September 10-16, 2018

Newsletter

September 10, 2018

Dean's Message

Dean Riffat Headshot

Welcome to the fall 2018 semester and the start of a new academic year. On September 1, I began serving in my new role as interim dean of SEAS. I’m excited to serve SEAS in this role and look forward to working with all of you to continue building on the school’s successes.

 

Since I have not yet had the chance to meet some of you, I’d like to introduce myself briefly. I am a professor of civil engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and have been a member of the SEAS faculty since 1994. Before beginning my current position as interim dean, I served for six years as the associate dean for academic affairs of SEAS.

 

Through the hard work of many faculty and staff at SEAS, and the leadership of Dr. David Dolling over the previous 10 years, SEAS has established a very strong foundation that we can continue to build on. We’ll do that in many ways. One of the areas in which we are doing this right now is freshman enrollment. SEAS enrolled one of our largest entering classes this fall—and our highest ever percentage of women students. These are very promising indicators that SEAS is on the right path in offering an education and environment that students seek.

 

We have a number of initiatives and events to look forward to this semester, and I encourage you to read the SEAS newsletter throughout the semester to learn about them. We will be launching the SEAS Center for Women in Engineering, under the guidance of Dr. Shelly Heller. I invite you to attend the SEAS Women in Engineering Welcome event on September 19 to meet our new students.

 

I wish each of you a productive start to the academic year and look forward to a year of accomplishments.

 

Faculty News
Research:
Dr. Lorena Barba (MAE) has been awarded a $40,697 grant from Houston-based G2 Integrated Solutions, a consulting corporation focusing on safety management systems. The grant is for a project to develop advanced modeling of hydrocarbon spread on land, from spills caused by pipeline rupture.

 

Dr. Chung Hyuk Park (BME) recently received a $40,000 research award from KoreaTech titled “Multi-modal Interface for Interactive VR Technology.” Dr. Park and his group (ART-Med Lab) will utilize multi-modal and/or physiological sensors to effectively measure and analyze user's reactions and learned behaviors during VR-based training by using diverse machine learning techniques.

 

Correction: Last week’s newsletter announced the National Science Foundation grant for “PISCES 2023 - Partnership in Securing Cyberspace through Education and Service (Renewal)” on which Dr. Shelly Heller (CS) is the principal investigator. The newsletter incorrectly stated the grant’s funding amount. The correct total award amount is $4.8 million.

 

Publications:
Dr. Erica Gralla (EMSE) has published this paper with her former Masters student Madison Reinker: M. Reinker and E. Gralla. “A system dynamics model of the adoption of improved agricultural inputs in Uganda, with insights for systems approaches to development,” Systems 6(3), 31.

 

Dr. John Helveston (EMSE) and his co-authors have published the following paper: J. P. Helveston, Y. Wang, V. J. Karplus, and E. R.H. Fuchs. “Institutional complementarities: The origins of experimentation in China’s plug-in electric vehicle industry,” Research Policy, August 22, 2018. The study emphasizes the potential significance of firms experimenting across multiple levels of the interconnected electric vehicle technology platform in China and how China's institutions may be influencing that experimentation.

 

Dr. Zoe Szajnfarber (EMSE) recently published two journal papers with her former doctoral students and with colleagues at MIT: 1) S. Brainard and Z. Szajnfarber. “How government oversight adds time to contractor engineering work,” Systems Engineering; and 2) M. Dwyer, Z. Szajnfarber, B. Cameron, and E. Crawley. “A model for understanding and managing cost growth on joint programs,” Acta Astronautica.

 

Conferences & Presentations:
Dr. Erica Gralla (EMSE), in collaboration with Dr. Zoe Szajnfarber (EMSE), presented a paper at the ASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conference, held August 26-29 in Quebec City, Canada. The paper is: E. Gralla and Z. Szajnfarber. “Games and exercises for teaching and research: exploring how learning varies based on fidelity and participant experience,” Proceedings of the ASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conference, August 26-29, Quebec City, Canada. DETC2018-85827.

 

SEAS Event Re-cap

Students at the Women in STEM Breakfast

On September 6, the Office of Graduate Admissions & Student Services and the W. Scott Amey Career Services Center welcomed new and continuing graduate students at the 3rd Annual Women in STEM Breakfast. More than forty students enjoyed mingling with faculty, staff, and employers, who included representatives from Leidos, the U.S. Navy Nuclear Propulsion Officer Candidate Program, MITRE, and the CIA. Special thanks to all the faculty who attended the event to make it another great success!

 

Upcoming SEAS Events
Innovation Center Fall Social
Friday, September 14
4:00 pm
Tompkins Hall, M06
The Innovation Center is kicking off the school year with an informal Fall Social to welcome students from across campus. Please join us.

 

CEE Seminar: “Stress and Pore Pressure in Mudrocks Bounding Salt Systems”
Speaker: Dr. Maria Nikolinakou, University of Texas Austin
Monday, September 17
3:00 – 4:00 pm
SEH, B1220

 

Special SEAS Event: “Live from the International Space Station: Q&A with NASA Astronaut & SEAS Alumna Serena Auñón-Chancellor”
Tuesday, September 18
New time: Program begins at 11:45 am. Doors open at 11:00 am.
Jack Morton Auditorium (GW Media and Public Affairs Building)
Registration required
SEAS will host a 20-minute NASA downlink from the International Space Station, during which we get to pose questions of astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor (SEAS ’97). Immediately after the downlink, former NASA astronaut Charles Camarda (SEAS ‘80) will be present in the Jack Morton Auditorium for a discussion on the challenges of deep space exploration and a question-and-answer session. A reception will follow. This event is open to the entire GW community. Space in the auditorium is limited, so register early.

 

CEE Seminar: “The Promise of Smart Materials in Earthquake Resistant Design”
Speaker: Dr. Reginald DesRoches, Rice University
Friday, September 21
3:30 – 4:30 pm
SEH, B1220

 

CVP Speaker’s Series Event: “Navigating Your Career”
Tuesday, September 25
4:00 – 6:00 pm
SEH, B1270
Register (Register on Handshake)
SEAS Career Services has joined forces with CVP, a business and technology consulting company, to host this timely panel. Anirudh Kulkarni, the CEO and founder of CVP and a double alumnus of GW, will moderate the panel. Joining him will be four guests from different “walks of life” who will present diverse points of view and career insights. Come listen, learn, and ask questions. This event is open to all GW students.

 

CEE Seminar: “The Long and Winding Road: Predicting Molecular and Material Properties Through Computation”
Speaker: Dr. Giulia Galli, University of Chicago
Wednesday, September 26
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
SEH, 2000B

 

MAE Seminar: "Bubble Deformation and Breakup in Strong Turbulence”
Speaker: Dr. Rui Ni, The Johns Hopkins University
Thursday, September 27
2:00 - 3:00pm
SEH, B1220

 

MAE Seminar: “Laboratory-Scaled Experiments on Impulsively Loaded Structures in a Fluid Environment”
Speaker: Dr. Christine Gilbert, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Thursday, October 18
2:00 - 3:00pm
SEH, B1220

 

CEE Seminar: “Computational Nanoscience: Predicting the Shapes of Nanocrystals Grown in Solution”
Speaker: Dr. Kristen Fichthorn, Pennsylvania State University
Monday, October 22
2:30 – 3:30 pm
SEH, B1220

 

MAE Seminar: “Material Characterization of Nanostructured Ferretic Alloy through Atomistic Modeling”
Speaker: Dr. Huijuan (Jane) Zhao, Clemson University
Thursday, October 25
2:00 - 3:00pm
SEH, B1220

 

MAE Seminar: “Unified Mechanics Theory: F=m a ((1-ϕ(s ̇ ))”
Speaker: Dr. Cemal Basaran, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Thursday, November 1
2:00 - 3:00pm
SEH, B1220

 

External Events
GW Nanofabrication and Imaging Center Workshop: Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy Workshop
Monday, September 24 – Friday, September 28
9:00 am – 5:00 pm each day
SEH, Nanofabrication and Imaging Center
Register
The main theme of this workshop is correlating large-area images of the same sample created with both light and high-resolution electron microscopy. The workshop will be geared toward microscopists who are interested in learning new techniques for special projects or who are in the market for new instruments, particularly neuroscientists or anatomists who are interested in utilizing large area imaging in their research. Numerous vendors will demonstrate their instruments.

 

Entrepreneurship News & Events
Human Centered Design Workshop: Designing Innovative Solutions for Social Challenges
Wednesday, September 12
5:45 – 7:45 pm
GW Gelman Library, Room 219
Register
This experiential and interactive workshop exposes students to the tools, tactics, and frameworks used by innovators, entrepreneurs, and designers to empathize with populations they seek to serve, define problem sets, and come up with innovative solutions.

 

Immigration Legal Clinic for GW Student Entrepreneurs
Friday, September 14
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
GW Marvin Center, Room 307
Register
International students who wish to start a business here in the U.S. are welcome to join us for a lecture on all the processes to move your business forward. Students will also be able to schedule a one-on-one with a lawyer onsite during this event to discuss options catered to your situation.

 

Global Entrepreneurship and the US-China Cooperation
Monday, September 17
4:30 – 6:30 pm
Duques Hall, Room 652
Register
Join us for an exciting presentation and panel discussion with guests from the world-class business organization, Fosun Foundation. Fosun manages one of the largest global startup accelerator programs and competitions. Do you want to see how you can compete on an international stage and take your startup to the next level? Come to this talk!

 

PITCH-A-PALOOZA
Thursday, September 20
6:00 – 8:00 pm
SEH, B1220
Register
Do you have an idea, or a problem that needs solving? Follow your innovative itch to the GW PITCH-A-PALOOZA! Join us and your peers to hear and vote for your favorite ideas. Did we mention that we're giving out $100 gift cards to the top pitches? Did we also mention that we have pizza? There's that too.

 

Jumpstart 2-Day Bootcamp
Saturday, September 29, – Sunday, September 30
10:00 am – 5:00 pm (both days)
GW Gelman Library, Room 219
Register
Jumpstart your ideas and passions with this experiential and interactive two-day bootcamp that exposes you to the tools, tactics, and frameworks used by innovators and entrepreneurs to create new startups, businesses, and social enterprises.