July 30 - August 12, 2018

Newsletter

July 30, 2018

Faculty News
Research:
Dr. Vesna Zderic (BME) is principal investigator (PI) on a $37,500, one-year grant funded by GW’s Cross-Disciplinary Research Fund program. She will work on the project, titled “Ultrasound-enhanced delivery of macromolecules for treatment of ocular diseases,” with her co-principal investigators, Dr. Erik Rodriguez (Department of Chemistry) and Dr. Mary Ann Stepp (Department of Anatomy and Regenerative Biology). Dr. Zderic is also the PI on a new $50,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps grant titled “Ultrasound-enhanced drug delivery for treatment of onychomycosis.” She and her former student Alina Kline-Schoder and her current graduate student Tania Singh are currently participating in a seven-week NSF National I-Corps cohort based in San Francisco.

 

Dr. Zhenyu Li (BME) has received a $50,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps grant titled “A Cloud-based Wearable ECG Sensor on a Finger Ring.” Dr. Li and his doctoral students Scott Downen and Quan Dong are currently participating in the same seven-week NSF National I-Corps cohort as Dr. Zderic and her students.

 

Media Mentions:
Kaiser Health News quoted Dr. Anna Slomovic (lead research scientist, Cyber Security Policy and Research Institute) in the July 21 article “How bits of captured data paint a stealth portrait of your health.”

 

Publications:
Dr. James Lee (MAE) and his current and former doctoral students Kerlin Robert and Dr. Jiaoyan Li have published a book chapter: K. P. Robert, J. Li, and J. D. Lee. “Multiscale Modeling of 2D material MoS2 from Molecular Dynamics to Continuum Mechanics” in Generalized Models and and Non-classical Approaches in Complex Materials 2 (edited by Altenbach, Pouget, Rousseau, Collet, and Michelitsch), Springer, 2018.

 

Dr. Ahmed Louri (ECE) and his research team have published a conference paper titled “LEAD: Learning-enabled Energy-Aware Dynamic Voltage/Frequency Scaling in NoC.” The work introduces machine learning techniques to manage power management in network on chips for future computing systems, and was published in the 55th International Design Automation Conference (DAC), held June 24–28, in San Francisco, CA. DAC is the premier conference devoted to the design and automation of electronic systems, embedded systems, and software. This work is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

 

Conferences & Presentations:
On July 13, Dr. Lorena Barba (MAE) presented the talk “Re-usable, Open Educational Modules for Engineering Undergraduates” at the SciPy Conference in Austin, TX. She discussed the concepts and design principles behind new learning modules for teaching undergraduate engineering students to use Python to learn. The presentation slides and video of the talk are available online.

 

Dr. Kelly Scanlon (senior research scientist, Environmental and Energy Management Institute) hosted Army and Navy colleagues on July 18 to discuss research, development, testing, and evaluation efforts on sustainable alternatives for defense-related chemicals and processes. An outcome of the meeting was a strategy for ensuring ongoing alternatives assessment research at the Department of Defense, data collection that supports claims for more sustainable alternatives, and a plan for future collaborations and engagement.

 

Other News
Washington Business Journal featured a company founded by SEAS alumni Ben Holmes (BME) and Nathan Castro (BME) in the July 24 article “This company wants to put an end to knee replacements. It just needs a buyer.’’ (Subscription required)

 

SEAS alumnus Jay Kaplan (CS) was a featured speaker in the Fortune Magazine Brainstorm TECH 2018 panel “Cybersecurity’s New Game of Risk.” A video of the panel discussion was published on Fortune’s YouTube channel on July 18. Brainstorm TECH 2018 was held July 16-18 in Aspen, CO. It is Fortune’s annual by-invitation-only summer retreat for leaders from Fortune 500 companies, the top emerging entrepreneurs of the tech world, and the most important investors who finance them.

 

SEAS Events
Special SEAS Event: “Live from the International Space Station: Q&A with NASA Astronaut & SEAS Alumna Serena Auñón-Chancellor”
Tuesday, September 18
11:00 am – 2:00 pm (exact time to be announced)
MPA Building, Jack Morton Auditorium
Registration required

 

Are you curious about the experience of living in space, or what experiments NASA astronauts are working on—or something else related to the International Space Station (ISS) or being an astronaut? If so, this is your opportunity to listen to NASA astronauts currently aboard the ISS, as they answer our questions. SEAS will host a 20-minute NASA downlink from the ISS, during which we get to pose questions of astronauts Serena Auñón-Chancellor (SEAS ’97) and Drew Feustel. If you want to submit a question for the astronauts, please visit the registration page to do so.

 

Immediately after the downlink, former NASA astronaut Charles Camarda (SEAS ‘80) will be present in the Lehman Auditorium for a discussion on the challenges of deep space exploration and a question-and-answer session. A reception will follow. Note: NASA has slated a three-hour window (11:00 am – 2:00 pm) for the downlink; on September 7, they will update SEAS with the actual 20-minute timeslot for the downlink. This event is open to the entire GW community. Space in the Lehman Auditorium is limited, so register early.

 

Entrepreneurship News & Events
GW’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) is looking for Entrepreneurial Fellows to work with its office during the upcoming academic year. The position is open to both FWS and non-FWS students. Interested students may find more information on the OIE website and may apply for the positions via Handshake.