2010 News

CoE Announces The Grand Challenges of Engineering: Photo Competition
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College of Engineering Introduces Undergraduate Advising Center
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President of National Academy of Engineering Named Drexel’s 2010 Engineer of the Year
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2009 News

Philadelphia City Council Honors Captain Christopher Ferguson
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Dean of Drexel University’s College of Engineering Named 2010 Delaware Valley Engineer of the Year
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Smart House Unveils New Plans
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Students Turn Bridge into Living Laboratory
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EWB Journeys to Jamaica for Bridge Project
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Talented Youth Join in Biotechnology and Bioengineering Efforts at Drexel University’s Science and Technology Workshops
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Dr. Moshe Kam Elected IEEE 2010 President-Elect
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CoE Welcomes New Faculty
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Formula Hybrid Team Places Third in International Competition
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Drexel’s Formula Hybrid Team to Compete Award-winning Green Race Car in Italy
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2009 Freshman Design Competition
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Nicholas Kirsch to Become a Faculty Member at University of New Hampshire
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5th Annual Golf Tournament Raises $300,000
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PSSFAAQISEP Takes 1st Place in CoE’s 2009 Film Festival
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2009 Senior Design Competition
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SWE Awards the Pageant Title of Mr. Drexel Engineer 2009
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Dean’s Distinguished Lecture: CEO of Progress Energy Shares Vision for Future of Energy
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CoE Partners with ASNE to Host 8th Annual Ships Symposium
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Humanoid Robots Come to Life at the Please Touch Museum
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Progress Energy CEO to Speak at Drexel University on Energy and Global Sustainability at Dean’s Distinguished Lecture
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Drexel Formula Hybrid Club Places Third in International Competition
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CoE Participates in Joint Sponsorship for Dad Vail Regatta
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CoE Dean Shares Views on Women in the Workplace with SWE
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Nanodiamonds Exhibit Blue Fluorescence
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Drexel Sponsors FIRST Robotics
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Drexel Interviews 2009 Engineer of the Year Christopher Ferguson
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Drexel Engineers Are Put to the Test: Can the Egg Survive a 34-Foot Drop?
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Drexel University’s College of Engineering Celebrates the Contribution of Engineers during the 7th Annual Engineers Week
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2008 News

Astronaut Christopher Ferguson Named Drexel’s 2009 Engineer of the Year
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Astronaut Christopher Ferguson to Command Next Space Shuttle Mission
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Going Green: Talented Youth Join in Eco-Friendly Efforts
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Air Products, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Drexel University Agree to Continue Unique “3+2 Program”
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Schiffman's Image Receives Honorable Mention in Visualization Challenge
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Students Travel to East Africa to Introduce Woodturning Lathe Technology
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Nanotechnology – Plasma Collaboration Leads to Very Important Paper
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Drexel University’s ASME Chapter Participates in Red Bull Soap Box Derby
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Drexel University’s Paul Baran Receives 2007 National Technology & Innovation Medal
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Drexel University’s ASME Chapter to Race in the Red Bull Soap Box Derby
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Drexel University Launches Engineering Cities Initiative
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Students Named Academic All-Stars by Philadelphia Inquirer
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Dr. Nihat Bilgutay 1952-2008
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4th Annual Golf Tournament Raises $100,000
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Drexel Team Creates Award-Winning Biodiesel Fuel System
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College of Engineering Expands to California
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Li Receives $300K from National Science Foundation
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Establishment of A.J. Drexel Plasma Institute
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1st Annual Film festival Awards Top 3 Winners
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2008 Senior Design Competition Winners
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Chmiola Wins ECS Best Poster Award for Second Time
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Eco-friendly Transportation: Drexel Engineers Go Green with the DragonWagon
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Merck CEO to Speak at Drexel University on Global Partnerships at Dean’s Distinguished Lecture
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Knight Receives Drexel University Myers Award for Distinguished Service
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Technology: Supercapacitors Start a Revolution
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Local Students Rival Underwater Robotics in U.S. Navy Competition Hosted by CoE
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CoE Students Awarded NSF Graduate Fellowships
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Award Named in Memory of Professor Pragnesh Jay Modi
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Senior Design Team to Travel to Tanzania to Make a Difference
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CoE’s Graduate Program Advances in Rankings
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Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Award
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Dr. Howard Pearlman Awarded 2008 Boeing Welliver Fellowship
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CoE to Sponsor Habitat for Humanity’s 7th Annual Build A House…Build a Dream! 
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CoE Hosts the 9th Annual FIRST Regional Competition
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MEM Ranks Fourth in Nation
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Dr. Bernard Amadei Named 2008 Engineer of the Year
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2007 News

Dr. Jonathan Spanier Receives PECASE
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MSE Hosts Hands-On Experience for Philadelphia Youth
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ECE Names New Department Head
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CoE Golf Tournament Raises over $60,000
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2007 Senior Design Competition Results
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MSE Professors Receive DURIP Awards from Army Research Office
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3rd Annual Indoor Aerial Robot Competition Returns to Drexel
On Sunday April 29th, Drexel and the MEM Department resumed their role as host of the 3rd Annual Indoor Aerial Robot Competition. Universities in the region competed for this year's gust stabilization challenge at Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center This year’s winners were Rowan (first), Drexel (second) and Villanova (third). The IARC was formed by Dr. Paul Oh in parallel with the Congressional mandate that requires 30% of all U.S. deep-strike aircraft to be capable of autonomous navigation by 2015. To keep in line with this mandate, the competition was revised to increase the difficulty each year with the goal of having a “backpack-able” vehicle that flies autonomously inside buildings by 2015.

Professors Awarded NSF Funding
Drs. Wei Sun (PI, MEM), Ken Barbee (Co-PI, Biomed) and Michele Marcolongo (Co-PI, MSE) were recently awarded funding from the National Science Foundation for their project entitled, “Study Bio-Deposition Induced Effect on Living Cells.” This grant provides funding for research and development of a scientific and engineering knowledge base for studying the effect of bio-deposition process on living cells. If successful, this project will lead to developing new techniques and tools that help the advancement of emerging cell-based bio-fabrication for broad applications in therapeutic products, biochips, biosensors, and microfluidic systems. This grant is a 3-year project with a budget of $225K.

Story Published by MSE Coordinators
Sheila Berninger, program coordinator, and Dorilona Rose, operations manager, both in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, co-wrote a story about Dr. Michel Barsoum, distinguished professor of materials engineering, published in LiveScience.com on May 18, 2007. The story, which focuses on Dr. Barsoum's findings that the Great Pyramids of Giza are partially constructed of limestone-based concrete, was syndicated on News.Softpedia.com.
http://www.livescience.com/history/070518_bts_barsoum_pyramids.html

Survey Results Reveal Ways to Excite Students About Engineering
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MSE Welcomes New Faculty Member
Dr. Mitra Taheri will be joining our Materials Science & Engineering department starting September 2008. Dr. Taheri has received her Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University and she is currently working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories as a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Taheri’s work involves the development and application of in-situ imaging tools and platforms using ultrafast Dynamic Transmission Electron Microscopy (DTEM) for the laser-induced microstructural evolution in nanostructured materials including Al alloys, GaN nanowires and Silicon nanowires, with additional applications in polymeric and biomaterials systems.

CAEE Welcomes New Faculty Member
Dr. Franco Montalto will be joining our Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering department starting September 2007. Dr. Montalto has received his Ph.D. from Cornell University studying as an NSF Graduate Fellow. He also visited Italy during 1995 as a Fulbright Fellow. Franco is currently at Colombia University working as a post-doctoral fellow. His research interests are in low impact designs and in the development of ecological, economically, and socially sensible solutions to urban problems with a focus on sustainable engineering. He has worked on a variety of eco-hydrologic research, planning, and design projects, involving the restoration of wetlands.

CBE Professor Receives Grant from Army Research Office
Dr. Yossef Elabd (PI, CBE) was recently awarded funding from the Army Research Office (ARO) for his project entitled, “Highly Selective Ionic Block Copolymer Membranes.” The aim of this project is to synthesize and investigate new highly selective membranes for both fuel cells for portable electronic devices and protective clothing for chemical and biological defense. This grant is a 3-year project with a budget of $325K.

CS Ph.D. Student Wins Poster Contest
Quincy Brown, a Ph.D. student in Computer Science working with Professor Frank Lee, and supported by the Bridge to the Doctorate Program, a program to encourage under represented minorities to enter graduate studies in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, received first prize in the poster competition at the Alliance for Graduate Education & the Professoriate (AGEP) Conference held on April 27 at SUNY Albany.

Qunicy's research is about understanding how technology can be used to improve K-12 mathematics education. She is interested in developing applications for classroom use that factor the computational resource limitations of urban public schools. Her future research will continue to investigate methods for computer scientists to collaborate with educators to improve K-12 as well as computer science education.

CoE Welcomes New Faculty
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Researchers Develop Sensor for E. Coli, Prostate Cancer
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CoE Ranks #55 in US News & World Report
The U.S. News & World Report Graduate Rankings have placed Drexel’s College of Engineering at #55 in the nation. This is a six point increase from last year (#61) and 13 points from 2000 (#68). The following individual departments were also ranked in the report: Civil (#49), Computer (#68), Electrical (#57), Environmental (#47), Materials (#41), and Mechanical (#50).

MSE/Bio-Med Student Awarded Fellowship
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CAEE Professor Named "Geotechnical Engineer of the Year"
Associate Professor Joseph Wartman was named "Geotechnical Engineer of the Year" by the Philadelphia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The award will be formally presented to Dr. Wartman at a reception to be held at the Constitution Center in May.

Two CoE Students Awarded NSF Fellowships
Two CoE students have been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Kara Spiller (CBE, Advisor: Tony Lowman) and David Delaine (ECE, Advisor: Adam Fontecchio) are two of only 1,000 graduate students nation-wide to receive this prestigious honor. The fellowship provides three years of support for graduate study leading to research-based master's or doctoral degrees.

Those Drexel students receiving honorable mentions include: Adam Zeiger (MEM), Evan Sultanik (CS), Ed Steager (MEM), Stephen Niezgoda (MSE), Elaine Garbarine (ECE), Jameson Detweiler (MSE).

Breger's Work Reviewed in Time Out Chicago
A Chicago exhibition by Dee Breger, Director of Microscopy in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was reviewed in the online edition of the weekly publication Time Out Chicago on March 22. The Time Out Group’s core businesses are located in London, New York, and Chicago where Time Out weekly publications and local guides are the leading source of information for English-speaking residents and visitors, according to the Time Out Web site. Thirty two framed prints of Breger’s colorized images from the scanning electron microscope (SEM), are on display in the Kemper Room Art Gallery of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT) Galvin Library. The review by Time Out writer Josh Tyson describes Breger’s images as “quirky,” “serene” and “colorful.”

The exhibit of Breger’s work is aptly named “Seeing Beyond Our Vision.” All the pieces reveal the intricate designs of objects such as a mosquito's wing and a household dust bunny. Scientific images such as one of nanosprings from the laboratory of Drexel's Prof. Jon Spanier are included in the collection. She uses the SEM to capture the images, then post-processes them in Photoshop, adding color to many of the originally black and white micrographs to make them easier to interpret as well as more appealing. IIT flew Breger to Chicago for the opening. "They did a fine job", she reports, "and I especially enjoyed receiving enthusiastic feedback from the guests." The exhibition runs March 1-April 7.

American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Honors Anthony Lowman and Raj Mutharasan
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Science paper ranked #17 in the 2006 Edition of the Top 100 Nanomedicine Publications
The Materials Science & Engineering department’s Ph.D. candidate John Chmiola, post-doctoral researcher Cristelle Portet and research assistant professor Gleb Yushin’s Science paper has been ranked #17 in the 2006 Edition of the Top 100 nanomedicine publications. Their supercapacitor research deals with increasing the efficiency of these energy storage devices that are most commonly used in backup power applications.  Chmiola and colleagues found that pore sizes in supercapacitor electrode material could be reduced to about one nanometer in diameter, leading to lighter, more powerful supercapacitors.  These versatile devices are also finding increased usage in personal electronic devices, mobile phones and hybrid electric/fuel cell vehicles for their improved power over batteries. Congratulations to John, Cristelle and Gleb!

Drexel Celebrates 5th Annual Engineers Week
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Dean Kamen Honored as Drexel’s Engineer of the Year
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13th Annual Egg Drop Competition has an “Egg-cellent” Turnout
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Summer Employment Opportunity for Upper-Level Under-Graduate or Graduate Students
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MSE Welcomes New Faculty Member
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Philadelphia FIRST Vex Robotics Competition
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The Future is NEAR (Nanotechnology Education and Research for High School Students
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2007 Greater Philadelphia Sea Perch Challenge Teacher Training & Event Kick Off

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DREAM Receives Funding for Three More Years
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Drexel’s Materials Science and Engineering Listed Among Top Ten MSE Programs Nationwide
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MSE Professor Michel Barsoum Contends Pyramids are Concrete, Not Limestone
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CBE Professor Raj Mutharasan Places Second in Drexel's GRID Awards
Drexel University's Office of Research recently announced the winners of the Grants for Research Impact at Drexel (GRID) Awards. Dr. Raj Mutharasan (PI) and Dr. Fernando Garcia (Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, DuCOM) were awarded second place for the following project: "Rapid Assay of Prostate Cancer Biomarkers in Urine for Point-of-Care Applications. The GRID Awards funds are provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to support biomedical research in the 2007 financial year.

Computer Science Undergraduate Receives Honorable Mention
CS undergraduate Dave Turner has been selected for honorable mention in the Computing Research Association's (CRA) Outstanding Undergraduate Award for 2007. Turner is working under the direction of Dr. Vassilis Prevelakis.

Marcolongo Appointed Associate Vice Provost for Research
Dr. Michele Marcolongo, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has been appointed as Associate Vice Provosts for Research. Dr. Marcolongo will be responsible for external research affairs and interfacing with the community outside Drexel. She has been a member of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering since 1997, where she currently holds the position of Associate Professor. She is a graduate of the University of Delaware (B.S., Mechanical Engineering), Drexel University (M.S., Mechanical Engineering) and the University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., Bioengineering). Her industry experience includes positions at GE and DuPont before she joined Drexel. Her research focuses on orthopaedic biomaterials and implant biomechanics, such as the development of technology for intervertebral disc replacement which was adopted by a major medical device manufacturer for further development.

Dr. Yury Gogotsi and Drexel Receive Nano 50 Awards
Dr. Yury Gogotsi, professor of materials science and engineering and director of the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute, was selected as one of 15 nanotechnology innovators from across the U.S. to be honored with Nanotech Briefs' Nano 50 Awards. The nanotech innovators, which include researchers from the NASA Ames Research Center, Naval Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, UCLA and Rice University, were recognized for being "leaders or pioneers in a specific area of nanotechnology, with a significant background of accomplishments in advancing the state-of-the-art in nanotechnology."

The University's Carbide-Derived Carbon (CDC) also received a Nano 50 Award in the technology category. CDC, which was developed by Dr. Gogotsi and Drexel colleagues in collaboration with Penn and the University of Illinois-Chicago with support from the U.S. Department of Energy and Industry, has the potential of being used in hydrogen and methane storage; supercapacitors; water filtration; and treatment of the blood infection sepsis. Winners in the technologies category were cited as being "breakthroughs that have, or are expected to have, a significant impact in one or more application areas." Nanotech Briefs is a monthly digital publication.

The Nano 50 awards recognize the top 50 technologies, products and innovators that have or will have a significant impact on nanotechnology. The awards were presented on November 9 at the NASA Tech Briefs' National Nano Engineering Conference in Boston.

CoE Holds Grand Opening of Materials Characterization Facility
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DNI Director Yury Gogotsi Published in Biomaterials for Work with Sepsis Cure
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MEM Professor Appointed Program Chair
Dr. Paul Oh, Associate Professor and Associate Department Head of MEM, has been selected as the Program Chair of 2012 IEEE Int’l Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) to be held in Minneapolis, MN. The ICRA is the premiere event for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and draws the world's top roboticists to a week-long series of technical sessions, workshops and tutorials. The ICRA Program Chairmanships for upcoming Conferences include leaders in the robotics community including Dr. Stefan Schaal of USC for 2008 in Pasadena and Dr. Vijay Kumar of UPenn for 2010 in Anchorage.

Robust Cantilever Sensors for Detecting Pathogens in Drinking Water
Dr. Raj Mutharasan, of the department of chemical and biological engineering, was awarded $562,215 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to research the detection of pathogens in drinking water without the need of a filtration step. Dr. Mutharasan and his research group will the use of the piezoelectric-excited millimeter-sized mechanically robust cantilever sensor to test samples of water spiked with various concentrations of pathogens. This will help characterize sensor response to the levels of pathogens in the water.

CAEE Professor Receives Grant for Chesapeake Bay Environmental Observatory

Dr. Michael Piasecki (CAEE), with partners at the Chesapeake Bay Research Consortium, JHU, U. of Maryland, San Diego Supercomputer Center, U. of Delaware, and Hampton University have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to support the project “Chesapeake Bay Environmental Observatory.” This projects aims at developing the CyberInfrastructure for an environmental observatory for the Chesapeake Bay by integrating the information from various local information systems like the CB Observatory System. This project brings together IT and domain experts to develop an information system for the Chesapeake bay with main focus on the Hypoxia problem and target audiences in the marine, environmental engineering, hydrology, and ecology communities. This proposal is one of four funded nationwide from a pool of over 50 submissions. The total budget for this three-year project is $2.2M.

ECE Faculty Members Receive NSF Grant
Drs. Timothy P. Kurzweg (PI ECE), Adam K. Fontecchio (co-PI ECE), and Bahram Nabet (co-PI ECE) have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to support the project "On-Chip Spectrometer for Pre-Cancerous Detection Applications.” This proposal focuses on the development of an on-chip optical spectrometer for the detection of pre-cancerous epithelial cells using novel technologies that surpass current endoscopic systems. The budget for this three-year project is $240K.

7th International Conference on HydroScience and Engineering Held at Drexel University
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Several New Grants Awarded to CoE Faculty and Staff
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Bradley Layton hosted a workshop entitled, "IEEE-EMBS/ASME Workshop on Nanoscale Modeling and Measurement of Mechanical Properties of Cells and Proteins" from Thursday, September 14 to Saturday, September 16, 2006. The workshop featured guest speaker, David Odde from the University of Minnesota, a current leader in nanoscale force transduction and molecular modeling strategies for neurons and microtubules. Other prominent guest speakers included Anne Plant and John Kasianowicz from NIST. Dr. Plant is a leader in the effect that collagen nanoscale structure has on cell growth.
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The Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science sponsored a student/faculty networking event during the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC) Conference on Sunday, September 10, 2006.  More than 200 participants attended this event.
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Professor Raj Mutharasan featured on ABC News: Biosensors for Detection of E.Coli

Professor Raj Mutharasan of the department of chemical and biological engineering was featured on ABC Action News on September 15th, 2006. After the recent E. coli outbreak nationwide, and three cases reported in Pennsylvania, Professor Mutharasan was asked to discuss how the research he conducts on biosensors could prevent E.coli outbreaks in the future. Dr. Mutharasan’s research group is studying the use of piezoelectric-excited millimeter-sized cantilever sensors to detect pathogens and toxins such as E. coli. The goal of this research will be for widespread use of the sensor in food processing plants to reduce the chance of contamination spreading to consumers.

To read more about the E. coli outbreak, visit 6ABC.com's article: Bagged Spinach Pulled from the Shelves. Accompanying this article, in the Related Links section, is the video The Latest on the Tainted Spinach featuring Professor Mutharasan's discussion of the E.coli outbreak and how biosensors could prevent future outbreaks.

MEM Alumnus Christopher J. Ferguson Pilots Space Shuttle Mission

Captain Christopher J. Ferguson (’84, MEM), piloted the Space Shuttle Atlantis for NASA’s STS-115 mission. The shuttle launched on Saturday, September 9 for its 11-day mission.

During the mission, the six-member crew traveled to the International Space Station and installed an integrated P3/P4 truss segment with its two large solar arrays that will provide one-fourth of the total power generation capability of the completed station. The crew has been preparing for this flight for the past four years.

Captain Ferguson is one of approximately 100 American astronauts and the third from Drexel University. He was selected by NASA in 1998 and is stationed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. This is his first space mission.

Other astronauts from Drexel include James Bagian and Paul Richards.

Interview with Chris Ferguson
STS-115 mission overview
STS-115 training photos
Ferguson’s flight menu

New grant awarded to CBE professor by USDA
Dr. Raj Mutharasan, of the department of chemical and biological engineering, has been awarded $527,150 over three years by the United States Department of Agriculture to research toxin and pathogen detection in meat, poultry and liquid, such as milk and apple juice. Dr. Mutharasan’s research group will be using piezoelectric-excited millimeter-sized cantilever sensors to detect pathogens and toxins such as Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, E. coli, listeriolysin, shigatoxin-1, shigatoxin-2 and Staphylococcal enterotoxin B. The goal of this research will be for widespread use of the sensor in food processing plants to reduce the chance of contamination spreading to consumers.

Global Protection joins Materials & Nanotechnology Consortium
Drexel University is very pleased to announce the addition of Global Protection as the newest member of the A. J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute’s Materials & Nanotechnology Consortium. Global Protection joins these current Consortium member companies: Arkema, BAE Systems, Greene, Tweed & Co., Inc., Headwaters Innovation Technology Group Inc., iCeutica Inc., Kulicke & Soffa, and Nanoblox, Inc. The Materials and Nanotechnology Consortium offers its members priority access to the Centralized Materials Characterization Facility, Drexel’s intellectual resources, advising in specific research areas and access to Drexel students for individually directed projects, among many other benefits. For further information on the A. J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute or the Consortium, please contact Shirin Karsan at 215.895.1768.

Dr. David Brooks participates in NASA Explorer Schools Workshop at Shaw Middle School
On August 14, 2006, David Brooks participated in a GLOBE training workshop organized by Lisa Brown from Penn State, for teachers at NASA Explorer schools in Pennsylvania. Participants learned how to use the sun photometer developed for GLOBE by Dr. Brooks and his colleague, Forrest Mims, to measure aerosol optical thickness. He also showed participants how to use simple pyranometers to improve student understanding of how sunlight interacts with Earth's atmosphere.

Most of the participants teach in urban schools like Shaw Middle School, so it is especially important to adapt GLOBE measurements to urban settings. The aerosol optical thickness measurements are ideal for urban schools because they can be done anywhere there is an unobstructed view of the sun.

For more information on the GLOBE training program and Dr. Brooks' research, please visit http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~brooksdr/DRB_web_page/.

Headwaters Technology Innovations Group joins Materials and Nanotechnology Consortium
Drexel University is very pleased to announce the addition of Headwaters Technology Innovations Group, Inc. as the newest member of the A. J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute’s Materials & Nanotechnology Consortium. Headwaters joins these current Consortium member companies: Arkema, BAE Systems, Greene, Tweed & Co., Inc., iCeutica Inc., Kulicke & Soffa and Nanoblox, Inc. The Materials and Nanotechnology Consortium offers its members priority access to the Centralized Materials Characterization Facility, Drexel’s intellectual resources, advising in specific research areas and access to Drexel students for individually directed projects, among many other benefits. For further information on the A. J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute or the Consortium, please contact Shirin Karsan at 215.895.1768 or at snk24@drexel.edu.

U.S. Congressman Fattah kicks off summer programs for teachers
United States Congressman Chaka Fattah kicked off the opening ceremonies for Drexel’s GK-12 and RET (Research Experience for Teachers) summer programs July 10. In addition to Congressman Fattah, School District of Philadelphia Deputy Chief Academic Officer Albert Bichner, Drexel President Constantine Papadakis, Provost Stephen Director and Dean Selçuk Güçeri welcomed teachers from throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The GK-12 and RET programs educate teachers about engineering, helping to mold their experiences into lessons they can use in their classrooms. For more information about these programs, contact Joanne Ferroni at (215) 895-2288 (GK-12, RET) or Holly Burnside at (215) 895-6630 (RET-NANO).

New grants in emerging technology areas
Drs. Young Cho (PI), Alex Fridman and Alex Gutsol (all of MEM) were recently awarded a Department of Energy grant entitled, “Application of Electrical Field and Plasma for Advanced Cooling and Water Recovery.” This research technology will enhance the efficiency of heat exchangers through the reduction of scale buildup, as well as effectively and inexpensively provide drinking water in developing countries. The budget for this 3-year project is $450,000.

Dr. Jaydev P. Desai (PI, MEM) and his team comprising of Dr. Alan Lau (MEM), Dr. Andres Castellanos (Dept. of Surgery, DUCOM), Dr. William Meyers (Chair, Dept. of Surgery, DUCOM), Dr. Ari Brooks (Dept. of Surgery, DUCOM), and Dr. Doug James (Carnegie Mellon University), were recently awarded a 4-year NIH R01 grant totaling $1,225,602 for the project entitled: “Data-driven Real Time Surgical Simulation from Reality-Based Soft Tissue Models.” The goal of this project is to develop reality-based soft-tissue models that can be combined with numerical simulation models and supporting computational algorithms for real-time haptic (sense of touch) and visual feedback in a surgical simulator environment for potentially training a new generation of residents and surgeons.

Drexel Nanotechnology Institute hosts meeting for its consortium members.
Technology Transfer Issues and Research & Education in Materials and Nanotechnology at Drexel University were among the hot topics that spurred many discussions and generated interest for several other corporate and academic institutions, representatives of which were also present. We currently have seven companies as members of our consortium. Additional events are being planned. For more information and to join the consortium, please visit us at: http://nano.drexel.edu.

2006 Senior Design Competition Winners
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CBE professor receives Humboldt Research Fellowship
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Student Team Wins Third Place in Disney's Imagineering Competition
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Concrete Canoe Team Finishes in Top Ten
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2006 Senior Design Abstracts
download abstracts (PDF)

On Thursday, April 27th, 2006, Drexel University hosted a symposium on “Advancing the Application of Power Electronics to the Electric Power Infrastructure.”  The symposium was held in honor of Narain G. Hingorani, who was the recipient of the 2006 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science.  He received the award “for the conceptualization and pioneering advancement of the Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) and Custom Power in electric power systems, and for outstanding technical contributions in High Voltage Direct Current Technology, which have enhanced the quality and security of the electric power system.”  The event was sponsored by the ECE Department, College of Engineering and Drexel University along with The Franklin Institute and the IEEE Philadelphia Section. Drs. Dagmar Niebur (Drexel University, ECE), Harshad Mehta (of Silicon Power Corporation) and Barnett Adler (of PECO Energy) organized the event.

Dr. Timothy Kurzweg, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was recently named an associate editor for the "JM3: Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS".  This journal is published through SPIE (The International Society for Optical Engineering).

Students Cycle Across the Country to Aid Hurricane Katrina Rebuilding Efforts
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Dr. Adam Fontecchio was selected to receive the newly initiated Drexel Graduate Student Association Outstanding Mentor Award. There were 44 nominations submitted by graduate students for 21 faculty members. In addition to Dr. Fontecchio's award, Drs. Tim Kurzweg and Bahram Nabet received nominations. Dr. Nabet was one of the four faculty members who received an Honorable Mention.

ASCE Mid-Atlantic Regional Competitions
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SAMPE Symposium Winners from Chemical and Biological Engineering
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Engineering Center of Excellence on advanced polymers awarded
Drexel University’s College of Engineering was awarded a US Army Materials Center of Excellence for research on polymers by the US Army Research Laboratory. This is a cooperative program for $6.75M over a period of nine years headed by Giuseppe Palmese Professor & Head of the Chemical & Biological Engineering Department. Co-PIs of this effort are Cameron Abrams, Joe Elabd, and Chris Li. The Center proposal focused on multiscale synthesis, modeling, and design of advanced polymer systems and included projects on nanopore-filled systems, encapsulated nano- and meso-fiber mesh composites, hyperbranched polymers for segmented polyurethanes, ionically self-healing polymer systems, and computational modeling. 

New CAREER grant from NSF
Dr. Cameron Abrams, assistant professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering has been awarded a CAREER grant from NSF. The title of the project, “Multiscale Simulation of Solute Transport in Hydrogels,” has a total funding of $400,000 over four years. The project aims to develop molecular simulation methods that will allow investigation of the links between molecular structure and macroscopic transport properties of large proteins in engineered polymer matrices, with a preliminary focus on insulin in poly (acrylic acid) gels. Educational initiatives are devoted to developing and deploying computer-based chemistry teaching applications to a selection of high schools in the Philadelphia public school system.

Spanier’s Article Featured in Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology 
An article by Dr. Jonathan Spanier, entitled, “Enhanced Raman Scattering from Individual Semiconductor Nanocones and Nanowires” and published in Physical Review Letters 96, 157402 (2006), was selected to appear in the May 1, 2006 issue of Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology. The Virtual Journal, which is published by the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society in cooperation with numerous other societies and publishers, is an edited compilation of links to articles from participating publishers, covering a focused area of frontier research. The Virtual Journal can be found at vjnano.org

Gogotsi Featured in NanoNews 
Dr. Yury Gogotsi, professor of materials science and engineering and director of the A. J. Drexel Nanotechnology Institute was featured in the “NanoPioneers” section of the Winter 2006 edition of NanoNews, a publication about the latest in nanotechnology from CRC Press, a division of Taylor & Francis. Gogotsi’s Nanomaterials Handbook was recently published by CRC Press and is available for purchase through Web. The book was also featured in the April 2006 issue of EH&S NanoNews, newsletter of the Gradient Corporation: Web

Concrete Canoe Team Takes home First Place once Again
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2006 Concrete Canoe Team Wins Mid-Atlantic Regional Competition
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The College of Engineering has received three new site programs from the Dept. of Education for the Graduate Assistantships in the Area of National Need (GAANN).  These programs provide fellowship support for Ph.D. students for stipend and tuition.
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Dr. Miu-Miller Wins OYECE Award
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60 Seconds with Dr. P.M. Shankar
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Drexel Team Excels in Regional Computer Programming Contest (11/16/05)
Two teams consisting of three Drexel students each participated in the Mid-Atlantic Computer Programming Contest at John Hopkins Universtiy in Baltimore, Maryland.
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