SEAS Newsletter
Faculty News
Research:
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Publications:
Dr. Michael Plesniak (MAE) and his former PhD student Christopher Cox have published the following article: C. Cox and M. W. Plesniak, “The effect of entrance flow development on vortex formation and wall shear stress in a curved artery model,” Physics of Fluids, Vol. 33, Issue 10. The journal also featured the work as a Scilight titled “Numerical curved artery model relates blood entrance conditions to evolution of vortices.” According to the publisher, “Scilights showcase the most interesting research across the physical sciences published in AIP Publishing Journals. A Scilight, a science highlight, briefly summarizes newly published research, emphasizing its significance to a particular field. Scilights are written to ‘intrigue’ a broad scientific audience, showcasing what is new and important in the latest research.”
Media Mentions:
Scott Sklar (director of sustainable energy, SEAS Environmental and Energy Management Institute) was a guest on the WYPR-FM, Baltimore “Midday”program in the segment, “COP26: What America's return means for the global climate talks.” Separately, Spectrum News also spoke to him about the climate summit.
Conferences & Presentations:
Researchers at the GW SmartGrid Laboratory presented the following papers at the IEEE Industry Application Society (IAS) Annual Meeting Conference, which was held virtually, October 10-14: 1) M. Alhazmi, P. Dehghanian, M. Nazemi, and F. Wang, “Coordination Framework for Integrated Operation of Water-Power Systems under Contingencies;” and 2) M. Nazemi, P. Dehghanian, M. Alhazmi, and Y. Darestani, “Resilience Enhancement of Electric Distribution Grids against Wildfires.” Dr. Payman Dehghanian (ECE) also served as an organizing committee member and the conference tutorial program chair. Separately, Dr. Deghanian served on October 27 as an invited panelist for the ASME International Technical Conference and Exhibition on Packaging and Integration of Electronic and Photonic Microsystems. He presented “Distributed Intelligence for Online Situational Awareness and Resilience in Electric Power Grids” as part of the “Artificial Intelligence and Reliability: Future Opportunities” panel.
Dr. Miloš Doroslovački (ECE) chaired the session “Computational Imaging, Molecular and Medical Imaging” at the 2021 Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, which was held virtually, October 31-November 3. Also at the conference, his PhD student Adnan Hanif presented the following paper: A. Hanif and M. Doroslovački, “Fully Reversible Steganography with Authentication in Wavelet Domain for Telemedicine Applications.”
Dr. Rachael Jonassen (director, Climate Change EEMI)--together with two other members of the GW delegation to COP-26 (26th Conference of the Parties) in Glasgow (Prof. Robert Orttung, research director, Sustainable GW; and Ms. Jane Barkholz, senior, Sustainable GW), as well as Dr. Ed Saltzberg (director of professional development, EEMI)--met with representatives of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Glasgow to discuss a formal partnership between GW and the UNFCCC. Possible areas of focus include continuous education of negotiators in developing countries, enhancing the impact of youth, furthering use of Clean Development Mechanism offsets, designing sustainable events in a time of Covid-19 and other disruptions, and others. Some activities may include cooperative funding from other UNFCCC partners such as large corporations and foundations. More information on partnership opportunities is available on the UNFCC website. Contact Rachael if you would like to join the continuing discussions.
On November 2, Dr. Ekundayo Shittu (EMSE) presented a research poster titled “Replacement Analysis of Hydropower Plants with Renewable Energy Portfolios under Policy Uncertainty” at the 8th Arab-American Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Symposium, which was held remotely and hosted by the Hamad Bin Khalifa University. Dr. Shittu presented the poster under the theme “Modeling the Food-Energy-Water Nexus to Inform Technology Choices.” The symposium, sponsored by USAID, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and Qatar National Research Fund, aims to build research bridges between the Arab region under the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) umbrella and the US. The presentations at this symposium were invited in a competitive selection process.
Other News:
Dr. Payman Dehghanian (ECE) received the 2021 Defense TechConnect Innovation Award at the 2021 Defense TechConnect Innovation and Expo, held October 18-21 at the National Harbor, MD. His innovative technology is “No Sparks No Fire: Saving Human Lives via Ultra-Fast Detection and Prevention of Wildfire-Triggering Events in Power Grids.”
Dr. Xitong Liu (CEE) and his Ph.D. student Lingchen Kong are leading a GW team to participate in the US Department of Energy’s Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize. Lithium is a critical material that supports electrical vehicles and grid-level energy storage. The prize competition consists of three phases to identify, develop, and test innovative solutions to improve direct lithium extraction from geothermal brines. As announced by the DOE on November 4, the GW team has been selected as one of the 15 semi-finalists to advance to Phase 2 of the competition, which will take place between November 2021 and February 2022. The team proposes to develop an innovative electricity-driven, chemical-free process for direct lithium extraction from geothermal brines.
Student News
BME undergraduate students Teah Serani, Christina Kang, and George Saab presented their capstone project “Portable and Affordable Ophthalmic Disease Detection System” online at the 43rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, held November 1-5. BME doctoral student Shuyue Guan is the teaching assistant of this project, and students are advised by Dr. HyungSok “Nathan” Choe (BME) and Dr. Murray Loew (BME).
On October 31, GW’s Baja Team successfully completed its final test drive of the semester, with the students testing the vehicle during a four-hour stretch on GW’s Virginia Science and Technology Campus. The team advisor, Dr. Murray Snyder (MAE), expects the team to resume test drives in late winter in preparation for the 2022 Baja competition. The Baja team created a music video from its previous test drive, held earlier in October.
SEAS Events Re-cap
GW Vice Provost for Research Dr. Pamela Norris provided the keynote address for BME Day.
BME Day took place on November 1, and having our students, faculty, and alumni back together to celebrate biomedical engineering was great. Department chair Dr. Murray Loew gave introductory remarks, and Dean John Lach introduced the keynote speaker, Dr. Pamela Norris, GW’s newly-appointed vice provost for research. Attendees also had the chance to hear from Dr. Cindy Liu, associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and chief medical officer of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Dr. Liu spoke about the development of the GW COVID testing facility. Newly-appointed BME Visiting Professor Dr. Victor Krauthamer also spoke, described his vision and plan for revising the rBME (regulatory biomedical engineering) program.
Undergraduate students Makeda Melkie, Claire Allison, Jinbi Tian, Cameron Johnson, and Jackson Lamb, and graduate students RyeAnne Ricker, Shuyue Guan, Kenise Morris, Scott Downen and Julie Han presented their current research projects. The day concluded with an alumni career panel hosted by GW COMPASS and the Biomedical Engineering Society. Moderators Brittany Underwood and Brooke Wilson spoke to panelists Isabel Verghese (BS ’18), Camille Daszynski (BS '20, MEng ’21), Zachary Williams (BS ’20, MEng ’21), Sydney Bailes (BS ’19), Tina Zadeh (MS ’19) and Dr. Jaclyn Brennan (PhD ’20) about their careers in industry, start-ups, academia and science policy. Thank you to all of the students who took part in making BME Day a huge success!
Announcements
The GW Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) announces its latest round of pilot funding for new and cross-disciplinary projects:
University Facilitating Fund (UFF) fosters the creation of new research projects and scholarly activities that encourage application to externally funded opportunities, bring external recognition to the principal investigator (PI) and university, and/or demonstrate significant impact in the field to which it belongs. Applicants must be regular full-time faculty who are continuing in service at the university the following academic year. UFF awards range from $5,000-$20,000 but are typically less than $15,000. Full proposals are due by 5:00 pm on November 18. Proposals must be submitted via OVPR's InfoReady portal. More details about the funds are available on the OVPR website and in InfoReady.
Cross-Disciplinary Research Fund (CDRF) supports the establishment of research partnerships within chartered centers and institutes or between two or more diverse disciplines that encourage strong applications to externally funded opportunities. CDRF awards provide up to $50,000 per year with the opportunity for a second year of competitive renewal funding. Full proposals are due by 5:00 pm on December 9. Full proposals must be submitted via OVPR's InfoReady portal. More details about the CDRF are available on the OVPR website and in InfoReady.
Upcoming SEAS Events
ECE Seminar: “The Challenges of End-to-End Network Resilience”
Speaker: Dr. Massimo Tornatore, Politecnico di Milano
Thursday, November 9
10:00 – 11:00 am
MAE Distinguished Seminar: “Breakthroughs in the Modeling of Shell Structures: From IGA to Peridynamics”
Speaker: Dr. Yuri Bazilevs, Brown University
Thursday, November 18
2:00 – 3:00 pm
CS Lecture: “Opportunities in the Metaverse”
Speaker: Joel Scharlat, director of operations for Cyber Bytes Foundation, founder & CEO of IVEA Consulting and Metaverse Technologies, Inc.
Thursday, November 18
3:30 – 5:30 pm
This is a special topic lecture for the course CSCI 3907/6907 Augmented and Virtual Reality. This talk will focus on the Metaverse, and what it means for the future of augmented reality and virtual reality. We’ll also discuss some solutions to potential pitfalls and how to make the Metaverse a safe environment for all. Finally, some projects of interest will be discussed. To attend and to receive the meeting link, please RSVP to Dr. Hurriyet Ok by November 17.
Women in Engineering Webinar: Creativity and Engineering
Friday, November 19
12:00 pm
Join Dr. Lorrie Faith Cranor, master quilter, photographer, computer scientist, entrepreneur, director of CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory, distinguished Carnegie Mellon University professor, and more, as she shares her holistic approach to life, academia, industry, and social activism.
BME Speaker Series: “Image-Based” Systems Biology - A New Paradigm in Cancer Research”
Speaker: Dr. Arvind Pathak, Johns Hopkins University
Wednesday, December 1
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Lehman Auditorium (SEH, B1270)
Entrepreneurship News & Events
Hackathon: “Innovate the Future of Travel Tech - From House to Gate”
Session One (virtual): Friday, November 12 | 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Session Two (in-person): Friday, November 19 | 9:30 am – 5:45 pm (A non-mandatory reception follows, 5:45 – 7:00 pm)
Register and find more information
This two-session hackathon/design sprint is looking for solutions to improve air travelers’ assurance that they will have enough time to make their flights when starting from home, office, or anywhere. People must consider lots of travel time factors when traveling to the airport, including walking, ground transportation (bus, Metro, parking garage and walking), check-in (baggage), security clearance, and transit time to the gate. These unknowns create anxiety for passengers. This event is hosted by the GW Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship in partnership with CirrusLabs, George Hacks, and the GW Innovation Center.
External Events
CREATE Digital Studio Open House
Friday, November 12
12:00 – 3:00 pm
Gelman Library, 1st floor
Visit GW's brand new CREATE digital studio for an open house to get hands-on experience using virtual reality, making green screen videos, 3-D printing, and more! Demonstrations will be happening all afternoon, and experts in video production, digital storytelling, and Adobe Creative Cloud applications will be available to answer all of your questions. The CREATE digital studio is a brand new space on the first floor of Gelman Library that assists students, faculty, and staff with the tools and expertise to expand their ability to create high-quality videos, podcasts, interactive experiences, and data visualization. CREATE is open and available to everyone at GW. Professional staff provide workshops and individual consultations to help the GW community use digital storytelling to effectively communicate their research and ideas in the online world.
RCR and Beyond
Classes meet throughout the Fall semester
Thursdays, 12:00 – 1:30 pm
Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) @ GW and Beyond is a semester-long weekly seminar course designed to develop and strengthen ethical problem-solving skills along with cultivating sensitivity to ethical issues commonly found while conducting research. The course is open to the entire campus community, including undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, researchers, staff and research administrators. Registration is capped at 20 participants, first come, first served. Classes are held on Thursdays, 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. throughout the semester, unless otherwise noted.