SEAS Newsletter

Week of September 21-27, 2009

Faculty News

Awards & Honors:

The Water Environment Federation has nominated Prof. Rumana Riffat (CEE) for two medals for papers she published in its journal, Water Environment Research.  She has been nominated for the Harrison Prescott Eddy Medal for the 2008 publication of “Influence of Source Characteristics, Chemicals and Flocculation on Chemically Enhanced Primary Treatment.” The medal is awarded for research that makes a vital contribution to existing knowledge of the fundamental principles or processes of wastewater treatment. The paper is coauthored by her graduate students Dilli Neupane and Marija Peric.   She was also nominated for the George Bradley Gascoigne Medal for the 2008 publication of “Denitrification with Carbon Addition – Kinetic Considerations.”  The medal is awarded to the author(s) of an article that presents the solution of an important and complicated operational problem within a full-scale, operating wastewater treatment plant. The paper is coauthored by her graduate students Yalda Mokhayeri, Adam Nichols, and Jeneva Hinojosa.

Research:

Prof. Suresh Subramaniam (ECE) has received a National Science Foundation grant for "Holistic and Integrated Design of Layered Optical Networks."  This project is a three-year collaborative effort with Prof. Maite Brandt-Pearce of the University of Virginia. The total funding amount for the project is approximately $315,000, of which Prof. Subramaniam will receive approximately $170,000.  According to Prof. Subramaniam, current and future telecom networks are organized as many layers, with the optical infrastructure at the very bottom. Efficient utilization of resources in such layered networks calls for cross-layer design approaches, and he and Prof. Brandt-Pearce intend to use this grant to develop several design methods to achieve this.

Conferences & Presentations:

Prof. Sameh Badie (CEE) gave a presentation entitled "Extending Shear Connector Spacing to 48.0 Inches" to the AASHTO T-10 Committee on Concrete Bridges and the PCI Committee on Bridges. The meeting took place during the 2009 National Bridge Conference, sponsored by the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) and held in San Antonio, TX, September 12th – 15th. The presentation is part of the effort to adopt the finding of the NCHRP 12-65 (previously awarded to GW, with Prof. Badie as the principal investigator) into the AASHTO bridge design specifications.  At the same conference, Razaq Ferhadi (CEE doctoral candidate) and Prof. Badie presented a paper entitled "Examining Various Options to extend Span Range of Precast Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girders."

Prof. Johan Rene van Dorp (EMSE) recently  presented "Generalized Diagonal Band Copulae with Two-Sided Generating Densities," a joint paper with Samuel Kotz, at two separate venues in Spain.  His first presentation was at a September 9th scientific reunion series at the University of Granada's "de Metodos Cuantitativos para la Economia y la Empresa;" the second was at the University of Almeria's September 10th  - 11th conference, Modelos de Generacion de Distribuciones, Propiedas y Aplicaciones.  At the latter conference, Prof. van Dorp was also requested to present his paper "Towards the Development of a Comprehensive Vessel Traffic Risk Management Tool" to conclude the conference. The latter paper is joint work with Prof. Jason R.W. Merrick of the Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Student News

Paul Moubarak and Xin Xu, doctoral students of Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi, received student travel awards from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to attend the “Performance Metrics for Intelligent Systems Workshop (PerMIS 2009),” which will take place in Gaithersburg, MD, September 21st – 23rd.  Each of them received a $300 award, which covers their travel costs and conference registration fees.

Guest Vignette

Last Friday, the American Institute for Steel Construction (AISC) sponsored SteelDay 2009, an interactive day with the structural steel industry, with more than 170 events hosted across the country.  Throughout the day, steel fabricators, mills, service centers, galvanizers, HSS (hollow structural sections) producers, bender-rollers and others opened their facilities, jobsites, and offices across the country, offering tours and inviting the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) community and general public to see how the AISC and colleagues contribute to building America.

GW's CEE seniors participated in SteelDay by taking a field trip to B&B Welding Company, Inc.  B&B Welding opened the doors of its 35,000-square-foot fabrication shop to GW students and others to demonstrate state-of-the-art interoperability across steel stucture design, fabrication, detailing, and construction. An extra benefit of the day was lunch hosted by B&B with one of its famous pig roasts.  (Provided courtesy of Prof. Kim Roddis of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Upcoming Events

Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Forum:  September 23rd   

4:00 –6:00 pm

Marvin Center, Room 308

More info . . . 

Looking Ahead

GW Institute for Biomedical Engineering Colloquium:  October 5th 

1:00 –2:00 pm

MAE Conference Room, 736 Academic Center

More info . . . 

SEAS 125th Anniversary Events

SEAS 125th Birthday Celebration: Ice Cream Social: Thursday, October 1st

1:00–3:00 pm

Tompkins Hall Front Lawn

This event is for all SEAS students, faculty, and staff.  It includes a SEAS trivia contest and raffle prizes for students.

Frank Howard Lecture Series–Dr. Mihail Roco, Speaker: Monday, October 12th

6:00 - 9:00 pm at 1957 E Street N.W., Room 213

Registration required for this event

More info . . .

Frank Howard Lecture Series–Dr. Frieder Seible, Speaker: Thursday, November 12th

6:00 - 9:00 pm at 1957 E Street N.W., Room 213

Registration required for this event

More info . . .

Frank Howard Lecture Series–Dr. Barbara Liskov, Speaker: Wednesday, December 2nd

6:00 - 9:00 pm at 1957 E Street N.W., City View Room

Registration required for this event

More info . . .

Dissertation Defenses:

Name of Student Defending:  Kai Xing

Title of Dissertation: "Coding-based Channel Assignment in Multi-channel Wireless Networks”

Thursday, December 4th at 10:00 am

Phillips Hall, Room 736

SEAS Career Services Events

Electric Boat/General Dynamics Information Session: Tuesday, September 22nd

4:00 – 5:00 pm in Tompkins Hall, Dean’s Conference Room

Please RSVP to Emmy Rashid

GW Fall Career Fair: Wednesday, September 23rd

1:00 – 5:00 pm in the Marvin Center Ballrooms

For more information and to RSVP: http://gwired.gwu.edu/career/fairs

Microsoft Information Session: Friday, October 2nd

2:00 – 3:00 pm in Academic Center, Room 736

Please RSVP to Emmy Rashid

Resume Critique Night: Thursday, October 22nd

6:00 – 8:00 pm at the GW Alumni House

To RSVP or reserve space at the event, email seasalum@gwu.edu

Southeast Biomedical Engineering Career Conference: October 30th

Washington D.C. Convention Center

For more information: http://www.Sebecconference.org

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