Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser (left) presenting FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam with a CED Award. (Photo courtesy of CED Distinguished Leadership Awards)

The Committee for Economic Development (CED), the public policy center of The Conference Board, awarded Raj Subramaniam G’89, president and chief executive of FedEx, with a 2024 CED Distinguished Leadership Award for Business Stewardship and Corporate Citizenship. The ceremony took place on Oct. 9, in New York City.

The CED Distinguished Leadership Awards honor leaders who demonstrate a strong commitment to corporate citizenship, business stewardship and advancing public policy in the nation’s interests.

The 2024 awards pay special tribute to business leaders and their companies who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in challenging times. These include advancing equal opportunity during a time of national economic uncertainty, building a more civil and just society, and upholding a rules-based international order.

“The US continues to face economic and geopolitical uncertainty. This year’s distinguished honorees have demonstrated steadfast, innovative leadership amid these transformational times, working tirelessly to advance policies and practices that benefit our nation’s well-being,” says Lori Esposito Murray, former president of CED. “They embody the best of business stewardship and corporate responsibility, and truly epitomize CED’s vision of integrity in business leadership. By recognizing these exemplary leaders and companies, CED aims to inspire other leaders across the public and private sectors to follow in their footsteps.”

“Raj is a visionary leader on an international scale,” says J. Cole Smith, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “He has been at the forefront of transformational change and next-generation problem solving. It is wonderful to see him recognized with such a prestigious award.”

Subramaniam is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of FedEx Corporation. Over the last 50 years, FedEx has built a well-connected network linking 220 countries and territories around the world. FedEx was also responsible for delivering the COVID-19 vaccine worldwide.

With more than 30 years of industry experience at FedEx, one of the world’s largest transportation companies, Subramaniam’s forward-thinking, innovative ways have helped revolutionize the transportation and logistics industry.

Subramaniam earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering from ���ϲ����� in 1989.

The other recipients of the 2024 Distinguished Leadership Awards for Business Stewardship and Corporate Citizenship included:

• Nikesh Arora, CEO and Chairman, Palo Alto Networks
• Jenny Johnson, president and CEO, Franklin Templeton
• Robert��F. Smith, founder, chairman and CEO, Vista Equity Partners
• Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture
• Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO, Chobani, and founder, Tent Partnership for Refugees

Oliver Fernandez ’08

Oliver Fernandez ’08 graduated with a civil engineering degree and played for the ���ϲ����� football team. He now lives in Washington D.C. with his wife, Leah, and their two children. Fernandez owns McKenzie, a construction company that has successfully completed over $100 million worth of projects.

Fernandez will be the keynote speaker at the College of Engineering and Computer Science’s 2024 Convocation at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 11. The convocation will be held at the Lally Athletics Complex.

We asked Fernandez to talk about how he established his career and his advice for current students.

Jones joins ���ϲ����� from the University of Pittsburgh, where he had a 21-year career in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) with courtesy appointments in computer science (CS) and physics and astronomy.

Alex K. Jones

“I’m thrilled to join ���ϲ����� at this important time,” says Jones. “The designation of ���ϲ����� as a core partner in a Regional Tech Hub for computer chips along, with the establishment of the new Micron fabrication facility, is a tremendous opportunity to become a national leader in the semiconductor space with direct access to opportunities through the CHIPS and Science Act. I am also excited about the outstanding potential within EECS in topics like artificial intelligence, sustainable energy, quantum science and information, and many others thanks to the talented faculty, students and staff. In partnership with ECS and ���ϲ�����, broadly, I think you will see great things from EECS in the coming years that will benefit our students, our city, our state and beyond.”

Jones’ research interests are broadly in the areas of computer architecture and compilers. He is best known for research and leadership advancing the field of sustainable computing. His contributions are related to applying full lifecycle thinking to the study of environmental impacts and optimizations for computing systems including projections of environmental impacts, such as with servers in data centers.

Jones demonstrated that the critical environmental impacts from manufacturing these servers can meet or exceed those from the powering their operation in data centers. This trend has started to be noted by industry over the last half decade. More importantly, in handheld systems like mobile phones, 80% or more of the greenhouse gas emissions comes from manufacturing.

Among his research contributions in this area, Jones’ work has demonstrated that leveraging existing silicon in novel ways, such as processing-in-memory, creates an opportunity to holistically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He has created a tool suite called GreenChip to help encourage the use of environmental-related metrics in the development of next generation computing systems. Jones has received a Carnegie Science Award, a Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation Faculty Fellowship and was elevated to Fellow of the IEEE for his contributions to sustainable computing.

Jones has a significant background in academic leadership. He served as Pitt’s director of computer engineering from 2011-17, a joint program comprised of faculty from the CS and ECE departments. He led the program to unprecedented growth and an increase in visibility and rankings nationally. Jones’ philosophy combined better engagement between students and faculty in the program and a curriculum that included the newest developments in the field and aspects of the excellent research undertaken by computer engineering program faculty. During his tenure as director, computer engineering at Pitt became a top 50 program nationally, where it remains today.

Following his tenure with computer engineering, Jones joined the National Science Foundation Space, High Performance and Resilient Computing (SHREC) Center and served as associate director from 2018-20. He led a project team in memory reliability for high performance and space applications. He demonstrated that off-the-shelf dynamic random access memory (DRAM) used in commodity computers had specific radiation properties such that 95—99% of the faults were from predictable locations. He developed a technique that combined a fault repository and low-level error correction that could protect standard DRAM from radiation faults in space, avoiding the need to use radiation hardened devices that are expensive and trail the state of the art by several generations.

In August 2020, Jones joined the NSF as a program manager in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate in the Computer and Network Systems (CNS) Division as part of the Computer Systems Research (CSR) cluster. A significant accomplishment was his creation of the Design for Environmental Sustainability of Computing (DESC) program. He was also the managing program director of the ATHENA AI Institute led by Duke University. In his third year at the NSF, he was elevated to serve as cluster lead for CSR. In his fourth year, he was appointed as the deputy division director for the Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) Division, which is a member of the senior leadership team of the Engineering (ENG) Directorate.

While at NSF, Jones established a new personal research direction in quantum computing. Attracting nearly $3 million in funding from foundation and Department of Defense grants with his physics colleague Michael Hatridge (Pitt/Yale) and the latter with Hatridge and Robert Schoelkopf (Yale) to develop modular computer architectures, Jones’ research demonstrates better target quantum gates and interconnection topologies that can be realized with high fidelity superconducting systems. These approaches improve the size of quantum applications that can be solved in noisy quantum machines.

Jones received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University, where he was a Walter P. Murphy Fellow. His first major paper at Northwestern on translating MATLAB applications into hardware descriptions went on to be a seminal work (top 25 paper of all time) in the IEEE Field Programmable and Custom Computing Machines (FCCM) Conference. His Ph.D. work in compilation/high-level synthesis of C/C++ codes into hardware descriptions crystallized his interest in compilation and configurable computing.�� This work informed some of his early work at Pitt in design automation of coarse-grain reconfigurable computing fabrics and radio frequency identification (RFID) devices. Compilation remains a core focus of Jones’ research as applied to configurable architectures and most recently in terms of programming quantum systems (transpilation).

In his spare time, Jones is a freelance clarinetist. In Pittsburgh he was the principal clarinetist of the Pittsburgh Philharmonic, where he has been a featured soloist, served briefly as its artistic director, and served as guest conductor. He also enjoys downhill skiing.

Master’s and doctoral students from across the College of Engineering and Computer Science presented their research at the 2024 ECS Research Day.

Master’s and doctoral students from across the (ECS) presented their research during the 2024 ECS Research Day, held at the National Veterans Resource Center. From fundamental studies to prototype development, a total of 113 posters and 20 oral presentations highlighted the broad research activities across the college.

A keynote address, “The Crucial Role of Strategic Decision-Making in Career Progression: A Personal Journey” was delivered by Melur K. “Ram” Ramasubramanian G’87, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost at the State University of New York (SUNY) and the President of the SUNY Research Foundation. Ramasubramanian, who earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from ���ϲ�����, shared his experience and insightful career advice with the attendees.

“ECS Research Day is a signature event that we organize every year to celebrate graduate research in our college. This year is particularly exciting with record participation and high-quality research presented. It showcases the strong scholarly work in many areas.” said Dacheng Ren, associate dean for research in ECS.

Below is a list of awards handed out during ECS Research Day:

ORAL PRESENTATION AWARDS

Communications and Security

First Place: Feng Wang. “Maximum Knowledge Orthogonality Reconstruction with Gradients in Federated Learning.” Advisor: Dr. M. Cenk Gursoy.

Second Place: Nandan Sriranga. “Detection of Temporally Correlated Signals in Distributed Sensor Networks.” Advisor: Dr. Pramod Varshney.

Energy, Environment and Smart Materials

First Place: Johnson Agyapong. “The Formation of Deterministic Wrinkle Morphologies via 4D Printing of Shape Memory Polymer Substrates.” Advisor: Dr. James Henderson.

Second Place: Ashok Thapa. “Passive Oscillating Heat Pipes for High-Heat Dissipation.” Advisor: Dr. Shalabh Maroo.

Health and Well-Being

First Place: Yikang Xu. “A New Anti-Fouling Indwelling Urinary Catheter with Embedded Active Topography.” Advisor: Dr. Dacheng Ren.

Second Place: Natalie Petryk. “Hydrolytic and Oxidative Degradation of Polyurethane Foams for Traumatic Wound Healing.” Advisor: Dr. Mary Beth Monroe.

Sensors, Robotics and Smart Systems

First Place: Yasser Alqaham. “Energetic Analysis on All Possible Bounding Gaits of Quadrupedal.” Advisor: Dr Zhenyu Gan.

Second Place: Zachary Geffert. “Multipath Projection Stereolithography for Rapid 3D Printing of Multiscale Devices.” Advisor: Dr. Pranav Soman.

POSTER PRESENTATION AWARDS

First Place: Omkar Desai. “A Caching System for Concurrent DNN Model Training.” Advisor: Dr. Bryan Kim.

Second Place (tied): Zifan Wang. “Catch You if Pay Attention: Temporal Sensor Attack Diagnosis Using Attention Mechanisms for Cyber-Physical Systems.” Advisor: Dr. Qinru Qiu.

Second Place (tied): Shreyas Aralumallige. “Chandregowda. Exploring the Role of Bio-Flocculant Interactions with Clay Minerals in Addressing Mining Industry Challenges.” Advisor: Dr. Shobha K Bhatia.

Third Place (tied): Matthew Qualters. “Experimental Flow Control Techniques on a Supersonic Multi-Stream Rectangular Jet Flow.” Advisor: Dr. Fernando Zigunov.

Third Place (tied): Pardha Nayani. “Unleashing Bandwidth: Passive Highly Dispersive Matching Network.” Advisor: Dr. Younes Ra’di.

Honorable Mention:�� Ziyang Jiao. “The Design and Implementation of a Capacity-Variant Storage System.” Advisor: Dr. Bryan Kim.

Honorable Mention:�� Ratnakshi Mandal. “The Dance of DNA and Histone Proteins: Molecular Insights Into Chromosome Formation.” Advisor: Dr. Shikha Nangia.

Mechanical and aerospace engineering students Kendra Miller (left), Elan Fullmer (center) and Sydney Florence Jud were awarded first place at the New York State Green Building Conference student poster competition.

Kendra Miller, Elan Fullmer and Sydney Florence Jud, students in the mechanical and aerospace engineering program, claimed first place for their poster presentation at the New York State Green Building Conference competition, held Feb. 29 and March 1.

Titled, “Generating Renewable Electrical Energy,” their project was��sponsored by Aerovec, a startup company focused on developing small-scale, modular wind turbines for remote applications and microgrids. Aerovec is one of 19 industry-sponsored capstone projects that mechanical and aerospace seniors are working on this year. Aerovec is looking into multiple installation locations, such as commercial building rooftops, construction sites, and sites that need natural disaster relief assistance. This senior design project is primarily focused on the feasibility of an array of wind turbines on commercial rooftops for local energy generation.

The student team was advised by professor Jackie Anderson.

���ϲ����� moved up eight spots in the rankings from 2023.

In the rankings for Best Online Graduate Information Technology Programs for Veterans, ���ϲ����� was ranked 14th, an increase of one spot from 2023.

The full rankings, released earlier today, are available on the��

The College of Engineering and Computer Science offers����in��,����and��.

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Sam Clemence was a recipient of the Deep Foundations Institute Legends Award on Nov. 2.

The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) recognized Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Sam Clemence as a recipient of a DFI Legends Award on Nov. 2. This award was established to honor practitioners that have made significant contributions and advancements to the research, design, construction, manufacturing and use of deep foundations.

Clemence was recognized for his 40 years of comprehensive research on the design and behavior of helical foundations. He is credited with shaping the modern use of helical piles and tiebacks, which advanced to a widely implemented foundation tool and robust business industry. He was a founding member and chair of DFI’s Helical Piles and Tiebacks Committee.

Matthew Conte ’06, principal at the Conte Company, introduced Clemence at the DFI Awards ceremony and provided the following tribute to Clemence’s accomplishments, innovation and leadership.

“If you work in the helical pile industry, you have Sam Clemence to thank. The modern use of these deep foundations was shaped by Sam. His research has created one of the most comprehensive data collections of torque-to-capacity and helix plate analysis in the industry. The use of helical piles and tiebacks advanced into a widely implemented foundation tool and robust business industry. Serving as the first chair of the DFI Helical Pile and Tiebacks Committee, Sam made it known that these foundations have their place in design standards.

Sam Clemence (left) and Matthew Conte at the awards ceremony

“As an assistant operations officer in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps, Sam completed projects in some of the most remote locations in the world. Installing deep foundations into crystallized coral and constructing bridges using elephants probably would not surprise you if you were familiar with his creative approach to engineering.

“With a career close to 50 years as an educator, Sam developed a unique way to both relate to young engineers while also preparing them for the industry ahead. He didn’t have to tout his accomplishments; you could recognize them in how he taught. When I meet other ���ϲ����� engineering alumni, we always share a fun story about our time with Professor Clemence. A legend always leaves a lasting impression on those they meet. The contributions of Sam Clemence have made impressions on the current deep foundation industry and will continue to do so in the contributions of the students he has taught.”

The has added a new . The program uniquely combines mathematical modeling, computer programming, data science and business analytics to solve significant problems in a variety of domains. “We train students to be professionals in the field of operations research and system analytics and this is a program in which students look at systems, optimize them and make sure systems work as efficiently as possible,” says electrical engineering and computer science Professor Natarajan Gautam. “Students will also get a chance to work on real-world problems.”

Gautam says graduates will have skills that are in high demand by technology companies. He describes it as an applied operations research program with computer science and artificial intelligence elements. “This program is housed in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, but the courses go across ���ϲ�����. There are courses in mechanical engineering, civil engineering and in the other programs on our campus,” says Gautam. “This is a wonderful place if you are excited about doing operations research and want to tie it to management and information technology.”

The new program is designed for students who have an undergraduate degree in any STEM field. A variety of electives are offered that will allow students to tailor the program to their interests. “You are not going to be seeing anything you saw as part of an undergraduate program during this master’s degree and it will take you to the next level. It will make students valuable in the workforce,” says Gautam.

If you are interested in applying,����in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Rahman joined the faculty in spring 2020. Since then, she has taught critical core gateway courses involving foundational knowledge of the computing discipline to all three majors of the electrical engineering and computer science department.

Central to her teaching approach is an active learning style, which pairs hands-on programming exercises with challenging projects that demand students to cultivate skills in problem-solving, debugging and general software engineering. She is dedicated to creating equitable education and learning experiences for all students by providing inclusive educational opportunities that support women, genderqueer, nonbinary, underrepresented and minority students.

As a diversity spokesperson of the department, Rahman spearheads various diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives. One of her most impactful initiatives is Research Exposure on Socially Relevant Computing (RESORC), funded by Google Research, to increase both the exposure and visibility of undergraduate research.

With more than 200 students participating in RESORC over the past three years, she has designed and facilitated multiple virtual workshops to help undergraduate students develop computing identity, research skills and practice teaching strategies and explore research topics in the computing and engineering domains. The project formalizes best practices in research experiences to reach more students, particularly women from historically excluded groups, and prepares them for graduate study.

Rahman’s research and mentoring initiatives have been supported by many funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation, Google, the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), Google TensorFlow and the American Association of Colleges and Universities to develop effective pedagogy in undergraduate computer science education.

She’s won the NCWIT Extension Services Award, ABI Systers PIO (Pass-It-On) Award, Google ExploreCSR Award and NCWIT Educator Award. She published numerous peer-reviewed articles, including in the Special Interest Group of the Association of Computing Machinery, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) RESPECT and IEEE Frontiers in Engineering Education, the American Society for Engineering Education conference.

Her overarching research interests are:

• exploring the impact of active learning pedagogy in undergraduate computing courses;
• the effectiveness of online and inverted classrooms;
• how different pedagogical practices can increase underrepresented student performance in computing courses;
• how effective re-entry pathways can facilitate the transition of returning women in computing-based discipline; and
• best practices in undergraduate research.

Melissa Young

Young has been an integral part of the CSCS-EFC team since 2008, previously serving as director of resource conservation initiatives. Throughout her career, she has played a pivotal role in public engagement, outreach, education and technical assistance initiatives. Her programmatic effort was previously focused on sustainable materials management, encompassing such crucial aspects as waste reduction, reuse and recycling. In her new position, Young will expand her scope to include initiatives related to water and wastewater infrastructure, particularly for rural and underserved populations, which she had worked on when she was first hired at ���ϲ�����.

The shift in leadership comes as CSCS-EFC celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2023. Since 1993, CSCS-EFC has used a unique community-based approach to assist hundreds of municipalities across EPA Region 2, which includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight Native Nations. CSCS-EFC provides essential training and brings together a variety of governmental and nonprofit actors to collaborate on sustainability issues, including water infrastructure management, water equity, climate resiliency, resource conservation and sustainable materials management.

Since 2015, CSCS-EFC has been awarded $15.75 million in federal, state and local grants to support communities by providing tools, technical assistance, outreach and education, research and more.

“This is an exciting time for the University’s CSCS-EFC as it continues to lead the way in developing solutions for communities across EPA Region 2,” says J. Cole Smith, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “Melissa’s background and track record of proven results and positive impact will be essential to taking CSCS-EFC to even greater heights.”

“I am honored and deeply committed to lead our organization’s efforts to catalyze positive change and foster environmental stewardship, while engaging deeply with communities across our region and beyond,” says Young. “Together with our dedicated team and partners, we will continue to innovate and expand our impact, working to create a more sustainable and resilient future for all.”

Svetoslava Todorova recently attended the second session of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee on Plastics.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor attended the second session of the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee on Plastics this summer in Paris, France. Todorova was invited as an academic expert based on her research on the environment, contamination and pollution.

Todorova joined representatives from UN member states, regional economic integration organizations, UN agencies and intergovernmental agencies in an attempt to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. Unfortunately, the committee was unable to come to an agreement on a draft at the second session.

The next meeting of the committee will be held in November 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya. The committee has the goal of delivering a final agreement by the end of 2024.

“Overconsumption of plastics in a throwaway society generates a lot of waste. Much of it is not easily degradable and can persist in the environment. Single-use plastics visibly accumulate on the streets and in our waterways. I had hoped that the high visibility of problems connected to plastics pollution would make intergovernmental negotiations easier,” says Todorova.

“Unfortunately, during the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee, the��delegates were locked in extensive discussions on basic principles and missed engaging in more substantive topics. This shows how difficult these negotiations will be and how challenging it will be to overcome divergent interests and opposition to progress in reducing plastics waste.”

Professor Charles Driscoll (Photo by Alex Dunbar)

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Charles Driscoll has been selected to receive the�� from the National Water Research Institute. Driscoll is the University and Distinguished Professor of Environmental Systems Engineering in the .

The Clarke Prize is considered one of the most prestigious awards pertaining to water science. It is awarded to thought leaders in water research, science, technology, or policy in the United States. Past honorees have included some of the most significant figures in civil and environmental engineering; the water, biological, physical, chemical, health and political sciences; and public planning and policy.

Driscoll’s research largely involves characterization and quantifying the impacts of air pollution, such as acid rain and mercury, changing climate, and land and water disturbances on the structure and function of ecosystems, and pathways of ecosystem recovery. Much of his work has focused on forests and associated aquatic resources, including long-term studies at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire and the Huntington Forest in the Adirondacks, New York. Recent work has included strategies for the decarbonization of sectors and achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Professor Driscoll collecting water samples with two of his students (Photo by Alex Dunbar)

Over the past 40 years, Driscoll has advanced new analytical techniques, established and maintained long-term measurements and experiments, and developed a series of research and predictive models that simulate transformations of major chemical elements in forest vegetation, soil and surface waters in response to air pollution, climate and land disturbance. Beyond theory, he is interested in testing ‘in situ’ strategies to reverse the damaging effects of acid rain and mercury contamination, eutrophication, urbanization and climate change. Driscoll has testified at US Congressional and state legislative committee hearings and provided briefings to government agencies, industry and stakeholder groups on environmental issues. He has served on local, national and international committees pertaining to environmental management and policy.

Driscoll will receive the award and give a lecture in Irvine, California, on October 21, 2023. For information about attending the event, fill out the form on the��.

“We have a global major since we are creating software and technologies that spread around the world but we often don’t have knowledge of all the context that our work is going to be part of. So this is a valuable experience,” says Mosca.

Jovanni Mosca ’24

A program uniquely designed for ���ϲ����� computer science students allows them to take courses they need in London and stay on track for a four-year graduation. Kwaku Amofah-Boafo ’24 was thrilled to be taking his required classes mixed in with experiences across the United Kingdom.

“The best part of ���ϲ����� Abroad is interacting with the city,” says Amofah-Boafo. “Seeing that my major is computer science, visiting these places has given me the opportunity to see if I want to work abroad or work overseas in the future.”

Kwaku Amofah-Boafo ’24

���ϲ�����’s London Center is based out of Faraday House in the West End. Students can take classes there and receive support from ���ϲ����� faculty and staff.

“I feel like Faraday House is your own little home space in London,” says Mosca. “Having a diverse faculty is cool. They are people of all different backgrounds who are either working in industry or teaching.”

“The classes are smaller, you interact more and I think that leads to better experiences in the classroom and the work you do,” says Amofah-Boafo.

Jovanni Mosca, Maya Lee, William Sibble and Kwaku Amofah-Boafo (left to right)

The ���ϲ����� Abroad computer science program in London is designed for the fall semester of a student’s junior year.

“Getting a chance to see what it is like to live here on a day-to-day basis and see people working has made me think about it in the future,” says Amofah-Boafo.

“It is an opportunity that will change your life, how you look at the world and it is invaluable,” said Mosca.

Current occupancy sensors only detect movement, so they can’t tell if someone is stationary. They also have trouble distinguishing between people and large pets and often require an external power source and data processing. When a room is occupied, not being able to detect occupancy can cause user discomfort. On the other hand, not reliably knowing when a room is empty adds up to massive amounts of unnecessary heating and cooling costs for spaces without any people in them.

Electrical engineering and computer science professor Senem Velipasalar (right) works with two of her graduate students.

A collaboration between electrical engineering and computer science professors and in the —along with mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Ed Bogucz, professor Tarek Rakha from Georgia Tech and SRI International, a nonprofit research institute—developed a new sensor platform, MicroCam, which addresses many of the limitations that current systems face.

Their project received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) and had to meet certain requirements. The platform had to be highly accurate, low maintenance, affordable and easily self-commissioned for consumers while still providing more than 30% energy savings.

“It was important to us and ARPA-E that this platform be highly reliable, practical and inexpensive,” says Velipasalar. “This needed to be useful in real-world spaces, and it was designed to be battery-powered.”

The MicroCam is equipped with multi-modal sensors that can process motion, audio and video data. The camera can operate under daylight, low light or even no light conditions and it can be powered for more than a year on just three AA batteries – all the sensor processing is done inside one small unit.

“We do not use cloud computing, everything is captured and processed on this platform,” says Velipasalar. “You are not transferring or saving data, so it alleviates privacy concerns.”

While the MicroCam can detect occupancy, it does not share potentially private information.

“It senses your presence but only sends a 0 or 1 signal to the HVAC system,” says Velipasalar. “That binary occupancy result is the only data shared with the lead platform.”

Industrial and interactive design professor and his students worked with Velipasalar and Bogucz to design a prototype case for the MicroCam.

“Eventually we want a peel and stick and ideally you want to install one per room,” says Velipasalar. “If you have one of these in each room, you could monitor the entire space.”

Velipasalar was granted a patent in March 2023 titled “Low Power and Privacy Preserving Sensor Platform for Occupancy Detection.” It is the sixth patent she has received during her career.

“This was a challenging project. We had to meet low cost and high accuracy requirements but it has incredible potential,” says Velipasalar.

The platform may have additional uses in the future including smart home integration and security monitoring. Velipasalar also sees possibilities for the MicroCam to provide activity monitoring and fall detection for families and nursing homes.

Professor Sam Clemence

The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) and the DFI Educational Trust Legends Committee has chosen Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Sam Clemence as a recipient of one of the DFI Legends Awards for 2023. This award was established to honor practitioners that have made significant contributions and advancements to the research, design, construction, manufacturing and use of deep foundations.

The following criteria were considered by the committee:

• Impact, value and sustainability of achievements
• Legacy
• Pioneering contributions
• Exceptional industry leader; visionary, mentor
• Technological ingenuity, innovation and/or application of advancements of design, construction or equipment
• Steadfast professionalism, character and integrity
• Ingenuity of design and construction techniques
• Broad impact on industry

Clemence has more than 40 years of teaching experience at ���ϲ����� in the�� His academic work focuses on geotechnical engineering, soils and foundation design, and history of technology. Selected as a Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence in 1996, Clemence has received several teaching and professional honors, and has numerous publications.

“I am honored to receive this wonderful award. My research and design work has always been a team effort with invaluable contributions from graduate students, faculty colleagues and industry partners. I am so grateful for the Deep Foundations Institute for this recognition,” says Clemence.

“Sam is a valued member of the department and a beloved colleague and instructor,” says Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Chair Andria Costello Staniec. “I am thrilled to see his research accomplishments and his lifelong work recognized by DFI. I can think of no one more deserving of the Institute’s Legend Award than Sam.”

The award will be presented during the DFI’s 48th Annual Conference in Seattle from Oct. 31-Nov. 3.

Raj Subramaniam G’89

Raj Subramaniam G’89 is the president and chief executive officer of FedEx Corporation. He has more than 30 years of industry experience at FedEx and is responsible for several recent transformational initiatives, including revitalizing the company’s operating strategy, profitably growing the e-commerce business, and harnessing the power of global supply chain data to drive the company’s digital transformation. In a conversation with Dean J. Cole Smith, he looked back at how his time at ���ϲ����� as a chemical engineering graduate student helped prepare him to lead FedEx and areas where future ���ϲ����� graduates can make an impact.

Patrick Murphy ’88

The is excited to announce that Patrick Murphy ’88 will be the keynote speaker at the College’s 2023 convocation held in the Lally Athletics Complex at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 13.

Murphy is founder and CEO of Celersys Technologies, an aerospace technology consultancy delivering technology solutions and services to commercial clients, the Department of Defense and civilian agencies. Prior to Celersys Technologies, Murphy was the president and chief executive officer for Axient LLC, a high-end technology and engineering firm with over 2,000 employees. Prior to that position, Murphy served as Millennium Engineering and Integration’s chief executive officer and led the company through multiple years of substantial growth, culminating in a strategic sale of the company in 2021 to help form Axient.

In 2014, Murphy was awarded the Greater Washington GovCon Award for Executive of the Year for his leadership in industry-leading growth and corporate transformation. He served as the chief operating officer, vice president for Corporate Operations and Analysis, vice president for Space Systems, and director for Engineering at Millennium spanning over 20 years and helping grow that business to 900 employees nationwide. He served as the chief engineer for the Missile Defense Agency’s Advanced Technology Program Executive Office portfolio providing technical leadership for all new missile defense technologies and concepts. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from ���ϲ����� and a Master of Business Administration from The George Washington University.

“Graduating from ���ϲ����� nearly 35 years ago, I never envisioned one day returning to where it all started to give a commencement address. I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to share my views, experiences and lessons, and to celebrate with the College of Engineering and Computer Science class of 2023,” says Murphy. “The technical challenges of today are more complex and demanding than ever before. But the engineers and scientists graduating in the Class of 2023 are well-equipped to take these on and make a significant, positive impact on our world. I am very excited to see what heights they can reach.”

Murphy is a native upstate New Yorker and currently resides in Arlington, VA with his wife Linda and dog, Maisie. He bleeds Orange with two of his children graduating from ���ϲ����� and currently serves on the College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean’s Leadership Council and the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department’s Advisory Board. He is lifelong learner and self-proclaimed geek with hobbies in pinball machine restoration, microprocessor programming, electrical device development, golfing and boating.

Twelve students from the spent their spring break in Silicon Valley meeting with ���ϲ����� alumni at Google, Cisco, NetApp, Langan, Genentech, Autodesk, Bayer and Lam Research. Students had the opportunity to tour facilities and learn more about career opportunities and internships.

Students pose for a group photo outside of a Silicon Valley business during a College of Engineering and Computer Science immersion trip.

“It’s a networking trip where you go see multiple companies every day, they are taking you on tours, they are doing panels, you are having face to face time with alumni and at night you have dinner with an alumni or two too,” says Ashley Hamilton ’25, a computer science student. “It is a way to hone your soft skills, you are going to practice networking.”

“Talking with alumni gives you some of that relatability. They have all shared the experiences. We were all students,” says Jason Bae ’25, a bioengineering student.

Students riding bicycles at Google

“This will show you—here is what Google is like. It is going to show you that work environment and seeing that work environment made me want to apply to some of these companies,” adds Michael Lupton ’25, a computer science student.

Three students talking at Cisco Headquarters

“This trip has expanded my vision of where I could potentially see myself in the future,” Parida says.

Three students talking in a Cisco break room

“This is one of the peaks of my college experience so far,” Bae says. “Doing something that is really important for me and my future career but getting to do it with all these other people who I can now form connections with.”

Group of students taking a photograph during a recent immersion trip to Silicon Valley.

More than 70 universities are part of the engineering case competition that focuses on real-life dilemmas that can arise in the workplace, especially in the multifaceted and fast-paced world of technology. The competition is an annual event that compels students to think about the importance of ethics in the workplace.

“I’m very proud of the four students who represented ���ϲ����� and the College of Engineering and Computer Science in the best way possible,” says Deyhim. “The students showed themselves to be professional, respectful and technically competent. Further, the students commented that they learned the critical importance of not just having technical knowledge, but being able to communicate that knowledge in an effective and productive manner to arrive at ethical outcomes.”

“Engineers don’t often have every piece of data when making a decision, so it important to be able to work with what you have to make the best, most ethical, decision at the end of the day,” says Arruda.

Beyond the experience of the competition itself, the students had the chance to listen to a panel featuring the Skunk Works team responsible for working on “Top Gun: Maverick” and tour the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Cente. They used F-18 flight simulators and were able to see both Lockheed Martin’s SR71 Blackbird and the Space Shuttle Discovery.

A vegetable plant growing next to its E-seed carrier. This seed was planted in a lab at Carnegie Mellon University in order to observe the effect on the seed of helpful fungus also carried in the E-seed.

Before a seed can grow into a tree, flower or plant, it needs to successfully implant itself in soil—a delicate and complex process. Seeds need to be able to take root and then remain protected from hungry birds and harsh environmental conditions. For the Erodium flower to implant a seed, its stalk forms a tightly wound, seed-carrying body with a long, curved tail at the top. When it begins to unwind, the twisting tail engages with the ground, causing the seed carrier to push itself upright. Further unwinding creates torque to drill down into the ground, burying the seed.

Inspired by Erodium’s magic, Professor Teng Zhang worked with Lining Yao from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and a team of collaborators to engineer a biodegradable seed carrier referred to as E-seed. Their seed carrier, fashioned from wood veneer, could enable aerial seeding of difficult-to-access areas, and could be used for a variety of seeds or fertilizers and adapted to many different environments.

The carriers also could be used to implant sensors for environmental monitoring. They might also assist in energy harvesting by implanting devices that create current based on temperature fluctuations.

Teng Zhang

“This is a perfect example demonstrating the beauty and power of bioinspired design. We learn from nature and eventually achieve superior performance by leveraging the freedom of engineering design,” says Zhang, who also serves as an executive committee member of the .

The team’s research appeared in the .

The project is led by Lining Yao, director of the����in the School of Computer Science’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute at CMU. Zhang developed models and performed simulations to explain the working mechanism of the wood actuators and the benefits of E-seed design.

The key authors of the paper also include Danli Luo, a former research assistant at the Morphing Matter Lab; Shu Yang, a materials scientist from the University of Pennsylvania; Guanyun Wang, a former postdoctoral researcher in the Morphing Matter Lab and now a faculty member at Zhejiang University; and Aditi Maheshwari and Andreea Danielescu from ​Accenture Labs.

drone dropping seed carriers

“Seed burial has been heavily studied for decades in terms of mechanics, physics and materials science, but until now, no one has created an engineering equivalent,” says Yao. “The seed carrier research has been particularly rewarding because of its potential social impact. We get excited about things that could have a beneficial effect on nature.”

“Gaining insight into the mechanics of wood and seed drilling dynamics leads to improved design and optimization,” says Zhang. “I am excited to see, by embracing cross-disciplinary collaborations, mechanics can play a critical role in making our society more sustainable.”

Read more about the .

Story by Byron Spice and Alex Dunbar

“The study abroad program is part of why I choose ���ϲ����� in the first place,” says Emma Crandall ’25. “Strasbourg was one of the places they made it really easy for me as an engineering major.”

“I love the city. One of my favorite things is how easy it is to get around,” says Declan Wavle ’25. “It’s really an amalgamation of all different cultures coming together.”

Specially designed programs for second-year students allow them to take required courses they need and remain on track for graduation.

“���ϲ����� does a very good job of making sure we stay on track as engineers even when we are studying abroad,” says Arturo Venegas ’25. “I am taking almost all my courses I need to take for this sophomore year. Which is amazing since that means there is no disruption to my four-year plan.”

“That’s one of the best things about this program. You don’t have to sacrifice anything as an engineer,” says Tyler Lavaway ’25.

���ϲ����� students get to take some of their classes at France’s National Institute of Applied Science. All classes are taught in English.

“You don’t have to speak French to study in Strasbourg. There is no language requirement but I always say you have to want to learn,” says Assistant Director Mary Boyington. “You can have a wonderful opportunity, take French classes, live with a host family and learn the French language in an everyday environment.”

“It is really cool how you get to see your major done a different way—it’s eye-opening,” says Wavle. “You know there is a whole other world out there but you don’t experience it until you are actually there.”

.

“Our team is honored to continue working with the EPA in providing a range of services, products and local community engagement that have proven highly successful in helping communities improve their environmental quality, integrate sustainability concepts in decision making and cultivate collaborative networks and relationships with other federal, state and local agencies and private sector partners,” says Melissa Young, director, Resource Conservation Initiatives.

“The unprecedented nature of the funding SU-EFC has received from the EPA to provide technical assistance to underserved communities demonstrates a real commitment to ensuring safe, affordable and reliable water for every household in the country,” says Khristopher Dodson, director, Water Resiliency Initiatives. “SU-EFC is proud to be part of the national network of EFCs who will be providing these services, in some cases as teams, across the country.”

SU-EFC will be awarded $1,084,000 for the first year and then at least $950K annually over the remaining four years. The center will serve as both a Regional Multi-Environmental Media EFC and a Regional Water Infrastructure EFC to provide no-cost technical assistance to local municipalities, states and Native Nations to build capacity and support equitable infrastructure investments. As a Regional Water Infrastructure EFC, SU-EFC will also work with communities to improve accessibility to bipartisan infrastructure law funds in order to support clean and safe water access across EPA Region 2.

Community leaders who are looking for ways to access federal funds authorized by the bipartisan infrastructure law are encouraged to ��or visit their website for more information on free upcoming events.

Qinru Qiu

Qiu was selected by her peers for her outstanding scientific contributions to computing. The ACM Distinguished Member program recognizes up to 10 percent of ACM worldwide membership based on professional experience and significant achievements in the computing field. To be nominated, a candidate must have at least 15 years of professional experience in the computing field, five years of professional ACM membership in the last 10 years and must have achieved a significant level of accomplishment or made a significant impact in the field of computing, computer science or information technology. A Distinguished Member is expected to have served as a mentor and role model by guiding technical career development and contributing to the field beyond the norm.

“This is an important and well deserved honor for Dr. Qiu,” says Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith. “Throughout her career she has been an innovator in the field of green computing, and I have been fortunate to learn about some of her contributions in brain-inspired neuromorphic computing techniques. In addition to her brilliant scholarly innovations, the College of Engineering and Computer Science has also benefited from her very significant leadership and instruction efforts. Dr. Qiu is thoughtful and reliable in every component of her job, and we are thrilled to see her honored by the ACM.”

Professor Quinn Qiao and his research team.

The first paper, “,” discusses the unconventional organic solar cell’s structure with more intrinsic charge generation and less charge recombination. The second paper, “,” provides a facile strategy of morphology optimization to improve the performance of OSCs. In both cases, the solar cell’s power conversion efficiencies (PCE) increase, which means they can convert solar energy to electrical energy more efficiently. Qiao’s group confirmed the mechanism of better performance for the solar cell from experiments.

The research was conducted at Qiao’s solar cell lab in Link Hall. An atomic force microscopy (AFM) was mainly used in the research to measure the current sensing AFM (C-AFM) data and an oscilloscope was used to obtain charge carrier dynamics data. The group has applied a patent for the measurement and has published many papers based on the technique in recent years.

Cliff Davidson

, Thomas and Colleen Wilmot Professor of Engineering, environmental engineering program director and director of the Center for Sustainable Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, was recently selected as the .

Davidson will present two different lectures during the tour. The first is titled “The Green Roof as a Complex System” and will focus on how the performance of a green roof can be modeled and measured in an effort to understand its benefits in built-up urban areas, using the example of an instrumented extensive green roof on the Onondaga County Convention Center in ���ϲ�����.

The second lecture is titled “The Interactions of Airborne Particles with Surfaces” and will examine the many ways in which atmospheric particles interact with surfaces of all kinds—natural vegetation, agriculture crops, landscaping, bare soil, water, snowfields and urban hardscape surfaces.

The AEESP tour will bring Davidson to Washington University in St. Louis, Northeastern University, Drexel University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Texas at El Paso, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Tech, University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Toronto in fall 2022. The tour schedule for spring 2023 is still being developed.

“This is a great opportunity to meet with colleagues at other schools and learn about how they are coping with the challenges of research, teaching and advising in the uncertain world we find ourselves in,” Davidson says.

Shikha Nangia

After a two-year process spearheaded by biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Shikha Nangia, the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) bioengineering program has been awarded a National Institutes of Health Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Educational Diversity (ESTEEMED) Learning and Discovery through Engineering Research at ���ϲ����� (LEADERS) grant.

The grant will help fund a program to recruit and train undergraduates from diverse racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“It’s about enriching diversity in our undergraduate student population,” says Nangia. “This is a carefully designed program to mentor students while improving diversity in our bioengineering program.”

ESTEEMED funding will enable students to be trained in research beginning in their first year and be paid for that research. The program is distinctly designed to consider what students may need from the start. It will include a six-week summer bridge program to help students transition from high school to their first year in college. The students will be supported for research in their second year and transition into the university’s Honors program. The long-term vision is to have a lasting impact by increasing diversity in graduate programs and eventually in bioengineering-related professions.

“This is close to my heart. We want to reach out to students from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds, meet them where they are, and nurture their talent through a deliberate and focused approach,” says Nangia.

Nangia says she is grateful to Julie Hasenwinkel, co-investigator and chair of the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, and Danielle Smith, director of the Renée Crown University Honors Program, for working on developing the LEADERS program. Nangia also is grateful for the support of ECS leadership.

“I want to thank Dean Smith and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs Dacheng Ren for their support to this program in making our proposal competitive for NIH funding,” says Nangia.

“When Shikha approached me about this opportunity I was inspired by her passion and vision for the ESTEEMED LEADERS program. I have seen the power of cohort-based programs that focus on mentorship and student success from previous work that I did as associate dean in ECS,” says Hasenwinkel. “I’m very excited to leverage that experience and to work with Shikha and Danielle on this project that is aimed at enhancing the diversity, inclusion, and success of undergraduate students in bioengineering.”

Min Liu

Liu’s research centers on developing innovative approaches and generating knowledge on how to integrate the human and engineering aspects of construction planning to improve productivity and project performance.

She has published over 40 articles in top-ranked construction engineering and management journals. Her recent research on using an information theory approach to quantify information exchange effectiveness in construction planning won the 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Thomas Fitch Rowland Award. Liu’s work also received the Best Paper Award from the 2018 International Group of the Lean Construction Conference and from the 2017 Lean and Computing in Construction Congress. She was recognized with “Thank a Teacher” awards in 2011, 2017 and 2018 from North Carolina State University.

Liu was the chair of ASCE Construction Research Council (CRC) from 2020 to 2021. The CRC has over 400 members worldwide from construction faculty and is recognized as the premier forum for construction engineering and management research. Liu has also served as the associate specialty editor for the ASCE Journal of Management in Engineering since 2016 and the assistant specialty editor in labor and personnel Issues for the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management since 2009. She was selected as the outstanding reviewer by the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management in 2015 and 2017 and she co-founded Carolina’s Lean Construction Community of Practice in 2009.

Abdallah H. Yabroudi ’78, G’79 is chief executive officer of Dubai Contracting Co. (DCC), headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He has been associated with DCC since 1980. Yabroudi also serves as general manager of a development and contracting company in Chile and a development and construction company in Lebanon. He is director of the Dubai Construction Co. in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Yabroudi is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers; the Chartered Quality Institute (formerly the Institute of Quality Assurance); Chi Epsilon, a U.S. civil engineering honor society; and Tau Beta Pi, the nation’s oldest engineering honor society and second oldest collegiate honor society.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, with honors, in 1978 and a master’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research a year later, both from the College of Engineering and Computer Science. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Haigazian University in Beirut, Lebanon.

Yabroudi serves on the Board of Trustees’ Facilities Committee as a Life Trustee participant. He served as a Voting Trustee from 2009-2021. His ���ϲ����� service includes membership on the College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean’s Leadership Council. He is a 2018 recipient of the George Arents Award, the University’s highest alumni honor, and has been named a Tau Beta Pi Distinguished Alumnus.

He and his wife, Maha Abou Gazale, have provided lead gifts for the establishment of the Abdallah H. Yabroudi Chair in Civil Engineering Endowed Fund; the Hasan Abdallah Yabroudi Middle East Center Endowed Fund; the Yabroudi CIE Faculty Support Fund; the Yabroudi CIE Renovation Fund; and the Yabroudi, Bitar and Ghazaleh Endowed Scholarship Fund. They have supported other initiatives in Engineering and Computer Science, Middle Eastern studies and study abroad.

They reside in Dubai and are the parents of four children: Hasan, Ghada, Faisal and Omar.

The grant is part of��.

A blockchain network is an open-membership peer-to-peer network that stores the information of crypto-asset ownership. Thus, the security and availability of the blockchain network are essential to maintaining asset safety. For instance, if the blockchain network is down, crypto-asset owners cannot withdraw their assets and traders cannot trade.

Tang’s proposed research aims to secure Ethereum’s P2P network against existing and emerging attacks. Ethereum is the second largest blockchain after Bitcoin and holds assets worth more than $190 billion as of August 2022. His research will involve systematic vulnerability discovery, online attack detection and mitigation tailored to leading Ethereum client software.

Tang’s research will result in automatic software tools and retrofittable mitigation subsystems. In addition, he and his team are interested in collaborating with the Ethereum developer community to integrate the software artifacts for Ethereum clients.

Ferdinando Fioretto

Electrical engineering and computer science Professor Ferdinando Fioretto and his research team received the 2022 Caspar Bowden PET Award for Outstanding Research in Privacy Enhancing Technologies for�� their paper��“.” The award was presented at the annual .

The Caspar Bowden PET award is presented annually to researchers��whose work makes��an outstanding contribution to the theory, design, implementation, or deployment of privacy enhancing technology.��The judges said Fioretto’s team received the award for advancing the understanding of differential privacy and fairness trade-offs in decision making, providing a theoretical framework and exploring a highly relevant practical problem.

“I am honored for our work to receive this prestigious award which recognizes influential research in privacy-enhancing technologies, especially for a project that means so much to me and my group,” says Fioretto.

The awarded paper was published in the International Joint Conference of Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) in 2021. It looks at the role of a privacy-enhancing technology (called differential privacy) in the context of census data release for decision tasks with profound societal benefits. Some of these benefits may be the allocation of funds and resources, the distribution of therapeutics, or the assignment of congressional seats. Fioretto’s research team showed that differential privacy may induce or exacerbate biases and unfairness in many classes of decision processes and proposed a theoretical framework to audit and bound these fairness impacts.

“I am very honored and humbled to receive this prestigious award. This is one of my favorite projects and it involved a lot of hard work. Our results suggest that the U.S. government might need to consider ethical consequences when applying differential privacy techniques to protect our privacy,” says doctoral student Cuong Tran, one of the paper’s authors. “I am also grateful to my advisor, collaborators, friends and staff from the electrical engineering and computer science department for helping us push this work into fruition.”

One of the main contributions of their work was to examine the roots of the induced unfairness, as well as proposing guidelines to mitigate the negative fairness effects of the decision problems studied.

“I am also happy to see that the analysis proposed in our work has inspired a line of follow-up works in the field of privacy-preserving machine learning to understand why private machine learning algorithms may induce or exacerbate disparate impacts,” says Fioretto. “We are continuing our efforts in this area and are currently working with policy-makers to better understand when and how our solutions may be adopted. I am very excited to see how this direction evolves and look forward to the efforts that our community will make to build better tools to address these fairness issues in privacy-preserving processes.”

As it approaches its 30th year anniversary in 2023, the University’s CSCS-EFC is poised for growth. Since 1993, CSCS-EFC has used a unique community-based approach to assist hundreds of municipalities across EPA Region 2, which includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and eight Native Nations. CSCS-ESC acts as both a training center and a bridge, bringing together various governmental and nonprofit actors to collaborate on sustainability issues, including water infrastructure management, water equity, climate resiliency, and resource conservation, including waste reduction, reuse, recycling and sustainable resource management. Since 2015, CSCS-EFC has managed more than $10 million in federal, state and local grants to support its municipal and county government partners.

“We are excited for ���ϲ�����’s CSCS-EFC to continue growing under the leadership of its two new directors,” says J. Cole Smith, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “Our mission includes serving communities by bringing our research and technical abilities to assist in crafting new and innovative solutions. CSCS-EFC is a critical component of how we fulfill that mission. The continued growth of their team reflects the value of how we help empower local leaders to drive change in their communities”

Melissa Young previously served as an assistant director at CSCS-EFC, where she has worked since 2008. In that role, Young led public engagement, outreach and educational programs, resource development, and technical assistance related to sustainable materials management, including waste reduction, reuse and recycling. In 2010, she spearheaded development and launch of the center’s Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Stewardship program, which to date has engaged hundreds of college students and thousands of K-12 students and teachers across New York, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands, educating them about waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting and empowering them to conduct local outreach projects. In 2015, Young helped develop the first NYS Organics Summit and helped NYSAR3 receive an Environmental Champion Award from the USEPA for her work co-leading the Re-Clothe NY Campaign. “We are at a critical turning point right now in EPA Region 2,” says Young. “Local leaders and communities are realizing the need and value of transitioning their materials management operations into a system that’s based on waste prevention, resource conservation, the highest and best use of materials, and circular economics, all of which help to benefit the social, environmental, and economic well-being of their local communities. I’m proud of the work our team has done in leading sustainable materials management initiatives and I look forward to what we can accomplish as we continue expanding our services in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, New Jersey and here in New York State.”

Khris Dodson previously served as an associate director at CSCS-EFC, managing a team of professionals to assist rural communities and other underserved populations on water and wastewater infrastructure challenges, and connecting the ���ϲ����� EFC with the national EFC network. “As our team continues to grow, we are excited to bring on new talent and find new ways to support our local leaders,” says Dodson. “We are committed to supporting every community in EPA Region 2 with technical assistance and continuing to work with our many national and statewide partners. We recently added new staff with cultural competency to support Native Nations, we’re planning to hire more staff to meet new demand for our services especially on climate resiliency, and we’re evaluating new ways to continue integrating our work with other institutes and academic centers across ���ϲ����� and at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, like the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.”

For both Dodson and Young, key reasons to increase programming include investments at the state and federal levels. At the state level, the NYSDEC has invested more than $6 million towards the new NYS Center for SMM, of which CSCS is a major partner in the development of the center and in conducting all public engagement, education, and outreach activities. At the federal level, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) passed in 2021. Over the next five years, the law will provide the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with more than $100 billion in funds that can be awarded to states to support clean water infrastructure and climate resiliency. This year in New York State alone, $426 million is available for local municipalities and Native Nations to address climate resiliency and long-overdue upgrades to public infrastructure. “There is a tremendous amount of funding on the table right now,” says Dodson. “Our mission is to work with our partners at EPA and state agencies to make sure underserved communities have the training and skills they need to access new funds. Climate, water, and resource conservation issues are quickly becoming priorities for governments at all levels. The Center for Sustainable Community Solutions here at ���ϲ����� is well-positioned to convene groups working on these important issues and will ensure that this historic funding is distributed in a way that’s equitable and just.”

“When temperature and humidity produce the right conditions, mushrooms grow out of the mycelium network that has existed beneath the ground,” says Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Zhao Qin.

Professor Zhao Qin

Qin has been researching the structure of mycelium and the potential for it to be used in other adhesive applications. He sees it as an interface between material science, civil engineering and environmental engineering.

“It is like a glue that integrates wood chips and waste material and then assimilate all these pieces together,” says Qin. “Around cliff areas, people are looking to stabilize the soil. Mycelium is doing this all the time.”

Qin received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award for his project, “Multiscale Mechanics of Mycelium for Lightweight, Strong and Sustainable Composites.” He seeks to reveal the fundamental principles that govern the multiscale mechanics of mycelium-based composites and integrate research into an educational program. Mycelium, produced during mushroom growth as the main body of fungi, plays an essential role in altering soil chemistry and mechanics, enabling a suitable living environment for different plant species.

He and his research team are building a computational model to show how mycelium blends wood chips and waste into complex microfiber structures.

“Once we have a computational model we can optimize the process,” says Qin. “We plan to generate the culture for Mycelium to grow in the lab. Then we generate conditions like temperature or pressure so we can characterize the strength of the material.”

When temperature and humidity produce the right conditions, mushrooms grow out of the mycelium network that has existed beneath the ground.

Eventually, Qin wants to take these natural materials into the lab to see if it can be processed into a composite for infrastructure uses.

“A composite version of mycelium could require less energy to produce and be biocompatible,” says Qin. “It could be used for construction – think about similar properties to medium-density fiberboard�� but integrated by a mycelium network rather than an adhesive. We want to see what is possible once we know how the mycelium achieve these mechanical properties.”

Qin says ���ϲ����� is the perfect environment for his research. He will be collaborating with��Professors Daekwon Park and Nina Sharifi from the School of Architecture.

“This is a fantastic research institution. My colleagues here in Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Architecture are very supportive, we have excellent facilities and outstanding graduate students,” says Qin. “Once we set the recipe for these materials, we can apply that to real world applications in construction and architecture.”

“Our department is thrilled to see Dr. Qin’s work recognized by the NSF,” says civil and environmental engineering department chair Andria Costello Staniec. “His work is significant for modeling of bioinspired materials and will contribute to the development of eco-friendly composite materials that have wide applications in civil engineering and beyond.”

As part of the NSF grant, Qin is involving K-12 students in research and also plans to develop an educational exhibit related to mycelium study at the Museum of Science and Technology in downtown ���ϲ�����.

“We will design educational programs that will help aspiring young engineers and scientists to learn by playing,” says Qin.

“Dr. Qin’s research is an outstanding example of the kind of research that ECS seeks to grow,” said College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith. “He is showing how to leverage his foundational excellence in science and engineering to construct effective composite materials. Furthermore, he is engaged in deep collaborations with some of our truly fantastic colleagues in the School of Architecture. I am so personally excited to see Dr. Qin recognized for the promising and innovative researcher that he is.”

Biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Mary Beth Monroe and her team of students at the Society for Biomaterials conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

Biomedical and chemical engineering Professor�� attended the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) 2022 meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, with Ph.D. students Anand Vakil, Henry Beaman, Changling Du and Maryam Ramezani, master’s student Natalie Petryk ’21, G’22 and undergraduate students Caitlyn Greene ’22, Grace Haas ’23 and Avery Gunderson ’23. The national conference included more than 850 presentations from all over the world. The Monroe lab’s research abstracts and presentations were recognized in several competitions that took place during the conference, highlighting the excellent biomaterials work at ���ϲ�����.

Henry Beaman receives a Ph.D. Student Award for Outstanding Research.

Student Award for Outstanding Research:��This is the highest student award that SFB gives, recognizing student researchers who have shown outstanding achievement in biomaterials research. Henry Beaman, a fourth-year Ph.D. student, was one of two students selected in the Ph.D. student category. Beaman was recognized for his work on shape memory polymer hydrogel foams with cell-responsive degradation mechanisms for Crohn’s fistula filling. Natalie Petryk was selected in the master’s student category. She was recognized for her work on tuning the interconnectivity of shape memory polymer foams using off-the-shelf foaming agents. Published manuscripts from both projects are featured in a special issue of the .

Student Travel Achievement Recognition (STAR) Award: STAR awardees are selected based on abstracts by each Special Interest Group (SIG) within SFB to recognize research excellence with an aim of developing future leaders within SFB. Out of more than 850 abstracts, there are 25 STAR awardees and 25 STAR honorable mentions. Maryam Ramezani, a third��year Ph.D. student, received a STAR award based on her research on bacteria-responsive shape memory polymers. Caitlyn Greene, a senior undergraduate, received honorable mention based on her work on incorporating antimicrobial phenolic acids into shape memory polymer hydrogels.

Dr. Rena Bizios Poster Award:��This award program honors Rena Bizios, a founding and active member of the BIoInterfaces SIG and�� recognizes outstanding BioInterfaces research by graduate students. Anand Vakil, a fourth-year Ph.D. student, received first place for his work on temporally-controlled drug release from shape memory polymers. Natalie Petryk won second place in the competition for her research on tuning foam interconnectivity.

Natalie Petryk receives a Master’s Student Award for Outstanding Research.

Biomaterials Education Challenge: This competition involves presenting a poster with an educational module that is designed for middle school students. The objectives are to

• Improve widespread understanding of biomaterials-related science and careers in the middle school population.
• Encourage SFB student chapters to participate in K-8 outreach efforts.
• Reward the communication skills and creativity of the next generation of biomaterials researchers and educators.

As representatives of the ���ϲ����� SFB student chapter, Maryam Ramezani and Anand Vakil earned first place in this competition for their presentation on using cakes to teach concepts about polymers and foam fabrication. This award provides $1,500 for the student chapter to use for further development of outreach activities.

NicholasDonofrio

Nicholas “Nick” Donofrio G’71, H’11, a ���ϲ����� Life Trustee, was one of the distinguished award recipients at the 2022 International Peace Honors on Feb. 27. The International Peace Honors celebrates the most outstanding global leaders and change agents of our time who make philanthropy and humanitarian service a hallmark of their lives to advance humanity and our planet.

Donofrio spent 44 years at IBM, working his way up to become executive vice president of innovation and technology. He has dedicated much of his life to providing and expanding opportunity in STEM fields to students from underrepresented groups. Donofrio has also served as the board chairman for the nonprofit PeaceTech Lab since it was founded by the United States Institute of Peace in 2014, he was appointed by the U.S. Department of Education to serve on the Commission on the Future of Higher Education and by the National Academy of Engineering for their Committee on Racial Justice and Equity.

“Nick’s commitment to making STEM fields more diverse and inclusive exemplifies the leadership he has shown throughout his career,” says Chancellor Kent Syverud. “His tireless efforts have provided pathways to countless individuals pursuing careers in STEM. I congratulate Nick on this tremendous recognition. Our community is proud and fortunate to have him as an active part of our ���ϲ����� family.”

He founded the Donofrio Scholars program at the College of Engineering and Computer Science that evolved into the ECS Ambassadors program. His recent gift to the Forever Orange Campaign helps support and grow holistic diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that touch on every aspect of the college, including recruiting and retaining diverse students, faculty and staff, strengthening a culture of equity and inclusion, ensuring student access to internships and co-ops, academic support, career mentoring, and professional societies.

“Nick is one of the most extraordinary people I’ve had the chance to meet,” said College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith. “Before you meet Nick, you know him for his elite professional success and recognition. After you get to know him, you see a man with a rare and profound dedication to helping humanity. We have long known of Nick’s sustained impact on students and his profession at ���ϲ�����, and I am so gratified to see him recognized worldwide with this prestigious honor.”

In an article published in 2021 by the National Academy of Engineering, Donofrio wrote that “innovation doesn’t just ‘happen.’ It is enabled by environments and organizations that foster open, collaborative, inclusive, multidisciplinary thinking and working. Time and again, I have been reminded that the more open and inclusive the team, the more successful it is—because nobody knows in advance which team member is going to supply a critical piece of the value puzzle.”

As a 2022 International Peace Honoree, Donofrio joins prestigious actor, director and social activist Forest Whitaker; MasterCard chairman Ajay Banga; internet phenomenon and “Humans of New York” creator Brandon Stanton and Advanced Micro Devices president and CEO Dr. Lisa Su.

Poster Competition

First place: Elizabeth Oguntade, PhD. student in Bioengineering.��On-Demand Activation of Functional Protein Surface Patterns with Tunable Topography Suitable for Biomedical Applications. Advisor: Dr. James Henderson

Second place: Natalie Petryk, MS student in Bioengineering. Synthesis of Shape Memory Polymer Foams with Off-the-Shelf Components for Improved Commercialization. Advisor: Dr. Mary Beth Monroe

Third place: Alexander Hartwell, PhD student in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Introduction of a Multilayered Cathode for Improved Internal Cathode Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Performance. Advisor: Dr. Jeongmin Ahn

Honorable Mention: Saif Khalil Elsayed, MS student in Civil Engineering.��Modeling Self-Folding Hybrid SU-8 Skin for 3D Biosensing Microstructures. Advisor: Dr. Zhao Qin

Oral Presentation Competition

Communication and Security Session

First place: Kai Li, PhD student in Electrical/Computer Engineering. Detect and Mitigate Vulnerabilities in Ethereum Transaction Pool. Advisor: Dr. Yuzhe Tang

Second place: Xinyi Zhou, PhD student in Computer/Information Science. “This is Fake! Shared it by Mistake”: Assessing the Intent of Fake News Spreaders. Advisor: Dr. Reza Zafarani

Health and Well-Being Session

First place: Yousr Dhaouadi, PhD student in Chemical Engineering. Forming Bacterial Persisters with Light. Advisor: Dr. Dacheng Ren

Second place: Henry Beaman, PhD student in Bioengineering. Gas-Blown Super Porous Hydrogels with Rapid Gelling and High Cell Viability for Cell Encapsulation. Advisor: Dr. Mary Beth Monroe

Energy, Environment and Smart Materials Session

First place: Durgesh Ranjan, PhD student in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Porous nanochannel wicks based solar vapor generation device. Advisor: Dr. Shalabh Maroo

Second place: Alexander Johnson, PhD student in Civil Engineering. Estimating Dry Deposition of Atmospheric Particles by Rain Washoff from Urban Surfaces. Advisor: Dr. Cliff Davidson

Sensors, Robotics and Smart Systems Session

First place: Lin Zhang, PhD student in Computer/Information Science. Adaptive Sensor Attack Detection for Cyber-Physical Systems. Advisor: Dr. Fanxin Kong

Second place: Zixin Jiang, PhD student in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Short-term occupancy prediction driven intelligent HVAC control. Advisor: Dr. Bing Dong

The USDA estimates that approximately 35 percent of food produced in the U.S. goes uneaten, which according to the nonprofit Rethink Food Waste through Economics and Date (ReFED), incurs a nationwide annual cost of more than $400 billion. Wasted food is also a large contributor to global climate change and wastes significant amounts of freshwater, energy and other agricultural inputs. Perhaps most egregiously, the U.S. is wasting more than one-third of its food supply while Feeding America estimates that 1 in 9 Americans face hunger.

To help mitigate these issues, CSCS and NYSP2I are collaborating to develop a series of workshops, guidance materials and technical assistance opportunities for New York State community leaders, with a focus on rural areas. These community leaders and other stakeholders will receive guidance, training and support for the creation of local sustainable organics management plans.

Some aspects of the plans will include quantifying and characterizing local food loss, identifying opportunities for food loss reduction, establishing networks for edible food rescue, creating systems for food scraps collection and processing (e.g., composting), and more.

“We are thrilled to team up with NYSP2I to complement each other’s experience and knowledge in reducing wasted food,” says CSCS Assistant Director Melissa Young. “Our teams will work with communities to develop solutions for getting more edible food to hungry people and diverting more organic materials to be recycled into valuable soil amendment.”

This effort will help expand the benefits of The New York State Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2022, by providing additional support to stakeholders who may or may not be affected by the law. Currently, the law only pertains to certain entities that generate an annual average of two tons or more of food waste per week.

“Creating a better, more sustainable future for our rural communities takes teamwork, and collaboration with all of the stakeholders,” says NYSP2I Director Charles Ruffing. “NYSP2I is excited to join forces with these communities and CSCS to help reduce edible food waste across the Empire State.”

CSCS and NYSP2I will begin promoting the workshop series this spring with the goal of facilitating multiple training events throughout the summer. If you are interested in receiving updates about the workshop series, or learning more about this program, please contact SU-CSCS Program Manager Jesse Kerns, at jekerns@syr.edu.

���ϲ����� has been a member of the GEM Consortium for almost 30 years. In the past five years, GEM Fellowships have been awarded to graduate students in the School of Architecture, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering and Computer Science and School of Information Studies. The number of GEM Fellowship applications from ���ϲ����� students is now in the top 10 among GEM member universities. Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor is the current ���ϲ����� representative on the GEM Consortium.

“The award recognizes the contributions of the GEM Consortium in providing a scalable path to STEM careers in academia and industry for underrepresented students,” says Negussey.

“I’m grateful for all of Professor Negussey’s efforts to grow our graduate education pipeline for underrepresented graduate students at ���ϲ�����,” says , dean of the Graduate School. “To go from relatively little activity with the GEM Consortium to being a top 10 contributor of GEM applicants is a clear marker of our commitment to increasing the diversity of our graduate student population.”

Over the past 45 years, more than 4,000 GEM Fellows have earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in STEM fields. At present, the GEM consortium membership consists of 129 private and public national universities and 61 major corporations and research laboratories.

Given annually since 1949, the award is one of the most notable awards in the electronics and aerospace systems field, recognizing contributions significant to bringing into being systems that are still in existence today. The contributions for which the award is bestowed are to have been made at least 20 years prior to the year of the award.

Professor Pramod Varshney.

The 2021 award will recognize Varshney’s contributions to signal processing and information fusion enabling advanced aerospace and electronic systems. Varshney will��receive the award at 2022 IEEE Radar Conference March 21-25 in New York City.

“Professor Varshney has been a trailblazer in the field of complex information processing who has made innumerable contributions over the course of his career.�� The Pioneer Award fittingly recognizes that some of his inventions paved the way for today’s rapidly evolving technologies,” says , interim vice president for research.

Varshney was also selected to receive the prestigious from the IEEE Signal Processing Society for outstanding contributions in the fields of distributed inference and data fusion.

“Within a few months, Dr. Varshney won two prestigious awards from two different IEEE societies. Such an achievement is completely unheard of. He won the 2021 Shannon-Nyquist Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Signal Processing Society and the 2021 IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AESS) Pioneer Award. The EECS department is incredibly proud of the achievements and recognitions that he truly deserves,” says Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Department Chair .

Elliott Holdosh ’23

Long before he could drive them, Elliott Holdosh was always interested in cars. He got his first hands-on experience working with his grandfather on a 1989 Ford Mustang and it set his future in motion.

“When I was considering what I wanted to study in college, I thought—what could I do with cars?” says Holdosh.

When he arrived at the , Holdosh started making connections and joined the Citrus Racing Formula SAE team. It gave him more experience with automobile design and engineering.

“It helped me learn a lot about technology but also automobile engineering terminology,” Holdosh says.

While working with Citrus Racing, Holdosh saw a posting in the group’s Slack channel for a job opportunity in solid works and computer-aided design (CAD). It led to a part-time position with Auto Gear Equipment in ���ϲ�����, which specializes in high-performance manual shift gearboxes for race cars.

“I was able to work as a drafting engineer,” says Holdosh. “I took two-dimensional sketches and brought them to 3D designs. It has been an incredible opportunity and meaningful professional experience with a great company.”

The experience at Auto Gear Equipment also confirmed for Holdosh that he wanted a career in automobile engineering. He worked with the career services office and his academic advisor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science as he explored co-op opportunities at automobile engineering companies.

“Career advisor Christopher Maldonado helped me with a resume review and to improve my LinkedIn profile,” says Holdosh. “I knew a co-op could be a great opportunity for me.”

Holdosh applied for and was offered an internship with Tesla at their Fremont, California, facility as a vehicle engineering intern for the interiors engineering team.

“When I got the news, it was a very impactful moment,” Holdosh says.

He will be at Tesla for the Spring 2022 semester but was able to adapt his academic schedule so he will still be on track to graduate on time after four years at ���ϲ�����. He is grateful for the relationships he has built on and off-campus and believes those connections are what helped him land the position at Tesla.

“Get involved on campus and get to know people,” says Holdosh. “It was the catalyst.”

While his engineering journey began with his grandfather’s Mustang, Holdosh is excited to be part of the next generation of automobile design.

“I want to work for a company that is always pushing to improve,” says Holdosh. “We are going into an age where we need to prioritize our planet. Tesla is the best at that right now.”

Dacheng Ren

The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) announced the election of Dacheng Ren to its College of Fellows. Ren is the associate dean for research and graduate programs at the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and Stevenson Endowed Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering.

Ren was nominated, reviewed and elected by peers and members of the AIMBE College of Fellows for outstanding contributions to the understanding and control of bacterial biofilms and medical device associated infections.

The College of Fellows is composed of the top two percent of medical and biological engineers in the country. The most accomplished and distinguished engineering and medical school chairs, research directors, professors, innovators and successful entrepreneurs comprise the College of Fellows.

“It is a true honor to join other outstanding colleagues in the AIMBE College of Fellows. Microbial biofilms cause persistent infections that respond poorly to antibiotics, such as those associated with implanted medical devices,” says Ren. “There is a lot to be done to address this grand challenge and I look forward to making more contributions.”

“This is a great honor for Dacheng who is not only one of ���ϲ�����’s most innovative researchers but a strong supporter and mentor to other researchers across our university. He has been remarkable in his capacity to continue leading a preeminent research program while supporting the college’s research and graduate student enterprise via his role as associate dean. We are proud to celebrate this recognition of his work,” says College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith.

AIMBE Fellows are regularly recognized for their contributions in teaching, research and innovation. AIMBE Fellows have been awarded the Nobel Prize, the Presidential Medal of Science and the Presidential Medal of Technology and Innovation, and many also are members of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences. A formal induction ceremony will be held during AIMBE’s 2022 Annual Event on March 25.

Ren will be inducted along with 152 colleagues who make up the AIMBE Fellow Class of 2022. For more information about the AIMBE Annual Event, visit www.aimbe.org.

The Claude Shannon-Harry Nyquist Technical Achievement Award was established by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to honor those who have made outstanding technical contributions to theory and/or practice in technical areas within the scope of the society, as demonstrated by publications, patents or recognized impact on the field. There are over 400,000 IEEE members in more than 160 countries and this award is annually given to one or two individuals.

“I am truly honored to receive this prestigious award. It is a testament to the outstanding research performed by my students, postdocs and collaborators in ���ϲ����� and around the globe,” says Varshney.

“I am extremely happy about Professor Varshney receiving this well-deserved prestigious award,” says Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Department Chair Jae C. Oh. “He continues to excel in the field of data fusion and distributed inference. He is a world-renowned researcher whom our EECS department is so proud of. It is no surprise that he receives this prestigious award bearing the names of the giants such as Claude Shannon and Harry Nyquist, the names recognized by every electrical engineer in the world.”

“The Shannon-Nyquist Award is one of the most notable awards in the signal processing field and a world-renowned leader like Pramod is very deserving of it,” says Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith.

Kevin Du

“This paper provided a new way to conduct joint computation while protecting data privacy. There were a lot of follow-ups on this approach,” says Du. “Many young researchers told me that they ‘grew up’ reading my papers in this field.”

This is the second time Du has won a Test of Time award. He previously won one in 2013 at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security for a paper titled “A Pairwise Pre-Distribution Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks” that he published in 2003 with Professor Jing Deng, Professor Yunghsiang S. Han and Distinguished Professor Pramod Varshney.

Solar panels generate electricity only during daylight hours so the charging times of battery energy storage systems and electric vehicles need to be better optimized to release the burden on the power grid.

“Sometimes people who have solar panels and an electric vehicle actually use more energy than before,” says Dong. “Our recent research shows residential solar customers had an 18% increase in their electricity consumption—in part because they viewed it as free. This is contradictory to the intention of installations of distributed energy resources in buildings”

Dong and University of Maryland public policy professor Lucy Qiu received a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant to study the changes in actual electricity consumption and technology-using behaviors of residential consumers due to co-adopting distributed solar photovoltaics, electric vehicle in-home chargers, and battery storage units. Preliminary work from Dong’s team shows that as more people co-adopt solar panels and in-home EV chargers, the effect could be potentially disruptive and challenge management of the United States electrical grid.

Mechanical and aerospace engineering Professor Bing Dong (center). [Image taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.]

Small changes like doing laundry during the peak hours of solar electricity production or off-peak hours later at night could help avoid putting a burden on the electrical grid. The NSF wants to know if consumers will change their behaviors and what strategies would help them adapt.

“What we need is the social aspect,” says Dong. “You can do a lot of engineering optimizations, but you need to see how people will actually react and behave.”

Many people operate on fixed schedules that are set by work or school and Dong says this needs to be factored into decisions as well. The research will also look at different behaviors in different geographic areas and socioeconomic groups.

“Social aspects, specifically occupant behavior, are so important in engineering design and operation,” says Dong. “The NSF wants to know how people will actually use energy when they design a smart building. This project will advance the research in grid-interactive efficient buildings and transform the current power grid operations”

The study also has support from National Grid and the Energy Power Research Institute in California.

Kevin Du

Electrical engineering and computer science professor Kevin Du wanted to up the production value of the cybersecurity instruction videos he has been posting to YouTube and decided to construct a studio inside his lab space.

“I used to have one in home at my basement but that one has a problem because my family just walked around,” says Du. “So I decided I’m just going to build one in the corner of the lab.”

Patrick P. Lee Scholars

The College of Engineering and Computer Science is honored to announce its inaugural Patrick P. Lee Scholars. The Lee Foundation’s largest scholarship program supports students at institutions of higher learning who are pursuing careers in engineering and other technical fields.

Joli Cacciatore is a fourth year civil engineering student from Niagara Falls, NY. Since arriving at the University, she has been part of the ECS Ambassador Scholars program, which conducts outreach to local middle schools to foster interest in STEM and provide positive educational role models. Cacciatore is a member of the student chapters of the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Stacy Kim is a fourth year systems information science major from Staten Island, NY. She has several leadership positions in campus organizations, including vice president of the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers and community service chair for Kappa Theta Pi, through which she conducted outreach to local high schools to help with the transition to online learning. Since 2019, Kim has worked for the Barnes Center in health promotion for her fellow students and during the pandemic has been helping administer and process COVID tests on campus.

Aymeric Destrée is a third year civil engineering major from San Marcos, CA. He is a member of the Ambassador Scholars program and enjoys working with children in the ���ϲ����� public school system to introduce engineering concepts and problem solving skills through fun after school activities. Destrée plans a career in public infrastructure and is particularly interested in transportation and urban design.

Olivia Kmito is a third year bioengineering student from Bridgewater MA. She is a student athlete on the gymnastics team and a member of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority and the Society of Women Engineers. Kmito has a long term commitment to the March of Dimes organization, inspired by a personal connection to its work. Following in the footsteps of her father, an engineering alum, Kmito believes an engineer must value “integrity, leadership, and service” and, most of all, take seriously the trust that their colleagues, their clients and the public place in them and their work.

Shikha Nangia

Biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Shikha Nangia has been selected as a recipient of the American Chemical Society’s Women Chemist Committee�� 2022 Rising Star Award. The award recognizes nine women scientists who have demonstrated excellence in the scientific enterprise and outstanding promise for contributions to their respective fields.

Nangia will receive her award and present her recent research on��the ��at the 263^rd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in March 2022.

“This is a well-deserved honor for Shikha. We have known she was a rising star for a while here at ���ϲ����� and I am very happy to see her get this recognition from the American Chemical Society,” said College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith.

Parisa Sanaei and Michael Ammoury

Ammoury’s research will focus on improving the resilience and sustainability of airports by combining artificial intelligence, internet of things, and other smart technologies.

Many airports already have facilities and sensors that monitor environmental functions, but Ammoury will explore how those existing and novel technologies can work together to improve the environmental and resilience aspects in airports.

“Airports are like small smart cities. The digital infrastructures in airports need to communicate seamlessly with each other,” says Ammoury.

“Existing indoor air quality sensors can be combined with foot traffic sensors to optimize indoor air quality and reduce airborne disease transmission,” says Ammoury. “Working together, they can reduce the negative environmental impacts while also augmenting safety and mitigating the impacts of disruptions.”

Sanaei’s research will explore the use of emerging technology to improve airport runway safety. Current regulations require that airport runways be inspected at least once a day for debris, damage or contamination. These are often visual inspections performed by airport maintenance staff.

“A minor crack or small piece of debris may seem insignificant, but each instance can be the beginning of serious pavement issues that have the potential to cause hazardous events to occur,” says Sanaei.

By taking advantage of evolving remote sensing technologies, such as digital photogrammetry and laser scanning, Sanaei believes airport authorities can not only create and implement a cost-effective runway operation and maintenance program but also improve overall safety.

“Runway inspection procedures could be more accurate and less time-consuming through automation, which may offer a great potential in prolonging the service life of runways and meeting the level of service requirements with greater efficiency,” she says. “My work will focus on developing an integrated automated system offered by emerging technologies for runway inspection procedure.”

The ACRP Graduate Research Award offers a $12,000 stipend. There is also athe opportunity for the student’s final research paper to be published in the Transportation Research Record journal and for the student present their work at the Transportation Research Board’s 2023 annual meeting.

Sanaei and Ammoury are grateful for the support they have received from their advisor, Professor Baris Salman, and the civil and environmental engineering department faculty and staff.

“We are extremely happy for receiving these prestigious awards. In total, only nine winners were selected from all over the country, and it makes us proud to know that that both of our proposals were accepted,” says Salman. “The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently graded our nation’s aviation infrastructure with a ‘D+’. There is significant room for improvement when it comes to management and maintenance of airports. We anticipate that our projects will be helpful in addressing these gaps,” says Salman.

“The department is incredibly supportive and providing us with access to incredible facilities,” says Ammoury.

“Their support has given us this incredible opportunity to tackle practical real-world problems and design solutions for the airport sector,” says Sanaei.

Sajag Poudel

Mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. student Sajag Poudel and Professor Shalabh Maroo in the College of Engineering and Computer Science were����a National Science Foundation (NSF)����grant to support Poudel’s research internship at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Fall 2021 semester.

Oak Ridge will provide Poudel with the opportunity to explore potential ways to reduce energy waste from power generators and improve thermal management in buildings.

“We are hoping to break the limit of where we can go,” says Poudel. “It will help us be able to solve different issues related to energy.”

Poudel will be researching new types of devices that can be used in heat transfer and energy management to enhance efficiency. Oak Ridge has some of the best facilities in the world for testing energy conversion devices up to 1500 degrees Celsius.

“We can go to the micron or nanometer scale to understand the physics of heat transfer as we develop new ideas,” he says. “If we can reduce the associated losses, a lot of energy can be saved.”

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Sajag to further advance his skill set, knowledge base and experience before he graduates with his doctoral degree next year,” says Maroo. “He took the initiative in reaching out to national labs, NASA and industry for internship opportunities and I applaud his efforts. Sajag also had interest in collaborating from NASA AMES but did not pursue further as it was remote-only. I am thankful to NSF for supporting his internship at Oak Ridge.”

“We knew the scientific principle worked, but in the first few weeks we had logistical problems with the prototype,” says Franco.

As they pushed forward, they leveraged their different skill sets to solve problems with sensors, data collection and a prototype model.

“Being interdisciplinary forces you out of your comfort zone in a really good way,” says Mazzacane.

Students who participated in Invent@SU 2021

“Sweatration” was one of seven interdisciplinary teams of undergraduate inventors competing in the six week��Invent@SU��program. Before the first week of the program, faculty help form three-person interdisciplinary teams that balance different skill sets. Each team comes up with a concept for an original invention, research existing patents to make sure their idea is unique, develop a prototype and pitch it to weekly guest evaluators before “Shark Tank” style final judging at the end of week six.

The Sweatration team was concerned that initial evaluators were skeptical and knew they needed to back up their idea with hard data. They also met with a ���ϲ����� athletic trainer to gain their input.

“After every time we pitched, I wanted as much feedback as we could get,” says Franco.

The trainer was very supportive of the idea and didn’t believe there was anything like it that existed currently. As their pitch improved, the technical challenges were also being overcome. During a week five test of their prototype at the Barnes Center, the team saw it was collecting meaningful data and their prototype could reliably show when the wearer was getting dehydrated.

“We had improved the prototype for a better fit and better connections for the technology inside,” says Stahl. “When I saw it was delivering data and consistently indicating dehydration I was thrilled.”

The notable alumni, entrepreneurs and innovators who served as final judges awarded the Sweatration first place and a $7500 prize. They plan on continuing with their invention and will work with both the����and the����as they move forward.

Second place at��Invent@SU��went to Ambiflux – a device that can both monitor asthma conditions and deliver medication.

“It felt good that we were rewarded for all the time and energy we put into this,” says bioengineering and neuroscience major Victoria Hathaway ’22. “It is an important device that is needed for a real cause.”

“To see that the judges saw what we saw, it was very gratifying,” says computer engineering student Aidan Mickleburgh ’23. Mickleburgh is also in the H. John Reilly Dual Engineering/ MBA program.

“It felt nice they appreciated the way all the concepts and elements came together,” says chemical engineering student Trinity Coates ’24.

The third place went to Sense-A, a monitoring and alert device that can help people caring for a family member with Alzheimer’s disease.

“It was a great experience, different from anything else I have done in college,” says computer science student Hong Yang Chen ’22. “Building a physical prototype was a great challenge.”

“Good feedback from judges and evaluators was very helpful and they saw the difficulties caregivers currently face,” says chemical engineering student Simran Lakhani ’22.

“We are definitely going to move forward with this and work with Blackstone Launchpad,” says biomedical engineering student Gabriela Angel ’21 G’22.

Honorable mention at��Invent@SU��went to Glisten. They designed a device aimed at helping people monitor their dental health at home and provide pre-diagnostic information to a dentist.

“To be able to research, design and build a functioning prototype in six weeks is intense, but the expertise of the faculty and the evaluators made it possible,” says bioengineering student Bianca Andrada ’22.

“Our team was a good balance of different skills and perspectives,” says industrial and interaction design major Ahn Dao ’23.

“We have a passion to keep the world smiling,” says biology student Justin Monaco ’21 G’22.

Invent@SU was sponsored by ���ϲ����� Trustee Bill Allyn G’59 and Janet “Penny” Jones Allyn ’60, Dr. Deborah L. Pearce and William J. Sheeran ’60, G’63, G’66, Matthew Lyons ’86, Haden Land G’91 and Cathy Land, Ralph Folz ,90, Michael Lazar G’65 and Avi Nash G’77. For more information on the program, visit .

Quinn Qiao

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Quinn Qiao and a research team from the College of Engineering and Computer Science received a $1.5 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and industry members to develop an Industry/University Collaborative Research Center (IUCRC) for solid-state electric power storage with a site at ���ϲ�����. The University will partner with South Dakota School of Mines and Technologies and Northeastern University to build this NSF-sponsored center. The center will focus on developing eco-friendly, safe and economically feasible all-solid-state energy storage technology for portable and medical applications, automotive industry, centralized and decentralized electric grids, military applications, and energy security.

Potential research projects will include materials design and testing with particular focus on interface engineering, solid electrolytes development, electrode materials synthesis, advanced mathematical modeling, and in-situ imaging to characterize performance, manufacturing process testing, battery system development and fabrication of intrinsically combined solar/battery devices. In addition to the study of traditional materials, the center will also explore those relevant to earlier stage design and development of promising newer glass ceramic materials.

“Energy storage is critically needed to deploy renewable energies such as solar and wind, as well as development of electric vehicles,” says Qiao. “Energy storage allows clean energy to be available when sunlight is unavailable at night or on cloudy days, or when wind is not sufficient. Current lithium batteries typically use liquid electrolytes that may lead to safety issues from explosions or fires. This NSF IUCRC will provide ���ϲ����� a great platform to work with industry partners, which offers numerous opportunities for our faculty and students. Industry members will also help guide the research directions and projects that will lead to commercialization of solid-state batteries. This center will also help us to build the Cluster for Materials for Energy Applications.”

The center will work closely with industry partners in New York, across the United States and globally to develop high capacity, fast charging, safe and cost-effective solid-state batteries. The batteries developed by the center will be aligned with the energy storage set by the state of New York: 1,500 megawatts of energy storage by 2025 and 3,000 megawatts by 2030.

Qiao will be the principal investigator and site director for the NSF award. Mechanical and aerospace engineering professors Jeongmin Ahn, Bing Dong, Shalabh Maroo, Weiwei Zheng, Teng Zhang and Jianshun Zhang will be co-co-principal investigators or senior investigators.

“Mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty have a tradition of conducting quality research in energy systems,” says Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department Chair Young B. Moon. “With the establishment of this center, the faculty plans to elevate the research to the next level of international prominence working with other faculty members at ���ϲ�����.”

“We are very excited about this new IUCRC center,” says Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs Dacheng Ren. “It extends our established strength in energy research and elevates it to a higher level. Besides research innovation, the center also brings industry insights and new training opportunities for our students.”

“This center positions ���ϲ����� on the leading edge of solid-state power storage. It is not only a fast-growing field, but an increasingly important one as we look to meet the need for safer, higher capacity batteries,” says College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith.

“Brad exemplified what it means to be Orange. I do not know anyone else who commanded such complete respect across campus than he did,” says Shiu-Kai Chin ’75, G’78, G’86, professor of electrical engineering and computer science.

Dean Emeritus Bradley J. Strait

Strait passed away in his hometown of Canandaigua, New York, on May 6. He leaves behind an unparalleled legacy as a student, professor and as dean of the college from 1981-1984 and again from 1989-1992.

He came to ���ϲ����� after serving in the U.S. Navy from 1951-1955 as an electronics technician. After being discharged, Strait studied electrical engineering. ���ϲ����� Life Trustee Charles Beach ’58, G’67 was his roommate and fraternity brother in Phi Gamma Delta. They remained close friends for the next 67 years.

“He really bled Orange. He loved ���ϲ�����, he loved teaching and he loved his students,” says Beach.

While he was an undergraduate student, Strait met Nancy Brown, who was a student in the University’s College of Fine Arts. Brad and Nancy married in 1957 and graduated in 1958. They moved to the ���ϲ����� suburb of Jamesville, where they raised their children, Andy and Martha. Brad and Nancy later established the Jamesville Museum which collected important pieces of the town’s history and memories of its neighbors.

After graduation, Strait worked briefly at Eastman Kodak before returning to ���ϲ����� for a master’s degree and his doctorate. He then became a faculty member known for taking extra time to work with students and young researchers and making sure they were successful in all aspects of their life, not just the classroom.

He was a member of the University’s world-renowned electromagnetics research group and became chair of the then electrical and computer engineering department in 1974. One of his early hires was current electrical engineering and computer science Distinguished Professor Pramod K. Varshney.

“Brad did a marvelous job in his role as the leader of a premier department,” says Varshney. “As department chair, he established a close relationship with the Rome Air Development Center (now Air Force Research Laboratory) resulting in significant research funded by US Air Force at ���ϲ�����.”

“Brad was my first academic advisor when I came to SU in the fall of 1971. He remained a near and dear mentor throughout my academic career,” says Chin. “His advice to me was always straightforward and direct. Always do what is best for the academic program, always teach a course even if you are in a leadership role and remember that the people you see on the way up are the same people you see on the way down.”

Strait went on to serve as the dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science from 1981-1984 and 1989-1992. He was a relentless advocate and recruiter for ���ϲ�����, always looking to bring the best students and faculty to Central New York.

“Brad was one of the main reasons why I came to ���ϲ����� as a faculty member,” says Ed Bogucz, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “Brad’s personality was a big factor.”

In addition to recruiting for academic roles, Strait was always recruiting for the college’s softball team and a weekly basketball league.

“Many of the players, including myself, were young people who looked at Brad as a role model of how to live an active and fulfilling life balancing family, employment, faith and active recreation,” says Alan Levy, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “On the court Brad was a fierce competitor and, like all of us, he liked to win. But he was gracious in victory and defeat. Brad played in the game until he was about 80, and he never lost his spark racing up and down that full court.”

Strait took pride in building connections across the University through softball games played against other colleges and departments.

“A lot of relationships were cemented by getting to know people during those games,” says Beach.

Always looking forward, Strait expanded collaborations with industry partners and worked to connect them with current research activity at ���ϲ�����. During his tenure as dean, New York State designed the Centers of Advanced Technology (CAT) program and under Strait’s leadership, the University received one of the six CATS. To make sure the center got off the ground, he left his role as dean position and became the founding director of the Computer Applications and Software Engineering Center (CASE).

“He was instrumental in getting state funds to build the Center for Science and Technology (CST). Without his vision of CASE and his leadership, CST would not be built,” says Varshney. “CASE continues to flourish even today as a preeminent center that champions economic growth in New York State via its outstanding research activities.”

“When I became dean, I developed the concept for the ���ϲ����� Center of Excellence following the approach that Brad had pioneered for the CASE Center,” says Bogucz.

Strait retired but always remained an active member of the college family, serving as dean emeritus. He and Nancy also established the Bradley J. and Nancy B. Strait Scholarship to assist future generations of ���ϲ����� students.

He leaves behind a legacy of supporting and mentoring generations of young engineers and computer scientists. During a devoted life of service to ���ϲ�����, he provided guidance and encouragement at a crucial point in countless lives.

“I am forever blessed because he was part of my life. Those of us who are left must do our best to help the others who come after us like Brad did,” says Chin “Every time I am in the Stadium during Commencement, I can still see Brad faithfully leading the procession as mace bearer, guiding us to where we need to be.”

A memorial service for Strait will be held on Thursday, June 17, at 5 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel. A will be available.

“We were eager to follow up on our studies and we thought we could create this opportunity for ourselves,” says Majd.

“An important point for us was if one of us will attend the Ph.D. program in a university, there should be a program for the other person in that university” said Shafiei Shiva. “If we are going to a university with environmental engineering for me, there should be a program with structural engineering which is her field.”

While exploring research universities, Shafiei Shiva had spoken to civil and environmental engineering Professor David Chandler and the well-known hydrologist made an impression on him.

Javad Shafiei Shiva and Nafiseh Shahbazi Majd

“I really liked Professor Chandler even before meeting him in person. The way he encouraged me and his focus on my strengths made me realize I am a good fit for his research group and can help with achieving the team’s research goals,” says Shafiei Shiva.

Chandler was interested in his research ideas and Central New York was already looking attractive to Shafiei Shiva and Majd.

“We love the snow and cold weather,” says Shafiei Shiva.

���ϲ����� was also a draw for Majd. During her coursework for her master’s degree, she became very familiar with civil and environmental engineering Professor Eric Lui.

“In our structural stability course at University of Tehran, Professor Lui’s book was our textbook,” says Majd. “When I saw Javad’s admission letter from SU, I got so excited and I knew right then I will be contacting him.”

The couple relocated to ���ϲ����� and Shafiei Shiva started as a Ph.D. student with Chandler in the civil and environmental engineering department in 2014. As Majd explored her options for a Ph.D. program, Professor Lui, Emeritus Professor James Mandel, and Professor Dawit Negussey all offered their assistance. Majd started her Ph.D. the next year.

“Having all the support from the department and knowing what to expect from this program, I enrolled in the civil engineering Ph.D. program,” says Majd. “I was so thrilled when I learned I will be working with Dr. Lui who is a subject matter expert in his field. He had open-door policy and was approachable for help and advice. This was exactly the opportunity I was hoping for, a professional and intelligent advisor who is considerate and inspiring, while cultivating my potentials and putting his trust in my abilities. Both advisors were tremendously supportive and there was a trust component that was truly valuable to us.”

“Dr Shafiei Shiva is truly both a gentleman and a scholar,” says Chandler. “His comportment and generosity to students across the CEE Department was often understated, but always available.�� As scholar, he chose the course of his dissertation carefully and once set, worked methodically to develop a set of insightful metrics in an exceptionally thorny and topical field. ��I am proud of his work and hope that he can find a path home to academia here at ���ϲ�����.”

“It has been a pleasure to serve as Dr. Majd’s academic and dissertation advisor,” says Lui. “She not only possesses the intelligence and determination needed for Ph.D. study, her diligence, enthusiasm and passion have made this arduous journey very gratifying and rewarding.�� As a teaching assistant, she is passionate, meticulous, and is much beloved by her students.�� As a research assistant, she is astute, perspicacious, and keen on solving complex problems. She and Dr. Shiva were wonderful students who have enriched our undergraduate and graduate programs.�� They are now wonderful alumni who will make important and lasting contributions to the profession.”

While it is unusual to find a married couple both pursuing doctoral degrees in the same department at a prominent research university, they also appreciated having a partner who understood what it took.

“It helped that both of us were doing this together,” says Majd.

“We could completely understand each other. Getting a Ph.D. is hard so in our case we both understood why we had to stay late and work during weekends,” says Shafiei Shiva. “We would usually start our days at the same time walking to school and then some days we would have to stay until midnight. We would still have breakfast, lunch and dinner together and walk back home together.”

Majd and Shafiei Shiva found the close-knit civil and environmental department to be welcoming.

“Professor Chandler was a great advisor, friend and mentor for me. He was and still is a role model for me” says Shafiei Shiva. “We never felt like we were alone. One of the reasons that we love ���ϲ����� is that it was like a big family for us. On holidays like Thanksgiving we never felt we were alone.”

“You would feel supported. When we had an issue, everyone was approachable and wanted to know how they could help,” said Majd.

Being a couple also helped them connect to more people across the department and the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

“She was the TA for a course that my advisor was teaching and sometimes he would joke that we were having a family meeting,” says Shafiei Shiva.

When they learned their family would be growing, friends from the civil and environmental engineering department hosted two baby showers.

“Carolyn Mandel and Dr. Mandel offered to hold a baby shower for me, while another group of friends from the environmental group had asked Javad to surprise me with a baby shower! It was such an incredible and memorable moment in my life to see all my friends from ���ϲ����� celebrating this new chapter of our life with us,” says Majd. “Also, Professor Chandler offered me another Fellowship through his NSF research grants to support me financially and he made sure I will be spending enough time with my newborn,” says Shafiei Shiva.

In 2020, Majd and Shafiei Shiva completed their Ph.D. degrees and are now working in California. Their life-changing decision had worked out even better than they anticipated.

“Nafis and I are still working with our Ph.D. advisors on a few research works and we appreciate the continued collaboration,” says Shafiei Shiva. “A Ph.D. program is not just about the academics and degrees. It’s also about learning communication skills and relationships, and taking care of others. There are some concepts that are hard to find in textbooks.”

They talk to their daughter about how much ���ϲ����� means to them and hope they can return.

“In my opinion it is the best place in the United States to live,” says Shafiei Shiva. “The lakes and the natural scenery, warm and welcoming people, and a community that look after one another – it’s hard to find anything like it in the United States.”

Daniel Oluwalana ’21

Aerospace engineering senior Daniel Oluwalana ’21 has been selected as the 2021 Ammon S. Andes National Award Winner from the national aerospace engineering honor society, Sigma Gamma Tau. The award is highly competitive and designed to recognize the top undergraduate aerospace engineering student in the United States.

There are 54 current chapters of Sigma Gamma Tau across the country and each chapter nominates one student for the Ammon S. Andes Award each year. The national award winner is chosen from the 54 nominees based on:

• GPA;
• rank in their graduating senior aerospace engineering class;
• academic honors and distinctions;
• engineering and non-engineering extracurricular activities and length of service in each;
• technical achievements such as published works, projects, and technical hobbies, with emphasis on engineering creativity used; and
• an essay written by the candidate about “near-term and long-range career goals and how you hope to use your aerospace education.”

The ���ϲ����� chapter of Sigma Gamma Tau is advised by Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Barry Davidson.

“I am very honored to be recognized in such a manner as an aerospace engineering major,” says Oluwalana. “I am extremely grateful for Dr. Davidson’s support as the Sigma Gamma Tau advisor and appreciate everyone else who supported me throughout the process.”

“Daniel displays the strength of character, the academic excellence, the research skills and the compassion for others that are the hallmark of a great individual and a great scholar,” Davidson says. “It has been a pleasure for me to teach, mentor and interact with him over the past three years. I was so proud to have Daniel represent SU in this competition, and I’m so incredibly pleased that Sigma Gamma Tau recognized and honored him with this award. It is certainly well-deserved.”

Oluwalana is the president of the ���ϲ����� chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), an Academic Excellence Workshop facilitator and has worked in two research labs in the College of Engineering and Computer Science as an undergraduate.

“���ϲ����� exposed me to amazing research opportunities and instilled in me a balanced mindset. I have developed a deeper knowledge about my field and have become a better communicator by being a student here,” says Oluwalana.

While multiple ���ϲ����� students have won Sigma Gamma Tau’s Northeastern Regional Award in recent years, Oluwalana is the first ���ϲ����� student to receive the Ammon S. Andes National Award since the����in 2001.

“Daniel is an incredible young engineer, leader and person. He is being honored for the ‘visible’ work that people notice, including his NSBE leadership, grades and research. For each of those achievements, there is also the ‘invisible’ work where he supports his classmates, greets prospective students and counsels other leaders about issues that are vital to our college,” says Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith. “I’m so excited for Daniel and for the impact he will make in his next phase of life.”

The team’s research centers on early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. The most common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include problems with communicating and abstract thinking, as well as disorientation. Early detection of the disease can help improve cognitive functioning with medication and training. The research paper from the ���ϲ�����/ Upstate Medical University team proposes two machine learning approaches for detecting Alzheimer’s disease from MRI images to help early detection efforts at a preclinical stage before symptoms have appeared.

In their paper the team described the impact their research could have. “Recent reports on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suggest that change in the brain may be evident 20 years before dementia symptoms, typically when the disease gets diagnosed. But substantial neuronal loss happens during that latent period of the disease. The early-stage intervention of AD can significantly impact the neuronal degeneration process and treatment of symptoms that would expand the patients’ life expectancy and quality of life. Hence, accurate detection or indication of preclinical AD is a major interest in the medical community. Our research is the first to develop an effective machine learning approach that can identify the latent patterns due to preclinical AD from MRI brain scans, which can significantly improve AD patients’ intervention and treatment.”

Nandhini Rajagopal

Nandhini Rajagopal’s accomplishments are massive even though her research focuses on small molecules. As part of biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Shikha Nangia’s research group, the Ph.D. student has focused her work on minute interactions between protein molecules in the biological cells that make up all living things. These interactions between proteins are essential since proteins are the building blocks of all living things.

Rajagopal’s work is entirely computational and as part of her research she developed a new algorithm that could determine how two different protein molecules would interact.

“These small proteins are found in every tissue of our body,” says Rajagopal. “Using computers we literally visualize how these molecules move around each other and aggregate.”

Rajagopal’s computational tool can screen all possible orientations for how two proteins would interact with each other.

“How proteins interact has a direct impact on their functions,” says Rajagopal. “I wanted to create an algorithm that would also plot a graph showing an intuitive, easy-to-interpret three-dimensional energy landscape of the two interacting protein molecules.”

“The algorithm produces not only highly accurate results, it is also highly efficient. Nandhini’s algorithm can sample millions of protein-protein interactions in a matter of minutes, which otherwise used to take weeks to simulate,” says Nangia.

Rajagopal was selected to present her computational method at the 2020 Gordon Research Conference (GRC), a premier scientific conference where a select group of researchers meet to discuss cutting-edge research in biological, chemical and physical sciences. Rajagopal’s presentation was well received by the experts in the field and led to multiple national and international collaborations.

The algorithm was published in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation and featured on the cover. For her outstanding work, Rajagopal won several notable awards:

• 2021 Merck Research Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Women Chemistry Committee
• 2020 ACS Chemical Computing Group Excellence Award for Graduate Students
• 2021 All University Doctoral Prize from the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
• 2021 Outstanding Graduate Student in Bioengineering
• 2021 Research Presentation Award, College of Engineering and Computer Science Research Day
• 2020 ���ϲ����� Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Biomaterials Research

Rajagopal is finishing up an externship at Genentech’s pharmaceutical development division and will begin a postdoctoral research position at pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim this summer.

She hopes to continue her current research and see how it could expand to cancer studies.

Energy, Environment and Smart Materials

• First Prize: “Light-Induced Self-Writing: A Novel Approach to Develop Organized Polymer Composite Materials.” Shreyas Pathreeker; Advisor Ian Hossein
• Second Prize: “Development of Inside Out Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for Combined Heat and Power Systems.” Alexander Hartwell, Advisor Jeongmin Ahn
• Third Prize: “HYDRUS-1D Modeling to Represent Hydrologic Performance of the OnCenter Green Roof.” Courtney Gammon; Advisor Cliff Davidson

Communication and Security

• First Prize: “Optimized Virtual Antenna Array of Wideband Narrow Beam MIMO System for Overlapped Virtual Elements.” Richard Tanski, Advisor: Jay Lee
• Second Prize: “Coverage in Networks with Hybrid Terahertz, Millimeter Wave and Microwave Transmissions.” Xueyuan Wang, Advisor: M. Cenk Gursoy
• Third Prize: “An Efficient Deep Capsule Network with Interleaved Sparse Connections and Attention-Based Routing.” Chenbin Pan, Advisor: Senem Velipasalar

��Sensors, Robotics and Smart Systems

• First Prize: “Towards Disaster Recovery: Incorporating the Uncertainties Caused by Cyber Attacks in Controlled Islanding.” Sagnik Basumallik, Advisor: Sara Eftekharnejad
• Second Prize: “Real-Time Adaptive Sensor Attack Detection in Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems.” Francis Akowuah, Advisor: Fanxin Kong
• Third Prize (tie): “Data Generation for Transient Stability Assessment to Address Lack of Training Data.” Rui Ma, Advisor: Sara Eftekharnejad, and “Soft Crawling Inchworm Robot Enabled by Dynamically Tunable Friction.” Siavash Sharifi, Advisor: Wanliang Shan

Health and Well-Being

• First Prize: “Investigation of the Effects of Electrochemical Reactions on Complex Metal Tribocorrosion Within the Human Body.” Thomas Welles; Advisor Jeongmin Ahn
• Second Prize: “Prediction of Tight Junction Strand Architecture.” Nandhini Rajagopal, Advisor: Shikha Nangia
• Third Prize: “Persister Control by Leveraging Dormancy Associated Reduction of Antibiotic Efflux.” Sweta Roy; Advisor: Dacheng Ren

Mark Glauser

The board provides independent recommendations to the Secretary of the Army, the Chief of Staff of the Army and the Secretary of Defense on important science, technology and management issues. Glauser joined the board in 2013 as a contractor; he became a full member of the board in 2014 and finished his second, three-year term in 2020.

Glauser previously worked as a program manager for the Air Force Office of Scientific Research from 1996 to 1999. When he joined the board, he brought his experience at a leading research university and an understanding of how the Department of Defense operates.

“When I had the opportunity, I was pleased to be able to do it. I felt I wanted to use a skill set I have to contribute to our soldiers,” says Glauser.

In an announcement of the award, the Army described Glauser’s commitment to the Army Science Board. “He has earned a remarkable reputation for selfless service throughout the United States Army and the Department of Defense,” the announcement stated. “His exceptional devotion and dedication to duty reflect great credit upon him, the United States Army and our nation.”

Glauser’s experience with current technologies, especially his work with unmanned aerial vehicles and research on turbulent flows and nonlinear stochastic systems in general, was valuable to a number of Army Science Board studies. On multiple instances, Glauser was asked to brief high-level Army leaders on next generation technology or research.

“It has been a great experience for me, I have been able to make some significant contributions and work on some interesting problems,” says Glauser.

Glauser is open to returning to full board member status in the summer of 2021 and providing guidance for years to come.

“It is a nice way for me to contribute and stay active,” says Glauser.

Air quality is essential to a healthy building. It can impact occupant health and productivity, energy efficiency and real estate value. The quality of air is affected by the presence of pollutants in the indoor environment that may cause harm. When IAQ is poor, occupants can experience a drop in productivity as well as adverse health effects, such as asthma and bronchitis. The concentration of some pollutants can be two to five times higher indoors than typical outdoor concentrations.

Jensen Zhang

“Indoor air quality isn’t a buzz word—it’s a critical factor in creating safer, healthier building environments,” says Manish Sharma, vice president and chief technology and product officer, Honeywell Building Technologies. “Our work with ���ϲ����� will measure the performance of a variety of emerging indoor air quality technologies to not only improve occupant productivity and well-being but also help building owners understand the best solutions for different building environments and situations. In the long term, this will help them to better attract occupants, manage energy efficiency and improve their real estate value.”

The principal investigator is Jensen Zhang, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and the co-principal investigators are Bing Dong, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Dacheng Ren, associate dean for research and graduate programs.

“This is a fantastic partnership, and we’re excited to work with Honeywell on indoor air quality research that benefits people all over the world,” says J. Cole Smith, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. “Professors Jensen Zhang and Bing Dong have been at the forefront of indoor air quality research and the Honeywell Indoor Air Quality Lab at Link Hall will enhance our world-class research abilities.”

“When private industry and academia team up, we can create meaningful change. This collaboration will help identify potential solutions to further improve indoor air quality and create healthier building environments to enhance the occupant experience,” says Suresh Venkatarayalu, chief technology officer, Honeywell.

Bing Dong

The Honeywell Indoor Air Quality Lab at ���ϲ����� will be used to solve several research objectives to determine the impact of air quality on human productivity and creativity. Faculty will use the lab to conduct direct, side-by-side comparisons of next-generation indoor air quality improvement technologies and advanced building systems, in a controlled practical building environment, to provide a comparative analysis of the technologies based on key IAQ parameters measured by sensors and through AI-driven HVAC controls. The research will include characterizing and evaluating IAQ sensors. The research will help building owners and operators better determine the right technologies to meet specific building conditions and goals.

Additionally, the research will develop artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for dynamic ventilation management. The intent is to identify new ventilation strategies that comply with ASHRAE 62.1 IAQ standards while also achieving goals such as improved occupant productivity, with potentially fewer sick days, as well as enhanced energy savings.

“We are excited to collaborate with Honeywell indoor air quality research and development. People typically spend 80 to 90 percent of their times indoors, and occupant exposure to the various gas, particulate and biological contaminants found indoors has tremendous impacts on human health, productivity and creativity,” says Zhang. “The Honeywell and ���ϲ����� collaboration will lead to energy-efficient and cost-effective approaches and technologies to improving indoor environmental quality and reducing the risk of infectious disease transmission, as we look to improve social, economic and environmental conditions.”

Honeywell offers an integrated set of solutions to help building owners improve the health of building environments, operate more cleanly and safely, comply with social distancing policies, and help reassure occupants that it is safer to return to the workplace. The Honeywell Healthy Buildings solutions can support the needs of any building and features specific solutions for premium commercial buildings, airports, hospitality, health care, stadiums and educational institutions.

Honeywell’s integrate air quality, safety and security technologies along with advanced analytics to help building owners minimize potential risks of contamination and improve business continuity by monitoring both the building environment and building occupants’ behaviors.

About ���ϲ�����
���ϲ����� is a private research university that advances knowledge across disciplines to drive breakthrough discoveries and breakout leadership. Our collection of 13 schools and colleges with over 200 customizable majors close the gap between education and action, so students can take on the world. In and beyond the classroom, we connect people, perspectives and practices to solve interconnected challenges with interdisciplinary approaches. Together, we’re a powerful community that moves ideas, individuals and impact beyond what’s possible.

About Honeywell Building Technologies
Honeywell Building Technologies (HBT) is a global business with more than 18,000 employees. HBT creates products, software and technologies found in more than 10 million buildings worldwide. Commercial building owners and operators use our technologies to help create safe, energy efficient, sustainable and productive facilities. For more news and information on Honeywell Building Technologies, visit .

Honeywell () is a Fortune 100 technology company that delivers industry specific solutions that include aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit .

The program’s goal is to help engineering, engineering technology and computing programs promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in member colleges and in the professional world.

“I am thrilled that our collective efforts to support the college’s strategic goals, and the DEI advancements in our policies, procedures, practices and programs, positioned ���ϲ�����’s College of Engineering and Computer Science to be among select best in class institutions who received this national recognition,” says Assistant Dean for Inclusive Excellence Karen Davis.

���ϲ�����’s bronze status from the ASEE is valid for three years and begins in 2021. The ASEE says timetables for silver and gold recognition will be posted in the future.