Faculty News
Honors and Awards:
Prof. Michael Keidar (MAE) has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society “for major contributions to the physics of low-temperature plasma, resulting in a variety of novel devices and unique processes with applications to space propulsion, nanotechnology and biomedicine.” Election to Fellowship is limited to no more than one-half of one percent of the APS membership.
Retired ECE Prof. Joseph Pelton recently was honored with an “Arthur” Award at the U.K. Space Conference, held in Glasgow, Scotland. He was one of nine leaders in the space industry to win the award, which is named in honor of British-born scientist and author Sir Arthur Clarke. Prof. Pelton was saluted for his efforts to create the Clarke Foundation, the International Space University, and the Society of Satellite Professionals, and for his efforts writing and editing books related to space. The award was presented by Tim Peake, Britain's first official astronaut, who is slated to fly to the International Space Station in 2014.
Research:
Prof. Majid Manzari (CEE) has received new funding from the National Science Foundation’s NEESR program (Network of Earthquake Engineering Research) to conduct a two-year investigation on earthquake-induced liquefaction of soils. This is a collaborative project with total funding of $400,000. GW serves as the lead institution on the grant, and its share of the total budget is $180,658.
Publications:
Prof. Michael Keidar’s (MAE) recently published paper, “Low-temperature plasmas in carbon nanostructure synthesis” was featured on the cover page of the September issue of the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B.
Conferences & Presentations:
Prof. Azim Eskandarian (CEE) presented an invited talk titled “Vehicle Active Safety Systems and Driver Assistance with Agility Aspects” at the international symposium Agile Ground Vehicle Dynamics, Energy Efficiency, and Performance in Severe Environments, held September 8-11 in Birmingham, AL.
Costis Toregas (associate director, Cyber Security Policy & Research Institute) was a discussion leader at the October 3 discussion “Governance of the Internet: Spying and the Case of Brazil.” The discussion was held at American University’s Washington College of Law and was sponsored by the college’s Brazil-U.S. Legal and Judicial Studies Program and by the Washington DC Chapter of The Internet Society.
Prof. Lijie Grace Zhang (MAE) and her students, Benjamin Holmes, Nathan Castro, Wei Zhu, and Christopher O'Brien, gave the presentations below at the 2013 Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting, held September 25-28 in Seattle, WA. Prof. Zhang also co-chaired a symposium, “Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering,” at the conference.
- B. Holmes, J. Li, J. D. Lee and L.G. Zhang, “Development of Biomimetic 3D Bioprinted Scaffolds for Osteochondral Regeneration”
- M. Wang, N. Castro, S. Fu, and L.G. Zhang, “Biomimetic Stem Cell Modified Tissue Engineered Nanostructured in Vitro Bone Model for Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis Study”
- W. Zhu, D. Frauchiger, H. Fenniri, and L.G. Zhang, “Co-axial Electrospun Aligned Microfibrous Scaffold with Rosette Nanotubes for Nerve Regeneration”
- M. Wang, B. Holmes, X. Cheng, M. Keidar, and L.G. Zhang, “Cold Non-thermal Atmospheric Plasma: A Novel Metastatic Breast Cancer Therapy”
- C. O’Brien, M. Aliabouzar, W. Zhu, K. Sarkar, and L.G. Zhang, “The Untapped Effects of Tunable Low Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound on Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cell Functions”
- M. Wang, X. Cheng, B. Holmes, M. Keidar, and L.G. Zhang, “Enhanced Osteogenic Differentiation of Stem Cells in Novel Bioactive Cold Plasma Treated Nanostructured Bone Scaffolds”
Other News
The GW HOLISTiC program invites cybersecurity experts to apply for a fully funded scholarship doctoral program. The HOLISTiC program is a joint effort between the Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD) and SEAS. Students admitted to the HOLISTiC program will study in a cohort format in the GW Executive Leadership Doctoral Program (ELP) but will focus on cybersecurity issues. This program is funded by NSF and is open only to U.S. citizens. For more information, please email [email protected] .
The Institute for Biomedical Engineering is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the IBE Interdisciplinary Research Fund. This program awards up to $20,000 each for pilot projects leading to new extramural proposals. The winner may apply for a renewal of another $20,000 at the conclusion of this award. The deadline for response is 5:00 pm on Monday, October 7.
The Institute for Biomedical Engineering also announces the 2013-2014 Undergraduate Research Fellowship. This is an opportunity for undergraduates interested in conducting meaningful research in biomedical engineering and computing with a faculty mentor. The deadline to apply is Tuesday, October 15.
The Harvest Home, Team Capitol DC’s entry in the 2013 Solar Decathlon competition, was profiled in the October 3 article, “Sustainable HARVEST HOME Helps to Heal Body and Spirit of Wounded Warrior,” on the “green” building blog Jetsongreen.com. Prof. Tom Manuccia recently sent the photo above from the competition site in Irvine, CA.
Guest Vignette
The airline industry worldwide was responsible for emitting 650 million tons of CO2 in 2010, which represent 2% of anthropogenic carbon emissions. It has been predicted that aircraft emissions would increase more than three‐fold by 2050 if current practices are unchanged and despite numerous incremental efficiency improvements to aerodynamics, weight, and fuel efficiency. Also, because of the price volatility of conventional petroleum-based fuels, airlines find it difficult to predict fuel‐related operating expenses beyond a few months’ timeframe. Hence, the use of alternative "drop-in" fuels is currently seen as the best short- to medium term option to address both emissions constraints and price volatility. Biomass-to-liquids (BTL) fuels show particular promise, but fundamental to their commercial viability is feedstock availability on a global and sustainable scale. Also, this presents a complex system design problem to optimize the chain of production technologies for biomass, from gasification to liquefaction to industry-standard "drop-in" fuel.
Sylvain Motycka, a doctoral student working with Prof. Mike Duffey in EMSE, came to GW with an extensive technical background in the plasma gasification of biomass. For his dissertation, he modeled an industrial-scale plant to convert municipal solid waste (MSW) to jet fuel. The waste is first processed in a gasification system that enables its complete depolymerization, and the resulting atoms are recombined into a gas of synthesis, also known as syngas, primarily composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This syngas is subsequently converted into a Fischer‐Tropsch (FT) liquid, then into synthetic paraffinic kerosene and diesel. Finally, after optimizing the engineering parameters of the process steps for minimum-cost production, a financial life-cycle cost analysis was integrated with the system model. This research advances the modeling techniques necessary to analyze the feasibility of BTL fuels for commercial-scale production. (Provided courtesy of Prof. Michael Duffey of the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering)
SEAS Events
MAE Seminar: "Time Resolved Two Dimensional X-Ray Densitometry of Two Phase Flows"
Speaker: Professor Steven L. Ceccio, University of Michigan
Tuesday, October 8
11:00 am
736 Phillips Hall
ECE Colloquium: “Development of Terahertz Medical Imaging Technology”
Speaker: Dr. Warren Grundfest, UCLA School of Medicine
Tuesday, October 8
4:00 – 5:00 pm
640 Phillips Hall
MAE and the GW Institute for Nanotechnology: “Size-dependent Probabilistic Damage Micromechanics and Toughening Behavior of Particle/Fiber Reinforced Composites”
Speaker: Prof. J. Woody Ju, University of California, Los Angeles
Monday, October 14
1:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
GW Institute for Biomedical Engineering Seminar: "The Fluid Dynamics of Human Birth"
Speaker: Prof. Megan Leftwich (MAE)
Tuesday, October 15
1:00 - 2:00 pm
736 Phillips Hall
CS Seminar: “Machine Learning Approaches for Annotating Biological Data”
Speaker: Dr. Huzefa Rangwala, George Mason University
Wednesday, October 16
2:30 pm
736 Phillips Hall
MAE Seminar: “Peridynamic Theory: An Approach to Computational Mechanics without Spatial Derivatives”
Speaker: Paul N. Demmie, Sandia National Laboratories
Monday, October 21
11:00 am
204 Tompkins Hall
MAE Seminar: “Mechanical Forces Drive (and Regulate?) Organogenesis”
Speaker: Larry A. Taber, Washington University
Thursday, November 7
11:00 am
736 Phillips Hall
MAE Seminar: “Modeling Inelastic Behavior of Metals at Multiple Scales for Multiple Purposes”
Speaker, David L. McDowell, Georgia Institute of Technology
Monday, November 25
736 Phillips Hall
Entrepreneurship & Other Events
GWUpstart Workshop 1
Tuesday, October 8
3:00 – 4:30 pm
526 Marvin Center
Northern Virginia Technology Council: Creative Ways for Businesses to Establish their Cash Flow and Business Viability
Wednesday, October 9
4:30 – 7:30 pm
4238 Wilson Blvd, Suite 1132
Arlington, VA
10th International Conference on Intellectual Capital, Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning
The George Washington University
Thursday and Friday, October 24 and 25
Information provided courtesy of Prof. Michael Stankosky
Dissertation Defenses
Name of Student Defending: Emmanuel A. Donkor
Title of Dissertation: “Optimal Capital Structure and Financial Risk of Project Finance Investments”
Advisor: Prof. Michael Duffey (EMSE)
Tuesday, October 22
1:00 pm
1776 G Street, Conference Room 120