seas news - School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Transcription

seas news - School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
newsletter
6/12/02
2:50 PM
seas
Page 1
seas
news
SPRING 2002
VOLUME VIII
NUMBER I
School of Engineering
and Applied Sciences
IN THIS ISSUE...
UB Alumni Association Awards Celebrate
Excellence at the Annual Banquet
Faculty News
Research
Development
BEAM
• Alumni News
• Student News
• Calendar
•
•
•
•
Three indivuduals associated with SEAS won top awards at the
UB Alumni Association’s 2002 Celebration of Excellence
Joseph
Allen
Receives
Cooke
Award
James
McLernon
Accepts
Capen
Award
Joseph P. Allen was awarded the 2002 Walter
P. Cooke Award.
James W. McLernon (BS IE ‘50) was honored
with the 2002 Samuel P. Capen Award.
The award is given each year to a non-alum
for meritorious contributions to UB, such
as influencing its growth and improvement and
stimulating others to take an interest in the university and give material support.
The award recognizes notable alumni
contributions to UB and its family that
influence the growth and improvement
of UB and/or stimulate others to becoming
interested in the university and give it material
support. It is the alumni association's most
prestigious award.
Allen is hard to classify: what do you
call someone who has gone from academic to
astronaut to entrepreneur in a thirty year
career? An entredeminaut? Add to this his work
as technical advisor on the film Armeggedon
(in which he makes a cameo) and his recent
induction into the U.S. National Wrestling Hall
of Fame and Allen seems to give new meaning
to the term “renaissance man.”
(continued on pg. 15)
McLernon is an internationally recognized
leader in the automotive industry. His
extraordinary career got its start on the
automotive assembly line at General Motors
(Tonawanda), where he worked for 27 years,
eventually moving up to managerial positions
at several manufacturing sites before leaving
to become President of Volkswagen of
(continued on pg. 15)
Kevin
Parker
Wins
Furnas
Award
Kevin J. Parker (BS Engineering Science ‘76)
was presented with the Clifford C. Furnas
Memorial Award.
The Furnas Award is given annually to an alum
to recognize superior achievements in a field
of science. It goes to a graduate of the School
of Engineering and Applied Sciences or
one of the natural sciences or mathematics
disciplines within the College of Arts and
Sciences.
Parker, who received his Ph.D. from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981,
is currently the Dean of Engineering and
Applied Sciences at the University of
Rochester. He is also a professor of electrical
engineering and radiology and the director of
UR's Center for Biomedical Ultrasound.
(continued on pg. 15)
Peckham Honored With Dean’s Award
The Dean’s Award for Achievement is given this year to UB alumnus Lawrence L. Peckham (BS IE ‘69).
The award is the school’s highest honor given to someone who has made a substantial contribution to the practice
of engineering or the applied sciences and/or has had an exceptional professional career. Quite often the recipient
has also performed outstanding service for the school or university.
Peckham meets all of these criteria. He founded his own business, Larry Peckham Associates (LPA) in Rochester,
which has revolutionized supply chain planning software and become the industry leader in that product. He has
also devoted much time to his alma mater, where he has served as a member of the school’s Dean’s Council, as well
as guest lectured about his experiences in the field.
Peckham graduated from the University at Buffalo in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial
Engineering. Upon graduation he accepted a position in Distribution Engineering at the Xerox Corporation in
(continued on pg. 15)
A PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES AND THE UB ENGINEERING ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
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Page 2
Alexandridis
Receives Young
Investigator Award
of amphiphilic block copolymers—long
molecules made by combining molecules that
have affinities for different media, such as
hydrophobic versus hydrophilic—to develop
useful products.
Paschalis Alexandridis, associate professor in
UB’s Department of Chemical Engineering, has
been chosen to receive the prestigious 2002
Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award.
The ability to exploit these copolymers will
lead to significant new markets for products
in a broad range of industries, ranging from
paints and coatings to pharmaceuticals
and personal-care products such as
shampoo/conditioners.
The national award, given every two years by
Sigma Xi, the international science honors
organization, recognizes an individual for his
or her scientific accomplishments, research and
ability to communicate his or her work to the
general public.
Alexandridis
was
recognized for work
uncovering fundamental
principles behind the
ability of amphiphilic
(dual-nature) molecules
to self-assemble, work
that is aimed at making
intricate structures at
scales ranging from
nanometer (one billionth
of a meter) to micrometer
(one millionth of a
meter).
Alexandridis is an expert in tuning chemical
systems to fully exploit the properties
The NSF recently funded his study on how
polar organic solvents used in water-based
paints affect other ingredients in paints such
as polymers, surfactants and latex. The goal
is to replace volatile organic solvents and
hazardous air pollutants now used in
water-based formulations with paints that
work as well as or even better than current
products but are more environmentally
friendly.
Alexandridis has had funding from and
research collaborations with companies such
as Procter & Gamble, Bausch & Lomb and
Xerox. Western New York companies that have
funded his work include Quebecor World
Buffalo Inc., Technicor, Inc., and Protective
Closures Co., Inc.
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seas news • spring 2002
To further our efforts to attract top students
to graduate programs in the School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences, the
Office of Graduate Enrollment Management
is looking for graduate alumni volunteers to
help contact perspective graduate students
and promote the benefits that SEAS can offer
them. For more information, please contact
Jim Michalowski at 716-645-2771 ext. 1227
or at [email protected].
Soong has been with UB for almost forty years.
Among his many contributions to the university, he was a co-principal investigator of the
National Science Foundation grants that
established the National Center for
Earthquake Engineering Research in 1986 and
the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake
Engineering Research in 1997.
Tsu Teh Soong, Samuel P. Capen Professor of
engineering science, received the prestigious
2002 Nathan M. Newmark medal from the
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Soong is a leading researcher in engineering
structural dynamics, reliability and control, and
has focused much of his work on passive—and
active-control systems for protecting structures
against potential damage from earthquakes,
HELP US BRING TOP GRADUATE
STUDENTS TO SEAS
Since coming to UB in 1997, Alexandridis has
received almost $1.2 million in research
Soong Receives
Prestigious
Newmark Medal
The award is given annually to a member
of ASCE who, through contributions in
structural mechanics, has helped substantially
to strengthen the scientific base of structural
engineering. Soong merited the award for his
“pioneering work, innovations and leadership
in the theory and applications of structural
control systems in civil infrastructure facilities.”
grants. He has authored or co-authored more
than 90 scientific papers and given more than
90 lectures at scientific conferences. He is a
recipient of the NSF Faculty Early Career
Development Award, the Dow Outstanding
New Faculty Award from the American Society
for Engineering Education and a lectureship
award from the Japan Research Institute of
Material Technology.
Soong was twice awarded the Humboldt
Foundation Senior U.S. Scientist Award. He
was also the 1999 recipient of ASCE’s Norman
Medal and has been honored by the
Erie/Niagara Chapter of the National Society
of Professional Engineers with its Engineering
Educator of the Year Award (1986) and its
Historical Engineering Achievement Award
(1995).
strong winds and waves. He has authored
seven books and more than 250 technical
publications, and his research has been
applied to structures in the United States,
Japan and China.
The 2000 recipient of the Newmark Medal was
another SEAS faculty member, George C. Lee,
Samuel P. Capen Professor of Engineering and
Director of the Multi-Disciplinary Center for
Earthquake Engineering.
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UB Inaugurates
New Professorial
Awards
UB has established three series of new awards to
recognize faculty for their outstanding research.
The awards are: UB Distinguished Professor,
Sustained Achievement Award and Young
Investigator Award.
The UB Distinguished Professor designation
was created by the Office of the Provost “to
recognize those full professors who have
achieved true distinction and who are leaders in
their fields,” says Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi.
The first group of UB Distinguished Professors
includes:
Colin Drury, Department of Industrial
Engineering. Drury's work is concentrated on
the application of human-factors techniques to
manufacturing and maintenance processes. He
has more than 200 publications on topics in
industrial process control, quality control,
aviation maintenance and safety. He was the
founding executive director of The Center for
Industrial Effectiveness, which works with
regional industries to improve competitiveness
and has been credited with creating and saving
thousands of jobs in the region. Drury currently
heads the FAA Research Group at UB, which
works to apply current theory in the area
of human factors and ergonomics to improve
the task structure, environment and training
facilities used in aviation maintenance.
Peyman Givi, Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering. Givi's research interests
include thermal-fluid science, turbulence,
combustion, multiphase transport and
computational methods and numerical
algorithms. He is director of the Computational
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Laboratory. His most
recent work, published in March in Physics of
Fluids, resulted in the development of a novel
method of computing and modeling turbulent
reacting flows that produces results equivalent
to those generated by expensive supercomputers
and is anywhere from 30 to 100 times less
expensive to use.
Russ Miller, Department of Computer Science
and Engineering. Director of the Center for
Computational Research—one of the leading
academic supercomputing sites in the United
States—Miller also is a senior research scientist
at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research
Institute (HWI) and an adjunct professor of
electrical engineering at UB. His research currently focuses on the “shake-and-bake” method
of molecular structure determination, which
was mentioned on the poster “The Top Ten
Algorithms of the Century,” published in
Computing Science & Engineering. His
research interests include parallel algorithms,
image processing and computational
crystallography.
Another award series, Sustained Achievement
Awards, was created to recognize long-term
contribution to science and/or engineering.
Six SEAS faculty were named in this first-ever
recognition.
Paschalis Alexandridis, associate professor
of chemical engineering. He has become the
key player in the study of amphiphilic block
copolymers. The main goal of the research in
the Alexandridis group is to control the
unique ability of amphiphilic molecules (such
as block copolymers, surfactants, and lipids,
which have an affinity for different solvent
environments) to self-assemble at various
conformations and length-scales in order to
(a) formulate novel and improved carriers for
the delivery of active compounds (useful in
e.g., coatings, pharmaceutics, personal care
products, and foods), and (b) to generate
nanomaterials having multiple levels of
organization at the nm- m level and
prescribed topology (useful in e.g.,
membranes, photonics, diagnostics, and
microfluidics applications). Alexandridis’
research has been cited over 1750 times (ISI
Citation Index) since 1993; a paper in
Macromolecules has 242 citations alone, and
another in Colloid Surface A has 194! He’s
published 72 peer-reviewed papers and made
more than 150 technical presentations.
Rajan Batta, professor and chair of industrial
engineering. He is an internationally recognized
expert in the field of Operations Research
(OR), which concerns analytic models and
algorithms for optimizing the performance of
real world systems, under uncertainty. His
research area is a particularly difficult one,
being at the junction of deterministic and
stochastic OR, and including sub-areas such
as stochastic location theory. He ranks among
the top few people in the world in two distinct
and important areas of research: facility
location modeling and analysis and the quantitative modeling of urban service systems
especially relating to the transportation of
hazardous materials. Batta’s research has been
funded by NSF, the National Institute of
Justice and numerous corporate entities such
as Lockheed-Martin.
David Kofke, professor of chemical engineering. His research in the field of molecular
simulation methodologies is very highly
regarded. It is a body of work that has paved
the way for the study of phase equilibria and
other phenomena via molecular simulation,
and it represents a lasting contribution to that
field. His research aims to improve the ability
and usability of molecular simulation to
describe the properties of materials. He is
widely known and admired in the wider
statistical mechanics community; his visibility
and stature goes well beyond the national
level. His Gibbs-Duhem integration method is
now the standard approach for the efficient
calculation of freezing lines, as well as
isotropic-nematic boundaries, by molecular
simulation. Kofke’s research has been cited
over 850 times (ISI Citation Index) since 1983.
He’s attracted over $1M in peer-reviewed
funding from NSF, Department of Energy and
other sources since 1994. He’s published 58
peer-reviewed papers and made more than
100 technical presentations.
Alan Selman, professor of computer science
and engineering. He is an internationally
reputed scholar who has made many pioneering
contributions to the structure of computational
complexity classes. This work is important
because it characterizes in a precise mathematical
way what is meant by a hard computational
problem. He is described as the principal
architect of the modern study of complexity
classes, and his papers have been the starting
point of many investigations. Selman has
produced numerous noteworthy and
technically sophisticated results and his work
has had substantial and continued impact on
young workers and has pointed the way to
much further work. His results on polynomialtime reducibilities, P-selective sets, and
function classes, as well as ideas related to
public-key cryptography are described as
contributions of keen insight.
Stuart Shapiro, professor of computer science
and engineering. Shapiro is one of the
pioneers of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a field
of Computer Science and Engineering in
which he has been working for about 35 years.
The goal of his research has been to create
intelligent agents that understand and interact
with humans in a natural language such as
English. His work is also known outside of AI,
in closely related fields such as deductive
databases and logic programming. Shapiro is
editor-in-chief of the award winning “The
Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence” (John
Wiley & Sons); author of three books, and
author or co-author of over 190 technical
articles and reports.
C. P. Yu, professor of mechanical and aerospace
engineering. He has done pioneering work
on developing analytical models for the
inhalation, the deposition, and the clearance
and retention of aerosol particles and fibers in
animal and human lungs. This fundamental
(continued on pg. 4)
seas news • spring 2002
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Page 4
Hlavacek Named
Honorary Doctor
Vladimir Hlavacek, C.C. Furnas Professor of
Eminence in the department of chemical
engineering, was made an Honorary Doctor of
Chemical Sciences by the Technical University of
Bratislava in the Slovak Republic.
The title is similar in Slovakian academe to
being named a member of the National
Academy of Engineering in the U.S. The
Ministry of Education allows a university
to grant only one such degree every four years.
The candidate must also be approved by the
president of the Board of Universities and the
minister of education.
Hlavacek (C) with Vladimir Bales (L)
and Ludovit Molnar (R) of the Slovak
University of Technology
Hlavacek was an adjunct professor at the
university for seven years, during which time
he instituted new courses and helped improve
others; supervised doctoral students, all of
whom went on to distinguished careers;
consulted with local chemical companies; and
conducted research in the area of absorption
and reaction engineering, which lead to six
papers published in international journals.
After the fall of the communist regime in
1990, Hlavacek also helped Slovakian students
to attend graduate school in the U.S., several of
whom have pursued or are currently pursuing
their studies at UB.
In 1981, Hlavacek joined UB from the
Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague.
He has published over 400 reviewed technical
papers in the areas of chemical reaction
engineering, material science, ceramic
engineering, pollution control, environmental
engineering, combustion, detonation and
applied mathematics. He has also presented
over 450 lectures and seminars at universities,
industrial and governmental research labs
around the world.
Hlavacek's honors include the NASA Award
for Outstanding Research, the R.H. Wilhelm
Award from the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the
National Award for Eminence in Chemical
Engineering. He is a Fellow of AIChE.
UB Inaugurates (continued from page 3)
work was supported by grants from the National
Institute of Environmental Health Science, the
National Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood,
and the National Institute of Occupational
Safety and Health. Yu has published over 160
papers in archival journals and has made over
130 conference presentations. He has been PI on
over two million dollars of funded research
from sponsors such as NSF, NASA, and NIH. He
has graduated 20 Ph.D. students and over 30
M.S. students. Seven of his former students are
university faculty, two are CEO’s of companies,
and three are directors of research and
development.
Three SEAS faculty are recipients of UB’s new
Young Investigator Awards.
Ann Bisantz, assistant professor of industrial
engineering. She is the recipient of a National
Science Foundation CAREER Award. Bisantz
has distinguished herself in research and
creative activities in the area of human
performance modeling. Her research has been
supported by the U.S. Air Force Research Lab,
NSF, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency
and Logicon Technical Services.
4
seas news • spring 2002
John Crassidis, assistant professor of mechanical
and aerospace engineering, received his Ph.D.
from UB in 1993. Crassidis’ research focus is
on guidance, navigation and control of
dynamical systems - e.g., spacecrafts and space
stations. He is co-authoring a book, “An
Introduction to Optimal Estimation of
Dynamical Systems.” Crassidis’ work has
attracted considerable funding. He is currently
PI on four contracts and co-PI on three others.
He was also PI on five past grants. The total
funding to date is $2.4M, primarily from
NASA centers, of which $880,000 is his share.
Sriram Neelamegham, co-director of the
Center for Bioengineering and assistant
professor of chemical engineering. His main
research projects focus on developing a better
understanding of the cellular/biophysical
processes that regulate human inflammatory
diseases and thrombosis. Neelamegham has
received competitive and prestigious
peer-reviewed grant awards from a range of
foundations including the United Engineering
Foundation, Henry and Camille Dreyfus
Foundation, the Whitaker Biomedical
Engineering Foundation and the American
Heart Association. He is also the PI of a single
investigator RO1 grant from NIH that
examines human leukocyte functions.
Greetings & Farewells
SEAS would like to welcome:
Brenda Sireci, who joins Science and
Engineering Node Services as a Senior
Programmer/Analyst
Christina Tsai, who joins the
department of civil, structural and
environmental engineering as an assistant
professor. Tsai, who received her Ph.D.
from the University of Illinois at
Urbana Champaigne, is interested in
open channel hydraulics and wave
mechanics in surface flow, among
other things.
SEAS wishes the best to:
Lena Algeri, administrative assistant
in the Multidisciplinary Center for
Earthquake Engineering Research
(MCEER), who is retiring after serving
SEAS since 1994.
Tom Hill, lecturer in the department of
industrial engineering, who is retiring.
Tom has received consistantly positive
feedback from the numerous
undergraduate students that he has
taught over the years.
Michael Kukla, a senior research
support specialist with MCEER
Information Services, who leaves after
twelve years with the SEAS.
Chung Receives SUNY
Outstanding Inventor
Award
Deborah D.L. Chung, Niagara Mohawk Chair
Professor of Materials Research of Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineering and Director of
the Composite Materials Research Laboratory,
received an Outstanding Inventor Award from
the SUNY Chancellor in a ceremony in Albany
on May 20.
Her research has covered many materials,
including lightweight structural materials,
construction materials, smart materials,
absorption materials, battery electrode materials,
solar cell materials and electronic packaging
materials. She is the inventor of smart
concrete, one of the inventions for which she
was awarded a patent. Chung has submitted
70 disclosures, has 15 patents issued and one
provisional application pending. Two of her
patented technologies have been licensed. In
addition, she has authored textbooks,
reference books, encyclopedia articles and
more than 350 papers that have been
published in journals.
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Page 5
“Breakthrough”
in Stimulated
Emission Achieved
A team from UB's Institute for Lasers, Photonics
and Biophotonics has made the first observation
of a phenomenon called stimulated emission by
direct three-photon excitation, which occurs
when three photons of lower energy are
simultaneously absorbed to reach a higher
energy state. The findings were included
in a recent edition of the journal Nature.
VR Research Recreates
Ancient Mesopotamia
Nearly 2,700 years after it was buried in the
Mesopotamian earth, the crumbled, plundered, and now spectacular palace of the
ancient Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II will,
within the next year, open its virtual doors to
visitors from around the world. Upon entering
the palace, they will view a historically
accurate, complex, detailed and high-resolution
virtual world.
Applications of the phenomenon could lead to
technological advances including sharper
pictures on computer monitors, higher-quality
long-distance telephone lines, more stable
optical fiber networks and the ability to visualize
and destroy deep tumors with light.
The work also demonstrates an important
phenomenon called upconversion, three-photon
pumped frequency upconversion, in which
fluorescent emissions are produced with higher
energy than the laser's pumping photon.
"This is a breakthrough for demonstrating that
highly efficient, three-photon absorbing materials
can be produced that can act as a medium for
upconversion lasing," said Paras Prasad, executive
director of the institute, a SUNY Distinguished
Professor in the departments of chemistry,
physics, electrical engineering and medicine and
a co-author of the paper.
The work was supported by the U.S. Air Force
Office of Scientific Research and the polymer
branch of the U.S. Air Force Research
Laboratory at Dayton.
STUDENTS AVAILABLE
SEAS is continually looking for
placement opportunities for its
students in summer, co-op, and
internship employment,as well
as career positions.
Please contact Dean Millar at
(716) 645-2768, ext. 1112 or via
email, [email protected]
The visit will be made possible by UB
archeologists, engineers and computer
scientists who have been digging with digital
tools to produce the next era of instructional
devices.
Swihart Presents
First Seminar
for the IT
Collaboratory
Mark T. Swihart, Assistant Professor in the
Department of Chemical Engineering,
presented the first seminar in the seminar
series for the IT Collaboratory, a NYSTAR
sponsored center of excellence in information
technology that is headquartered at Rochester
Institute of Technology, but also has components
at UB and at Alfred University. The largest
number of participants are at UB, and that
activity is centered in the Institute for Lasers,
Photonics, and Biophotonics.
Swihart’s seminar, “Experimental and
Modeling Studies on the Nucleation and
Growth of Silicon Nanoparticles from the
Vapor Phase” was held on January 14, 2002 in
the Baldy Hall distance learning facility at UB
and sent to RIT. He presented a brief overview
of his work in the area of nanoparticles,
including:
These multiuser, multimedia, real-time virtual
realms will be available for exploration by
a diverse audience through hardware ranging
from hand-held devices to fully immersive
environments.
① Manual and automated construction
The undertaking involves a team of
archeologists, architects and engineers from the
University at Buffalo, the University of Warsaw
and the University of Oregon. UB groups
involved include: the Virtual Reality
Laboratory and the New York State Center for
Engineering
Design
and
Industrial
Innovation, SEAS, and the Center for
Computational Research.
dynamics models to predict particle
concentrations and size distributions
in simple reactor geometries
Participants from SEAS include Thenkurussi
Kesavadas, assistant professor of mechanical
and aerospace engineering (MAE); Stuart
C. Shapiro, professor of computer science and
engineering; and Young-Seok Kim and Parijat
A. Bhide, MAE graduate students.
The results will be published both on DVD
and on the Internet to allow for the integration
of live updates, distance-education features,
and links to new information as it arises.
Prototypes can be seen at:
http://www.classics.buffalo.edu/htm/UBVir
tualSiteMuseum/summaryNimrud.htm
(UB’s Virtual Site Museum), or at:
http://www.learningsites.com/NWPalace/N
WPalhome.html
of chemically detailed models of the
nucleation of silicon nanoparticles during
gas-phase thermal decomposition of silane
② Incorporation of these models into aerosol
③ Production of silicon nanoparticles in
our laser-driven aerosol reactor system
and dependence of nanoparticle size and
properties on reaction conditions
④ Post-processing and characterization
of these silicon nanoparticles to achieve
photoluminescence properties useful
for applications in microelectronics,
nanophotonics, and bio-imaging
Contact SEAS News!
Email: [email protected]
Mail to: SEAS News; UB School
of Engineering and Applied
Sciences; 415 Bonner Hall;
Buffalo, NY 14260
seas news • spring 2002
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Page 6
Most Accurate Model of
Turbulent Reacting Flows
Produced
The incredible complexity of turbulent
combustion has made modeling it and systems
in which it is a goal that current researchers
know probably won't be reached in their
lifetimes. The reason is that present difficulties
of modeling turbulence are compounded
by the complexities of strong, non-linear
interactions between turbulence and the
chemical reactions that occur during combustion.
Using a computational method called direct
numerical simulation, Cyrus K. Madnia, associate
professor of mechanical and aerospace
engineering, and his colleagues in the
Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
have performed simulations that are the closest
to date to a true model of the physics of
chemically reacting turbulent flows.
The work, published in the current issue of the
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, comes closest to
mimicking the turbulent reacting flows that
occur in hydrocarbon
combustion
without taking into
account complex
c h e m i s t r y.
Knowledge of how
these
turbulent
flows affect internal
combustion could
greatly improve the
efficiency and enviCyrus K. Madnia ronmental impact of
all kinds of engines.
"Several decades from now, we still will not be
able to simulate internal combustion," remarked
Madnia. "But with this research, we are pushing
the limit of direct numerical simulations for
simulating turbulent combustion."
LES Results Equal
More Expensive
Supercomputer
Simulations
A novel method of computing and modeling
turbulent reacting flows
developed by engineers
in the Computational
Fluid
Dynamics
Laboratory produces
results equivalent to
those generated by
Peyman Givi expensive supercomputers
and is anywhere from 30 to 100 times less
expensive to use.
The method is the focus of an article in the
March 2002 issue of Physics of Fluids. Peyman
Givi, UB distinguished professor of mechanical
and
aerospace
engineering
(MAE),
is co-author of the paper with L.Y. M. Gicquel,
(PhD ME ‘01) who is now a research scientist
at CERFACS in France; Farhad A. Jaberi,
Ph.D., former SEAS post-doctoral researcher
who is an associate professor of mechanical
engineering at Michigan State University; and
Stephen B. Pope, Ph.D., MAE professor
at Cornell University.
Givi and his colleagues overturn the
conventional wisdom in the field that
a computational technique called Large Eddy
Simulations (LES) will not describe complex
reacting flows with the same accuracy as
attained by Direct Numerical Simulation
(DNS), which requires supercomputers. Most
engineers and engine designers cannot access
supercomputers because of the time and
expense involved, so they generally still use
Reynolds Averaging Simulation (RAS), a much
older technique that, according to Givi,
produces “smeared” results.
Co-authors on the paper are Daniel Livescu
(PhD ME '02), formerly a doctoral candidate
with the Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering who now is at Los
Alamos National Laboratory, and Farhad A.
Jaberi (PhD ME '96), formerly a post-doctoral
researcher at UB who is an associate professor
of mechanical engineering at Michigan State
University.
This work is sponsored by the National Science
Foundation, and by donors to the Petroleum
Research Fund administrated by the American
Chemical Society.
seas news • spring 2002
For comparisons with DNS, the researchers
used supercomputers in SEAS’ Center for
Computational Research and the National
Center for Supercomputing Applications at
the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign.
The work was funded by the U.S. Air Force
Office of Scientific Research and the NASA
Langley Research Center.
NSF Grant Means New
Wave of Scientists
The National Science Foundation awarded
$2.7 million to the University at Buffalo to
establish the nation’s first comprehensive,
multidisciplinary training program for
biophotonics scientists.
Over the five years covered by the grant, UB
will train approximately 40 new biophotonics
scientists at the doctoral level. The result will
be a new breed of 21st-century scientist, one
who is well-versed in and able to conduct
research in biological, photonic and
electronic systems.
“We will be educating the first wave of
scientists in this area and creating a prototype
for other multidisciplinary programs in the
future,” said Provost Elizabeth Capaldi.
The intersection of biology and light is replete
with promise for medicine, sensors, diagnostics,
and even computers. But because most
scientists in the field lack a broad background
in biology, engineering and chemistry, that
promise has yet to be fully realized. Alexander
Cartwright, associate professor of electrical
engineering and deputy director of the
Institute for Lasers, Photonics and
Biophotonics, believes the grant will help
solve this problem.
“Many of the most challenging problems in
science and medicine could be solved if the
scientists working on them were speaking the
same language,” he said. “This grant takes
a major step in that direction.”
l to r: DNS - all scales of fluid's motions are
fully resolved; LES - large scales of fluid's
motion are resolved, while small scales are
modeled; RAS - all flow scales of fluid's motion
are averaged in time.
“You can use this LES approach and get DNStype results,” said Givi. “People have known
about LES for a long time, but our results
6
demonstrate for the first time that we are able
to implement it for chemically reacting flows
and get reliable results.”
Cartwright is the principle investigator on the
grant, which recognizes UB’s status in the field
and the important research conducted by the
Institute for Lasers, Photonics and
Biophotonics. This is UB’s second prestigious
IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education,
Research and Training) grant, putting the
university into a select group: fewer than 20
universities in the U.S. have more than one
such award.
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Page 7
NSF Grant Funds More Accurate
Volcano Simulations
Technologies ranging from mathematical modeling, geologic simulation and geographic information
science to scientific computing and virtual reality are being combined by University at Buffalo
researchers for the first time to provide the most accurate information on the geologic dangers of volcanoes.
The multidisciplinary work, which involves simulations of active volcanoes, is being conducted under
a three-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Information Technology
Research Program.
Coordinating with counterparts in Mexico and focusing on three volcanoes in that country, researchers
with the Center for Computational Research, the New York State Center for Engineering Design and
Industrial Innovation and the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis are
simulating rock avalanches, pyroclastic flows and debris flows.
Abani Patra, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and principal investigator on
the grant, said that the stunning complexity of volcanoes requires that scientists from a broad range of
disciplines be involved in such a project.
“This project is not mainly computer science nor mathematics nor geology,” he explained. “Every
person’s talents are necessary. The project needs all of us.”
Patra will use novel computational methods to work on large-scale numerical computations. The
outputs of these computations will be very large data sets that must be converted into suitable visual
formats for users ranging from scientists to public-safety planners.
“What’s interesting and difficult about trying to do these simulations,” he explained, “is that you have
to consider so many complex variables: the rough terrain, the complex mix of solids and fluids, and
a whole range of things happening at multiple scales,” he said.
The team’s purpose is further complicated by its goal to develop simulations for two drastically
different classes of users — scientists and policymakers — so that detailed, technical data about the
flows of a particular volcano is available to government officials who must make critical evacuation
decisions, we well as citizens themselves.
Christina Bloebaum, director of the New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial
Innovation (NYSCEDII), Chair for Competitive Product and Process Design and professor of mechanical
and aerospace engineering and Thenkurussi (“Kesh”) Kesavadas, assistant professor of mechanical and
aerospace engineering, are trying to solve that problem. They will use detailed satellite data from
volcanoes to develop realistic, three-dimensional models and simulations of geophysical mass flows.
They will integrate simulation results, remote sensing data and geographic-information system data to
organize and present the information in a range of formats for scientists, decision-makers and,
ultimately, citizens.
By necessity, the research also will result in development of data-management and storage tools with
application in diverse fields, such as non-traditional computational methods for simulating complex
physical phenomena; a better understanding of the physics of granular flows; myriad virtual reality
tools; collaborative software that will allow multiple users in different locations to research dynamic,
complex, visual data in real time; better integration of simulations with geographic-information
science data, and new high-performance computational tools for the storage, manipulation and
visualization of vast amounts of data.
NSF Grant to Multiply
Data Storage 20x
A $1 million National Science Foundation
infrastructure award to store, manage and
analyze complex scientific data is boosting
pioneering research at the University at Buffalo
in bioinformatics, geographic information
science and other important research areas.
The grant provides UB with the computational
infrastructure necessary to manage, analyze and
visualize large-scale multidimensional data sets
that lie at the heart of some of UB’s most
cutting-edge research in drug design,
molecular-structure determination and the
understanding of complex geographic images.
The new system will provide the UB
Department of Computer Science and
Engineering with 20 times the amount of data
storage it now has in a centrally managed
resource that will assist affiliated researchers
working in the UB departments of geography
and pharmaceutical sciences and at HauptmanWoodward Medical Research Institute
and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
In emerging disciplines, such as bioinformatics
and geographic information science (GIS), the
issue of data storage has shifted dramatically
from one easily solved by filing cabinets and the
hard drives of PCs to one that can only be solved
by extremely specialized computer equipment.
“The bottom line is if you cannot store the data,
you cannot do the research,” stated Aidong
Zhang, associate professor of computer science
and engineering and principal investigator on
the grant. Having these machines on campus,
she explained, will enable UB’s computer
scientists to begin to develop the data analysis
and visualization systems that will make
working with such large data sets more efficient.
Zhang also pointed out that the new system will
be extremely reliable, another prerequisite for
storing such vast amounts of data, since losing
so much data would be catastrophic for any
research project.
Research projects that are named on the grant
include: determination of the 3-dimensional
structure of proteins; metadata and knowledge
extraction, representation and management in
geographic information; gene expression data
analysis; data visualization; and data
management.
seas news • spring 2002
7
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Faculty and
Staff News
Robert E. Baier, associate professor in SEAS
and professor of oral diagnostic science in the
School of Dental Medicine, as well as the
executive director of the Industry/University
Center for Biosurfaces, received the Founder’s
Award from the Society for Biomaterials, which
recognizes his lifelong contribution to the area
of biocompatibility.
Anne E. Meyer, adjunct associate professor of
engineering, research professor of oral diagnostic
sciences and director of the Industry/University
Center for Biosurfaces, received the William C.
Hall Award from the Society for Biomaterials—
the premier award for society members in
active service to the international biomaterials
community.
Deborah Walters, professor of computer
science and engineering, was invited to speak at
several prominent national and international
conferences this semester on topics related to
e-learning materials for higher education,
including the Scuola Superiore G. Reiss Romoli
Conference in L’Aquila, Italy and the
International Conference on IT and
Information Literacy in Glasgow, UK.
Alan Selman, professor of computer science
and engineering, has been selected to receive
the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Automata and
Computability Theory (ACM-SIGACT)
Distinguished Service Award. The award
honors Selman for years of distinguished
service to the SIGACT community. The award
will be presented at the annual ACM
Symposium on Theory of Computing
conference.
Michael Ryan, professor and associate dean for
undergraduate student services, and William
Wild, director of the Student Excellence
Initiative, collaborated on the paper “Retention
and Success of Engineering Undergraduates: A
Discussion of Retention-related Initiatives at
the University at Buffalo”, which was awarded
second place in the Freshman Programs
Division (FPD) 2002 Best Paper competition of
the American Society for Engineering
Education. Their award will be presented at the
annual FPD luncheon and business meeting,
June 18, 2002.
Stuart C. Shapiro, professor of computer
science and engineering, spent three weeks in
Japan as an Invitational Fellow of the Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science. Shapiro
8
seas news • spring 2002
Hwang Inaugerates
Distinguished Women’s
Speaker Series
visited a number of research laboratories in
Tokyo, Sapporo, Nara, and Kyoto, and gave
lectures at Tokyo University, The National
Institute of Informatics, Tokyo University of
Agriculture and Technology, Hokkaido
University, Nara Advanced Institute of Science
& Technology, The Communication Research
Laboratory, and Tokyo Institute of
Technology.
Bharat Jayaraman, who has been serving as
interim chair, has accepted a regular three year
term as Chair of the Department of
Computer Science and Engineering (CSE).
Andrei Reinhorn, professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering (CSEE),
received the 2002 Engineer-of-the-Year Award
from the Erie/Niagara Chapter of the New
York State Society of Professional Engineers.
Four SEAS faculty members—James N.
Jensen, Carl R. F. Lund, Alan J. Rabideau
and A. Scott Weber—received awards for
their work from the Environment and Society
Institute (ESI). Rabideau, professor in CSEE,
received his award from ESI’s Environmental
Management Alternatives Program for a study
of water quality in Letchworth State Park.
Jensen and Weber, both from CSEE, and
Lund, professor of chemical engineering,
received theirs from the Environmental
Science Interdisciplinary Research Program:
Jensen and Weber for "Methods Development
for the Analysis of Natural and Synthetic
Estrogens in Wastewater" and Lund for
"Feasibility Data for a New Class of
Environmentally-Friendly
Chlorination
Catalysts."
The American Society of Civil Engineers
awarded its Rudolph Hering Medal to
Chandragupta Ganguly, Chih Huang, Alan
J. Rabideau and John E. VanBenschoten for
their paper "Simple Metal Sorption Model for
Heterogeneous Sorbents: Application to
Humic Materials" featured in the August 1999
issue of the Journal of Environmental
Engineering. Ganguly is a computer consultant
with UB; Rabideau and VanBenschoten are
associate professors in CSEE.
Alexander Whittaker and Michael
Constantinou, both professors of CSEE,
together with Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers,
won the 2001 Grand Award of the American
Counsel of Consulting Engineers for their
design of the Ataturk Airport Terminal.
Jennie S. Hwang, founder and president of
H-Technologies Group, Inc. of Cleveland,
visited UB in February to discuss “Meeting
Market Demands: New and Emerging
Technologies for Electronic Packaging and
Assemblies.”
An internationally renowned authority in
surface mount technology, Hwang is the
author of more than 200 publications and five
textbooks. She is a member of the National
Academy of Engineering, an inductee of the
Women in Technology International Hall of
Fame and a fellow of ASM International.
She has received numerous awards, including
a Distinguished Alumni Award from Case
Western Reserve University, where she earned
a doctorate; a Special Achievement Award
from Kent State University; a Founder’s Award
from Surface Mount Technology Association;
a Women of Achievement Award from the
YWCA, and a U.S. Congressional Certificate
of Recognition and Achievement.
Her lecture was part of the Distinguished
Women Speaker Series sponsored by the
Institute for Research and Education on
Women and Gender and was presented in
conjunction with the Department of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
In her presentation, Hwang provided
a capsule view of key segments of electronics
hierarchy in market needs and in the
development of new technologies. She
highlighted key development areas in chip
level, package level and board level, as well as
critical supporting materials and infrastructure,
and concluded her talk by addressing some
select issues related to education, business and
technology.
The UB Office of Career Planning and
Placement (CP&P) recognized the following
SEAS faculty and staff for their “positive influence on students” as reported by students in
CP&P’s Year After Graduation Survey: Shahid
Ahmad, Paschalis Alexandridis, Betsy
Anderson, Stella Batalama, Stuart Chen,
Colin Drury, David Kofke, Dean Millar,
Joseph Mollendorf, William Rae, Melissa
Ruggiero, Pneena Sageev, Tim Siderakis,
Jennifer Zirnheld.
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Page 9
Veridian Donates Collection
Veridian, through its Buffalo operation, has donated an extensive
collection of engineering research materials and technical reports to the
University at Buffalo Libraries, making the collection available to the
public for the first time.
Campaign Update:
One Year and $1.5 Million To Go
Portions of the donated material date back to the 1940s when the
Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division laboratory was converted into a public
research institute, the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, which in 1972
became Calspan Corp. In 1978, it became an Arvin/Calspan Advanced
Technology Center, which became Veridian when Calspan and the
Alexandria, Va.-based Veda merged in 1997.
“We value our long history with Veridian and appreciate this gift of
historical journals and technical reports,” said Mark Karwan, dean
of SEAS.
“These materials represent an in-depth, high-technology research base
supporting both the academic and commercial sectors in Western New
York,” said Nancy Schiller, associate librarian in the Arts and Sciences
Libraries.
“It’s a win-win situation,” said Sue Doughtie, head librarian at Veridian.
“As our library converts to a more virtual resource, this ensures future
access to irreplaceable research material and allows us to share Veridian’s
rich technological heritage.”
According to William Rae, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in
the UB Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Veridian
has provided critical support in the development of the courses he
instructs in flight dynamics of airplanes and road vehicle dynamics.
Currently stored in UB’s Science and Engineering Library, the collection
will be processed and fully integrated into the Libraries’ collections by the
end of 2002. The technical report collections, when combined with the
existing University Library holdings, will create the most extensive
technical reports resources in Western New York.
The donated materials cover aeronautics and aerodynamics, chemistry,
computer sciences, engineering, environmental sciences, mathematical
sciences, physics, regulations, research administration and transportation. The material, much of it in microfiche, includes approximately
420,000 technical reports, 25,000 society papers and volumes of journals
and books.
Veridian’s gift is part of UB’s $250 million fund-raising campaign; one of
the largest ever conducted by a public university in New York and New
England. Although it’s the fifth major campaign conducted by UB of its
kind, it is the first national/international, university-wide, and alumnidriven campaign with volunteer leaders from all over the country. Funds
raised will be used to enrich academic programs, support undergraduates
to post-doctoral students and enhance university life.
Cumulative Giving Total by Fiscal Year (as of 4/30/02)
The comprehensive campaign for the School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences (SEAS) set a goal of $18 million back at the start of the public
phase of the campaign for UB after two increases of the goal during the
private phase.
I’m thrilled with what we’ve accomplished thus far, but we must work hard
to go over the top as we enter the final year of the campaign. Our school is
the largest and most comprehensive public school of engineering in New
York State and this is the first time SEAS has appealed to its alumni and
friends for support on this scale.
I would like to thank everyone who has already helped us with this
campaign. Your donation of both time and treasure is greatly appreciated.
Along with the several major gifts we’ve received during the campaign
from alumni, friends and corporate partners, we need all levels of support
from our entire alumni community. I ask all of you to consider contributing
to this campaign. Every dollar has impact and counts in the campaign
totals. Participation is key. In many national rankings of schools, the
participation rate of the alumni to the schools philanthropic effort is one
of the criteria used. At whatever level you feel comfortable with, please
consider your alma mater as part of your philanthropic activity this year.
Together I know we will realize our goal and continue improving our
school as a leader in Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Dean Mark Karwan
SEAS alumni and friends of the school wishing to make
a contribution to this campaign may do so by visiting:
www.eng.buffalo.edu/Alumni
Click on “Donor Support”, then click on “Give Online.”
seas news • spring 2002
9
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Page 10
Governor and Major Corporate
Executives Make Industry University
Day Largest-Ever
Capellas and Langstaff, both of whom spoke
at the event, received awards for the contributions
their companies made to establish the center,
which together totaled more than $95 million
in computers, hardware, software, and venture
capital.
UB President William R. Greiner
(right) presents Igniting Ideas
award to Governor Pataki
The School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences held its fourth Industry University Day
in May. The theme of the event was “Vital
Partners: Igniting Ideas.”
The event was co-hosted by William Greiner,
president of UB, and Mark Karwan, Dean of
SEAS.
In keeping with this theme, the event honored
three major contributors to the Buffalo Center
of Excellence in Bioinformatics: Governor
George E. Pataki, Michael D. Capellas,
of Hewlett Packard, and David H. Langstaff,
president and CEO of Veridian Corporation
(formerly Calspan).
Pataki, who was the keynote speaker at the
event, received an Igniting Ideas Award for his
leadership in establishing the center, which he
proposed early last year and as the catalyst for
creating thousands of high-tech jobs.
A collaborative effort involving New York State,
industry partners and academic institutions,
the center to date has attracted $50 million in
state funding and more than $150 million in
private-sector funding.
“Each of these outstanding leaders truly
exemplifies the spirit of the award, which
is grounded in our belief that great things
happen through collaboration,” said President
William Greiner.
“Buffalo is currently a leader in the developing
field of bioinformatics,” added Provost
Elizabeth Capaldi, “and with our corporate
and research partners we intend on keeping
that lead and producing a 21st-century economy
in Buffalo based on this superb science.”
Partners: Eric Mower and
Motorola; Praxair; SGI; Veridian
Associates;
Supporters: ATTO Technologies; Calspan-UB
Research Center, Inc.; Delaware North
Companies,
Inc.;
Lockneed
Martin
Corporation; Niagara Mohawk, a National
Grid Company; Phillips, Lytle, Hitchcock,
Blaine and Huber LLP; Sun Microsystems Inc.;
TXRX Systems / Bird Technologies; United
Airlines; Verizon; Xerox
Friends: Bristol-Myers Squibb Company;
Cartleton Technologies, Inc.; Carrier
Corporation; Fisher-Price; Hodgson Russ LLP;
Keller Technology Corporation; Moog Inc.;
Multisorb Technologies, Inc.; Ultra-Scan
Corporation.
“Building on the successful tradition of past
Industry University Days, this one was the
largest to date with over 400 in attendance,”
related Dean Karwan. “We thank our
colleague sectors for their continued,
generous support.”
Industry University Day included demonstrations
of new visual technology by the Center for
Computational Research and the New York
State Center for Engineering Design and
Industrial Innovation. There was also a
display that provided information about the
recently founded Office of Science,
Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach.
SEAS would specifically like to thank the
following corporate colleagues for generously
supporting SEAS and Industry University
Day:
Dean Mark Karwan (center)
with corporate executives
Michael D. Capellas (left) and
David H. Langstaff (right)
www.eng.buffalo.edu/events/iuday
10
seas news • spring 2002
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Page 11
The Dean’s Council
Visits San Diego
This year the Dean’s Council conducted its
semi-annual meeting in San Diego, where they
visited the University of California-San Diego
(UCSD), and conducted their agenda.
The council visited the USCD Supercomputing
Center, where Executive Director Richard
Moore and Associate Director Mark Sheddon
gave a presentation on the Center’s programs
and facilities. They then met with Robert Conn,
Dean of UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering,
and his staff. Conn gave a presentation on the
impressive growth and improved ranking of the
school in recent years.
Dean’s Council member Bob Goldsmith and
his wife Katherine hosted the business sessions,
which included presentations by George Lee
and Clifford Roblee (CalTran) on MCEER;
Andres Soom on Homeland Defense Initiatives;
Rajan Batta on the industrial engineering
program; and Robert Barnes on SEAS’ marketing
strategy. The council ended with an executive
session in which recommendations were made
to Dean Karwan and President Greiner.
Three new members were welcomed: Krishna
“Kittu” Kolluri (MS IE ‘88), CEO of Neoteris,
Inc.; Hadi Makarechian (BS CIE ‘72), chairman
of the board, CEO and president of Capital
Pacific Holdings, Inc.; and Frederick
G. Pohland, professor and Weidlein Chair of
Environmental Engineering and director of the
Dominion Center on Environment and Energy
at the University of Pittsburgh.
Clockwise from top: Krishna
“Kittu” Kolluri, Dean Mark
Karwan, Hadi Makarechian
and Frederick G. Pohland;
Clifford Roblee and George
Lee; President William Greiner
and chair of the Dean's
Council, Joseph Allen; Bob
and Katherine Goldsmith
We Would Like To Hear From You...
We have tried to upgrade the presentation of the newsletter both in content and format
to serve your interests. Please take a moment to let us know what you think.
SEAS is interested in what its alumni are doing. Please write a note or send an email to us
for a “class note” publication in an upcoming issue. Photos are also accepted (hard copies
will be scanned and returned to you; digital photos must be 300dpi).
Email: [email protected]
Mail to: SEAS News; UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; 415 Bonner Hall; Buffalo, NY 14260
seas news • spring 2002
11
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BEAM
Page 12
Buffalo-Area Engineering Awareness for Minorities
BEAM Celebrates
20th Anniversary
BEAM Recognizes Contributors at
Annual Breakfast
BEAM (Buffalo-Area Engineering Awareness for Minorities)
held its annual breakfast in February. The guest speaker was
Buffalo mayor Anthony M. Masiello, who spoke on the
importance of BEAM volunteers to the success and education
of Buffalo Public School Children.
The BEAM (Buffalo Area Engineering
Awareness for Minorities) program is celebrating
twenty years of service to Buffalo and Western
New York.
In May 1982, industry and university leaders including Donald E. White of Union Carbide
Corp. (now Praxair), Wayne L. Owens,
Coordinator of the National Action Council for
Minorities in Engineering, and George C. Lee,
then Dean of SEAS - came together to discuss
how they could get more minority students
interested in engineering and other technical
professions. Their answer was BEAM, a pre-college
program that combined the efforts of businesses, local universities and Buffalo and Niagara
Falls Public Schools to provide such students
with the academic tools they need to compete.
BEAM started with three local schools—Hutch
Tech, Buffalo Traditional and City Honors.
Thanks to the generous contributions of
companies like Praxair, which was honored with
Delta Sigma Pi’s Rose Award for Corporate
Social Awareness, 300 students in 16 area
schools plus over 650 students in 14 other
programs now participate in its clubs, summer
institutes, enrichment classes, internship
programs, and the many other services BEAM
provides.
Dean C. Millar, assistant dean for corporate
affairs in SEAS and former manager at Praxair,
emphasized that it was not just one individual
or company that made it thrive. “Team work has
been a key,” he said. “BEAM would never have
succeeded without its diverse brain-trust of
committed individuals throughout the community
who have volunteered their time and obtained
financial commitment from their organizations.”
The success of the program is in no way better
illustrated than by the endeavors of its students,
who have received degrees in technical fields
from such noted universities as Yale, University
of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia and
North Carolina State University, in addition to
UB. Many of these students return to Buffalo
after they graduate.
12
seas news • spring 2002
Seven individuals were honored:
• Charles Campbell, Sr. Outstanding Service Award:
Carmen L. Vella, General Motors Powertrain
• Educational Achievement Awards: Thomas R. Heins, P. E., McMahon and Mann; Connie LaPort,
P. E., New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• Special Achievement Award: Gail R. Willsky, UB Biochemistry Department
• Industry Award: E. I. DuPont de Nemours
• Technical Advisor Award: Peter F. Ciesla formerly of Bristol Myers Squibb
• Faculty Advisor Award: Ahidde Lalor of School #51, Black Rock Academy
• Tony Campagna Memorial Award: Ted Dougher, Praxair Inc.
BEAM Students
Build City of the
Future, Win Prize
Awards Banquet
Honors BEAM
Young Inventors
Veronica Chew, a BEAM student, received the
Young Investigator Award at the Inventor
of the Year Awards Banquet, held in March.
The 10th Buffalo Regional Future
City Competition was held in
January at the University at Buffalo.
The BEAM/SEAS - Saturday
Academy competed for the first
time and won a monetary prize.
Other Buffalo Public Schools
competed for the first time through
the efforts of BEAM, the Niagara
Frontier Industry and Education
Council, and The Future City
Coordinators: Thomas Heins
and Connie LaPorte.
The award is sponsored by the Technical
Societies Council of the Niagara Frontier and
the Niagara Frontier Intellectual Property Law
Association. Wilson Greatbatch, the inventor
of the implantable pacemaker, presented the
award.
Chew is an eighth grader from the Riverside
Institute of Technology and was selected from
an Invention Participation class at the
University at Buffalo SEAS/BEAM Saturday
Academy. Her invention was a hairbrush that
dispenses hair care products.
Second and third place went to fellow
Saturday Academy students and eighth
graders Alexander Stevens and Tarik A.
Floyd. Their inventions were an Anthrax
Free Mailbox and an Auto Dispensing
Underground Mail Pipeline.
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Page 13
ALUMNI NEWS
For information including membership applicaton go to
www.eng.buffalo.edu/alumni
Dear SEAS Alumni,
The 2001 – 2002 school year was a great one to be the UBEAA president.
Your Board of Directors has successfully completed another year
implementing a quality program for the school year.
We began this Fall by co-sponsoring the student picnic in September
and in October honoring the Frandina family – father Phil (BS CIE
’64), sons Frank (BS CIE ’73, MS CIE ‘74) and Joe (BS CIE ‘77) and
daughter Rosanne (BS CIE ’81) - as our 2001 Engineers of the Year.
EAA Board
of Directors
Officers
Stephen J. Golyski, P.E.,
President
Stephen Buechi, Treasurer
We continued our tradition of the annual UB Bulls Football
pre-game tailgate, in collaboration with the UB General Alumni
Association, and conducted the UBEAA/SEAS night at UB basketball in February. At the Dean’s Scholarship reception the UBEAA
awarded a record amount of scholarships to five worthy and
talented engineering students to continue their studies at UB. The
UBEAA conducted its Order of the Engineer on May 3rd and the
participants all agreed that it is an honor and pleasure to provide engineering services to the world
at large. Our engineers will continue to develop new products and will be instrumental at rebuilding
those portions of our infrastructure that require modifications and maintenance to increase overall
longevity and functionality.
Directors
This past year the General Alumni and UBEAA have conducted preliminary discussions and we may
again become partners at endorsing our UB’s future students and alumni organizations in many
different venues and meetings to address issues related to the school and other professions. In
addition, the Board will review its operational characteristics in order to make better use of our
personnel and available resources.
Theodore A. Myers, P.E.,
Past President
Alumni time and financial resources make our program go. Please help us make the remainder of this
school year a success. I ask your consideration to:
• Join us as a paying member of your EAA for 2002 – your dues will go toward sponsoring
events and assisting SEAS student clubs.
• Help us help current students by contributing to our special scholarship fund.
James D. Boyle
James J. Devald, P.E.
Craig M. Forget, P.E.
John J. Jondle
Ronald D. Koczaja
Anthony Markut
Michelle Rhodes
Richard Rink
James Ambrose, Engineering
Clubs Council Rep.
SEAS Liaison
Robert Barnes
• Come to our events.
The Board of Directors continues to extend an invitation to UBEAA members to join us in
accomplishing our programs. If you are interested in joining the Board please contact Robert Barnes,
at the Engineering Amherst Campus, with a short resume addressing your engineering field and interests in joining the Board. All applications submitted will be reviewed by the UBEAA Board members
and new members will receive an invitation to join us in time for the new school year.
William W. Swenson, P.E.,
Coordinator Emeritus
Together, we can make a positive contribution to our School and enjoy our UB.
Yours truly,
Stephen J. Golyski, P.E., CIE BS ’73, MS ‘81
UBEAA President
Congratulations to the Class of 1952
on your 50th Graduation Anniversary!
The UB Alumni Association will hold
a 50-Year Reunion Celebration October
18 and 19, 2002.
The Engineering Alumni Association will host its annual Tailgate
Party on Saturday, October 5, 2002 prior to the Western Michigan
vs UB Bulls football game at 1:00 p.m.
Call (716) 645-2768 x1110 or email [email protected].
For more information, please call (716) 829-2608 or
1-800-284-5382 or email [email protected].
seas news • spring 2002
13
newsletter
6/12/02
2:50 PM
Page 14
Alum Named Dean of
Engineering at USC
Five Students Receive
EAA Scholarships
Chrysostos L. “Max” Nikias, a Department of
Electrical Engineering alum (MS ‘80, PhD ‘82),
was recently named Dean of the School of
Engineering at the University of Southern
California.
At this year’s 17th Annual Dean’s Scholarship
Reception, jointly sponsored by the
Engineering Alumni Association and the
School of Engineering, Craig Forget presented
five students with Angineering Alumni Award
Scholarships.
Nikias has been a professor of electrical
engineering systems at
USC since 1991 and
associate dean since
1992. His research
work has ranged from
signal processing and
biomedical engineering
to digital communications and military
radar and sonar.
However, he is best
known for his work in multimedia and Internet
technologies, for which he is nationally
recognized. He led the effort to found USC’s
own Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC),
which he has directed since its inception
in 1996.
USC Provost Lloyd Armstrong Jr. called Nikias
“the perfect choice to lead the school to the next
level of excellence,” a man with a “powerful
vision” for its future.
The 2001 winners are Erika Bleyle (CSEE),
Laurie Darling (MAE), Dana Laper (IE),
Parimal Patel (EE), and Joseph Wilson (IE).
The EAA annually awards these scholarships
to recognize “Leaders in Excellence” and to
encourage students to develop an
“Engineering Spirit” and a sense of loyalty to
the school. They are made possible by generous
contributions from the EAA membership.
E-MAIL THE UB EAA!
Questions? Comments? Need some more
information on an article in the newsletter?
Contact us at: [email protected].
seas news • spring 2002
Leland led Calspan through many of its great
accomplishments. Under his leadership from
1978 to 1994, the Cheektowaga-based company
approximately tripled in size and added
research centers in Tennessee, Ohio and
elsewhere.
He was a founder and a director of CalspanUB Research Center (CUBRC) and had
a long-time association with the UB School
of Engineering and Applied Sciences
as an Adjunct Professor.
Leland received the UB Engineering Dean’s
Award in 1987.
Leonard Pillinger, a SEAS alumnus (BS EE
‘50), passed away in January at the age of 77.
He is survived by Arline Pillinger, his wife of
50 years, who noted “he was always proud of
the fact that he graduated from UB as
Electrical/Electronic Engineer.”
Alumnus Michael W. Waldorf (BS Electrical
and Computer Engineering ‘80) passed away
in January after suffering complications from a
kidney transplant.
Waldorf had spent
almost two years
fruitlessly searching
for a kidney donor
when his twenty
year old daughter
Jennifer
(right,
pictured with father)
unselfishly volunteered to give him one of her
own. Jen is currently a psychology student at
UB. The transplant seemed successful, and
Waldorf enjoyed six of the healthiest months
of his life. Unfortunately, he contracted a viral
infection, from which he passed away just after
the New Year.
EAA held its annual Engineers’ Night at UB
Basketball in February. The men’s team defeated
Central Michigan, but the women lost a hard
fought game to
Ohio. After the
games, EAA held a
pizza party on the
court for engineering students
and alumni. Special thanks goes to Rick Rink
for organizing this special event.
14
Harold Robert (Bob) Leland, retired president
of Calspan, passed away in January after
an extended illness. He was 70.
After graduating from UB, Waldorf attained
his Master’s degree from Syracuse University.
He began his career with General Electric and
then became the Systems Engineering
Manager for Syracuse Research Corporation,
where he worked for fourteen years.
Engineers’ Night at
UB Basketball
The EAA is pleased to announce that this year’s
winner of the Engineering Spirit Award went to
Theta Tau. The group received a check for $100
and had its name engraved on a plaque that
hangs in 415 Bonner Hall.
Obituaries
Rick Rink
(right) hands
out pizza
during EAA's
post-game
party
He is survived by his wife of 22 years Joanne,
his two daughters Jennifer and Mary, his son
Michael, his sister Susan Michel-Giolando,
and his mother Anne.
The family has established a fund that will help
pay for the education of Waldorf ’s children.
Contributions may be sent to the Waldorf
Children Education Fund, c/o M. Alan
Zawadzki, 53 Colonial Avenue, Kenmore, NY
14217.
newsletter
6/12/02
2:50 PM
Page 15
Allen: Cooke Award
McLernon: Capen Award
Parker: Furnas Award
continued from pg.1
continued from pg.1
continued from pg.1
A Fulbright Scholar, Allen received his doctoral
degree in math-physics from Yale and then
joined the physics faculty at the University of
Washington. In 1967, NASA selected him as a
member of its astronaut corps. Over the next
eighteen years, he served as mission controller
for Apollos 15 and 17 and for the first space
shuttle flight, flew as a mission specialist on two
space shuttle flights, and served terms as
Assistant Administrator of NASA and Director
of Astronaut Training.
America and Chairman of Volkswagon Canada.
Parker is a pioneer in interdisciplinary
research that combines imaging from electrical
engineering with health and industrial
applications. He specializes in developing
formulas that simplify the calculations digital
devices use to compose images.
When Allen left government service in 1985, he
joined Space Industries, Inc. In 1993, the company
merged with the Calspan Corporation, and
Allen was named director. Only a year later, he
became president and chief executive officer,
and a year after that, chairman of the board.
When the company merged with SRL/Veda
International in 1997 and changed its name to
Veridian, Allen became board chairman.
Allen’s awards include the NASA Exceptional
Scientific Achievement Medal, the NASA
Exceptional Service Medal and the Lloyd's of
London Silver Medal for Meritorious Services.
He has also been very active in the UB community.
He serves on the board for the CalspanUniversity at Buffalo Research Center and is the
Chair of the SEAS Dean's Council, on which he
has served since its creation in 1995.
After stints as executive VP in charge of operations
for Creative Industries Group and chairman
of South Charleston Stamping and
Manufacturing, he became chairman of
American Axle and Manufacturing—the 13th
largest employer in Western New York.
For his lifelong contributions to the automotive
industry, McLernon was inducted into the
Automobile Hall of Fame in 1991. He has also
been recognized by the Institute of Industrial
Engineers with its Outstanding Achievement
Award.
McLernon has also made important
contributions to UB and SEAS that started
during his days as a student when he helped
found the Undergraduate Engineering Society
and was its first president. Since then,
he established the James W. and Nancy A.
McLernon Superior Scholars Award, which
goes to bright engineering students each year;
has served as a member of the Dean's Council
since its inception; and is chair of SEAS’
Generation to Generation Campaign.
He has received a number of UB honors,
including the SEAS Dean’s Award for
Achievement, UB Alumni Association's
Distinguished Alumni Award and the
Engineer-of-the-Year Award from the
Engineering Alumni Association. In 1998,
SUNY awarded McLernon an honorary
doctorate degree.
The work has a wide variety of applications,
from helping to detect minute tumors in the
liver, prostate and spleen to producing higher
resolution fax machine and computer prints.
Parker is currently applying this research to
ultrasound technology in order to standardize
machines and boost the reliability of scans.
He's also developing new methods to compress
images and new contrast agents to improve
the quality of ultrasound liver scans.
Parker’s work has led to ten important
patents, many of which are licensed by more
than a dozen companies, and he's been widely
recognized within both the engineering and
medical communities. He is a Fellow of the
American Institute of Ultrasound Medicine,
the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers, and the Acoustical Society of
America.
His numerous awards include the Ultrasound
in Medicine and Biology World Federation
Prize, Eastman Kodak's Outstanding
Innovation Award and the IEEE Award for
New Technical Concepts in Electrical
Engineering.
Peckham Honored With Dean’s Award continued from pg. 1
Rochester. In that role he designed and implemented warehouses across the United States. Within two years he began developing computer models of the
Xerox distribution system. The modeling led to significant changes in the way different Xerox products get distributed. Not the least change was the
cessation of warehouse expansion and the dissolution of the Distribution Engineering function. Extending his computer modeling work led to studies in
transportation; inventory control; inventory forecasting, ordering and deployment; machine repair and recuperation; marketing and pricing; configuration
control and worldwide distribution.
In 1972, with his wife and two young children, Peckham returned to the University of Buffalo to obtain an MBA. To finance his schooling he started his own
business, LPA Software, Inc, which he ran out of his apartment. In 1974 he completed his MBA degree, finishing first in his class, while traveling around the
world implementing the computer systems he developed at home.
For the next 28 years Peckham ran the company, averaging twenty-five percent revenue and profit growth each year. When he retired as Chairman in 1999,
LPA Software/Xelus, Inc. was recognized as the world leader in inventory planning software for the high-tech, field service and maintenance, repair
and overhaul (MRO) markets. In the last 5 years the company’s products have saved major corporate and military organizations billions of dollars in
inventories and expense. Its customers include Dell Computers, Cisco Systems, Boeing, AlliedSignal and the US Postal System.
Peckham was one of three finalists for "Rochester Small Business Person of the Year" (1992, 1996), selected by the Chamber of Commerce from 22,000
eligible companies. He was named "1998 Business Person of the Year" by Business Strategies Magazine. LPA Software was one of Rochester's TOP 100 fastest
growing companies in eight of the last nine years.
Peckham has been heavily involved in community activities for many years. Now retired, he is currently serving on Board or committee positions with the
American Heart Association; United Way; Rochester Chamber of Commerce; Industrial Management Council; Center for Governmental Research; Workforce
Investment Board; Town of Webster Open Space Committee; Nazareth College Performing Arts Center; Rochester Institute of Technology - Nathaniel
Rochester Society; UB Engineering Dean’s Council; Greater Rochester Enterprise - economic development agency.
To prove that there is life after work and retirement, Mr. and Mrs. Peckham are starting life over again with a beautiful one year old daughter.
seas news • spring 2002
15
newsletter
6/12/02
2:50 PM
Page 16
The 17th Annual
Dean’s Scholarship
Reception
10. E&WG Foundation Graduate Fellowship
1. Allied Signal Scholarship Awards
Adam Fosbury MAE
Kelly McLaughlin CE, Bryan Patel CE, Rainee
Van Natter CE
12. Hiroshi Morihara and Mary McSwain
Fellowship
2. Engineering Undergraduate Fellowships
Ashwin Gurnani MAE
Justin Applewhite EE, Feng Ding CSE, Robert
Drzewicki CSE, David Gill CSE, Robert Laveck
CSE, Dushyant Mehra CSE, Adebimpe Ogunade
CE, Luis Serfaty IE, Demissie Wolde-Gabriel
MAE
13. Daniel Kaegebein Bird Electronics/
TXRX-SYSTEMS Scholarship
3. Matthew Grappone Book Awards
Ellis King MAE
Nick Gagliardo CSEE, Vivian James EE, Kristin
Luce MAE, Mylinda Snyder MAE, Mike
Szymanski EAS
15. Lockheed-Martin Undergraduate
Scholarships
4. Senior Scholar Awards (by sponsor)
Bristol Myers Squibb: David Hess CE, Allison
Heubusch MAE; Motorola: Deedrick Bertholf
EE, Erika Bleyle CSEE, Kelly McLaughlin CE,
Tanya Randolph IE, Abad Valdez EE; SEAS:
Robert Atkins CSE, Justin Bergin CE, Andrew
Bright MAE, Paul Couchman EE, Melinda
Davey IE, Michael Dearman CSE, Robert
Dressing CSEE, Amine Faridi EE, Daniel Fenz
CSEE, Scott Ferguson MAE, Anthony Guetta
CSE, Lihao Hu CSE, Rajaey Kased MAE, George
Partisides EE, Richard Tarbell EE
Jason Buneo EE
11. Elbridge N. and Stephana R. Townsend
Scholarship
Heng Liu EE
Adam Stotz CSE, Daniel Quirino IE
Paul Couchman EE, John Tursi EE, Karin Mak
EE
Engineering Alumni Association
Scholarships
4
Erika Bleyle CSEE, Laurie Darling MAE, Dana
Laper IE, Parimal Patel EE, Joseph Wilson IE
John Zahorjan Memorial Scholarship
Robert Doney EE
National Electrical Manufacturers
Association Award
7. Joan G. Bennett Undergraduate Book
Scholarships
Adam Halstead EE, Jason Jones EE, Herick
Nelson EE
8. James W. and Nancy A. McLernon Superior
Student Awards
Aaron Beechler CSE, Wesley Drake IE, Robert
Grillo IE, Timothy Keating CSEE, Timothy
Sawyer CE, Jesse Wagner CE
9. Gustav and Greta Zimmer Research Scholar
Awards
Joseph DeAngelis MAE, Scott Ferguson MAE,
Jemin George MAE, Yie Meng Hoi MAE, Ellis
King MAE, Kok-Lam Lai MAE, Leng Feng Lee
MAE, Nicolas Mills MAE
16
seas news • spring 2002
3
16. Richard E. Dollinger Energy Systems
Institute Graduate and Undergraduate
Scholarships
Morris Green Jr. IE
Brian Anger CSE, Matthew Cole CE, Geoffrey
Genesky CE, Jon Tae Park MAE, Jason Utzig
CSEE, Adit Vaidya EE
2
14. Yong H. Lee Scholarship
5. Energy Systems Institute Graduate
Scholarship
6. Gregory B. Jarvis Scholarships
1
5
Martin Schaefer CE
Henry Stone Graduate Assistantship
Awards
William Nieves MAE, Pierre Saint Louis CE,
Carla Ng CE
Robert H. and Catherine H. Goldsmith
Fellowships
6
Timothy Costello CSEE, Christopher Jasinski
CSEE
Joseph Markle Dinner Memorial #4
Scholarship
Elizabeth Pfeffer MAE
7
newsletter
6/12/02
2:50 PM
Page 17
SEAS
Commencement
2002
8
9
Carolyn Marie Adams, IE
Michael James Astrella, CIE
Robert Gordon Atkins, CEN
David Douglas Babich, EE
Deedrick John Bertholf, EE
Erika Marie Bleyle, ENV
Lucy Kristina Boulatnikov, IE
Jeffrey A. Carpenter, CIE
Hojoon Chang, ASE
Jeaujye Cheong, CIE
Ken Yian Chow, CEN
Jeffrey Ryan D’Amour, IE
Melinda Elizabeth Davey, IE
Joseph Michael Deangelis, ME
Scott Michael Ferguson, ASE
Samuela Franceschini, ENV
Seth Ian Galley, ME
Justin Wade Gecewicz, CIE
Nicholas J. Gill, ME
10
12
11
At this year’s engineering commencement,
Vice Provost Kerry Grant and Dean Mark
Karwan presided. Leslie Weistz (ME),
president of Tau Beta Pi, gave the student
address; Aaron Nottis (CIE), president of the
American Society of Civil Engineers, was the
banner carrier; Lucy Boulatnikov (IE),
president of Omega Rho, gave the salutation;
and Jeffrey Mahon (EE), president of the
Engineering Student Association, gave the
farewell. Students who graduated with
engineering distinction were as follows:
Anthony Joseph Guetta, CEN
Ashwin Prabhu Gurnani, ME
David Michael Hess, CE
Derek Wendell Hoiem, EE/CEN
Christopher Scott Hunter, CE
Rachel Marion Ibaugh, ME
Rajaey Kased, ME
Ellis Taylor King, ME/ASE
Joseph Benjamin Kuechle, CE
Patrick Jose Lazatin, ME
Kelly Elizabeth McLaughlin, CE
Kristy Lynn Messing, EE
Donald E. Miller, ME
Jonathon Lee Nyitrai, ME
James Louis Pasquini, IE
Parag Rajendra Patel, CE
Adam Michael Renaldo, ME
Kieran John Reynolds, EE
Masanobu Shimizu, ASE
Dustin Lance Skare, CE
Chinpei Tang, ME
Sook Lee Tang, IE
Rainee Marissa Van Natter, CE
Liju Varghese, CE
Kristina Michelle Weibel, ME
Lesley Anne Weitz, ME
Robert J. Zmitrewicz Jr., ME
Key
ASE:
CE:
CEN:
CIE:
EE:
ENV:
IE:
ME:
Aerospace Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Computer Engineering
Civil Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Environmental Engineering
Industrial Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
13
Student Poster
Competition
14
15
Students of the Department of Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineering organized a
combined poster session – dinner event at
which 20 posters were displayed and nearly 70
persons attended.
Poster session winners were:
First Place: Jong-Woo Kim, “ISS leak localization using attitude response,” (advisor:
J. Crassidis)
16
Second Place: Christian R. Nastase, “A
Numerical Investigation of Turbulent Reactive
Jets Using High Order Spectral/hp Element
Method,” (advisor: P. Givi)
Third Place: Suresh Aswathnarayana,
“Analysis of Shaken Baby Syndrome,” (advisor:
A. Patra)
Honorable Mentions: Amit Kumar Paliwal,
“Simulation of Volcano Flow,” (advisor: A.
Patra), Dhananjay S. Joshi, “Virtual Reality in
Medicine,” (advisor: T. Kesavadas), Markus
Tremmel, “Turbomachinery Application of
the Time-Averaged Navier Stokes Equations,”
(advisor: D. Taulbee)
Congratulations to graduate students Dirk
Tenne and his committee: Jae-Jun Kim,
Melanie DeWitt, Michael Lewandowski and
Yixiang Feng for organizing the event.
Faculty participation included: Distinguished
Teaching Professor William Rae, Master of
Ceremonies; UB Distinguished Professor
Peyman Givi, speaker; and Mike Holden, Phil
Reynolds and John Lordi judges.
seas news • spring 2002
17
newsletter
6/12/02
2:50 PM
Page 18
Robotics Club
Active in
Competitions
The UB Robotics team was founded in
1998 by a small group of electrical
engineering students under the IEEE
Buffalo chapter. Its purpose was to create
a medium for engineering students to
build a robot and compete in a national
competition. Since those early days, the
team’s membership has grown more than
ten-fold. It has participated in annual
competitions, held workshops and even
performed a demonstration for the New
York State legislature at UB Day in Albany.
In 2001, the Student Association honored
the Robotics team with its “New Club of
the Year Award.”
The UB Robotics Club has entered two
competitions this spring.
The Robotics Club took fourth place at
the Trinity College Fire Fighting Home
Core Compentencies
SEAS alums Alok Baveja (PhD IE ‘93) and
Mamnoon Jamil (PhD IE ‘91) co-authored the
article “Dynamics of Core Competencies in
Leading Multinational Companies” which
appeared in the California Management
Review, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 117-132, Summer
1998.
Contest. The competition was an international event, with fifty teams representing
countries in Europe, Asia, North and
South America, and the Middle East.
The Robotics Club went on to the
RIT/SME Student Robotic Challenge
Competition. They competed in the college
SUMO/heavyweight division, which
consisted of an autonomous robot
weighing up to 150 lbs. The opposing
teams were challenging, but the UB
robot managed to go undefeated and
took the gold medal.
Following its initial publicaiton, the article
was republished in its entirety in the leading
and prestigious strategic management
textbook - “Strategic Management: Crafting
and Executing Strategy”, A.A. Thompson and
A.J. Strickland, 12th edition, McGraw Hill.
Harvard Business School Publishing then
republished the article as a case. Of the 7500
cases published by Harvard Business School
Publishing, this case has become a bestseller one of the top 5 bestseller cases sold at the
Harvard Business School! To view this case
online, visit: www.hbsp.harvard.edu/products/bestsellers.html.
This article is being used extensively by
academic programs including Wharton,
Stanford,
Columbia,
Yale,
Duke
and Northwestern Universities, consulting
organizations and high-tech government
institutions such as NASA. The case was used
this spring in UB's EAS 590: Case Studies in
Engineering
Management,
instructed
by Robert Barnes, associate dean of SEAS.
Baveja is currently an Associate Professor at
Rutgers
University,
and
Jamil
is
a researcher/scientist with IBM Corporation.
The Order of the Engineer ceremony pledged graduating senior engineering students to the highest standards of the
profession. Each of the engineers pledged to “practice integrity and fair dealing, tolerance and respect; and to uphold
devotion to the standards and the dignity of my profession, conscious always that my skill carries with it an obligation
to serve humanity by making the best use of Earth’s precious wealth.” Some of the engineering students who took the
pledge are pictured above.
18
seas news • spring 2002
newsletter
6/12/02
2:50 PM
Page 19
Fall 2002 EngiNet TM Offerings
CIE
CIE
CIE
CIE
CIE
CIE
CIE
CIE
354
511
526
529
535
546
550
625
Fluid Mechanics
Advanced Solid Mechanics
Finite Element Structural Ana
Pavement Design
Intro to Geoenvironmental Engineering
Environmental Fluid Mechanics
Hydrologic Engineering
Aseismic Base Isolation
EAS 521 Principles of Engineering Management I
EAS 480/580 Technical Communications for Engineers
Tau Beta Pi Names
Professor and TA
of the Year
The New York Nu chapter of Tau Beta Pi,
the national engineering honor society,
awarded Peyman Givi and Ulrich Staehlin at
a reception on May 6, 2002.
Givi, UB distinguished professor of mechanical
and aerospace engineering, and Staehlin,
graduate student in the department of
mechanical and aerospace engineering, were
named “Professor of the Year” and “Teaching
Assistant of the Year” respectively.
EE 519 Industrial Control Systems
EE 529 Intro to Electromagnetic Compatibility
EE 540 Energy Conservation in Motor Drive Systems
IE
IE
IE
IE
505
507
530
533
MAE
MAE
MAE
MAE
MAE
MAE
MAE
Production Planning & Control
Design & Analysis of Experiments I
Intro to Human Factors
Human Factor Organizational Foundations
522
524
543
550
558
582
672
Heat Exchanger Design
Elasticity I
Continuous Control Systems
Optimization in Eng Design
Tribology
Composite Materials
Optimal Control Systems
TBP Past President Lesley Weitz,
Awardee Ulrich Staehlin, Awardee
Peyman Givi, Dean Mark Karwan
EngiNetTM is principally a graduate-level distance learning program.
Please contact Marge Hewlett at (716) 645-2768 ext.1106, email
[email protected], or visit www.eng.buffalo.edu/enginet.
Medieval Competition Held
121 students participated in a trebuchet competition as part of Machines and
Mechanisms, a mechanical engineering junior level course under the direction
of professor Christina Bloebaum. News channels 2 and 4 and the Buffalo News
observed while 25 groups of 4-5 students competed. The team-built trebuchets,
catapult-like machines, performed in two different competitions: max distance
and target hitting. The max distance competition was judged by dividing the
maximum distance achieved by the weight of the trebuchet, a typical design
trade-off goal. Distance was not predetermined for the target hitting competition;
teams were not told where the target would be until competition day. Hence,
trebuchets had to be ready for on-the-spot reconfiguration in order to perform
at top levels for both competitions, while also being designed for minimum
weight. Jesica Galuski, Patrick McQuillen, David Pericak and Kenny Yuen,
pictured left, comprised the winning team.
This is a publication of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - External Affairs and the Engineering Alumni
Association, University at Buffalo. Robert E. Barnes, Ph.D., Editor; Lee Kahan, associate editor; Maria Drozda, editorial assistant.
Other conributors: the UB Reporter and the UB Office of Publications. Anyone wishing further information on the articles
contained herein may call External Affairs at (716) 645-2768 x1110, fax (716) 645-2495, or e-mail [email protected].
seas news • spring 2002
19
newsletter
6/12/02
2:50 PM
Page 20
SEAS Calendar
SEAS Opening Day, Sunday, August 25
Student Welcome Picnic, Friday, September 6
Honors Employment Dinner, Tuesday, September 24, 6:00pm, Marriott Hotel
UB Tech 2002, Job Fair, Wednesday, September 25, 3:00 - 6:30pm, Alumni Arena main gym, UB Amherst Campus
EAA Tailgate, Saturday, October 5: Western Michigan vs. UB Bulls, game time 1:00 pm, tailgating before
UB 50th Year Alumni Reunion, Friday and Saturday, October 18 and 19
UB Alumni Association Homecoming Pre-Game Festivities, Saturday, October 19
Discover UB, Saturday, October 19
SEAS Dean’s Council, Thursday and Friday, October 24 and 25
Spring Picnic 2002
Students, alumni, faculty, and staff came out in droves to enjoy hotdogs,
music, and good conversation at this year’s Spring Picnic, sponsored by
the Engineering Alumni Association, the Engineering Student Association,
and UB Engineering. Adding to the festivities, the Society of Automotive
Engineers displayed their award-winning clean snowmobile.
seasnews
External Affairs
SEAS Dean's Office
415 Bonner Hall
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260
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