Faculty News
Research:
Prof. Chunlei Liang (MAE) received a research grant from the GW University Facilitating Fund (UFF 2012-2013) to work on the "Development of a Massively Parallel Computational Tool for Modeling and Simulation of Flying Birds and Swimming Animals." The total funding amount is $25,000.
Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America has awarded Prof. Gabe Sibley (CS) a $121,000 grant to develop robust visual perception technology for autonomous vehicle navigation. Prof. Sibley writes, "It is clear that robotic driving has the potential to transform society, yet many challenges exist for commercialization of the requisite mobile robotics techniques. In particular, robotic perception remains a difficult task. Even seemingly solved problems such as automatic localization and mapping present challenges when attempted with low cost sensors. Furthermore, even state-of-the-art sensors and feature detectors have limitations due to environmental factors such as nighttime operation, rain, snow, and accumulation of particles on sensors. Successful perception in such extreme environmental conditions has yet to be achieved and is of obvious importance to autonomous vehicle navigation. GW's Autonomous Robotics and Perception Laboratory is excited to engage in research with engineers at Toyota Technical Center to develop visual perception technology for on-road car navigation that will ultimately lead to the automation of our roadways."
Publications:
Prof. Joost Santos (EMSE) has served as a faculty mentor to a doctoral student from the University of Oklahoma through the nationwide GW CIBER program. This research collaboration has produced the following manuscript: MacKenzie C, Santos JR, Barker K, 2012, "Measuring changes in international production from a disruption: Case study of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami," International Journal of Production Economics.
Conferences and Presentations:
Prof. Murray Snyder (MAE) and his Naval Academy undergraduate student Jason Metzger attended the American Helicopter Society Forum 68 in Fort Worth, TX, May 1-3. His student presented the following paper: Jason Metzger, Murray Snyder, John Burks and Hyung Kang, "Measurement of Ship Air Wake Impact on a Remotely Piloted Aerial Vehicle." Videos of this research are available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87rapZzd604 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwaQT0Aa5c.
Student News
Two doctoral students of Prof. Joost Santos (EMSE) won travel awards from IEEE and presented their research at the University of Virginia on April 27. Their research papers will appear in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings of the IEEE Systems and Information Engineering and Design Symposium. The papers are: 1) " Framework for Evaluating Economic Impact of IT based Disasters on the Interdependent Sectors of the U.S. Economy," Jalal Ali and Joost Santos; and 2) " Stochastic Modeling of Manufacturing-based Interdependent Inventory for Formulating Sector Prioritization Strategies in Reinforcing Disaster Preparedness," Joanna Resurreccion and Joost Santos.
Eight members of the GW IEEE Student Branch along with the Branch Counselor, Prof. Nicholas Kyriakopoulos (ECE), and Graduate Teaching Assistant Qianyi Zhao traveled to Columbus, OH, to attend the Region 2 IEEE Student Activities Conference hosted by Ohio State University on April 28-29. Noel Behailu, Bhargavi Puppala and Shayda Shahbazi participated in the ethics competition; and Fatma Nur Alkas, Jeffrey Oh, Jiaxuan Shang and Joshua Rooks participated in the brown bag competition (an on-the-fly circuit building competition). The team of Jiaxuan Shang, Joshua Rooks, and Shayda Shahbazi entered the physics competition, almost as an afterthought, and as the last team to present, ended up winning the entire competition! Their task was to use only a sheet of paper, six inches of tape, and scissors to construct a system that could support as much weight as possible. The winning design by the GW team held more than 125 pounds and still had not reached its limit. Overall, GW had another successful year at the IEEE conference, but we would be remiss in forgetting to thank the IEEE Region 2 Representative, Justin Lee, for putting in countless hours to help organize the competition and make sure that GW was well represented.
Guest Vignette
A Tribute to Prof. Irving Shames: In fall 1994, when I arrived at GW as an assistant professor of civil engineering, I met with a very pleasant surprise: Professor Irving Shames, the author of many engineering mechanics books that I had studied from during my undergraduate years, was on the faculty of the Civil, Mechanical, and Environmental Engineering (CMEE) Department and was teaching engineering mechanics courses to undergraduate and graduate students. Over the next 12 years, I had the pleasure and honor of getting to know this great man as a colleague and a friend, a mentor, and a truly outstanding educator. Read more (Provided courtesy of Prof. Majid Manzari of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
SEAS Events
MAE Seminar: " Computational Fluid Dynamics - Past, Present, and Future" Prof. Antony Jameson, Stanford University
Monday, May 7
2:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
Order of the Engineer Ceremony
Tuesday, May 15
4:00 - 6:00 pm
402 Marvin Center
Cyber Security Policy and Research Institute Discussion: " Is America Ready to Vote on the Internet? Concerns for National Security"
Moderated by Prof. Lance Hoffman (CS)
Wednesday, May 16
12:00 noon (Hot buffet lunch included)
302 Marvin Center
Pelton Senior Design Competition and Senior/Alumni BBQ
Wednesday, May 16
5:00 - 8:30 pm
Marvin Center Grand Ballroom and Terrace
CEE Seminar: "Vehicle Dynamics and Safety Research at Coventry University"
Dr. Mike Blundell, Coventry University, UK
Wednesday, May 17
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
640 Phillips Hall
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
A Day of Foster
Saturday, May 12
12:00 pm - 12:30 am
The Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA
Dissertation Defenses
Name of Student Defending: Michel S. Pawlowski
Title of Dissertation: "Catastrophic Events - Emergency Management Requirements For Catastrophic Response Operations"
Advisor: Prof. Greg Shaw
Tuesday, May 8
10:00 am
1776 G Street, Conference Room 120