SEAS Colonial Cable
Greetings, SEAS Alumni,
Here's a look at what's been happening recently at SEAS:
Professor Liliana Florea Receives Sloan Fellowship
Professor Liliana Florea of the Department of Computer Science has been selected for the 2006 Sloan Research Fellowship. This is a prestigious competition among the very best young faculty members in seven fields: chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics. She is one of this year's 12 researchers who were selected from a nationwide pool of applicants to receive Sloan Research Fellowships in Computational and Evolutionary Molecular Biology.
Professor Florea's research applies computational techniques to solve problems related to biology and medicine. Her Sloan Fellowship will support several activities related to this research, including: the development of tools and methods to analyze the human hepatitis C virus and bacterial genomes such as E. coli; efforts to design new, large-scale computational tools to compare genomes and genes across different species; and studies of gene variations in different tissues or at different stages of development or disease.
"It is a great honor to be selected for the Sloan fellowship," says Professor Florea. "This grant will help me greatly in putting some key pieces into place in my computational biology research efforts."
GW Hosts Annual JETS Competition
As it has done for the past 20 years, SEAS again hosted the annual Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) TEAMS competition last month. One hundred and twenty-eight students attended the three-hour long, two-part competition designed to test students' ability to solve engineering and science problems.
Sixteen teams from six Washington-area high schools participated this year in the local competition for Northern Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Maryland high school students. Held at GW's Mount Vernon Campus, the competition included three hours of testing, lunch for the participants, an awards ceremony, and a tour of the Mount Vernon Campus.
The JETS Competition gives SEAS and GW the chance to tell local students and their coaches about our programs and our facilities. This year Fred Siegel, the dean of freshmen, presented awards to the students, while SEAS faculty and staff made presentations to the coaches. SEAS students were involved in running the competition, with students from the IEEE, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers assisting in proctoring and scoring the exams and registering the participants.
NSF Develops High-performance Computing Center at GW and University of Florida
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is sponsoring the development of a new national research center at GW and the University of Florida that will offer its members and researchers one of the most (if not the most) advanced and powerful research test beds in the world for reconfigurable computing.
Known as CHREC (pronounced "shreck"), the Center for High-performance Reconfigurable Computing is the nation's first multidisciplinary research center in this research field established as a basis for long-term partnership and collaboration amongst industry, academe, and government. The Center's goals include enhancing the educational experience of top-quality graduate and undergraduate students, as well as advancing knowledge and technologies in this emerging field and ensuring commercial relevance of the research with rapid and effective technology transfer.
The NSF believes that high-performance reconfigurable computing holds tremendous promise in addressing the needs of a broad range of applications, such as signal and image processing, bioinformatics, cryptology, communications processing, data and text mining, optimization, and complex system simulations.
Professor Tarek El-Ghazawi of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is co-director of the Center, along with Professor Alan George of the University of Florida. As a result of their collaboration with the UPC consortium, a new parallel programming language called UPC, or Unified Parallel C, is now being adopted by major supercomputing companies such as Cray, IBM, and Hewlett Packard. According to Professor El-Ghazawi, SEAS students played a major role in the national consortium that has been developing the language. GW and Professor El-Ghazawi will host the largest symposium in this research area (the PGAS Symposium) late this year in the Marvin Center. Dr. El-Ghazawi is a co-author of the UPC lanaguage specification and the first author of UPC Distributed Shared Memory Programming, which was published by John Wiley and Sons Inc in 2005.
SEAS Faculty Give to GW in Manifold Ways
By George!, the official GW newspaper, recently published a version of the article below on GW faculty who give back to the University. Two SEAS emeritus faculty members--Douglas Jones and Ray Pickholtz--were highlighted in this article, written by Raina Lenney, the assistant director of the Office of Communications and Events Services in GW's Advancement Division.
Douglas Jones, professor emeritus of engineering, received three degrees from GW - a bachelor's in mechanical engineering in 1963, an master's degree in 1965, and a doctorate of science in 1970. As a teaching assistant and faculty member, Jones taught at GW for 47 years, retiring in 2004. His colleague, Raymond Pickholtz, professor emeritus of engineering, taught electrical engineering and computer science at GW for over 30 years and retired in 2004. Aside from engineering, what do these two men have in common? A lot, it turns out.
For starters, both are extremely dedicated to students, a quality that often extends far beyond the boundaries of the classroom. Pickholtz recalls housing graduate students in his own home, when necessary, and has kept up with all of his doctoral students, even post-retirement. Jones also recalls subsidizing some of his students' expenses occasionally, and took pleasure in watching them advance through their courses of study. "I continue to follow the progress of my doctoral students," he says. "I enjoyed mentoring students the most."
Jones and Pickholtz have something else in common - in addition to teaching, both have demonstrated their commitment to SEAS through the establishment of generous endowments. In 2002, Jones established the Douglas L. Jones Graduate Fellowship in Mechanical Engineering, an annual scholarship for a deserving student. Jones views the benefits of the fellowship as two-fold: assist a student who might otherwise not be able to attend GW, and attract the best students possible to the school, thereby raising the school's profile nationally. The fellowship was awarded for the first time this past fall.
Last year, Pickholtz committed a sizeable gift to establish the Raymond L. Pickholtz Graduate Scholarship, which supports a student in communications engineering. His gift was matched by Timothy Tong, dean of the school, and enhanced by numerous contributions from faculty, former students, and former colleagues in honor of Pickholtz's retirement. Pickholtz hopes the scholarship will make a small dent in graduate students' costs. "Graduate students have the ability to live on the margin," he says, "and a little bit of money makes a big difference."
Pickholtz and Jones have demonstrated their commitment to students through mentoring, teaching, and the creation of endowed scholarships, and hope to encourage others to do so. Jones made an additional gift to his endowment this year, and is interested in finding ways to attract other donors. Pickholtz would also like to continue the growth of his endowed fund. Why have these professors chosen to give back to GW? "GW has treated me well," says Jones, "and this is a way of giving back to the University."
The School of Engineering and Applied Science lists information on all endowed funds supporting engineering at GW on the school's website. If you would like to learn more or if you would like to make a gift to an endowed fund, visit www.seas.gwu.edu/endowment.
"From Lab to IPO" Lecture Series
Whether planning a start-up or just being a strategic employee who receives stock options, this lecture series deals with what you need to know to succeed. It discusses the practical and legal issues that you will deal with every day in taking a great idea from the lab and creating a successful hi-tech or biotech company. Attendees are provided with lectures and readings to enable them to identify the major issues in organizing a business venture around intellectual property, including employment agreements, stock options, angel and venture capital, IPOs and tech transfer from university/government labs. This lecture series is appropriate for attendees who have started a new company, intend to start one, or are in a senior management position, such as CIO, CTO, CEO or strategic employee with stock options.
Sponsors/Partners: DCTech Council; Northern Virginia Technology Council; Maryland's TEDCO; Greater Washington Board of Trade; Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT); MITRE; U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL); National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Technology Transfer; GW Cancer Institute; GW Medical Center Office of Health Research, Compliance & Technology Transfer; GW's Entrepreneurial Roundtable; GW's Engineers Council; SEAS Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer & Commercialization; Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA); Maryland Intellectual Property Legal Resource Center; Springboard Enterprises; Washington, DC Chapter of the Technology Transfer Society, GW School of Engineering and Applied Science, and GW School of Business.
Time: 1:00 - 3:00 pm (Optional networking: 3:00 - 5:00 pm)
Dates: Classes meet on the following Fridays:
January 27, 2006
February 3, 10, 17, 24
March 3, 10, 24
April 7, 14, 21, 28
Cost: Free, but space is limited and registration is required. To register, e-mail Marilyn Shazier at mshazier@gwu.edu.
Location: The George Washington University, Washington, DC
Instructor: Tony Stanco, Director, Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer and Commercialization (CET2C)
The George Washington University
Contact information: Tel: 202-994-5513; E-mail: stanco@gwu.edu
Lectures:
Lecture 1: Overview of Venture/Angel Capital; Google IPO Case Study
January 27, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 101 at 800 21st NW
Lecturers: Jonathan Aberman and Don Rainey
Lecture 2: Patents
February 3, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 101 at 800 21st NW
Lecture 3: Copyright and Trademarks
February 10, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 307 at 800 21st NW
Lecture 4: Trade Secrets and Licensing Agreements
February 17, 2006: Alumni House Salon at 1925 F. St NW
Lecture 5: Founders and Employment Agreements, Stock Options, Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs); Non-Competes
February 24, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 101 at 800 21st NW
Lecture 6: Partnerships, Corporations and LLCs Shareholder Agreements; Directors and Executives
March 3, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 101 at 800 21st NW
Lecture7: Angels and Venture Capital, Part I
March 10, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 101 at 800 21st NW
Lecture 8: Angels and Venture Capital, Part II
March 24, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 307 at 800 21st NW
Lecture 9: Negotiating Angel/Venture Capital, Terms Sheets and Stock Purchase Agreements, Part I
March 31, 2006: Alumni House Salon at 1925 F. St NW
Lecture 10: Negotiating Angel/Venture Capital, Terms Sheets and Stock Purchase Agreements, Part II
April 7, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 101 at 800 21st NW
Lecture 11: Exits: M&As and IPOs
April 14, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 101 at 800 21st NW
Lecture 12: Government Programs for Start-Ups, SBIRs Partnering with Universities and Fed Labs to take their R&D and Commercialize it
April 21, 2006: Marvin Center Rm 413/414 at 800 21st NW
Leading angels, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, consultants and government officials are invited to guest lecture throughout the lecture series. For more information, please visit: http://lab2ipo.org/lab2ipolectures.
SEAS is proud to announce the GW Engineering group on LinkedIn, an independent, commercial, online networking tool.
SEAS has partnered with LinkedIn to provide this service for SEAS alumni, students, faculty, and staff, and we invite you to join the GW Engineering group. We hope that you will find it a useful tool for business networking, job searches, or simply for locating other members of the SEAS community.
To join the GW Engineering group, just click here and complete a LinkedIn member profile. Access to the group is free, completely optional, and is available only to members of the SEAS community.
About online business networking: You can use LinkedIn to expand and track your network in an organized and systematic way. The GW Engineering group on LinkedIn provides an ideal starting point, and it also provides a point of contact for people outside the SEAS community who are connected to your fellow GW Engineering group members.
About privacy: Please read the LinkedIn privacy policy to answer any concerns about privacy.
Upcoming SEAS Events
Save the Date!
ASEM Lecture and Lunch with Dr. John Aje, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, University of Maryland
Date: |
April 28, 2006 |
Time: |
12:00 p.m. - Lunch; 1:00 p.m. - Lecture begins |
Location: |
To be determined |
The National Capital Section of the American Society for Engineering Management has invited Dr. John Aje, associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Maryland University College, to give a talk on "Engineering and Technology Management: The Elephant is at a Cross-road."
The group will meet at 12:00 p.m. for lunch and the lecture will begin at 1:00 p.m. Meeting location to be determined. Please check www.seas.gwu.edu/events for up-to-date information.
For further information or to RSVP, please contact Professor Robert Waters at rwaters@gwu.edu.
Order of the Engineer Induction Ceremony and Reception
Date: |
Friday, May 12, 2006 |
Time: |
8:00 p.m. - The ceremony and reception will last approximately one hour. |
Location: |
Alumni House, 1925 F Street, NW, Washington, DC |
The Engineers' Council and the Engineer Alumni Association invite you to attend the Order of the Engineer Induction Ceremony and Reception, hosted to celebrate the upcoming professional status of our graduating seniors in the School of Engineering and Applied Science through induction into the Order of the Engineer. Alumni interested in attending are welcome! Additionally, the EC and EAA would like to invite any members of our alumni community who have not been inducted into the Order of the Engineer to participate in this event by being inducted. *If choosing to be inducted, a fee of $10 is requested to support the cost of materials for induction.
RSVP by close of business on Friday, May 5th if attending, or by Friday, April 21st
if requesting to be inducted. For more information or to RSVP, please e-mail Kim Kessler at kkessler@tcco.com.
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