Faculty News
Papers:
Prof. Yongsheng Leng (MAE) and his postdoctoral research scientist Yajie Lei has been awarded funding from the National Science recently published the paper "Hydrophobic drying and hysteresis at different length scales by molecular dynamics simulations" in the American Chemical Society journal Langmuir. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation to investigate hydrophobic interactions in aqueous systems.
Prof. Julie Ryan (EMSE chair) and her doctoral student, James , published "Making Successful Security Decisions: A Qualitative Evaluation " in the January/February issue of the IEEE Security and Privacy journal, vol. 10, no 1, pp 60-68.Pettigrew
Prof. Julie Ryan (EMSE chair) and her doctoral student, James Pettigrew, have published the following: B. M. Borst, S. Sarkani, and T.A. Mazzuchi, "US Space Acquisition: Challenges in the Final Frontier," Defense Acquisition Review Journal, vol. 19, no. 1, 2012, pp.75-98.
Profs. Johan Rene van Dorp and Tom Mazzuchi (both of EMSE)published the following article: T. A. Mazzuchi and J. R. van Dorp, "A Bayesian expert judgment model to determine lifetime distributions for maintenance optimization," Structure and Infrastructure Engineering. vol. 8, no. 4, 2012, pp. 307-315. In the same special issue of Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, Profs. Shahram Sarkani and Tom Mazzuchi and their student, Robert Ernsting, published this article: R. A. Ernsting, T. A. Mazzuchi, S. Sarkani and H. R. N. van Erp, "Relative material loss: a maintenance inspection methodology for approximating material loss on in-service marine structures," Structure and Infrastructure Engineering. vol. 8, no. 4, 2012, pp. 383-392.
Conferences & Presentations:
Prof. Chunlei Liang (MAE) gave an invited talk on February 15 for the Hydromechanics Colloquium series at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division. The title of his talk was "Massively parallel and high-order accurate simulation of transitional flow around a flapping wing."
Prof. Zoe Szajnfarber (EMSE) participated in the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference held in Washington, DC, February 15-16. She was an invited panelist in the plenary session on "tipping points" in the market for commercial space. Prof. Szajnfarber also gave NASA Goddard's monthly "Systems Engineering Seminar" on February 7. The talk, based on insights from her two years of field research at the Goddard Space Flight Center, was videocast live on the NASA domain. More information about the Systems Engineering Seminar.
Students News
SEAS students Samantha Anello, Rachel Gomez, Samantha Hurley, Melina Meshako, Xi Ping Pan, Raminder Singh, Clarie Siverstien, George Teel, and Andrew Vasko were chosen to serve as judges of the 2012 Future Cities Competition, one of several National Engineers Week initiatives. Future Cities is a national, project-based learning experience that gives students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades the chance to imagine, design, and build cities of the future. More than 34,000 students from 1,400 schools participated in this year's competition, which took place on February 20 in Crystal City.
Other News
SEAS is a sponsor of the 2012 USA Science and Engineering Festival (April 27-29), a collaborative effort of the global STEM community to re-invigorate the interest of our nation's youth in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). As part of the Festival, SEAS will host a FREE, one-of-a-kind panel discussion and book signing with best-selling science author-pioneer, Robin Cook; Wolfram Mathematica co-founder and pictorial periodic table pioneer, Theodore Gray; engineer and practical pyromaniac, William Gurstelle; retired rocket scientist and author of October Sky, Homer Hickam; award-winning history and science storyteller, Joy Hakim; and physician, philanthropist, and writer, Pendred Noyce. Shawn Lawrence Otto will moderate the discussion. The discussion and book signing will take place on April 28, from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. To learn more details about the event and to register, please visit: http://bookfairevening.eventbrite.com/.
Guest Vignette
Many interesting dynamic systems in science and engineering evolve on a nonlinear, or curved, space that cannot be globally identified with a linear, or flat, space. Such nonlinear spaces are referred to as manifolds, and they appear in various mechanical systems such as a simple pendulum, aircraft, spacecraft, underwater vehicles, or quantum mechanics.
However, the nonlinear structures of a configuration manifold have not been extensively studied in engineering. For example, most of the existing control system theory is based on dynamic systems evolving on a linear space. These traditional nonlinear control methodologies yield complexities and singularities, where their stability properties and performances are guaranteed only near a nominal operating condition. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain global stability properties that are uniformly guaranteed for all possible configurations of a dynamic system.
Prof. Taeyoung Lee's research is focused on constructing computational geometric methods for dynamics and control of mechanical systems evolving on a nonlinear manifold. The central idea is constructing nonlinear control systems directly on nonlinear manifolds, and verifying their performances numerically by using geometric numerical integrators that preserve the underlying physical properties of a dynamic system. All of these are expressed in an intrinsic, coordinate-free form to avoid any singularities, ambiguities, and complexities. These allow us to study nonlocal, large, and aggressive motions of complex dynamic systems globally in an accurate and efficient fashion over a long period. The desirable properties of computational geometric methods have been demonstrated by various aerospace systems, such as quadrotor UAVs, spacecraft formation controls, tethered spacecraft, underwater vehicles, and binary asteroids. (Provided courtesy of Prof. Taeyoung Lee of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering)
SEAS Events
Engineers Week- See a listing of all the E-Week activities!
University Seminar on Technology in Emergency Career
Tuesday, February 21
5:00 - 7:00 pm
405 Marvin Center
More info and RSVP
MAE Seminar:"Self-configurable and Transformable Omni-directional Robotic Modules"
Paul M. Moubarak, doctoral student of Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi, GW Robotics and Mechatronics Laboratory
Wednesday, February 22
1:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
More info...
SAVE THE DATE: SEAS Student R&D Showcase
Monday, February 27
3:00 - 6:00 pm
Marvin Center Grand Ballroom
More info...
MAE Seminar: "Autonomy is Overrated: Towards Shared Human-Machine Control for Vehicles and Other
Mechanical Systems"
Karl Iagnemma, Principal Research Scientist, Mechanical Engineering, MIT
Tuesday, February 28
2:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
More info...
CS Seminar: "Factor Graphs, Bayes Trees, and Preconditioning for SLAM and SFM"
Frank Dellaert, Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology
Thursday, March 8
2:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
More info...
Save the Date: SEAS Graduation Celebration
Friday, May 18
7:30 pm
Smith Center (a reception in the Marvin Center Ballrooms precedes the event)
Entrepreneurship Events
Incentives for Your High Tech Business in the District:
How the DC High Tech Incentive Program Can Help You Grow Your Business
Friday, February 24
12:30-2:00 pm
Details and RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2736501951/efblike.
Please use the promo code "GWbiz" and register as a "Friend of District I/O" to be able to enter the event for free.
African Diaspora Marketplace Business Plan Competition
Saturday, February 25
11:00 am - 4:30 pm
309 Marvin Center
Network and gain valuable experience by participating as a first-round judge in the African Diaspora
Marketplace Business Plan Competition. Register at [email protected].
Review some of the already registered employers and exercise your vote as a student and future employee/intern
Marvin Center, 3rd Floor
1:00 - 4:00 pm
Monday, March 5
Other Events
University Honors Program Lecture:
"Understanding the Golem of Science and Technology: The Social Roots of Knowledge"
Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar Prof. Trevor Pinch, Cornell University
Thursday, February 23
6:15 pm: Reception with light refreshments; 7:00 pm: Lecture
310 Media & Public Affairs Building
More information and RSVP on Facebook.
Dissertation Defenses
Name of Student Defending: Xing Hong
Title of Dissertation: "Risk Matrix Analysis Using Copulas"
Advisor: Thomas A. Mazzuchi
Thursday, February 23
3:00 pm
1776 G Street, Conference Room 120