Syracuse Engineer Fall 2016

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Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

MOHAWK VIA 100% PC

WATER 106,399 gal.

SOLID WASTE 10,885 lbs

AIR EMISSIONS 35,707 lbs CO2

POWER 92 MMBTU

EMISSIONS 46 lbs NOx

It’s the Equivalent of: Water: 1,151 days of water consumption • Air emissions: 5 cars per year • Power: 447,593 60W light bulbs for one hour.

UTC Climate, Controls & Security saved the above resources by printing on Mohawk Via 100% PC. The paper contains FSC certified fiber, is EcoLogo and Processed Chlorine Free accredited and is manufactured using biogas energy.

Environmental savings calculations are based on 12,976 lbs of paper production run. 100% post-consumer.

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FALL 2016

18

CONTRASTING CONSTRUCTION IN BULGARIA

02

FLIGHT SCHOOL

04

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

06

20

08

THE SPARK

BIOFILMS ON CONTACT LENSES A Vision For Making Bacteria Uncomfortable

24

THE CASE FOR COMBUSTION Advances in Combustion Can Help Contribute to Sustainability

09

SPACE & SOUND

26

BRAIN INSPIRED COMPUTING

THE LIFE PATH OF A VISIONARY

30

IN THE BUSINESS OF HEALTHY GUMS

32

THE ORIGINS OF HEALING Advancements in Stem Cell Engineering Are Leading Us Into a New Era of Rehabilitation and Health

36

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

38

DOME DEMOS Pigskins Aren’t The Only Things That Fly in the Loud House

12

TRANSFORMING OUR FUTURE

FROM THE DEAN

40

POLYMAKER Xiaofan Luo G’10 is Heralding the Next Step in 3D Printing’s Evolution

42

Q&A WITH GURDIP SINGH

43

MIND READERS

46

WHAT A POTATO CLOCK CAN TEACH US ABOUT FIGHTING DISEASE

48

ALUMNI NOTES

52

DONOR REPORT

Under Dean Dahlberg’s leadership, the College is embarking on a Transformation Plan. Learn more about our aspirations for the future in Transforming Our Future on page 12.

As we move through life, we strive to transform ourselves into more informed, aware, and contributing citizens, loving family members, and loyal friends. In Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, we extend that commitment to positive change by advancing our research efforts, preparing our students, and improving the world around us.

In this edition of Syracuse Engineer, we highlight examples of how our engineers and computer scientists are transforming the status quo. In The Spark, environmental engineering alumna Kristin Angello is shaking up high school science to incorporate engineering principles and inspire passion in STEM. Professor Qinru Qiu is developing computers that mimic the human brain in Brain Inspired Computing. And, in Space and Sound, aerospace engineering alumnus Edgar Choueiri is revolutionizing space travel and the way we hear recorded audio using three-dimensional sound.

To spur transformation that enhances our lives, we must always move forward with purpose and intention. To that end, we have introduced a Transformation Plan for the College this fall. The foundation of that plan is presented here in Transforming Our Future.

I invite you to delve into these compelling stories of exploration and accomplishment, examine our Transformation Plan, and envision how we can work together to amplify our College’s distinctions to become a leading model for contemporary engineering and computer science education. ●

Teresa A. Dahlberg Dean

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DONOR IMPACT

FALL 2016 | 1

FROM THE DEAN

Under Dean Dahlberg’s leadership, the College is embarking on a Transformation Plan. Learn more about our aspirations for the future in Transforming Our Future on page 12.

As we move through life, we strive to transform ourselves into more informed, aware, and contributing citizens, loving family members, and loyal friends. In Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, we extend that commitment to positive change by advancing our research efforts, preparing our students, and improving the world around us.

In this edition of Syracuse Engineer, we highlight examples of how our engineers and computer scientists are transforming the status quo. In The Spark, environmental engineering alumna Kristin Angello is shaking up high school science to incorporate engineering principles and inspire passion in STEM. Professor Qinru Qiu is developing computers that mimic the human brain in Brain Inspired Computing. And, in Space and Sound, aerospace engineering alumnus Edgar Choueiri is revolutionizing space travel and the way we hear recorded audio using three-dimensional sound.

To spur transformation that enhances our lives, we must always move forward with purpose and intention. To that end, we have introduced a Transformation Plan for the College this fall. The foundation of that plan is presented here in Transforming Our Future.

I invite you to delve into these compelling stories of exploration and accomplishment, examine our Transformation Plan, and envision how we can work together to amplify our College’s distinctions to become a leading model for contemporary engineering and computer science education. ●

Teresa A. Dahlberg Dean

FALL 2016 | 1

Drones in Our Skies There are countless jobs that unmanned systems are ideally suited for. Professor Amit Sanyal’s research will help UAVs reach their full potential for many applications, including...

Find Hot Spots in Wildfires

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Monitor Bridges & Dams

Deliver Packages

Flood Search & Rescue

Watch Oil Pipelines

Monitor Forest Health

DONOR IMPACT Many of us would be lost without Google Maps to help us navigate to our destinations. And, many of us have experienced the frustration when a bad signal keeps us from knowing where we are or where we are going. As humans, we have options. We can stop and ask for directions or use our judgment to keep going until we locate a stronger signal. Drones don’t have that luxury.

As we move toward living in a world where drones will be used for everything from delivering packages to monitoring the health of a remote forested area, there needs to be a way to ensure that drones, regardless of whether they can access a signal, can find their way.

This is the basis for the work being conducted by Professor Amit Sanyal in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Our world can be a dangerous place for drones.

Sanyal’s research explores how to keep drones from getting lost in a GPS-denied environment or knocked off course by wind, rain, sleet, and snow. He’s programing perseverance in our robot helpers.

In his newly unveiled, state-of-the-art Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) lab at the Syracuse Center of Excellence, Sanyal puts these flying robots to the test. Rather than programing a route for the UAVs, Sanyal and his team of researchers will provide them with waypoints to reach and program the vehicles to navigate around obstacles and through changing conditions to a destination—all without being controlled by an operator. The facility—funded in part by a generous donation from Millennium Engineering and Integration, where Patrick Murphy ’88 serves as president and CEO—is big enough to test solo UAVs, squadrons of UAVs, and even certain ground vehicles that communicate with UAVs. “Unmanned systems are going to have a very important role to play,” said Sanyal. “They will impact everything from package delivery to monitoring of civilian infrastructure like oil pipelines, bridges, and dams.”

Unmanned systems can also operate in environments that are too hazardous, or inaccessible for humans. Flying UAVs can soar over flooded areas and conduct search and rescue far quicker than human emergency responders or locate hot spots over acres of wildfire.

“There’s tremendous potential for this technology. Ultimately, by overcoming the hurdles inherent in traveling through realworld conditions, UAVs, and unmanned systems in general, will become incredibly useful and enhance our quality of life.” ●

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D

A

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TOOLS OF THE TRADE “Our students stand out because we have invested in their ability to translate what they learn in the classroom to real-world issues. And this translation doesn’t come just by discussing the issues, but by immersing them in the e ­ nvironments where their skills will be needed the most,” said Dean Teresa Dahlberg. “The Construction Engineering Lab is the next step in providing ­students with access to experiences that mirror those they are likely to encounter when they leave the hill that is Syracuse University.”

The Construction Engineering Lab opened its doors at a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony in March.

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DONOR IMPACT

A

B

Slump Cone Set

K Slump Tester

The Slump Cone Test is used to measure the workability or ­consistency of fresh concrete. The set includes a base plate, a ­standardized slump cone, a tamping rod, and a tape measure.

The K Slump Tester provides a fast approximate determination of slump and workability of wet concrete. The tester is capable of providing a fairly accurate estimate for the actual slump value.

C

D

Concrete Air Meter

V-Meter™ MK IV Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity System

The Concrete Air Meter is used to measure the air content of fresh concrete. The air meter consists of a clamping system, 4-inch diameter percentage gauge, an air pump, release valve, and two ­petcocks. The test kit also includes a syringe, strike-off bar, c­ alibration vessel, and calibration tubes.

The V-Meter™ is an ultrasonic, pulse-velocity test system used for quality control and evaluation of concrete structures. It can be used to identify non-homogeneous conditions such as voids, cracks, ­honeycombs, and frozen concrete.

For many rookie civil engineers, their first exposure to actual construction is often in the workplace. And, it may even be their responsibility to oversee workers who have years of experience doing the work. Needless to say, the lack of a real-world understanding of the trade can put them at a disadvantage. As of this spring, civil engineering students at Syracuse University have access to a facility dedicated to replicating construction activities and quality-control tests that take place at construction sites, along with infrastructure health monitoring and inspection ­techniques that are used in managing civil infrastructure systems.

The newly unveiled Construction Engineering Lab is a spacious, flexible facility on the University’s south campus. It has the ability to accommodate a variety of educational and research initiatives at once and is supplied with construction engineering tools that give students hands-on experience in construction.

The Construction Engineering Lab was made possible through the investment of many generous alumni and friends of the College, including Abdallah Yabroudi ’78, G’79, Michael Venutolo ’77, William Kopka ’48, G’54, Raymond International, O’Brien & Gere, and Hueber-Breuer Construction. ● FALL 2016 | 5

THE LIFE PATH OF A

It may not be the final frontier, but with modern virtual reality technology, we can certainly “explore strange new worlds” and “boldly go where no man has gone before.” Today’s virtual reality can trick our minds into believing that we have been transported to places from our wildest imagination without ever leaving the comfort of our homes. Headsets like the Oculus Rift and the development of haptic feedback accessories like the Teslasuit will allow us to interact with, and even feel, virtual environments. These immersive experiences may be more convincing than ever before, but the idea of home virtual reality is far from new. Just ask Christopher Gentile ’81.

Check out Gentile’s full multimedia Career LifePath, and see everything that he has accomplished at PublicLifePath.com/CGentile.

Inspired by the technology on display in the 1960s Star Trek, Gentile developed a passion early in his life to help engineer futuristic solutions and products. In 1989, Gentile gained notoriety as an inventor of the first true virtual reality device that you could receive as a birthday present—the infamous Nintendo PowerGlove. For children of the ’80s and ’90s, the PowerGlove needs no introduction. Unveiled in the cult classic movie (and glorified Nintendo commercial) “The Wizard,” it hit the market when Nintendo’s original 8-bit entertainment system was at the height of its popularity.

While the PowerGlove may have been Gentile’s biggest claim to fame, he also worked on other virtual reality gaming systems in the early ’90s that made use of the technology of the time, which included low-tech VHS tapes. He invented and launched the first PC hand recognition device, called the Essential Reality’s P5 Glove. He even designed a virtual reality-based theme park ride that still operates at Disney World called Ride the Comix. He says, “It’s interesting to see VR gaming going the way it has. I see companies struggling with some of the same issues that we did back then, like motion sickness.

In some cases, our work surpasses some of the newer tech.”

The device was a virtual reality controller worn on your right hand that allowed players to interact with two-dimensional games three-dimensionally. While the PowerGlove ultimately fizzled as a gaming device after just a year, it became a cultural phenomenon that lives on to this day as a nostalgic item adored by collectors and tinkerers alike. It has been reprogrammed by enthusiasts to play invisible turntables, even animate.

But it’s not just VR. Gentile is a serial inventor and entrepreneur who is very difficult to categorize. Since he graduated from Syracuse University, he’s worked as a nuclear engineer, served as the CTO for an entertainment company where he developed holograms for the appropriately named Visionaries action figure line, and started his own company, MC Squared, where he’s developed web solutions for companies like MTV Networks, Target, Best Buy,

6 | FALL 2016

Ameriprise, and many others. One thing that is a common theme in his life and in his work is that he has been ahead of his time. In addition to tackling VR in the ’80s and ’90s, he was passionate about solar power in 1981 and set up MC Squared as a remote ­virtual workplace at a time when it was unheard of.

and only end up with 10 percent of the revenue, it’s going to be worth so much more than holding onto something that never sees the light of day. That’s why it’s important to work with people from other disciplines when you’re in college. Syracuse is one of the best schools to do that because it’s so strong in so many disciplines.”

With so many varied accomplishments throughout the years, it is a wonder that he is even able to recall everything, but when it comes to remembering things, Gentile—of course—has another novel solution. In recent years, Gentile has developed the LifePath iBoard®. Available on smartphones, tablets, and the web, LifePath, gives users the ability to record, organize, and share the most ­significant moments and events in their lives. LifePath events and albums can be populated with photos, videos, files, and descriptions of milestones. They can be privately or publicly shared, even coauthored, with family members or coworkers to securely record family and company histories.

It is that same collaborative and innovative spirit that has led Gentile to return to an area he pioneered decades ago—the universe of virtual reality. Coming soon, he will roll out his newest venture—MindTrip.

Through a combination of art, engineering, and technology he will help people “experience the impossible” through immersive VR and check things off their “virtual bucket list” such as visiting the pyramids, jumping out of a plane, or deep sea diving.

Gentile’s string of self-started successes was achieved with an engineering education that did not include much of the entrepreneurial focus that exists in SU’s curriculum today. So, what’s his secret? What approach has he taken to accomplish so much? His advice to all engineers is to expand your horizons and collaborate.

“When I was at Syracuse, I petitioned to take all of my electives in art and music. It taught me to work with different-minded people, much like you need to do in industry,” he said. “You need to bring in all the right people to bring a product to market and be willing to share a percentage of the potential revenue. If you have a great idea,

“That’s why it’s important to work with people from other disciplines when you’re in college. Syracuse is one of the best schools to do that because it’s so strong in so many disciplines.”

Who knows, perhaps Gentile’s VR experience will be the first to put us on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise like he imagined all those years ago. As he puts it, “Soon, there will be no limit to what we can experience.” ● FALL 2016 | 7

BIOFILMS ON CONTACT LENSES A vision for making bacteria uncomfortable.

Just like we care about the comfort of what we choose to wear and where we choose to live—so do bacteria. Unlike with our friends and family, researchers would like to find ways to make bacteria less welcome on surfaces.

This is the objective of Professor Dacheng Ren, who recently was awarded a R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how bacteria grow on the surface of polymers with different levels of stiffness—particularly as it relates to bacterial growth on contact lenses.

“When you change the stiffness, within the range of normal contact lenses, we see a big difference in terms of how much bacteria can attach ...”

“By using a common polymer material, that is used in many medical devices, it turns out that bacteria care a lot about stiffness,” said Ren. “When you change the stiffness, within the range of normal contact lenses, we see a big difference in terms of how much bacteria can attach.

It also affects the physiology of attached 8 | FALL 2016

cells, in terms of how fast they grow, and their sensitivity to antibiotics. Even the size of the cells tends to be different based on the stiffness.”

Through collaboration with Professor Jay Henderson, the team will be using cell-tracking software to look at how cells move on surfaces of varying stiffness, and will measure quantitative and statistically significant differences based on the ­different materials.

Bacteria, like us, have environmental preferences. “It is not surprising that they prefer the soft surfaces used in our study because it is easier for them to attach.

They seem to be happier too as the cells become longer and grow faster.”

Right now, a lot of people who wear contact lenses don’t think about bacterial growth, and they do not often clean and change them in time. Some of these actions can cause chronic, permanent damage due to biofilm-associated eye infections. Ren is working in his lab to see if the contact lenses themselves could one day become a line of defense against eye infections.

This NIH R21 grant is funded by the National Eye Institute and entitled for $408,183 for two years. It will help understand the effects of material stiffness on bacterial biofilm formation and develop better contact lenses. ●

SPOTLIGHT Dacheng Ren Professor, Biomedical & Chemical Engineering In his Biofilm Engineering Lab, Ren tackles harmful biofilms. Biofilms cause chronic infections in humans and are blamed for more than 45,000 deaths every year in the U.S. alone.

Antibiotics and disinfectants only work so well to address the problem, so new approaches, like changing the stiffness of materials, are necessary.

SPACE & SOUND Entrepreneur and Princeton professor Edgar Choueiri ’82 G’83 is at the vanguard of electronic propulsion and 3D audio.

FALL 2016 | 9

The distant, crackling sound of a child’s voice sent chills up his spine.

“Today is September twenty-first, nineteen-seventy-two. I am eleven years old now and you must be well above thirty. Although you exist in a different time, I am talking to you through this machine I have in my hands. I’m not sure if this tape will survive.

I would love it if I had become an astronaut or you were working in aerospace and electronics or playing with instruments.”

BACCH™ filter For your brain to experience true 3D audio, your right ear can only be permitted to hear the sound emitted by the right speaker, and your left ear should only hear the sound coming from the left. The BACCH™ electronic filter blocks the crosstalk between speakers and preserves the cues our brains receive.

The “I” and the “you” in the recording are both Edgar Choueiri ’82, G’83, separated by time. This eerie audio from his younger self, discovered among old compilations of Beatles and Louis Armstrong tracks, predicted his future with exceptional accuracy.

Choueiri said, “The first time I heard this recording, I was completely shaken. The little boy was speaking to me. Nothing has changed. I had the same passions then that I do now—space, music, and sound.”

About a decade after he first recorded that message in a bottle, Choueiri was at Syracuse University studying aerospace— obsessed with a book titled “Physics of Electric Propulsion,” by Robert Jahn. Spacecraft had always relied on chemical propulsion and this new field was in its infancy. Choueiri’s mentor, Professor John LaGraff, connected him with an aerospace professor at the University of Pisa, Mariano Andrenucci, and Syracuse aerospace professor Frederic Lyman, to delve deeper into the topic and it set him on a course to study the futuristic concept with Jahn himself at Princeton University.

“The idea is to use electrical power instead of chemical reactions to produce thrust to travel through space,” explained Choueiri.

“When I was in Syracuse, these rockets were still science fiction for the most part, yet LaGraff, Andrenucci, and Lyman encouraged my pursuit. Today, this is a multimillion-dollar industry. SpaceX is hiring people in this field because they want to use it for their Mars missions and nearly all geosynchronous spacecraft are switching to this technology.”

“You can capture very good tonal realism, but I found myself frustrated with the spatial realism of the music I was recording. It sent me on a trajectory to uncover how to deliver recorded audio three-dimensionally.”

Today, he works in the same aerospace department that Jahn had when he wrote the book that inspired Choueiri during his time in Syracuse, and he is now an expert in the field. However, his 11-year-old self had greater plans than becoming an aerospace engineer alone.

Like so many alumni, Choueiri’s Syracuse educational experience went beyond his selected major. He has always had a great love of music. As a student, he spent hours in Bird Library absorbed in 10 | FALL 2016

the overwhelming catalog of vinyl albums—from the early age of music all the way to modern music. He also took courses in electronic music with American composer Franklin Morris and spent every Saturday night in the Electronic Music Laboratory in Crouse College working on original compositions. He says, “I couldn’t have a normal dating life because I spent so much time in that lab.”

While he didn’t pursue music or sound academically after Syracuse, it remained his primary hobby. He built a recording studio in his home and spent his spare time recording Princeton’s Symphony Orchestra. It was there that an entirely new research focus first emerged for Choueiri.

“You can capture very good tonal realism, but I found myself frustrated with the spatial realism of the music I was recording. It sent me on a trajectory to uncover how to deliver recorded audio three-dimensionally.”

If you have ever seen a movie with surround sound or listened to a song in stereo, you might assume that you’ve already experienced 3D sound, but you haven’t. For the brain to experience true 3D audio, your right ear can only be permitted to hear the sound emitted by the right speaker, and your left ear should only hear the sound coming from the left. If one hears the “crosstalk” in both ears, the cues that your brain uses to determine where sound is coming from become

corrupted and the effect is lost. Choueiri has developed an electronic filter that blocks the crosstalk between speakers and preserves the cues our brains receive. “It’s like putting a mattress between two speakers,” he explains.

Featured in the New Yorker, Atlantic, and on NPR, it is called the BACCH™ filter. It is available commercially on Jawbone’s Jambox, can create a 3D audio environment around you from only two speakers, and fits in the palm of your hand. It is also available in a more advanced $54,000, no-expense-spared version tailored to audiophiles, called the BACCH-SP that delivers audio that is actually customized to the shape of the user’s head.

In demos of the technology, Choueiri operates like a magician. He holds the Jambox up to your face and plays “Money” by Pink Floyd.

At first, it sounds just as you’d expect. Then, when he engages the BACCH™ filter, you suddenly hear the thrumming of the guitar and the whirring and chimes of a cash register all around you. And not just to your left and right. It completely envelops you.

For his next trick, he plays the sound of a box of matches being shaken. Again, quite ordinary at first, but when the 3D kicks in, you literally feel as if an invisible man is encircling you, rattling the box as he moves. Recorded binaurally using a dummy head, the 3D effect is nearly flawless.

Using the BACCH-SP, he unveils the richest experience yet. The room erupts with an a capella choir singing a Latin hymn. The music engulfs you. You turn your head and expect to see the tenor standing next to you, the soprano to your left. Close your eyes and it feels like you are sitting on the altar with the performers surrounding you in a horseshoe.

Each experience is so real it’s breathtaking. Fortunately, in the coming years, Choueiri foresees 3D become more accessible to consumers, being introduced to home and car stereo systems.

For a man who is so clearly at the bleeding edge of two innovative advancements, Choueiri remains kind, affable, and eager to share his work. He’s deeply grateful to the men who helped him reach the point he is at today. “My work in propulsion and 3D can both be traced back to professors that inspired me at Syracuse University.

My experiences there changed my life, and it can do the same for any young person that is willing to take advantage of everything the University has to offer.”

While it is true that his training and hard work got him to where he is today, it’s clear that the dreams of an 11-year-old boy in 1972 set the course. ●

FALL 2016 | 11

Why SU? Why Now? Technology is everywhere, but it isn’t everything.

Today’s engineers and computer scientists need an intimate understanding of how technological solutions synchronize with other ­disciplines. Policy, economy, sociology, education, art—the list is endless.

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Our intimate, rigorous college is part of a University that boasts top business, communications, and public affairs colleges—just to name a few. We are uniquely suited to provide an engineering and computer science education

that prepares graduates to create transformative solutions to today’s grand challenges.

With your help, we will amplify our distinctions and become a leading model for contemporary engineering and computer science education.

OUR PLAN

Civil engineering freshmen take to the Quad to learn the ins and outs of land surveying.

With this Transformation Plan we will become a leading model for contemporary engineering and computer science education. We will be stronger, more visible, more sustainable, with enhanced impact upon students, alumni, and communities.

O

ver the next 10 years, Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science will grow student enrollment on campus by 20 percent, to over 3,000 students, in areas demanded by the workforce. We will increase the presence of persons historically underrepresented to comprise over 60 percent of our undergraduate student body. We will increase graduation rates by 20 percentage points to over 70 percent.

We will launch and grow online programs to enroll over 500 new students annually.

We will place students into jobs within three months of graduation.

The College will grow faculty size by 30 percent, to over 130 professors, with a diversity profile that reflects the student body. We will hire prestigious endowed professors in areas of research distinction.

We will more than double annual research expenditures and significantly increase graduate student success.

We will shift the composition of our faculty body to comprise 30 percent professors of practice, up from 22 percent, to enhance our capacity to provide hands-on experiences for students and achieve a lower student-to-teacher ratio. We will increase our staff support by 30 percent to improve upon student services.

by 40 percent, to occupy 230,000 square feet, and significantly enhance space quality to catalyze collaborative learning, creativity, and innovation, and to convey to students that these aspects are signature characteristics of our discipline.

With your help, in 10 years, Syracuse University will boast an engineering and computer science education that complements the University’s legacy of leadership in education and research.

Our goals:

■■ Broaden our community of scholars ■■ Magnify our value ■■ Catalyze idea exchange ■■ Elevate our research impact

We aspire to transform Syracuse University into a leading model for contemporary engineering and computer science education.

We need your help This is a rallying cry to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and our global community to join us and support us. As engineers and computer scientists, we know that what can be done through collaboration far exceeds what can be done alone.

our goals

Guiding imperatives:

■■ Advance the College’s

reputation by leveraging areas of University distinction

■■ Provide academic, professional, and

research experiences that translate into a measurable return-on-investment

■■ Champion the research and innovation of faculty and students to maximize their global impact

■■ Ensure the College has a long-term, sustainable financial model

The College will enhance our learning ­environments, growing our space footprint FALL 2016 | 13

BROADEN OUR COMMUNITY OF SCHOLARS Diversifying the workforce by expanding who studies engineering and computer science.

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e seek to advance the educational experience, in its entirety, for each of our students. In doing so, the College aims to attract and educate the next generation of talented, creative, and committed engineers and computer scientists to be successful from their first internship to ­ their third, fourth, or fifth career.

As we enhance the student experience through strengthened experiential learning, a deeper sense of community, expanded research opportunities, and a widening set of curricular offerings, the College will strengthen the collective quality and diversity of its graduates and elevate their impact on society.

How we will take action:

■■ Establish a scholars program to attract a top-tier cohort of globally minded student innovators and researchers

■■ Develop accelerated pathways

from military service to the workforce by awarding academic credit for work experiences

■■ Deepen K-12 and community college outreach to broaden participation of women and minorities

■■ Build strategic partnerships to achieve international student diversity

■■ Recruit and retain women and minority faculty who represent our diverse community of students

Donofrio Scholar Nigel Miller ’17 pursues two majors—biomedical engineering and biochemistry.

Commitment to Veterans & Military-Connected Families We will align our recruitment, Aligning with Syracuse University’s Academic Strategic Plan

academic offerings, and support services with the needs and aspirations of veterans and their families. We will advance research in areas critical to veterans’ health, quality of life and national security.

Internationalization We will better cultivate, welcome, support, and value the contributions of a diverse international student community, facilitate cross-cultural interaction, and advance cultural understanding.

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MAGNIFY OUR VALUE

Aerospace engineering seniors fly custom-made aircraft in the Carrier Dome.

Addressing what you learn, where you learn, and how you learn in a way that translates into lasting value.

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cross the board, today’s employers demand a new paradigm for excellence—and a new kind of engineer or computer scientist. Employers seek recruits possessing strong creative, technical, and collaborative skills, who communicate persuasively across disci­ plines, platforms, and cultural boundaries.

More than ever, a degree in engineering or computer science from Syracuse University is an investment with high return. A rigorous technical college, situated within a comprehensive university, the college graduates professionals and researchers with the depth and breadth needed to address our most critical global and social issues. We will enhance the value of an SU degree through continuous improvements in our learning practices and environments.

With increased student support and career services, our students will graduate on

Aligning with Syracuse University’s Academic Strategic Plan

time, with the experiences needed to begin their careers. By leveraging the SU alumni community, we will connect our graduates to professional and social support throughout their lives.

How we will take action:

■■ Invest in career services and corporate

relations with a hyper-focus on internships and job placement for undergraduate and graduate students

■■ Hire 18 professors of practice who bring leading-edge teaching pedagogies and industry-focused experiences for students on campus and online

■■ Establish opportunities at SU alumni

houses in New York, Boston, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C., to foster networking among alumni, students, and K-12 schools for job shadowing, career coaching, and STEM outreach

■■ Establish equipment refresh funds to

maintain state-of-the-art educational technology in teaching spaces

■■ Expand and modernize our spaces and technology to promote collaborative learning, a signature characteristic of contemporary engineering and computer science education

■■ Strengthen and broaden student success programs focused on raising two- and four-year retention rates

■■ Invest in faculty development to

continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of our teaching

The Student Experience We will boldly instill in all students the core competencies, values, and dynamic learning experiences that drive intellectual excellence, feed creativity and innovation, and cultivate skills needed to excel throughout their lives.

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CATALYZE IDEA EXCHANGE Graduating dynamic students, Universitywide, by leveraging campus areas of distinction.

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ne of our greatest opportunities is our position as an engineering and computer science college at Syracuse University—a university grounded in the liberal arts, with distinctions in public policy, communications, business, law, architecture, education, entrepreneurship, and veterans. Here, our agility, drive, and collaborative spirit are helping us to leverage strengths across campus, as we build sustainable, mutually beneficial partnerships with other colleges. Working together, we will expand upon and develop cross-­ disciplinary opportunities, which meet the contemporary needs of our students that will differentiate our graduates, and the University’s graduates, in the marketplace.

■■ Catalyze a community for design and prototyping by creating an Invention Accelerator and an Innovation Resource Center

■■ Develop computation across the

curriculum to enable partner colleges on campus to graduate students with the technical skills needed to advance in their disciplines

Professor Cliff Davidson and students study a green roof in Syracuse—one of the largest in the Northeast.

How we will take action:

■■ Develop Engineering+ and Computer Science++ pathways where students broaden their education to include disciplines such as business, policy, law, and communications

Innovation We will nurture an entrepreneurial mindset, not solely in a business sense, Aligning with Syracuse University’s Academic Strategic Plan

but in a way that embraces new models of discovery in every corner of our campus. We will seed and nurture a campuswide culture of continuous innovation that incentivizes students, faculty, and staff to “do change right,” the Syracuse way.

One University We will galvanize institutionwide excellence by partnering with other colleges and schools to enhance the quality and efficiency of our education, research, support services, and our workplace climate.

16 | FALL 2016

ELEVATE OUR RESEARCH IMPACT 010100 110101 011101

Professor Sara Eftekharnejad’s research aims to secure the smart grid from cyberthreats.

Cultivate a culture of discovery that translates to the classroom, industry, and beyond.

o

ur research impacts the world around us—our health and wellbeing, safety and security, and built and natural environment. Elevating this impact is essential to our academic excellence and reputation.

We seek to amplify our strengths through partnerships with industry, government, and nonprofits. We extend our impact through undergraduate research, invention, and technology transfer.

Research focus:

■■ We engineer solutions for improving

our health and quality of life, with particular consideration for the needs of veterans, persons with disabilities, and aging populations. This includes smart materials, biomaterials, assistive technologies, and rehabilitative and regenerative engineering.

■■ We advance physical systems augmented by computation. These cyberphysical systems include smart management

Aligning with Syracuse University’s Academic Strategic Plan

of water systems for sustainability, advanced manufacturing, intelligent transportation, smart grid, and unmanned vehicles and aerial systems.

■■ Our research advances the infrastructure needed to support cyberphysical systems, often referred to as the internet-of-things, and to assure our national security.

This includes cyber engineering, cybersecurity, assurance, cognitive wireless networks, precision sensing, data science, and analytics.

■■ We address the impact of engineering systems on the environment, with our focus on clean energy, including energy sources, conversion, and conservation, and with our focus on sustainability, including water.

How we will take action:

■■ Hire 12 research professors in strategic research areas, especially endowed chairs, to attract transformative research leaders and mentors

■■ Aggregate research equipment across

campus into shared facilities and recharge centers to foster usage and collaboration among faculty, industry, and university partners

■■ Establish refresh funds to maintain

state-of-the-art research equipment and supplies

■■ Invest in corporate relations to build partnerships around translating research into market needs

■■ Establish a University focus on

autonomy, cybersecurity, and policy to augment Central New York’s $500 million economic revitalization initiative

■■ Establish an undergraduate research scholars program to attract domestic students to doctoral programs

■■ Establish a Future Faculty program for doctoral students to enhance teaching skills of our nation’s future professors

Discovery We will foster a Universitywide culture that celebrates and advances creative work and research in ways that inspire discovery, enhance teaching and learning, and magnify our impact and interconnections with the world.

FALL 2016 | 17

CONTRASTING CONSTRUCTION IN

BULGARIA Students in the new course Construction Management Practices in Eastern Europe began their studies early last summer in the heart of Bulgaria, spending two weeks examining historic and modern construction sites throughout the country.

The trip began with a visit to the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in the capital city of Sofia, where students participated in a colloquium with engineering students and faculty focused on engineering education in Bulgaria and United States. They visited nine construction sites with active infrastructure, commercial, residential development, and industrial projects. Students met with engineers, architects, developers, construction managers, superintendents, and construction safety officers. They also explored three historic sites and the evolution of construction from Trachian, Roman and Byzantine times to today.

“Students gained perspective of engineering and construction practices, as well as construction materials availability and project delivery methods,” says Professor Svetoslava Todorova.

For example, in the U.S., steel is the preferred material for commercial construction of multistory structures. In Bulgaria, and throughout Europe, the first choice is reinforced concrete.

“They see that there can be different practices, different materials, different regulations, and still they produce a building that is high quality,” Todorova says.

While students studied contrasts in construction techniques, they were also intrigued by similarities. A retaining wall from a Trachian site dating to the 12th century BCE was ­created with a locking system in which two stones were carved in order to make an opening, which was then filled with melted iron, with lead poured over the top to prevent rust.

“A similar construction technique was used for the stone walls of the Erie Canal,” Todorova says.

Todorova considers learning about practices of another part of the world a valuable experience for students. “I think it opens their mind about how things can be done differently,” she says.

“It gives them an opportunity to think creatively.” ●

18 | FALL 2016

Rachael Dobosiewicz ’17 “It was definitely a completely different learning experience. It was really interesting to see how things are done somewhere else.”

Arthur Qiming Wang ’18 “Unlike in lectures, we were able to use all of our senses to observe, to feel, and to understand the real engineering practice. It helped us to link everything we have learned so far and try to apply it in the real world.”

FALL 2016 | 19

20 | FALL 2016

THE SPARK KRISTIN ANGELLO ’99 LEFT BEHIND A 13-YEAR CAREER AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER TO BECOME A FULL-TIME EDUCATOR. TODAY, SHE’S OUT TO INSPIRE A LOVE FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING IN THE NEW GENERATION. BEACH CLOSED. NO SWIMMING. CONTAMINATED WATER. Growing up on Long Island Sound, Kristin Angello ’99 was frequently disappointed by these words. Every summer, sewage and toxic runoff from city streets transformed her summer hangout into a ­ polluted mess. Fortunately, the very same mess that inevitably left her crestfallen every summer break motivated her to pursue environmental engineering— intent on developing solutions to address water pollution.

And she did. Angello’s first job out of college was working for ARCADIS as a senior civil engineer. She oversaw major projects involving sustainable management of storm water and was part of a research team that designed one of the largest ultraviolet disinfectant systems

in the world at the Metropolitan Syracuse Wastewater Treatment Plant on the shores of Onondaga Lake.

Along the way, Angello also gave back to her community. She became involved with the Society of Women Engineers, serving as their outreach coordinator.

In this role, she designed engineering

activities and workshops for organizations like the Girl Scouts and Girls, Inc. She also jumped at a chance to lead an engineering science enrichment cluster in her kids’ classes. It was here that a new passion began to take hold—teaching.

“I began to see kids building on their skills and get extremely excited about

“My students are always amazed to learn what engineers are capable of, and it is my hope that they begin to think, ‘I could do that, too!’”

FALL 2016 | 21

the things I was sharing with them.

We did an acids and bases activity, making a pH indicator with cabbage juice. It stunk up my house terribly,” said Angello, “One day, one of the boys from the class approached me outside of school and was absolutely breathless telling me about doing the experiment again at his home. He was so excited! I was passionate about my career as an engineer, but I began to realize I could help kids get sparked about ­s cience and engineering, so I decided to give it a shot.”

In a bold move, Angello departed an established and promising job as an engineer to do her

“It drives me crazy when people say they could never be an engineer. You don’t know that. You have to try. People need time and patience to learn.”

part to inspire budding engineers and scientists as a science teacher in the LaFayette Central School District in LaFayette, N.Y. Angello teaches physics and Project Lead the Way—a nationally recognized engineering curriculum that focuses on problem solving, the engineering design process, and creativity in math

and science. The material learned in high school science courses has a place in engineering, no doubt, but very few people are actually taught engineering in high school. Through Angello’s work, students are doing just that.

“When I was in high school I thought engineering was all about gears and grease. It took one of my favorite high

Angello’s classroom is stocked with hands-on science equipment, kits, and toys that educate and inspire.

22 | FALL 2016

school teachers to show me that engineering could be anything. I hope I’m inspiring the same kind of interest in others that he did in me,” she said. “I teach engineering concepts in all of my classes that get my students to think as an engineer—how to problem-solve, how to try something, see it fail, and be OK with that. It’s a whole mindset.”

And these aren’t your father’s science classes. Physics and engineering have never been quite this much fun. Newton’s three laws are taught by building balloon cars. Inertia is taught with an exploration of how astronauts move through the space station. Crashing LEGO cars (complete with mini figure crash dummies) helps convey momentum. Gravity and force are learned while sledding down the snowy hills behind the school. Designing miniature rollercoasters and taking a field trip to the amusement park teach energy and motion. With each project, she encourages her students to engineer the best solution.

In her classes, she also makes a point of indicating which careers are related to each topic. For example, they discuss the police division of accident scene investigators and how they need to be knowledgeable about friction, momentum, and forces. When working through a unit on waves, the students complete a project that explores different applications of the Doppler effect and what types of careers rely on the concept, such as medical technicians, meteorologists, law enforcement, and biologists.

Angello’s work isn’t just inspiring—it’s vital. According to the U.S. Department of Education, just 16 percent of qualified high school seniors are interested in pursuing a career in STEM. In New

York State, students are only required to take three years of science. Many reach this requirement before ever needing to take physics. For most, Angello’s course is optional. She says, “In most cases, if you are aiming for an engineering degree, you will be sunk without physics. Without it, students are at an extreme disadvantage.”

but if you are patient with yourself you are going to be able to figure it out.”

In spite of what she’s up against, Angello can’t help but be encouraged by the STEM programs that are gaining momentum around the country. In addition to Project Lead the Way, Angello founded a Science Olympiad team at her school and is thankful for an abundance of opportunities like “Geek Girl” camps to enroll her own children in extracurric“When I was in high school I thought ular STEM programs. engineering was all about gears and She even sees kids’ interest in building grease. It took one of my favorite games like Minecraft high school teachers to show me as a positive sign.

that engineering could be anything.”

It’s not just the current structure of high school science education that can discourage students from entering the STEM field. Lots of students lose interest in sciences before they even reach high school—especially girls. Somehow there is a disconnect between the importance of STEM in society and an ability to inspire a significant enough number of kids to pursue STEM disciplines.

The Atlantic once featured an article titled, “Too Many Kids Quit Science Because They Don’t Think They’re Smart.” Angello says she’s seen this mentality before in peers and students alike. “It drives me crazy when people say they could never be an engineer. You don’t know that. You have to try. People need time and patience to learn. I structure my class so I’m not leaving anyone behind. I think lots of people feel like engineering is difficult because they didn’t pick up on it quickly.” said Angello.

“There is still this image of an uncaring, inaccessible professor at the chalkboard just writing with one hand and erasing with the other. That’s not how it’s done anymore. Yes, this is complicated stuff,

Plus, her students show excitement for the subject matter every day. “My students are always amazed to learn what engineers are capable of, and it is my hope that they begin to think, “I could do that, too!”

While she understands that not all of her students are going to become engineers, she’s confident that she can inspire them to look at the world around them with wonder and consider how things are happening and explore it from a scientific mindset. She believes that just as she was once inspired to clean up the water at the beaches in her hometown, students can find a reason to take their interest in STEM to another level in their education and future professions.

“I’ve made it my mission to teach my students that whatever it is they love, whatever they are passionate about, they can engage and improve it with a stronger understanding of science and engineering. In fact, the world needs them to.” ●

FALL 2016 | 23

Our lifestyle is intricately linked to burning fuel.

Practical approaches to sustainability must include combustion.

Combustion is one of the first technologies of mankind— the discovery of fire. The combustion process brings together fuel, oxidizer, and high temperature to create thermal energy.

That energy can either be used to produce heat, or constrained by a device to produce mechanical work—like running a car engine or an electric generator.

If you burn fuel for heating purposes, the efficiency can be 98 or 99 percent. However, current thermal conversion processes that power engines, manufacturing plants, and electronic devices are only 39.4 percent efficient or lower.

Globally, there has been considerable investment and interest in offsetting the use of combustion with renewable sources.

Why Advance Combustion?

In 1980, 95 percent of the energy consumed in the United States came from combustion sources such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Thirty-five years later in 2015, that number is still as high as 86.3 percent. Despite continuous investment in alternative energy sources such as solar, hydro, and geothermal, that decrease has primarily been driven by a 5.6 percent increase in the use of nuclear energy.

As of 2015, renewable sources of energy represented 5 percent of all energy production in the United States. Similar to other countries worldwide, the United States had set a target of having 20 percent of all energy produced from renewable sources by 2020. With four years left to that target. The question is—how realistic is that target?

24 | FALL 2016

The question that Professor Ben Akih-Kumgeh asks is—can we improve the efficiency of combustion processes to achieve the same resource-preserving and environmental conservation goals?

“What we call useful energy from combustion always has a number of steps, and in all these steps we are trying to trick the system to be doing something naturally, like heat flowing from a hotter region to a colder one. In that process we draw out some of the energy,” said Akih-Kumgeh.

The entire economy is built around automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing industries that are centered around combustion.

According to Akih-Kumgeh there are two major reasons why combustion continues to be a critical resource in our economy.

The first reason is energy density. The energy made available during combustion can power jet aircraft and launch rockets into outer space or satellites into orbit. There are currently no renewable sources of energy that can provide the power needed by these crucial transportation systems.

The second for the continuous interest in combustion is that we live in a market-driven economy and the demand for fossil fuels is dependent on the products in the marketplace and the energy sources they use.

Some of the most energy-efficient jet engines are being developed today, but they are built using combustion. The useful life of an aircraft is somewhere between 30 and 40 years. Some of the airplanes built and sold this year may still be in the air in 2060.

This is also true of consumer purchases like gas boilers or cars where an owner may expect at least a 10-year useful life from

their purchase. Shifting demand requires turnover of the equipment reliant on specific sources of energy. These economic commitments make it hard to see how we can move away from combustion technologies overnight.

FACILITY HIGHLIGHT

Even electric cars, while gaining in popularity, require recharging.

While the power production becomes more centralized, the source of the energy is still most likely to come from a power plant powered by combustion.

This is not to say that an investment in renewable energy is unjustified, but it does make a strong case for why research in combustion processes and efficiency is critically important as a part of the overall energy solution. This is especially true given that a modest increase in combustion efficiency could easily equal the total power supplied by renewable energy today and in the near future.

The big thrust in combustion research now is to understand from a fundamental perspective the behavior of combustion processes and how unwanted emissions are generated. Despite the long history of combustion, research into what happens at the molecular level is a relatively new field.

“We need to characterize the combustion properties of different fuels, and then transform the knowledge gained into mathematical models of the process. If these mathematical models are successful in describing what really goes on in the combustion process, then we can use them extensively in computations to probe new engine design parameters that favor higher efficiency at lower levels of pollutant emissions.”

The future of combustion engineering, as with so many engineering disciplines, is stronger through the pursuit of interdisciplinary work, and optimal solutions will be found somewhere at the intersection of disciplines like transportation and civil

Thermodynamics and Combustion Laboratory Akih-Kumgeh’s Thermodynamics and Combustion Laboratory is devoted to studying the combustion properties of alternative and conventional fuels. The goal is to develop a set of predictive tools that can facilitate the design of cleaner and more efficient combustion systems.

engineering, chemistry, physics, materials science, computing, and public policy.

“Ultimately, I want to start that conversation at Syracuse University.

I believe that you can only solve the problem by first understanding the different ways our lives are affected by the problem.

Combustion engineers can provide the technical knowledge and, in dialogue with other areas, we can make informed decisions on how to build a future that is energy sustainable with a vibrant economy,” Akih-Kumgeh said.

As things stand now, combustion will be the primary source of energy for our economy for decades. Understanding how the process works is the first step in unlocking the ultimate potential of a critical power source while preserving our planet for generations to come. ●

Estimated U.S. Energy Consumption in 2015 This is where our energy comes from today. Improving the efficiency of combustion will preserve resources and contribute to environmental conservation.

36.35%

29.10%

Petroleum 35.37 QBtu

Natural Gas 28.32 QBtu

Geothermal 0.22 QBtu

0.23%

Solar 0.55 QBtu

0.57%

Wind 1.82 QBtu

1.87%

Hydro 2.39 QBtu

2.45%

Biomass 4.70 QBtu

4.83%

Nuclear 8.34 QBtu

8.57%

Coal 15.61 QBtu

16.04%

FALL 2016 | 25

New hardware will have a similar structure to the human brain. “Processing elements will be more like neurons,� Qiu says.

26 | FALL 2016

BRAIN INSPIRED COMPUTING Envision discovering an old letter. You can read all of the words except for one where the ink is smudged.

With a moment’s thought, you figure out the missing word.

The same phenomenon is at work when you are speaking with someone on the phone with a connection that is not clear. If you miss a word, your brain fills it in, working from the context of the rest of the sentence.

The goal of the research conducted by Qiu and her students is to fabricate a new kind of computer that will be different in important ways from the computers used today. New hardware will have a similar structure to the human brain. “Processing elements will be more like neurons,” Qiu says.

How can computers work more like the human brain? That is the focus of the research by Syracuse University Professor Qinru Qiu, who teaches Computer Engineering. “The basic idea is to learn from the human brain and to imitate its hardware architecture,” Qiu says. Artificial, or Machine Intelligence, is the new frontier for computer science, and Qiu and her students are enthused about the enormous possibilities it affords.

In the human nervous system, a synapse enables a neuron to send a signal to another neuron. Synapses enable us to store information, and thus to remember. The new computer model will have a parallel structure, with processing agents as neurons and neurosynaptic cores as synapses.

A computer that can predict missing information, based on context, will have important implications in the areas of FALL 2016 | 27

speech, text, and image recognition. However, this requires a co-design of both hardware and software. Qiu and her students have applied the software algorithm to text recognition and are now working on the voice recognition piece. At the same time, they are also working on the hardware circuits of neurons and synapses.

With both the hardware and software, the new computer will greatly improve the quality of cognitive applications. An example is optical character recognition, which is the conversion of images that are handwritten or typed into a digital document, which then can be more readily searched for, edited, and stored, as well as be used for many other cognitive applications.

“The learning is also very efficient,” says Qiu, who became interested in “green computing”—conservation of energy while using a computer—while she was a graduate student at the University of Southern California. She points out that human brains use less than 20 watts of power and a typical desktop computer uses more than 100 watts. Batteries that power computers are depleted quickly—before a task is completed or a road traveled.

Qiu can see applications for the new computer as an embedded system in a variety of fields, including military intelligence and surveillance. Another key area that benefits from the technology is the Google self-driving car project. A successful self-driving car would enable elderly people and those with visual impairments to be able to travel by car to a particular destination. Key elements for the self-driving car will be the increased memory capability of the new computer and also the conservation of energy. A traditional computer in a self-driving car, for instance, would use up battery power very quickly.

“My students are very interested in this topic,” Qiu says. “They truly believe this is the direction we need to be headed in.” ●

Making a Computer Qiu’s research requires a computer that is capable of so much more than your typical desktop or laptop. Her research team is building the hardware and software they need.

What is Green Computing?

It can take a lot of power to keep computing technology humming.

Green computing focuses on reducing the environmental impact by improving energy efficiency. It also extends to the safe disposal of computer equipment when it has reached the end of its usefulness.

Where can this technology be used?

“Towards Parallel Implementation of Associative Military intelligence & surveillance Because of its predictive capabilities, and the fact that it will require far less power, the proposed system will be ideal for use in unmanned systems.

Inference for Cogent Confabulation,” by Zhe Li, Qinru Qiu, and Mangesh Tamhankar, received the “Most Innovative Student Paper” award on High Performance Extreme Computing conference this fall.

Self-driving cars Traditional computers will sap power from the battery on self-driving cars in no time.

Computers that run on less power are vital to make the vehicles of tomorrow possible.

28 | FALL 2016

A computer that can predict missing information, based on context, will have important implications in the areas of speech, text, and image recognition.

However, this requires a co-design of both hardware and software. Qiu and her students have applied the software algorithm to text recognition and are now working on the voice recognition piece.

FALL 2016 | 29

IN THE BUSINESS OF

HEALTHY GUMS Here’s proof that you should listen to your mother’s ideas.

Just a few months out of college, Anastasia Budinskaya ’16 is applying for a patent for a new vacuum dental irrigation device called the “VIP-Vac.” It was her mother, Oksana Budinskaya, a dentist and associate professor of dentistry at Texas A&M Health Science Center, who did the original medical research and encouraged her daughter to work on the project.

“It can be used as an adjunctive treatment if patients are diagnosed with periodontal disease, where there has been a recession of the gum, or where there are risk factors for gum disease,” says Anastasia Budinskaya, who majored in bioengineering and works as a clinical research coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital. Negative pressure on a gum (a vacuum) helps blood vessels to grow, leaving gums healthier by nourishing them with additional blood supply. The idea comes from the “wound vac,” which is used on wounds in other parts of the body, for instance after surgery, or on a skin ulcer. The wound vac draws out fluid from a wound and increases the blood vessel size and thus, blood supply, aiding healing. “Specialties end up taking ideas from other specialties,” Budinskaya says. “The idea is, if we are doing 30 | FALL 2016

this in surgery, and it is working, would it work on the gums also?”

Oksana Budinskaya first had an engineer in Texas create a basic device in order to test its efficacy. She and other researchers performed clinical trials on canines to determine if the procedure would lead to blood vessel collateralization. When Anastasia was a senior and working on her capstone design project, she and her team took the VIP-Vac idea and fine-tuned the device. They created a dial on the device to control the amount of negative pressure exerted, set up simulations, and developed a marketing plan.

Anastasia Budinskaya and her team of fellow bioengineering students, Sierra Houston ’16, Nesta Yip ’16, and Michael Robertson ’16, entered the VIP-Vac in the Panasci Business Plan Competition, a campuswide student business plan competition, hosted by the Whitman School of Management. The team won the Consumer Product Innovation Award, and third place overall, which totaled a prize of $5,000. Budinskaya’s further work on the device was geared to making it more

VIP-Vac Vacuum Dental Irrigation Unhealthy gums Any dentist will tell you to take care of your gums. Gum disease can lead to tooth loss and other health problems.

Vacuum healing VIP-Vac treats periodontal disease where there has been a recession of the gum or risk factors for gum disease. Applying negative pressure on a gum helps blood vessels grow, leaving gums healthier. It’s inspired by the “wound vac” which draws out fluid from a wound and increases blood supply.

Fine-tuned by students Working off a device designed by a professional engineer, a team of Syracuse bioengineering students added a dial to control the amount of negative pressure exerted, made it more ergonomic, and customized it to fit different-sized mouths.

ergonomically correct, and to customize it, so that it could fit in different-sized mouths.

Engineering training was critical in enabling her to do the work, Budinskaya says. She says did not expect to be an engineer, and still has dreams of becoming a surgeon. Her training in COMSOL made it possible for her to test the VIP-Vac. “In class, I learned the design process, and utilized the resources SU gives to all students in Maker Space and 3D printed the device,” she says.

Ultimately, Budinskaya says, the business idea is to create two different VIP-Vacs, one for home use and one, perhaps with more capabilities and power, that would be used by dental practitioners—hygienists and dentists. Budinskaya and her mother established a company, and have secured investors. “It has been a slow but rewarding process,” says Budinskaya, who adds that she has learned a lot, every step of the way. ●

SPOTLIGHT Panasci Business Plan Competition The Panasci Business Plan Competition is a campus-wide student business plan competition, hosted by the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship in the Whitman School of Management, and made possible by long-time Whitman supporter, the late Henry A. Panasci, founder of Fay’s Drugs.

It rewards both the innovativeness of the idea and the quality of the plan, including innovative thinking regarding new markets, products and services, coupled with the ability to strategize on how to make it happen.

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THE ORIGINS OF HEALING Advancements in stem cell engineering are leading us into a new era of rehabilitation and health.

32 | FALL 2016

DONOR IMPACT

T

HE EARLY DAYS OF STEM CELL RESEARCH WERE MIRED IN CONTROVERSY. THE FACT THAT THE FIRST ISOLATED HUMAN STEM CELLS WERE DERIVED FROM HUMAN EMBRYOS IN VARIOUS STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT INTRODUCED SERIOUS MORAL IMPLICATIONS THAT CAST A SHADOW OVER THE GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERY.

While there was little doubt about the promise of using stem cells to treat disease, many saw the cost as far too high. A debate raged around the world.

Governments passed legislation. Funding was sparse at best.

Then, 10 years ago, Nobel Prize-winning researcher Shinya Yamanaka changed the entire equation by uncovering a way to reprogram adult cells into the cells that could previously only be obtained from embryos. Freed from the ethical battle that raged for years, these rewritable cells have delivered us to the precipice of major medical breakthroughs unlike the world has ever seen.

Induced pluripotent stem cells, as they are called, are cells that have the ability to morph into brain cells, liver cells, heart cells—indeed any cell in the human body.

Their “fate” is determined by using different biochemical tools, growth factors, and molecules that regulate the signal pathways inside the cell. Cells, like humans, adapt to stimulus in their environment and it determines what kind of cell they will become.

Zhen Ma Assistant Professor, Samuel and Carol Nappi Research Scholar In addition to his research, Ma teaches an undergraduate course in bioinstrumentation and develops a new graduate level course— Stem Cell Engineering.

FALL 2016 | 33

iPS

t was this discovery that ignited Zhen Ma’s passion for biomedical research and inspired him to establish his research career in developmental biology, tissue morphogenesis, cardiac tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and stem cell engineering. This fall, Ma joined the College as an assistant p ­ rofessor and the lead researcher in the newly established System Tissue Engineering and Morphogenesis lab. He says, “I see pluripotent stem cells as the future of medicine.

The next big step for human biology is going to come through work in this field.”

Most people are familiar with stem cells’ ability to regenerate and repair tissue and organs. Ma’s research uses stem cells to study disease and to help design treatments that are tailored to patients’ s­ pecific genetic makeup.

Induced pluripotent stem cells are cells that have the ability to morph into any cell in the human body

Micro heart muscle derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells; Green is cardiac sarcomere, red is nuclei

Say a person has congenital heart disease, which is a genetic defect. An infant who grows into an adult with this defect, left untreated, will inevitably develop health issues related to their heart. Using stem cell technology, biomedical engineers can take skin cells from the patient, wipe the cells’ slate clean by turning them into induced pluripotent stem cells, then reprogram them to be heart cells. Since all of the cells are from the same patient, the new heart cells share the exact same genetic makeup—defect and all.

“By studying heart cells outside of the body, we can understand the specific mechanics of what is happening inside the person’s body and use the cells to screen drugs to uncover the best treatment for that patient’s disease.

It’s personalized medicine,” explains Ma. He sees great potential in taking this treatment one step further by incorporating genetic editing. Imagine the same scenario in which a patient’s heart cells carry a genetic defect. It may one day be possible to correct the defect in heart cells and put them back into the patient. People could be healed with their own repaired cells.

Making heart cells out of induced pluripotent stem cells to evaluate treatments 34 | FALL 2016

or cut out defects is one thing, but what if stem cells could go beyond working with cells and tissue? Is it possible that stem cells could be used to build an entire organ? Could a person become his or her own organ donor?

“ I see pluripotent stem cells as the future of medicine.

The next big step for human biology is going to come through work in this field.”

The idea of growing “replacement parts” using stem cells may sound like science fiction today, but Ma doesn’t think it is out of the question, given the proper scientific advancements. The biggest limitation to generating organs, like a fully functional heart, is the strength of the cells. Stem cell researchers can create heart tissue that actually beats in a petri dish, but it’s not as strong as the tissue in your heart. In the future, biochemical solutions and possibly

SPOTLIGHT

System Tissue Engineering and Morphogenesis lab The STEM lab was established at Syracuse University by a $1 million investment by Syracuse University Trustee Samuel G. Nappi, and his wife Carol. Ma’s lab advances this research and further leverages the University’s extraordinary multidisciplinary ecosystem of research and resources to position itself as a leader in this rehabilitative and regenerative engineering. The new lab will also bolster the College’s strength in smart materials for healthcare.

3D bioprinting technologies could be used to solve this problem, but we’re just not there yet.

It has only been 10 years since Yamanaka’s discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells, so this is all relatively new territory, but the progress has already been explosive.

Professor Ma is eager to contribute to the impending leaps in this field.

“The advancements in stem cell engineering in the scientific community and in my lab are ushering in the era of precision medicine in human healthcare. The biggest breakthroughs are still on the horizon and we are in a unique position to contribute to them at Syracuse University.” ●

“ This will be an invaluable resource for SU. It will enable our integrated approach to research and education in biomaterials as well as cellular and tissue engineering. These areas share great R. “Suresh” Sureshkumar interdependency with Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering the emerging field of regenerative medicine.”

FALL 2016 | 35

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING When students come to the College of Engineering and Computer Science, they’re headed toward adulthood and careers.

Paradoxically, the first thing Professor Mark Povinelli wants these new students to do is reach back toward their childhood. “As a child, we have this rich imagination and curiosity,” Povinelli says. “What did you like to do? How did you like to play? We imagine when we play. Your sense of play informs your passion and sense of purpose.”

Imagination is key to engineering innovation, Povinelli says.

But sometimes it’s dulled by the pressures of academics, and an emphasis on testing in school. Povinelli works to reinvigorate the imagination in his students. “We all colored when we were young,” he says. “We all knew how to be an artist. But then for most of us, we stop. How do you bring that back? If students have lost their creativity, how do we help them find it?”

Povinelli is the Kenneth A. and Mary Ann Shaw Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurial Leadership in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the Whitman School of Management. Collaborating with different colleges on campus, he teaches courses focused on students working in teams, empathizing with others to understand problems and using their informed imaginations to create something new.

In a class for freshman engineering students in the honors program, students investigate the water infrastructure problem in Syracuse. Partnering with Geology Professor Jonnell Robinson of the Maxwell School, the City of Syracuse Innovation Office, Professor Katie Cadwell in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, and graduate assistant Alex Johnson G’16, Povinelli and his students will explore two neighborhoods and, using GPS and prototype tools, map the sewer and storm drain system that is stressed in heavy rain conditions, which 36 | FALL 2016

includes pipes that are over a century old. The class gives students the experience of working on a multidisciplinary team and working with people in the community, as well a taste of engineering in the real world. “Aging infrastructure is a big part of what future engineers will have to be concerned about,” Povinelli says.

In another class, Introduction to Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurialism, Povinelli provides students from different engineering disciplines with 15 possible project ideas. Students choose a project or develop their own. The students then build teams, and go through a design and entrepreneurial process to create prototypes and implement.

Povinelli also co-teaches a graduate class in innovation, entrepreneurialism and collaborative design with Visual and Performing Arts School of Design Professors Don Carr and Sarah Redmore. Engineering students and design students work side by side on front end-user research and the idea phase

Design and engineering majors collaborate to develop creative new solutions for mobility.

“As a child, we have this rich imagination and curiosity ... What did you like to do.

How did you like to play? We imagine when we play. Your sense of play informs your passion and sense of purpose.” through design and prototyping. “The cognitive processes of the engineering student and the design student can be very different,” Povinelli says. “We are trying to bring these two different ways of thinking together, and create a more powerful design.” The class focuses on mobility issues for people with disabilities and the aging population.

Last year’s projects included modifying a wheelchair with horizontal movement, making it easier for wheelchair users to move from chair to bed, and making a fraternity house

bathroom accessible by designing a collapsible sink. In a third project, students worked with adults with arm prosthetics and a doctor researching, ideating and prototyping solutions around the issue of why adults don’t use upper prosthetics as much as children do.

“Part of the engineering creed is to use engineering knowledge for the advancement and betterment of humans,” Povinelli says. “We have a ethical, moral obligation to think about what we are doing for people, above profit.”

Povinelli acknowledges that it’s difficult to make room for multidisciplinary team projects in students’ curriculums.

“Engineers can be myopically focused on learning the fundamentals of their discipline,” Povinelli says. However, he sees experiential learning and teamwork as essential elements of a contemporary engineering curriculum. “The students need to understand and experience the richness of what they will be doing in their professional careers.” ● FALL 2016 | 37

DOME DEMOS Pigskins aren’t the only things that fly in the Loud House.

Every year, seniors in mechanical and aerospace engineering attempt to successfully demonstrate their senior design ­projects in the Dome.

Aerospace engineering majors launch, fly, and land small-scale aircraft custom made from wood and lightweight materials.

Teams compete to follow a figure-eight flight path, carrying payloads of pizza boxes filled with golf balls. The better they perform, the more points they earn.

Mechanical engineering majors also competed this year with two different custom systems. Students designed systems to gather different-size spheres off the turf and place them in a bin. Others developed systems that catch ping pong balls and return them to a bin, with the location of the ball launcher and ­receptacle varying with each test. ●

Dome Rover Custom robots rolled, whirred, and shook across the football field to scoop up ping pong balls in a race against the clock as a small, but impassioned crowd of students and faculty cheered on the competition.

38 | FALL 2016

The Carrier Dome was transformed into the biggest classroom on campus for Mechanical and Aerospace Senior Demo Day. Custom planes soared over the gridiron in a culmination of years of study and application.

The annual air show draws a boisterous crowd of onlookers eager to see graceful flights and the occasional catastrophic crash.

FALL 2016 | 39

POLYMAKER Xiaofan Luo G’10 is heralding the next step in 3D printing’s evolution.

It is almost magical the first time you see something take shape in a 3D printer. An object virtually appears from thin air.

The problem is, when the novelty wears off, all we’re typically left with are tchotchkes. Maybe a cell phone case, a doorstop, or a bottle opener.

Admittedly, for entrepreneurs and students, 3D printing has proved quite useful for developing prototypes and unique parts, but for all its hype, 3D printing hasn’t exactly caught fire with consumers.

Xiaofan Luo G’10 understands this perception and is confident that we are only now beginning to understand the true potential of this technology. His company, Polymaker, develops 3D printing materials that refine the process and prove that it can be a valuable, and widely used, tool for manufacturing.

“Many people still see 3D printing as just a method for prototypes or knickknacks. In fact, it is being used increasingly in production. The economics are slowly getting there and it is actually

A part used in automotive air filtration system, 3D printed in Polymaker PC-Max

40 | FALL 2016

quite competitive, even when compared to traditional ways of manufacturing. In 5 to 10 years, I predict 3D printing will be used in a very large percentage of products,” said Luo. Economics aside, the quality of the material that is used in 3D printing has held it back. Envision your average 3D-printed item and inevitably a fluorescent, low-quality plastic comes to mind.

Polymaker’s materials go far beyond what you’d find in your average makerspace.

Luo said, “We want to use 3D printing to create a wide variety of different products, so obviously, we need very different materials.

If you look at objects that surround us, they are all made with different materials. Some need to be soft, some need to be rigid, some need to be durable, and so on and so forth. We have this entirely new production tool available to industry, and in order to realize its full potential, we need many different materials.”

Polymaker offers a polycarbonate material that’s suitable for engineering applications, because it’s strong, tough and

“ We want to use 3D printing to create a wide variety of different products, so obviously, we need very different materials ... We have this entirely new production tool available to industry and in order to realize its full potential, we need many different materials. Some need to be soft, some need to be rigid, some need to be durable ...”

Printing Products Most 3D printed models are a bit rough around the edges. Polymaker’s PolySmooth™ material and Polysher™ device, provide a clean, shiny surface that rivals the surface finish of mass produced products.

Before

PolySmooth™ provides balanced mechanical properties and “polishability.”

heat-resistant. Another mimics the appearance, feel and even density of real wood. Polymaker even partnered with Graphene 3D Labs to develop a graphene nanocomposite that can conduct electricity. Their newest material, PolySmooth™, dramatically improves the surface quality of 3D printed parts, producing a shiny and layer-free surface, enabling practitioners to move on from rough prototypes to polished final products.

“Many people still see 3D printing as just a method for prototypes or knickknacks. In fact, it is being used increasingly in production.”

While the “home 3D printer” has been slow to catch on, Luo can attest that industry’s adoption of the process has been growing faster and faster. With the right materials, hobbyists and entrepreneurs can innovate something in their garage that they can print, even sell. He’s also seeing a rapidly increasing share of large companies and organizations, such as Siemens, Phillips, Google, Caterpillar and NASA, just to name a few, purchasing his materials. It all suggests that 3D printing’s best days lie ahead.

After

PolySmooth™ models are transformed when exposed to common alcohols in the Polysher™.

“The nice thing about this technology is that it is flexible. It is not like the traditional factory production line that can only make one product. 3D printing can make any product. There’s no limit.

Flexibility is a key advantage that ensures that it will become a mainstream production tool. That is the future I envision.” ●

SPOTLIGHT Xiaofan Luo G’10 Biomedical & Chemical Engineering Luo is the co-founder and president of Polymaker, a high-tech startup dedicated to developing new polymers for 3D printing applications.

During his time at Syracuse University, he completed his thesis on “Thermally responsive polymer systems for self-healing, reversible adhesion and shape memory applications” and won an All-University Doctoral Prize.

FALL 2016 | 41

Q&A WITH GURDIP SINGH Gurdip Singh is elevating the prominence and reach of our research activities. As the College’s new associate dean for research and graduate programs, he fosters interdisciplinary research, directs funds and support for collaborations, and develops infrastructure and expertise to compete for research opportunities. He also leads the charge on the administration of our graduate programs.

What inspired your own passion for research?

My background is in computer science. When I started out in the area of computing, back in the early 1980s, the field was very new. There were a lot of exciting things happening. The newness of the field and the possibilities, the things we discovered we could do with computers, was very, very interesting. Today, computing is part of all infrastructure systems, and new research advances in computing can have significant impact on improving services delivered by our infrastructure systems.

Why is collaboration between different disciplines important when we are discussing research?

When you are trying to do research that has an impact on society, you really need to look at a much bigger picture. For instance, if I want to look at reducing traffic congestion, it’s not just civil engineering involved. There’s cyber infrastructure, modeling, control and communication, which involves multiple engineering disciplines such as computer science and electrical engineering.

You may even have to go outside and engage social scientists and city/urban planners. Research requires you to have a holistic approach and address a problem from multiple perspectives.

You have said that good research leads to good teaching.

Why is it important for educators to do their own research?

Professors are role models. When they are excited about their research, they relate that to their students. It helps the students look beyond what they are being taught in the classroom.

Educators need to have deep insight, and research is one of the ways to obtain such insight.

Why is it important for undergraduates to have experience with research?

While students are taking courses, they are looking at things piecemeal. A research project is where they can put many of 42 | FALL 2016

these things together. They may have learned materials over several years and may not immediately see their applicability.

Research lets students put things together and see the relevance of the different courses. Also, by its very nature, research is about independent thinking. That’s a quality we want to cultivate in our students. In some sense, being an independent thinker leads to a leadership role. Finally, it helps promote a culture of research in an institution.

In February 2016 The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning named Syracuse University an R1 institution, meaning it is a top-tier research institution. What does this mean?

It’s very significant. It means the momentum here is building.

We need to maintain that momentum, capitalize on it, and take it even higher.

How does a university foster research?

A research culture can be built through investing in resources, creating shared research facilities, mentoring early career faculty on best practices for research, and encouraging interdisciplinary conversations. We need to reward research accomplishments and let the faculty and students know we care about research as much as we care about teaching.

One of your responsibilities is overseeing the College’s graduate programs. How does research relate to the recruitment of graduate students?

They are very closely linked. Ph.D. students are very selective these days. They come and interview the schools to select where to pursue studies. They want to look at places where they can do good research, where there are good facilities and research support. We have to have a very strong reputation of commitment to research to attract the best students. ●

MIND READERS F

or decades, medical researchers have understood which areas of the brain are devoted to abilities, memories, and emotions. And physicians have long been able to closely examine our brains with magnetic fields in MRI scanners for health purposes. Newhouse professor Leanne Hirshfield’s research takes things to a whole new level.

In the Newhouse Media, Interface and Network Design (MIND) Lab, Hirshfield and her collaborative team of students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the School of Information Studies, and the College of Arts and Science is using technology to read and analyze human emotion.

The team’s work centers around one key piece of scientific equipment—a functional near-infrared spectroscopy device.

Like something out of a movie, it is strapped to a subject’s head

to measure brain activity non-invasively. When activated, an image of the subject’s brain illuminates a nearby display. Red, orange, green, and yellow swell and fade like on a weather map as blood flows to different areas of the brain. This provides insight into what a person is experiencing when they are exposed to different stimuli—say a tear-jerking ad, a contentious political debate, or an overwhelming task. Hirshfield and student researchers Danushka Bandara G’12 and Natalie Sommer (computer engineering), Sarah Bratt G’14 (data science), and Trevor Grant G’17 (neuroscience) measure and record the subject’s mental state, which includes their emotion, cognitive workload, and stress level.

Hirshfield, a trained computer scientist, was inspired to enter this field as a graduate student at Tufts University, where she FALL 2016 | 43

When activated, an image of the subject’s brain illuminates a nearby display. Red, orange, green, and yellow swell and fade like on a weather map as blood flows to different areas of the brain. This provides insight into what a person is experiencing when they are exposed to different stimuli.

and her research team conducted various studies that involved surveying people. They found that the problem with surveys is that the people taking them make a conscious choice about how to respond. Their responses could be influenced by fear of social consequences—like looking dumb—or a desire to remain consistent with their established public persona. These factors can make self-reporting inaccurate. That’s when a light bulb went on. It occurred to them—“What if we could measure a person’s response in the brain, and figure out how they felt objectively about what they were experiencing in real time?”

computer engineering, data science, and neuroscience—three programs from three SU colleges—converge to contribute to something groundbreaking.

A computer engineering Ph.D. student with a degree in electrical engineering, is a crucial contributor to Hirshfield’s research.

Following guidance from Hirshfield and his advisor, Professor Senem Velipasalar, he uses machine learning to develop new ways to analyze the data that the team collects. He explains, “This research produces a tremendous amount of data, and traditional methods cannot make sense of it all. I’m building computational models that are able to recognize and learn the patterns that exist within the data and automate their identification.”

The collaborative nature of this compelling research makes Syracuse University a unique and ideal place for it to occur.

By turning the task over to a computer, Bandara gives the team the ability to uncover meaning and context from the copious amounts of data. Without his efforts, the rest of their work would be for naught.

The possible implications are striking. By uncovering this data, it may be possible to predict someone’s cognitive and emotional state, market products in a way that appeals to consumers scientifically, and determine if someone can be trusted to be given security clearances or access to classified materials.

In the end it’s fitting that research that can, in a sense, “read your mind,” takes a diverse set of minds to bring it to life. As the leader of this work, Hirshfield believes that the interdisciplinary nature of their research is key. “Some of the best research comes from the fringes of disciplines, and that is where you tend to find niches that no one else has looked into. That is a big part of the success we are having in our research. When everyone communicates between these different areas of expertise, it opens up a whole new world of knowledge.” ●

As with most notable scientific advances, the research is occurring at the intersection of many different fields. Here,

Idea Exchange Our students’ contribution to this Newhouse research is a shining example of partnership between Colleges. Such collaborations are a big part of our Transformation Plan goal of catalyzing idea exchange at Syracuse University. Unique opportunities like this will differentiate our graduates in the marketplace.

44 | FALL 2016

Danushka Bandara G’12 wears the functional nearinfrared spectroscopy device, which measures brain activity noninvasively.

FALL 2016 | 45

In published research, Professor Jeremy Gilbert found that when titanium and magnesium particles are galvanically coupled, like zinc and copper in a potato clock, an electrochemical reaction develops that produces a cell-killing effect.

46 | FALL 2016

WHAT A POTATO CLOCK CAN TEACH US ABOUT FIGHTING DISEASE Did you ever make a potato clock as a kid?

You know, that science experiment where you jam copper and zinc wires into potatoes and connect them with miniature jumper cables to power a clock?

Did you know that the reaction that makes elementary school potato clocks tick could also fight infection and disease?

In published research, Professor Jeremy Gilbert found that when titanium and magnesium particles are galvanically coupled, like zinc and copper in a potato clock, an electrochemical reaction develops that produces a cell-killing effect. If applied to medical treatments, it may lead to treatment options for all kinds of infections—from superbugs to cancerous tumors.

“What makes the potato clock work is the large voltage difference between the copper and zinc. It causes a current to follow through the potatoes to drive the clock. There’s a voltage difference between the two metals that makes it possible. The bigger the difference, the stronger the reaction. Magnesium and titanium have nearly a twovolt difference. It’s a very strong coupling and it ­produces a powerful effect,” says Gilbert.

Gilbert, an expert in biological implants like hip replacements, believes that one way these findings could be put to use is in infection prevention for titanium implants.

That powerful effect—a reductive electrochemical reaction that generates reactive oxygen intermediates—kills cells in close proximity. Infections that take hold on the surface of implants are notoriously challenging to defeat. They withstand even the most powerful antibiotics. By adding magnesium to the titanium surface of an implant, the implant itself is given the ability to kill bacteria before it is able to harm the patient.

This research also reveals an application for killing cancer cells.

Your body normally has mechanisms to stop cells from dividing uncontrollably, but when it fails to do so, cancer develops. The negative voltages that Gilbert and his fellow researchers apply induce cellular apoptosis, or cell death, so it may be a way of killing cancer cells that don’t get the message to die off naturally.

This fundamental breakthrough provides a foundation for scientists to build upon and is a strong example of how science that can be understood for something as simple as a potato clock can be used to blaze a new trail in other areas.

Gilbert says, “It’s a novel idea to use an electrochemical process to adapt implants to control infections or treat other conditions. These findings will be the underpinning for new ideas in healthcare.” ●

SPOTLIGHT Jeremy Gilbert Professor, Biomedical & Chemical Engineering Gilbert is one of the world’s foremost experts on the corrosion of orthopedic alloys in vivo. His research continues to have a significant impact on the medical device industry and federal regulations. Gilbert played an invaluable role in establishing our Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering—one of the most research-intensive academic units at our University. That work also set the stage for his founding of the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute.

In January, Gilbert will join Clemson University as the Hansjörg Wyss Endowed Chair for Regenerative Medicine.

We wish him all the best and continued success at Clemson!

FALL 2016 | 47

ALUMNI NOTES 1960s

1980s

John R. Shanebrook ’60, G’65 (Mechanical)

Christopher Gentile ’81 (Mechanical)

Of Franklin, Tenn., wrote “The History of the Hydrogen Bomb and Why it Should be Banned” (AuthorHouse), his third book on nuclear arms control.

Was honored by the Strathmore’s Who’s Who as “Professional of the Year for 2016,” in recognition, dedication and success in IT/ Virtual Reality. Additionally, the Cedar Lane Management Group’s awards selection committee, in Teaneck, N.J., presented him with its 2016 Distinguished Award in Business and Technology in recognition of his achievements in a career spanning more than 30 years in technology development and inventions.

1970s Robert Graziano G’72 (Electrical) Retired chairman and president of Technology Service Corp., has been elected to the board of trustees of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony.

Richard Ehrlickman G’77 (Electrical) Co-founded TransactionsIP, an intellectual property brokerage and consulting firm in Boca Raton, Fla.

Kevin J. Cleary ’79 (Industrial) IBM’s vice president of sales transaction support, has joined Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp.’s board of directors. Cleary has 30 years of experience in IBM leadership roles. He manages sales support and also serves as senior location executive at the facility’s manufacturing and development site in Poughkeepsie.

48 | FALL 2016

Lori Katzman ’82 (Environmental) Joined HNTB Corp. as senior project manager and vice president in the firm’s rail transit group. As a senior member of HNTB’s rail transit practice, Katzman is providing strategic support for key current transit projects and future opportunities, utilizing her extensive experience with program and design management for railroad terminals and related right-of-way infrastructure.

Miguel Nistal ’85 (Electrical & Biomedical), G’88 (Finance) Has joined Woodstream Corp. as president & CEO. Woodstream is a leading

manufacturer and marketer of branded pest and animal control, as well as lawn and garden products.

FedEx, has joined First Horizon National’s board of directors. He also serves on boards for the Orpheum Theatre of Memphis, the American Heart Association, the Fogelman Center at the University of Memphis and the advisory board supporting the U.S.-India Business Council.

1990s Mary Ann Hopkins ’87, G’89 (Civic) Has joined Arcadis as executive with responsibility for the North America and LATAM regions, and global leadership of the company’s water and environment business lines. She currently serves on the college’s advisory board.

Kevin Hair ’90 (Computer Engineering) Was promoted to chief operating officer at SRC, Inc. As head of SRC’s operations, Hair will be responsible for the day-to-day functions of the research and development organization. In addition, he will direct strategic planning, monitor financial performance, create new expansion initiatives, and develop key industry relationships.

Raj Subramaniam G’89 (Chemical) The executive vice president for global strategy of marketing and communications at

for major cellphone carriers.

Brunton also has experience in solar energy project development, engineering, procurement, construction, operations, and maintenance.

George R. McGuire ’91 (Aerospace), L’96 (Law) An attorney at Bond, Schoeneck & King in Syracuse, was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2016. He was also recognized in the 2015 Upstate New York Super Lawyers list.

Jared M. Green P.E. ’01, G’02 (Civil) Was promoted to senior associate/vice president at Langan. After working for the firm for nearly 13 years, he now joins the executive team at Langan as a new shareholder.

Michael Kochanek ’08 (Civil) Stuart Bernstein ’97 (Construction Management)

Darius Adamczyk G’91 (Computer Engineering) Was named Honeywell’s COO in April 2016, and will become the company’s CEO next year.

Received an Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Nebraska at Omaha Alumni Association in honor of distinguished teaching in the classroom. Bernstein is an associate professor in its College of Engineering.

Tyler Aldredge ’94 (Bioengineering) Is senior vice president of clinical laboratory operations at Metamark Genetics, a company based in Cambridge, Mass., that develops diagnostic and prognostic tests for urological cancer care.

Dane Lopes G’95 (Mechanical) Joined Everest Re Group Ltd. as head of sales and distribution for its U.S. insurance operations.

Jessica Brunton ’99 (Environmental) Was hired by Dewberry as a senior associate and program manager. With more than 17 years of experience, she has managed small cell, distributed antenna system, and macro site build-outs

Rebecca Risner P.E. ’99 (Environmental) Was hired as a senior project manager by Dewberry. With more than 22 years of civil and environmental engineering experience, she specializes in zoning, compliance, and environmental assessments for wireless and solar energy sites. Risner has experience performing Phase I environmental site assessments and National Environmental Policy Act and air emissions reporting.

2000s Ryan Mone ’00 (Electrical), G’04 (Finance) Joined Pioneer Companies as director of technical services.

Was promoted from project engineer in water/wastewater to senior project engineer in water/wastewater at Barton and Logudice. He has been at the company for eight years, since completing his internship there while at SU. He graduated summa cum laude and has worked at Barton and Logudice ever since.

David Nicolato ’08 (Aerospace) Married Ashley Haines on Nov. 7, 2015.

Josh Latterell ’08 (Civil) Designed the official Orange Out T-shirt for the Sept.

9 Syracuse vs. Louisville football game. It is sold in Syracuse University Bookstore, Manny’s, Shirt World, Papa’s Sports, and many other local outlets.

FALL 2016 | 49

ALUMNI NOTES CONTINUED technology assets meet the needs of patients, customers, business partners and Pfizer colleagues worldwide. On a personal note, she and Dallas Conway ’09 G’12 (Aerospace, Engineering Management) announced their engagement in August. A wedding is planned for August 2018.

2010s Reid Berdanier ’10 (Mechanical) Completed a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University.

His research focuses on experimental axial compressor aerodynamics and instrumentation development for turbomachinery measurements. He is currently working as a postdoctoral research associate in the Compressor Research Laboratory at Purdue.

Thomas Polech P.E. ’11 (Civil) Became a licensed professional engineer in the state of New York.

Stephen DeSalvo ’14 (Chemical) Patrick Dinneen ’13 (Mechanical) Was hired by Seminex as an application engineer.

Seminex designs and manufactures high-power semiconductor lasers for use in military, medical and industrial applications.

Is the managing editor of Penn Law Review at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Mileysa Ponce Rios ’15 (Chemical) Joined Pfizer’s Business Technology organization, ensuring that the company’s

Let us know about your accomplishments!

Send your alumni news to engineer@syr.edu to be featured in an upcoming edition of Syracuse Engineer.

Robert Naphen ’12 (Electrical) Works as an operations engineer for National Grid. Responsible for the distribution system for Northern New York, Rob maintains and provides power distribution to customers and performs system studies to ensure reliable power to the region. He is also responsible for the programs, procedures, and sanctions spending for the inspection and maintenance program. He is currently a founder and sponsor for a GPS asset locator program. The program sets up customized points for field crews to locate all company assets in the field.

50 | FALL 2016

ILLUMINATE STUDENT SUCCESS The Atrium, a leading initiative of our Transformation Plan, will be a physical expression of our leadership in contemporary engineering and computer science education.

The multi-story edifice—prominently situated at the south entrance of Link Hall—will visually enhance our connection to SU’s vibrant campus environment and provide a brilliant window into the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Designed by interdisciplinary teams of engineering and architecture students, the spacious and modern facility will provide critical space for the expansion of our student services, and showcase our innovative, collaborative spirit.

Please help us illuminate student success by supporting the Atrium and our goal to raise $2.5 million by March 2018—the 50th anniversary of Link Hall’s groundbreaking.

A naming opportunity and other recognition options are currently available.

For more information, contact Michael Ransom, Assistant Dean for Advancement, at mransom@syr.edu or 315.443.3330.

ENG-CS.SYR.EDU/TRANSFORMATION

Earn Your Master’s Degree Online at Syracuse University Take the next step to advance your education and career with flexibility, and earn your degree in 15 months.

Live Online Classes

The College of Engineering and Computer Science offers three 30-credit master’s programs, delivered online.

GRE Waiver Available

Master of Science in Cybersecurity Master of Science in Computer Science Master of Science in Computer Engineering

Interdisciplinary Curriculum

Networking Opportunities

On-Campus Immersions

College of Engineering and Computer Science alumni who enroll in any of these online degree programs are eligible to receive a competitive tuition discount.

Learn More: engineeringonline.syr.edu | 844.797.4364 | admissions@engineeringonline.syr.edu FALL 2016 | 51

DONOR REPORT We gratefully recognize the following alumni, parents, friends, corporations, and foundations for their generous financial contributions during the 2016 fiscal year.

(The following list reflects gifts received from July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016.)

Benefactors ($1000+) Andreas Acrivos Mussadiq Akram Charles Alaimo William F. Allyn and Janet J. Allyn Paulette Altmaier William K. Arnold Kent N. Backus Charles T. Badlato and Julia M. Badlato Rajeev Badrinath Aaron S. Berman Richard G. Berns Lee N. Blatt and Sydelle S. Blatt Peter A. Blume and Alyssa N. Blume Thomas E. Blumer and Barbara Hall Blumer Lee A. Brathwaite John N. Brogard Bridget A. Budwey Gar Wood N. Burwell James A. Capolongo and Barbara Capolongo Yu Chang

52 | FALL 2016

John R. Chawner Richard H. Chazen Wen-Ching Chen Eric P. Chenoweth Kevin J. Cleary Samuel P. Clemence and Carolyn J. Clemence Said Cohen* Ellen M. Consaul Mark Ian D’Aprile Teresa A. Dahlberg Yi-Chyun Dai Douglas D. Danforth* Philippe Dorante and Lisa M. Perard David G. Edelstein and Jennie E. Berkson Daniel K. Emadi Fadel F. Erian Nurul-Amin K. Eusufzai Elaine M. Falvo Lisa B. Feltrin Harold G. Fisher William Ted Frantz Ray Freiwirth Jane Maselli Frenchik Louis J. Goodman, Jr. and Kathleen T. Goodman Nicholas John Goodman and Lindsay A. Goodman

Jerrold A. Heller Robert W. Hinkley Can Isik Ryan B. Jean Robert E. Joerger and Helen N. Joerger Donald M. Josephson Est. of Mrs. Louise E. Kaiser* Suresh Kamath Susan C. Kaymon Hsiang Lan Ke Jeng-Shyong Ke* H. Ezzat Khalifa and Shadia Khalifa Ali Kiran and Linda Kiran Daniel P. Kowalski Marian J. Langdon Michael J. Lazar Carlos G. Leon and Melyza G. Leon Gregory P. Levine Bjorn O. Liencres Richard M. Loewenstein, Jr. and Regina W. Loewenstein Paul H. Longchamps and Karen A. Longchamps Henry R. Lucenius* Edward C. Magee Carla J. Manning

George R. Marks Thomas N. McCausland and Linda P. McCausland Richard McFee and Joan E. McFee Anthony McGraw Robert A. McMillen Alvin S. Meltzer Adam Moshe Mitchneck Joel S. Mooney and Jeanne R. Mooney Sheila E. Murphy Avi M. Nash Glen R. Nemerow Robert L. Nevin John F. Olson David P. Owen and Dianne J. Owen Edward D. Paradise Raymond E. Peart David G. Perkins and Debra J. Perkins Steven C. Pettengill and Virginia C. Pettengill Est. of Mr. Frederick W. Pflum* Michael J. Querino Michael M. Ransom Joseph T. Rossi Latisha F. Rourke Michael Runser

GIFTS TO SUPPORT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY’S COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

Mark Z. Salvador and Rebecca Measday-Salvador Adi Sarpe and Cristina Sarpe Alexandru Vlad Sarpe Philip E. Schefter and Carolyn D. Schefter Richard F. Schneider Klaus Schroder Harvey K. Schuman and Dona M. Schuman Michael P. Schwartz and Barbara A. Schwartz Robert L. Silver Wayne T. Smith and Maureen J. Lally James A. Spearot A. Douglas Steinberg, Jr. Ann W. Stevenson Bradley J. Strait Radhakrishna Sureshkumar David E. Suuronen Garrett L. Szczarba William J. Taylor Aaron C. Tersteeg and Jessica A. Vasi Kelly M. Thompson Est. of Mr. J. Robert Tomlinson* Philip L. Varghese Guy A. Wadsworth

Mark Donald Weber Raymond A. Wedlake and Nancy Joy Wedlake Jerry R. Whitaker Thomas C. Wilmot and M. Colleen Wilmot Edward S. Zuranski

Associates ($500-$999) Amin Al-Ahmad Daniel Ambrose and Sandra L. Ambrose Joshua M. Bieber John E. Campbell Andre T. Cardoso and Kelly K. Cardoso Edward J. Cettina and Erin G. Cettina Chia-Lun Chou Patrick O. Coffey Andrew H. Cohen Dominick Conte James M. Cornacchia Cliff I. Davidson Rajive Dhar Anthony J. DiMaso and Joanne M. DiMaso *deceased

Jon W. Drosendahl Ewald F. Fischer Richard C. Flaherty Richard S. Fleisher Garth H. Foster and Mary-Helen Foster John H. Gaura Jonathan S. Greenfield and Georgette D. Greenfield Amy S. Gullotta Alexander E. Holstein, Jr. and Charlotte G. Holstein Allen F. Horn, III and Susan P. Horn Frederick L. Hunter, Jr. Brandon Michael Hurley Dharmarajan R. Iyer Richard M. Jobbins and Jill M. Jobbins Charles F. Kay Charles A. Keenan Bruce E. Kurtz Donald H. Lenhert Leland D. Lewis Steven R. Lootens Eric M. Lui Kathleen A. Luvisi Harold F. Mattson, Jr. and Jeanette A. Mattson Gary Ivan Miller James V. Morgan and Ana L. Morgan Jane Ann Murphy Miguel G. Osio Paul J. Ossenbruggen Robert E. Papsco and Carol-Noel G. Papsco Michael J. Parenteau Kim A. Pearson Frank J. Petsche Daniel Pierce, Jr. Ronald F. Reed Barry I. Rothenberg Emily K. Samuels Gary C. Schafran Christopher M. Sedore and Rebekah Ann Race

John P. Sekas James M. Showalter George R. Smith and Lois M. Smith Karl Spingarn John M. Stengrevics and Susan S. Stengrevics David C. Stolp Cynthia A. Thomas Reid Wyman Thomas and Victoria Katherine Thomas Thomas E. Troast Kevin C. Trott Ralph T. Urich, Jr. William T. Vecere Mark J. Verone and Rachelle D. Hardy Robert T. Vosteen Denis E. Wickham Priscilla Tyree Williams George E. Wolke and Daryl Morrison Wolke William Wong James H. Yasso

Contributors (up to $499) Robert C. Abbott David J. Abrahamian Scott F. Adams Mark A Adiletta Brij N. Agrawal Lolet J. Ahyee Everett E. Aldridge Johnathan Michael Alessi Barbara J. Allison Michael A. Aloi Gabriel Vincent Amaya Kannan Amr and Subha Desikan Stephen W. Anagnost and Susan E. Anagnost Arthur H. Anderson, Jr. Craig E. Anderson Harold A. Anderson, Jr.

Mary-Claire Christina Anderson David F. Aniolek Daniel Aquilino Steven J. Armenia Edmund S. Arruda and Laura B. Arruda Ali Adem Bahar Paul F. Bala Charles A. Ballaro Gregory Barbieri David A. Barkley, Sr. Alan R. Barnes Lorraine M. Barney Jonathan Anthony Barnhart Andrew C. Bartel Andrew Thomas Bateman Albert T. Bauchle and Betty L. Bauchle Jeffrey L. Bauman and Susan Bauman Gene K. Baxter Gerard Adams Baxter, II Lewis R. Becker, Jr. Somasundaram K. Beerana Christopher M. Begley Scott Edward Bell and Stephanie H. Bell William M. Bergersen and Gail L. Bergersen Bonnie Berman Jeffrey L. Bernard Aloke S. Bhandia Thomas D. Bickley Steven L. Bigness and Elizabeth A. Bigness Donald K. Bigsby and Marie A. Bigsby Walter M. Bilynsky and Karen B. Bilynsky Justin M. Blount E. Raymond Boc Timothy F. Boland Taurean Boyd Alphonse M. Bracco Timothy P. Brady Carl E. Braestrup

Fred E. Brandstadt Richard W. Bratt David C. Briggs Thomas W. Bristol Mary C. Brooks Andrew Ramon Brown Charlotte C. Brown Douglas F. Brown Megan E Brown Gerald W. Bruyette Betsy A. Buchanan Randy C. Budzinski Robert J. Bugiada K. Wayne Bunn Christine Burgermaster Aaron Lee Lind Burlew Joseph J. Buschynski Edward D. Bushey and Stephanie E. Bushey John W. Byers Paul F. Byrne Charles R. Cahn John F. Cain Matthew J. Callahan Ronald B. Capelli R. William Card Stuart W. Card Gary J. Cardamone Patrick M. Carguello Jeffrey T. Carlo Bradley S. Carlson Matthew P. Carrano James R. Carroll Vincent A. Carter and Rosmund A. Cummings Roger L. Casanova and Joan M. Casanova William A. Castner Martin C. Celemin Fredy Arthur Cevallos Dean P. Chaffe and Michele H. Chaffe John Chalecky John H. Chamberlain and Mary Ann Chamberlain Keith R. Chandler

Dana C. Chapman and Jeanne B. Chapman Arun D. Chawan Richard W. Chen Wei Chen and Zhou Ling Zheng Jagannadha S. Chidella Sabah J. Choueiri Peter J. Christiano and Carolyn J. Christiano Tek C. Chu William Chu Michael Chudyk Richard E. Church, Jr. Vincent A. Ciampa Brent M. Clark Ronald R. Clark Michael T. Coakley Daniel G. Coleman Ronald M. Coleman Donald E. Coling James A. Collins Lawrence O. Comfort Robert D. Conine, II Richard H. Connelly Matthew A. Conte Deshawn Murray Coombs Ralph R. Coon and Mary K. Coon Charles T. Cooney, Jr. and Joan F. Cooney Edward T. Cooper Joseph L. Cooper and Joelle D. Cooper H. Allen Corbin, Jr. Connie S. Corey Jose F. Cortell James P. Costello William C. Cox Anthony C. Crescenzi and Vicki M. Crescenzi Rudolph W. Creteur, Jr. Michael J. Criscione Siyao Cui Kelley A. Cunningham Daniel N. Daisak Lawrence D. Daley

John F. Dannenhoffer, III and Joan V. Dannenhoffer Jonathan K. Darling and Laura L. Darling John B. Davenport and Elaine M. Davenport Mark Edward Davis Andrew H. Davy, Jr. Debra L. Deas Philip A. Dee Carl Anthony DeGalbo William S. DeLaurier Hua Deng William K. Denson Stephen C DeSalvo James DeSpirito and Carmel J. DeSpirito Michael J. Dewey Richard J. Dewey and Diane A. Dewey Hemant N. Dhulla Bryon A. Dickerson and Emilee S. Dickerson Russell J. Dinatale Russell C. Dionne and Nancy W. Dionne Paul H. Divjak and Susan F. Divjak Brian E. Dix A. Frank Dolan William T. Donegan, Jr. Zhifa Dong Robert S. Donnelly Sean P. Donnelly Bradley R. Dorfman Howard J. Douglas Harry F. Doyle Bryan Patrick Doyon Scott S. Drabick Walter R. Dressel, Jr. Charles T. Driscoll, Jr. and Kimberley M. Driscoll William W. Drosendahl Jeffrey G. Dutka and Deirdre B. Dutka Wallace F. Ebner, Jr. and Nancy L. Ebner *deceased FALL 2016 | 53

DONOR REPORT CONTINUED Contributors Cont (up to $499) William W. Ebner John D. Edmunds Mandela Effiong Christina Eggert Richard J. Eksterowicz Lawrence R. El-Hindi and Fatima E. El-Hindi Carl W. Eller and Janet P. Eller Ira T. Ellis, Jr. Donald L. Ely Howard Jeff Empie, Jr. Gustav A. Engbretson Stephen G. Engle Leonard L. Epstein Richard Epstein David J. Erickson, II Richard E. Ertinger Barry M. Esteves and Melinda A. Esteves Leah Losbanes Estillero Yong Fan Lei Fang Youran Fang Jason Elliott Farkas Mary Beth Fennell Gary M. Fey John A. Fillo, Jr. Maurice J. Fischberg Victor A. Fischer Thomas J. Fitzpatrick and Kathleen G. Fitzpatrick John D. Flanagan Paul Floroff Robert B. Fogelsonger William C. Forma and Marian L. Forma Michael Harold Fortin John M. Fossaceca and Donna A. Fossaceca Dawn S. Foster Perry E. Fowler and Deborah R. Fowler 54 | FALL 2016

Stephen L. Franz and Linda A. Franz Joseph C. Franzone Richard J. Freedland and Nanette Adams Freedland Robert C. Freer Jesse Carter Friedland Robert D. Frisina and Susan T. Frisina Keith Ronald Fuhrhop Brett W. Fuller David M. Fulmer Charles A. Furciniti and Mary Lisa Furciniti John F. Galanti Rushabh Ravindra Gandhi Charles J. Gannon Zhan Gao Scott F. Garberman and Sandra P. Garberman Edward T. Gardiner Robert E. Gardinier Pauline E. Gardner Frank J. Garguilo Michael John Garrett Gerald A. Garry George R. Gearn David F. Geary Sally A. Gedney Richard H. Genter Stephen H. George Glen C. Gerhard Gregory A. Germain and Shelley S. Germain David Gibbons John P. Gibson and Karen H. Gibson Robert A. Gibson Thomas J. Giglio and Lisa B. Giglio Patrick G. Gillespie and Margaret H. Gillespie Herbert Gish Gerald P. Gladue and Gertrude P. Gladue Donald J. Gondek Yufan Gong

Ramiro J. Gonzalez Bernard B. Gorkin Chandrakumar Govindarajalu Hugh F. Grabosky Kim M. Graham Robert I. Gray and Elise N. Gray Michael J. Greco and Diana Greco Bruce D. Greenwald and Leslie M. Greenwald Daniel T. Greiner and Deborah A. Greiner Harold F. Greiner Dorothy C. Greschner Diana D. Griffith John P. Gromniak Terry P. Grummitt Matthew Dustin Grzelak Aparna K. Gude Francis X. Guiao Enrique A. Guzman and Ileana A. Matos Fred W. Haetinger Marc C. Hahn Walter A. Halbig Harold D. Hale, Jr. Kenneth A. Hall William M. Halpin, Sr. and Patricia A. Halpin Althea K. Hamilton Chang Han Pamela R. Handen William J. Hannett and Marcia T. Hannett Don J. Hanrahan Ejvind R. Hansen Scott D. Hansen Frederick W. Hardt Kurt W. Harlacher Thomas Joseph Harrigan James G. Harris Steven B. Harvey John P. Hassett and Judith A. Crawford Michael R. Hayes

Tamara E. Hebeler Michael L. Heck Robert James Heins Veronica J. Helgans John F. Hennessy, II Griffith C. Henry Jesse J. Herbert Adam L. Hess Deborah L. Hess Richard H. Hess and Leanne M. Hess David B. Hetfield Daniel P. Heyman Richard C. Hill Robert L. Hill Ronald N. Hill Robert Garrett Hiller Thomas W. Hillman Kazuhiro Hirasawa John G. Fred Hiss, Jr. and Marialyce K. Hiss Richard L. Hockenbrock Milton T. Hodgins and Susan K. Hodgins Dale E. Hoffman and Vicki E. Hoffman Robert James Holbrook Pentti A. Honkanen Todd E. Horowitz and Carol S. Levine Paul W. Horstmann Afzal Hossain and Nasima Parveen William E. Houghton, Jr. and Barbara Lum Houghton Dennis E. Hrabchak Fengmin Hu Denise Hubler Ryan C. Hudson Est. of Dr. Lori Hunter* William S. Hurley George R. Huson Donald C. Hutchins Kenneth R. Hutton Joseph G. Inserra Leona B. Jackson Niraj K. Jain

Richard J. Jaskot Thomas W. Jeffrey Herbert V. Jene and Lynn F. Jene David W. Johnson Timothy N. Johnson and Cynthia B. Johnson Andrew K. Johnston Robert P. Jones Thomas E. Jordahl and Lauren K. Jordahl Pierre Joseph Abhay B. Joshi and Tanuja R. Joshi Shin-An Ju John H. Judge James C. Junk Albert J. Kallfelz Michael Ka-Fung Kan Douglas J. Kaputa and Nancy L. Kaputa Subramaniam Karthik Walter Katuschenko Julian A. Katz and Gila J.R. Katz Randy S. Kauftheil John S. Keffalas Bruce D. Keller David B. Kelley and Wilma E. Kelley Richard R. Kemmerer and Rebecca D. Kemmerer James A. Kennedy Pradnya Laxman Khalate Mary Alice Kiah Robert H. Killius Michael B. Kimber and Jean M. Kimber Robert D. King Robert J. King Richard R. Kinsey George M. Kirkpatrick and Muriel B. Kirkpatrick Stephen H. Kirsch and Laurie B. Kirsch Harry J. Kit Peter M. Kogge Walter Koozin

George L. Kosboth Steven Anthony Kourepenos Peter L. Kowalczik Kenneth R. Kraemer Clif Kranish John F. Kruse Sudhir S. Kulkarni and Marilyn S. Kulkarni Peter Kummer and Deborah Jo Kummer Albert Sheng-Yi Kuo John E. Kuras George H. Kyanka Leslie T. Kyser Neil F. Labrake, Jr. Joseph W. Ladd, Jr. Haden A. Land Robert L. Landon, Jr. L. Thomas Lane and Mary E. Lane Mark R. Lang Steven J. Lanzano and Carmelene A. Lanzano James V. Lauricella Thomas S. Laverghetta Warren T. Lavery Richard J. Laws Larry R. Leatherman and Mary-Lynn R. Leatherman Craig C. Lee Craig L. Lee Jay Kyoon Lee Steve Lee Bernard Leeds David M. Leight Judith Shattuck Leithner Robert J. Lenuzza Scott R. Leonard Samuel M. Leone Gerald J. LePage Danielle Allison Leslie Joshua A. Levi Chaobo Li Vincent Li and Xiao X. Li Fu-Ju Lin *deceased

Gerard D. Lipton Samuel T. Liss Pengyun Liu Tan Liu Yueqi Liu Mark E. Livesey and Nancy H. Livesey Edward R. Locke and Linda W. Locke Serene H. Longsworth Harold A. Loomis Dane E. Lopes and Shari Lopes Michael F. Louise David Allen Lower Yi Lu and Julia H. Lu Joseph F. Ludford Arnold Ludke Lifeng Luo and Ling Zhang Luo Raymond K. S. Lyau George W. Lyktey and Laura Lyktey Hugh D. Lynch Bruce J. Mac Mullen Matthew C. Mace Michael J. Mack Theodore M. Madzy Patrick J. Magari Shannon Magari James T. Mallen Douglas Thomas Mallinak Ernest L. Manchin and Barbara J. Manchin James J. Manning, Sr. and Catherine A. Manning James F. Marquardt and Nancy F. Marquardt Robert J. Marsey Tracy L. Martellotta Susan M. Martini Daniel A. Mastropietro Thomas L. Mathison and Lisa J. Rinaldi Rajendra K. Mathur Lydia M. Matos Abraham G. Matthews

John D. Maurillo Peter G. Mayer and Susan Kay Mayer Kenneth B. Maynard John A. Mazzacane Sarah Ann McCandless Rodney K. McDowell Peter E. McGrath Janet L. McHugh Sarah E. McInnes Robert A. McKie Bruce K. McLeish Laurence B. McNabb Rama T. Mehrotra Carol Melling Donald G. Michaud and Maria J. Michaud James A. Migliaccio Julia A. Mignacca William R. Miles Jill Bower Miller James R. Mitchell* Carol Mone Larry Gene Monroe Theodore A. Monto and Theresa M Monto William B. Moore, Jr. and Barbara S. Moore Reagan Louise Morehouse Peter S. Morelli John P. Morrell Frank Morrow, Jr. and Martha Morrow Allen L. Mossman Randall L. Mosten Zaher M. Moussa and Barbara A. Moussa Charles C. Moy and Elim T. Moy William W. Moyer, Jr. Paul A. Moynihan Siddharth Suresh Mulchandani Bruce C. Murdock Harvey P. Muskat and Kerry S. Muskat Norbert A. Nann and Alma S. Nann

Gladys N. Nathan William R. Naumann Ruth E.K. Nester Jeanette C. Newell Richard W. Newman Gordon A. Ngai Thomas P. Nicholas David W. Nip Thomas W. Nolan Michael A. Norato Robert F. Nordin Norman H. Nosenchuck Kurwa N. Nyigu Richard A. Oddo and Nancy A. Oddo Eimei M. Onaga and Yoko S. Onaga Carl P. Oppenheimer and Sarah P. Oppenheimer Michael C. Orlovsky Kenneth W. Orlowski Thomas I. Osborn John C. Ostapovich, Jr. Odiya Oyo Rose E. Page John S. Palleschi and Francesca G. Orsini Catherine A. Pandozzi Marianne Pandozzi Kirit R. Parekh Jeffrey M. Park and Janet F. Park Chirag K. Patel and Priti C. Patel Douglas J. Pavone Joseph I. Peck Robert A. Peil Jane S. Pellish Dawn E. Penniman David Perel Benjamin Perelman Jeffrey J. Perkins Charleen A. Peters David T. Petruccelli Tay V. Pham Glen E. Phillips

James E. Phillips and Sheryl L. Keeler-Phillips John Pickelhaupt, Jr. Edward S. Pierson Robert J. Pietrasik Russell J. Pike Wosyl Pilipczuk Vijayaraghavan Pitchumani Dennis S. Poe Albert R. Pollack Lauren Marie Pompilio Jeffrey S. Poor and Tatiana V. Choulika James J. Powers, III Steven J. Pratt and Lisa M. Pratt Samuel Jackman Prescod David R. Prickett Maurice H. Proskine Barbara J. Prusiewicz Kevin P. Prykull and Karen L. Prykull Thomas Scott Pullen and Aletha M. Pullen Barbara A. Putrino Michael Putrino* Lizeng Qin and Hongli Yu Wangchan Qin Jeffrey R. Quay Louis J. Ragonese Suruliappan Rajamanickam Rajeev R. Raje and Anjali R. Raje Brian James Rautio Sib Sadhan Ray John D. Reale Scott F. Redfield, Jr. and Sondra F. Redfield Wayne Redlich Howard Justin Reed Nandlal S. Reejhsinghani Thomas J. Regan, Jr. Charles R. Register and Virginia L. Register Irvin D. Reichley James Reid William Reid

Meghan Elizabeth Reilly Eugene F. Renske and Mary Garvey-Renske Richard H. Repka George C. Revelos Brian A. Revheim and Victoria M. Revheim Ann R. Rice Robert P. Rice, Jr. and Ayse Z. Akyol-Rice James L. Rine Spencer W. Roberts Eric A. Rodebaugh Daniel F. Rogers John C. Rohde Steven J. Rolfe and Claudine M. Rolfe Joseph S. Roma Andrew J. Romano and Gail M. Romano Rocco A. Romano Christopher R. Roper and Raquel N. Roper Raymond E. Rosenberger Piotr Roslan and Jolanta Roslan Andrew M. Rotunno Ian Z. Rubinstein Kenneth C. Rubinwitch Howard Frederick Rudd, Jr. Ernest W. Russom, III and Lynn A. Russom Nelson E. Russom Robert D. Ruth Randy V. Sabett Arthur K. Sachs Vincent L. Saladin, III Joseph M. Salvati George H. Sander Achintya Sankarraman Paramesh Santanam Suresh Santanam and Linda Santanam John G. Santoni George M. Sarkis Renato Sarti P. Anthony Sarubbi, Jr.

Robert M. Savasky* George C. Savvides Christopher W. Scharff James R. Schatz Joel M. Schipper Alan Schneiderman Judith A. Schonhoff Douglas A. Schrank Donald A. Schreiner Kathleen Anne Schroeder Frederick D. Schulkind Mark A. Scirico and Tammie L. Scirico Irwin H. Sebelowitz Louis H. Sedaris Yuk L. Seidman Adrian D. Semple and Ava C. Semple Donald P. Shaver Charles A. Shaw Jack E. Sheehan Huitao Sheng Xiang Sheng and Chenrui Jin Matthew D. Sheridan and Kelly Comfort Sheridan Wayne M. Sheridan and Patricia Moore Richard G. Sherman Theodore J. Sheskin Parul C. Sheth Milan M. Shetti Richard W. Shirk Nancy G. Shreve Sandeep Shroff James A. Shurtleff Daniel J. Simon Robert A. Singer and Natali R. Franzblau Vicky Singh Edward W. Sirgany Beth A. Smith Francis R. Smith Willard J. Smith Vincent J. Smoral *deceased FALL 2016 | 55

DONOR REPORT CONTINUED Contributors Cont (up to $499) Barry S. Solondz Michael P. Sorvillo Frank L. Sowers, Jr. and Kimberly A. Sowers Donald J. Spiegel Joel J. Spiegelman and Andrea Spiegelman Ronald A. Spinek Jason E. Springer Prasit Sricharoenchaikit and Jolynn Sricharoenchaikit Kris V. Srikrishman Seshadri Srinivasan John T. Sterling David A. Stevenson Edward L. Storrs, Jr. Arieh A. Strod Frederick M. Swed, Jr. Janusz Szela and Malgorzata M. Szela Ronald R. Szmerda Al J. Szoldatits and Jennifer L. Szoldatits Scott J. Tait Paul W. Taylor Paul T. Tenney and Christine A. Tenney Robert C. Terwilliger, Jr. Matthew A. Thelen John P. Therre, Sr. William O. Thomas Kenneth J. Tiss and Martha L. Tiss Michael R. Tobin Troy A. Tomlinson and Michelle N. Tomlinson Mark Trashaj and Liljana Trashaj Frank E. Trendell Patrick A. Tucci Lynn A. Turner Jeffrey G. Twombly and Laurie S. Twombly

56 | FALL 2016

Augustine F. Ubaldi Liza M. Uhlinger Colin Ulen Ramachandran Vaidyanathan David B. Vail David Van Valauri and Jill Ann Valauri Kimberlee M. Valdes Angelo F. Valentino and Shirley W. Valentino Vincent C. Vannicola Cesar E. Vele and Doriz R. Villa Krishna P. Vemuri Kristina A. Vieten Marc J. Viggiano John A. Viscosi Thomas J Vitale Barry L. Volain Lewis Volgenau Roger J. Voorhis, Jr. William E. Vosteen Joseph A. Vrablic Joseph J. Waclawski and Betty S. Waclawski Henry J. Wakefield Richard B. Wakeman Daniel F. Walczyk Raymond A. Waldbusser Amanda Nicole Walkowicz Hao Wang Huaning Wang Hudong Wang Edward A. Wardner Richard Wasiewicz Joshua L. Weaver Stephen J. Weaver Kenneth Ira Webman Donald R. Weihrich Brian Ishmael Wellington Philip B. Wells Fredric T. Wenthen and Carole M. Wenthen Richard Wessel Roberta Lee Weston

Roger E. Wetherbee and Roberta J. Wetherbee Edward W. Whelan, Jr. Barbara C. Wheler Mark W. Whipple and Marilyn E. Whipple Edward M. Whitlock, III Richard C. Wilbur and Brenda L. Wilbur Charles F. Willard, Jr. Gary M. Willard and Cheryl A. Willard Jack B. Williams John D. Williams Edith L. Willoughby Donna K. Wilson Thaung Win Reynolds B. Winslow Ashley L. Wisse Robert J. Wisse and Jody S. Wisse Robert C. Wong Scott D. Wortman and Donna J. Wortman Richard N. Wright, III Jerry C. Wu Hongwei Yan Taylan Yemliha Michael Yonko Sheng-Mou Yu Philip T. Yuan and Beatrice Yuan David M. Zasada Thomas J. Zenobi Jianshun Zhang and Bing Guo Man Zhang Xingnan Zhen and Ruiping Li Robert Eric Zimmerman Francis R. Zumpano

*deceased

Organizations Affiliated Foot Surgeons, P.C. Agilent Technologies, Inc. Allyn Foundation Inc. America Institute of Steel Construction Apple Inc. The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore Association for Bridge Construction and Design Autoliv North America The Ayco Charitable Foundation BAE Systems North America BASF Corporation Benevity The Boeing Company Casey Family Foundation CB&I CBS Broadcasting Inc. Chevron Corporation Cisco Systems Inc. Computer Associates International Inc. Corning Incorporated Dupont Fabros Technology Inc. Eaton Corporation Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund GE Fund Google Inc. The Heller Family Foundation Indira Foundation Infaith Community Foundation Intel Foundation The Jewish Community Foundation of Central New York Inc. Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies

Johnson Controls Foundation JustGive Lam Research Corporation Langan Engineering Environmental Surveying & Landscape Arch.

Eli Lilly & Company LMEPAC Charity Program Custodial Account Lockheed Martin Corporation The Lubrizol Foundation McKesson Foundation Inc. Microsoft Corporation Norfolk Southern Foundation The Northrop Grumman Foundation O’Brien & Gere Ltd. Paccar Foundation PJM Interconnection LLC Pointwise Inc. PPG Industries Inc. PricewaterhouseCoopers Qualcomm Inc. Raytheon Company Red Hat Inc. Rockwell Collins The San Diego Foundation Schwab Charitable Fund Sekas Homes Ltd. Society of Women Engineers SRC Inc. SSOE Inc. Turner Construction Company Foundation Tyco International Ltd. The U.S. Charitable Gift Trust Union Pacific Corporation United Technologies Corporation United Way of Central & Northeastern Connecticut

Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program Verizon Foundation Voya Financial Wake Forest University Wells Fargo Foundation Wilsu LLC Xerox Foundation

DONOR REPORT CONTINUED Contributors Cont (up to $499) Barry S. Solondz Michael P. Sorvillo Frank L. Sowers, Jr. and Kimberly A. Sowers Donald J. Spiegel Joel J. Spiegelman and Andrea Spiegelman Ronald A. Spinek Jason E. Springer Prasit Sricharoenchaikit and Jolynn Sricharoenchaikit Kris V. Srikrishman Seshadri Srinivasan John T. Sterling David A. Stevenson Edward L. Storrs, Jr. Arieh A. Strod Frederick M. Swed, Jr. Janusz Szela and Malgorzata M. Szela Ronald R. Szmerda Al J. Szoldatits and Jennifer L. Szoldatits Scott J. Tait Paul W. Taylor Paul T. Tenney and Christine A. Tenney Robert C. Terwilliger, Jr. Matthew A. Thelen John P. Therre, Sr. William O. Thomas Kenneth J. Tiss and Martha L. Tiss Michael R. Tobin Troy A. Tomlinson and Michelle N. Tomlinson Mark Trashaj and Liljana Trashaj Frank E. Trendell Patrick A. Tucci Lynn A. Turner Jeffrey G. Twombly and Laurie S. Twombly

56 | FALL 2016

Augustine F. Ubaldi Liza M. Uhlinger Colin Ulen Ramachandran Vaidyanathan David B. Vail David Van Valauri and Jill Ann Valauri Kimberlee M. Valdes Angelo F. Valentino and Shirley W. Valentino Vincent C. Vannicola Cesar E. Vele and Doriz R. Villa Krishna P. Vemuri Kristina A. Vieten Marc J. Viggiano John A. Viscosi Thomas J Vitale Barry L. Volain Lewis Volgenau Roger J. Voorhis, Jr. William E. Vosteen Joseph A. Vrablic Joseph J. Waclawski and Betty S. Waclawski Henry J. Wakefield Richard B. Wakeman Daniel F. Walczyk Raymond A. Waldbusser Amanda Nicole Walkowicz Hao Wang Huaning Wang Hudong Wang Edward A. Wardner Richard Wasiewicz Joshua L. Weaver Stephen J. Weaver Kenneth Ira Webman Donald R. Weihrich Brian Ishmael Wellington Philip B. Wells Fredric T. Wenthen and Carole M. Wenthen Richard Wessel Roberta Lee Weston

Roger E. Wetherbee and Roberta J. Wetherbee Edward W. Whelan, Jr. Barbara C. Wheler Mark W. Whipple and Marilyn E. Whipple Edward M. Whitlock, III Richard C. Wilbur and Brenda L. Wilbur Charles F. Willard, Jr. Gary M. Willard and Cheryl A. Willard Jack B. Williams John D. Williams Edith L. Willoughby Donna K. Wilson Thaung Win Reynolds B. Winslow Ashley L. Wisse Robert J. Wisse and Jody S. Wisse Robert C. Wong Scott D. Wortman and Donna J. Wortman Richard N. Wright, III Jerry C. Wu Hongwei Yan Taylan Yemliha Michael Yonko Sheng-Mou Yu Philip T. Yuan and Beatrice Yuan David M. Zasada Thomas J. Zenobi Jianshun Zhang and Bing Guo Man Zhang Xingnan Zhen and Ruiping Li Robert Eric Zimmerman Francis R. Zumpano

Organizations Affiliated Foot Surgeons, P.C. Agilent Technologies, Inc. Allyn Foundation Inc. America Institute of Steel Construction Apple Inc. The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore Association for Bridge Construction and Design Autoliv North America The Ayco Charitable Foundation BAE Systems North America BASF Corporation Benevity The Boeing Company Casey Family Foundation CB&I CBS Broadcasting Inc. Chevron Corporation Cisco Systems Inc. Computer Associates International Inc. Corning Incorporated Dupont Fabros Technology Inc. Eaton Corporation Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund GE Fund Google Inc. The Heller Family Foundation Indira Foundation Infaith Community Foundation Intel Foundation The Jewish Community Foundation of Central New York Inc. Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies

Johnson Controls Foundation JustGive Lam Research Corporation Langan Engineering Environmental Surveying & Landscape Arch.

Eli Lilly & Company LMEPAC Charity Program Custodial Account Lockheed Martin Corporation The Lubrizol Foundation McKesson Foundation Inc. Microsoft Corporation Norfolk Southern Foundation The Northrop Grumman Foundation O’Brien & Gere Ltd. Paccar Foundation PJM Interconnection LLC Pointwise Inc. PPG Industries Inc. PricewaterhouseCoopers Qualcomm Inc. Raytheon Company Red Hat Inc. Rockwell Collins The San Diego Foundation Schwab Charitable Fund Sekas Homes Ltd. Society of Women Engineers SRC Inc. SSOE Inc. Turner Construction Company Foundation Tyco International Ltd. The U.S. Charitable Gift Trust Union Pacific Corporation United Technologies Corporation United Way of Central & Northeastern Connecticut

Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program Verizon Foundation Voya Financial Wake Forest University Wells Fargo Foundation Wilsu LLC Xerox Foundation

DEAN Teresa A. Dahlberg, Ph.D. SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN Can Isik, Ph.D. ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESEARCH AND GRADUATE PROGRAMS Gurdip Singh, Ph.D.

ASSISTANT DEAN FOR COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT Michael M. Ransom ASSISTANT DEAN FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS Julie Hasenwinkel, Ph.D. ASSISTANT DEAN FOR STUDENT RECRUITMENT Kathleen M. Joyce

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matt Wheeler CONTRIBUTORS Kathleen Curtis Ariel Duchene Matt Wheeler Barb Witek DESIGN Leibowitz Branding & Design leibowitzdesign.com

PHOTOGRAPHY Michael Barletta Susan Kahn Douglas Lloyd Jason Zhang WEBSITE eng-cs.syr.edu CONTACT engineer@syr.edu

*deceased

FALL 2016 | 57