SEAS Newsletter
Week of October 6-12, 2008
FACULTY NEWS
New Faculty:
Prof. Yongsheng Leng has joined SEAS as an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Before joining SEAS, he was a research assistant professor of chemical engineering at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, for two and a half years. Prof. Leng earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in mechanics and tribology (the science of friction, lubrication and wear between two solid surfaces) from Tsinghua University (China), and his B.S. in mechanical engineering from North China University of Technology. His research projects, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense, focus mainly on computational materials science at nanometer scales. Research interests include computational nanotribology, molecular modeling of self-assembly at organo-metallic interfaces, nanomechanics, mechanical property of metal nanowires, and the development of computational methodology.
Dr. Stephen Pothier has joined SEAS as a senior research scientist in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Before joining SEAS, he spent two years as an engineer for Walt Disney World’s Ride and Show Engineering, and prior to that, was on the faculty at Princeton University. Dr. Pothier earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Tufts University, his masters from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and his bachelors from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research topics include synthetic petroleum (in collaboration with GW’s Chemistry Department), autonomous formation flight, and understanding visual processing speeds (in collaboration with GW’s Psychology Department). Dr. Pothier is also an active pilot with ratings in several large airplanes, including the Boeing 777.
Books & Papers:
Profs. Johan Rene van Dorp and Samuel Kotz (EMSE) co-published a paper with Donatella Vicari, an associate professor in the Department of Statistics, Probability and Applications at the University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy. The paper, entitled “Two-Sided generalized Topp and Leone (TS-GTL) distributions,” was published in the Journal of Applied Statistics, Vol. 35, Issue 9-10, pp. 1115-1131.
Conferences & Workshops:
On September 22nd and 23rd, Prof. Tarek El-Ghazawi (ECE) hosted and co-chaired the UPC developers workshop at the GW Marvin Center. This is a working forum that Prof. El-Ghazawi moderates. The forum manages the evolution of the UPC Parallel Programming Language. Attendees at the working forum included the University of California, Berkeley; Los Alamos National Laboratory; the University of Florida; George Mason University; Hewlett-Packard; IBM; the Department of Defense; NASA; and the Institute for Defense Analyses.
Joe Pelton, research professor of engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will chair the opening keynote session of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety in Rome, Italy, on Oct 22nd. The conference organizers expect 350 people from around the world to attend, with representatives from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Rascosmos (the Russian federal space agency), the Chinese Space Agency, and virtually all of the major aerospace companies from around the world. Prof. Pelton will also present a paper on space safety and future space transportation systems at one of the conference sessions.
Prof. Wasyl Wasykiwskyj (ECE) attended the Microwaves Radar and Remote Sensing (MRRS) Conference September 22nd – 24th in Kiev, Ukraine, where he chaired a session and presented the invited paper, “Coherent Scattering from Distributed Targets." The paper was published in the MRRS Proceedings.
Invited Talks:
On October 10th, Prof. Rajat Mittal (MAE) will give a colloquium at Argonne National Lab entitled "Computational Modeling and Analysis of the Hydrodynamics of Competitive Swimming."
OTHER NEWS
Encouraging the next generation of engineers: Mr. Michael Zarroli, a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of the Old Dominion (Virginia) District, has contacted SEAS asking for help in lining up speakers to talk to Scouts about engineering. Mr. Zarroli is seeking volunteers to speak about engineering and give a demonstration at one of the several Boy Scout troop meetings he is organizing in Fairfax County during the month of October. If you would like to help out, please contact him at Michael.Zarroli@USPTO.GOV or 571-272-2101.
GUEST VIGNETTE
Seeing What's Not Visible
Colleen Lingley-Papadopoulos of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering defended her doctoral dissertation, entitled “Image Analysis of Optical Coherence Tomography Images of the Urinary Bladder for the Recognition of Bladder Cancer,” on September 15, 2008. Her work, conducted with her advisor, Professor Jason Zara, and collaborator, Professor Murray Loew, both of the ECE Department, involved the development of new computer algorithms to diagnose bladder cancer using optical coherence tomography.
Bladder cancer is currently diagnosed and treated through the use of video-based visualization techniques that direct the urologist only to visible surface abnormalities. Some cancerous and precancerous conditions are either not visible with conventional visual inspection, or the diagnosis is inconclusive. Biopsies of suspicious areas of tissue are necessary to accurately diagnose these conditions, but these biopsies are time-consuming and have a high false-negative rate. The ability to visualize subsurface structures at high-resolution will assist in diagnosing conditions unidentifiable with conventional visualization techniques. Optical coherence tomography (OCT), an imaging method that produces high-resolution images of subsurface structures at near-video rates, has the potential to guide biopsy procedures and improve detection and diagnosis of bladder cancer. However, OCT images can be difficult to interpret for even well-trained surgeons; therefore it’s essential to develop automated methods to investigate tissue properties with extreme accuracy from the resulting OCT images. This work is continuing at GW, with Professor Zara participating in a large multi-center clinical trial conducted by Imalux Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio. It is expected that these algorithms will eventually become part of Imalux’s clinical systems and assist urologists in finding and diagnosing bladder cancer as early as possible, improving the clinical outcomes of these patients.
(Provided courtesy of Profs. Jason Zara and Murray Loew of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering)
UPCOMING
Second Annual GW Entrepreneurs Roundtable and Award for Distinguished Entrepreneurial Achievement: October 6th
More info . . .
American Society for Engineering Management-National Capital Section Luncheon: October 10th
More info . . .
Mid-Term Break Away and Engineering Experience – SEAS students will visit Six Flags America: October 11th
(Contact Ketan Patel for information)
Microsoft Tech Talk: October 12th
More info . . .
LOOKING AHEAD
Computer Science Seminar: October 13th
11:00 am – 12:00 pm, Computer Science Department Conference Room
SEAS Fall 2008 Undergraduate Recruiting Visit Day: October 13th
Prospective students will visit with SEAS students, faculty, and young alumni
GW Board of Trustees Tour of Tompkins Hall: October 16th
Colonials Weekend—Dean’s Breakfast: October 18th
8:30 – 9:45 am
Computer Science Summer Graduate Research Fellowship Workshop: October 24th
More info . . .
SEAS Graduate Admissions to Host Open House: October 29th
6:00 – 8:00 pm, Tompkins Hall Lobby
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