many of the medical methods now in use for collapsed structure rescues.
Situations like the one in Haiti are a bridge between academic research and the application of that knowledge to the field of crisis and emergency management. “This type of situation requires management under great uncertainty. Effective management of information and resources, including supply management, is critical,” Dr. Barbera says. “Much of that is in the domain of engineering management and systems engineering. Conducting and observing management activities can provide an opportunity for validating concepts that we teach in the classroom.” He emphasizes that an important part of the mission through USAID is to demonstrate to the people of Haiti that the U.S. really cares. Since becoming involved with USAID, Dr. Barbera has traveled to Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami, to the Philippines (1990) and Taiwan (1999) following earthquakes in those countries, and previously to Haiti in November 2008 to aid in search and rescue activities after a school collapse there. (Provided courtesy of Prof. Joseph Barbera of the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering)
Upcoming:
CS Colloquium: “Extensible Anonymity”
Speaker: Micah Sherr, University of Pennsylvania
Monday, February 22nd at 11:00 am
736 Phillips Hall
CS Colloquium: “Side Channels and Their Mitigation in Cloud Computing Security”
Speaker: Eran Tromer, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Tuesday, February 23rd at 1:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
ICDRM Homeland Security, Emergency and Risk Management Forum: "Collapsed Structure Response to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake"
Tuesday, February 23rd, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
310 Marvin Center
ASCE Colloquium: “The Business of Civil Engineering”
Speaker: Zafar Farooqi, SEAS alumnus and president of Capital Construction Consultants
Wednesday, February 24th at 6:30 pm
640 Phillips Hall
CS Colloquium: “Stopping Attacks on Everyday Operating Systems Using Secure Monitoring”
Speaker: Brian Payne, Georgia Institute of Technology
Thursday, February 25th at 11:00 am
736 Phillips Hall
GW Extra-mural Funding Speaker Series
Speaker: Dr. Anthonio Scarpa, director of the Center for Scientific Review at NIH
Thursday, February 25th at 1:30 pm
Marvin Center Amphitheater
Please RSVP to [email protected] if you plan to attend
GW Space Society Lecture: John F. Kennedy and the American Space Program
Speaker: John Logsdon, Professor Emeritus, GW Elliot School of International Affairs
Thursday, February 25th at 7:15 pm
1957 E Street, Room 505
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
CS Colloquium: “Models of Motivation”
Speaker: Glenn Becker, Unisys Corporation
Wednesday, April 14th at 6:00 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
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.
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:
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
Academic Success & Professional Development Series:
Fellowship Opportunities for Master’s Students
Monday, February 22nd
4:00 – 5:30 pm
307 Marvin Center
Putting it All Together: Resumes, CV’s, and Dossiers
Tuesday, March 9th
4:30 – 5:30 pm
309 Marvin Center
The Academic Career Search
Tuesday, March 11th
5:00 – 6:00 pm
405 Marvin Center
Funding your Dissertation Research
Monday, March 22nd
4:00 – 5:30 pm
101 Marvin Center