Faculty News
Research & Grants:
Last week, Prof. Matthew Kay (ECE) received a National Institutes of Health R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for his proposal, entitled "Low flow reperfusion after acute myocardial ischemia: when too little is too much." The project has been awarded funding for five years with a total budget of $1.64 million. The overall goal is to study mechanisms of ischemia and reperfusion arrhythmias from a new perspective: that of connecting local changes in tissue metabolism caused by perturbations in coronary flow to the resulting disturbances in electrical activity. The studies should provide a better understanding of the causes of sudden cardiac death and its prevention. Prof Kay is the primary investigator on the grant; Prof. Narine Sarvazyan of GW’s Department of Pharmacology and Physiology is a co-investigator, and Prof. Marco Mercader, MD (GW MFA) is a consultant.
Prof. Baoxia Mi (CEE) has been selected by GW’s Institute for Sustainability Research, Education, and Policy to receive a $10,000 sustainability research summer grant. The money will mainly be used to build a membrane bioreactor and support student travel.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded GW a $4.6 million, three-year educational grant in the area of health IT. The grant title is "GW HiTech University Based Training." The lead on this grant is the School of Public Health and Health Services Department of Health Services Management and Leadership (HSML), in collaboration with three other schools—SEAS, the School of Business, and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences—as well as with the GW Medical Faculty Associates. The grant includes: compensation for the PI and co-PIs; compensation for the instructors who will teach the courses and convert them to the planned delivery format (a combination of online and executive format); and tuition aid (the bulk of the grant) for the students who enroll in the program. The program will offer four different 18-credit certificates made up of existing courses. The announcement first appeared on BusinessWire. Prof. Abdou Youssef (CS chair) is a co-PI on the grant and will also serve on the Advisory Committee of the program.
Conferences & Presentations:
Prof. Azim Eskandarian (CEE) authored and presented a paper entitled "Safety Issues of Drowsy/Fatigue Driving and Countermeasures Mitigation," at the TRB (Transportation Research Board/ National Academy of Science sponsored) 15th International Conference on Road Safety on Four Continents, in AbuDhabi, UAE, March 28th – 30th. Prof. Eskandarian also served as a member of the conference’s technical organizing committee. The conference was sponsored by the U.S. TRB; VTI, an independent Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute; and the National Transport Authority of UAE.
Other:
Prof. Peter Bock (CS) has received a reverse citation in Physorg.com for a presentation of his work on ALISA (Adaptive Learning Image and Signal Analysis) and on the results from his funded projects with Bosch and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense.
Student News
Aimir Arab, a Ph.D. candidate in CEE, recently gave a presentation on "End Zone Reinforcement of Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girders" to the National Capital Chapter of the American Concrete Institute. The presentation highlighted some of the results of his research that he has been conducting with CEE Profs. Sameh Badie and Majid Manzari.
Brenton Duffy, a Ph.D. candidate in MAE, and Yi Jin, a Ph.D. candidate in ECE, each received a 2009-2010 ARCS Foundation Scholars Award. The ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation provides scholarships to academically outstanding U.S. citizens studying to complete degrees in science, medicine, and engineering.
Congratulations to Will Rone, a senior MAE undergraduate student, who is a winner of a SMART Scholarship, thanks in part to the initiative and support provided by Profs. Michael Plesniak and Pinhas Ben-Tzvi. The U.S. Department of Defense established the Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service Program to support undergraduate and graduate students with outstanding academic achievements pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Mr. Rone is currently involved in research activities performed under the guidance of Prof. Ben-Tzvi in the Robotics and Mechatronics Lab (RML). In Fall 2010, Will will start his Ph.D. program in RML under the supervision of Prof. Ben-Tzvi. The SMART Scholarship will cover his tuition and stipend for the duration of his Ph.D. program.
James Swanson, a senior in CEE, has received the merit award for senior students from the National Capital Chapter of the American Concrete Institute. The award is presented to top senior students who show a great interest in reinforced and prestressed concrete education. James was nominated for this award by Prof. Sameh Badie (CEE).
Other News
Student R&D Showcase: Please mark your calendars for the R&D Showcase to be held on Friday, April 30th, from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm in the Marvin Center’s Grand Ballroom.
Networking Happy Hour: Please join SEAS alumni and current SEAS students for a networking happy hour at Tonic at Quigley's Pharmacy, from 6:30-8:00 pm on Thursday, April 22nd. We are highlighting alumni and students of SEAS student organizations, but we invite everyone to join the fun and networking. The event is free of charge, but we ask that you register your attendance in advance. Hors d'oeuvres will be provided and a cash bar is available. If you’d like to register, you can do so online, or by contacting Erin Pitts, associate director of school alumni programs, at [email protected] or 202.994.2355.
The cover article of the most recently released issue of The Voice of Technology, published by the Northern Virginia Technology Council, is “Information Assured: As cyberattacks grow in number and impact, universities shift to the front lines of defense." On pages 10-18, the article mentions, the GW program and the efforts of GMU, Georgetown, Marymount, Northern Virginia Community College, University of Virginia, and Virginia Tech. It also briefly mentions the GW CyberCorps program.
Upcoming Events
CS Colloquium: “Mid the Gap: STEM Women in Career Breaks”
Speaker: Prof. Rachelle Heller, SEAS/CS
Monday, April 19th at 4:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
CS Colloquium: “Due Diligence for Trustworthy Systems: A Methodology for Legal Requirements Acquisition”
Speaker: Travis Breaux, North Carolina State University
Thursday, April 20th at 2:00 pm
CS Colloquium: “Systems without Cooperation”
Speaker: David Levin, University of Maryland
Thursday, April 22nd at 2:00 pm
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 the remaining two seminars of the four-part Seminar Series on Entrepreneurship. These events are free and open to the SEAS and GW community. To register, please visit alumni.gwu.edu/calendar.
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:
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
Dissertation Defenses
Name of Student Defending: Hsu-Cheng Ou
Title of Dissertation: “Design of Low-loss One-pole Synchronous LiNbO_3 Surface Acoustic Wave Resonators for Sensing Applications”
Advisor: Prof. Mona Zaghloul
Tuesday, April 20th at 1:00 pm
302 Tompkins