SEAS Colonial Cable

Greetings, SEAS Alumni:

Here's a look at recent and upcoming SEAS activities and events:

• SEAS Alumnus and Academy Award Nominee Bill Westenhofer Speaks at GW
• Nelson Carbonell and Randy Graves Receive GWAA Service Award
• Graduate Student R&D Showcase Was a Success
• Dr. Maria Klawe Delivers Welling Lecture
• Bay Area Alumni Reception
• EAA and SEAS Host Annual Science Fair Reception
• Order of the Engineer Ceremony: May 11, 2007
• San Diego SEAS Alumni, Students, & Parents - SAVE THE DATE!
• Upcoming GW Angels Event
• IMPACT Kick-off Meeting
• Civil & Environmental Engineering Senior Design Presentations
• Electrical & Computer Engineering Senior Design Project Showcase & Lab Open House
• Computer Science Senior Design Presentations
• LinkedIn

SEAS Alumnus and Academy Award Nominee Bill Westenhofer Speaks at GW

SEAS alumnus and Academy Award Nominee Bill Westenhofer was on campus on Monday, April 23rd to deliver a lecture entitled “How Do I Become a Special Effects Expert?” More than 75 students, alumni and friends showed up to hear Westenhofer talk about his experiences.

The event was sponsored by SEAS, the GW Alumni Association, the Computer Science Department, Class Council, and the GW Career Center, and it included a reception beforehand to give guests the opportunity to mingle and to meet Westenhofer. During the lecture—which was held at the Jack Morton Auditorium in the Media and Public Affairs building—Westenhofer talked about how he got involved in his field and how his degree in computer science and his interest in art helped to bridge the gap in this interdisciplinary field. He also discussed the process of creating animation for the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia.” He showed before and after shots of of adding computer-generated actors and talked about the technology used to create the main computer-generated characters in the movie and to have them interact with real-characters and real scenes.

Westenhofer received his master’s degree in computer science from GW and studied under James Hahn, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science. Westenhofer is currently working on a new movie “His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass,” starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and new child actress Dakota Blue Richards.

The Department of Computer Science currently offers courses in computer graphics, computer animation, and game design and programming.

Nelson Carbonell and Randy Graves Receive GWAA Service Award

SEAS Dean Timothy Tong (left) and Randolph "Randy" Graves, Jr. (right)	Vice President for Advancement Laurel Price Jones (left) and Nelson A. Carbonell, Jr. (right)

SEAS congratulates Nelson A. Carbonell, Jr. and Randolph “Randy” Graves, Jr. for being selected as two of the six recipients of GW’s 2007 Distinguished Alumni Service Award.

Given each spring, the award has been conferred on a broad range of alumni noted for their involvement in the improvement of the University. The six recipients were honored at an April 12 ceremony. "It is a source of great pride to honor six individuals who have been excellent stewards of the growth and vitality of GW during my presidency," said GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. "The personal involvement that each of these recipients demonstrates is the key to our strength as a University and sets a shining example for the global GW community."

Nelson A. Carbonell, Jr. (BS '85), is the president, CEO, and founder of Snowbird Capital. A member of GW's Board of Trustees, Carbonell chairs the Advancement Committee and will be vice chairman of the board beginning July 1, 2007. He recently led Leadership Weekend, an initiative that brought together all levels of University leadership to focus on the needs of the Division of Advancement, as well as a series of University forums seeking input from stakeholders in GW's vision and presidential search. Carbonell works directly with the vice president of advancement to recruit new trustees, and his efforts have resulted in the creation of a sub-committee to focus on this endeavor. In addition to his volunteer work, Carbonell has committed substantial financial support to the University and serves as a leader to his fellow board members and to alumni.

Randolph Graves, Jr. (D.S. '78), is the founder of Graves Technology, Inc., where he serves as an executive consultant. Having previously served as the chairman and CEO of Eurotech, LTD, and the director of the aerodynamics division of NASA, Graves has amassed decades of experience in technology management. Graves is an active volunteer for the University and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He has served as a member of National Advisory Council for SEAS for more than six years and has generously given of his time and resources to the University. Graves works closely with Dean Tong, offering insight on strategic planning and management. He helped to establish the Council on Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer and Commercialization, where he continues to assist faculty, student, and alumni entrepreneurs with education and training, technology commercialization, start-up formation, and enterprise funding.

Graduate Student R&D Showcase Was a Success

On Wednesday April 25th, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) held its first annual Graduate Student R&D Showcase in the Marvin Center’s Continental Ballroom. This first annual event provided highlights into the research activities at SEAS while fostering interaction among local and regional industry, governmental organizations, potential GW students, alumni, and SEAS faculty and graduate students. It was organized under the auspices of the SEAS Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer and Commercialization (CET2C) with planning and organizational support from Randy Graves, Henry Sienkiewicz, and Tony Stanco of CET2C; Marilyn Shazier of Dean Timothy Tong’s office; and Ali Legnos, Evan Faber, and Matt Honan, the SEAS student interns. There were 47 research projects represented by their graduate student principal investigators at the R&D poster session.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Adnan Akay, Division Director of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufacturing Innovation at the National Science Foundation. The posters were judged on the basis of presentation and content, and Dean Tong awarded the top three projects with cash awards. The $500 first-place award went to Marija Peric and Dilli Neupane for “Full-Scale Primary Clarifier Performance for Phorphorus Removal;” the $300 second-place award went to Anis Norden for “Surface Acoustic Wave Resonators in CMOS Technology for RF Oscillators;” and the $200 third-place award went to Ashish Bhargava for “Finite-Element Analysis of Fatigue Prone Details of the Tuttle Creek Bridge.” The event was well attended and will be repeated again next year.

Dr. Maria Klawe Delivers Welling Lecture

SEAS was proud to host Dr. Maria Klawe, the president of Harvey Mudd College and a former dean of Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, for a Welling Lecture here at GW on April 24. In a talk entitled “Can Mobile Devices Improve the Quality of Life for People with Aphasia?” Klawe discussed a project that she and her colleagues and graduate students have worked on over several years to adapt mobile devices such as PDAs to assist communication in people with aphasia.

Aphasia is a partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written language, and it most often happens as the result of a stroke or trauma to the head. It is the impairment of the cognitive functions of speech, reading, writing, or some combination of the three, but it is sometimes misunderstood by others as the loss of intelligence. Because of this misunderstanding and the stigma attached to their impaired ability to communicate, many people with aphasia withdraw from society. According to Klawe, approximately one million Americans have aphasia.

To try to help people with aphasia complete common daily tasks and remain more connected to society, Klawe’s group developed a PDA enhanced with sounds and images. It is used in much the same way that others use a PDA, but the sounds and images are available to help trigger recollections that might otherwise not be recalled from text alone. Klawe’s group has tested this device, as well as a PDA without the sounds and images, with separate groups of subjects with aphasia to determine how it is used by them and how it needs to be adapted to be more useful.

The project is on-going and is showing some good results, and according to Klawe, the next step will be a longer term study that the group will conduct in conjunction with Kessler Institute.

Bay Area Alumni Reception

On Thursday, April 19, GW alumni in the San Francisco Bay area were treated to a panel discussion on business and technology in Silicon Valley, an alumni event jointly hosted by SEAS and GW’s School of Business (GWSB). More than 20 alumni and friends attended the event in Menlo Park, California.

The four GW alumni who served as panel participants are: GWSB alumnus James L. Carruthers, Jr. (MBA, '80) of Third Point Advisors, LLC; SEAS alumnus Larry I. Gritz (MS '93, D.Sc.'99), with the tech company NVIDIA; Elliott School of International Affairs alumna Beth A. Loughney (BA '89, MA '92), a startup troubleshooter who has worked in film, television and software; and GWSB alumnus Timothy S.H. Ome (MBA '81), with Trenwith Securities.

The panel was moderated by Donald J. Polden, Esq. (BBA '70), dean of Santa Clara University School of Law and parent of a current GW sophomore; and SEAS alumnus Remy A.M. Ntshaykolo (MA '93), who welcomed participants to the panel and described efforts underway to raise GW’s profile and expand the alumni network on the west coast.

The guests mingled with each other, shared ideas, and listened to a range of thoughts on business and technology in Silicon Valley, including the issue of how businesses are getting funded, which was a hot topic for the panelists.

More photos are available on the SEAS Photo Gallery.

EAA and SEAS Host Annual Science Fair Reception

Each spring, members of the Engineer Alumni Association participate as judges in local science fairs for junior high and high school students. Each year for the past several years, SEAS has followed up by hosting a reception to honor the students who are winners in one of these local science fairs. This year, more than 100 people joined Dean Timothy Tong on April 17th for the 2007 SEAS Science Fair Reception. Those attending included the science fair winners, their families, alumni, faculty and current students.

During the reception, the students and their parents had the opportunity to talk with Dean Tong, the faculty, and current students about studying engineering and the sciences and about the opportunities that are available at SEAS. Also during the reception, Kemp Kernstine, a senior mechanical and aerospace engineering student, gave a presentation on the research he has been conducting with his professors and fellow engineering students. He brought a piece of the plane that he has built to give the students an opportunity to get a first hand look at it. The evening ended with Dean Tong recognizing the student winners with a certificate and a GW Engineering baseball hat.

This year, EAA members served as judges at the following fairs: Washington, D.C.; Northern Virginia; Fairfax County; Loudoun County; Prince George’s County; and Prince William County. This year’s judges included: Timothy Casey (MS ’06); Ed Chesnut (MEA ’88); Ken Dymond (MS ’79); Gregory Ferguson (BS ’95); Randy Graves (D.Sc. ’78); Orron Kee (BS ’57); Chris Kennedy (BS 99); Kim Kessler (BS ’99); Tiffani Langdon (BS ’95); Helen Li (D.Sc. ’05); Harry Light (D.Sc. ’96); Matt Norris (BS ’02, MS ’03); Gayle Rubin (MS ’82); Mano Soheily (BS ’79); Eileen Tschetter, Friend of SEAS; and Sean Walsh ( BS ’76).

The purpose of participating in these fairs is to encourage high school students to pursue studies in engineering and science and to promote GW SEAS to local students. Alumni who are interested in judging science fairs should contact the SEAS Office of Advancement and Alumni Programs at seasalum@gwu.edu.

More photos are available on the SEAS Photo Gallery.

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

CEE Senior Design Project Presentations

Please join our undergraduate seniors in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for their senior design project presentations. For more information, please contact the department at 202-994-4901.

Computer Science Senior Design Project Presentations

Please join our undergraduate seniors in the Department of Computer Science for their senior design project presentations. For more information, please contact the department at 202-994-7181.

Aviation Safety and Security Certificate Program - Open to Alumni

Learn from top industry, academic and government experts. Determine how to develop and administer an effective safety and security program. Consider regulations, security and risk management, accident investigation and more. Expand your network of key people in aviation.

For more information, or to enroll in the course, please click here.

IMPACT Kick-off Meeting

Please join us for the kick-off meeting and the subsequent reception for the Institute for Massively Parallel Applications and Computing Technology (IMPACT).

IMPACT has been recently established through the George Washington University’s selective process for supporting areas of strategic excellence. IMPACT is chartered to serve as a center of excellence in interdisciplinary high-performance computing with a mission that spans advanced research, education, and outreach.

Come and explore areas of mutual interest and mechanisms for participation and beneficial interaction with IMPACT. Participate in the discussions and mingle with the institute’s faculty at the reception. Speakers include GW Executive Vice President Don Lehman, SEAS Dean Timothy Tong, Chief Research Officer Elliott Hirshman and the IMPACT faculty.

For information, please contact Prof. Tarek El-Ghazawi at tarek@gwu.edu or 202-994-2607.

Order of the Engineer Ceremony

Join the faculty, staff, other alumni, and graduating seniors for the Order of the Engineer induction ceremony and dessert reception for graduating engineers. SEAS alumni with a bachelor of science degree from an ABET-accredited engineering program, from SEAS or elsewhere, are also eligible for induction; please contact Professor Soland at 202-994-7531 with any questions.

Please confirm your attendance at this event by Monday, May 7th by e-mailing GWOrderoftheEngineer@gmail.com. This event is sponsored by SEAS, the Engineer Alumni Association, and the Engineers' Council.

ECE Senior Design Project Showcase and Lab Open House

Please join our undergraduate seniors in the Department of Electrical and Computer Science for their senior design project presentations. For more information, please contact the department at ece@gwu.edu.

San Diego SEAS Alumni, Students, & Parents - SAVE THE DATE!

Local San Diego alumnus Dr. Byung K.Yi will host a reception in his home for GW engineering alumni, parents, friends, and current and incoming students of SEAS to meet Dean Timothy Tong.

Formal invitations will be mailed in early May. Please e-mail seasalum@gwu.edu or call the SEAS Office of Advancement and Alumni Programs at 202-994-8474 for additional information.

Upcoming GW Angels Event

The mini-workshop will be led by active angel investors, serial entrepreneurs, regional venture capitalists, and private equity experts. Immediately following the workshop we will be hosting a reception where area start-up companies will present their new businesses on the start-up trading floor.

The registration fee for the workshop is $450, but GW alumni, and members of the GW network will be offered complimentary registration.

Please RSVP by June 15, 2007 to seasalum@gwu.edu or call 202-994-8474. For more information about this event, please visit www.aiogw.org.

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