Faculty News
Awards & Honors:
Dr. Saniya LeBlanc (MAE) has been selected to receive GW’s 2019 Morton A. Bender Teaching Award. She will be recognized on April 23 at GW’s Faculty Honors Celebration.
GW’s Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) has selected Dr. Megan Leftwich (MAE) as the recipient of OVPR’s 2019 Early Career Researcher Award. OVPR will present the award at a ceremony at the Jack Morton Auditorium on April 23.
Research:
Dr. Ekundayo Shittu (EMSE) and co-principal investigators Dr. Saniya LeBlanc (MAE), Dr. Payman Dehghanian (ECE), and Ms. Donna Attanasio (Law) have received a one-year, $115,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award for their project, titled “Examining Community Solar Programs to Understand the Factors Influencing Adoption Trends and Patterns.” The project seeks to examine how stakeholders (utilities, investors, and municipalities) have invested in community solar programs (CSP). The focus will be on the accessibility of low and middle income (LMI) earners to CSPs. Of critical interest is the examination of how LMI households’ access to CSPs vary in states with and without enacted shared solar policies. Prof. Scott Sklar, the Director of GW’s Solar Institute, is senior personnel on the project.
Publications:
Drs. Taeyoung Lee (MAE) and Michael Keidar (MAE) and their students have published the following paper: Y. Lyu, L. Lin, E. Gjika, T. Lee, and M. Keidar. “Mathematical modeling and control for cancer treatment with cold atmospheric plasma jet,” Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 52, Number 18.
Conferences & Presentations:
Dr. Lance Hoffman (CS) presented a lecture on February 23 to the National Engineers Week Awards Banquet of the D. C. Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies. The title of his lecture was “Challenges and Opportunities in Cyber Security.”
On February 18-22, Dr. Rachael Jonassen (director, Climate Change EEMI) undertook a mission for the United Nations Development Programme to Kuala Lumpur, where she advised the Malaysian government on greenhouse gas mitigation efforts in cities. This three-month project will culminate in late March with a workshop in Putrajaya, where she will present findings and recommendations. Seven GW graduate students are participating in this project.
On February 15, Dr. Omur Ozel (ECE) gave an invited talk at the IEEE Information Theory and Applications (ITA) Workshop in San Diego, CA. The workshop is hosted annually by the University of California San Diego and features invited speakers from all over the world with expertise related to information theory. This year Dr. Ozel's talk, titled “On Age of Information with General Service Distribution,” covered his recent work on a modern data freshness metric called “Age of Information (AoI).” The work in his talk was developed together with ECE Ph.D. student Peng Zou and Dr. Suresh Subramaniam (ECE). Part of the work covered in the talk was recently accepted for publication and presentation in this year's AoI Workshop, held in conjunction with the prestigious INFOCOM Conference.
Media Mentions:
Dr. Lorena Barba (MAE) was quoted in the February 28 Naturenews article “Pioneering ‘live-code’ article allows scientists to play with each other’s results.” She was interviewed as an expert in scientific reproducibility, and she commented on the evolution of the scientific article to become a “multifaceted communication medium that includes the data and the code as an integral part.”
Dr. David Broniatowski (EMSE) was quoted in the February 27 Newsweek article “Why do some people believe vaccines are dangerous?" On February 26, he was a guest on NPR’s Jefferson Public Radio (JPR). He was interviewed on JPR’s “The Jefferson Exchange” program about his research on Russian efforts to roil the vaccine debate in the U.S. [Direct audio link]
On February 26, Dr. Poorvi Vora (CS) testified at a hearing on a bill limiting electronic delivery of absentee ballots in Maryland. The hearing was covered by WRC-NBC4, Washington, in the February 27 article “ Maryland Legislators Consider Limiting Electronic Absentee Ballots."
Other:
Dr. Payman Dehghanian (ECE) arranged a training session for ECE graduate students delivered by the Typhoon Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) company. The session introduced the students to power systems analysis and simulations, how they are realized in experimental practices, and how power grid control actions are perceived and implemented by a piece of hardware (equipment). During the presentation, students learned the chain process from simulations and analytical decision making to control and implementation in the field.
Student News
On February 18, Shuyue (Frank) Guan, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering, received an honorable mention for his poster “Using generative adversarial networks and transfer learning for breast cancer detection by convolutional neural networks,” at SPIE Medical Imaging 2019. The poster was co-authored with his advisor, Dr. Murray Loew (BME).
Other News
CS Summer Classes: Expand your skills in computer science through a CS Summer 2019 Online Class. Online class options include: CSCI 1111 – Introduction to Software Development; CSCI 1112 – Algorithms and Data Structures; and CSCI 2113 – Software Engineering. Classes start May 20. Registration is now open. For more information, please contact the CS department at [email protected] or 202-994-7181.
SEAS Computing Facility
MATLAB and SolidWorks tutoring: MATLAB and SolidWorks tutoring will be offered throughout the spring semester on Mondays from 8:00 to 10:00 pm in Tompkins 401. To schedule a tutoring appointment, please email [email protected]. The workshops and tutoring will be hosted by SEAS senior Keily Gleason.
Engineering Software installation on personal computers: Most engineering programs installed in the SEAS Computing Labs—including MATLAB, SolidWorks, and others—are available for install on students’ personal computers. For a complete list of applications, please visit the SEAS Computing Facility website.
Upcoming SEAS Events
CS Colloquium: “Workflow-Centric Tracing and Automated Diagnosis Tools for the Cloud Ecosystem”
Speaker: Dr. Raja Sambasivan, Boston University
Monday, March 4
11:00 am
SEH, B1220
MAE Seminar: “Benchmark Experiments for CFD Modeling and Validation”
Speaker: Dr. Todd Lowe, Virginia Tech
Thursday, March 7
2:00 – 3:00 pm
SEH, B1220
CS Internet Distinguished Speaker Series: “Vint Cerf: The Unfinished Internet”
Speaker: Vint Cerf
Tuesday, March 19
7:00 pm (Doors open at 6:30 pm)
MPA Building, Jack Morton Auditorium
Registration required
Join us for an exciting talk by Vint Cerf, a "Father of the Internet" and the recipient of both the National Medal of Technology and the Turing Award. He will discuss the origins of the internet and his vision for its future, and a Q&A session will follow. Light refreshments will be served after the talk. This event is open to the public and is part of the CS Department's Internet Distinguished Speaker Series, in collaboration with the GW chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery.
GW COMPASS GALA
Thursday, March 28
5:30 – 8:30 pm
SEH, Lehman Auditorium and Green Wall
Register
The GW COMPASS GALA is the premier STEM networking event hosted at GW. The GALA provides GW STEM graduate students and community members with an opportunity to network with representatives from local organizations, gaining insight into the diverse careers available to STEM professionals. Prior to the networking reception, a protocol officer will host a one-hour briefing on networking tips and tricks to help attendees navigate the room with ease. Space is limited; appetizers and beverages will be provided at this premier event. Alcohol will be available via the drink ticket system for individuals 21 and over with a valid, government-issued ID.
MAE Seminar: “Recent Advances in Dynamic System Research”
Speaker: Dr. Weidong Zhu, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Thursday, April 18
2:00 – 3:00 pm
SEH, B1220
External Events
Spring Break Python Camp
Monday, March 11 – Friday, March 15
10:00 am – 4:00 pm
GW Gelman Library
Registration required
Learn Python and foundations of programming in this five-day, non-credit, interactive, mini-course over Spring Break. This opportunity is for beginners and does not require any programming experience. The workshop uses as its curriculum “ Get Data Off the Ground with Python,” an OpenEdX course by Dr. Lorena Barba (MAE). Learn more.
Entrepreneurship News & Events
Collegiate Inventors Competition: Enter the 2019 Collegiate Inventors Competition, and take the opportunity to bring national attention to your work, gain valuable feedback from the National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees, and compete for cash and prizes. Submissions close Friday, June 7. Learn more and get started on your applications today.
Workshop: “How to Craft an Engaging Presentation/Pitch Deck”
Thursday, March 7
5:30 – 7:00 pm
Gelman Library, Rooms 301-302
Register Here
Pitching your business idea can be tough. Creating the “perfect” pitch deck can be even tougher. Don't fret! Our experts will help you learn how to craft a sound presentation and pitch deck to impress your colleagues and peers.
GW Technology Commercialization Office 2019 Innovation Competition: Call for Technologies and Poster Session Participants
Tuesday, April 16
1:00 – 5:30 pm
SEH, Lehman Auditorium
Register
The GW Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) is showcasing promising and impactful GW research with commercial potential. This event provides a forum for idea sharing between GW researchers, entrepreneurs, and members of the venture community. Finalists will pitch their technologies for a chance to win $30,000 in prizes for the development of a prototype or proof-of-concept! All are welcome to attend the event, but GW researchers must confirm their eligibility to participate in the competition with TCO by March 4. In brief, participants must have an unlicensed invention disclosed to TCO. Email TCO to disclose your invention today (teams must include a GW inventor)!
GW New Venture Competition Finals
Thursday, April 18
6:00 – 8:00 pm
Media & Public Affairs Building, Jack Morton Auditorium
Register Here
Nine teams take the stage to vie for over $300K in funding and support at the 11th Annual GW New Venture Competition. Who will take the prize this year at the largest business planning competition in the DC area?
Dissertation Defenses
The following dissertation defenses will be held in SEH, 4605 during the same block of time:
Student Name: Chen Shen
Dissertation Title: “Enhancing Crowdsourcing with the Zero-Determinant Game Theory”
Advisor: Dr. Hyeong-Ah Choi (CS)
Friday, March 8
1:00 – 5:00 pm
SEH, 4605
Student Name: Yinhao Xiao
Dissertation Title: “Security and Privacy of Smart Devices”
Advisor: Dr. Xiuzhen Cheng (CS)
Friday, March 8
1:00 – 3:00 pm
SEH, 4605
Student Name: Qin Hu
Dissertation Title: “Enhancing Crowdsourcing with the Zero-Determinant Game Theory”
Advisor: Dr. Xiuzhen Cheng (CS)
Friday, March 8
2:00 – 4:00 pm
SEH, 4605