vol. 08
L.C. SMITH COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
stem getting to the root of the problem
winter 2011
ON THE COVER STEM:
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics > Developing educational tools > Connecting global problems to student education > Engaging peer researchers and educators A look at how L.C. Smith professors are enhancing STEM education
syracuse
engineer Dean Laura J. Steinberg, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean for College Advancement Steve Savage
Design Pinckney Hugo Group
Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs Can Isik, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean for External Relations Executive Editor Ariel DuChene
Photography Steve Sartori Chuck Wainwright
Associate Dean for Research and Doctoral Programs Mark Glauser, Ph.D.
Assistant Editor Ellen Robb
Web Site www.lcs.syr.edu
Associate Dean for Student Affairs Andria Costello Staniec, Ph.D.
Contributors Jennifer Cheng Erica Murphy
Kathleen Haley Pamela Woodford
Contact engineer@syr.edu
www.lcs.syr.edu
from thE dean WE AS ENGINEERS KNOW THAT THERE ARE VERY FEW INDUSTRIES THAT CAN EXIST OR THRIVE WITHOUT THE SUPPORT AND INSIGHT OF AN ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE. LOOKING AT SOME OF THE BIGGEST NEWS STORIES OF 2010—THE INTRODUCTION OF THE iPAD, HAITIAN EARTHQUAKE, BP OIL SPILL, NEW AIRPORT SCANNERS, AND WIKILEAKS—WE CAN ALL IMAGINE WHERE AN ENGINEER’S EXPERTISE WAS INTEGRAL TO THE MITIGATION OF RISK OR THE SUCCESS OF A VENTURE. THE HARD TRUTH, HOWEVER, IS THAT WHILE THE NEED FOR QUALIFIED AND INNOVATIVE ENGINEERS CONTINUES, THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS PURSUING DEGREES IN THE FIELDS OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATH (STEM) IS FACING DECLINE.
Advances in engineering are not achieved in a vacuum. At the L.C. Smith College we recognize that we have an obligation to reach beyond the walls of Link Hall and engage in the global STEM conversation. You will see this theme woven throughout the articles of this issue of Engineer. Our faculty, staff and students are actively pursuing opportunities to build strategies, tools, and collaborations to promote the STEM fields. Their commitment to
creating change not only helps address the engineering needs of today—it paves the way for meeting the needs of the future. The L.C. Smith College remains focused on being a leader in cultivating engineering talent. Our steadfast commitment to providing the finest engineering education, pursuing scientific research endeavors, and developing technological innovation is unwavering.
Our unique combination of an internal focus on engineering excellence and an external focus on promoting the STEM fields locally and globally is what we call, ENGINEERING IN ACTION.
1 Laura J. Steinberg Dean
5 20
12 4 iaqvec 2010 LCS Hosts International
Conference
8
alumni event highlights
9
prestigious
5
syracuse
Official Dedication Ceremony
biomaterials institute
6
seeding stem
Labs Take Cyber-hacking from Theory into Practice
in cybersecurity
9
epa fellowship
Kristin Waller ’11 Studies Impact of Acid Rain Regulations
12 balancing
the equation
Examining the Gender Gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)
17 su advance grant
Syracuse University Receives $3.4 Million NSF Grant
18 l.c. smith college
awards round-up
19 new faculty welcomed
contents 43
24 34 stem curriculum course
24
30 pride
Gets to the Root of the Problem
digitally
for ghana
A Course to Inspire Bioengineering Innovation
Mary Spio ’98
An Interactive Program Helping Students Succeed
39 advancement column 40 donor report 42 alumni notes 43 in memoria
37 leaving a legacy for lcs
28 solving statics
Celebrating 15 Years of LCS Student Support Programs
34 delivering
26 health care
anniversary
Richard Chapin Lee ’70
46 melvin a. eggers award
47 spotlight
Navrongo
Tamale
Kumasi
26
Assin Fosu
Brad Strait
Accra
Jerry Heller
l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
L.C. Smith college hosts
INTERNATIONAL AIR QUALITY CONFERENCE More than 270 attendees from 26 countries traveled to Syracuse in August for the seventh conference on Indoor Air Quality, Ventilation, and Energy Conservation in Buildings (IAQVEC). Building on the success of Healthy Buildings 2009, the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS) hosted the event, with co-hosts the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, and the National Research Council of Canada. A premier international conference series attracting the world’s best researchers, IAQVEC is held once every three years. It was previously held in Montreal, Canada (1992, 1995); Lyon, France (1998); Changsha, China (2001); Toronto, Canada (2004); and Sendai, Japan (2007). “This was the first time the international conference was held in the United States, so for L.C. Smith College to be selected as host is a testament to our research activities and the very high quality of the school,” says Jensen Zhang, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, director of the Building and Energy and Environmental Systems Laboratory, and chairman of IAQVEC 2010. “We are very proud of the positive response we received and the innovative ideas shared by the keynotes at the conference.”
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Conference delegates—including researchers, industry professionals, and policy makers—discussed the integration of green technologies in built environment design practices and how to model and build a more sustainable world. With the 2010 theme of “Innovation and Integration,” the conference covered a wide range of key research areas while simultaneously providing a forum for presentations of original research work and findings, demonstration and displays of innovative technologies, and discussions of future challenges and opportunities. Eight keynote lectures were delivered by prominent scientists, researchers, and architects from Asia, Europe, and North America. Among the notable speakers was American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) President Lynn G. Bellenger, a partner with Pathfinder Engineers and Architects in Rochester, New York. Bellenger, the first female president of ASHRAE, spoke about
“Modeling a Sustainable World,” noting the powerful modeling tools that enable refining the vision of a building: its appearance, systems, operation, and performance. Josh Uhl of Toshiko Mori Architect followed Bellenger and gave a lecture about “Balance and Challenges of Integrated Practice.” Toshiko Mori Architect was the design architect for the Syracuse Center of Excellence headquarters building in downtown Syracuse.
“This was the first time the international conference was held in the United States, so for L.C. Smith College to be selected as host is a testament to our research activities and the very high quality of the school.” jensen zhang
IAQVEC 2010 enabled LCS to highlight some of the research being conducted both on the University campus and within the City of Syracuse. Attendees were invited to participate in technical tours of the Syracuse Center of Excellence headquarters, the Building Energy and Environmental System Laboratory at LCS, Syracuse University’s Green Data Center, and the Building Envelope Systems Test Laboratory on SU’s South Campus. The program also featured more than 150 oral and poster presentations, and, for the first time in the conference’s history, included a post-conference workshop. In the workshop, delegates were divided into three groups to discuss one of three topics—prevention and remediation of indoor pollution due to mold distributed personalized environmental control systems and the potential of indoor air cleaning technologies for improving IAQ and energy efficiency. After discussions, delegates developed conclusions and set goals for what they want resolved by the next conference, IAQVEC 2013.
www.lcs.syr.edu
Syracuse Biomaterials Institute Collaboration in Health Care-Related Materials Research
“Our new, renovated space is spectacular and was much needed,” says Patrick T. Mather, director of SBI and Milton and Ann Stevenson Professor of biomedical and chemical Engineering. “We’ve now brought together several different research labs that were formerly scattered throughout Link Hall. The new setup is geared toward greater coordination, efficiency, collaboration, and improved education of students.” Faculty and students from SUNY Upstate Medical University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry also will use the facility for research into new technologies that could help patients in the future.
“The Syracuse Biomaterials Institute embodies the crossdisciplinary and cross-sector connections that define research, innovation, and education in the life sciences today,” says Syracuse University Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor. Cantor attended the dedication, along with Eric Spina, vice chancellor and provost; Laura J. Steinberg, dean of the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS); and George M. Langford, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Bowne Hall originally was built for just one department— chemistry—but our renovation of it for SBI not only makes it perfectly suited to the task of fostering collaboration but also makes it an emblem of the evolution of discovery in science, engineering, and medicine,” Cantor says. At the SBI, students, staff, and faculty focus their attention on a wide spectrum of material-related health care challenges, ranging from cell-material interactions and infection control to implanted medical device performance. Research is conducted on both natural and man-made materials designed to treat, enhance, or replace human body organs and tissues that have failed due to disease or injury.
“The investment in the SBI exemplifies how Syracuse University, LCS, and the College of Arts and Sciences are fostering interdisciplinary collaboration on campus,” says Steinberg. “This new facility will enhance the academic and research experience for both our students and our faculty, and will position us as a leader in biomaterials research.” The new space was renovated using sustainable techniques and materials, and energy-efficient upgrades were made to improve heating and cooling and reduce the building’s carbon footprint. SU will seek green building recognition for the project by applying for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. These modern architectural techniques exist alongside the building’s unique architectural details and character—Bowne Hall’s high ceilings with exposed decorative steel trusses and its original windows were preserved.
lcs news
Created as a catalyst for biomedical and engineering collaboration, the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute (SBI) officially dedicated its new building space in December. The transformed space in Bowne Hall, which opened in October, is a state-of-theart research facility that creates a central location for faculty and research from engineering, chemistry, and biology.
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seeding stem
l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
in cybersecurity
If you think back to your childhood when you learned to ride a bike, you will remember a parent or a friend showing you a bicycle, telling you the steps of riding a bike and then letting you get on the bike while they guided you along. Now think about how much harder it would have been to hear about the theory behind riding a bike and then just being given a bike to ride.
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This is the challenge facing many students studying cybersecurity. “Although a number of labs have been designed for security education, they only cover a small portion of the fundamental security principles,” says Kevin Du, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS). Du recognized this gap in the learning process back in 2002. Since then he has been working to develop labs that provide the critical hands-on experience that students need to be successful in the area of cybersecurity. “When I was a student, I learned a lot of computer security theory,” says Du. “So mentally I knew how a computer attack or a defense works, but it’s really different when you actually attempt to put theory into practice.”
In 2007, Du was awarded a Phase 2 grant of $451,682 from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science (TUES) division to expand the number of cybersecurity labs available for students. The project of developing hands-on labs was called Developing Instructional Laboratories for Computer SEcurity EDucation (SEED). The approach of building lab modules was influenced by traditional courses, such as operating systems (OS), compilers, and networking. In OS courses, a widely adopted successful practice is using an instructional OS (e.g., Minix, Nachos, and XINU) as a framework and asking students to write significant portions of each major piece of a modern OS. Inspired by the success of the instructional OS strategy, Du adapted this methodology to computer security coursework. An instructional operating system (Minix) and a production operating system (Linux) are used as the basis, and labs are developed on these operating systems.
www.lcs.syr.edu
THE GOAL OF THE LABS IS TO HELP STUDENTS FOCUS ON: > Grasping security principles, concepts, and technologies > Applying security principles to design and implement security mechanisms > Analyzing and testing systems for security properties > Applying security principles to solve real-world problems
Since 2002, Du has developed 30 labs focusing on different areas of cybersecurity and has implemented them in his engineering courses. Students use these labs to test out cybersecurity theories and learn to act as hackers to uncover ways to build defenses against attacks.
Du’s SEED project fits into track two, which is co-led by the Department of Education and Department of Science and Technology Policy and focuses on formal cybersecurity education. “I am in the process of organizing a task force with several national leaders in cybersecurity education,” Du says. “One of the goals of this task force is to disseminate the labs nationally. This dissemination objective is not limited just to the SEED labs but also includes labs created by other institutions.” Given that cyberspace touches practically everything and everyone these days, there is a benefit in providing educational tools for both technical and non-technical professionals and students. Therefore, the other goal for this project is to create an open-source community to jointly develop cybersecurity
“I firmly believe in a famous quote from an ancient Chinese philosopher and educator, Confucius. He said, ‘I hear and I
forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.’”
While Du foresaw how an experiential learning environment would benefit LCS students, he didn’t necessarily foresee the degree of demand for these lab programs worldwide. Du has presented his work at conferences, and the feedback has been resoundingly positive. Currently, there are 20 other institutions using his labs and 30 more have requested instructional materials. The requests came from institutions around the world, including Belgium, China, India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. Due to the great impact of the SEED labs, Du was invited to participate in the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) organizational meeting. A nationwide initiative, NICE seeks to establish an operational, sustainable, and continually improving cybersecurity education program for the nation, with sound cyber practices that will enhance the nation’s security. The NICE initiative is represented by four tracks ranging from building cybersecurity awareness to recruitment to providing training.
education labs, case studies, and education materials, which can be used not only by computer science courses, but also by courses in other fields, such as business, public policy, and health care. “I firmly believe in a famous quote from an ancient Chinese philosopher and educator, Confucius. He said, ‘I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand,’” Du says. “This quote has been the inspiration of my own teaching and the SEED labs. I hope the SEED labs will provide materials for others to enhance their cybersecurity education.” In September, Du’s work was highlighted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in an article written by NSF highlighting work being done on the TUES grants.
For more information, visit www.cis.syr.edu/~wedu/seed.
lcs news
kevin du
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
alumni event
highlights dean’s breakfast, annual lcsaa golf tournament, and homecoming 2010
In what has become a LCS tradition, alumni like David Edelstein ’78 stood and shared their major and graduation year at the Orange Central Dean’s Breakfast.
alumni
L.C. Smith Alumni Association members cooked waffles for more than 100 studious L.C. Smith engineering students during finals week in December.
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At the annual Orange Central Dean’s Breakfast, the L.C. Smith Alumni Association presented a check for $48,368 to the college representing the amount raised by the LCSAA through their annual fund letter.
The 5th annual Whitey Hotze Golf Classic raised more than $5,800 for the L.C. Smith College Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship Fund.
www.lcs.syr.edu
Leads to Study of
acid rain by jennifer cheng
In the summer of 2009, then junior, Kristin Waller, an environmental engineering student, was selected for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) fellowship.
student
Prestigious Fellowship
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
This prestigious two-year fellowship includes a 12-weeklong summer internship and was awarded to only 26 undergraduates in the nation in 2009. Recipients receive a yearly $10,000 scholarship toward their college tuition, funding for summer living expenses, a monthly stipend, and are required to attend two relevant conferences, one for each year of the fellowship. For her fellowship, Waller conducted research in the EPA’s Clean Air Markets Division in Washington, D.C. “I want to help protect the environment, and I could think of no better place to go,” she explains. It was Waller’s advisor—University Professor Charles Driscoll of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering—who suggested she work for the Clean Air Markets Division, a group with which Driscoll has worked. Waller interviewed at the division’s office, and upon being accepted was assigned to the assessment and communications branch. Driscoll, whose research focuses on the response of ecosystems to disturbances, gave Waller the opportunity to begin her fellowship project with him in the spring semester before starting her internship at the Clean Air Markets Division. Driscoll says he was very impressed by her work ethic. “I gave her tasks that I thought would take a month of her time; she had them done within a week,” he says. “That’s the type of person she is. She’s a self-starter.” Driscoll’s assessment of Waller was shared by the staff of the Clean Air Markets Division. They told Driscoll they were impressed by Waller’s contribution to the office.
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Waller was tasked with assessing data from a long-term monitoring project set up by the EPA. The Temporally Integrated Monitoring of Ecosystems (TIME) project was developed in 1990 to assess regional changes in surface water chemistry in the acid-sensitive regions of the United States. Specifically, Waller used TIME data from 42 Adirondack lakes to evaluate whether the Adirondack surface waters were recovering from acidification. In addition to evaluating the condition of the lakes, she also assessed the factors driving recovery. While the EPA has previously reported significant decreases in emissions as a result of the 1990 CAAA, Waller’s research analyzed whether changes in emissions really resulted in lake recovery. Her project indicated that there were significant decreases in lake concentrations of strong acid anions (like sulfate), which suggested that these reductions in emissions were indeed helping the ecosystems of the Adirondacks to recover. “I learned so much about air quality, water quality, and interactions between acids and bases, and I learned how to perform research and statistical analysis,” Waller says. “I learned how to find significance within annual trends and how to use ArcGIS, a geographical information system that creates maps, to evaluate trends by location.” Waller says she also found it interesting and useful to bring what she learned from her fellowship back to the classroom. In her air pollution engineering class this semester, they covered the Clean Air Act Amendments. Every GRO Fellow is required to attend two technical meetings, and with the help of Driscoll, Waller did not just attend, but turned her research into a presentation for the National Atmosphere Deposition Program (NADP) Fall 2010 Technical Meeting in Tahoe, California.
Waller continued her research while at the Clean Air Markets Division. Her project, titled “Acidification over TIME: The long-term response of lakes in the Adirondack region of New York to decreases in acidic deposition,” looks at the acid base status of Adirondack lakes to determine the impact of government “I WANT TO HELP PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT, regulations to cap sulfur dioxide emissions AND I COULD THINK OF NO BETTER PLACE from coal power plants. In 1990, Congress and the EPA developed Title IV under the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) with the intent of reducing levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. It was hypothesized that reducing these emissions would result in decreased levels of acidic deposition, which would allow sensitive ecosystems like the Adirondacks to recover from acidification.
TO GO.”
Waller was nervous at first because she was the only undergraduate at the conference. But once she started presenting, she felt a surge of confidence, having lived and breathed the research for many weeks.
www.lcs.syr.edu
Driscoll, who was at the conference along with staff from the Clean Air Markets Division, describes her presentation as “electric,” and he commends her for engaging the audience. “I had a lot of late nights working on this, but in the end it was worth it for me,” recalls Waller. “I very much enjoyed being able to say that the EPA’s regulations have created improvements. That made me happy.” In her fellowship application Waller recounted how she discovered her passion for environmental engineering. “When I was little, I thought I wanted to be an architect, because I liked math and loved art,” she says. “I figured that my two greatest passions fused together would be architecture, and wouldn’t that be the greatest thing?”
“I very much enjoyed being able to say that the EPA’s regulations have created improvements.“ kristin waller
LCS JUNIOR SELECTED FOR PRESTIGIOUS EPA FELLOWSHIP Janique Cheesman, a junior environmental engineering major, has recently received her acceptance letter for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) fellowship. Confirmed to start this summer, she is most interested in sustainability and selected
“Kristin is a very adept scholar and researcher and very active in professional service,” says Driscoll, who notes that she started the Syracuse University chapter of Engineers Without Borders. After a fruitful experience at the EPA and the NADP conference, Waller has decided to leverage her communications and research skills and has accepted a position at O’Brien and Gere in downtown Syracuse. She will intern with them through her spring semester and will join them as a staff engineer working on various environmental engineering projects primarily focused on water, wastewater treatment, and distribution.
working in the Colorado division of the EPA as her first choice. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Cheesman is excited to visit a part of the United States with which she is not familiar. She thinks her research experience with Professor Charles Driscoll on mercury levels in the Ontario basin helped distinguish her in the application process. In the application, she had to explain how she could use her experience to benefit minorities. She discussed that, as a non-American, black female, she can set an example for minorities in engineering that they can achieve anything if they demonstrate passion. She also cited her involvement with the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minorities Participation Program, which helps minority college students underrepresented in their majors. Cheesman is looking forward to starting the fellowship in June. “I’m hoping to network a little bit at conferences. Hopefully I get to present my research so I can build upon my oral presentation skills,” she says. Driscoll, who is her advisor, knows her well because of the work she has completed in his lab. “Janique is a great speaker, and she’s very outgoing,” says Driscoll.
student
Then Waller read The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, a marine biologist and nature writer who is credited with advancing the American and global environmental movement. The book, published in 1962, describes the effects of DDT on wildlife, and how human technologies have affected the environment. “After reading Silent Spring I realized there are already too many buildings in the world, and too many strains on an overburdened environment,” she says. “While the artist in me wanted to create, there was also a nurturing side of me that didn’t want to hurt the environment while doing so.” She realized there were many ways she could combine her interests in math, science, and art to help create a sustainable world rather than just designing newer and bigger buildings.
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
bala 12
www.lcs.syr.edu
ncing the equation United by a passion for discovery, researchers gathered for an international symposium to discuss both the challenges and benefits of achieving a diverse community of scholars around the world in the STEM fields. by kathleen haley
feature
EXAMINING THE GENDER GAP IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATH (STEM)
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
“we
winter 2011
hope this initiative will extend to a model of
A lack of diversity—most conspicuously the continuing lack of women faculty in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields—can hinder problem-solving, says Patricia Rankin, a physicist and interim associate vice chancellor for research at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
“I don’t see increasing the number of women in science and engineering as being desirable just from the point of view of social justice; I see it as a being a necessity,” Rankin says. “Look at the business case of diversity. The more diverse a team is, the more approaches you have to problems, and the more chances you have of solving problems.” Rankin presented her research on creating a diverse workforce at the Syracuse University Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) international symposium—“Networking Across the Globe”—held Oct. 7 to 9 at SU. She was one of many who discussed the issues surrounding the lack of women in STEM fields and policies and initiatives that may help to narrow the gap between male and female STEM professionals. The event drew faculty from Asia, Europe, and North America. Members of SU’s WiSE program, which began 13 years ago 14 to support women faculty and students in the STEM fields at SU, organized the event to initiate a global conversation on best practices and policies to foster women’s leadership in science and engineering within the academy, and discuss the transformative power that these changes promote. Support for the symposium came from Chancellor Nancy Cantor, who provides funds for the WiSE Program at Syracuse University. “This is a unique opportunity to do a comparative analysis of practices and initiatives conducive to a more diverse makeup of faculty in science, engineering, and technology,” says SU physics professor Marina Artuso, one of the symposium organizers. “We hope this initiative will extend to a model of networking around the globe.”
With any move to create organizational change, funding is not only needed for programs but also for research on whether programs are effective, Rankin says. Action should be taken at multiple levels in an organization, and the key influencers who can affect change need to be identified. “It is not the responsibility of women to make the field more accessible to other women, even if it’s a responsibility many of us have taken on,” she said.
UNITED STATES
One of the event’s organizers, Shobha Bhatia, a Meredith Professor and civil engineering professor in L.C. Smith College, presented information on national initiatives to increase the number of women in STEM fields. The National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award, which began in 2001, offers funding to institutions that create innovative, systemic programs that would Shobha Bhatia, professor of civil engineering at increase the participation Syracuse University and advancement of women. At the University of Washington, an NSF ADVANCE award was used to create the Center for Institutional Change (CIC), which focuses on programs that precipitate cultural change. Bhatia noted that the CIC implemented leadership development, mentor support, and an examination of policies. The number of tenured or tenure-track women faculty jumped 28 percent between 2001 and 2006.
www.lcs.syr.edu
networking around the globe.” marina artuso
Mark Sher, a physics professor at the College of William and Mary, discussed research he and a colleague conducted in the 1990s on dual-career couples in the science fields. They found that scientists who were of a dual-career couple were less likely to be considered for positions. Researchers suggested such ideas as shared/split positions and spousal hiring programs, and within the last few years, universities have become more proactive and flexible in creating positions for spouses, Sher says.
Looking at regional statistics in Europe, Western European countries, such as the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany, which have higher gross domestic products than Eastern European countries, have noticeably fewer women in research than such countries as Bulgaria and Russia, Rankin says. Those Western European countries also are generally more progressive in terms of having better policies in support of women, including parental leave policies. “You won’t necessarily see those programs as leading to more women in science and engineering programs,” Rankin notes.
Canada has national initiatives to support women in science. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada has five regional chairs for Women in Science and Engineering. “Each chair is able to set up a program that they define to address underrepresentation of women in science and engineering as appropriate to their region,” says Valerie Davidson, a regional chair and an engineering professor at the University of Guelph. Keeping track of the STEM disciplines in Canada, the Equity Indicators Project accumulates data on representation, recruitment, and career progress. Women still fall well behind men in terms of faculty appointments. “In the biological sciences in particular, women are not coming into faculty positions at the level that they are represented in the pool of graduates,” Davidson says. “We’re still just under 20 percent at full professor level. This is why I get so passionate about that being an issue. You are seeing a large number in untenured ranks.”
“Each chair is able to set up a
program that they define to
address underrepresentation of women in science and engineering as valerie davidson
She theorizes that the movement of women into a science field might actually diminish the status of the field in that country. “In some countries where you see a high percentage of women in the field, science in general is not well regarded in those countries.” To help European universities implement best practices for advancing women in science and technology, the European Commission financed Practicing Gender Equality in Science (PRAGES) to evaluate initiatives in Europe, the United States, Australia, and Canada. The project resulted in a “good practices” database of effective programs and guidelines on how to implement structural change. Three overall strategies emerged as part of the guidelines: creating a friendly environment for women, such as work-life balance; changing the dominant understanding and practice of science as masculine; and promoting women in leadership positions, explains Giovanna Declich, executive director of the Italian Assembly of Women for Development and the Struggle against Social Exclusion (ASDO) and a member of the ASDO team for the PRAGES project.
feature
CANADA
appropriate to their region.”
EUROPE
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
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JAPAN
Japan is working to take action as a result of surveys undertaken by the Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men and Women in Science and Engineering (EPMEWSE). “Japan continues to rank close to the bottom in number of female researchers, far below European countries and the United States,” says Kimiko Fukuda, a biology professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University. The surveys found that the gender gap in positions had much to do with maternity and childcare and the time that women have to spend at home. EPMEWSE recommended that the government establish model programs to support female researchers, increase childcare options, set up policies for gender equality, and encourage girls in high school to choose science and technology classes. Through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), the government established grants to address these areas, and 45 universities took advantage to improve the work environment for women.
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With funding support from MEXT, Hokkaido University established a plan to have 20 percent of its teaching and research positions filled by women by 2020. The university implemented financial incentives for departments to hire women and has incorporated support systems, such as temporary support staff for female researchers on maternity leave and emergency nursing service for children of researchers, explains Sanae Iguchi-Ariga, vice-executive of the Support Office for Female Researchers at Hokkaido University and a professor in the Graduate School of Agriculture.
Valerie Davidson, professor of engineering at University of Guelph
Kathleen King, professor of chemistry at Syracuse University
MEXICO
María Trigueros, a professor in the mathematics department at Instituto Technológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City, reported on the National University of Mexico’s programs to increase the number of women in STEM fields, including funding for women’s research projects and rewards for women researchers who have made important contributions. Recognizing that they are a developing nation, Mexico is looking at starting with increasing the number of role models and mentors for women interested in science to foster a support system within the STEM fields.
Dr. Kimiko Fukuda, associate professor of biology at Tokyo Metropolitan University
www.lcs.syr.edu
su advance grant
syracuse university receives $3.4 million nsf grant
The grant will help establish SU’s multidisciplinary project, “The Inclusive Connective Corridor: Social Networks and the ADVANCEment of Women STEM Faculty,” which is an effort to recruit more women to the next generation of faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project aims to reinforce SU’s commitment to achieving a campus culture and composition reflective of society by enabling it to develop systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic STEM careers. Since 2001 NSF has awarded a total of 50 ADVANCE grants to universities throughout the United States. Through diversifying the science and engineering workforce, the foundation’s ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program hopes to increase the nation’s global competitiveness. “The recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in STEM fields are critical priorities not only for higher education but also for the nation as a whole,” says SU Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor, principal investigator for the project. “Changing the overwhelming underrepresentation of women across these areas will take deep and broad collaboration, so we have assembled an esteemed and experienced team of faculty leaders from across the sciences, engineering, the iSchool, and the Whitman School to lead the charge in forging the expansive intellectual and social networks it will take to turn the tide.” The core team leading the research and implementation of project initiatives includes Shobha Bhatia of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the L.C. Smith College; Karin Ruhlandt-Senge of the Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences; Jeffrey Stanton of the School of Information Studies; and Pamela Brandes of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.
The multidisciplinary project is composed of four initiatives: providing professional development and opportunities for partnership with industry; recruiting for women of color and women with disabilities; supporting leadership development inclusive of all faculty members; and networking that links women faculty to each other and to potential mentors and other campus resources. During the project and its initiatives, the research team also will examine training search committees and determine additional ways to improve recruiting of women of underrepresented populations and women with disabilities. One example initiative that will start in the second year is a Chancellor Visiting Assistant Professorship, which will be awarded to a promising woman candidate in STEM for one year to help launch her academic career. The position will be jointly funded by the Chancellor’s Office and the hiring department and would include substantive support, mentoring, and coaching. The study will examine challenges unique to women faculty members; explore factors that contribute, or present obstacles, to faculty success; examine key drivers of professional success; and identify best practices for developing inclusive environments.
“The recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in STEM fields are critical priorities not only for higher education but also for the nation as a whole.” nancy cantor
Extensive evaluation of the project will help to determine effective strategies and policies for individual faculty members and the institution. At the conclusion of their five-year research program, those leading the project hope to unveil scientific findings and solutions that will help facilitate sustained changes at Syracuse University and other institutions of higher education.
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Syracuse University was one of seven universities to receive a five-year, $3.4 million grant in 2010 from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) ADVANCE program.
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
L.C. SMITH COLLEGE AWARDS
Ren Named Technology Educator of the Year by TACNY
winter 2011
ROUND-UP
Dacheng Ren, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has been named the 2010 College Technology Educator of the Year by the Technology Alliance of Central New York (TACNY). The College Technology Educator of the Year award is for outstanding contributions in technology education at the college level. Ren’s research, which focuses on biofilm engineering with both medical and environmental applications, has been reported in both local and national media, and he has received numerous citations in scientific journals. “Professor Ren has an exemplary record as an educator, a researcher, and citizen of Central New York,” says Dean Laura J. Steinberg. Ren is enthusiastic about K-12 outreach to students in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, and he is committed to improving education at Syracuse University and in the local community, especially for underrepresented groups, considering this a vital part of his career. “Professor Ren has also established successful collaborations with local companies to develop new technologies, involved industrial specialists in college education, and promoted career development and mentoring for industrial employees,” says Radhakrishna Sureshkumar, chair of the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science’s Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering. “It is a great honor for me to continue and improve the work that I enjoy doing every day. Making my research and teaching connected to society is crucial,” Ren says. “I have been fortunate to work with excellent colleagues and students who have inspired me so much.”
Messac Receives 2010 Multidisciplinary Design Optimization National Award
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Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Achille Messac has been awarded the 2010 Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) National Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), which is the highest technical award in his field. “This award is richly deserved by Professor Messac,” says Dean Laura J. Steinberg. “His pioneering work in advanced design technologies has provided powerful optimization tools for industry, and has application in fields as diverse as wind farm design and aerospace technologies.” Messac received the award for his research in MDO including control structure integrated design and physical programming, and for outstanding and visionary leadership in the aerospace community. He pioneered the development of advanced design technologies, including Physical Programming, a methodology that brings optimization easy reach of industry engineers. The current thrust of his research application revolves around energy systems design and optimization, including wind and solar energy harvesting.
L.C. Smith College Recognized as Cybersecurity Leader by DiversityGPS
DiversityGPS.com has recognized the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science for having one of the premier cybersecurity programs in the United States. The college will be among a select number of colleges and universities featured in the Homeland Security edition of US Black Engineer & IT magazine in winter 2010, commending the training available to students embarking on careers in cybersecurity. “I feel that it is important to acknowledge the vital role that educational institutions play in the rapidly expanding field of cybersecurity,” says Tyrone Taborn, chairman and CEO of DiversityGPS.com and publisher of U.S. Black Engineer & IT, Hispanic Engineer & IT, and Women of Color. “Our nation needs more outstanding programs that develop talent in the fields of computer science and research.” “The excellence of our cybersecurity education program is a result of the dedication of internationally renowned faculty members, such as professors Shiu-Kai Chin, Stephen Chapin, Wenliang Du, and Heng Yin,” says Chilukuri Mohan, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. DiversityGPS.com honored L.C. Smith College as part of “Minorities in National Security and Cyber Security Awareness Week” in December. The awareness week serves to recognize innovative leaders in cybersecurity and defense, who serve as role models to the minority cybersecurity workforce of tomorrow.
Davidson Receives Stinchcomb Award for Work in Composite Materials Syracuse University’s Barry Davidson, a Meredith Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has been awarded the Wayne W. Stinchcomb Award, one of the highest awards given in the field of composite materials. The award was presented by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International at the 25th Annual American Society for Composites Technical Conference. Davidson was selected for his research contributions, his commitment to colleagues and students, and his work with both national and international industry partners. “I am impressed by Professor Davidson’s diligence as well as his mentorship that is visible in the way he takes care of his students,” says Ronald Krueger, senior research engineer at the National Institute of Aerospace, whose collaboration with Davidson has led to three journal publications. Davidson’s primary research interests are in the fields of composite materials, fracture mechanics, collaborative design, and design education. His research work has been supported by NASA, the FAA, the Empire State Development Corporation, the AT&T Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Army Intelligence Center, the National Institutes of Health, United Technologies Corporation, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
www.lcs.syr.edu
DuChene Looks Forward to Growing the LCS Brand
Ariel DuChene has been appointed assistant dean for external relations for the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS). Looking forward to her new opportunity, DuChene will employ her marketing background, communications skills, and project management experience to manage strategic marketing, communications, and alumni relations for the college. “Before joining LCS, I was a marketing manager for new product innovation at Birds Eye Foods,” says DuChene. “Marketing is a true passion of mine. I love to learn about something— whether it is a business idea, a company, or a college—uncover its existing brand equity and build brand strategies to foster future success. To me, LCS is a vibrant and growing brand.”
DuChene recalls that the enthusiasm and optimism surrounding the bright future of the college shined through in her interviews. “There was a
resounding sense of pride in the caliber of the faculty, the facilities, and the successes of the students and alumni,” she says. This enthusiasm attracted DuChene to academia and specifically to LCS. “It’s always struck me that when you step onto a college campus it feels full of energy and enthusiasm. I love meeting with faculty and learning about their research, attending guest lectures by industry professionals or academics, and building networks through partnerships with companies and alumni.” DuChene acknowledges that the ways people receive news are constantly evolving and that her role—and opportunity— will be to develop the right messaging for the right medium at the right time in order to share the news of the college successfully. “I love the challenge of seeking out all those different possibilities,” she adds. “To each of our numerous audiences, LCS means something different and holds different possibilities,” DuChene continues. “I am enjoying the process of learning about all of the college’s assets, and I have begun to build strategies to communicate about the college’s depth and breadth of people, research, programs, and laboratories, as well as position it as a leader in research and education.” A New York native, DuChene earned an undergraduate degree in applied economics and management from Cornell University, with a concentration in marketing. She also received an M.B.A. degree from the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester.
> SHAPE MEMORY POLYMERS WITH PROFESSOR PAT MATHER TO BOSTON > EVERGLADES RESEARCH WITH UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR CHARLEY DRISCOLL TO FORT LAUDERDALE
faculty
WE BROUGHT...
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
MESSAC NAMED DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR
AND CHAIR OF
mechanical
and aEROSPACE
ENGINEERING Achille Messac, Ph.D., has joined the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS), ready to help take the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering to the next level—much like the complex engineering systems he has spent his career optimizing. “Coming to SU presents an exciting opportunity for me to have a tangible impact on a growing department that is on the move and that has tremendous potential,” says Messac of his appointment, which he began in July. Messac becomes the second active distinguished professor in LCS, a rank that indicates he has attained the highest level of achievement in his area of expertise.
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“We are thrilled to honor Professor Messac with this distinction and opportunity,” says LCS Dean Laura J. Steinberg. “This level of achievement validates the tremendous dedication and value that Messac delivers each day, and we are proud of the preeminent insight and leadership that he will share with the LCS community.” Messac is most widely known for his pioneering work in Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO), for which he was recently named the winner of the prestigious MDO Award, conferred every two to four years to one person internationally by the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics (AIAA). Nominated by his former doctoral student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Professor Christopher Mattson, who is active in the field nationally, Messac was also sponsored for the accolade by five former recipients. The MDO Award was conferred to Messac for his revolutionary research in control structure, integrated design, and physical programming. According to the AIAA, the MDO award is the highest technical award one can earn in Messac’s field of engineering, and the accolade underscores his visionary leadership in the aerospace community. “The award was presented at a plenary luncheon ceremony of two conferences, the 13th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis Optimization Conference and the 10th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference in Fort Worth, Texas,” explains Messac. “I was pleased to receive the award as a Syracuse University and L.C. Smith College professor.” Messac’s research currently focuses on energy systems design and optimization, including wind and solar energy harvesting. “I find deep satisfaction in taking an engineering system and making it perform better,” he says. “The beauty of it all is that this technology can be applied to such diverse things as airplanes, spacecraft, satellites, cars, buildings, wind farms, and everything in between.”
www.lcs.syr.edu
Messac is a fellow of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and AIAA. He comes to SU from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he worked as a professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, having been appointed in 2000. He served as the acting department chair from July 2008 to July 2009. Before his appointment at RPI, Messac was a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at Northeastern University. From 1981 to 1994, he was a senior member of the technical staff at The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In this position, Messac pioneered control structure integrated design and led NASA efforts in an award-winning simulation for a two-arm payload manipulator for the shuttle orbiter. He also led the development of a large simulation to study the dynamic stability, structural behavior, and control properties of the space system composed of the space shuttle, the space station, and its mobile transporter. When recalling what brought him to LCS, Messac notes that among other things, “Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s vision of Scholarship in Action crystallized what SU is really all about—making use of scholarly knowledge to make a difference in human lives, our society, our environment, and to attack the major challenges of our day.” Messac believes that an aspect of Scholarship in Action includes advancing the frontiers of knowledge, which complements the research mission of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
“I am looking forward to working with the faculty to advance the national standing of the department and the college,” Messac says. “We all understand that our supreme objective can be summarized with two words—student success: success while we have them in school and success in their future careers. Among other things, we are looking to significantly build on our signature energy research accomplishments. Our department is poised to climb to the next level, and I am excited to help take it there.”
“Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s vision of Scholarship in Action crystallized what SU is really all about—making use of scholarly knowledge to make
a difference in human lives, our society, our environment, and to
attack the major challenges of our day.” ACHILLE MESSAC
Messac holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a recipient of the prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation and has received the AIAA Sustained Service Award. Messac also received the Annual Capstone Design Award from Northeastern University in recognition of the successful pedagogical reforms he led while there. An author or co-author of more than 165 publications, Messac is an editorial board member of Optimization and Engineering, an associate editor of AIAA Journal, and former member of the AIAA Publications Editorial Advisory Board of its Education Series. He is also an editorial board member of the Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, the journal of the International Society of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization.
faculty
Over the past several years, Messac has worked with doctoral students to address national energy challenges. His work has resulted in patent-pending energy-efficient window innovation, solar energy systems, optimal wind farm design, and active building envelopes, which are new technologies for space heating and cooling that integrate photovoltaic and thermoelectric technologies.
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
search for advanced
power generation FUELs
AHn’s RESEARCH For as long as Professor Jeongmin Ahn can remember he’s been interested in “the way things work,” and he always had his sights set on a career in engineering. “When I was young, I was crazy about the car and fixing things. I knew I wanted to be an engineer,” he says. This passion for fixing and building led him to study mechanical and aerospace engineering, eventually earning him multiple engineering degrees, memberships in prestigious scholarly societies, positions at several journals, and other accolades. Now his commitment to engineering will be shared with the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS) through an appointment in summer 2010 as assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
faculty
“We are thrilled to welcome Professor Ahn to LCS,” Dean Laura J. Steinberg says. “His far-reaching research experience in combustion, propulsion, power generation, thermal management, and fuel cells, among other acknowledgements and experiences, will add to our development of learning opportunities afforded to students.”
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Ahn’s research interests have led him to conduct experimental investigations of catalytic and non-catalytic combustion in heat recirculating combustors; solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs); micro-heat engines; thermoacoustic engines; and thermal transpiration-based propulsion, pumping, and power generation. All of Ahn’s research projects are motivated by the knowledge that hydrocarbon fuels contain approximately 50 to 100 times more energy density than lithium-ion batteries. Interested in utilizing this advantage, Ahn focuses on creating lighter electrical power sources that also provide more power for longer periods of time. His research into energy conversion, combustion, thermal management, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) led him to work on a special Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project for the U.S. Department of Defense while completing his Ph.D. During this project, Ahn and his colleagues created a thermal management heat exchanger that mitigates the extremely hot temperatures necessary to maintain chemical reactions in fuel cells.
The plastic “Swiss roll” that he and his colleagues developed for the DARPA project allows the heat of the reaction to be recirculated and transferred from hotter to cooler gases. This exchange keeps the outside temperatures cool while the hot reaction occurs in the center of the cell. Overall, this project developed an integrated, micro-scale power generator using an SOFC in a micro-scale Swiss roll combustor—and it earned a place on Business 2.0 magazine’s short list as “one of six technologies that will change the world.” Fine-tuned to establish the optimal temperature, gas composition, and flow rate deep inside portable devices, it could boost cell-phone battery-powered talk time to 28 hours.
“I see a lot of collaboration opportunities at L.C. Smith with regard to energy efficiencies in buildings and to extending my work to the larger scale.”
jeongmin ahn
In 2008, Ahn—who holds degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and the University of Southern California—published his first book, titled Swiss Roll Heat Exchangers/Reactors and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Power Generation (VDM Publisher). In addition, more than 15 of Ahn’s research papers have been published in peer-reviewed journals, and he has made more than 70 technical presentations. He is an editorial board member of International Review of Mechanical Engineering and Scientific Journals International. Explaining what brought him to LCS, Ahn says, “I see a lot of collaboration opportunities at L.C. Smith with regard to energy efficiencies in buildings and to extending my work to the larger scale. I also would like to use biofuels for my fuel cells operation. There are several researchers at LCS developing biofuels, and I would like to collaborate with them.” “My hope is to develop some courses at L.C. Smith in fuel cell and energy conversion for students,” adds Ahn, whose teaching interests include heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and HVAC.
www.lcs.syr.edu
The L.C. Smith Award for Faculty Excellence was established in 2008 to both recognize and reward the college’s talented faculty who go above and beyond. It is made possible through a $25,000 annual gift to the college from chemical engineering alumnus Brian Beals ’64, a member of the Chemical Engineering Department Advisory Board, and his wife, Emily. The gift is matched each year by LCS and provides deserving faculty members with the financial resources toparticipate in meaningful activities to expand teaching or research capabilities. The 2010 recipients of the Faculty Excellence Awards were Jay Henderson, Andrew Darling, and John Dannenhoffer.
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faculty excellence 23
l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
STEM Curriculum
Course Gets to the Root of
the Problem What happens when a bioengineering professor teams up with a teacher to bring innovations in STEM learning to middle school students? A win-winwin collaboration that gives teams of college students experience building teaching modules to foster curiosity and passion for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) amongst pre-K–12 students.
Jay Henderson, assistant professor of biomedical and chemical engineering and a member of the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute, has been awarded a Faculty Excellence Award for his proposed BEN 465/665 curriculum, in which college students would collaborate to build biomechanics teaching modules for students in grades 6–8. “Through engagement with pre-K–12th-grade students, I can address challenges faced in our schools via activities closely aligned with Syracuse University’s vision of Scholarship in Action,” says Henderson, who adds that the Faculty Excellence Award provided critical support during early development of the STEM curriculum outreach program.
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As part of his proposal, Henderson partnered with English Language Arts (ELA) teacher and STEM outreach facilitator Gwendolyn Maturo-Grosso to test the modules at Lincoln Middle School in the Syracuse Central School District (SCSD), where Maturo-Grosso teaches. Maturo-Grosso currently leads STEM-focused after-school programs and has held leadership positions in the Southeastern Consortium of Minorities in Engineering (SECME) and the Technology Alliance of Central New York (TACNY). As part of her collaboration with Henderson, Maturo-Grosso was given office space over the summer in Link Hall and was named a “PK-12 STEM Educator-in-Residence” by the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS). She has experienced firsthand the challenge of engaging students in the STEM fields. According to the New York State Education Department report in 2009, by grade 4 only 62 percent of SCSD students meet the state’s mathematics learning standards and only 66 percent meet the science learning standards. By grade 8, the percentages drop to 35 percent for mathematics and 41 percent for science.
www.lcs.syr.edu
Henderson piloted his module development curriculum in his spring 2010 course. The pilot project was road-tested in Maturo-Grosso’s after-school SECME STEM club. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to identify some of the more successful module elements and to drive modifications to the program that will be implemented in the spring 2011 course. Henderson’s BEN 465/665 students—usually in teams of four to five—develop a stand-alone learning module on a topic arising from Henderson’s biomechanics class. Based upon evidence that team-based learning improves outcomes from elementary through post-secondary education, Henderson employs a cooperative learning “jigsaw” approach. Each team member is designated an “expert” in one aspect of the project. The team members are also provided guidance in how best to disseminate module information to pre-K–12th-grade students. Each learning module is delivered to teachers in the form of a comprehensive teaching toolkit. For example, the kit for the hemodynamic (blood flow) module contains an outline of the material, an information sheet, a sample lecture on DVD, materials needed for a hands-on lab activity, and student and teacher evaluation activities. Henderson’s students are graded on the module project based upon a specific set of criteria: how appropriate is the module for the target grade, how effective is the module in achieving its learning objectives, how appropriate is the distribution method, how easily can a pre-K–12 teacher incorporate the module into his or her class, what is the quality and accuracy of the engineering concepts, what is the quality of the evaluation tools, and to what extent do the evaluation tools allow for improvements in the learning module.
The goal is to create a weeklong series of lectures that focuses on blood and its components and forces, and how they interact with one another. However, this is just the beginning of what he hopes to accomplish, Henderson says.
“Through engagement with pre-K–12th-grade students, I can address challenges faced in our schools via activities closely aligned with Syracuse University’s vision of Scholarship in Action.”
jay henderson
He recently applied for a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER grant to support further advancement of his college curriculum and STEM curriculum outreach program. Additionally, Henderson will work to evaluate the impact the modules have on students’ attitudes toward pursuing further education or a career in a STEM field. Another area of focus for his assessment will be determining which variables have the greatest impact on changing students’ perceptions of STEM. Henderson will also be evaluating which variables he will be looking at—whether it is the teaching resources (learning modules), the interaction between the university and middle school students, or a combination of the two that has the greatest impact. Ultimately, Henderson says he sees his program and toolkits as something that can be rolled out nationally. His success working with students of Lincoln Middle School makes him optimistic that they have the potential to create excitement for the STEM fields among all students and expose them to a broader range of career possibilities in fields that are central to the U.S.’s technological advancement.
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The need to engage students in the STEM fields is not limited to the SCSD. The past decade has seen increasing concern in the United States about weakening STEM interest and competency. In the 2010 Program for International Student Assessment standardized test, given to 15-year-old students in developed and developing nations, U.S. students ranked from 15th to 25th worldwide in science, reading, and math. In the field of mathematics the United States was tied with countries like Ireland and Portugal and tied with countries like Poland and Hungary in science.
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science winter 2011
HEALTH CARE FOR GHANA
“I applied and was awarded funding for two additional students from bioengineering and myself to participate in the Ghana course last summer.” The Faculty Excellence Award provided tuition scholarships for two senior bioengineering students, Francesca Coppola and Thomas Law.
Professor Andrew Darling’s trip to Ghana in the summer of 2010 began with one student’s simple question: “What summer programs are available for bioengineering students?”
The study abroad course was a five-week program that involved exploration of Ghana’s health care infrastructure in both urban and rural areas. In addition to Darling, the course was taught by Dr. Beckie Bollin, staff physician and clinical instructor at Syracuse’s St. Joseph’s Hospital, and professors Yutaka Sho and Kevin Lair from the School of Architecture.
Navrongo
“i felt the course in ghana would mesh extremely well
Tamale
with the bioengineering capstone design course the following semester.”
andrew darling
Upon arriving in Ghana the students formed four multidisciplinary teams with members from architecture, biology, and engineering disciplines. Each team focused on a different area of health care: water and sanitation, malaria outreach, community-based care, and worker motivation. Kumasi
Assin Fosu
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Accra
The class investigated hygiene and water treatment in urban slums in the capital city of Accra, visited community health clinics in the sparsely populated arid northern region around Navrongo, and toured hospitals in Tamale and Kumasi, major cities in northern and central Ghana, respectively.
Darling, a professor in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, came upon Sustainable Design for Health Delivery in Ghana, a course being offered by the School of Architecture. The course, which was referred to as Health for All, was initially intended to provide architecture students with the opportunity to explore a variety of issues in the health care field in Ghana. Given that there was interest both from biology and architecture students, Darling proposed including bioengineering students in the program as well. “I felt the course in Ghana would mesh extremely well with the bioengineering capstone design course the following semester. It was also around this time that the Faculty Excellence Award was announced. The timing was perfect,” Darling says.
The students were then tasked with generating a document and presentation assessing the strengths and areas for improvement in Ghana’s health care system before presenting their findings to Ghana’s minister of health, Benjamin Kunbour, in the final week of the trip.
www.lcs.syr.edu
According to Darling, Kunbour was impressed with the student presentation on water sanitation and their recommendations on improving access to health care, especially in the rural areas where road infrastructure is underdeveloped. In addition to those areas, he stressed that nutrition was also an area of focus for the country.
Highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, the students reflected in their final report, “Each of our various disciplines had a unique lens through which they examined community care. The biologists/pre-med students saw community care as service delivery. The biomedical engineers systematically broke community care down into the process of its delivery. The architects looked at how the space in which a community exists impacts their group dynamic.”
As part of accepting this scholarship to participate in the Ghana trip, Coppola and Law were charged with not only identifying health care problems throughout the trip but also with selecting two problems and developing solutions for them in their senior capstone design course. In the fall semester, Coppola and Law presented both identified problems to students in their bioengineering capstone course. Each joined a student team charged not only with designing concepts but also building and testing a prototype that would be a workable solution for health care in Ghana.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS:
Sterilization of materials and access to supplies are major challenges in rural Ghana. An autoclave is a device that uses high-pressure saturated steam at 121 °C or more, typically for 15 to 20 minutes to sterilize medical equipment. An autoclave can adequately sterilize medical supplies but cannot sterilize bandages because it uses steam, which leaves the bandages wet. The team was tasked with developing a device that could sterilize medical instruments like scalpels and forceps as well as bandages. They needed to consider resources available in Ghana and process complexity due to the limited number of trained health care personnel.
PRODUCING STERILE IV SOLUTION Saline solution is used in dehydration therapy or for diarrheal disease, which is one of the largest killers of children under five in Ghana. However, the solution can be quite heavy, making it difficult to transport throughout Ghana, where road infrastructure is poor and even small shipments are costly. This team was tasked with designing a method for creating sterile saline solution on-site at a rural Ghanaian clinic. The challenge required them to consider the resources that would be available in rural Ghana. Their final prototype was able to use solar power to process muddy water from nearby Barry Park and make it as sterile as commercially available distilled water for laboratory use, as determined by a microbial stain.
The team managed to augment an existing stovetop autoclave so that it could sterilize both metal and cotton goods by adding a non-electric drying cycle to the system.
WHAT’S NEXT? In January, one representative from each team was chosen to travel to Ghana to demonstrate the prototypes to a number of organizations. Prospective organizations for the demonstration include the Peace Corps, multiple hospitals in the southern region of Ghana, and Vestergaard Frandsen, a company that is successfully commercializing handheld water purifiers known as Lifestraws throughout Africa. To find out how this presentation went, visit www.lcs.syr.edu/Ghana.
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STERILIZATION OF MEDICAL IMPLEMENTS AND BANDAGES
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
solving
statics
Out of what some would describe as a formidable challenge for engineering students, John Dannenhoffer, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has developed a unique learning opportunity that is changing the way students approach statics problems. Dannenhoffer’s quest to improve student learning has led him to develop a new computer-based learning system called ARCHIMEDES, which is currently being used by students taking engineering statics, a sophomore-level course at the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS).
The new online system, which duplicates the one-on-one guidance provided by professors, is helping engineering students catch their errors earlier in the statics problem28 solving process and providing just-in-time feedback. Often, when students set out to solve problems on their own, they become overwhelmed with the myriad of small decisions they must make correctly in each step to solve the problem successfully, Dannenhoffer explains. If errors are pointed out as they occur while working through a multi-step problem, as with ARCHIMEDES, the rate of success increases greatly. “I wanted to create a system that would do what I’d do if I was watching over the student’s shoulder,” Dannenhoffer says. Dannenhoffer’s proposal to help solve students’ challenges through developing ARCHIMEDES earned him a Faculty Excellence Award. With this funding, Dannenhoffer’s ARCHIMEDES has been developed and was fully deployed
during the fall 2010 semester of statics. ARCHIMEDES was used in the lab environment by more than 130 students. Before Dannenhoffer’s online system, students taking engineering statics would struggle, often receiving poor grades, and sometimes fail the class. For some, this would put them a semester behind, as engineering statics serves as a prerequisite for other engineering classes. In some cases, students would question their future and consider quitting engineering altogether. “Engineering statics is the first engineering course students will take that requires solving engineering problems,” Dannenhoffer explains. “Prior to this they’ll take math, science, and CAD classes, but students often lack the experience in solving problems like this.” To help students understand statics, the course has been restructured from a recitation class to one that is completed in lab format. This change, paired with the introduction of ARCHIMEDES, has propelled students’ achievements in solving statics problems. “Students are spending more time practicing and solving problems now,” Dannenhoffer says.
www.lcs.syr.edu
“PROFESSOR DANNENHOFFER UNDOUBTEDLY HOLDS STUDENT LEARNING AND ACHIEVEMENT IN VERY HIGH REGARD, AS SEEN IN HIS PURSUIT TO CREATE SUCH A UNIQUE SYSTEM AS ARCHIMEDES.”
laura j. steinberg
In the ARCHIMEDES system students initially prepare freebody diagrams which are used to analyze the forces acting upon an object in a given situation. Using the concept of just-in-time feedback, the system then analyzes the free-body diagrams and identifies errors, omissions, and inconsistencies. A help system then guides students through suitable corrections. Then students enter equilibrium equations (with MATLAB-like syntax), and geometric and trigonometric relations. Only after all of this is correct will students be provided with numbers for distances, angles, forces, and more. Dannenhoffer says he is not aware of any other program that helps students solves statics problems in this way. “It is very different from things done elsewhere,” he notes. Statistics gathered to date show that approximately 90 percent of students successfully complete problems with ARCHIMEDES, whereas less than 70 percent of students turn in completed assignments using paper and pencil to solve the problems. At first, Dannenhoffer thought the data seemed surprising, given that the method of solving a problem is exactly the same with ARCHIMEDES as it is with paper and pencil. Explaining why they were more successful with the help of ARCHIMEDES, students say they spend more time with problems in the computer-based learning system, working through them until they’re solved correctly. “With paper and pencil, I never can figure out where my error is. After looking for a while, I just give up,” one student explains. With the conclusion of the fall 2010 semester, a full analysis of ARCHIMEDES will be conducted to measure its value. However, the new system’s value seems to be ringing true in students’ enhanced problem-solving abilities and their positive feedback about the new learning tool.
“I think it definitely helps and will continue to help students get more involved with statics and learn more about it,” aerospace engineering major Alyson Hall ’13 says. “It helps because it takes you step-by-step and checks you as you go through problems. It helps you learn the process and how you should be doing the problems.” “More than 5,000 statics problems have already been solved successfully this semester using ARCHIMEDES,” Dannenhoffer says. When asked what he enjoys most about teaching, he says, “I love seeing those ‘ah-ha’ moments from students. In the end, it’s all about student success.”
“I think it definitely helps and will continue to help students get more involved with statics and learn more about it.”
alyson hall ’13
“I really enjoy having Professor Dannenhoffer; I’ve had him every semester so far,” Brian Caha ’13 says. “He teaches and makes you learn how to do the problems yourself. He might give homework that is a little ahead to make us work through it; then he’ll review it in class and make it crystal clear.” “Professor Dannenhoffer undoubtedly holds student learning and achievement in very high regard, as seen in his pursuit to create such a unique system as ARCHIMEDES,” LCS Dean Laura J. Steinberg says. “The one-on-one instruction and feedback that students receive from this system is remarkable, and it is making a difference in the way students approach and solve statics problems. Furthermore, the engineering foundation students build by learning to solve statics problems successfully provides the framework needed to master engineering problems for years to come.”
feature
Practice is crucial to achieve a solid understanding of engineering statics because there are a myriad of ways to solve problems in statics. With this in mind, Dannenhoffer built ARCHIMEDES so students can learn numerous ways of working through interconnected, multi-step statics problems.
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PRIDE
l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
anniversary Celebrating 15 Years of PRIDE
“the legacy of pride is that academic excellence knows no gender and no race. success is the only option for everyone.” lori hunter
The L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science’s (LCS) 15th anniversary of PRIDE Gala drew more than 200 students, faculty, staff, and alumni during Orange Central weekend in October. The evening began with a video highlighting the breadth and depth of programming that falls under the PRIDE umbrella, which was started by Lori Hunter, former LCS associate dean and now interim associate vice chancellor of enrollment management at North Carolina A&T State University. Hunter returned to Syracuse as the keynote speaker for the celebration. Hunter says that when she initially interviewed for the position of director of minority-engineering programs at LCS in 1995, she realized the college had an opportunity to focus on outreach to all students regardless of race or gender. She encouraged the college to give the outreach responsibilities to an associate dean tasked with changing the environment of student support.
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Talking to minority students, Hunter realized she needed to change the environment for students by creating programs that fostered teamwork and collaboration. The first example of this was a contest to name the program, which resulted in Programs Rooted in Developing Excellence (PRIDE). Hunter wanted to understand where students falter on the path to becoming engineers and then establish programs and tools to ease the journey to graduation. She found that one of the greatest obstacles was the calculus course requirements, which serve as prerequisites to the higherlevel engineering curriculum.
Hunter observed that students who work in teams are more likely to succeed in calculus. This was the inspiration for Academic Excellence Workshops (AEW), which team six to eight students with an upper-class student facilitator to provide guidance on course material. The workshops are voluntary-mandatory, meaning that once students opt into the program they are required to remain committed to their teams. The AEW program has created a network of resources among the students as well as between students and faculty. In its first year, there were five AEW facilitators and 32 participating students. By the end of the first year, the percentage of students moving from Calculus I to Calculus II jumped from 65 percent to 85 percent. Fifteen years later, AEW is being offered for eight required engineering and math courses, and there are 57 facilitators and more than 400 students registered for the one-credit course. Kate Pynn, director of student support and PRIDE programs at LCS, who worked with Lori Hunter to develop the program, says she is proud of PRIDE’s achievements and is optimistic about how it will continue to impact the lives of engineering and computer science students.
www.lcs.syr.edu
never imagined the program would still be here at syracuse university at the magnitude it is today.” kate pynn
In her address at the gala, LCS Dean Laura J. Steinberg reflected on the success of PRIDE and its importance to the future of engineering “The themes of PRIDE—Intellect, Strategy and Hard Work—are three qualities we all strive for every day. They are the characteristics of the ideal engineer, who uses his or her intellect in formulating strategies to solve the world’s problems and then rolls up his or her sleeves to make the solutions happen.”
PRIDE: “Destination is Graduation” Student support programs under the PRIDE umbrella include: Academic Excellence Workshops (AEW) Balancing Academics and Social Life In College (BASIC) LCS Learning Community LCS Pathfinders Students Taking Academic Responsibility (STAR) SummerStart Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE)
Collaborating for Strength In 15 years, the PRIDE program has grown to include the following student societies: Alpha Omega Epsilon International Engineering Sorority (AOE) American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) American Water Works Association (AWWA) Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Chi Epsilon—Civil Engineering Honor Society Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Pi Tau Sigma—Mechanical Engineering Honor Society Sigma Gamma Tau—Aerospace Engineering Honor Society Society of Environmental Engineers (SEE) Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Tau Beta Pi—National Engineering Honor Society Theta Tau National Engineering Fraternity
lcs news
“the 15th anniversary of pride is important to me because having been there at its founding, i
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
PRIDE
winter 2011
programs SUMMERSTART
LCS LEARNING COMMUNITY
SummerStart is a six-week program that allows incoming first-year students to arrive before the start of the fall semester to take courses to get a head start on college. Students get to take two classes of their choice and catch up to college-level academics. They participate in activities that help them build relationships with their peers and also have the opportunity to visit companies to meet engineers and computer scientists and get a feel for different industries.
The LCS LC is designed to provide first-year students with a place to connect with peers with similar academic and personal interests. In the LCS LC, residents live and learn alongside fellow students who share the same enthusiasm for engineering, computer science, and technology. Right next door, residents can find classmates, tutors, or listeners. Students in the LCS LC are enrolled in many of the same challenging courses and find comfort in being around people who can sympathize and support one another.
PATHFINDERS
lcs news
Pathfinders are upperclassmen advisors for incoming first-year students. They reach out to the students the summer before they arrive on campus and act as a resource for those students throughout the year. The first year of college is a time of transition where new students face fresh challenges every day. Pathfinders are responsible for providing guidance on academics as well as being available to provide support in other aspects of college life.
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE WORKSHOPS (AEW)
AEW, a collaboration between L.C. Smith and the Department of Mathematics in The College of Arts and Sciences, helps students excel in mathematics, statics, and dynamics. The 32 goal of AEW is to push for students to master the course material, and not just memorize it. The program also serves to help students improve their problem-solving, interpersonal, and teamwork skills. It is a one-credit course for six to eight students.
STUDENTS TAKING ACADEMIC RESPONSIBILITY (STAR) STAR is a collaboration between L.C. Smith and the School of Education. Counselors provide assistance in study skills, time management, career planning, stress reduction, and other personal issues. Students at L.C. Smith have a challenging workload, and it is easy to feel overwhelmed. STAR offers counseling and moral support to help students succeed at LCS.
WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (WiSE) WiSE provides support and resources for women faculty and students pursuing science and engineering careers. Founded in 1997, WiSE is based on three key elements: focus on increasing recruitment and retention of women faculty in science and engineering; enacting a campus-wide lecture series that would highlight distinguished women in these fields; and implement an advising and mentoring program for female students to interact with female faculty.
BALANCING ACADEMICS AND SOCIAL LIFE IN COLLEGE (BASIC) BASIC was created to provide LCS students with a community of support through social activities. These activities emphasize the importance of maintaining a healthy social life, while still striving for academic excellence. BASIC activities include movie nights, karaoke, yoga, African drumming, and coffee breaks. Available to first-year through graduate-level students, BASIC provides a place to unwind and socialize.
www.lcs.syr.edu
[
L.C. Smith B.S. + Whitman MBA Now as Simple as 3+2
] 33
Introducing the new L.C. Smith-Whitman 3+2 Degree Program. Students admitted to the 3+2 program earn both a bachelor’s degree in engineering or computer science and a master of business administration degree in five years—a dynamic and powerful program designed to prepare tomorrow’s leaders.
Engineering in Action. Turning ideas into reality.
l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
delivering
digitally
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mary spio’s host of professional titles reads much like the cast list of characters one typically encounters on the big screen. spio ’98, who has shaped the distribution of motion pictures and found success through her patents in digital cinema, has been a deep space communications expert, senior satellite applications engineer, publisher, independent inventor, rocket scientist, inspirational speaker, digital media expert, and successful entrepreneur.
www.lcs.syr.edu
“I feel very fortunate to have learned digital concepts, because everyone is looking to leverage that now.”
mary spio
Spio’s success in media and digital cinema began with her study of electrical engineering at the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. “My dad was an alumnus of Syracuse University, so I always held the University in high regard,” says Spio. “I knew I wanted to attend SU as well.” When Spio attended SU in the late 1990s she was the only female earning an electrical engineering degree, and she graduated first in her class. Prior to attending college, Spio served in the U.S. Air Force where her passion for engineering and satellite communications really developed. As a result, Spio decided to pursue an engineering degree at Syracuse University. She was able to fund her college education on her own with help from the GI Bill and a SU ROTC scholarship award. After earning a bachelor’s degree from SU and a master’s of science degree in global innovation management/electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Spio started her career at Ultra Corp. in Syracuse and eventually moved on to work for Pan American Satellite Corporation.
In 2001, she was recruited to work for The Boeing Company as head of satellite communications systems, where the company eventually formed a new division, Boeing Digital Cinema, thanks in part to R&D Spio was conducting. “Who would have thought Boeing would be interested in movie studios,” Spio says. “Boeing is the leader in security technology, and with movie studios concerned about piracy issues, Boeing was actually the perfect fit to ensure films could be delivered securely.” Through her work and innovation, Spio helped Boeing develop a secure way to digitally distribute films over satellite, which is still being used today. Her method and system for very-highdata-rate satellite transmissions makes it possible to distribute multiple-language and -rated versions of the same film at the same time to theaters around the world. “I feel very fortunate to have learned digital concepts, because everyone is looking to leverage that now,” Spio says. After Boeing, Spio’s success and passion for digital technology fueled her quest to launch her own media company, Gen2Media Corporation. Gen2Media was acquired and is now publicly traded, but before she sold the company, she provided technical and marketing counsel to many of the world’s leading organizations, including TiVo, Clear Channel Communications, Microsoft, Toyota, and Coca-Cola.
alumni
It was Spio’s digital innovations, during her time at The Boeing Company as head of satellite communications systems, that redefined how major motion pictures are distributed to movie theaters globally. High-grossing films such as Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones; Ocean’s 11; Planet of the Apes; Spy Kids; and Monsters, Inc. are among the myriad of films that have been digitally delivered to the big screen thanks to Spio’s technology.
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
“This is a very exciting time for engineers. I think you should follow your passion.” mary spio
Through her work with Toyota, Spio created and integrated a “brand channel” that Toyota has used to better market its company and vehicles. “Companies today need to be publishers of relevant and interesting content; they cannot simply yell their ad messages at customers anymore,” Spio explains. It is Spio’s unique business perspective and social media savvy, coupled with her remarkable engineering background, which continue to fuel her entrepreneurial successes. “Having an engineering background has allowed me to have so much flexibility and so many options in carving a career for myself,” Spio says.
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Perhaps the best example of this is her work with ABC’s The Bachelor. One of Spio’s patents is in demographic targeting, and in season seven of the hit reality television show, its producers hired Spio to help find targeted contestants as well as create excitement for the program, which had begun to wane. Not surprisingly, Spio was able to marry her engineering abilities, matchmaking skills (which she honed while working for a dating service while at SU), and marketing savvy to find the right mix of contestants they were seeking. In total, 23 out of 25 of the contestants who were featured on the show that season were a product of Spio’s blend of engineering and marketing genius. “This is a very exciting time for engineers. I think you should follow your passion,” Spio says. “We typically go into engineering because we are curious about the way things work, and I think you should see how you can follow that deeper. Be open to new opportunities in engineering. I would have never had these opportunities without exploring; I never thought this would be the path I’d take.”
Spio holds six patents, and she is listed as a co-inventor on several more. Currently, she is at the helm of Next Galaxy Media (NGM), a marketing and globally integrated technology company she founded. Spio’s mission for NGM is to help customers reach and engage more of their clients and prospects by leveraging online video, search, and social media solutions. “I want to do for video what Google has done for search,” Spio explains. “The needs and challenges of the market continually fuel my innovation.” Spio notes that “it’s always been video” for her. Whether it was aiding in the design of TV networks, helping cable companies come of age, or developing a secure way to digitally distribute films over satellite, Spio has been at the forefront of video technology for more than 10 years.
Always open to new opportunities, Spio now has plans to launch a new venture that will serve to spotlight opportunities in engineering for high school and college students. In other words, she wants young engineers to “live out their passion” and apply their curiosity about the way things work to fields as diverse as those in which she has succeeded.
Remembering www.lcs.syr.edu
Alumnus Richard Chapin Lee richard chapin lee ’70 always held syracuse university and the l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science in the highest regard. recently, the university learned of a generous estate gift that lee had left for the benefit of lcs.
“Mr. Lee’s generosity is deeply appreciated,” says LCS Dean Laura J. Steinberg. “His gift will help Syracuse University’s continuing effort to reach those students most in need, as well as continually enhance the experiences and education that students receive.” Mark Miller, a friend of Lee’s from New York City, says, “Richard would often talk about SU and the rigor of his engineering classes as well as his time spent there.” For more than 30 years, Lee worked as a civil engineer for the New York City Department of Transportation in the highway division doing surveying and drafting. Lee’s childhood friend, Eugene Schuler, echoes Miller’s remarks and explains that Lee “always put his studies first, and he appreciated his education.” Schuler continues, “I believe that is why he was generous to
the school and left his gift, hoping to help future students financially. I think he would have liked to know that students can still attend school regardless of their finances.” “Though we never like to hear of the passing of one of our graduates, it is tremendously rewarding when we learn that one of our alumni has included the L.C. Smith College in his or her estate plans,” Steve Savage, assistant dean for advancement for LCS, says. “To know Mr. Lee thought so much of his experience at Syracuse and LCS is gratifying, and his gift is a wonderful way to help us fulfill our mission of developing engineering leaders.” Lee’s gift will be counted toward the Campaign for Syracuse University, which seeks to increase support for scholarships in endowed and current-use funds by $200 million to ensure students from all walks of life have access to higher education. With a goal of $1 billion, the campaign is the most ambitious fundraising effort in SU’s history.
“richard would often talk about su and the rigor of his engineering classes as well as his time spent there.”
mark miller
alumni
Lee’s gift of $160,000 will be used to continue the college’s great tradition of teaching excellence by providing funds for students to travel to academic and professional conferences, covering expenses for faculty searches that are planned and underway, and enhancing the college’s facilities and equipment.
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
[
winter 2011
HELP SUCCESS TAKE ROOT.
]
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This year, give a gift that fosters academic excellence in engineering education. Your contribution will help cultivate student success at the L.C. Smith College by supporting scholarships, research opportunities, student programs and more. For more information or to make your gift today, please visit www.lcs.syr.edu/giving.
Engineering in Action. Turning ideas into reality.
www.LCS.syr.edu
www.lcs.syr.edu
enhancing stem education Through
Philanthropy I don’t think it is a surprise to anyone that there is an immediate need for more students to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The L.C. Smith College of Engineering, and Computer Science (LCS) has been focused for many years on preparing tomorrow’s leaders. We are fortunate to have alumni, friends, and parents who understand they can play a critical role in this through their
Over the last three years, the LCS Faculty Excellence Awards, made possible by Brian Beals ’64 and his wife, Emily, have provided our faculty with the opportunity to explore ideas they believe will enhance the learning experience of our students. Richard C. Lee ’70 was an alumnus who understood that by remembering LCS in his estate he could help ensure a quality experience for our students. He utilized his engineering education his entire career and understood how critical wellprepared engineers are to society. Finally, one of my most rewarding experiences has been working with LCS students involved with the Syracuse University Senior Class Gift. This university-wide effort gives members of the senior class the opportunity to display their own sense of philanthropy. For the class of 2010, LCS had the second-highest total of donors among the schools and colleges on campus.
At LCS, we consider ourselves fortunate to have such loyal and committed supporters. You can be certain that we do not take this for granted and will continue to be focused on providing exemplary education for our students, promoting research, and advancing the fields of engineering.
advancement
own philanthropy.
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Steve Savage Assistant Dean for College Advancement
l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
DONOR REPORT GIFTS TO SUPPORT L.C. SMITH COLLEGE
PLEASE NOTE: OUR FISCAL YEAR ENDS JUNE 30. THIS LIST REFLECTS ALL GIFTS OF $500 OR MORE RECEIVED FROM JULY 1, 2009 TO JULY 1, 2010.
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BENEFACTOR ($1,000 OR MORE) Robert C. Abel and Mary J. Abel Andreas Acrivos Amin Al-Ahmad Abdulmohsin O. AlOmran and Eman R. AlRashed Paulette Altmaier Richard F. Anderson* Donald H. Andres Elinor M. Antoni Manuel Ares William K. Arnold Kent N. Backus Rajeev Badrinath William F. Ballard and Susan F. Ballard Brian L. Beals and Emily B. Beals Thomas E. Blumer Mark Bomberg Donald Borden Lee A. Brathwaite Jenifer Rae Breyer John E. Breyer John N. Brogard Harold R. Brown, III Gar Wood N. Burwell James A. Capolongo and Barbara Capolongo Shiu-Kai Chin and Dr. Linda M. Milosky Est. of Mr. Joseph A. Christe* Said Cohen Harold R. Cramer Mary B. Davidson Eugene C. Delsener Nicholas M. Donofrio and Anita M. Donofrio Philippe Dorante and Lisa M. Perard Richard Dulude and Jean Dulude Brewster Earle David G. Edelstein and Jennie E. Berkson Ahmad M. El-Hindi and Elizabeth El-Hindi Fadel F. Erian Nurul-Amin K. Eusufzai Richard C. Flaherty Richard S. Fleisher John T. Fox II William Ted Frantz Ray Freiwirth John H. Gaura
Christopher T. Gentile Est. of Mr. Albert J. Gnesin* Richard Frima Goldman Myron S. Gorel and Phyllis Gorel Jonathan S. Greenfield and Georgette D. Greenfield Edward J. Grinnell* Andrew Gula Henry M. Hall Jerrold A. Heller N. Carl Hellman Robert W. Hinkley Can Isik Troy D. Johnson H. Ezzat Khalifa and Shadia Khalifa Varghese Kochuvaried William E. Kopka and Teresita Chan Kopka Gary J. Lavine Michael J. Lazar Est. of Mr. Richard C. Lee* Rolf Leininger Theodore W. Leverett and Irene Leverett Gregory P. Levine Frank A. Loguidice and Hilda R. Loguidice Fredric J. Maas Michael L. Mattson and Marilouise Mattson Thomas N. McCausland and Linda P. McCausland Robert A. McKie Alvin S. Meltzer George H. Millman Isaac A. Morris, Jr. John A. Murphy Joseph M. Murphy Mary E. Murphy Patricia A. Murphy and Kendra K. Schroeder Sheila E. Murphy Thomas A. Murphy John F. Olson David P. Owen and Dianne J. Owen Edward D. Paradise Glen E. Phillips Est. of Mr. John A. Pietrowski* Alfred O. Quinn and Doris J. Quinn Clara K. Reed Kadeon H. Reid Bernard Myron Rider
James P. Roney Latisha F. Rourke Stephen A. Savage Philip E. Schefter and Carolyn D. Schefter Michael P. Schwartz and Barbara A. Schwartz Robert A. Sperling Jr. Eric F. Spina and Karen J. Spina Vijay B. Srinivas and Kalpana Srinivas A. Douglas Steinberg Jr. Laura J. Steinberg Ann W. Stevenson Thomas N. Tanner Dimitar L. Todorov and Svetoslava Todorova J. Robert Tomlinson Mary Ann Tyszko Philip L. Varghese Mark J. Verone and Dr. Rachelle D. Hardy Leslie W. Vielbig and Judith C. Vielbig John C. Watson Raymond A. Wedlake and Nancy Joy Wedlake James Michael Whitaker Jerry R. Whitaker James L. Withiam and Beverly W. Withiam Abdallah H. Yabroudi Anthony Y.C. Yeh
ASSOCIATE ($500 - $999) Harold A. Anderson, Jr. Camille Batarekh Joshua M. Bieber Justin M. Blount Jeffrey E. Brockett Douglas F. Brown Yu Chang John R. Chawner Chia-Lun Chou Anthony T. Curlo Kathleen F. Dalton Colin A. Danville and Jenice L. View Leonard L. Epstein Lisa B. Feltrin Victor A. Fischer Clyde A. Forbes Garth H. Foster and Mary-Helen Foster Glenn S. Froese and Mary Lee Froese Robert A. Gibson
Gina Lee-Glauser and Mark Glauser Alexander E. Holstein Jr. and Charlotte G. Holstein Allen F. Horn III and Susan P. Horn Paul K. Houpt John Proctor Howe Frederick L. Hunter Jr. Dharmarajan R. Iyer Ryan B. Jean Edward S. Joseph Donald M. Josephson Robert R. Kaiser Harry J. Kit Louis M. LaClair Harry Le Vine, Jr. Joseph A. LeBlanc Carlos G. Leon Leland D. Lewis Yi Lu and Julia H. Lu Kathleen A. Luvisi Hugh D. Lynch Paul M. Lynch Thomas Boyd Lynch Robert A. McMillen Anne F. Milne Ramon B. Novo Michael J. Oehler and Hope Mao Oehler Michael C. Orlovsky Paul J. Ossenbruggen Raymond E. Peart Michael J. Querino William H. Reed* Remi H. Renard and Esperanza P. Renard James L. Rine Lawrence E. Root I. Holly Rosenthal Mark Z. Salvador Martin F. Schlecht Jack E. Sheehan James M. Showalter George R. Smith and Lois M. Smith Young H. Sohn James A. Spearot
John M. Stengrevics and Susan S. Stengrevics Patricia A. Strandell Francis J. Straub Robert M. Thompson Troy A. Tomlinson and Michelle N. Tomlinson Kevin C. Trott Ralph T. Urich Jr. Philip J. Vecere Sr. William T. Vecere Guy A. Wadsworth Richard Wasiewicz Mark Donald Weber David L. Wechsler and Amy S. Wechsler Gary Willens and Patricia Willens Vincent S. Wong *deceased
CORPORATIONS AND FOUNDATIONS A.I. Solutions Adobe Systems Inc. Agilent Technologies Inc. Altria Employee Involvement Programs American Electric Power Company Inc. American Express Company American International Group Inc. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating & A-C Engineers Anaren Inc. The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Inc. AWS Truewind LLC AXA Foundation Bank of America Foundation Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, The BASF Corporation BlackRock Inc. Blue Highway LLC
Boeing Company, The Bruins Inspections Inc. K. W. Bunn Engineering Caterpillar Foundation Central New York Community Foundation Inc. Chevron Corporation Chi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta Fraternity CIGNA Foundation Cisco Systems Inc. Said Cohen Foundation The Community Foundation of Louisville Depository Inc. Constellation Energy Group Inc. Corning Incorporated Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Dolby Laboratories Educational Program Eaton Corporation Ernst & Young Evanston Community Foundation ExxonMobil Foundation Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund First American Group Inc. GE Fund General Electric Company Goldman Sachs & Company Google Inc. Gorel Realty Company Hawkeye Investments LLC The Heller Family Foundation Honeywell International Inc. IBM Corporation ING Financial Services Corporation Ingersoll-Rand Company Intel Corporation JPMorgan Chase & Company The Jewish Community Foundation of Central New York Inc. Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Johnson Controls Foundation JustGive Lilly & Company,Eli Lockheed Martin Corporation
Macy’s Foundation MC Squared Inc. MEH Foundation Claire & Jack Nath Charitable Foundation National Semiconductor Corporation New York State Electric & Gas Corporation North American Management Corporation Northrop Grumman Foundation, The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, The Oak Ridge Associated Universities Inc. Oracle Matching Gifts Program PJM Interconnection LLC Pointwise Inc. Procter & Gamble Company Raytheon Company L.C. Smith College Alumni Assoc. Schnabel Management Services Inc. Schneider Electric SA Schwab Charitable Fund Shell Oil Company Foundation Inc. Siemens Corporation SRC Inc. SRCTec Inc. State Street Boston Corporation Synopsys Inc. Textron Charitable Trust Tsinghua University Turner Construction Company Foundation Tyco International Ltd. Union Pacific Corporation United Technologies Corporation Uno Restaurants LLC Verizon Foundation Welch Allyn Inc. Matching Gifts Program Xerox Corporation For the full list of donors, visit www.lcs.syr.edu/donors
advancement
www.lcs.syr.edu
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
alumni notes 1960s
1990s
Don Wortzman G’61 recently published two books. The Gyroverse: The Hidden Structure of the Universe, his first book, is about a new unifying physics theory. The second is a thriller novel, titled Daughters of Ishtar: Theology and Science in an Escapade of Intrigue. Check out www. amazon.com/Donald-Wortzman/e/B003FVSYFO for more information.
Vijay Srinivas G’92, G’94 (SOM) recently joined Syracuse University as senior director of corporate relations and technical alliances where he will work to develop partnerships for collaboration between the university and businesses throughout the world.
Thomas Magnanti ’67 was appointed president of Singapore University of Technology and Design. During his three-year appointment the former dean of MIT’s School of Engineering will be on leave from MIT to devote his time fully to Singapore University. He has a long association with Singapore and was the founding director of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). John D. Hardy ’69 (A&S), G’70 retired as a member of the principal professional staff from The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Md. He worked on various Department of Defense and Department of Transportation programs during his 34 years at the lab.
1970s James L. Withiam ’70, G’74, G’78 (Ph.D.) received the 2010 William H. Wisely American Civil Engineer Award at the ASCE national convention on October 22, 2010. Jim received the award for his outstanding leadership in creating the flagship magazine, Geo-Strata, and for his 2009 leadership as chair of the Task Committee in redesigning Civil Engineering magazine.
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Nicholas Donofrio G’71 was appointed to the board of trustees of the MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that provides systems engineering research and development, and information technology support to several federal government agencies.
1980s Florence Winter Smith G’86 is the chief of safety at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, where she is responsible for all institutional and range safety activities related to programs/projects both at WFF and at launch sites all over the world. Waleed Abdalati ’86 has been named chief scientist by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. He will serve as the principal adviser to the NASA administrator on agency science programs, strategic planning, and the evaluation of related investments.
Kirthiga Reddy G’95 has accepted a position with Facebook as director of online operations for India in their Hyderabad office. She will be responsible for expanding the reach of the network in terms of users, advertisers and developers. Christopher F. Lonegro ’96, an intellectual property attorney with Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver in Baltimore, is on the list of “Maryland Super Lawyers” published in the January 2010 issue of the Maryland Super Lawyers magazine. José Ventura ’97 founded GreenCon in 2008. GreenCon is a green building consulting firm focused on energy auditing and energy efficiency retrofitting contracts in commercial buildings. Eren Danisoglu ’98 of Ankara, Turkey, is project manager for ECCInternational Constructors/TEPE-METAG JV, working on the U.S. Embassy Kabul New Office Annex and Housing Buildings Project in Kabul, Afghanistan.
2000s Karl Holovach ’02 married Nicole Ferring ’02 (NEW). The couple resides in Greenbelt, Md., where Karl is a high school math teacher and Nicole works as a research associate at the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Erin L. Hunter ’08 began Ph.D. studies in geoenvironmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in August 2010. James Asante G’08 (Ph.D.) was awarded the Thatcher Bros Prize for his paper “A small displacement torsor model for tolerance analysis in a workpiece-fixture assembly” published in the Journal of Engineering Manufacture. Let us know about your accomplishments! Please send your alumni news and notes to engineer@syr.edu.
www.lcs.syr.edu
in memoriA Higuchi’s research activities spanned a broad spectrum, from collaborating on research with JAXA, the Japanese counterpart to NASA, to studying bluff-body aerodynamics and most recently researching personal ventilation systems and biofluids. He was also an associate fellow at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Higuchi is pictured on right
HIROSHI HIGUCHI Hiroshi Higuchi, professor at the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS), died November 22, 2010. Higuchi was a dedicated teacher, well-known researcher, and cherished colleague in the fields of aerospace and mechanical engineering. “Professor Higuchi was an outstanding faculty member at L.C. Smith,” said LCS Dean Laura J. Steinberg. “He was adored by our students and held in the highest regard by all. His dedication to teaching and research—and to his beloved Tango Foxtrot flight simulator for training aerospace engineering students—will be immensely missed at the college.” Higuchi joined LCS as an associate professor in 1989 in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He was instrumental in cultivating a relationship between LCS and Tohuku University in Sendai, Japan, including spending two years as a professor at the university’s engineering school.
“This is indeed a great loss for Syracuse University and the worldwide research community of fluid mechanics and aerodynamics,” said Mark Glauser, associate dean for research and professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. “For those of us who have had the privilege of working with Professor Higuchi on various joint research projects and publications over the years, this is a particularly difficult time. His keen physical insight into unsteady aerodynamics phenomena and their control will be sorely missed, especially as it pertains to our joint wind turbine flow control research which has recently been funded by the Department of Energy through the University of Minnesota Wind Energy Consortium.” “This is truly a tragic loss for all of us in the department,” said Achille Messac, professor and chair for the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. “Professor Higuchi was beloved by his students, to whom he was so supremely committed. He was a consummate scholar, and a dear colleague. His commitment was evident until the very end. We will miss him tremendously.”
memoria
Higuchi was a pilot and instrument-certified flight instructor and guided LCS students from the cockpit of the college’s MOTUS 622i flight simulator, named Tango Foxtrot. Higuchi had logged hundreds of thousands of miles on his own passport. He brought the influence and perspective of LCS to students around the world and shared his experiences and expertise with those he mentored.
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science winter 2011
inTribute memoriA A NORMAN BALABANIAN
JAMES LUKER
Professor Emeritus Norman Balabanian, who passed away December 14, 2009, was remembered during a service in Hendricks Chapel on October 14, 2010.
James Luker, former dean of the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS), died on May 19, 2010. He will be remembered for his scholarship, spirit of collegiality, insight, and professionalism.
Balabanian was a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at L.C. Smith College of Engineering for many years. He also served as department chair for EECS. Additionally, he was a visiting professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of California-Berkeley, and a visiting scholar at Tufts University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Balabanian earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from SU. He was a Senior Fulbright Fellow in Yugoslavia and a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He received the IEEE Centennial Medal in 1984 and Third Millennium Medal in 2000.
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He was an officer of the electrical engineering division of the American Society for Engineering Education, including two years as president, and was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Balabanian retired from teaching in 1991 but continued to publish both scientific and social-scientific papers and books. “Norm Balabanian was extremely energetic,” says Brad Strait, professor and dean emeritus of LCS. “He was a veritable bulldog on matters important to him.” While Balabanian focused much of his life on his work in EECS, he also engaged in politics and political activism for civil rights. “Over the years, Professor Balabanian was both my teacher and my colleague,” says LCS Professor Emeritus John Brule. “He was a remarkable leader both in his chosen profession and in his attention to social needs.
“Jim was instrumental in the recruitment of international students for the graduate engineering program,” says Phil Rice, professor emeritus in the biomedical and chemical engineering department. “He also introduced the use of modern computing into the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum.” Luker was born on February 5, 1923, in Yazoo City, Mississippi. He attended Louisiana State University for his undergraduate degree and earned a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then attended Northwestern University to pursue a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. Luker was a professor at SU for many years before serving as dean of LCS for more than 20 years. His dedication to education and engineering began early in his life. His mother and grandfather were both educators, so education was an important part of his childhood. Along with engineering, Luker enjoyed traveling and such outdoor activities as hiking, fishing, sailing, skiing, and tobogganing. He also served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War II. Luker was a brilliant man and is best remembered for his kind heart and sense of humor.
www.lcs.syr.edu
GLENN GLASFORD Glenn M. Glasford, former professor of electrical engineering at the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS), died on November 25, 2010. He received his education at the University of Texas. He spent two years at Iowa State doing graduate work and was a pioneer in the field of television technology, providing groundbreaking work and advancing the area in its early stages of development. He contributed to the war efforts during World War II by developing revolutionary improvements in radar at the radiation lab on the MIT campus with Project Eagle.
“Glenn came to work at L.C. Smith teaching courses in television when television was still in its infancy,” Strait says. A month later, he met his future wife of 57 years, Ethel. Syracuse University became his life until he retired in 1986, although he remained an adjunct professor for several more years. He remained an avid SU football and basketball fan throughout his life. Outside of work, he participated in the Erie Canal restoration project for many years through his long-term membership in the DeWitt Rotary. He was also a lifelong member of Dewitt Community Church.
After the war, with his skills in great demand and two years at the Allen B. Dumont Laboratories under his belt, he accepted the offer of a position as professor at the newly formed department of electrical engineering at Syracuse University in 1947.
memoria
“The most significant thing that stands out in my mind about Glenn was his work at the MIT Radiation Laboratory,” Brad Strait, professor and dean emeritus of LCS, says. “The monumental work done in those early war years was absolutely astounding. This included the development of airborne radar, which enabled the allies to successfully deal with U-boat threats in the North Atlantic.”
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l.c. smith college of engineering and computer science
winter 2011
Brad Strait Recognized with Melvin A. Eggers Senior Alumni Award
In the years that Brad Strait ’58, G’60, G’65 (Ph.D.) attended and worked tirelessly for Syracuse University he not only advanced the caliber of the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS), he also created a lasting legacy that continues to inspire faculty, staff, and students to this day.
alumni
It is Strait’s unwavering commitment and steadfast support of the college that moved Syracuse University to present him with the Melvin A. Eggers Senior Alumni Award, which Strait accepted at the alumni award dinner during Orange Central weekend in October. Established in 1988 by former SU Chancellor William Pearson Tolley in honor of then-Chancellor Melvin A. Eggers, the prestigious award is conferred to alumni who have graduated more than 50 years ago and have demonstrated loyalty and service to SU.
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Strait, who spent his entire teaching career at SU, before taking on the role of LCS dean from 1981-1984 and again from 1989-1992, led the development of new programs, buildings, and engineering curricula. Strait also affected change and inspired both students and employees of the college through his academic advisement, leadership, and belief that authority should be used in service for others, explains Shiu-Kai Chin, Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and former interim dean of LCS. “Everyone looked to Brad as a role model; he had a profound effect on thousands of people’s lives and careers and contributed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of added value, all to the greater good,” says Chin. “There is no stronger, more reverent, or more dependable supporter than Brad.” As founding director of the Center for Advanced Technology in Computer Applications and Software Engineering (CASE), he was instrumental in creating the first New York State– sanctioned Center for Advanced Technology in the area. CASE works with New York State’s industry and academic researchers to produce innovative solutions in complex behavioral, informational, and communication systems to accelerate business and community growth.
Strait explains that Molly Corbett Broad, who started her career at SU and is an educational administrator and the former president of the University of North Carolina, brought the idea of a center for advanced technology to his attention. “I wanted to get universities involved in the economics of New York State,” he notes. Not only have many startup companies found success with the help of CASE, research assistantships have also been created for students, and the center has helped increase the stature of both LCS and SU.
“There is no
stronger, more
reverent, or more dependable
supporter than Brad.” SHIU-KAI CHIN
“Syracuse was a great place to be; I am very appreciative of my time spent at SU, the wonderful people with whom I worked, and the Eggers Senior Alumni Award,” Strait says. “The award also has special meaning for me because my father, Clifford N. Strait ’23, also won an SU alumni award about 50 years ago, and I never forgot how thrilled he was to receive it.” Strait says he enjoyed every minute of his 42 years of teaching at SU, and he can’t imagine a better or more rewarding job.
www.lcs.syr.edu
spotlight
Heller Named to Board of Trustees Jerrold (Jerry) A. Heller ’63 was inducted to the Syracuse University Board of Trustees in November 2010. An alumnus of the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS), Heller is a consultant and an advisor to new ventures in the digital media and communications industries. Heller has been actively involved in the college for many years, serving as a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council to provide guidance to the college. Additionally, he served as the keynote speaker for the LCS Convocation in May 2009, and is a member of the Benefactor Gift Club. Now, as a member of the Board of Trustees for the University, Heller will work with other board members to oversee SU’s academic programs and administrative operations as well as protect and manage the University’s physical and financial assets.
University epitomizes our vision of Scholarship in Action, and his support of LCS and SU will continue to transform the college and University.” Heller has several issued and pending patents and has published numerous technical papers in the areas of digital communications, error correction coding, data encryption, and digital video compression. He also led development of the DigiCipher high definition television system, major elements of which were adopted for the U.S. terrestrial HDTV standard. Heller has received various communications awards, including two Emmy awards from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, in 1986 and 1996, for outstanding achievement in engineering development. Additionally, he is a recipient of the 1998 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award, “for visionary engineering leadership in the development of digital television for broadcast, cable, and satellite applications.”
spotlight
“Jerry has been an outstanding member of the Leadership Council and a steadfast supporter of the University, and I am pleased to welcome him to the Board of Trustees,” says LCS Dean Laura J. Steinberg. “Jerry’s desire to give back to the
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Syracuse University L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240
PAID
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
EARTH FRIENDLY
21,499 lbs
Net greenhouse gases prevented.
232
Trees preserved for the future.
FPO 98,688
Gallons wastewater flow saved.
164,560,000 BTUs energy not consumed.
Data Obtained from Mohawk Papers Environmental Impact Calculator http://www.mohawkpapers.com/environment Primary values were derived from information publicly available at: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/1687_figures.pdf and http://www.epa.gov/stateply/resources/index.html
671 lbs
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10,919
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Engineer magazine promotes a clean, sustainable environment. Throughout production, we have embraced green practices and principles. We use 100% post-consumer paper and print only with soy-based, non-petroleum inks. Our printer is FSC certified, and the first printer in the northeast to be verified to the national standard of the SGP Partnership. Steps like this can preserve more than 200 trees, save nearly 10,000 gallons of wastewater, eliminate nearly 11,000 pounds of solid waste and prevent the emission of more than 21,000 pounds of greenhouse gases. That’s a big difference, and that’s the idea.