UCONN Engineering Emagination

Welcome

The School of Engineering is, without a doubt, vital to the University and haslong been associated with research and educational excellence.Connecticut’s history is steeped in industry—from shipbuilding, fabric and clock

mills of the 19th century to the leading multi-national firms that sustain the region’seconomy today. United Technologies Corporation, Electric Boat, Northrop Grumman,IBM, GE—all depend upon well-trained UConn engineers to develop and improve uponproducts that are sought the world over. In addition to educating thoughtful, agileengineers, the School of Engineering has developed impressive research programsat the forefront of important areas such as energy, security, nanotechnology andbiomedical engineering. Excellence in scholarly research activities and thecontinuing commitment to train outstanding engineers will be the hallmarks ofthe School of Engineering.

In early January, the School of Engineering welcomed its new Dean, Dr. Mun Y.Choi. His selection culminated a rigorous national search process. Dr. Choi bringsimpressive credentials, a collegial and collaborative style, and vision to his role asDean. At the helm of the 2,300-student School, he will foster strong interdisciplinaryresearch collaborations, instill new academic goals, help to elevate the School’ssuperb reputation and build stronger relations with industry. Please join me inwelcoming Dean Choi to UConn and Connecticut.

Peter J. NichollsProvost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

2 EMAGINATION

Engineering, science and technology underpin economic stability and well-being.These disciplines have had demonstrable positive effects on a wide range of

domains we experience every day, including, for example, health care, transportationsystems, weather forecasting, and security, just to name a few.

This makes it incumbent upon the University of Connecticut to ensure that wecontinue to develop leading edge technologies through research and scholarshipand to produce talented engineers who can contribute their skills toward innovativeand positive discoveries. Through their collective efforts, we will also begin to addressimportant global challenges such as energy, natural resources, and environmentaldegradation.

We are deeply proud of our School of Engineering. The School of Engineeringalumni are woven into the varied fabric of leadership in our society and throughoutthe world, from industry, government and small business to medicine and law.They are integral to who and what we are—not just now but long into the future.

It is my great privilege to guide UConn during a time when many challenges—social, technological, geopolitical—demand our urgent attention. It’s gratifying,and comforting, to know that our engineering faculty, students and alumni arecontributing their technical talents in countless ways toward solving some of ourgreatest challenges.

Michael J. HoganPresident

It’s my pleasure to introduce the firstedition of emagination, which provides

a window to the diverse activities inresearch, education and outreach thatdefine our School of Engineering at theUniversity of Connecticut. These are trulyexciting times at UConn with tremendousgrowth in every facet of our enterprise.This year, we are experiencing the largestincrease in freshman enrollments, withnearly 500 students joining our school.Prospective students are recognizing thevalue of a UConn education that offersa dynamic curriculum, small class sizes,ready access to talented faculty, andenrichment activities. We are also delight-ed to welcome 14 new faculty and staffmembers, who bring valuable experienceto the School of Engineering that willenhance our multifaceted efforts. UConnis also in the midst of an impressive$2.3 billion campus revitalization throughwhich our School will realize a newengineering building. The new buildingwill provide additional modern facilitiesto pursue research andtraining in importantinterdisciplinary fields.

The foundation of anacademic institution restswith the faculty and staff.Our faculty members havebeen recognized with hon-ors that include member-ship in the National Academies ofEngineering and Science, Fellow distinc-tions from professional organizations,and Young Investigator Awards fromfederal agencies. In this magazine, youcan explore the creative efforts of ourfaculty in developing solutions for thegrand technical challenges that facesociety, educational programs to train“Engineers of 2020,” and outreach toengage the K-12 partners and broadercommunities in which we live.

I hope that you enjoy this issue ofemagination and I look forward to theopportunity to meet with you to discussthe exciting developments at UConnSchool of Engineering.

Sincerely,

Mun Y. ChoiDean, School of Engineering

Provost Peter Nicholls(left) and PresidentMichael Hogan (right)visit with ME studentsKirk Scheel and AndrewJohnston (HABCO Inc.team) during SeniorDesign Demo day.

WWW.ENGR.UCONN.EDU 3

DEAN OF ENGINEERINGMun Y. Choi

ASSOCIATE DEANSA.F.M. Anwar,

Research & Graduate EducationJohn C. Bennett, Jr.,

Academic Affairs

ASSISTANT DEANMarcelle Wood, Undergraduate Education

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENTChristopher P. Joliat

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENTMichael McCarthy

GRAPHIC DESIGNER/ILLUSTRATORChristopher LaRosa

PHOTO CREDITSChristopher LaRosa; Brent Bass;Nathaniel Bergan; Lanny Nagler;University Communications

emagination is published twice yearlyby the Office of the Dean, School ofEngineering at the University of Connecticut.

261 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2237Storrs, Connecticut 06269-2237Telephone: (860) 486-2221

Published for the alumni, faculty, students,corporate supporters, and friends of theSchool of Engineering at the University ofConnecticut. Suggestions are welcome. Sendcorrespondence and address corrections tothe Editor at the above address or e-mail [email protected]

This issue of emaginationis printed on 50% recycled/25% post-consumer wastepaper stock.

Volume 1, 2008

maginationVOLUME 1, 2008e

2 Message from Dean Choi

2 Message from President Hogan

2 Message from Provost Nicholls

5 New Building Slated

6 EWB Chapter Nets Official Designation

6 CASE Supports Study of TransportationAsset Management

7 Student Team to HelpPower Plant Improve Performance

7 Faculty-Authored Books Among Top Sellers

8 Undergrads Study BioGRID Computing

14 Distinguished Engineersand Top Students Honored

15 Three Elected to CASE

15 Faculty Develop NovelMicro-threading Model

15 Project Destined for Space Station

16 Alumni Among NationalAcademies Members

18 UConn Engineering Graduate StudentsPursue Cutting-Edge Research

23 Collaboration ImprovesJet Engine Performance

24 Students Capture Honors

24 Young Faculty Land Major Awards

26 Seniors Showcase Design Projects

27 Outreach Efforts Aidin Undergraduate Recruiting

30 Engineering Students Shine

37 UConn Engineering Alumni in Academia

38 Javidi, Weiss and Bar-ShalomGarner International Honors

38 Meet the Engineering Advisory Board

41 Alumni-Led Firm HostsOn-Site Masters Program

42 Internships Enhance Undergrad Experience

43 Donors Sustain Us

44 School Welcomes New Faculty & Staff

IN EVERY ISSUE39 We Need Your Help!

41 Alumni Notes

46 Faculty News

FEATURES

SPECIAL SECTIONS4 SUSTAINABILITY

9 NANOTECHNOLOGY

19 BIOENGINEERING

31 SECURITY

Civil & Environmental Engineeringfaculty members MekonnenGebremichael, Emmanouil Anagnostouand Amvrossios Bagtzoglou are conduct-ing research in the Nile River Basin ofEthiopia that will lead to more reliablemethods of monitoring the region’s waterresources over time, using a combinationof ground-based sensing methods, satellitedata and physically-based hydrologicaland meteorological models.

In 2007, Drs. Anagnostou andBagtzoglou (co-PI) received a

$433,000 NASA award toconduct research aimed

at improving flood pre-diction using satellitedata. The three-yeargrant was awardedunder the GlobalPrecipitationMeasurement(GPM) mission,

a program that sup-ports use of satellites to

study precipitation onEarth. The goal of the

research is to bridge the gapbetween satellite precipitation data,

which provides meteorological informa-tion on a gross scale, and local Earth-based systems, to develop predictionmethods that offer greater accuracy andspan geographic and political barriers.

Since last year, the projecthas grown thanks to substantial additionalfunding and a more expansive team focusthat includes undergraduate and graduatestudents. With additional funding fromthe National Science Foundation,Dr. Gebremichael headed a project teamfrom the U.S. and Ethiopia that spentseveral summer months in 2007 and 2008intensively studying the hydrology of akey Ethiopian watershed. The biggestchallenge in monitoring and predictingwater resources variability throughoutAfrica is the lack of ground-based systemsfor observing water resource variables suchas rainfall, stream flow, soil moisture, etc.This challenge could be overcome byusing satellite data, but certain modifica-tions would be required to the satellitealgorithms to enable them to accuratelyreflect African conditions.

Dr. Gebremichael’s student team hasfocused on installing sensor units inEthiopia, establishing an experimental

4 EMAGINATION

Ph.D. candidate Feyera AgaHirpa adjusts a sensorapparatus set up to collectsoil temperature and watercontent, rainfall, and airtemperature and humiditydata in Debreberhan, Ethiopia.

Photo by Nathaniel Bergan (B.S. ‘08)

Sustainability is an integralcomponent of the new academicplan of the University ofConnecticut. Our research effortsin energy, water and air resourcemanagement, advances in resilientand economical structures, andoutreach activities in developingregions through EngineersWithout Borders will continue tobe an important component ofour activities. Please visitwww.engr.uconn.edu/headlinenews.phpfor more detailed coverage.

CIVIL ENGINEERING FACULTYSTUDY GLOBAL HYDROLOGY

predicting flooding in the MississippiRiver Basin.

SEISMIC STUDIESIN THAILAND

Dr. Richard Christenson, an assistantprofessor of Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering, and a team of undergraduatestudents are conducting earthquakeengineering related studies in Thailandand Japan as part of a three-year projectsupported by the National ScienceFoundation’s International ResearchExperiences for Students (IRES) project.The Christenson team began the project insummer 2006 and has returned in succes-sive summers to examine the impact ofseismic events on building structures andto explore methods for reducing structuraldamage. The project involves the applica-tion of a cyber-infrastructure from theNSF-sponsored U.S. Network forEarthquake Engineering Simulation(NEES) to facilitate these internationalresearch efforts.

The team operates in collaborationwith Thai colleagues from ChulalongkornUniversity and Japanese colleagues fromNihon University. Activities have includedlaboratory experiments of passive andactive control; field work involving build-ing and land surveys of regions in Thailandthat were hard-hit by the 2004 Asiantsunami; and seismic downhole testing—in response to a M6.3 (magnitude 6.3 onthe Richter scale) earthquake that shookThailand's northern border—aimed atmeasuring shear wave velocity forsite-response analysis.

During summer 2008, besidesconducting lab tests, students participatedin a tsunami evacuation drill in Phuket,Thailand. Using hand-held GPS to tracktheir movements within the evacuatingcrowds, the team evaluated currentevacuation routes and procedures.Dr. Christenson’s team has operated insome of the areas most devastated by the2004 Asian tsunami, which killed over185,000 people.

watershed to study hydrological processes,collecting short-term intensive hydrologicaldata, and planning the locations of a seriesof small dams along Nile tributaries thatwill trap sediment typically transported allthe way to Egypt, where it now flows intoand is gradually filling Lake Nasser. Thesensor data will be compared against NASAweather satellite data and predictivealgorithms. The project aim is to quantifythe accuracy of satellite water-relatedproducts and their use in flood prediction.

With funding from the NationalOceanic & Atmospheric Administration,assistant professor Dr. Guiling Wang isinvestigating the use of both soil moistureand vegetation density to predict seasonalrainfall, which will help mitigate the effectsof drought and flooding in agriculturalareas. Her approach considers the Earth’sbiosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere asdynamically coupled components linkedthrough water, energy, and CO2 exchanges.Recent research topics include vegetation-precipitation interactions at seasonal, inter-annual, and decadal-centennial time scales,parameterization of sub-grid heterogeneityin land surface and climate models, impactof dynamic root water uptake on surfacehydrological processes, and the impact oflarge-scale climate variability (i.e., El Nino-Southern Oscillation, North AtlanticOscillation) on regional hydrological andbiologicalprocesses.Her work iscurrentlyfocused on

ENGINEERINGSUSTAINABILITY

New BuildingSlated

Dean of Engineering Mun Y. Choiannounced that a new

Engineering building will be construct-ed on the Storrs campus by 2013.Steady growth in undergraduateenrollments, the need for expandedhigh-tech research space, and suc-cess in securing a number of highprofile national research centershave heightened pressures on theSchool to expand.

Preliminary designs for the build-ing, to contain a minimum of 40,000sq. ft. of usable space, will begin in2009. The estimated $42 millionbuilding will be constructed withfunds provided by the State's $2.3billion investment in Connecticut'sflagship university, begun in 1995under the name “UConn 2000” andexpanded in a second phase as“21st Century UConn.”

The new building will housestate-of-the-art research and teachinglaboratories for biomedical engineer-ing, nanotechnology and sustainableengineering.

“Engineering is vital to theeconomic health and vitality of theState, and we are gratified that Stateleaders and the University recognizeour need to continue to grow,”said Dean Choi. “This new facilitywill leverage our educational andresearch initiatives, and fortify ourability to attract new resources andopportunities.”


Dr. Richard Christenson and Mike Gemmell(B.S. ‘08) tour destroyed resort in Phang-Nga,Thailand in 2006. Photo by Brent Bass (M.S. ‘07)

The UConn chapter of EngineersWithout Borders (EWB) gained official

recognition from the national organization,clearing the way for the small chapter toproceed with an engineering remediationproject that could improve the lives ofover 1,000 impoverished people in ruralNicaragua, a nation yoked by a 46%poverty rate.

Chapter president Nathan Barlow(Chemical Engineering), along withNathaniel Bergan (Civil Engineering)and Dave Harrington (EnvironmentalEngineering) traveled to Nicaragua duringThanksgiving break ’07 to determine howto stabilize a key access road linkingGranada with a large shantytown ofsquatters. They hope to assure road accessto the area called La Prusia over the nextyear. A major challenge for the team is tosecure much-needed funding of approxi-mately $20,000, according to Mr. Bergan,to cover the cost of heavy equipment rental,local laborers, and travel expenses for thesmall EWB team.

EWB-USA is a non-profit humanitarianorganization that partners with developingcommunities worldwide to improve theirquality of life while also providing studentsand practicing engineers the experiencesthat foster a global outlook. EWB founderBernard Amadei was inducted in 2008 intothe National Academy of Engineering.

The EWB UConnchapter aims to makepermanent repairs to atwo-mile stretch of a dirtroad, in a rural area nearGranada that is chroni-cally washed out by torren-tial rains during the lengthy“invierno” season. Mr. Bergansaid the downpours feed a

EWB ChapterNets Official Designation

Creating sustainable transportationsystems requires more than just new

transportation modes, smarter growthand better fuel efficiency. Sustainabletransportation systems must also focuson rigorous, systematic methodologiesfor maintaining current infrastructure

and allocating limitedresources within thetransportation system.The ConnecticutAcademy of Science& Engineering(CASE) asked a

UConn team to investi-gate transportation asset

management (TAM) success stories acrossthe U.S. and beyond.

The research team, led by assistantprofessors of Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering Drs. Nicholas Lownesand Adam Zofka, seeks to identifyTAM techniques relevantto Connecticut’stransportationsystem. A key toplacing thesetechniques in theirproper context isa thorough under-standing of how TAMis currently incorporated inConnecticut and what future implementa-tion opportunities exist. To this end,Drs. Lownes and Zofka have undertakencooperative efforts with the ConnecticutDepartment of Transportation andother transportation decision makersto identify strengths and areas forimprovement within the current system.The expected outcome of the work will aidConnecticut’s transportation authorities inbetter allocating scarce resources to sustainour existing transportation system.

CASE SupportsStudy ofTransportationAsset Management

Pictured (L-R): Drs. Nicholas Lownes, Adam Zofka.

natural stream bed that continually erodesa large section of the road, often producingyawning holes 10-13 feet deep and render-ing it impassible to traffic. More permanenthousing, access to the city of Granada, andbusiness formation are all hampered by theimpassible path. The team is collaboratingwith a Massachusetts-based nonprofitNGO, Casas de la Esperanza.

In 2007-08, the UConn chapterenjoyed strong support from a small,committed core of students. Besides Mssrs.Barlow, Bergan and Harrington [Ed. note:Nate Bergan and Dave Harringtongraduated in May ’08] the core membersinclude Leslie Verissimo (Management &Engineering for Manufacturing), JasonSchinis (Biomedical Engineering/Eurotech),Robert Yau (Chemical Engineering) andLiz Hufnagel (Biomedical Engineering).Advisors are Drs. Amvrossios Bagtzoglouand Mekonnen Gebremichael, with Drs.Maria Chrysochoou and Norman Garrickalso serving as mentors. All are associatedwith the Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering Department.

During their visit to the area, the teamassessed the road, conducted watershedtests, and developed a strategy for divertingthe water flow away from, and stabilizing,the road. The UConn EWB team looksforward to carrying out its Nicaraguamission during 2008-09 and to identifying

a new challenge that will allow themto apply their engineering expertisealtruistically somewhere aroundthe globe.

The team website may befound at www.ewbhuskies.com/.To support the UConn chapter ofEWB, please contact Dr. AmvrossiosBagtzoglou at (860) 486-4017 or

email [email protected].


6 EMAGINATION

Three engineering students, overseenby Chemical Engineering professor

Douglas Cooper, began a research studyover the summer aimed at helping theUConn power plant attain greaterperformance efficiencies. The team seeks tofine-tune plant operation with the goal ofreducing the consumption of natural gasand fresh water while still meeting theelectrical, heating and cooling requirementsof its customer, the UConn campus.

The student team includes doctoralcandidate Rachelle Howard (ChemicalEngineering) and two undergraduatestudents, Michelle Przybylek(Environmental Engineering) and MelissaTweedie (Chemical Engineering). They willcollaborate with the plant UtilitiesManager, Ron Gaudet, and Power PlantSupervisor, Tim Grady, to reduce naturalgas usage and carbon emissions throughimprovements in overall plant efficiency;reduce water usage through identificationof alternative designs and operationalpractices; and lengthen equipment lifeand reduce equipment maintenance coststhrough decreased cycling.

UConn has a combined-cycle cogenera-tion plant that came online in 2006 andmeets the electricity needs of the entirecampus. At the UConn cogen, explained

Mr. Gaudet, fuel is first burned

in gas turbines that turn electric generators.The hot exhaust gases exiting each turbineenter heat recovery steam generators toproduce both high and low pressure steam.The high-pressure steam turns a steamturbine generator to produce yet moreelectricity without burning additional fuel.The low-pressure steam is used to heatcampus buildings in the winter and todrive refrigeration compressors to supplychilled water to air conditioning units inthe summer. The result is an extremelyefficient and flexible operation.

Ms. Howard will test and documentnew methods for plant performance evalua-tion and loop tuning. Her efforts will focuson the control system, which receiveshundreds of temperature, pressure, flowand other sensor signals and rapidly adjustsvalves, pumps, compressors and the likeso the plant runs safely and efficiently.Ms. Howard has developed a method foranalyzing control signals and improvingcontrol system performance without theneed to deliberately disrupt the plant asrequired by current industrial practice. Shewill confirm the accuracy of her method bycomparing it with Loop-Pro®, commercialsoftware donated by Control Station, Inc.

Ms. Przybylek, who participates in theUConn Honors Program, will performan overall energy and carbon balance

analysis that will form the basisof her senior Honors thesis.Ms. Tweedie will build upon

her previous experiencewith UTC Power to

perform an overallwater balance

analysis. Both willparticipate in othertasks as neededto the benefit ofthe plant.

Faculty-AuthoredBooks AmongTop SellersThe School of Engineering isfortunate in having faculty memberswho are not merely teaching coreconcepts, but writing top textbooksthat advance the instructional arts inimportant ways. Our faculty membershave authored more than 60 toptextbooks. Many are bestsellersin academic institutions today.We highlight a few below.

MECHANICS OF MATERIALSMcGraw Hill CompaniesNow in 5th Edition, 2009

Considered the premier undergradu-ate book on this fundamentalsubject, Mechanics of Materialsis used by engineering studentsat Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech,the University of Illinois, the Universityof Michigan, Purdue University, theUniversity of Wisconsin and RogerWilliams University. Mechanics ofMaterials has been translated intoChinese, Greek, Italian, Korean,Portuguese and Spanish. Thesetextbooks introduce significanttheoretical and peda-gogical innovations instatics, dynamics,and mechanics ofmaterials education.

Authors: F. P. Beer(deceased) was asso-ciated with Lehigh University;E. Russell Johnston, Jr. and John T.DeWolf are professors emeritus ofCivil & Environmental Engineeringat UConn; and David Mazurek,who earned his Ph.D. in Civil &Environmental Engineering at UConn(advised by Dr. DeWolf) is an instruc-tor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy,New London.

continued on page 8

Student Team toHelp Power PlantImprove Performance

Melissa Tweedie(seated), RachelleHoward andMichelle Przybylek.



In January, the Computer Science &Engineering (CSE) department landed

a prestigious grant, through the NationalScience Foundation (NSF), to supporta special educational program that pairscollege students each summer with depart-mental faculty to participate in ongoingresearch programs in the area of BioGRID(Biological General Repository forInteraction Datasets) computing. TheResearch Experiences for Undergraduates(REU) program funds undergraduatesummer research at designated universityprograms nationwide, giving studentsvaluable exposure to the academic researchenvironment and motivating them toconsider graduate study in technical fields.

Over the summer, the three-year CSEREU hosted 10 students at the UConncampus for eight intensive weeks ofresearch in the area of BioGRID initiatives.Dr. Chun-Hsi Huang, who penned thewinning NSF proposal and oversees theREU program, said nearly 40 applicationswere received. Of the 10 selected, half arecurrent UConn undergraduates and theremainder are undergraduates at VirginiaCommonwealth University, CUNY-Hunter,Carlton College in Minnesota and theUniversity of Texas at Dallas.

The program included introductoryseminars designed to familiarize partici-pants with concepts involving moderncomputing infrastructures, related informa-tion technology, and life-sciences researchthat relies upon or benefits from suchinfrastructures. Each REU student also

Undergrads StudyBioGRID Computing

worked closely with participating facultyand graduate students on one of severalexciting research projects involving theapplication of modern computing infra-structure and information technology toresearch and practice in various life-sciencedisciplines.

Modern grid technology offersresearchers a means for sharing Internet-aware resources remotely and dynamicallyto advance important findings and ideas.For example, epidemiological researchersstudying SARS in Asia may exchange largeamounts of data with peers around theglobe using the BioGRID. The grids arenow becoming a viable solution to a largenumber of computation- and data-inten-sive life science applications rangingfrom molecular and population to socialhealth-care levels, according to Dr. Huang.

In recent years, the School ofEngineering has hosted several REUprograms. The Chemical Engineeringprogram hosted an REU emphasizingchemical engineering at the nanoscale(2002-04). The Electrical & ComputerEngineering department hosted an REUfrom 2005-07 for students in a variety ofareas, such as biomedical ultrasound andoptical imaging, RF power transmission,optical sensor technology, computerarchitecture and other areas. Across theUniversity, several other units are currentlyhosting REUs, including the Departmentof Physiology and Neurobiology and theDepartment of Chemistry.

The opportunity to engage in meaningful research isan enormously gratifying, yet often elusive, educationaloption for undergraduate students.

Visit the REU website at biogrid.engr.uconn.edu/REU/ for details.

TRANSMISSION ELECTRONMICROSCOPY: A TEXTBOOKFOR MATERIALS SCIENCESpringer1st Edition (4 volumes), 1996

Transmission Electron Microscopyhas widespread use acrossthe globe, with over 13,000copies sold. A secondedition is slated forpublication in 2008.

An MRS Bulletin review(May 1998) called it “Theonly complete text nowavailable which includes all theremarkable advances made inthe field of TEM in the past 30-40years....The authors can be proud ofan enormous task, very well done.”

Authors D.B. Williams and C. BarryCarter. Dr. Carter is Head of theDepartment of Chemical, Materials &Biomolecular Engineering at UConn.

FUNDAMENTALS OFHEAT AND MASS TRANSFERWiley6th Edition, 2006

“This bestselling book in the fieldprovides a complete introduction tothe physical origins of heat and masstransfer. Noted for its crystal clearpresentation and easy-to-followproblem solving methodolo-gy, the book’s systematicapproach to the firstlaw develops readerconfidence in using thisessential tool for thermalanalysis.”

Authors: Frank Incropera(Matthew H. McCloskey Dean ofEngineering, University of NotreDame); David DeWitt (PurdueUniversity); Theodore Bergman is aprofessor of Mechanical Engineeringat UConn; Adrienne S. Lavine(University of California Los Angeles).

continued from page 7

8 EMAGINATION

ADVANCED MATERIALS

COUPLED ELECTRONIC AND THERMAL TRANSPORT IN SILICON NANOWIRESIn the Nanoelectronics Laboratory, Dr. Helena Silva, assistant professor ofElectrical & Computer Engineering, is examining the fundamentals of coupledelectronic and thermal transport in silicon (Si) nanowires. She explains that bulkSi is not a good thermoelectric material but nanometer-scale Si structures offersignificant improvements in thermoelectric properties due to confinement in oneor more dimensions. One application of this work is the design of devices withimproved thermoelectric properties, which can yield greater efficiencies, for silicon-based solid state cooling and power generation. Potential markets for the commer-cial products might include the semiconductor and energy industries. The tiny wiresmay also facilitate the development of superior large-area electronics, such ashigh-efficiency solar panels, advanced X-ray detectors for medical imaging, andflexible, lightweight electronic displays.

Nanotechnology serves as animportant enabling tool forscientists and engineers to expandthe boundaries of possibilities inareas related to sensors, novelmaterials, and diagnostic methods.Our activities in nanotechnologyhave been enriched through ourcollaborations with esteemedcolleagues in physics, chemistry,biology and the access to excellentfacilities provided by the Instituteof Materials Science. In addition,we have developed a newnanotechnology minor in ourundergraduate program.


Dr. Helena SilvaPhoto by Lanny Nagler

DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERED NANOCOMPOSITES FOR OPTICAL APPLICATIONSDr. Eric Jordan of Mechanical Engineering (ME), joined by Maurice Gell, a researchscientist affiliated with the Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering depart-ment (CMBE), and Drs. Baki Cetegen (ME) and Mark Aindow (CMBE), are assistingdefense giant Raytheon in the development of engineered nanocomposites foroptical applications. A project goal is to achieve transparency in the infrared opticalrange. To do so, the team must produce a nano-grained material that is stable atelevated temperatures. In this process, called Solution Precursor Plasma Spray(SPPS), chemical precursor droplets are injected into a plasma jet to form theceramic in its brief flight to the substrate. The SPPS process involves molecular-level mixing of multi-component ceramic materials, the ability to control chemicalpurity, and the flexibility to rapidly explore new compositions. The SPPS processcan effectively produce multi-component microstructures at the nanometer scale,called nanocomposites, that are high-strength as well as resistant to erosionand thermal shock. Dr. Jordan’s work could save both the public and privatesectors billions of dollars in the construction of aircraft engines, naval shipsand submarines.

ENGINEERINGNANOTECHNOLOGY

FOCUS ON NANOFABRICATIONAssistant professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering AliGokirmak is conducting research focused on the physics andengineering of nanometer-scale semiconducting devices anddevelopment of electrical probing as a nanofabrication tech-nology. In a collaboration with IBM’s T.J. Watson Laboratories,Dr. Gokirmak and his team perform fabrication, materialscharacterization, electrical processing, electrical characteriza-tion, design and modeling. The team’s current projectsinvolve crystallization of silicon nanostructures and transistordevelopment for ultra-low-power, high-performance electron-ics. Implementation of their research may lead to high-per-formance circuits and computers integrated on glass with displays andvery-low-power, high-performance circuits, extending battery life of mobiledevices and wireless sensor networks.

MANIPULATION AND PROPERTY MAPPINGOF SURFACES WITH NANOMETER SCALE RESOLUTIONAn enabling tool for nanotechnology known as Atomic ForceMicroscopy (AFM) allows the manipulation and propertymapping of surfaces with nanometer scale resolution. One of thegreatest limitations of AFM remains imaging speed, generally requir-ing up to four minutes per frame. To address this limitation, Dr. Bryan Huey (CMBE) andhis team have invented High Speed Scanning Property Mapping (HSSPM), a new method

that allows full frame image acquisition down to 1/10th of a second with resolution equalto that of conventional AFM systems. This over 1000-fold improvement has signifi-

cant implications in terms of increased throughput and efficiency, large areaimaging, and especially the ability to quantify dynamic effects with

previously inaccessible spatial and temporal resolution. Current researchleveraging these new capabilities includes characterizing limitations on data

write/erase speeds for next-generation hard drive materials as well as studyingelectronic and optical coupling for next generation photovoltaic switches and solar cells.

With the rapidly expanding interest, applications, and professional opportunities innanotechnology throughout Connecticut and beyond, advances like HSSPM are crucialfor engineering research and education.

10 EMAGINATION

Dr. Ali Gokirmak

This 2000 nm x2000 nm

HSSPM imagedisplaysnanoscaleferroelectricdomainsswitching from

‘up’ to ‘down’states with

<20 nm spatialresolution.

The contrast in this 3500 nm x3500 nm image below depicts the orien-tation of ferroelectric domains alignedinto (low) or out of (high) the surface ofa 30 nm thick piezoelectric thin film.

ENERGY

PRODUCTION OF HIGH QUALITY CARBON NANOTUBESDr. Wilson Chiu, an associate professor of MechanicalEngineering, is researching ways to optimize and control thegrowth of large quantities of high quality carbon nanotubes.These nanotubes have remarkable mechanical, electronicand electrochemical properties, but they are currently usedin limited applications. Dr. Chiu and his team have developeda new synthesis technique capable of creating carbonnanotubes in open air at very high deposition rates and with minimal contamina-tion and low defect densities. The open-air feature allows for continuousdeposition, which is favorable for scale-up, and has the capability to make carbonnanotube networks and patterns by selective area deposition and direct laserwriting—provided certain limitations can be overcome. The team will: (1) performextensive carbon nanotube synthesis and characterization experiments to providethe chemical kinetics and nanotube structure information necessary for modeldevelopment and validation; (2) develop an accurate predictive model; and(3) establish relationships between process parameters and carbon nanotubegrowth rate, properties and structure.

SYNTHESIS AND SELF-ASSEMBLY OFCARBON NANOTUBE-BASED LIQUIDCRYSTALLINE MATERIALSAssociate professor of CMBE Lei Zhuis conducting research involving thesynthesis and self-assembly of carbonnanotube-based liquid crystalline materials,and characterization and design of usefulnanotechnology devices for the develop-ment of novel photovoltaics and nanotran-sistors. His research is supported by anNSF CAREER Award and a DuPont YoungProfessor grant. Photovoltaic systems usesemiconductor technology to convertsunlight directly into electricity. In theabsence of sunlight, batteries store energy.Photovoltaics may be used to powercalculators, lights, water pumps, homesand even industrial facilities.Transistors areused in countless applications, from radiosto BlackBerry® handheld computers.

LAYERED FERROELECTRIC SUPERLATTICESAND COMPOSITIONALLY GRADED FERROELECTRIC FILMSAssociate professor S. Pamir Alpay of Chemical, Materials &Biomolecular Engineering (CMBE) and his team areengineering artificially layered ferroelectric superlattices andcompositionally graded ferroelectric films with enhanced propertiesthrough spatial variations in internal stresses, film composition,and microstructure. Exploiting the unique intrinsic characteristics offerroelectric materials andintroducing compositional andinternal stress gradients, Dr.Alpay has obtained unusualelectrical and electromechani-cal properties that are notpossible for bulk ferroelectricsand ferroelectric thin films.His work is expected to yieldbroad classes of new electro-magnetic devices: transpaci-tors, transductors andtransponents—usually high energy-density materialsthat can be configured to store and release energy(electrical, magnetic and mechanical) in pre-dictable ways, making them useful as sensors andactuators. Unlike passive/homogeneous ferroics,transpacitors, transductors, translastics, and othertransponent devices are active devices with poten-tial applications in a multitude of high-sensitivity,high-energy-products that will lead to a new genera-tion of sensors, actuators, and other energy storageand metering devices.


ADVANCED HYDROGEN STORAGE MATERIALSA key component for the hydrogen economy is fuel cell-powered vehiclesthat, in turn, depend critically upon advanced hydrogen storage materials.The challenge is to develop a storage material that simultaneouslysatisfies three competitive requirements: (i) high hydrogen density,(ii) reversibility of hydrogen release/uptake cycle near the ambienttemperature and pressure, and (iii) fast release/uptake kinetics.Dr. Leon Shaw of CMBE is employing nano-engineering techniquesto satisfy these requirements. Dr. Shaw and his team are usingLiNH2 + LiH, Mg(NH2)2 + LiH, and LiBH4 + MgH2 mixtures to storehydrogen reversibly. They are employing various nano-processingtechniques—all of which will enable rapid sorption and desorption ofhydrogen molecules on the solid surface, provide large interfacial areafor reactions between solid hydrides, and reduce the diffusion distanceof hydrogen within the solids. This research may lead to novel hydrogenstorage materials that can meet the Department of Energy’s FreedomCARrequirements and thus make hydrogen vehicles a reality.

HIGH-RESOLUTION TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (TEM)CMBE Professor Mark Aindow and his research group use high-resolution transmis-sion electron microscopy (TEM) to study engineering materials on the nano-scale.This approach has proven to be particularly useful in the study of catalysts for fuelcells. These catalysts are usually precious metals such as platinum on carbon sup-ports. The metals are in the form of nanoparticles just a few atoms in diameter tomaximize the surface area, thereby reducing the amount of metal needed in eachfuel cell and minimizing cost. The team’s current projects encompass new ways ofmaking very finely dispersed catalysts; use of novel supports such as carbonnanotubes (CNTs) and aerogels; catalyst degradation by particle coarsening duringservice in fuel cells; and effects of contaminants in fuel on the performance of fuelcell catalysts. This work is supported by the Department of Energy, Army ResearchOffice and local fuel cell companies.

BIOENGINEERING

ADVANCED LABORATORY FOR AUTOMATION,ROBOTICS & MANUFACTURING LABDr. Nejat Olgac, professor of Mechanical Engineering, and his team aredeveloping a microscopic device called the Ros-Drill© that can transfer geneticmaterial into cells with greater accuracy and effectiveness than ever beforeachieved. This novel microinjection method—made possible throughnanotechnology—offers diverse medical applications, including uses instem cell research, drug development, artificial insemination and in vitrofertilization. It guides a glass pipette of 5-10 microns in diameter intocells of 50-100 microns in diameter. The method holds strong promise forin vitro fertilization, which has relied upon the conventional piezo-assistedICSI technique. In contrast with the ICSI technique, which requires smallamounts of mercury to stabilize the pipette tip when piezoelectric force pulsesare applied, the Ros-Drill uses microprocessor-controlled rotational oscillationson a spiked micropipette (with 1-10 micron diameter) without mercury orpiezo. Preliminary experimental trials indicate this technique gives highsurvival and fertilization rates as well as blastocyst formation rates.

ENGINEERINGNANOTECHNOLOGY

12 EMAGINATION

TEM image of an experimental fuel cellcatalyst: 2.3nm Pt nanoparticles on carbonnanotubes. From: A. Bayrakçeken,U. Kitkamthorn, M. Aindow and C. Erkey,Scripta Mater 56: 101-103 (2007).

Dr. Nejat OlgacPhoto by Lanny Nagler

Ros-Drill© is amercury-freeand minimallyinvasive device

NANO-ORGANISMS INTERACTING WITH LIGHTBoard of Trustees Distinguished Professor (ECE) Bahram Javidi has developeda technique for distinguishing different species of bacteria—perhaps allowingscientists to identify, detect, and track pandemics, such as avian flu, far morequickly and accurately than was previously possible. The technique measureshow nano-organisms interact with light. Dr. Javidi explains that most conventionalmethods used to inspect microorganisms involve biochemical and biomolecularprocessing, which are not real-time, may be labor-intensive, and require specialskills. Systems that perform real-time sensing, imaging and recognition of biologicalmicro/nano organisms could have many applications: in preventing disease out-breaks, waste water treatment, environmental sensing, food safety monitoring andpreventing bioterrorist attacks. Dr. Javidi and his group have investigated opticalsystems capable of 3D recognition of biological microorganisms using computation-al holographic microscopy, a method that automatically produces focused volumeimages of objects from a single exposure without the mechanical scanning neces-sary for conventional microscopy. This approach can provide fast, non-destructiveand automatic 3D image-based recognition and monitoring of living microorgan-isms in dynamic scenes.

REAL-TIME MONITORING OF METABOLIC ANALYTESDr. Faquir Jain of Electrical & Computer Engineering, along withDrs. Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos (IMS/Chemistry) and Diane Burgess(Pharmacy), is refining a system for real-time monitoring of variousmetabolic analytes that control function and physiology of the humanbody. This capability is critically needed for a variety of applications,particularly for diabetic patients. The team has been developingwireless, totally implantable glucose sensors that exhibit significantsize reduction, increased bio-acceptability and suppression of inflam-mation. Another of Dr. Jain’s projects that draws upon nanotechnologyinvolves self-assembled single-wall carbon nanotubes and quantumdots that function as FETs. This project focuses on the development ofnovel biosensors. Site-specific self assembly of cladded nanocrystalquantum dots has been successfully used to fabricate improved nonvolatilememories and novel 3-state FETs for next generation electronic chips.

ARTIFICIAL ANTIBODIES FORLOCATING AND DESTROYING TUMORSTwo CMBE faculty, Drs. Yong Wang and Lei Zhu, seek to develop artificial antibod-ies capable of locating and destroying tumors. Antibodies are proteins producedin the white blood cells of humans and other vertebrates, and they move freelythrough blood and fluids, where they identify and attack “foreign objects” suchas viruses, bacteria and other so-called antigens. This ability to fight off potentiallydangerous invaders lies at the heart of vaccines, which function by increasing theproduction of antibodies. Drs. Wang and Zhu seek to improve upon antibody effec-tiveness, first by gaining a better understanding of the characteristics and func-tions of natural antibodies, then by developing artificial versions that offer greaterstability and functional properties. They approach this challenge via two parallelpathways, with biomolecules the focus of one path and artificial polymers at theheart of the second path. Drs. Wang and Zhu contend that natural biomoleculesand synthetic polymers may be paired to obtain a more lethal tumor-fightingweapon. Read more about their research atwww.engr.uconn.edu/chemprofessorsaa.php.


Dr. Bahram Javidi (left) Photo by Lanny Nagler

Drs. Yong Wang (top) and Lei Zhu (bottom)

Outstanding alumni and studentscholars were feted during the School

of Engineering’s annual banquet andawards ceremony on the evening ofApril 9th. The event brought togetherindustrial sponsors and UConn School ofEngineering alumni, friends, faculty andoutstanding students scholars. The Schoolhonored exceptional friends and alumni,and presented more than $530,000 inmerit scholarships to over 235 currentundergraduate engineering students.In addition, more than $705,000 inscholarships was awarded to studentsadmitted to the School of Engineeringfor the fall 2008 term.

Two 2008 Distinguished EngineeringService Awards were presented, toChristopher R. Bentley and Raymond P.Necci for their ongoing contributions oftime and energy toward making the Schoolof Engineering a better institution.

Mr. Bentley is Executive Vice Presidentof Government R&D Operations andStrategic Manufacturing Development atFuelCell Energy, Danbury, CT. He joinedthe company in 1990 to develop manufac-turing and operations capabilities in sup-port of the company’s fuel cell commercial-ization initiative. He was promoted toChief Operating Officer in 1998 andserved on the Board of Directors from1993-04. Earlier in his career, he was

Distinguished Engineersand Top Students Honored

employed with the Turbine AirfoilsDivision of Chromalloy Gas TurbineCorporation, and with General Electric(’60-‘85). He is a director of Versa PowerSystems, Inc.

Mr. Necci, PE, is President and ChiefOperating Officer for the ConnecticutLight & Power Company and Yankee GasServices Company, two of NortheastUtilities’ (NU) operating companies andConnecticut’s largest electric and naturalgas utilities. He joined NU in 1976 andhas held several leadership positions,including Vice President of NuclearOversight and Regulatory Affairs (‘98),and Vice President of Nuclear TechnicalServices (2000). He is a member of theUConn School of Engineering AdvisoryBoard and serves on the boards of directorsof the Connecticut Yankee Atomic PowerCompany, the Northeast Gas Associationand others.

Four accomplished alumni wereinducted into the UConn Academy ofDistinguished Engineers: Dr. Wayne A.Eckerle, Dr. Jorge L. González-Velázquez, Dr. Jose L. Muñoz andThomas W. Prete.

Dr. Eckerle (Ph.D. MechanicalEngineering, ’85) is Vice President ofCorporate Research and Technology atCummins Inc., Columbus, IN, which hejoined in 1989. He has progressed through

various leadership roles withinthe company, which has $13 bil-lion in revenues, beginning as atechnical advisor. Dr. Eckerle isrecognized for his introductionof design and analysis tools forthe new generation of Cumminsdiesel engines, which reducedcosts while surpassing EPAperformance standards on NOxemissions. He has nine patentsand was awarded the CumminsJ. Irwin Miller Award forexcellence for combustiondevelopment breakthroughs.

He serves on the External Advisory Boardof the UConn Mechanical EngineeringDepartment.

Dr. González-Velázquez (Ph.D.Metallurgy, ’90) is a Professor of Metallurgy& Materials Engineering at the InstitutoPolitecnico Nacional (IPN) and founderand Director of the Pipeline IntegrityAssessment Group, a $15 million/year firmproviding research and technical services onintegrity and risk assessment, metallurgical,corrosion and failure analyses of oil andnatural gas pipelines located across Mexico.He authored the books, Mecánica deFractura and Metalurgia Mecánica. In 2007,the President of Mexico presented him theLazaro Cardenas Award; he also receivedthe Amalia Solorzano Award for outstand-ing research (’06) and the Hilario ArizaAward as an outstanding alumnus of IPN(’02).

Dr. Muñoz (Ph.D. Computer Science’88) is Deputy Director and SeniorScience Advisor for the National ScienceFoundation’s Office of CyberInfrastructure.He previously was Director of theSimulation and Computer ScienceOffice at National Nuclear SecurityAdministration’s Advanced Simulation andComputing (ASCI) program. As ProgramManager and Assistant Director ofDARPA’s Information Technology Office,he led activities in embedded computing,adaptive computing and data intensivecomputing. Earlier in his career, Dr. Muñozwas a Chief Architect for submarinecombat systems at the Naval UnderseaWarfare Center.

Mr. Prete (B.S. Mechanical Engineering’85) is Program Chief Engineer, MilitaryEngines at Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford,which he joined in 1989. He is responsiblefor the safety, airworthiness, life manage-ment, product improvements and technolo-gy insertion of engines powering suchfront-line military aircraft as the F-16, F-15, EA6B, B-52, C-17 and F-22 Raptor.He has one patent pending and hasreceived multiple Pratt & Whitney awards,including the William G. ChamberlainMilitary Customer Service Award forOutstanding Customer Support (’03), theP&W/ASME Outstanding Engineer of theYear Award (2000) and the Special Awardfor Significant Contributions (’98, ’02 and’03). He also received the U.S. NavyNAVAIR Commanders Award (’02).

Standing (L-R): Dean Mun Choi, Thomas Prete,Wayne Eckerle, Jose Muñoz, Jorge L. González-Velázquez. Seated (L-R): Raymond Necci,Provost Peter Nicholls, Christopher Bentley.

14 EMAGINATION

Dean of Engineering Mun Y. Choi is an investigator on aNASA grant aimed at reducing the likelihood and impact

of fires aboard space vehicles in microgravity conditions. Thistwo-phased project involves researchers at NASA, UConn, theUniversity of California - Davis, the University of California –San Diego, Cornell University and Princeton University.

The first project (FLEX-1) will investigate the flame extin-guishment process. These fire safety studies will investigatethe chemical, thermal, and fluid dynamic effects of availablesuppression techniques in reducing the flame temperatureand inducing flame extinction. The FLEX-1 experimenthardware will travel aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour inNovember 2008 and be transferred to the InternationalSpace Station (ISS), where the experiments will be performedin the spring of 2009.

The second project (FLEX-2) will investigate thetransient liquid and gas-phase phenomena including flameextinction, soot formation, and radiative heat transfer.These experiments are expected to be performed on the ISSin the spring of 2010.

Project Destinedfor Space Station

Drs. Reda Ammar, head of ComputerScience & Engineering, and

Sanguthevar Rajasekaran, UTC ChairProfessor of Computer Science &Engineering and director of the BoothEngineering Center for AdvancedTechnology, have developed a novelsoftware methodology and framework thatwill increase cell broadband engine (CBE)resource utilization while simplifying theprogramming model. A CBE is a heteroge-neous multi-core processor with uniquedesign properties for high-performancecomputing. It consists of one powerprocessing element and eight synergisticprocessing elements (SPEs) connectedvia an elements interconnect network.It employs novel techniques, such as asoftware managed cache, to hide memorylatency and guarantee, by default,maximum utilization for the overallsystem resources. However, utilization ofthese facilities requires complex designsand implementations of algorithms to gainthe best performance.In tests, the framework developed by

Drs. Ammar and Rajasekaran resulted in a

Faculty Develop NovelMicro-threading Model

five-times increase inthe speed of theprocessor versuscurrent threadingmodels. Thisenhanced speed permit-ted the team to build adistributed model for the taskmanagement of the SPEs andautomated local storagemanagement. They usedthe methodology to buildan event-based develop-ment model over the CBEarchitecture, which theytested on two types of algo-rithms: (1) uniform memoryaccess algorithms, such as parallelsummation—which resulted in athree-fold increase in performance—and (2) non-uniform or irregular memoryaccess algorithms, specifically tree traversalalgorithm—which produced a five-foldperformance improvement.


Three UConn engineering facultymembers were elected to

membership in the ConnecticutAcademy of Science and Engineering(CASE) in honor of their careeraccomplishments: Michael Accorsi,Department Head and professor

of Civil &EnvironmentalEngineering(CEE); BakiCetegen,DepartmentHead andprofessor of

Mechanical Engineering (ME); andKazem Kazerounian, professor of ME.The new class of inductees alsoincluded Michael McQuade, Senior

Vice Presidentof Science &Technology atUTC and a stal-wart supporterof the UConnSchool ofEngineering.

They are among 19 individualselected to the 2008 class.

Membership is limited to 250scientists and engineers fromConnecticut’s academic, industrialand industrial communities. As agroup, members identify and study

issues andtechnologicaladvances ofconcern toConnecticutresidents andprovide unbi-ased, expert

advice on science- and technology-related issues to state governmentand other Connecticut institutions.

“We are very proud of this year’snewly elected members and arepleased to celebrate their accom-plishments through their election tothe Academy,” said Alan C. Eckbreth,CASE President.

Three Electedto CASE

Drs. Sanguthevar Rajasekaran (top)and Reda Ammar (bottom).

From the top: Drs. Michael Accorsi,Baki Cetegen, Kazem Kazerounian.

DENNIS M. BUSHNELL(B.S.E. Mechanical Engineering ‘63)

NAE INDUCTION: 1998Citation: For viscous flow modeling andcontrol, turbulent drag reduction, andadvanced aeronautical concepts.

Dennis M. Bushnell (M.S., FASME,FAIAA, FRAS) is Chief Scientist at NASALangley Research Center. During hislengthy career, he has served as ResearchScientist, Section Head, Branch Head,Associate Division Chief and Chief Scientistin Flow Modelling and Control across theSpeed Range, Advanced ConfigurationAeronautics, Aeronautical Facilities andHypersonic Airbreathing Propulsion.Mr. Bushnell developed the “riblet”

approach to turbulentdrag reduction, highspeed “quiet tunnels”for flight-applicableboundary layer transi-tion research, advancedcomputational

approaches for laminar flow control andadvanced hypervelocity airbreathing andaeronautical concepts with revolutionaryperformance potential. He served theGemini, Apollo, Viking, F-18E/F andShuttle programs. He is a Fellow of ASME,AIAA, and the Royal Aeronautical Society.He has received numerous honors, includingthe Lawrence A. Sperry Award (’75),the AIAA Fluid and Plasma DynamicsAward, the AIAA Dryden Lectureship,USAF/NASP Gene Zara Award, NASAExceptional Scientific Achievement andOutstanding Leadership Medals andDistinguished Research Scientist Awards.Mr. Bushnell holds five patents. A memberof the University of Connecticut Academyof Distinguished Engineers and a recipientof the Distinguished Alumni Award in

Alumni Among NationalAcademies MembersThe UConn School of Engineering has produced countlessoutstanding engineers during our century of engineering instruction.Among them are several individuals whose accomplishmentswarranted acceptance into the National Academy of Engineering(NAE) and National Academy of Sciences (NAS). We are delightedto introduce them to you below:

1997, he serves on the UConn EngineeringAdvisory Board. Mr. Bushnell earned hisM.S. degree from the University of Virginiain 1967.

ANTHONY J. DEMARIA(B.S. Electrical Engineering ‘56, Ph.D.Electrical Engineering ‘65)

NAE INDUCTION: 1976Citation: Developer of picosecondmode-locked lasers and contributionsto high power lasers.

NAS INDUCTION: 1997Citation: DeMaria’s pioneering research inpicosecond laser pulse physics profoundlyinfluenced the study of molecular andatomic dynamics, nonlinear optics, andplasma physics. He is credited with thefirst demonstration of picosecond laserpulses and contributed greatly to theirgeneration, amplification, measurement,and applications.

Anthony DeMaria is Chief Scientist withCoherent-DEOS, LLC, Bloomfield, CT,and a Distinguished Professor-in-Residencein the UConn Electrical & ComputerEngineering Department. Dr. DeMariafounded DeMaria Electro-Optics Systems,Inc. (DEOS) in 1994 after purchasing

intellectual property ofthe CO2 laser unit ofHamilton Standard.He was chairman andCEO, polishing thecompany into theworld’s leading manu-

facturer of sealed-off, RF excited waveguideCO2 lasers for industrial and governmentalapplications. DEOS was purchased in 2001by Coherent, Inc. Before founding DEOS,Dr. DeMaria spent 37 years with theHamilton Standard (now HamiltonSundstrand) division of UnitedTechnologies Corporation and the United

Technologies Research Center. He is aco-founder, member and past president ofthe Connecticut Academy of Science &Engineering (CASE) and the ConnecticutAcademy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. DeMariaholds 55 U.S. patents. He is a Fellow ofthe American Physical Society and IEEE,and a Fellow and past president of boththe Optical Society of America and SPIE.He received the 1980 IEEE Morris N.Liebmann Memorial Award, theConnecticut Medal of Technology (’04),the UConn Distinguished EngineeringAlumni Award (’83), and was inductedinto the UConn Academy of DistinguishedEngineers (’04).

DANIEL E. NOBLE(B.S. Electrical Engineering ‘29) 1901-1980

NAE INDUCTION: 1968Citation: Leadership in the developmentof a wide variety of electronic devicesand systems.

Daniel E. Noble originated the nation’s firsttwo-way state police system placed online,and the first practical two-way FM radiotelephone mobile system in the world. Hewas invited to join Galvin ManufacturingCorp. (later renamed Motorola, Inc.) in1940 as Director of Research. He developedFM communications equipment for policeand the U.S. Signal Corps, and was directlyresponsible for the systems concept anddevelopment of the U.S. Army’s SCR-300

FM Walkie-Talkie.In 1949, he founded asolid state electronicsresearch lab forMotorola that led to theestablishment of theSemiconductor Products

Division (now the Semiconductor Group).Dr. Noble held various top positions withinMotorola, including Group Executive VicePresident, and Vice Chairman of the Boardand Chief Technical Officer of theCorporation. He retired from Motorola in1970 but served as Chair of the ScienceAdvisory Board. Dr. Noble held ninepatents on electronics and was a Life Fellowof the IEEE and the Franklin Institute.He was awarded the 1978 IEEE EdisonMedal, the WEMA Medal of Achievement,the Franklin Institute’s Stuart BallantineMedal and the University of ConnecticutEngineering Alumni Plaque. IEEE estab-lished the Daniel E. Noble Award in 2000

continued on page 17

16 EMAGINATION

to honor outstanding contributions toemerging technologies recognized withinrecent years.

LOUIS PARRILLO, PH.D.(B.S. Electrical Engineering ‘64)

NAE INDUCTION: 1996Citation: For contributions to deviceand fabrication technology forintegrated circuits.

Dr. Louis Parrillo is Executive VicePresident of Research and Development atSpansion, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA. He isresponsible for technology development andstrategic alliances. A pioneer in the semicon-ductor industry, Dr. Parrillo has receivedmany prestigious honors for his innovations,including 26 patents. He is a recipient of

the IEEE FrederikPhilips Award, the J. J.Ebers Award from theIEEE Electron DevicesSociety, and manyothers. Prior to joiningSpansion, Dr. Parrillo

managed his own consulting firm while alsoserving on Cypress Semiconductor’sTechnology Advisory Board since 2004.He was with Motorola Inc. for 19 years andheld various executive management roles,including Division General Manager andSemiconductor Chief Technology Officer.As CTO, he and his colleagues drove theformation of the alliance among Motorola,

ST Microelectronics, Philips Semiconductorand TSMC for the research, developmentand transfer-to-manufacturing of advanced300mm-wafer technology in Crolles,France. Earlier in his career, he wasemployed with AT&T Bell Laboratories,Murray Hill, NJ, where he was a co-devel-oper of the original Twin-Tub CMOStechnology that became an industrystandard for more than two decades.Dr. Parrillo earned his M.S. and Ph.D.degrees in electrical engineering fromPrinceton University.

KUMARES C. SINHA, PH.D.(M.S. Municipal Engineering ‘66, Ph.D.Civil Engineering ‘68)

NAE INDUCTION: 2008Citation: For contributions to the advance-ment of highway infrastructure engineeringand management and to the education oftransportation professionals worldwide.

Kumares C. Sinha is the Edgar B. &Hedwig M. Olson Distinguished Professorof Civil Engineering and Director of theJoint Transportation Research Program ofPurdue University and the IndianaDepartment of Transportation. He joinedPurdue in 1974 and was a visiting professorat both MIT and Roorkee University,India (now IIT-Roorkee) during 1980-81.Dr. Sinha has published extensively on

pavement and bridge performance, life cyclecosting, optimal timing of repair andrenewal, and road safety. In addition,he has advised governments at all levels andconsulted for the World Bank on transporta-tion and infrastructure issues. He served asthe President of the Transportation &Development Institute of the AmericanSociety of Civil Engineers (ASCE), theResearch and Education Division of theAmerican Road and Transportation

Builders Association(ARTBA), and theCouncil of UniversityTransportation Centers(CUTC). He is theEditor-in-ChiefEmeritus of the Journal

of Transportation Engineering. Dr. Sinhahas received many honors, including theHonorary Membership of ASCE (‘05),CUTC Distinguished Contribution Award(‘05), ITE Wilbur S. Smith DistinguishedEducator Award (‘02), ASCE Francis C.Turner Lecture Award (‘01), ARTBASteinberg Award (‘00), ASCE HarlandBartholomew Award (‘96), ASCE ArthurWellington Prize (‘92), ASCE Frank M.Masters Award (‘86), TRB Fred BurggrafAward (‘74), and the UConn DistinguishedEngineering Alumni Award (‘95). He wasinducted into the UConn Academyof Distinguished Engineers in 2004.He is married to Anne Elizabeth Kallina(B.A. ‘68).


1268Average combined math and verbalSAT score of entering freshmen

16:1Student-to-faculty ratio

27Valedictorians and salutatorians

admitted (fall ’08):310 B.S./B.S.E. degrees;84 M.S. and 55 Ph.D. degrees

December ‘07 & May ‘08 graduates

226Honors Program students

~14%Honors Program studentsin Engineering


JONATHAN P.WINTERSTEIN(Ph.D. candidate,Materials Science &Engineering) B.S.

Washington StateUniversity – Pullman

Jonathan, who is supported by a prestigiousNational Defense Science & EngineeringGraduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, choseUConn because of the opportunity towork with Dr. C. Barry Carter. His thesisinvolves chemical and structural characteri-zation of oxide ceramics with applicationsin alternative energy generation. “Defectsand surfaces play a critical role in theperformance of catalysts and electrolytesin solid-oxide fuel cells. Hopefully myresearch will lead to methods of engineer-ing these ceramics for optimal properties.”

JESSICA CHAU (Ph.D. candidate,Environmental Engineering)B.S. Muhlenberg College, Allentown PA, ‘99;M.S. UConn, ‘06“I got interested in environmentalengineering after I taught an environmentalmodeling class in the UConn math depart-ment. It seemed like such an importantand relevant way to apply my math skills.”

Jessica’s thesis involvesbacterial diversity in soilas a function of soil tex-ture. “Bacteria dependon water for hydrationand nutrient diffusion,

and the physical micro-

environment of soils determines the sizeand connectivity of water pockets. Lessconnectivity of the soil water means moreisolation, which could foster greaterbacterial diversity.”

WESLEY MARSHALL (Ph.D. candidate,Civil Engineering) B.S. University ofVirginia, Charlottesville, ’98;M.S. UConn ‘06Wesley was impressed by the excellenceof the faculty, particularly his advisor,Dr. Norman Garrick. His thesis involvescommunity design, road safety, and trans-portation sustainability. “The overall goalof my dissertation is to increase ourunderstanding of the underlyingfactors of street and communitydesign that shape our safety andtransportation sustainabilityoutcomes. The results shouldhelp inform the crafting ofplanning policies that could leadus toward transportationsustainability and a reduction inroad fatalities for all users of ourtransportation system.”

YASAMAN ARDESHIRPOUR(Ph.D. candidate, ElectricalEngineering) B.Sc. andM.Sc. Tehran UniversityYasaman’s thesis involvesdiffuse optical tomography usingnear infrared (NIR) light, which“provides a unique approach forfunctional and molecularly-baseddiagnostic imaging of breast cancersand monitoring chemotherapy response…In our clinical studies, we encounter asubset of patients whose chest-wall causesdistortion of NIR light reflectance meas-urements, which in turn distorts the image.I am modeling an irregular interface

between breast tissueand chest-wall andincorporate it into our3D optical imagingreconstruction.”

SWETAPROVO “SWETO” CHAUDHURI(Ph.D. candidate, Mechanical Engineering)B.S. Jadavpur University, IndiaSweto’s studies involve thedynamics and diagnosticsof turbulent reacting

flows. “Afterburners ofadvanced jet enginesand low NOx gas tur-bine engines have a com-

mon problem of potential flameextinction as these energy conver-sion devices are almost alwayssubjected to complex interactionsof heat release and flowoscillations. The challenge is to

understand the flame blowoffphenomenon and the flow fieldunder these perturbations by use oflaser-based spectroscopic techniques.”

ZHONG ZHOU (Ph.D. candidate,Computer Science & Engineering)

B.S., M.S. Beijing University of Postsand Telecommunications, Beijing, China

“UConn Engineering is quitefamous and strong in my major.In particular, the UWSN Lab(uwsn.engr.uconn.edu) hasperformed lots of pioneeringwork in underwater communi-

cation and networking.”His thesis focuses on several critical

design issues of UWSN, including networklocalization, medium access control (MAC)and cross layer design. (For details,see ubinet.engr.uconn.edu/~zhongzhou/)

18 EMAGINATION

Nearly 500 master’s and doctoral students pursue graduate studieswithin the School of Engineering’s five departments and 10 graduateprograms. Our students represent diverse cultural traditions, back-grounds and interest areas; all of them are dedicated researcherswith the energy and insight to advance important technological ideas.Read about some of them below.

UConn EngineeringGraduate Students PursueCutting-Edge Research

Jessica Chau working in the field.

Wesley Marshall

The new emphasis on translationalmedicine and the existingpartnerships among engineeringfaculty, biomedical researchersand clinicians have spurred newcollaborations in bioinformatics,imaging, stem cells and tissueengineering. The opportunities todevelop advanced screening forcancer, therapeutic devices for anaging population and novel surgicaltechniques for traumatic injurieswill help usher in a new era inwhich engineering can lead tomajor breakthroughs fortranslational medicine.

CLINICAL & TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINEFaculty members across the University, including 12 engineering faculty membersand researchers from the UConn Health Center, are collaborating on a novelinitiative aimed at transforming the manner in which clinical and translationalscience research is conducted worldwide. Three years ago, the National Institutesof Health (NIH) began its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) programto speed up the translation of scientific research into practical applications in themedical field.

The University is submitting a proposal to join the CTSA consortium, whichcurrently links 38 academic health centers in 23 states. CSE professor StevenDemurjian is among seven core coordinators of the proposed effort. He will beresponsible for biomedical informatics (BMI) in support of the CTSA and within anewly-formed Connecticut Institute for Clinical & Translational Science (CICaTS).

The CICaTS biomedical informatics core area comprises six focal areas andwill involve the participation of CSE faculty members Sanguthevar Rajasekaran,Dong-Guk Shin, Ion Mandoiu, Reda Ammar, Chun-Hsi Huang, Ian Greenshields,Aggelos Kiayias, Alex Russell, Jun-Hong Cui, Yufeng Wu and Bing Wang as well asElectrical & Computer Engineering professor Quing Zhu. The focal areas include:

• Translational and clinical research informatics – representing the informaticsnecessary to support translational research and clinical studies.

• Medical and clinical informatics – representing the use of informatics in thepractice of medicine, from single-physician practices to community healthcenters to clinics and hospitals.

• Bio/Genome informatics – representing the variety of data analyses tools,algorithms, and techniques needed to support research from the bench to thebedside and back again.

• Data warehousing and data mining – representing the computing infrastructureneeded to establish data warehouses/repositories, and data mining andquerying techniques to provide access to CICaTS faculty researchers andmembers.



ENGINEERINGBIOENGINEERING

• Super and grid computing – representing the computing infrastructure neededfor compute-intensive and/or data-intensive analyses.

• Standards, security, databases, and networks – representing the computinginfrastructure that impacts all six focal areas and deals with necessarystandards for health care and data exchange, information security andusage, database interoperability, and network level exchange.

To learn more about their collaborative research, contact Dr. Demurjian [email protected].

COMPUTING TO AID INJURED SOLDIERSIn the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, manythousands of U.S. soldiers have been wounded in actionto such an extent that they could not be returned to thefield within 72 hours. Increasingly, a greater number ofsoldiers are surviving wounds that would have proven fatalin earlier conflicts. A major challenge for the military is howto improve and hasten bone repair of the skeletal tissuesthat are shattered by these blast injuries. An interdisciplinaryresearch project involving Dr. Dong-Guk Shin, a professor ofComputer Science & Engineering, and Dr. David W. Rowe, MD,a physician at the UConn Health Center, seek to address thischallenge. Dr. Rowe obtained a $1.5 million three-year grant fromthe U.S. Department of Defense to investigate ways to improvesoldier recovery from traumatic bone injuries. Dr. Shin, whoheads the Bioinformatics & Bio-Computing Institute (BIBCI) atUConn, received a sub-award.

The team will perform a series of increasingly demanding celltransplantation and bone reparative protocols on the mice todistinguish each cellular component and scaffold variable. Inbone repair, “scaffolding” is often a spongy material that provides thestructure on which cells may take hold and replicate. Discovering the rightscaffolding material is another critical facet of the proposed work, andDr. Shin’s team will collaborate with materials science researchers withinthe School of Engineering to address this challenge.

Read the full story on pagewww.engr.uconn.edu/computingmedicine.php

BIOMATERIALS FOR BONE REPAIRDrs. Mei Wei and Montgomery Shaw, both of the Department of Chemical,Materials & Biomolecular Engineering, are conducting broad-reaching researchon the applications of biomaterials in bone repair and in orthopaedic and dentalimplants. According the Dr. Wei, they seek to develop “a new generation ofbiomaterials, which have excellent biocompatibility, sufficient mechanical strength,good osteoconductivity and osteoinductivity, suitable for dental and orthopaedicapplications…As life expectancy grows longer, there will be a demand for asignificant increase in the survival rate of implants.”

The team is investigating new synthetic composite materials, woven fromapatite and polymer fiber, for use in promoting bone repair, spinal fusion and other


20 EMAGINATION

Dr. Dong-Guk Shin (middle)and graduate students.


skeletal healing. According to Dr. Wei, 1.3 million bone repair procedures areperformed in the U.S. yearly. The most difficult are those involving compoundfractures, trauma, bone tumors, congenital defects and spinal fusion. Sheand Dr. Shaw believe hydroxyapatite/polymer material will enhance structuralintegrity as bones repair. They also believe this combination can be designedto deliver bone-regenerating drugs, and may slowly biodegrade in the humanbody—thereby eliminating the need for replacement or followup surgery to

remove the materials. Other research foci include development of hydroxyap-atite/polymer composite scaffolds for tissue engineering applications, and theinvestigation into ways to improve titanium-based orthopaedic and dental implantsby application of a hydroxyapatite coating to the surface prior to implantation.

Read more about this research at: www.engr.uconn.edu/mse/wei.php

Read more of this story at:www.engr.uconn.edu/qingzhu1206.php

BREAST CANCER IMAGINGIn 2007, Electrical & Computer Engineering professor Quing Zhu garnereda four-year, $1.36 million grant from the National Institutes of Health toconduct larger-scale clinical trials at the University of Connecticut HealthCenter (UCHC) and Hartford Hospital using a novel device that combinesnear infrared (NIR) and ultrasound imaging. Dr. Zhu’s research teamincludes physicians and researchers associated with the UCHC, includingbreast surgeons Peter Deckers and Scott Kurtzman. Her research centerson a unique imaging device she developed that—when used complementari-ly with ultrasound—yields more accurate diagnoses and treatment assess-ment. Her device combines ultrasound and NIR light to overcome the limita-tions that plague the individual technologies. NIR is highly sensitive to thecharacteristics that distinguish between benign and malignant lesions, but it isless precise in determining the location and borders of the tumor. Conversely,ultrasound emits high-frequency sound waves that bounce off tissues, producinga picture that pinpoints the lesion's exact location but fails to characterize themass. Thus, Dr. Zhu's device assures greater accuracy than either techniquealone can offer.

Dr. Zhu and her team are refining her technique and validating initial, promisingresults in distinguishing benign and early-stage malignant breast tumors froma larger patient pool. The project will involve approximately 300 breast cancerpatients from the UCHC and Hartford Hospital. The NIH award will also allowDr. Zhu to validate the technique as a valuable imaging tool in assessingchemotherapy response and evaluating treatment efficacy.

IMPROVING HEART VALVE REPLACEMENTDr. Wei Sun, of Mechanical Engineering, is collaborating with Dr. Bruce Liang,a professor in cardiology at the UConn Health Center, to improve upon heart valvereplacement surgery. Dr. Sun explains that heart valve disease, which may resultfrom a number of ailments including rheumatic fever and birth defects, is directlyresponsible for nearly 20,000 U.S. deaths each year. Worldwide, approximately300,000 heart valve replacement surgeries are performed annually—either wholevalve replacement with an artificial heart valve or surgical valve repair. Both proce-dures require open-heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass, a risky surgery thatmakes it desirable to develop less invasive, non-surgical techniques.


Dr. Quing Zhu (front, far left) and research team.


ENGINEERINGBIOENGINEERING

In recent years, percutaneous heart valve (PHV) replacement and repair deviceshave been developed as an alternative to conventional open heart surgery. Theresults from initial clinical trials have been encouraging, but the procedure mayproduce serious adverse events, such as myocardial infarction, peripheralembolism, aortic injury, and other consequences. Drs. Wei and Liang seek tounderstand the biomechanical interaction between the tissue and implant and todevelop robust computational models that integrate patient-specific valvestructures and functions into the development of a PHV device so that optimaldevice performance can be achieved. The researchers are conducting planarbiaxial mechanical testing on native aortic and mitral valve tissues, and character-izing them using a novel fiber-reinforced material model. The team is also analyz-ing clinical cardiac CT images to reconstruct 3D valve geometries so that apatient-specific computational valve model can be built.

STEM CELLSDr. Tai-Hsi Fan of Mechanical Engineering, alongwith Dr. Joanne Conover (Physiology and Neurobiology)and Dr. Xudong Yao (Chemistry), received $200,000 in 2007 in seed money fromthe Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee (SCRAC) to research theideal physiological conditions for the self renewal of human embryonic stem cells.Embryonic stem cells are the chameleons of living systems: they have the abilityto reproduce themselves and to differentiate into many cell types, from skin andhair cells to liver and pancreatic cells. A challenge facing the research communityis how to produce embryonic stem cells in large quantities while maintaining con-sistent properties. The chief problem, according to Dr. Fan, lies in creating andsustaining a culture medium that properly mimics the natural microenvironmentin which embryonic stem cells grow within a living organism.

Drs. Fan, Conover and Yao are applying their interdisciplinary expertise—influid flow and biological transport phenomena, stem cell biology, proteomics andanalytical chemistry methods—toward the exploration of the ideal physiologicalconditions needed for the self-renewal of human embryonic stem cells. As part oftheir research, they will strive to maintain the stability of the stem cells in anundifferentiated state. To achieve their ends, the team will create a miniaturizedcell culture system that will serve as its micro-lab. To learn more about this andallied research, please visit www.engr.uconn.edu/~thfan/.

REDUCING BONE FRACTURESOsteoporosis, a debilitating disease of low bone mass, afflicts 75 million peopleworldwide with an estimated $48 billion in healthcare costs. A major determinantof bone mass is the mechanical loading to which the skeleton is subjected duringdaily activity, which stimulates adaptive modeling. Osteocytes, cells embedded inthe bone matrix, are thought to be responsible for sensing and coordinatingadaptive responses in the skeleton. Dr. Shiva Kotha, an assistant professor ofMechanical Engineering, is conducting research aimed at evaluating the dosage ofa pharmacological agent (lithium chloride) that can synergize with mechanical load-ing to activate a powerful pathway (the Wnt/β-catenin signaling) in osteocytes suchthat it leads to bone formation occurring at sites of peak mechanical stresses.Dr. Kotha notes that failure to enhance bone formation at these sites can result inbone fractures. The team is also investigating the activation of molecules that areinvolved in the pathway, and they are modeling in three dimensions the activationof these molecules and bone formation in relation to sites of peak mechanicalstimuli. The research is important in building an insightful foundation for regulationof bone mass by mechanical loading and in evaluating molecular pathways toreduce fracture risk.

Dr. Shiva Kotha

Dr. Tai-Hsi Fan

22 EMAGINATION



17%Proceeding to full-timegraduate studies

60%Started jobsimmediately after

graduation

Report startingsalaries of$50,000-$60,000

74%

Report startingsalaries of $60,000+

26%

Completed an internshipduring their

undergraduate years55%

Job offers was theaverage forgraduating seniors

2-3

Faculty from the MechanicalEngineering Department are conduct-

ing research that will improve flamestability in fighter jet afterburners, whichare used to attain greater thrust duringcritical combat exchanges or duringshort-distance take-offs, such as those froman aircraft carrier. With approximately$200,000 in funding from the NationalScience Foundation, paired with personneland equipment support from Pratt &Whitney Aircraft and United TechnologiesResearch Center (East Hartford, CT),Drs. Baki Cetegen, Head of MechanicalEngineering, and associate professorMichael Renfro are investigating how themixing of jet engine fuel with oxygenaffects afterburner stability.

Jet engines mix air and fuel to producecombustion. Air enters the engine throughan inlet and is then compressed by a com-pressor. The compressed air is mixed withfuel and burned. The high-pressure gas isexpanded through a turbine and exhaustedthrough a nozzle to generate thrust. Fighterjet engines achieve additional thrust bydirectly injecting fuel at the engine exhaust.The process, called afterburning, gives theaircraft an additional thrust as the fuelignites in the exhaust nozzle.

A challenge for jet engine manufactur-ers is to reduce weight while increasingthrust. A higher thrust-to-weight ratioresults in better airplane performanceand fuel efficiency.

According to Drs. Cetegen and Renfro,“The compact design doesn’t allowspace—or time—for the fuel to mixcompletely with oxygen before burning.This incomplete mixing has anunknown effect on afterburner stabilityand could cause a loss of thrust atcritical times.”

With the aim of improving flamestability during high thrust afterburneroperation, the team is focusing on ways tomitigate the effects of incomplete fuel andoxygen mixing to stabilize the flame. Theyare using laser-based measurement toolsto study flame stability and propagation,ignition and performance, and flametemperature.

Pratt & Whitney was keenly interestedin providing support for the projectbecause its military engines power the U.S.Air Force’s F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, andare in line to power the next-generation offighter jets, the F/A-22 Raptor and F-35Joint Strike Fighter. Pratt & Whitneyengineer Steve Tuttle, who is pursuing hisdoctoral degree in mechanical engineeringat UConn, is a collaborator on the project.In addition, Dr. Marios Soteriou, a formerME faculty member and now a Fellow atUnited Technologies Research Center, isdeveloping simulation models of thefuel/oxygen blending process duringcombustion in support of, and to confirm,the experimental work being performed byDrs. Renfro and Cetegen.

CollaborationImproves Jet EnginePerformance

Pictured (L-R): Drs. Cetegen and Renfro inspect testing equipment.

SURF’s UpFour engineering students were selected toreceive funding under UConn’s SummerUndergraduate Research Fund (SURF) pro-gram. The four are: Eric Sirois (BiomedicalEngineering), Julie Anne Mackey andAlexander Williams (both in MaterialsScience & Engineering) and Kevin Romeo(Engineering Physics).

SURF supports full-time UConnundergraduates who are engaged in sum-mer research or creative projects under thesupervision of a UConn faculty member.SURF awards are presented through acompetitive process: students must submita written proposal for research work to beconducted with the faculty mentor.

Student Chapter Helps toForm Photonics ClusterMembers of the SPIE Student Chapter atUConn played an important role in theformation of a new Connecticut Opticsand Photonics Association (CTOPA) thatbrings together optics industry leaders,researchers and government officials.The students who contributed towardorganizing the cluster include: AnastasiosMaurudis, Christopher Falkner andNathan White, and other chapter mem-bers. CTOPA will promote optics-basedtechnology and research within the state.

Chi Epsilon Lands AwardThe UConn chapter of Chi Epsilon, theCivil Engineering honor society, receivedthe national Susan Brown Chi EpsilonAward for outstanding chapter performancefor 2006-07. The UConn chapter wasformed in 1949.

Banville CapturesLeadership Legacy AwardBryan Banville, who begins his junior yearas a Biomedical Engineering (BME) major,was selected one of just 12 students acrossthe UConn campus in 2008 to participatein the intensive Connecticut LeadershipLegacy Experience program. The highlycompetitive program is a year-long leader-ship enhancement experience that involvesworkshops, lectures and mentoring. Bryan’smentors are BME Director, Dr. JohnEnderle, and alumnus Frank Milone (B.S.Accounting, ‘92), of Fiondella, Milone &LaSaracina LLP. Bryan's extensive volunteerefforts include being a founding member of

Students Capture Honorsa Habitat for Humanity chapter. He is alsoa member of the co-ed a capella group oncampus, Extreme Measures.

Doctoral Candidates Wangand Lee Capture AwardsMichel Wang and Jeremy Lee, Electrical &Computer Engineering doctoral studentsadvised by Dr. Mohammad Tehranipoor,won a number of honors in 2008. Ms.Wang received the Best Student PaperAward of the 2008 IEEE North AtlanticTest Workshop for her paper, co-authoredwith Dr. Tehranipoor and R. Datta,entitled “Path-Ro: On-Chip Path DelayMeasurement Under Process Variations.”Mr. Lee received honorable mention at thesame workshop for his paper, co-authoredwith S. Narayan and Dr. Tehranipoor,entitled “Low Switching Transition DelayTest Pattern Generation.” In addition,Mr. Lee received the Test TechnologyCouncil Best Thesis Research Poster Awardat the 2008 VLSI Test Symposium.

Williams a 2008University ScholarAlexander Williams, an undergraduateMaterials Science & Engineering major,was selected one of 14 2008 UniversityScholars across the entire university. Thehighly selective program offers motivatedand academically-talented students theflexibility to craft an individualized plan ofstudy during the last three semesters oftheir undergraduate program. Alex’s projectis entitled “A Safe Approach toNanotechnology,” and he is advised bythree faculty members in the CMBEdepartment: Drs. Ramamurthy Ramprasad,Pamir Alpay, and Bryan Huey.

Yannes LandsBest Paper AwardCraig Yannes, an M.S. candidate in Civil &Environmental Engineering, won a studentpaper competition sponsored by theTransportation Research Board’sCommittee on Rural Public and IntercityBus Transportation. Craig’s paper, entitled“Demand Analysis of Rural University BusSystems through Network Flow Theoryand GIS Applications,” won top honors,which confer a $1,000 prize and travelexpenses to participate in the fall confer-ence in Omaha, NE. Craig is advised byassistant professor Nicholas Lownes.

Young FacultyLand MajorAwards

Early this year, five assistantprofessors received major federal

research honors. Drs. UgurPasaogullari, Bing Wang andBenjamin Wilhite garnered covetedNational Science Foundation (NSF)Early Career Development Awards;Dr. Mekonnen Gebremichael wasawarded a NASA NIP Award; andDr. Jun-Hong Cui received an Officeof Naval Programs Young InvestigatorProgram award. These bring our totalnumber of NSF CAREER Awards to19 and our ONR YIP awards to five.

Dr. UgurPasaogullari,of MechanicalEngineering, willfocus his CAREERresearch on poly-mer electrolyte fuelcells (PEFCs),

which are considered a possible portablepower source capable of energizingautomobiles, as envisioned in the future“hydrogen economy” championed byPresident Bush. They have diversepossible applications in any situationrequiring portable power, such as radiosin remote locations, and in stationarypower generation. Unlike fossil fuels,PEFCs convert hydrogen to electricitywithout producing pollutants.

Dr. Pasaogullari will focus on theprincipal component of PEFCs, themembrane electrode assemblies, orMEAs, that convert hydrogen intoelectricity. An MEA is something like alayered sandwich (think layers of slicedturkey, cheese, mayo and mustardbetween slices of bread). The MEAincludes two catalyst layers, in this casea thin layer, mainly of platinum approx-imately 10 micrometers in thickness,contained in the middle between layersof carbon paper overlain by bipolarplates. A PEFC stack contains 200-400of these “sandwiches” stacked together.


24 EMAGINATION

The high cost of platinum (over $1,945/ozin July) makes it critical for researchers toimprove the performance and durabilityof MEAs before PEFCs can becomeeconomically viable. Read more aboutDr. Pasaogullari’s CAREER research, atwww.engr.uconn.edu/nsfstory.php.

Dr. Bing Wang, of Computer Science& Engineering, will focus on fault manage-ment of wireless networks with the objec-tive of assuring greater stability and longerservice life. Wireless networks are widelydeployed in coffee shops, airports, homes,and offices to allow untethered access to

the Internet; theyare widely used inmilitary and civil-ian applications,allowing mobilityand quick setup;they are also widelyused in scientific

applications and health care. Our growingdependence on wireless networks reinforcesthe need for fault management to ensurethey remain stable.

“Wireless networks are more vulnerableto errors and failures than wired networks.They also have more dynamic topologies,and are more resource constrained,”Dr. Wang explained. She will focus herCAREER research on developing suitablearchitectures and techniques—particularlyfor WiFi and sensor networks—to meetthese challenges. WiFis are single-hop net-works with infrastructure support; whilesensor networks are multi-hop networkswith no infrastructure support and morestringent resources constraints. For WiFi,she will develop a series of managementtechniques to detect unauthorized devices,monitor the health of the network, andlocate faults when they occur. For sensornetworks, she will develop a suite of diag-nostic tools to detect links and nodes thatare in abnormal conditions. Read moreabout Dr. Wang’s CAREER research, atwww.engr.uconn.edu/nsfstory.php.

Dr. Benjamin Wilhite of Chemical,Materials & Biomolecular Engineering willdirect his CAREER research toward thedevelopment of multi-functional catalyticmembranes capable of breaking downgreen hydrocarbons (e.g., methanol,ethanol, butanol) into high-purity hydro-gen. Current routes for hydrogen harvest-ing require the use of permselective barriers

for purifyinghydrogen pro-duced by eithersteam reforming orpartial oxidationreactions; thesepermselectivebarriers reduce

overall hydrogen production rates and arefabricated from costly materials (e.g., palla-dium, silver). Dr. Wilhite’s research willinstead focus upon using purely catalyticmembranes for achieving high-purityhydrogen production; this will be accom-plished by creating multiple uniquecatalytic regions within the membrane(for fuels reforming, carbon monoxidecleanup, heat generation) while controllingreaction rates and selectivities by externallymanipulating thermal and concentrationgradients. If successful, this research effortwill provide a breakthrough reduction inthe cost of hydrogen production and akey contribution to the creation of aclean, sustainable hydrogen economy.Read more about Dr. Wilhite’s research atwww.engr.uconn.edu/onryip07.php.

Dr. Mekonnen Gebremichael, ofCivil & Environmental Engineering, wasselected one of just 18 recipients nation-

wide to receive aNASA NewInvestigatorProgram (NIP)grant in EarthSciences. ThisNIP award isonly the second

in UConn history: Dr. Gebremichael’scolleague, associate professorEmmanouil Anagnostou, is a 1999NIP award recipient. Read aboutDr. Gebremichael’s NIP research atwww.engr.uconn.edu/mekonnennasa.php.

Dr. Gebremichael’s NIP research aimsto determine how well NASA’s currentglobal hydrologic models predict actualprocesses taking place over portions of theNorth American and African continents.He will initially focus on how well NASApredicts hydrologic variability for threelocales characterized by differing climatesand watershed characteristics—SouthAfrica, Oklahoma and Connecticut—allequipped with ample ground-based sensingand collection equipment to detect rainfall,soil moisture, river flow and other charac-

teristics. After determining the differencebetween NASA’s predicted hydrologicvariability and actual, observed hydrologicvariability, he will strive to identify thesource of the discrepancy. Does it arise,for example, from an error in satelliterainfall inputs?

He points out that such study is criticalto addressing the security of water resources(floods, droughts, water scarcity, waterusage, water quality, water-ecosystem inter-actions, water-climate interactions etc.). Inthe longer term, Dr. Gebremichael’s workwill lay a foundation for understandinghow global hydrology is changing, the chiefcauses of climate change, and how theEarth’s hydrological systems respond tonatural and human-induced changes.

Dr. Jun-Hong Cui, an associate profes-sor of Computer Science & Engineering,received one of just 27 Office of NavalResearch (ONR) Young Investigator

Program awardspresented toresearchers nation-wide in 2008.Dr. Cui’s winningproposal, selectedin the area of“ocean battlespace

sensing,” builds upon her existing body ofwork in reliable underwater acoustic sensornetworks. Her proposal was selected fromamong 208 submitted for the 2008competition. ONR Young Investigators areconsidered among the most promisingyoung academic researchers in the country.The awards recognize research achieve-ments, potential for continued outstandingresearch efforts, and strong support andcommitment from their respectiveuniversities and research institutions.

Dr. Cui’s research will involve the use ofunderwater sensor networks (UWSNs) forcritical Navy applications, such as anti-sub-marine warfare, mine countermeasures, andbattle space environmental monitoring.UWSNs differ from conventional terrestrialsensor networks due to their acoustic com-munications and sensor node mobility.Please read more about her research atwww.engr.uconn.edu/drcuistory.php.



TThe expo represents the culminatingshowcase event of a project begun typi-

cally in the fall, when student teams meetwith representatives of a sponsoring compa-ny or organization, or even a single client,and first begin to understand the precisenature of the challenge. Throughout thecourse, the students meet repeatedly withtheir sponsor and design and continuouslyrefine a process or apparatus geared to solvethe problem. The resulting prototype isthen put to the crucial test, demonstratedand presented before faculty and—for somedegree programs—a panel of externaljudges on expo day. Descriptions of thesenior design projects, and sponsoringorganizations, may be found on thedepartmental web pages and on pagewww.engr.uconn.edu/seniordesign08.phpof our School website.

This year’s expo was staged across fourbuildings including, for the first time,the Student Union, where MechanicalEngineering (ME) students filled theballroom with their working design modelsand displays. The gala ME expo featuredintroductory remarkspresented by UConn

Provost Peter Nicholls, EngineeringDean Mun Y. Choi and Connecticut’sfirst Business Advocate, former U.S.Congressman Rob Simmons, the annualSenior Design Expo. It involved 34 teamsand 25 industry sponsors, along with alarge number parents, external judges andindustry visitors. The ME senior designexperience is overseen by Dr. ThomasBarber, a professor-in-residence whorecruits corporate sponsors and choreo-graphs the program throughout the year.Details of the ME senior projects appear inthe official program. Judges for the 2008event awarded three top industry prizes,which included monetary awards of$1,500, $1,000 and $500. In addition,the ME faculty selected a top designproject as well, awarding the team $1,000.

Nine Biomedical Engineering teamsdemonstrated their prototypes developedwith funding from the National ScienceFoundation and the RehabilitationEngineering Research Center (RERC) onAccessible Medical Instrumentation.Professor John Enderle, Director of theBME Program, oversees all BME seniordesign projects. Nineteams demonstrated atotal of 12 projects,from an accessibleweight scale forseated users and anautomatic syringedevice to a portablepill dispensingdevice.

Two of teams captured top honors inthe RERC national competition: in the“Accessible Weight Scale for Seated Users”category, the team of James Johnson,Patrick Tshilenge and Gregory Whitehousetook top honors, and in the “Accessible PillCap Dispensing Device” category, the teamof Ashley Martin, Timothy Coons, RyanPogemiller and Christopher Falkner tooktop honors.

Eleven Electrical & ComputerEngineering (ECE) teams demonstratedtheir projects, ranging from solar windand biometric identification systems tophoto acoustic tomography. Gems Sensors,Phonon Corp. and Qualtech Systemssponsored one project each. Seven teamsand individual students in MaterialsScience & Engineering presented theirsenior projects, which were sponsored byPratt & Whitney, Memry Corp., GKNStructures, Hamilton Sundstrand,Deringer-Ney, Fluoropolymer Resources

Seniors Showcase Design ProjectsOn May 2, seniors in six of the School’s B.S. programs staged their demonstrations and presentationsfrom late morning through mid-afternoon. The event represents the culmination of students’undergraduate education and training. Senior Chemical Engineering and Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering students delivered their final design presentations earlier in the week.


26 EMAGINATION

ME seniors Andres Teran (left) and Luis Sanchez(3rd from left) discuss their TRUMPF-sponsored seniordesign project with graduate student Andrew Lysaght(2nd from left) and senior Daniel Morse (far right).

and Varian Semiconductor. Studentsenrolled in the Management &Engineering for Manufacturing (MEM)program, offered in collaboration with theSchool of Business, also presented theirprojects. The six teams were sponsoredby Sikorsky Aircraft, TRUMPF, DRS,and the Connecticut Center for AdvancedTechnology (CCAT). Teams wereco-advised by ME associate professorZbigniew M. Bzymek and associateprofessor of Business Manuel Nunez. TheComputer Science & Engineering teamsalso presented their projects, which includ-ed computer control of digital trains usingRFID and other sensors, a bus tracking andmanagement system that uses GPS, and a3-dimensional massively multi-playeronline role playing game.

Companies and individuals interestedin sponsoring a senior design project,or seeking more information aboutengineering senior design, may contact:

• Biomedical Engineering: John Enderle [email protected]

• Computer Science & Engineering:Steve Demurjian [email protected]

• Electrical & Computer Engineering:Rajeev Bansal - [email protected]

• Management & Engineering forManufacturing: Zbigniew Bzymek [email protected]

• Mechanical Engineering: Tom Barber [email protected]


OutreachEfforts Aid inUndergraduateRecruiting

In June, the American Society forEngineering Education (ASEE)cautioned that the number of studentsearning bachelor’s degrees in engineeringfrom U.S. colleges declined in 2007 forthe first time since the 1990s, endingseven years of growth. Last year, theU.S. awarded 73,315 bachelor’s degreesin engineering. ASEE concluded thatalthough the decline represents just 1.2percent from 2006, the trend may con-tinue for several years despite the nation’sincreasing demand for trained engineers.A continuing challenge for educators

is how to engage K-12 students—andtraditionally underrepresented popula-tions of students in particular—inconsidering engineering as a potentialcareer. UConn’s School of Engineeringhas enjoyed notable success in recruitinggreater numbers of highly qualifiedstudents each year since 2000. For thefall ’08 term, the School expects towelcome 497 freshmen—a 176%increase over 1999 enrollments.An important reason for the School’s

success in recruiting top undergraduatesis our suite of outstanding outreach pro-grams, both on and off-campus, aimed atfamiliarizing students in grades K-12with engineering in an exciting, hands-on format that appeals to young people.The activities are organized and hostedby the Engineering Diversity Program



ASMLBodycote InternationalBVH Integrated ServicesCapewellCME AssociatesDennis Flanagan DDSDeringer-NeyDRS FermontEarth TechElectric BoatEssilor-GentexFluoropolymer ResourcesFuss & O’NeillGems SensorsGentex Optics/EssilorGeorge Torello Engineers

Gerber CoburnGerber TechnologyGKN StructuresHabco Inc.Hamilton SundstrandHenkel LoctiteIntegra-Cast Inc.Jacobs Vehicle SystemsMemry Corp.OSIM International Ltd.Otis ElevatorPhonon Corp.PfizerPitney BowesPratt & WhitneyQualtech Systems

S E A ConsultantsSiemonSikorsky AircraftTechnical ManagementResourcesTRUMPFUlbrich SteelUnileverUnited TechnologyResearch Center

UTC PowerVarian SemiconductorWestinghouse ElectricWiremold Legrand

The School of Engineering gratefully acknowledges thecommitment and generosity of our industrial sponsors,who made our 2007-08 Senior Design projects possible.

ME senior Jason Tomei demonstrates arotational motion mixer, developed forthe UConn School of Pharmacy.

(EDP) of the Undergraduate Programsoffice under the guidance of Marty Wood,Assistant Dean for UndergraduateEducation, and Kevin McLaughlin,EDP Director.Three residential programs provide

students an opportunity to exploreengineering disciplines and sample campuslife: BRIDGE, Engineering 2000, and theda Vinci Project. These are complementedby Multiply Your Options, a one-dayworkshop for female eighth graders,and a number of events hosted by theSchool: the annual Northeast RegionalScience Bowl, chess match, ConnecticutInvention Convention, various schoolgroup visits and classroom site visits byengineering students.

BRIDGEFifty-three incoming engineering studentsparticipated in the five-week summerBRIDGE 2008, a residential readinessprogram designed to prepare qualifyingstudents for the freshman-year experience.The program provides intensive prelimi-nary coursework in core mathematics,chemistry, physics and computer concepts.Admission is limited to students who haveapplied or been admitted to the UConnSchool of Engineering and who are mem-bers of groups traditionally underrepresent-ed among the nation’s engineers, includingwomen, African Americans, Hispanics,Puerto Ricans and Native Americans.In addition to the intensive coursework,

BRIDGE participants engage in groupstudy sessions, complete practice tests andengage in team exercises intended toimprove their group problem solving skills.BRIDGE students enjoyed complementaryon-campus housing, weekly meals, tuitionand books. After successfully completing

BRIDGE, qualifying students are eligibleto receive a stipend of up to $800 or oneof several renewable scholarships of up to$2,000 per year.

Engineering 2000In late June, 83 students from acrossConnecticut participated in the week-longEngineering 2000 (E2K) program.Participants are nominated by their highschool math, science, or technologyteachers. Working in small groups, withinstruction and mentorship provided by

faculty members and engineering students,participants explore engineering careers,learn and demonstrate engineeringconcepts, and fabricate a working model ofan engineering device. Topics in this year’sE2K spanned a variety of subjects, such asbioenergy production from waste water,tissue mechanics testing and modeling,ultrasound/optical imaging, constructionand testing of a model wooden bridge,VLSI Computer Aided Design, andphysiological modeling using BluetoothTMtechnology.The week wrapped up with demonstra-

tions of items the students created, such asrudimentary EKG devices, fuel cell andother energy efficient devices, woodenbridges, solar cells, and audio monitoring.

da Vinci ProjectDuring one week in July, theSchool of Engineering hostedseven math, science and tech-nology teachers, who sought tolearn engineering fundamen-tals and develop interestingcurricula and exercises for theirclassrooms. The participantswere immersed first in generalengineering instruction, fol-lowed by a choice of threeworkshops in which to focustheir learning. The workshopstargeted construction and

operation of a fuel cell, biodiesel processingand testing, mathematical optimizationof game theory, biomaterials: bone/tissue/joints, explorations in polymer science,fiber optics and basic analog/digital circuits,and global warming and dimming effects.

Multiply Your OptionsOn April 4th, 200 female eighth-gradersconvened for the one-day MYO conferencespotlighting science and engineering. Theprogram featured an introductory session,after which students attended various con-current workshops where they constructedrudimentary motors from magnets, wireand batteries; investigated the absorbencyof polymer salts found in diapers; elec-trolyzed water into its constituent hydrogenand oxygen molecules using saltwater,pencils and a 9V battery—and enjoyedother activities geared to introduce engi-neering and science concepts in a funmanner. The workshops are taught bypracticing women scientists and engineers,many of whom are UConn alumnae andgraduate students. An afternoon sessionfeatured a deductive reasoning game inwhich female role models brought five toolsfrom work that offered hints about theiroccupations and the students strove tocorrectly deduce their careers.

Northeast RegionalScience BowlOn March 1st, the School hosted the 2008Northeast Regional Science Bowl (NRSB)for high school students. A total of 13teams gathered to match wits, aided by 80student volunteers from the School ofEngineering. The bowl included both aJeopardy!-style quiz bowl and a model fuelcell car race.



28 EMAGINATION

The NRSB drew teams from acrossConnecticut as well as New York.Throughout the morning, teams competedin round-robin tournaments of two eight-minute halves, with the top performersmeeting in championship roundsmid-afternoon. The questions spannedchemistry, astronomy, earth science,biology, physics, math and general science.The top teams hailed from GlastonburyHigh School (1st place), Lyme Old LymeHigh School (2nd place), and NewtownHigh School (3rd place). Top honors in thefuel cell race went to Jose Cabanero ofGreenwich High School.

Chess MatchIn recognition of the link between chessprowess and aptitude in science, math,engineering and technological subject areas,the School of Engineering has hosted anannual chess match for several years. Thetournaments are open to students enrolled

in grades 9-12 (high school) and 6-8(middle school). The top three high schoolperformers were awarded renewablescholarships to the School of Engineering,valued at $2,000, $1,000 and $500 peryear, respectively. The scholarships areredeemable only by individuals who meetthe School of Engineering’s admittancecriteria, enroll in the UConn School ofEngineering and maintain a 3.4 GPA.

Connecticut InventionConvention (CIC)The CIC celebrated its 25th anniversary inMay, when 550 students in grades K-8came to Gampel Pavilion to showcase theirinventions. This year marked the 10thconsecutive year the School of Engineeringhas hosted the event. With a theme of“Imagination in Play,” CIC is the nation’soldest continuously running children’sinvention competition and an exhibitionof pragmatic problem solving amongK-8 school children who demonstrateimpressive ingenuity. The program beginsat the individual school level in the fall,and top winners from the local competi-tions proceed to the state-wide, juriedcompetition in Storrs. CIC is a nonprofitprogram underwritten by grants and in-kind support. For more information aboutthe Connecticut Invention Convention,visit www.CTInventionConvention.org.

School/UConn InteractionsA number of school groups visited theSchool of Engineering during the year,including a large contingent of 90 middleschool students who visited UConn inmid-April to explore a variety of alternativeenergy sources. The students wereassociated with a novel program entitledConnecticut Kids Fueling the Future, andtheir visit was organized by Tricia Bergmanof the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center(CGFCC). The Kids Fueling the Futureprogram is intended to expose students todiverse renewable energy sources—wind,solar, biodiesel and other technologies.At UConn, they were treated to shortintroductions and demonstrations of fuelcell, biofuel and solar energy technologieshosted by Engineering faculty members.

Engineering Students inHartford ClassroomsMembers of the UConn chapter of theNational Society of Black Engineers(NSBE) accompanied the EngineeringDiversity Program Director on visits toHartford schools once weekly throughoutthe year to serve as mentors and assist sixthgrade students at the Maria SanchezElementary School, Hartford.


19NSF CAREER Award recipients• Pamir Alpay (2001)• Emmanouil Anagnostou (2002)• Wilson K.S. Chiu (2001)• Jun-Hong Cui (2007)• Swapna Gokhale (2007)• Horea Ilies (2007)• Aggelos Kiayias (2005)• Jeong-Ho Kim (2006)• Ion Mandoiu (2006)• Laurent Michel (2007)• Kevin Murphy (1996)• Ugur Pasaogullari (2008)• Michael Renfro (2003)• Alexander Russell (2001)• Zhijie “Jerry” Shi (2007)• Alexander Shvartsman (2000)• Bing Wang (2008)• Benjamin Wilhite (2008)• Lei Zhu (2004)

12National YoungInvestigator Award

• Emmanouil Anagnostou: NASA (1999)• Theodore Bergman: NSF (1986)• Wilson K.S. Chiu: Office of Naval Research

(2001) and Army Research Office (2005)• Jun-Hong Cui: Office of

Naval Research (2008)• Mekonnen Gebremichael:

NASA (2008)• Bahram Javidi: NSF (1988)• Ranga Pitchumani: Office of

Naval Research (1996)• Ben Wilhite: Office of

Naval Research (2007) and DuPont YoungProfessor Award (2007)

• Shengli Zhou: Office of Naval Research (2007)• Lei Zhu: DuPont Young Professor Award (2005)


Engineering Students ShineOur students are as diverse in their interests as their careerplans, yet they are representative of the rich spectrum ofengineers who form the nation’s industrial backbone.Read about some of our students here. Their full profilesmay be found at www.engr.uconn.edu/weareengineering.php

Ali Langston(B.S. ElectricalEngineering, ‘09)is President of theUConn chapter ofthe National

Society of BlackEngineers (NSBE) and

a member and former President of theMuslim Student Association. A GatesMillennium Scholar, he has benefitedfrom excellent internship and researchopportunities. Last summer, he con-ducted research in the laboratory ofDr. Eric Donkor. “I plan to design aportable electrocardiogram (heart ratemonitor) for a phone. This device servesto strengthen the communicationbetween the patient and caregiver(doctor), where the patient will be ableto use the phone to record their heartrate and be capable of sending thisinformation directly to the doctor.”

Christine Endicott(B.S. ChemicalEngineering, ’08)is now pursuingdoctoral studies atCornell University.

She was impressedby the range of under-

graduate research opportunities avail-able at UConn. An Honors Programscholar, Christine completed her thesison a small molecule called furanonethat appears to inhibit the explosivegrowth of the deadly bacteriumanthrax. Her advisor said that “Based

on Christine’s work, it may be possibleto design more effective drugs andtreatment strategies for dealingwith anthrax.”

Ethan Cote (B.S. Civil Engineering, ’08)began a dream job following graduationworking at Hardesty & Hanover, LLP,an engineering consulting firm inNew York City. He chose UConnbecause it “offers so many opportuni-ties to engage in diverse activities whilealso providing a valuable degree.” Asan undergraduate, Ethan was involvedin activities of thestudent chaptersof the AmericanSociety of CivilEngineers andChi Epsilon, thecivil engineeringhonor society. Heserved as president ofboth Chi Epsilon and the ASCE SteelBridge Club chapter.

Kathleen (Mayer) Halley Rice(B.S. Electrical Engineering, ’08)is employed at the NavalUndersea Warfare Center(NUWC), Newport, RI,where she is workingon passive sonar foruse on submarines.Kathleen choseUConn because it“…offers a range ofattractive featuresfrom tutoring and merit

scholarships to anHonors Programthat includedhonors housing,and of course theBridge program. I'venever once regrettedmy decision to come to UConn. It hasbeen a great experience.” She volun-teered for the engineering outreachprograms, including Multiply YourOptions, a workshop that introduces 8th

grade girls to engineering and science.

Matthew Shapiro (B.S.E., ComputerScience & Engineering, Dec. ‘07), anHonors Scholar who graduated #1 inhis class, is now working at LockheedMartin and planning to attend lawschool with the goal of becoming apatent attorney. While interning atLockheed Martin, Matt co-invented anAutomated Passenger ScreeningSystem [for Trace Detection ofExplosives], which was recently award-ed a U.S. patent. As an undergraduate,Matt served on the Vice Presidents’Student Leadership Cabinet and theBoard of Directors for the UConn Co-op,and he helped to establish theEngineering Student LeadershipCouncil. Matt chose UConn because,touring the campus,“I was impressedby the recentaddition of manynew buildings

and majorrenovations

to older ones.It seemed to methe UConn 2000 fundingreflected the State’s confi-dence that UConn was des-tined for an academic renais-sance. As a serious student,

I wanted to be part of that.”

30 EMAGINATION

Earlier this year, UConn was select-ed as the Research Lead for thenewly established Department ofHomeland Security Center ofExcellence for TransportationSecurity (COETS). The COETS willprovide up to $4.0M per year tomember institutions to pursueresearch activities in resilientstructures, advanced sensors andfuturistic transportation systems.These activities will be greatlyenhanced through our existingstrengths in target tracking, sensornetworks and structural monitoringand the expertise and facilitiesavailable in the Booth EngineeringCenter for Advanced Technologyand the Connecticut TransportationInstitute.

TRANSIT DHS CENTER OF EXCELLENCEOn February 26, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) named theSchool of Engineering the single research lead among seven newly-selectednational centers in transportation security. U.S. Senators Joseph Liebermanand Christopher Dodd lauded UConn’s selection. The DHS Center of Excellence isoperating as the Transit & Research for Advanced National Security of IntermodalTransportation (TRANSIT) center.

It draws upon research expertise within the Connecticut Transportation Institute,the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center, the Booth Engineering Center forAdvanced Technologies and five engineering departments. As research lead,TRANSIT will coordinate the research efforts of its six academic partners, the Mack-Blackwell National Rural Transportation Study Center at the University of Arkansas(Fayetteville), the National Transit Institute at Rutgers University (New Brunswick,NJ), Texas Southern University (Houston), Tougaloo College (Jackson, MS) and theHomeland Security Management Institute at Long Island University (Brooklyn, NY).Tougaloo College has been chosen the Education Lead and Texas SouthernUniversity will serve as the Petrochemical Transportation Lead for the network.

TRANSIT will conduct research into new technologies, tools and advancedmethods, and develop educational and training methods and policies to defend,protect, and increase the resilience of the national multimodal transportationinfrastructure.

UNDERWATER SENSOR NETWORKSThe challenge to solve communication and networking problems in underwateracoustic sensor networks lies at the heart of research being conducted by Drs. Jun-Hong Cui and Shengli Zhou. Dr. Cui, an associate professor of Computer Science &Engineering, is conducting research funded primarily by her NSF CAREER (2007)and Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program (ONR YIP 2008) awards.Dr. Zhou is an assistant professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering whose



ENGINEERINGSECURITY

work is funded through an ONR YIP (2007). Together, they co-direct theUnderwater Sensor Network (UWSN) Lab at UConn, which serves as anexus for an interdisciplinary team of 20 faculty from throughout theSchool of Engineering as well as Marine Sciences, the National UnderseaResearch Center, and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

UWSN faculty are examining diverse fundamental issues, includingefficient acoustic communications, multiple access control, data routing andforwarding, reliable data transfer, security and robustness, data storage andmanagement, localization and synchronization, and data fusion, dissemination,and tracking, etc. They also explore various design issues of integrated underwatersensor nodes. In addition to naval applications, interest is mounting for underwaterwireless sensor networks that may beused in a spectrum of aquatic applica-tions such as environmental observa-tion for scientific exploration, commer-cial development (gas, oil, mineralmining, fishery, transportation, etc.),and coastline-protection/target-detec-tion in military or anti-terrorist areas.

Dr. Zhou’s research focuses chieflyon underwater acoustic communica-tions. He is leading the efforts in devel-oping a robust high-data-rate multi-carrier acoustic modem with channel- andnetwork-adaptivity. The new modem will not only lead to a data rate increase byone order of magnitude over existing commercial acoustic modems in challengingshallow water environments, it will also be equippedwith modules that can facilitate advanced networkingfunctionalities.

Dr. Cui is researching ways to improve theperformance of UWSNs, which rely upon acousticchannels. Their limitations include long propagationdelays, low communication bandwidth and a highchannel error rate. “Due to the complexaquatic environmental factors andthe unique characteristics ofacoustic channels,” says Dr. Cui,new protocols must be devel-oped that will ensure optimalperformance through everyphase of the data sensing,collection and transmissionprocesses. In particular, she isinterested in investigating andsolving several fundamental network-ing problems: multiple access, multi-hoprouting, reliable data transfer, localization,and resource management.

Read more about the UWSN lab atuwsn.engr.uconn.edu/.

CRYPTOGRAPHY FOR ENHANCED COMPUTER SECURITYThe focus of Computer Science & Engineering assistant professorZhijie “Jerry” Shi’s NSF CAREER award is on the design andimplementation of superior-performing cryptographic algorithms toenhance computer security against the ravages of security attacks.Dr. Shi explains that as consumers, corporations, federal agencies

and the military face increasing security threats—such asrecords theft, data forging and communication eavesdrop-

ping—security measures, including secure communicationand storage systems, grow ever more critical.Cryptographic algorithms afford computers basicsecurity functions such as confidentiality, data integrityand authentication.

Dr. Shi is interested in utilizing hardware features tosupport pervasive secure computing. His research focuses

on novel operations, supported by hardware, to enhancecipher and cryptographic hash function designs and lead to

ultra-efficient cryptographic algorithms for computing environ-ments where resources are constrained. Secure hash functions,generating a small, fixed digest for a large amount of data,are needed in many communication protocols and data storagesystems to ensure data are not tampered with. As side-channelattacks have emerged as new and powerful security threats tocomputer systems, he will also examine implementation practicesand focus on development of defense mechanisms that can beincorporated into the design processes of cryptographic algorithmsand computer systems to thwart side-channel attacks.

32 EMAGINATION

BOTNET DETECTIONDr. Aggelos Kiayias of Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) is conductingresearch funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that will aidin the detection and mitigation of so-called “botnets.” Dr. Kiayias’s collaboratorsinclude Drs. Reda Ammar, Steve Demurjian and Sanguthevar Rajasekaran (all ofCSE) and research lead Owen McCusker of Sonalysts, Inc. of Waterford, CT, whichis the lead for the SBIR Phase II funding from DHS. Botnets are a type ofautonomous, subversive software distributed over a computer network that canwreak havoc by remotely infecting computers with destructive software,launching mass spam attacks and generally disrupting the functioning ofthe affected computers. According to Dr. Kiayias, the sophisticationand proliferation of botnets have made online crime a lucrative andhigh-growth market. To address this challenge, Dr. Kiayias and histeam will collect data from a group of sensors set up to recordbotnet events, warehouse the data in a central place where it canbe analyzed, and deliver mitigation notices to the affected parties.Detection of a botnet will trigger the system’s automatic develop-ment of a mitigation plan that includes notices going out toregistered users and devices. Fundamental to the approach is thedevelopment of a botnet-specific message exchange format used todistribute detection and mitigation information among systems and users.

Read more here: www.engr.uconn.edu/kiayiasbotnets.php

DETECTION OF ALTERED INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (ICs)Chips are now produced, designed and fabricated internationally,making them increasingly vulnerable to malicious activities and raisingserious concerns regarding possible threats to military systems,financial infrastructures, transportation security and even householdappliances. Dr. Mohammad Tehranipoor of Electrical & Computer

Engineering explains that during the design or fabrication phase, anadversary can introduce a hardware trojan, a small piece of circuit,

designed to disable and/or destroy a system at some future time (called a“time bomb”), or to leak confidential information covertly to the adversary. Toaffirm the integrity of chips and reduce the likelihood of their dissemination ofpotentially lethal or damaging instructions, Dr. Tehranipoor has developed apost-manufacturing step to validate that the chip performs as it was originallyintended. The process is called IC authentication. Dr. Tehranipoor’s researchcenters on the types of attacks in which the attacker is assumed to maliciouslyalter the design before or during fabrication—a type of alteration that isextremely difficult to detect. His project seeks to detect design- and fabrication-level malicious alterations and subtle modifications that change the testingmethods targeting alterations made by an adversary that are designed to affectthe reliability of a chip, i.e., cause it to change the chip’s functionality at criticaltimes while operating in mission mode.

Read more about Dr. Tehranipoor’s research at www.engr.uconn.edu/~tehrani/


in large computers housed either on ships or air commandcenters to track both aircraft and ballistic missile targets,and possibly land or sea targets.

The primary objective of the research will be to create asingle integrated air picture or SIAP—a networking tool that

will permit field personnel at different locations to“see” the same picture of the battlespace, includ-

ing allied and enemy units on land, sea and inthe air. To achieve this goal, the algorithmmust overcome several systemic problemsassociated with communication networks,including the procedure for handling out ofsequence measurements (OOSM), which aresensor observations or measurements that

arrive at the data fusion center not in thesequence in which they were obtained, but

rather out of order due to a variety of delays.The team will seek to develop ways to incorporate the

incoming data in the target track estimates without having tore-order them, which could be excessively time-consuming.In large systems, he said, the computational requirementscan become prohibitive because of their exponential growthwith the size of the problem.

ENGINEERINGSECURITY

MULTI-TARGET TRACKING FOR DEFENSEA team of researchers from the Electrical & ComputerEngineering (ECE) department is helping the U.S. Departmentof Defense do a better job of tracking and responding topotential threats. Dr. Yaakov Bar-Shalom, the Marianne E.Klewin Professor in Engineering, along with professorsPeter Willett and Krishna Pattipati, are conductingresearch aimed at developing practical multi-tar-get tracking and multi-sensor data fusionalgorithms that will aid the U.S. military inaccurate detection and characterization oftargets in the field. With $630,000 in grantsupport, the work is expected to enhancethe efficiency of surveillance systems whenit is deployed for use with domestic andoverseas radar systems.

The team is developing algorithms that acceptinput from multiple and diverse sensors; reduce clut-ter and noise—as well as individual sensor biases—to opti-mize reliability; send the sensor data to a central point whereit can be merged and organized to reveal an accurate “singleintegrated” picture of multiple targets simultaneously; andtrigger an appropriate response. The algorithms will be used

CYBERLABIn the UConn Cyberlab, Drs. Krishna Pattipati and Peter Willett, bothprofessors of Electrical & Computer Engineering, lead a number ofprojects sponsored by STRATCOM and DARPA on cyber deterrence,nuclear smuggling (NS) fingerprinting, explosives detection and earlywarning indicators for international conflict. Among the manyprojects underway are the following:

Cyber Deterrence: the team has developed a system, called theAdaptive Safety Analysis and Monitoring (ASAM) tool for modelingand detecting violent non-state actor (VNSA) networks. It assumesthat VNSA networks can be tracked using transaction-based modelsand links between people, places and things. Inputs include relevanttransactional data, such as proven communication betweensuspicious individuals and financial transactions—information thatcan be gathered by analysis of individuals’ cyber-footprints. Theevolution of these transactions is modeled using hidden Markovmodels (HMMs) and dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs), and theASAM tool can provide analysts with an estimate of the probabilityof occurrence of the VNSA activity in question.

Nuclear Smuggling (NS) Fingerprinting: Fingerprinting is a statisticalmodeling process for deriving actionable early-warning indicatorsof a country’s involvement in nuclear smuggling as an origin,destination or as a transit point. The project team has employedinformation-theoretic techniques to open source data with the goalof identifying the most salient of nuclear smuggling, and havedeveloped hidden Markov models and support vector machine-based classification and forecasting techniques for NS fingerprinting.

34 EMAGINATION

Dr. Krishna Pattipatiand graduate students.Inset: Dr. Peter Willett

OPTIMIZING BUILDING EVACUATIONSBuilding emergency evacuation has long been recognized as an important issue,and crowd guidance is a key to improve egress efficiency and occupantsurvivability. SNET Professor of Communications and Information TechnologiesPeter Luh is conducting research aimed at accurately modeling the most effec-tive building emergency evacuation strategies. He explains that most existingmethods assume that crowd behaviors are independent of emergencysituations and are fully controllable under guidance. This assumption makesit difficult to capture important potential behaviors such as stampeding orblocking. His team is developing a probabilistic model to characterize how firepropagation affects crowd behavior in stressful conditions and, in turn, impactsthe time to evacuation. This approach allows for the prediction of potentialblockages, and provides a foundation to optimize crowd guidance. An optimizationproblem is then formulated to evacuate as many people as quickly as possiblewhile reducing the relevant risks through appropriate crowd guidance. To solve theproblem, observing that groups of crowds are mostly independent of each otherexcept when they compete for small passages, Dr. Luh takes a divide-and-conquerapproach. After the nonlinear coupling passage capacity constraints are approximate-ly relaxed, individual group subproblems are solved by using stochastic dynamicprogramming with the rollout scheme. Individual groups are then coordinated by theiterative updating of multipliers. Testing results demonstrate that compared with themethod ignoring crowd behaviors, this method evacuates more people and faster.

CRYPTOGRAPHY FOR SECURE COMMUNICATIONSDrs. Alexander Russell and Aggelos Kiayias of Computer Science & Engineeringare conducting research involving secure steganography, which Dr. Russell explainsis the problem of communicating, usually over a channel with background noise,in such a way that the communication is kept private and the fact that thecommunication is taking place at all remains concealed. A second research areainvolves “post-quantum” cryptography. Though a quantum computer has not yetbeen developed, once such a computer is built, it will render most known

public-key cryptography insecure. The project involves development of newalgebraic methods for public-key cryptography that can withstand attacksby even a quantum computer.

QUANTUM KEY DISTRIBUTION FOR SECURE COMMUNICATIONA critical aspect of secure data communication over public communication

channels, such as the Internet, is the distribution of a secret key for dataencryption that is robust from interception by a malicious agent. Distribution

of data encryption keys over public channels currently relies on the difficulty offactoring prime numbers. However, with the availability of high-performancecomputers, it is becoming increasingly possible to develop computer algorithmsthat can solve this problem. Dr. Eric Donkor of Electrical & Computer Engineeringhas been researching the distribution of data encryption keys using single photons.Single photons are fundamental particles of nature and are therefore indivisible;neither can their physical state be measured deterministically. Based on suchquantum-mechanical properties of single photons Dr. Donkor’s lab has demonstrat-ed the successful encoding and distribution of data encryption keys between sixinterconnected nodes in a fiber optic communication network that is highly robustagainst malicious attacks.


Dr. Eric Donkor (r) and graduate studentCarlos Villa (l), demonstrate a femtosecondlaser system, which they use in probing andcharacterizing nano-scale objects, such asnonlinear properties of optical waveguidesdoped with nanoscale semiconductor materials.A femtosecond is onemillionth of ananosecond,or 10 -15 ofa second.

TRANSPORTATION SECURITY: STRUCTURAL MONITORING AND CONTROLAccording to the Federal Highway Administration, over 25% of our nation’sbridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The recentcollapse of a major highway bridge in Minnesota brought this alarmingstatistic into sharp focus across the nation. Drs. John DeWolf and RichardChristenson, of Civil & Environmental Engineering, are helping to ensure thesafety of Connecticut’s bridges through a system of sensor arrays placed onkey bridges throughout the state. Each monitoring array is custom tailoredbased on the inspection concerns, traffic, age and materials specific to thebridge. The monitoring systems consist of a variety of advanced sensorsincluding tiltmeters, accelerometers, strain gauges, and thermocouples. Sensordata is retrieved and stored locally on a field PC which is remotely accessiblefor review. Recent work has examined the use of controllable stiffness anddamping devices within bridge structures to reduce the stress levels underservice loads and significantly extend the lifespan of highway bridges.Large scale computer models of bridges have also been developed toprovide analytical predictions of bridge behavior for comparison withfield data.

ENGINEERINGSECURITY

ELECTRONIC EXPLOSIVES SNIFFERDogs, pigs—even dolphins—have been trained to sniff out different agents, fromillicit drugs and rare truffles to explosives. Many bombs use nitrated compounds—such as TNT or dynamite, which contain volatile components—as explosives. Thesecompounds emit scent molecules that may be detected by trained animals. Withnearly $800,000 in funding from NSF, by Dr. Yu Lei, an assistant professor ofChemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering, and his colleagues will seek todevelop an electronic nose system for explosive detection. Dr. Lei leads a team of

researchers who hope to develop real-time, ultra-sensitive sensorarrays capable of sniffing out even trace quantities of explosives. Heis joined by UConn colleagues Christian Brückner (Chemistry) and AliGokirmak (Electrical & Computer Engineering), and a colleague atthe University of California—Riverside. The team will focus on thedevelopment of the science behind a miniaturized sensing devicecapable of detecting potential explosives with greater speed, selec-tivity and accuracy than ever before using simple instrumentation.As envisioned, the unit will combine a number of features: the abilityto capture and concentrate airborne explosive molecules, and thereal-time capacity to distinguish and identify compounds commonlyfound in explosives. It will lay the groundwork for a hand-held unitthat inspectors could use, say, to inspect luggage of passengersboarding a plane.

Read more about this research on our website at:www.engr.uconn.edu/eesniffer.php

36 EMAGINATION

UConn EngineeringAlumni in AcademiaIn 1962, the University of Connecticut granted its first doctoral degreesin engineering, to Charles Knapp and the late Taylor Booth, both inelectrical engineering. Since then, UConn Engineering has nurturedthousands of doctoral students who have gone on to successful careersin government, industry and academia—more than 150 at top institu-tions in the U.S. and abroad. Among them are the following individualswho are briefly profiled below:


GERARD L. COTÉ, Charles & BettyeBarclay Professor and Head,Department of Biomedical Engineering,Texas A&M University

M.S. 1987, Ph.D. 1990, Bioengineering(Advisor: Martin Fox)

Research interests: Optical biomedicalsensing, optical spectroscopy, micro-tech-nology, and nanotechnology forbiomedical sensing

Career highlights:• Elected member, University of

Connecticut Academy of DistinguishedEngineers (‘05)

• Fellow, American Institute for Medicaland Biological Engineering (AIMBE)(‘03)

• Mary Jane Kugel Award, JuvenileDiabetes Research FoundationInternational for service on the MedicalScience Review Committee (‘02)

• ASA Statistics in Chemistry Award, theAmerican Statistical Association (‘02)

• TEES Senior Fellow Award, TexasA&M University Texas EngineeringExperiment Station, College ofEngineering (‘00)

• Fellow, Michael E. DeBakey Institutefor Comparative Cardiovascular Scienceand Biomedical Devices, Texas A&MUniversity

biomed.tamu.edu/faculty_detail.asp?lname='Cote'

KARTIK CHANDRAN, Assistant Professor,Earth and Environmental Engineeringand Director, Environmental HealthEngineering and CUBES ProgramsColumbia University

Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, 1999(Advisor: Barth Smets)

Research interests: Environmentallysustainable engineered processes, environ-mental and public health microbiology,environmental biotechnology, molecularmicrobial ecology of biological waste andwater treatment reactors, etc.

Career highlights:• Invited Visiting Professor,

Delft University of Technology (‘08)• National Academies of Science Summer

Faculty Fellowship award, NRC, EPAHeadquarters, OH (Summer ‘07)

• Harry L. Kinsel Award, Metcalfand Eddy (‘02, ‘03)

• Platinum and Diamond Awards forEngineering Excellence, AmericanCouncil of Engineering Companies(rep. Metcalf and Eddy), Applicationof Biotechnology Tools for FrothControl (‘04); Dual Phase Digestionfor Froth Control and sCODProduction (‘03)

• National Environmental AchievementAward, Association of MetropolitanSewerage Agencies, (rep. Metcalf andEddy) (‘03)

www.columbia.edu/~kc2288

THOMAS F. ZIMMIE, ProfessorCivil & Environmental EngineeringRensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Ph.D., Civil Engineering, 1972(Advisor: Richard Long)

Research interests: Geotechnical engi-neering, geotechnical centrifuge modeling,earthquake engineering, geo-environmentalengineering, landfills, groundwater

Career highlights:• Civilian Patriotic Award from Army

Corps of Engineers, Katrina levee work,New Orleans

• Served as NSF Program Directorof Geomechanics

• Served as President of USUCGER,organization of geotechnical engineeringfaculty in U.S.

• More than 200 publications, 150 thesisgraduate students, taught more than2000 Civil Engineering students

www.cee.rpi.edu/people.cfmand www.nees.rpi.edu

XIAOHONG GUAN, incoming Dean,School of Electronic & InformationEngineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University,Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

Ph.D. Electrical & Systems Engineering,1993 (Advisor: Peter Luh)

Research interests: Complex networkedsystems, computer network security, sensornetworks, optimization-based schedulingmethodologies for electric power andmanufacturing, bidding strategies andgame theory analysis

Career highlights:• Best Paper Award,

IEEE Communication SocietyCommunications Systems Integrationand Modeling (‘08)

• Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Robotics& Automation Society (‘08)

• IEEE Fellow (‘07)• First Prize, Natural Science Award,

Ministry of Education, China (‘04)• Associate Editor, Automatica (‘99- )• Cheung Kong Professor of Systems

Engineering, Tsinghua University(‘99-08)

• Four patents• Li Heritage Prize for Excellence in

Creative Activities, San Francisco (‘96)• National Outstanding Young

Investigator Award, China (‘97)

Gerard L. Coté Kartik Chandran Thomas F. Zimmie Xiaohong Guan

Drs. Bahram Javidi, Robert Weiss andYaakov Bar-Shalom each garnered

major international awards early in 2008.Dr. Javidi, Board of Trustees

Distinguished Professor in the Electrical& Computer Engineering Department,received three major professional honors:the 2008 International Society for OpticalEngineering (SPIE) Technology AchievementAward, the 2008 Fellow Award fromthe John Simon Guggenheim MemorialFoundation, and the 2008 IEEE DonaldG. Fink Prize. He was presented theGuggenheim Fellow Award for his work onreal-time 3D optical imaging and identifica-tion. Guggenheim Fellows are appointedon the basis of “impressiveachievement in thepast and exceptionalpromise for futureaccomplishment.”Dr. Javidi alsoreceived the 2008SPIE TechnologyAchievement Award forhis outstanding lifetime technical contribu-tions in optical security systems, 3D imagerecognition, 3D display, 3D visualization,and recognition of biological micro-organ-isms using 3D imaging systems. Dr. Javidiwas distinguished earlier in the year with

Javidi, Weiss and Bar-ShalomGarner International Honors

receipt of the 2008 IEEE Donald G. FinkPrize for the best overview or survey paperamong all (over 130) IEEEtransactions, journals,and magazines.

In May, Dr.Weiss, who is theUTC Professor ofAdvanced Materialsand Processing, wasawarded the Society ofPlastics Engineers’ International Award inrecognition of his lifetime achievements inplastics research. Among the prior recipientsare Weiss’s colleague, Montgomery Shaw,and his doctoral thesis advisor and frequentcollaborator, William MacKnight, nowprofessor emeritus at the University ofMassachusetts. Dr. MacKnight commented,“Bob has made very significant contribu-tions to ionomers... Bob has had anexemplary career, and this is a fittingreflection of his accomplishments. SPEstrongly emphasizes applications, and thishonor distinguishes Bob’s work as havingmerit not only on a fundamental basis butalso for its improvements to the plasticsindustry.” Dr. Weiss previously received theSociety of Plastics Engineers’ InternationalResearch Award (2002), InternationalEducation Award (2000), and Fred O.

Conley Award for Plastics Engineering/Technology (2003).

Dr. Bar-Shalom, the Marianne E. KlewinProfessor in Engineering and a University ofConnecticut Board of Trustees DistinguishedProfessor, was selected by IEEE’s Board ofDirectors to receive the 2008 IEEEDennis J. Picard Medal for Radar Technologiesand Applications. The award honorsDr. Bar-Shalom’s “contributions to tech-niques for radar target tracking in clutter.”A renowned international expert inestimation theory and target tracking,Dr. Bar-Shalom is credited with originatingthe probabilistic data association filter(PDAF) for targettracking in a lowsignal-to-noise ratioenvironment; pio-neering the theo-retical informationlimit for estimationin the presence offalse measurements—and an algorithm that meets this limit;and developing the optimal track-to-trackfusion (TtTF) equations for real-worldasynchronous decentralized surveillancesystems. These tools and tracking paradigmsare used worldwide for target detectionand tracking by military and nationaldefense organizations.

Paul Adams, Senior Vice President,Pratt & Whitney

James Barger, Chief Scientist,Bolt, Beranek and Newman

Arthur Bergles, Glenn L. MartinInstitute Professor of Engineering,University of Maryland

Kevin Bouley, Presidentand CEO, Nerac

Dennis Bushnell, Chief Scientist,NASA Langley Research Center

Michael Cantor, Founding Partner,Cantor Colburn, LLP

T. Scott Case, Chairman,Network for Good

Michael Curtis, Senior VicePresident, Fuss & O'Neill, Inc.

Bassel Daoud, Bell Labs Fellow,Consulting Member of TechnicalStaff, Lucent Technologies, Inc.

Heidi Douglas, Founder, Presidentand CEO, MysticMD, Inc.

Joel Douglas, Co-founder and ChiefTechnology Officer, MysticMD, Inc.

Samuel Ewing, Jr., President,Ewing Capital Inc.

Christopher FuselierElliot A. Ginsberg, President and

Chief Executive Officer,Connecticut Center for AdvancedTechnologies, Inc. (CCAT)

Peter Halvordson, Vice President,Engineering, General DynamicsElectric Boat

Stephen N. Heath, PresidentEmeritus, Commercial Engines,Pratt & Whitney

John Krenicki, Jr., Vice Chairman,General Electric; President & CEO,GE Energy Infrastructure

Paul Martin, CEO, TactronicsHoldings, LLC

Thomas Martin, Co-founder,President and Chairman of theBoard, Phonon Corporation

Joan McDonald, Commissioner,Connecticut Department ofEconomic & CommunityDevelopment

J. Michael McQuade, Senior VicePresident for Science & Technology,United Technologies Corporation

Meet the Engineering Advisory Board

38 EMAGINATION

From left to right: Drs. Bahram Javidi,Robert Weiss and Yaakov Bar-Shalom.


We Need Your Help!What do you see as critical technologies for the future of American industrial competitiveness,security and economic stability? What excites you?

As an educational and research institution, the School of Engineering needs your insights.Please take a moment to complete this short survey (fold it into thirds and staple/tape it)and return it to us—postage prepaid. Or, if you prefer cyberspace, complete the electronicsurvey on our website at www.engr.uconn.edu/alumni/survey. Thank you!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________First name Last name

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Street address City State ZIP

________________________________________________(________)______________________________________________________________E-mail address Phone

Degree program/Year of graduation_________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you hire UConn engineering graduates? ___ Yes ___ No From what other colleges?_____________________________

What type of engineers do you hire? ________________________________________________________________________________

Are you satisfied with their skill level? ___ Yes ___ No

Based on your experience with UConn engineering graduates, what would you say are their most valuable skills?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Biggest skill deficits?_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Critical technologies for the future include:___________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What skills do you believe will be important for engineering graduates in the future? _______________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you were to invest in emerging technologies, what areas would you find attractive?________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Are you interested in participating in engineering alumni activities (e.g., undergraduate mentoring, social events, etc.)?___ Yes ___ No

Are you interested in participating in engineering outreach activities, such as discussing engineering careers with K-12 students?___ Yes ___ No

Would you be willing to be surveyed in conjunction with our program evaluations for accreditation purposes?___ Yes ___ No

Do you prefer to receive your engineering news:___ Electronically ___ Magazine

How often do you visit our website (www.engr.uconn.edu): ___ Never ___1-3 Times/month ___Weekly

When visiting our website, what subjects interest you?

___ Alumni News ___ Job Opportunities ___ Student News ___ Research News ___ Other

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IF MAILED IN THEUNITED STATES

University of ConnecticutSchool of Engineering261 Glenbrook Rd., Unit 2237Storrs, Connecticut 06268

BUSINESS REPLY MAILFIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 10 STORRS, CT

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259604

Fuss & O’Neill, a full-service engineeringconsulting practice headquartered in

Manchester, CT, has a long, multi-layeredand successful relationship with theUniversity of Connecticut. Fuss & O’Neillhas recruited and hired talented UConnengineering graduates for many years andcurrently employs almost 50.

Jeffrey P. Heidtman, CEO andPresident, is a UConn alumnus (M.S.geology, ’73), and three of the company’sfive Executive Committee members areUConn graduates. Dr. Michael Curtis (B.S.biology, ’76; M.S. and Ph.D. environmen-tal engineering,’80 and ‘87) is Senior VicePresident in charge of the Facilities &Environmental Systems Division, andMr. James D. Parry (B.S. civil engineering,’76) is Senior Vice President overseeing theDevelopment & Remediation ServicesDivision. The practice employs about 350professionals in its 11 offices nationwide.

Fuss & O’Neill sponsors the Fuss &O’Neill Scholarship in the School ofEngineering, which is awarded to a topcivil and environmental engineeringstudent each year. The company alsoparticipates in UConn’s on-site Master ofEngineering (MENG) practice-orienteddegree program as one important way ofinvesting in the professional developmentof its employees. Through the MENGprogram, UConn instructors teach master’s

level courses to company employees atthe Fuss & O’Neill facility. The companybuilt a custom high-tech classroom soemployees can simply walk downstairs totheir classes rather than commute to Storrs.Dubbed the “UConn Classroom,” thetraining room is equipped with “virtualclassroom” capabilities that will eventuallyallow employees at the company’s otherlocations to participate without leavingtheir facilities.

The largest share of the company’swork, according to Mr. Heidtman, is in thearea of industrial services. Industrial clientsare offered diverse facility, process design,construction services and lean manufactur-ing assistance as well as ongoing environ-mental, health and safety (EHS) compli-ance assistance. One of the major focusareas to emerge has been the environment.Mr. Heidtman said, “Environmentalconcerns fall into generally two practices:remediation and prevention. With therecognition that pollutants can leave a toxictrail—in water, air and soil—that oftenlingers long after the initial polluter hasgone, companies increasingly are facedwith legacy pollutants from prior usesof the land and facilities. Similarly,buildings may be contaminated with toxicsubstances, from chemicals to buildingmaterials.”

In the last 20 years, government regula-tions have been passed to reduce andprevent potentially toxic pollutants andclimate-altering emissions—such as lead,mercury and other heavy metals; solventssuch as perchloroethylene (PCE); sulfurand CO2 and the like—to protect workersand residents living nearby. Dr. Curtisexplained that many companies come toFuss & O’Neill for assistance in safelyremoving the offending substances.Increasingly, clients are also seeking tobecome compliant with EPA and OSHAregulations, etc.

Alumni-Led Firm HostsOn-Site Masters Program

Please read the entire story on our website atwww.engr.uconn.edu/fussoneilluncheon.php

Former Interim Dean of EngineeringErling Smith (far left, front); Civil &Environmental Engineering DepartmentHead, Michael Accorsi (2nd from left, frontrow); and Dean of Engineering Mun Choi(far right, front row) pose with UConnEngineering alumni at Fuss & O’Neill.


Alumni NotesSteven Ambrico (B.S. MechanicalEngineering, ‘93), an Air Force major,was deployed to Afghanistan inFebruary 2008, where he serves on theCombined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan.

Craig W. Ashmore (B.S. Mechanical &Civil Engineering, ‘85), senior VicePresident for Planning and Developmentat Emerson (St. Louis), was promotedin October to the company’s seniormanagement team in the Office of ChiefExecutive. He is a member of the UConnAcademy of Distinguished Engineers.

Gregory J. Biederman (M.S. ChemicalEngineering, ‘80) was named Presidentand CEO of Nylon Corporation of America(NYCOA) in January. He previously wasVice President for Specialty Intermediatesat INVISTA.

James Culmo (B.S. Electrical Engineering& Computer Science, ‘81) was appointedVice President of Airborne EarlyWarning/Battle Management Commandand Control-Navy (AEW/BMC2-N)Programs at Northrop GrummanIntegrated Systems.

Andrew Gere (B.S. Civil Engineering, ‘92),was promoted to Chief of Operations forSan Jose Water Company, an investor-owned utility serving approximately onemillion people in Silicon Valley.

Mark Gothberg (B.S. ChemicalEngineering, ‘68) is Chief Operatingofficer of Strategic Health CareCommunications and editor ofeHealthcare Strategy & Trends.

John Krenicki, Jr. (B.S. MechanicalEngineering, ‘84) was appointed ViceChairman of the newly restructuredGE Energy Infrastructure unit, whichincludes Energy, Oil & Gas, and Water.The unit was formed in July whenGE restructured its six business unitsinto four. Mr. Krenicki was previouslyPresident and CEO of GE Plastics. He isa member of the UConn Academy ofDistinguished Engineers ('03).


Melissa Jacques is the archetypal engagedstudent. Chosen a 2008 OutstandingSenior Women of Academic AchievementAward recipient for Engineering, Melissa isearning B.S. degrees in both Mechanical

Engineering and MaterialsScience & Engineering.

Melissa has internedwith O.F. Mossberg &Sons FirearmsCompany, AIWIronworks Inc. and

Hamilton Sundstrand.At Hamilton Sundstrand, in

addition to evaluating failed machinedcomponents from a supplier, Melissa aidedin the introduction of a new StatisticalProcess Control (SPC) software package,helped to develop a capital spending track-ing system, and assisted in performingfailure modes and effects analysis (FMEA)of a jet engine electronic control. She alsohelped to prepare reports for thePresidential Helicopter and Cabin AirConditioning Temperature Control SystemPack for the New Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Her path to UConn was paved by theSchool of Engineering’s BRIDGE programfor admitted underrepresented engineeringstudents, a summer readiness program that

immerses students inintensive math,

chemistry,physics andcomputingcourse-work.Melissacredits

Internships EnhanceUndergrad ExperienceMost UConn engineering students engage in internships duringtheir undergraduate years that enrich their education and provideunparalleled opportunities for real-world experience. We recentlyinvited students to discuss their internships and volunteeractivities involving K-12 outreach and peer mentoring.

her BRIDGE experience as the impetus forher involvement in volunteer activities.She participated in an outreach programwith Kevin McLaughlin, Director ofEngineering Diversity, at the MariaSanchez Elementary School in Hartfordand was involved in the Multiply YourOptions program, a one-day workshopfor 8th grade girls. As a volunteer for thePre-Engineering Program (PEP), shehelped introduce 7th grade students tovarious engineering concepts. “I made myown curriculum where I showed thestudents different experiments that includetoothpick bridges, colligative propertiesof ice cream, simple machines, waterbottle flashlights, and balloon rockets.”Melissa has also been deeply involved invarious leadership posts within theUConn chapter of the National Societyof Black Engineers (NSBE). Please readmore about Melissa on pagewww.engr.uconn.edu/studentprofiles.phpof our website.

Below, students describe their internshipexperiences (visit our website for lengthierprofiles):

Nicholas Chokas (Computer Science &Engineering; Minor in Mathematics) choseUConn Engineering “because I love tech-nology, and with UConn being ranked thetop public school in New England, I knewthat I’d have the resources and knowledge-base to become a respectable engineer.”Nicholas interned for the second year atthe New York City headquarters of Google.His varied duties included providing directsupport for Linux, Mac and Microsoftdesktops/laptops, and user access to corpo-rate network and applications. “Working atGoogle has been the best experience of

my life and I’m glad I chose UConnengineering to help get me here!”

Rodney Howard (Management &Engineering for Manufacturing) worked asan Applications Engineer intern at DymaxCorporation (a manufacturer of UV lightcuring adhesives) Torrington, CT. Rodney’sduties “usually consisted of conductingin-house studies on the adhesives’properties for updating product data sheets.Other times I assisted the other ApplicationEngineers in the customer projects such asmasking for Apple products or testingadhesion on solar panels for Infinia.”Rodney said, “I definitely feel that myeducation has prepared me well for thedemands required in the industrialsetting… The manufacturing courses havebeen very important to my understandingof the processes each company uses tomanufacture a product.”

Daniel Zachs (Biomedical Engineering)selected UConn Engineering “because ithas a rigorous and extensiveBME program and Iwanted to apply mycreativity to themedical sciences.”Daniel performedan NIH-fundedresearch fellowshipfacilitated by the Centerfor Cell Analysis and Modeling(CCAM) in the UConn Health Center.“In my work, I use PCR techniques toamplify desired DNA genes that have beenselected to express fluorescent chro-mophores in target Xenopus (frog) cells.

Nicholas Chokas

Rodney Howard continued on page 4342 EMAGINATION

Then I use high powered lasers to excitethe cells under a microscope. Byanalyzing the excitation levels of the cells atdifferent wavelengths we can determinehow different hormones influence chemicalevents, including cargo transport alongthe microtubules.”

Ricardo Lewis (ChemicalEngineering; Minor inMolecular & CellBiology) said “As anundergraduate student Ihave been able to applymy knowledge effectively inmy research at UConn and myinternship at Pfizer. Because of engineeringI am always a step further in all of myendeavors.” Ricardo’s duties includedquality control and clinical tests approvalsfor the FDA.

Michael Zuba (Computer Science &Engineering) chose UConn Engineeringbecause “I’ve always had a passion for

trying to make a difference in the world.The UConn Engineering program isknown for giving students the opportunityto do this.” Michael interned atWestinghouse Electric Company, Windsor,CT, where he researched options to helpimprove hardware, created wiring diagramsfor new hardware designs, simplified hard-

ware logic to improve performance, andhelped design and implement a newsoftware system. “I feel that myengineering education has prepared

me well for real-world demands.”

Travis Ward (Biomedical Engineering);Minor in Mathematics) interned at BiogenIdec, Cambridge, MA,where he used highperformance liquidchromatography(HPLC) to test proteindrug products anddrug samples for purityand protein quality.Among his varied duties,

he also used spectrophotometers to testthe protein concentration samples ofdrug products, drug samples, referencestandards, and aliquots of Bovine SerumAlbumin as controls and worked toproduce protein concentration acceptancecriteria for the spectrophotometer.

Jed Miller (Mechanical Engineering)interned at the Naval Surface WarfareCenter, Carderock Division (WestBethesda, MD), where “I created a scalemodel of an amphibious vessel that iscapable of carrying a 20’ ISO containerfrom a seabase to an on-shore location…We were able to build and test our modelin a 140’ test basin at Carderock, which iscapable of generating waves and allowed us

to test the vessel in the surf zone withwaves. My team’s tests determined thatthe DUKW 21 concept does not haveany fatal flaws and that further study of

the concept is warranted.”

Many people think that, as a public institution,we are fully funded by the State of Connecticut.

In fact, last year only 27% of our operating funds camefrom the State. The remainder came from variousrevenue-generating sources and generous donors likeyou who help us continue to offer quality educationto deserving young people despite ever tightening statebudgets. Your donations make it possible for us to equipand maintain up-to-date teaching and research laborato-ries, support student academic groups and their rangeof activities, initiate and sustain undergraduate scholar-ships and graduate fellowships, continue our diversityinitiatives, and engage in K-12 outreach activities.

Over the last 24 months, we have enjoyed thegenerous financial and in-kind support of more than1,200 committed alumni, corporate donors and friends.We wish to thank all of our donors who chose to investin the future of engineering education at UConn.We invite you to view our donor list on our website atwww.engr.uconn.edu/alumni/donors.php.

For those who have not yet made a contribution,we welcome your investment. Visit the UConnFoundation website at www.foundation.uconn.edu tomake an online gift; or complete the donor card andmail it, along with your check. Please call ChristopherJoliat at (860) 486-4997 to discuss giving options. Wethank you for helping us to deliver quality educationalprograms that ensure a highly qualified, agile workforce.

Help us Grow!The School of Engineering strives to become a world leader inengineering education and 21st century transformational research.With your support, we can attain this goal. Join us today as apartner in our strategic progress!

________________________________________________________Mr./Ms./Mrs./Dr. First Name Last Name

________________________________________________________Street Address City State ZIP

(_____)__________________________________________________Phone E-mail address

___Yes, I want to help UConn Engineering reach for the stars.

Please make checks payable to the University of ConnecticutFoundation/School of Engineering and mail them to:

The UConn Foundation, Inc.2390 Alumni Drive, Unit 3206Storrs, CT 06269-3206

___Yes, I'd like to discuss how I might help the School ofEngineering. Please have Christopher Joliat contact me at

______________________________ or (_____)__________________E-mail Phone

___Sorry, I am unable to help at this time.

Donors Sustain Us

Cut along the dotted line



Dr. Dipanjan Basu joinsthe Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering Department asan assistant professor.Dr. Basu earned his Ph.D.

(‘06) and M.S. from Purdue University anda Master of Technology from the IndiaInstitute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.His research expertise and interests lie inthe modeling of boundary value problemspertaining to geomechanics and geotechni-cal engineering. For his thesis, he developeda continuum-based method for nonlinearanalysis of laterally loaded piles and wasinvolved in field testing of a laterally loadedclosed-ended pipe pile. Dr. Basu was mostrecently a post-doctoral research associate atPurdue. At UConn, he will seek to developanalytical and numerical tools for solvingengineering problems pertaining to founda-tions, soil-structure interaction, soil dynam-ics, earthquakes, ground improvement andgeo-environmental engineering.

The Department of Chemical, Materials& Biomolecular Engineering welcomedfive new faculty members.

Dr. Cato T. Laurencin,M.D., was appointedUConn’s Vice President forHealth Affairs, Dean of theSchool of Medicine, and the

Van Dusen Distinguished Endowed Chairin the Department of Orthopaedic Surgeryas well as a member of the chemical engi-neering faculty. He earned dual degrees in1987: a Ph.D. in biochemical engineer-ing/biotechnology from MIT and an M.D.from Harvard Medical School, where hegraduated magna cum laude and earned theRobinson Award for Excellence in Surgery.After completing his clinical training at theHarvard University Orthopaedic SurgeryProgram, he worked briefly at CornellUniversity before joining the MedicalCollege of Pennsylvania’s HahnemannUniversity, which soon merged into DrexelUniversity. There, he founded the Center

for Advanced Biomaterials and TissueEngineering and was among the early pro-ponents of biodegradable polymer materialsfor fracture repair and tissue engineering.He joined the University of Virginia in2003. Dr. Laurencin’s latest work usespolymer-based drug-delivery systems andnanotechnology to enhance bone and tissueregeneration. Dr. Laurencin has receivednumerous honors, including election to theInstitute of Medicine, the PresidentialFaculty Fellowship Award from PresidentClinton, the William Grimes Award forExcellence in Chemical Engineering fromthe American Institute of ChemicalEngineers, and the Leadership inTechnology Award from the NewMillennium Foundation. He is a Fellowof the American Institute for Medicaland Biological Engineering, and anInternational Fellow in BiomaterialsScience and Engineering.

Dr. George A. Rossetti, Jr.,who joined the departmentas an associate professor ofmaterials science, bringsexpertise in structure-pro-

cessing-property relations in electroceramicmaterials and their applications in dielectric,electromechanical and energy conversiondevices and systems. Dr. Rossetti hasworked as a research professor in theInstitute of Materials Science at UConnsince 2006. He previously was a researchassociate professor at Rutgers University.His experience also spans more than adecade in industry, during which he servedas Director of Functional Materials atContinuum Photonics Inc. in Billerica, MAand a Senior Research Engineer at NortonCompany Central Research Laboratories,Saint-Gobain Corporation, Worcester, MA.He was also a Senior Research Scientist atthe NASA Center for AdvancedMicrogravity Materials Processing atNortheastern University, Boston.Dr. Rossetti earned his M.S. in materialsengineering from Worcester PolytechnicInstitute and his Ph.D. in solid state science

from The Pennsylvania State University.He conducted post-doctoral work at thePrinceton Materials Institute.

Associate professor Dr. BrianG. Willis will soon joinUConn from the Universityof Delaware, where he is anassistant professor. Dr. Willis

maintains a vigorous research program innanotechnology with applications forbiochemical sensors, molecular electronics,semiconductor devices and fuel cells.His research, which merges integratedcircuit technology with molecular devices,has received significant support from NSF,the U.S. Department of Energy and theDepartment of Defense. Dr. Willis is therecipient of an NSF CAREER Award and,from the University of Delaware, anEmmert Faculty Fellowship and the DowCorning Award. Dr. Willis has more than20 refereed journal and conference publica-tions. He earned his Ph.D. in chemicalengineering from MIT in 1999.

Dr. William Mustain joinedthe department as an assis-tant professor after complet-ing a post-doctoral fellowshipat the Georgia Institute of

Technology. His research interests includethe development of new materials for protonexchange membrane fuel cells, the develop-ment of a room temperature molten carbon-ate fuel cell, aerobic biocathodes for oxygenreduction reaction, microfabricated biologi-cal fuel cells and fundamental studies onboth electrochemical kinetics and ionictransport in solid electrolytes. As a Ph.D.candidate, Dr. Mustain was a member of aresearch group that was the first to demon-strate and fully characterize the high activityof cobalt-palladium alloy electrocatalysts forthe oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at thePEM cathode. Dr. Mustain, who has fourpatent disclosures on his work, was awardedthe Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)2004 Outstanding Teaching Assistant ofthe Year Award, a Hamid ArastoopourExcellence in Education Award, and a HealdScholar (’98-02) award. He received hisPh.D. in chemical engineering from IITin 2006.

Dr. Jeffrey McCutcheonjoined the department witha dual affiliation with theCenter for EnvironmentalScience & Engineering

School WelcomesNew Faculty & StaffThe School of Engineering welcomed 10 new facultymembers and four new staff members, who joinedus in the spring and fall.

44 EMAGINATION

(CESE) at UConn. He completed his Ph.D.at Yale University in 2007. His dissertationfocused on transport phenomena associatedwith osmotically driven membrane process-es, notably forward osmosis and pressureretarded osmosis. It resulted in eightpublications. Dr. McCutcheon completeda post-doctoral fellowship at SUNY StonyBrook and joined a small startup companyas the Technical Group Leader. At StonyBrook, Dr. McCutcheon helped to developelectrospun nanofiber supported thin filmcomposite membranes for nanofiltration.At UConn, he will advance his workinvolving membrane filtration for watertreatment, desalination, and powergeneration applications.

The Mechanical Engineering (ME)Department welcomed four newfaculty members.

Dr. Robert Gao joined thedepartment as the Pratt &Whitney Endowed Chair.He was most recently aprofessor of Mechanical &

Industrial Engineering at the University ofMassachusetts. Dr. Gao has extensive experi-ence in sensors and sensor networks as wellas machine condition monitoring. Hisresearch interests span areas of integratedsensing methodologies for manufacturingequipment; mechatronics; smart structuresand materials; energy-efficient sensor net-works for coordination-based informationacquisition; energy harvesting from theenvironment; multi-domain sensor signalprocessing; wireless data communicationand biomechanics. Dr. Gao holds threepatents and is a co-editor of the bookCondition Monitoring and Control forIntelligent Manufacturing (‘06). He is anAssociate Editor for the ASME Journal ofDynamic Systems, Measurement, and Controland an Associate Editor for the IEEETransactions on Instrumentation andMeasurement. He received his Ph.D. (‘91)degree in mechanical engineering fromTechnical University of Berlin, Germany.Dr. Gao is a Fellow of the ASME and IEEE,and a 1996 recipient of a National ScienceFoundation CAREER Award.

Dr. Tianfeng Lu received hisM.S. degree from TsinghuaUniversity and Ph.D. inmechanical and aerospaceengineering from Princeton

University. His expertise and research inter-ests are in the computational fluid dynamics

and combustion with detailed chemistry aswell as reduction of large chemical kineticmechanisms for computationally efficientsimulation of complex multidimensional,turbulent flows and other engineeringsystems. Dr. Lu will complement thedepartment’s strengths in the combustionand computational fluid mechanics areas

Dr. George Lykotrafitiswill join UConn in spring2009 following completionof a two-year postdoctoralfellowship at MIT, where he

is conducting experimental and computa-tional studies of cellular membrane dynam-ics as a member of Dr. Subra Suresh’sresearch group. At UConn, he will pursuehis interests in cellular mechanics and othermechanics-related research problems.Dr. Lykotrafitis received his M.S. and Ph.D.degrees in applied mathematics and physicalsciences from National Technical Universityof Athens, Greece; he later completed Sc.M.and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineer-ing at Caltech, where his studies includeddynamic frictional sliding modes alongincoherent interfaces.

Dr. Chengyu Cao joinedUConn from Virginia Tech,where he was a seniorresearch scientist. Dr. Cao’sexpertise lies in dynamics

and control of unmanned and intelligentelectro-mechanical systems, robotics, sensorand actuator networks and bio-inspiredapplications. He has conducted theoretical,computational and experimental studies inthese areas. He is the co-principal investiga-tor on two NASA grants and one DARPAgrant, and he will continue this work as amember of the ME department. Dr. Caoreceived his M.S. degree in manufacturingengineering from Boston University and hisPh.D. degree in mechanical engineeringfrom MIT.

In addition, the School welcomed fournew staff members: Christopher Joliat,Michael McCarthy, Kerrie Alberts andEd Swindelles.

Christopher P. Joliat joinedthe School as Director ofDevelopment. Previously,Chris worked for 11 years asa fundraising professional

with a major not-for-profit organizationwhere he served most recently as VicePresident of Development responsible for

the implementation of fundraising strategiesfor a team that spanned North America.Earlier in his career, he sold investmentmanagement, retirement, and trust andestate planning services for the financialservices industry. He holds a B.S. in appliedmathematics from the University ofMassachusetts and took post-graduate cours-es at the University of Hartford and RPI.

Also new to our developmentstaff is Michael McCarthy,who joined us as AssistantDirector of Development.Mike joined the University

of Connecticut in 2006 as program directorof Leadership Gifts with the UConnFoundation. Earlier in his career, Mike wasemployed in the financial services sector,where he worked for Delta Funding Corp.,Waltham, MA; First American MortgageTrust, Brookline, MA; and FidelityInvestments. Mike earned his B.S. degree inBusiness Administration from Colby-SawyerCollege in 2001.

Kerrie Alberts joined theSchool as a GrantsDevelopment Officer. Shepreviously was a Grants &Contracts Specialist II in the

University’s Office for Sponsored Programs(’04-08). Earlier in her career, she was aSenior Research Analyst with the UConnFoundation. Kerrie assists faculty in thepreparation of interdisciplinary researchprograms; develops and writes backgroundand foundational material required forvarious proposal submissions; assists withthe preparation of proposal budgets; anddevelops processes to streamline proposalsubmissions. She earned her B.A. in Englishat Ohio Northern University, Ada (‘96).

Ed Swindelles joined theEngineering ComputingServices unit as a SystemsAdministrator. Ed’s dutiesinclude managing the

technical infrastructure of systems such ase-mail and supporting the School ofEngineering community in the use oftechnology. He was previously a SystemsManager at Brown University (‘07-‘08) inProvidence, RI; earlier in his career, he wasa Network Administrator for NortonPublic Schools (‘05-‘07) in Norton, MA.He received his Sc.B, magna cum laude,in computer science at Bridgewater StateCollege, Bridgewater, MA (‘05).


Faculty NewsComputer Science &Engineering (CSE)Department Head andprofessor Reda Ammar

was elected president of the InternationalSociety of Computers and TheirApplications (ISCA). Dr. Ammar alsoorganized the first UConn alumni recep-tion held overseas, at Ain Shams University,Cairo, Egypt—co-sponsored by theUConn Alumni Association, School ofEngineering, and the UConn Officeof International Affairs.

Baki Cetegen, DepartmentHead of MechanicalEngineering (ME), was electedthe vice-chair and chair-elect of

the Combustion Institute Eastern StatesSection during its technical meeting inOctober 2007. It is the largest of the threesections of the Combustion Institute. Heserved as treasurer from 1999-2007.

Professor-in-Residence ofElectrical & ComputerEngineering (ECE) TonyDeMaria is co-inventor

(with R. Henschke and J. Fontanella) ona new U.S. patent for “injection lockingQ-switched and Q-switched cavity dumpedCO2 lasers for extreme ultraviolet genera-tion” for photolithography applications.Patent # 7,327,769 was awarded onFebruary 5, 2008. He was also invited toserve on the Optical Society of America’s(OSA) Presidential Advisory Committee.

John Enderle, professor ofECE and Director of theBiomedical Engineeringprogram, was elected a Fellow

of the American Society for EngineeringEducation (ASEE). He is one of 12 2008Fellows inducted.

Assistant professor PuxianGao of Chemical, Materials& Biomolecular Engineering(CMBE) was awarded one of

just seven (from 300 submissions) 2007Honda Initiation Grants for his proposedstudy involving composite nano-catalystsfor auto emissions control systems.The Honda award confers a $50,000 grant

46 EMAGINATION

for “innovative ideas in the early stages ofresearch that are likely to make valuablecontributions to technology during a termof 5-10 years.”

CEE professor John Ivan wasasked to serve on the EditorialBoard of the Journal ofComprehensive Transportation

Safety, published by the Center forTransportation Research, University ofTennessee. He will also serve on thecenter’s Research Advisory Board. Dr. Ivan,with co-authors Sarang Ranade and AdelSadek (University of Vermont), received aBest Paper Award from the TransportationResearch Board Committee on OperationalEffects of Geometrics 2007 for their paperentitled “A Decision Support System forPredicting the Benefits of Left-turn LaneInstallations at Unsignalized Intersections.”

Faquir Jain, professorof ECE, and FotiosPapadimitrakopoulos(Chemistry) received two

patents: “Scanning Localized EvaporationMethod (SLEM),” U.S. Patent# 7,326,303 B2 (OSC-1), February 5,2008; and “Site-specific Self-assembly ofNanomaterial,” U.S. Patent # 7,368,370B2, May 8, 2008.

Ion Mandoiu, associate profes-sor of CSE, won a Best PosterAward (with J. Kennedy and B.Pasaniuc) for “Genotype Error

Detection and Imputation using HiddenMarkov Models of Haplotype Diversity,”presented at the 4th InternationalSymposium on Bioinformatics Researchand Application in Atlanta May 6-9, 2008.

Mahmoud Melehy,professor emeritus of ECE,finalized a contract withOxford University Press to

publish his book, entitled InterfacialTransport: A Generalization of Einstein’sTheory of Brownian Motion withInterdisciplinary Applications. It willbe released in December ‘08.Please see www.engr.uconn.edu/SoE/enotesnewsmelehy.php.

Associate professor of CMBERichard Parnas received theHigh Merit Award in the 2007Pioneering Nanotechnology

Competition sponsored by Masscal

Scientific Instruments of Orlando, FL, inrecognition of his scholarly work to reducesynthetic plastic land fill by developingtoughened wheat protein restructuredwith poly-thiols.

Sanguthevar Rajasekaran,the UTC Chair Professorof Computer Science &Engineering and Director

of the Booth Engineering Center forAdvanced Technology, was among 295senior IEEE members worldwide selectedfor elevation to the rank of IEEE Felloweffective January 1, 2008. IEEE cites himfor “contributions to sequential, parallel,and randomized algorithms and tobioinformatics.”

ME associate professorMichael Renfro was electedto the Executive Committeeof the Eastern States Section

of the Combustion Institute at its TechnicalMeeting at the University of Virginiaat Charlottesville in October 2007.The executive board consists of 14 peoplefrom academia and industry who managethe activities of the section including theorganization of its technical meetings.

CSE professor AlexanderShvartsman has co-authoreda new textbook with ChryssisGeorgiou, entitled Do-All

Computing in Distributed Systems -Cooperation in the Presence of Adversity.The hardcover 2008 book is published bySpringer (ISBN: 978-0-387-30918-7).

ECE professor Geoff Taylorreceived three new U.S.patents on February 19, 2008:“Optoelectronic Clock

Generator Producing High FrequencyOptoelectronic Pulse Trains with VariableFrequency and Variable Duty Cycleand Low Jitter,” # 7,333,733(with R. Dehmubed and D.C. Upp);“Multifunctional Optoelectronic Thyristorand Integrated Circuit and OpticalTransceiver Employing Same,” # 7,333,731(with R. Demubed); and “OptoelectronicCircuit Employing a HeterojunctionThyristor Device to Convert a DigitalOptical Signal to a Digital ElectricalSignal,” # 7,332,752 (with J. Cai).

RetirementsThe School of Engineering lost two ofits most senior, esteemed facultymembers over the summer with theretirements of Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering professor John DeWolfand Mechanical Engineering associateprofessor Robert Jeffers.

During his 35 years at UConn,John DeWolf educated hun-dreds of civil engineers andreceived numerous awards for

his instructional excellence, includingbeing named a University of ConnecticutTeaching Fellow in 2006. Steel Designwas among his primary course offerings.He served for many years as a member ofthe University Senate and chair of theUniversity Senate Executive Committee.John co-authored several editions, with F.P.Beer and E.R. Johnston, of the widelyacclaimed Mechanics of Materials, consid-ered the premier undergraduate text on thisfundamental subject. John’s research focusover the last few decades was on bridgemonitoring. He developed and installed aprototype bridge monitoring system, whichwas placed on two different Connecticutbridges for long-term evaluation. Hisinvolvement in strain monitoring studieson a large number of steel and concretebridges provided transportation agencieswith useful information for the manage-ment and renovation of a variety ofbridges. John and his wife, Sue, establishedan undergraduate academic scholarship,


and they invite friends and alumni todonate toward the John T. and Susan B.DeWolf Scholarship Fund in Engineering.Donations may be made to the scholarshipc/o The UConn Foundation, 2390 AlumniDr., Unit 3206, Storrs, CT 06269.

Robert Jeffers’ UConn careerspanned 40 years. Bob servedas acting department head andhead of ME for 13 years

during a time of explosive growth for boththe department and its undergraduatepopulation. Besides overseeing the hiringof many of the department’s top faculty,he enjoyed seeing them prosper in theircareers. Another of his great joys was theopportunity to interact with gifted under-graduate students. In recent years, Bob saidhe has found himself teaching the childrenof former students. Bob led the MEdepartment through several cycles ofaccreditation reviews and initiated theManagement & Engineering forManufacturing (MEM) B.S. degreeprogram with the School of Business.He held numerous Connecticut chapterand regional offices within the AmericanSociety of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).Nationally, he served as a Region I VicePresident, a Senior Vice President of theCouncil on Member Affairs (’98-01) anda member of the Board of Governors(’01-’04). He also served on the UniversitySenate, was a member of the ConnecticutDepartment of Higher Education TransferArticulation Committee; and was facultyadvisor to Tau Beta Pi.

In MemoriamThe School of Engineering wassaddened by the deaths of three formerfaculty members during the year.

Vinton B. Haas, formerly a professorand Department Head of ElectricalEngineering, passed away November 20,2007. He served in the U.S. Army duringWorld War II, where he saw combat inthe European Theater before earning hisPh.D. at MIT. He taught at UConn from1951 until 1981.

Victor Scottron (Ph.D. Johns HopkinsUniversity), who served on the UConnCivil Engineering faculty for 37 years,died on June 17, 2008. He was directorof the Water Resources Institute and SeaGrant Program at UConn, and was a long-time member and leader in the UniversitySenate. He retired in 1985. He received the“Distinguished Public Service Award” fromthe UConn Alumni Association and theAmerican Society of Civil Engineers’Benjamin Wright Award. Donations maybe made to the Victor E. ScottronScholarship Fund (c/o The UConnFoundation, 2390 Alumni Dr., Unit 3206,Storrs, CT 06269).

John E. Williams, formerly an associateprofessor of ME, passed away on June 3,2008 in Cape Coral, FL. Born in Dublin,Ireland, he earned his Ph.D. at BirminghamUniversity and taught at UConn from1970 until his retirement in 1984.

Michael Meotti, Commissioner ofHigher Education,State of Connecticut

Raymond Necci, President and ChiefOperating Officer, The ConnecticutLight and Power Company & YankeeGas Services Company

Sharon Nunes, Vice President BigGreen Innovations - Systems &Technology Group, IBM

Robert Popp, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, National SecurityInnovations (NSI), Inc.

Elaine Pullen, Chief Executive Officer,Innovation & TechnologyStrategies, LLC

Judith Resnick, Director, WorkforceDevelopment & Training,Connecticut Business & IndustryAssociation (CBIA)

Daniel Serfaty, Principal Founder,Chairman & CEO, Aptima, Inc.

Theodore Sergi, President and CEO,Connecticut Science Center

Douglas Shidler, Vice President,Army Program, Sikorsky Aircraft, Inc.

Michael W. Toner, Executive VicePresident & Group Executive,General Dynamics Marine Systems

Joseph Triompo, President – Engine& Control Systems, HamiltonSundstrand

Mark Vergnano, Group VicePresident, DuPont Safety &Protection, DuPont

Diane S. Wallace, Chief InformationOfficer, Department of InformationTechnology, State of Connecticut


Non-Profit Org.US Postage Paid

Permit 3Storrs, CT 06269

261 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2237Storrs, CT 06269-2237

48 EMAGINATION


Chris Mazur (B.S. Civil Engineering, ‘95)joined the Product Management team ofthe BASF Admixture Systems businesslast October. He was previously with AgtekDevelopment Company.

Michael J. McGinnis (B.S., M.S. CivilEngineering, ‘96, ‘98), Ph.D., joinedthe University of Texas at Tyler as anassistant professor of civil engineering,specializing in structures. He receivedhis Ph.D. from Lehigh University.

Sharon Nunes (Ph.D. Materials Science,‘83), Vice President of Big GreenInnovations, IBM Systems & TechnologyGroup, delivered a keynote presentationduring the Surface Mount TechnologyAssociation International conference inAugust. Big Green Innovations seeks toemploy information technology to addressenvironmental challenges the world over.She is a member of the UConn Academyof Distinguished Engineers.

Jeffrey F. Paniati (B.S. Civil Engineering,‘82), P.E., was appointed Executive

Director of the Federal HighwayAdministration in April. He manages a$40+ billion annual budget. Mr. Paniatireceived the School of EngineeringDistinguished Alumni Award in 2000.

Mike Splain (B.S. Electrical Engineeringand Computer Science, ‘81) wasnamed Executive Vice President ofthe Microelectronics Group of SunMicrosystems.

John Trocciola (M.S. Chemical Engineeringand Mechanical Engineering, ‘65) waspresented one of two 2007 Fuel CellSeminar & Exposition Awards for hiscontributions to the fuel cell industry,including his collaboration on 40 U.S.patents in various fuel cell areas. He wasemployed at UTC from 1963-2004.

Jim Walls (B.S. Mechanical Engineering,‘71) was appointed Vice President ofProduct Development for QuoNova LLC.He previously was Vice President ofBusiness Development for BacterinInt’l. Inc.

Ross C. Wilson (B.S. MechanicalEngineering, ‘07) works in the Design -Turbine Rotors & Shafts unit of Pratt &Whitney’s Turbine Module Center inEast Hartford.

In Memoriam

James N. Barlow (B.S. Civil Engineering,‘48) of Farmington, CT died October 9,2007. He was Supervisor of Buildings andGrounds with the West Hartford PublicSchools.

Michael Dilaj (B.S., M.S. Civil Engineering,‘73, ‘78) of Mansfield, CT died March 11,2008. During his career, he worked atLenard Engineering and later co-foundedDatum Engineering & Surveying.

Robert W. Jacobs (B.S. ElectricalEngineering, ‘69) of North Attleboro, MAdied September 24, 2007. He was anelectrical engineer with Signal Integrity.

UCONN Engineering Emagination

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