Columbia Engineering Magazine, Spring 2017

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@CUSEAS @CUSEAS ColumbiaSEAS @ColumbiaEngineering

Dean of the School Mary C. Boyce

Columbia Engineering is published twice a year by:

Senior Director of Communications Joanne Hvala

Columbia University in the City of New York The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science 500 West 120th Street, MC 4714 New York, NY 10027

Editor Stacy Morford Writers Jesse Adams, Jennifer Ernst Beaudry, Linda Crane, Allison Elliott, Holly Evarts, Marilyn Harris, and Maggie Hughes Photography Jeffrey Schifman and Timothy Lee Photographers

Comments, suggestions, or address changes may be e-mailed to engineering.mag@columbia.edu or sent to our address above.

For the latest news and updates about Columbia Engineering, visit engineering.columbia.edu.

Design & Art Direction by Columbia Creative Geoffrey Allen, Julie Winegard, Cecile Alexis, Donna Snyder, and Junie Lee Contributors Jane Nisselson, TJ O’Neill, and David Simpson

Cover image: New technology developed at Columbia Engineering is providing 3D views into the living brain. See Page 8. (Image courtesy of Elizabeth Hillman)

Opposite page: Dean Mary C. Boyce (Photo by Jeffrey Schifman)

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his January, I participated on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos discussing the Fourth Industrial Revolution and women. You have likely heard that phrase, Fourth Industrial Revolution. It refers to the coming (though in many ways current) era, in which new technologies accelerate the convergence of the digital, physical, and biological worlds.

I firmly believe what I told the audience at Davos—the future holds great promise and opportunities for women, and for everyone. As we move to a more knowledgebased economy, education will truly become the great equalizer. When harnessed correctly, technology brings new opportunities, creates novel fields of endeavor, and enables greater freedoms.

At Columbia Engineering, I witness these possibilities daily. What impresses me the most about our community is not just its collective talent and intellect, but its dedication to research that translates into impact and its eagerness to reach across disciplines and outside of engineering for collaborative solutions to big challenges. These aspects of Columbia Engineering are attracting incredible and diverse talent and preparing them to shape this Fourth Industrial Revolution.

This spring, we unveil a new, strategic vision for the School that captures these strengths: Columbia Engineering for Humanity. This vision encompasses areas of research and education where our community is truly making a difference—in sustainability, health, security, connectivity, and creativity. True to our roots, we remain dedicated to serving humanity outside our walls, and this vision will help communicate our ideals to a greater audience.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one area where this vision is at work. Professor Hod Lipson uses deep learning to train drones to detect crop disease in cornfields, an endeavor that could help save billions of dollars in lost yield and aid efforts for breeding disease-resistant crops. Professor David Blei has developed an algorithm that works with global genetic data sets to discover disease-carrying mutations. Professors Kathy McKeown and Julia Hirschberg are developing sentiment analysis techniques for limited-use languages that could help relief workers locate people most in need of aid during a crisis. Xunyu Zhou, Liu Family Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, is spearheading an exciting endeavor in behavioral finance with the Columbia Engineering Center for Intelligent Asset Management. Assistant Professor Changxi Zheng is changing our conception of sound and shape with acoustic voxels— hollow, cubed chambers that can be connected to form unique sound signatures.

Arunavha Chanda ’18SEAS uses machine learning to decipher code switching, a ubiquitous practice in social media where one post contains multiple languages. Chanda recently presented his findings at a national conference where participants were surprised to learn that he was just a college junior. At the graduate level, a group of students and recent graduates have developed an AI-based platform that analyzes clinical data to help doctors deliver the best patient care.

As part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there’s no doubt that AI’s impact will be great. We urgently need its capabilities to manage, understand, and utilize the vast amounts of information pervading our world. Columbia Engineering is creating opportunities for lifelong learning to prepare for this new frontier. The demand is evident: when our online MicroMasters program in AI launched this spring, over 100,000 people registered. The advances made possible by AI and all of engineering can benefit everyone. They likely will be disruptive, but will ultimately open up a new era of jobs for the future.

For those of you attending Reunion Weekend (June 1-4), I look forward to seeing you as we enter an exciting new phase for Columbia Engineering.

Mary Cunningham Boyce Dean of Engineering Morris A. and Alma Schapiro Professor

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CONTENTS

spring 2017, volume 58, no. 2

4 RESEARCH 4 Columbia engineering for humanity Columbia Engineering: Setting a Vision for the Future 6 Sustainable Humanity 8 Healthy Humanity 10 Secure Humanity 12 Connected Humanity 14 Creative Humanity

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16 Designing Artificial Intelligence to Solve Global Problems 17 Intelligent Drones Could Help Farmers 18 Analyzing Massive Genetic Data Sets 19 AI to the Aid of Disaster Relief 21 Injecting Emotion into

the Financial Equation 22 Manipulating Sound with Building Blocks 23 FACULTY Q&A Julia Hirschberg

26 STUDENTS

30 INNOVATION

26 Arunavha Chanda Junior, Computer Engineering

30 TAPPING INTO ENGINEERING’S ARTFUL SIDE Professor David Vallancourt believes that an abiding creativity underpins the field of engineering—and it’s that playful, collaborative spirit that he is incubating in his newly revamped Art of Engineering class.

28 USING AI, STARTUP MINES HEALTH CARE DATA TO IMPROVE PATIENT CARE Columbia startup Droice’s technology puts information about potential drug treatments, and their risks, at a doctor’s fingertips.

Opposite page: Engineering students put their design skills to the test in Columbia’s MakerSpace during the 24-hour MAKECU Hardware Hackathon. (Photo by Timothy Lee Photographers). Below: Videos by Jane Nisselson

VIDEOS

IMAGINE A WORLD . . .

ENGINEERING FOR HUMANITY We’re launching a new vision for Columbia Engineering. Find out what Engineering for Humanity means and watch how our engineers are improving lives around the world every day.

DEAN AT DAVOS Dean Mary Boyce talked with CEOs at the World Economic Forum this year about the importance of STEM education and how it can help accelerate progress for women. Listen in on the conversation.

ART OF ENGINEERING “Engineering IS creative.”

Take a look at how this course opens the doors to engineering for firstyear students through a semester of hands-on projects, teamwork, and community outreach.

PRESIDENTIAL HONOR Medical imaging innovator Christine Hendon is our newest recipient of the prestigious U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Step into her Columbia Engineering lab for a tour.

engineering.columbia.edu/spring2017video

32 EDUCATION

36 ALUMNI

40 NEWS

49 DEPARTMENTS

32 INTRODUCING DESIGN-THINKING, WHERE THE USER COMES FIRST A new course taught in collaboration with the global design firm frog is inspiring young entrepreneurs.

36 CELEBRATE OUR PIONEERING ALUMNI

40 ELECTRONS IN GRAPHENE BEHAVE LIKE LIGHT, ONLY BETTER

49 Faculty News

34 COLUMBIA PIONEERS LAUNCH ONLINE MICROMASTERS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE More than 100,000 students have enrolled.

36 Changing How We Understand DNA: Jacqueline K. Barton, Pupin Medal 37 Twisting Light to Speed Up Data: Alan Willner, Egleston Medal 38 THINK BIG, TAKE RISKS, AND CHOOSE YOUR PARTNERS WISELY Len Blavatnik is being awarded the Samuel Johnson Medal.

42 FROM SMART WINDOWS TO INFRARED CAMOUFLAGE, NEW OPTICAL MATERIAL HAS CLOAKING POTENTIAL 44 IMPLANTABLE MICROROBOTS

50 CEAA/CEYA MESSAGE 50 Class Notes Undergraduate Alumni 56 Program Notes

Graduate Alumni 60 IN MEMORIAM 64 Donor Spotlight Kittu Kolluri and Maodong “Modern” Xu

45 SPOT NEWS ROUNDUP

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olumbia Engineering recently celebrated its 150th anniversary with a look back at our proud history of discovery and achievement. From its origins as a school devoted to metallurgy and mining, Columbia Engineering contributed to the growth of a rapidly industrializing nation, and its graduates and faculty went on to transform entire industries with developments including steamboat technology, early mechanical tabulators, medical X-ray technology, and FM radio, and to lead such groundbreaking projects as New York’s first subway and the world’s first nuclear submarine.

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ENGINEERING FOR HUMANITY

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Above: Columbia engineers are helping to build a more sustainable, healthy, secure, connected, and creative world. In health care, a medical device designed by our engineers provides 3D images of blood vessels inside the living brain.

(Image courtesy of Elizabeth Hillman)

Today, Columbia Engineering is continuing that tradition of pushing the frontiers of engineering to address key needs of humanity and setting a bold path forward for the future. As technology moves at a rapid pace and transforms every area of human endeavor, engineering embraces the unprecedented opportunity to bring creative solutions to the challenges of our time.

From sustainable urban infrastructure, such as green rooftops that filter out pollutants and reduce runoff, to intelligent sensor systems that monitor an individual’s energy footprint and provide actionable feedback, we are giving cities and industries the tools

to keep the environment healthy. We are pioneering medical imaging techniques, developing methods for connecting people at faster speeds with less energy, creating models for preventing crises and mitigating disasters, and designing technologies to enable creative and artistic expression never seen before.

This spring, we unveil our vision for Columbia Engineering; a vision which reflects our aspirations to bring about innovative research that has a positive impact on humanity—a sustainable, healthy, secure, connected, and creative humanity. Our vision, Columbia Engineering for Humanity, is true to

our history as a School and is exemplified today by the diverse and pioneering work that our faculty and students are pursuing across departments and disciplines and in partnership with sister schools, institutes, government, and industry.

We have never been more optimistic about the role engineering can play in the service of society and in bringing those advances to populations across the country and around the world.

We invite you to take a look at Columbia Engineering for Humanity.

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Imagine a world where manufacturing waste becomes an asset, mined for valuable resources.

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s the global population grows, so does the need for efficient and sustainable use of our planet’s limited resources. Billions of tons of solid waste pile up in landfills every year, including toxic byproducts of mining and manufacturing that can cause environmental and health problems. Industries have an opportunity to reclaim value from the waste while preserving the ecological landscape and public health.

For more than a century, faculty and students at Columbia Engineering have pioneered environmentally conscious processes to extend the use of natural resources and increase sustainability.

Herbert H. Kellogg BS’41, MS’43, a 20th-century leader in mining sustainability who began his 44-year teaching career at Columbia in 1946, was a passionate advocate for developing the mining

Ah-Hyung (Alissa) Park, Lenfest Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering, and Xiaozhou (Sean) Zhou developed a process to extract valuable materials from iron and steel manufacturing waste. (Left photo of Park by Jeffrey Schifman; right photo of Zhou by Timothy Lee Photographers)

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industry’s environmental awareness. He paved the way for innovative approaches to promote sustainability across disciplines.

That passion for sustainable solutions thrives at Columbia Engineering today. Professor Ah-Hyung (Alissa) Park and Associate Research Scientist Xiaozhou (Sean) Zhou MS’11, MPhil’14, PhD’15 are developing a system to extract valuable materials from slag—the waste of iron and steel production—for use in a range of other industries, including paper, plastic, cement, oil, and gas. These earth and environmental engineers are aiming for a zero-waste future for the industry in partnership with one of the world’s largest steel producers. They also aspire to reduce overall carbon emissions by using industrially emitted carbon dioxide as one of the reactants in their process.

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Herbert H. Kellogg, a Columbia Engineering professor from 1946 to 1990, advocated for environmental awareness in the mining industry and paved the way for innovative approaches to sustainability.

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Imaging the Living Brain

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Elmer Gaden, a Columbia Engineering professor from 1949 to 1974, developed technology that made mass production of antibiotics possible.

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Elizabeth Hillman develops optical imaging approaches to observe the functioning of living tissue and neurons. The image shows astrocytes (blue) and blood vessels (red).

(Photo by Jeffrey Schifman; images courtesy of Elizabeth Hillman)

Imagine a world where you can measure and record enough neurons in a living brain to understand how the brain drives behavior.

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ecoding the human brain is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century and part of the growing emphasis on precision medicine for healthier lives.

Columbia researchers have been improving health care for generations, including developing imaging methods to more safely and precisely direct treatments and improving drug development. In the 1940s, future Columbia Engineering professor and Russ Prize winner Elmer Gaden BS’44, MS’47, PhD’49 took on one of the great challenges of that era—treating infection. For his dissertation, he designed the technology that made possible the mass production of penicillin and other antibiotics.

Today, breakthrough advances in microscopic imaging allow researchers to gain a better understanding of how to detect and treat disease. Professor Elizabeth Hillman of Biomedical Engineering and the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute is unlocking the secrets of brain activity with SCAPE, a highspeed 3D microscope she invented for real-time imaging of living organisms, including observing neurons firing inside a living brain.

Hillman’s team is also developing medical applications for the technology, such as imaging the brain during cancer resection.

Their innovations are opening new doors for significant progress in mapping and healing the brain.

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Masanobu Shinozuka, a professor of civil engineering at Columbia, became a leading authority on the safety and reliability of structures, particularly their response to earthquakes.

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Imagine a world where power grids are reliable, secure, efficient, and environmentally friendly.

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here is no shortage of natural and human-induced factors that threaten the safety and security of humanity: external and internal attacks, extreme weather, financial catastrophes, failing infrastructure, and, increasingly, risks posed by our digital, online world.

Columbia engineers have a rich history of detecting a wide range of security threats and reducing their risks. During World War I, Professor Michael Pupin helped develop sonar technology to increase security for ships. Professor Masanobu Shinozuka PhD’60 of Civil Engineering later became a leading authority on the safety and reliability of structures, particularly their response to earthquakes.

Today, power grids—the pulse of our economies and communities—in particular are under growing stress and

subject to catastrophic failure, including disruptions caused by hostile actions. Professor Daniel Bienstock of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research collaborates with Gil Zussman of Electrical Engineering to forge data-driven techniques, mathematical analyses, and algorithmic tools to uncover vulnerabilities in power grids that could be exploited by malicious actors. The same methodologies can be used to diagnose weaknesses that could become dangerous in case of severe natural events, such as major storms, or human errors.

Their work aims to prevent the shutdown of power grids and resulting upheaval by designing and making networks that are not only more secure but also more resilient and able to recover faster in the event of a power outage.

Gil Zussman (far left) and Daniel Bienstock (right) use data and mathematical analysis to find vulnerabilities in power grids. Background: A power grid map. (Left photo by Jeffrey Schifman; right photo by Timothy Lee Photographers; image courtesy of Daniel Bienstock)

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Imagine a world where cities are cleaner, healthier, more secure, and more enjoyable.

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n estimated 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, creating unprecedented demand for clean air, water, energy, food, transportation, and housing.

Connectivity is increasingly critical for meeting those needs and analyzing and managing services.

From its very beginning, Columbia Engineering has focused on developing technology and improving systems to help create a more connected world. In 1896, Herman Hollerith, an 1879 graduate, founded a business called the Tabulating Machine Company, which would merge with three other companies to one day become International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation.

His business venture was based on a punch card system he had developed to count and sort data mechanically, an invention inspired by his work as a statistician on the 1880 U.S. Census and his belief that there could be a faster way to process data.

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Today, data science is increasingly used to understand and explain connections between numbers and people. Assistant Professor Xiaofan (Fred) Jiang of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering specializes in the Internet of Things and has been designing sensors to monitor the urban environment—including buildings and infrastructure—to collect and analyze data. In Beijing, he developed a system of low-cost sensors that provided the first independent, real-time assessment of particulate pollution in the city. Along with his Columbia Engineering colleagues Patricia Culligan, the Robert A. W. and Christine S. Carleton Professor of Civil Engineering and associate director of the Data Science Institute, and Andrew Smyth, from Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Jiang is helping to create smarter, greener cities that will thrive for years to come.

RESEARCH

Columbia Engineering graduate Herman Hollerith developed a punch card system in the late 1800s to count and sort data, an invention inspired by his work on the 1880 U.S. Census.

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Xiaofan (Fred) Jiang designs sensors to monitor buildings and the environment in our increasingly connected world. Above, a heat map using sensor data shows pollution levels in Beijing. (Photo by Timothy Lee; heat map courtesy of Xiaofan (Fred) Jiang; background image courtesy of NASA)

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Imagine a world where animation mimics real-world physics and imagination is the only limit to creation.

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he creativity of engineers not only makes new technologies possible, it also enables the creativity of others.

Former Electrical Engineering Professor Cyril M. Harris, who began teaching at Columbia in 1952, was hailed as “the preeminent acoustical engineer in the United States.”

During his career, he fine-tuned or redesigned the sound at more than 100 of America’s highest-profile musical venues, including the Metropolitan Opera House and Avery Fisher Hall (recently renamed David Geffen Hall) at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Today, Computer Science Associate Professor Eitan Grinspun works with Hollywood animation studios and

Eitan Grinspun (far left) develops computer algorithms that translate the geometry of physics to animation for more lifelike movement of characters’ cloth and hair (background). (Left photo

by Jeffrey Schifman; right image: a scene from The Jungle Book © Disney, courtesy of Disney)

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graphic designers to capture the laws of motion in computer algorithms. Computer-generated imagery, or CGI, enchants and delights audiences, yet complex movements and materials can be difficult to represent. Grinspun, who has been active in the development of a new field of geometry, is expanding the ability of moviemakers to portray reality based on physical laws of nature. His work can be seen in Disney’s Tangled, Moana, and The Jungle Book, winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Grinspun directs the Columbia Computer Graphics Group, which also creates computational models for geometric modeling and physics-based simulations of materials and structures, from the nanoscale to the macroscale.

Physics of Animation

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Cyril M. Harris, an electrical engineering professor at Columbia, used his knowledge and creativity to improve the acoustical quality of famous opera houses and symphony halls.

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Designing Artificial Intelligence to Solve Global Problems Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming our lives in ways that were almost unimaginable just a few years ago. At Columbia Engineering, researchers are not just developing and refining the algorithms that are AI’s intellectual firepower; they are integrating the most advanced AI techniques into a broad variety of creative solutions that have the potential to radically alter and improve people’s lives. The work underway in Columbia’s labs is leveraging these advances to solve some of the big challenges facing individuals and society.

Professor Hod Lipson has engineered a deep learning system that can turn a drone into an agricultural disease expert as effective at spotting diseases as humans are—and far more efficient. Professor David Blei has developed machine learning algorithms that have the smarts to analyze the treasure trove of genomic data that has overwhelmed less sophisticated systems. Professors Kathleen McKeown and Julia Hirschberg are employing their expertise in natural language processing to design a system that can help disaster relief teams detect emergency situations in crisis-beset populations whose languages are little known. Professor Xunyu Zhou is using reinforcement learning to connect human financial behavior with market data to improve automated asset management. Professor Changxi Zheng’s research on manipulating acoustic propagation through AI-enabled design will have creative applications in everything from automotive mufflers to underwater communication.

These wide-ranging research projects, just a sample of the AI work underway at Columbia Engineering, have the potential to help eradicate hunger, unlock the mysteries of heritable disease, save lives after natural disasters, reshape financial markets, and reduce noise pollution.

By Marilyn Harris

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Changxi Zheng creates building blocks of sound using combinations of voxels. Different configurations create unique sound signatures (see page 22).

(Image courtesy of Changxi Zheng)

Engineering For A Sustainable Humanity

Intelligent Drones Could Help Farmers Increase Yields Dramatically Professor Hod Lipson has built a system capable of diagnosing the dreaded northern leaf blight in cornfields better and faster than human experts.

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illions of dollars in corn are lost each year to diseases such as northern leaf blight (NLB). A team of researchers from Columbia Engineering’s Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science departments led by Professor Hod Lipson has developed a system based on deep learning architecture that can automatically identify NLB lesions from images of maize plants acquired in the field, either by low-flying drones or ground-based robots.

These sharp-eyed, mobile scouts do the job far more quickly and just as accurately as human experts trudging through the fields: the system was 97.6 percent accurate in tests.

A drone’s-eye view of a test cornfield. (Image courtesy of Hod Lipson)

Above, top: Hod Lipson (Photo by Jeffrey Schifman); above, bottom: Patterns of northern leaf blight can be detected from the air by drones.

(Image courtesy of Hod Lipson)

The research suggests that, with specialized training, drones can potentially help with high-throughput plant phenotyping, precision breeding for disease resistance, and reduced pesticide use through targeted applications, across a variety of plant and disease categories, Lipson said. An estimated 13 percent of potential global crop yield is lost to disease each year—with more lost during epidemics.

Recent improvements in convolutional neural networks, enabling computer vision systems to classify images more accurately, gave Lipson’s team the opening to design an effective tool. Columbia PhD student Chad DeChant developed a hierarchy of deep learning nets to efficiently learn which features of an image are most important for making classification decisions. This task is more difficult to accomplish in the field than with artificially controlled lab samples—factors such as lighting variations, shadows, and exposed soil can confuse the system—so the researchers, working with Cornell University colleagues Rebecca Nelson and Michael Gore, trained neural networks with images collected from cornfields in upstate New York that contained varying levels of NLB. A major challenge, Lipson said, was gathering the vast volumes of data required to train such nets. One way around the data-scarcity problem, he suggested, is to seed the agricultural research community with more drones busily collecting more images. To that end, Lipson’s plan is to open-source their system in the expectation that producing a bumper crop of intelligent drones will lead to breeding better plants and will result in higher yields. “The more drones there are, the more they will share data and learn from each other,” he pointed out.

Lipson, director of Columbia Engineering’s Creative Machines Lab, has about a dozen active projects in the works, some more abstract than others, but all tied to an application, from breeding corn for early bloom to predicting earthquakes. Artificially intelligent self-awareness—think: robots that learn about themselves—particularly fascinates Lipson, a robotics and 3D printing evangelist. “I try to take on long-term, difficult issues and see if algorithms can make a dent in them,” he said.

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Engineering For A HEALTHY Humanity

David Blei’s Machine Learning Algorithms May One Day Be a Tool in Doctors’ Kits By analyzing massive genetic data sets, algorithms can help identify disease-carrying mutations; by analyzing health records, they can help predict an individual’s survival.

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n artificial intelligence, often the challenge is finding enough data to train the system to interpret information. In the case of understanding disease from reading the genomes of populations—and thus expediting efforts to tailor health care to an individual’s DNA—the problem is finding algorithms that can uncover meaningful patterns within the massive genetic data sets that are already available.

The relationship between genes and traits, which must be understood before personalized medicine can advance, is confounded by population structure. Ancestral populations all reproduced together and then migrated across the earth. A team of Columbia and Princeton researchers led by Columbia Computer Science Professor David Blei and Princeton statistician John Storey has developed a new machine learning algorithm that can scan the enormous quantities of genetic data randomly dispersed across populations. On simulated data sets of 10,000 people, the algorithm, dubbed TeraStructure, could estimate population structure twice as fast as current state-of-theart algorithms. TeraStructure could analyze the genomes of one million individuals, orders of magnitude beyond modern software capabilities, the researchers said, and could potentially characterize the structure of worldscale human populations.

The researchers’ algorithm builds on the widely used and adapted Structure algorithm, a Bayesian model. The Structure algorithm cycles through an entire data set, genome by genome, one million variants at a time, before updating its model both to characterize ancestral populations and to estimate their proportion

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Using TeraStructure, David Blei can estimate population structures. Each vertical slice represents one person’s mix of ancestral populations. (Image courtesy of Wai Hao)

Above, top: David Blei (Photo by Jeffrey Schifman); bottom: TeraStructure uses genetic data sets to analyze ancestral populations. (Image courtesy of Wai Hao)

in each individual. Repeated passes through the data set refine the model.

By contrast, TeraStructure, an application of another Blei advance called stochastic variational inference, updates the model as it goes. It samples one genetic variant at one location and compares it to all variants in the data set at the same location across the data set, producing a working estimate of population structure. “You don’t have to painstakingly go through all the points each time to update your model,” Blei said.

Blei’s team is employing TeraStructure in other health-related projects, in collaboration with researchers at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Chief among them is an effort to expand survival analysis to largescale data by parsing the thousands of electronic health records on file at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The researchers are actively building new tools for monitoring patients and predicting the course of their disease based on outcome data made available by the analysis.

Engineering For A SECURE Humanity

Kathleen McKeown and Julia Hirschberg’s language analysis work could help disaster response teams locate communities in distress. Satellite images can find potential risks, such as these hotspots in Nigeria that could be wildfires. McKeown and Hirschberg analyze the human reactions on the ground. (Image courtesy of NASA)

AI to the Aid of Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Kathleen McKeown and Julia Hirschberg’s automated system will help emergency teams break the code of little-studied languages in a hurry.

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ore than a quarter of the population of Nigeria uses smartphones, and a larger percentage has access to feature phones.

In the case of a natural disaster or deadly disease outbreak, identifying areas for triage should in principle be easy, if only by monitoring social media posts. Yet because there are more than 500 languages in Nigeria, most of them uncategorized in terms of syntax, grammar, or lexicon, international disaster relief teams often run into an impenetrable barrier: the inability to understand these so-called lowresource languages (LRLs).

Millions of people around the globe speak a dazzling variety of such LRLs, making the task of disaster relief, from Africa to Asia, infinitely more complex. Working with a four-year Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant, Computer Science Professors Kathleen McKeown and Julia Hirschberg are leading the development of a universal sentiment and emotion detection system that will enable disaster relief workers confronted with an LRL to figure out who needs help the most, ideally within a day of their arrival in the region.

The Columbia project is part of a DARPA program called LORELEI, for low-resource languages for emergent incidents. While LORELEI technologies may include partial or fully automated speech recognition and/or machine translation, the overall goal will not be translating foreign language material into English but providing situation awareness by identifying elements of information in foreign language and English sources, such as topics, names, events, sentiments, and relationships.

Situation awareness in such complex, dynamic scenarios implies an understanding and evaluation not just of the status of the disaster but of the causative events and the potential hazards ahead. ­­ | 19

RESEARCH

“The goal is to analyze the subjective posts and messages of people in crisis situations—whether they’re feeling distress, urgency, anger—by accessing Twitter, the Web, news articles, and spoken language and to feed that information into our system, which would then identify the areas with the greatest need,” explained McKeown, who is the Henry and Gertrude Rothschild Professor of Computer Science, director of the Data Science Institute at Columbia, and the principal investigator on the project.

Natural language processing systems learn through ingesting massive amounts of data. No data means no way to train the system, and the very term “low-resource language” basically states the team’s major challenge. “Developing an automated system that generates a sentiment system for a new language is entirely new ground,” McKeown said. “No one has really done it before.”

The researchers, collaborating with colleagues from George Washington University, are attacking the problem from two directions: a supervised learning technique that employs novel methods of projection and a novel use of deep neural networks.

The supervised learning approach uses speech data labeled for emotion in high-resource languages to train systems for identifying the same emotion in low-resource languages. With this technique,

“we’ve shown that we can detect emotions such as anger and stress by training on one language and testing on another with performance about 17 percent above the baselines,” said Hirschberg, who is the Percy K. and Vida L. W. Hudson Professor of Computer Science and chair of the Computer Science Department at Columbia.

In the second phase, the team is using a deep learning approach, training neural networks via cross-lingual word embeddings from both highresource languages and a mix of low-resource languages. They then train a neural net using the cross-lingual embeddings and data that are labeled in English. The researchers also have developed techniques that enable automatic generation of a lexicon that tags words or phrases in a new language, such as the Uyghur language spoken in rural China, with the emotions they express.

McKeown and Hirschberg will be working with their team to produce systems that can recognize sentiment and emotion in a variety of underresourced languages.

Below: Kathleen McKeown (left) and Julia Hirschberg are developing sentiment analysis for little-known languages to help disaster response teams locate communities in distress. (Photos by Jeffrey Schifman)

Engineering For A CONNECTED Humanity

Injecting Emotion into the Financial Equation Xunyu Zhou’s vision of intelligent asset management combines behavioral finance, data analytics, and machine learning.

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s financial technology remakes a broad spectrum of sales and trading activities, one emerging sector is robo-advising— taking human advisers out of the process of balancing portfolios. An even newer area is automated asset management: a more complex task on a larger scale, which has the potential to make a major contribution to shaping investment strategies and creating new businesses. But intelligent machines can only do the job better than people if the element of human behavior and emotion is baked in.

Launched in January, Columbia Engineering’s Center for Intelligent Asset Management aims to do just that. The brainchild of Xunyu Zhou, Liu Family Professor of Industrial Engineering and

Below: Xunyu Zhou combines behavioral finance, data analytics, and machine learning to improve financial asset management. (Photo by Jeffrey Schifman)

Operations Research, the center is funded by a $2 million gift from Financial Data Technologies (FDT), a Hong Kong–based financial technology company. Its focus will be on improving automated asset management with the aid of a unique trove of data on how people make financial decisions.

That data is the product of another project Zhou was involved in from 2014 to 2016. He was the founding director of Oxford University’s OxfordNIE Financial Big Data Laboratory, also funded

by FDT. Zhou considers the Oxford lab a “sister lab” to Columbia’s center; the secret weapon both share is an arsenal of data that derives from FDT’s simulated trading platform app. The app’s millions of users—mostly college students testing their skills with virtual money in actual, real-time trading and investing scenarios—provide a large and continuing source of information, enabling Oxford’s, and now Columbia’s, researchers to employ big data analytics to infer financial behavior in an effort to develop metrics.

Machine learning will play a dominant role in the center’s work. Traditional asset management employs a simple mathematical model that relies on best estimates of selected market parameters such as volatility and return rates to generate the best trading strategy. But with computer systems generating virtually infinite random market scenarios, the models can rely on premises that are far more certain. Using reinforcement learning techniques, Zhou’s team will experiment with reward functions to teach the system various trading strategies and then will let different strategies compete against each other. “If you view the experience of the finance community over many years as an evolutionary process of developing and choosing the best trading policies, we are essentially replacing time with space to find superior strategies much more quickly,” said Zhou.

The challenge is the field’s youth and consequent scarcity of literature, Zhou pointed out: “We first have to develop the methodologies to generate the algorithms.” His starting team includes IEOR faculty, finance industry practitioners, Columbia Business School faculty, and students. Zhou expects to recruit computer scientists as the work progresses to create a highly interdisciplinary collaboration. Eventually, he envisions starting a company and licensing the technology for commercial use.

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Engineering For A CREATIVE Humanity

Acoustic Voxels

engineering.columbia.edu/spring2017video

Manipulating Sound with Building Blocks Changxi Zheng’s 3D-printed objects are a playful way to display the possibilities of embedding data through sound.

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coustic voxels, the playground of Computer Science Assistant Professor Changxi Zheng, are small, hollow, cubeshaped chambers through which sound enters and exits. Like Legos, the voxels can be connected to form an infinitely adjustable, complex structure. Because of their internal chambers, they can modify the acoustic filtering property of the structure. Changing their number and size or how they connect alters the acoustic response.

Working with colleagues at Disney Research and MIT, Zheng and his team have developed algorithms to computationally optimize design for manipulating acoustic propagation in a wide variety of objects, such as automobile mufflers and musical instruments. The technology could also be used to create unique, hard-to-counterfeit identification tags for works of art or jewelry, opening the door to encoding product and copyright information into the object’s very form, Zheng said.

The researchers were inspired by Zheng’s prior work using computational methods to design and 3D print a zoolophone, a xylophone-type instrument with keys in the shape of zoo animals.

The zoolophone represented fundamental research into vibrational sound control, leveraging the complex relationships between an object’s geometry and the surface vibrational sounds it produces when struck.

The team designed new algorithms that take as input the overall geometry of the object to be created and the sound characteristics desired.

“It’s a much more intelligent form of computeraided design,” Zheng said. “You tell the computer what kind of sound you want, and the system decides what the internal shape should be by searching and finding a valid structure and architecture composed of acoustic voxels.”

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Changxi Zheng and his team use 3D printers to creatively manipulate sound through building blocks called voxels. (Photo by Jeffrey Schifman)

Above: A unique, identifiable sound is created when a tone from a mobile app enters the voxel configuration inside this 3D-printed octopus.

(Images courtesy of Changxi Zheng)

The shape of the ultimate object can be almost anything: To demonstrate the acoustic tagging, Zheng’s team 3D printed a toy octopus that, when processing white noise generated by an iPhone app the group had designed, generated a sound that was read and analyzed by the app.

“In this aspect of our work, we’re trying to exploit the increasing power of the 3D printer,” Zheng explained. “Its ability to manufacture complex shapes at low cost opens the door for us to leverage that complexity to engineer better acoustics.”

Longer term, Zheng is looking to develop relationships with industry; he mentioned that some startups in China had expressed interest.

His group is also collaborating with MIT’s mechanical engineering department to design underwater acoustic devices. “We are investigating some of the intriguing possibilities of ultrasonic manipulation, such as cloaking, where sound propagation can be distorted to hide objects from sound waves. This could lead to new designs of sonar systems or underwater communication systems. It’s an exciting area to explore.”

RESEARCH

Q&A with Professor Julia Hirschberg

Q. The National Academy of Engineering cited your contributions to the “use of prosody in textto-speech and spoken dialogue systems and to audio browsing and retrieval.” Tell us a bit about your research.

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rofessor Julia Hirschberg has been a pioneer in natural language processing, a subarea of artificial intelligence that uses computers to analyze written or spoken language. As chair of the Computer Science Department at Columbia Engineering, she leads a team of researchers, many of whom also work at the nexus of linguistics and computer science.

Hirschberg, who was elected this spring to the National Academy of Engineering for her numerous contributions to speech synthesis and speech analysis, shared her perspective on natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI).

Below: The spoken phrase “I was born” is analyzed by waveform and spectrogram, with the phonetic and orthographic transcriptions spelled out. The final row shows the truth value of the utterance, as reported by its speaker. (Images courtesy of Sarah Ita Levitan)

A. At Bell Labs, I worked on text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis—producing natural, humansounding speech from text input. TTS is a critical component of spoken dialogue systems like Siri—it lets systems talk with users. Prosody is a major component of naturalness: when people speak, they rarely speak in a monotone. They use falling pitch to indicate statements, rising pitch for yes/no questions, and a variety of other contours to express uncertainty, incredulity, surprise, and other types of information. Later, when I became head of the Human Computer Interface Research Department and moved to AT&T Labs, I led a group of speech and HCI (human-computer interaction) researchers who developed interfaces to voicemail messages, allowing people to search their voicemail through automatic speech recognition (ASR) transcripts. We provided information in an emaillike interface identifying the caller and letting recipients read their messages. We also were able to label messages as personal or business with good accuracy based on training on many voicemail messages our colleagues made available. This system, called SCANMail, was the first to provide these capabilities but was hard to scale due to the ASR-intensive nature of the problem and the lack of sufficient server capacity at the time.

Q. Your research in speech analysis uses machine learning to help experts identify deceptive speech and even to assess sentiment and emotion across languages and cultures. Tell us about this research.

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A. We began to study deceptive speech shortly after 9/11 when the Department of Homeland Security decided to fund a multimodal project to identify characteristics of deceptive persons from speech, face, and gesture. We collected what was then the largest cleanly recorded corpus of deceptive and non-deceptive speech and built classifiers that distinguished between truth and lie with 70 percent accuracy. Human raters of ­­ | 23

RESEARCH

the same data had only 58 percent accuracy.

We subsequently received AFOSR (Air Force Office of Scientific Research) funding to collect a much larger, multicultural corpus with native speakers of English and Chinese. We are using gender, ethnicity, and personality traits, as well as acoustic and lexical features, to classify truth versus lie.

Q. You also have a doctorate in history. How did you initially get into the field of computer science, and linguistics in particular?

A. I fell in love with CS (computer science) when finishing my PhD thesis in 16th-century Mexican social history while also teaching history at Smith College. I was trying to examine networks of settlers who founded a town in 1531–32, which is now Puebla de los Ángeles, a large Mexican city. I was looking at the social relations between settlers and how that related to things like land ownership and commercial transactions. A friend in CS said, “Julia, this is an AI problem.” In fact, I was doing some form of social network analysis, although none of us knew that at the time. Since historians didn’t have any way of funding such an effort at the time, I ended up learning to program. Eventually, I decided to get a master’s in CS at Penn with a database focus. However, I

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Above: In Julia Hirschberg’s lab, students analyze human speech and design speech technologies.

Graduate students Victor Soto Martinez (left) and Gideon Mendels work with the lab’s double-walled soundproof booth. (Photo

by Jeffrey Schifman)

took a wonderful course in NLP and decided to get a PhD in computational linguistics instead.

My thesis was in computational approaches to interpreting conversational implicature— information listeners infer but which is not explicitly said by speakers. Such behavior is important to model to understand human question-answering. At one point, I was giving a talk about my work, and a linguistics friend noticed that I was using a particular intonational contour in producing my examples. He and I discovered that this was a well-known contour whose meaning was controversial, so we both began to study it. We eventually published a paper in a top linguistics journal and were invited to visit Bell Labs to discuss the work. We drove back saying, “Wow, that would be a wonderful place to work.” I ended up there, with my friend as a longtime collaborator.

Q. Where do you see the growth potential for research into natural language processing?

A. NLP is advancing fundamentally in new approaches to modeling semantics—aka “meaning.” One major development is the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of NLP work in collaboration with the humanities, social science, and journalism. New machine

“No matter what your major, take a CS course and you will find something fascinating about learning how to apply computational tools to problems you’ve encountered but may not even know could be solved.”

learning techniques are being used to build classifiers from larger and larger amounts of data, which makes NLP of increasing interest for business and medical applications. Humanrobot interaction is also of increasing interest and beginning to involve speech as well as language researchers. In the medical domain, speech analysis is increasingly being studied to identify medical conditions such as depression and autism. Both speech and text analysis are being used in analyses of political candidates and movement leaders, to determine their ability to attract followers and win elections.

Q. How has your department grown in the past few years?

A. In 2012, when I became chair, we had 38 faculty. Today, we have 49, with another faculty member already coming in the fall, and multiple searches for new faculty in AI and programming languages. We’ve grown in machine learning,

security, theory, systems, and HCI, all areas where we already had strength but now we have much more.

Above, left: Julia Hirschberg; above, right: an example of the waveform of an utterance, along with its spectrogram—a visual representation of the power at each frequency—and its phonetic and orthographic transcriptions. (Photos by Jeffrey Schifman)

Q. What is the student interest in natural language processing and artificial intelligence?

A. Students find computer science as fascinating as I did when I went from history to computer science. No matter what your major, take a CS course and you will find something fascinating about learning how to apply computational tools to problems you’ve encountered but may not even know could be solved. CS departments everywhere are experiencing a huge growth in student interest. For example, Columbia saw a nearly sixfold increase in the number of undergraduate computer science majors over the past 10 years, and enrollments in CS classes almost tripled over that period, reaching more than 9,000.

By Joanne Hvala

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STUDENTS

Student Teaches Technology to Decipher the “New Languages” of Code-Switching

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wiftly, subtly, without most of us even realizing, the world has adopted a whole new set of languages, explains Arunavha Chanda, a junior studying computer engineering.

Social media and texting—rapid-fire messaging replete with contractions, acronyms, in-jokes, emojis, typos, and made-up words—are creating evolving vernaculars that are vexing enough for computers to decode, but multilingual users present a vaster problem. How can machines understand “code-switching”— humans’ use of multiple languages in single utterances—especially involving sparsely documented languages like Bengali that are casually transliterated into Roman script?

With more than half of Twitter’s traffic now involving code-switching or languages other than English, deciphering text is becoming increasingly important for sentiment analysis, speech recognition for services like Siri, and even detecting potential terrorists in our increasingly connected world.

Chanda took on the challenge of helping technology decipher codeswitching by designing artificial intelligence capable not only of recognizing sequences of characters as words in different languages but of figuring out which language and meaning are intended. He began by compiling lexicons of English, Spanish, and Bengali—especially challenging, as even sequences of just two characters can be transliterated at least seven different ways—and designed rule-based algorithms for assessing which language is most likely. Then, he gathered an extensive corpus of Bengali-English Facebook chats to serve as a training set for machine learning algorithms he developed for considering context to help determine what users mean. He is also making his work publicly available for future research.

“It’s an extremely fertile area for getting things wrong,” said Chanda, a recipient of the C. Prescott Davis and

Prentice C. Hiam scholarships. “Even normal social media is very complex.

But code-switching is how language works now. It’s a fact of life.” Bengali, for example, is the seventh most widely spoken language in the world, used by millions of people who may also speak English and/or Hindi.

Chanda was the youngest presenter at the Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP) conference last November in Austin, Texas, concerning the branch of computer science dealing with recognizing and processing human language and speech. He was invited to present his research after the Association for Computational Linguistics published two of his papers.

“I had an incredible time and it was an extremely proud moment for me,” said the aspiring entrepreneur, who serves as a teaching assistant for data structures in the computer science department.

“I got to meet stalwarts and legends whose work I had read and cited, and everyone was surprised to learn that I was an undergraduate.”

Chanda, who became intrigued with natural language processing while at home in India, is also interested in algorithm development, logic design, and computer architecture. He has been recognized by his peers for his research, as well. In January, he was a plenary speaker at the National Collegiate Research Conference, an international, multidisciplinary conference for undergraduate students.

By Jesse Adams

Left: Arunavha Chanda ’18SEAS used artificial intelligence to train technology to translate sentences containing multiple languages. On the board behind him are examples from Bengali mixed with English.

(Photo by Timothy Lee Photographers)

“Even normal social media is very complex. But code-switching is how language works now. It’s a fact of life.” ­­ | 27

Students

Using AI, Startup Mines Health Care Data to Improve Patient Care I

magine reading six million pages of text or scrolling through 200,000 photos on your smart phone. That is the amount of data, on average, that a doctor should comb through to diagnose and treat a single patient. Most of this information is contained in clinical text, which is difficult to analyze by conventional data analysis methods because it almost always contains errors and is riddled with missing information. As a

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result, critical information often remains undetected, which can lead to unfortunate consequences. One is adverse drug events, the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States and estimated to cost close to $140 billion per year.

A Columbia startup, Droice, is using artificial intelligence to help doctors make sense of clinical data. “Artificial intelligence is critical to the future of medicine,” said Harshit Saxena, a Droice

cofounder who just graduated with a master’s degree in computer science.

He and three other Columbia graduate students—Mayur Saxena (no relation to Harshit), Tasha Nagamine, and Aleksandr Makarov—created a platform to assist doctors in choosing an appropriate treatment, whether it is drugs, medical devices, surgeries, lab tests, or other interventions.

Their platform analyzes possible treatment combinations for several

Left: Three of the founders of the Columbia startup Droice: Mayur Saxena, Tasha Nagamine, and Harshit Saxena. (Photo by Jeffrey Schifman) Above: Droice’s technology puts information about potential drug treatments, and their risks, at a doctor’s fingertips. (Example courtesy of Droice)

common conditions, including diabetes, asthma, and heart disease, which together are responsible for 80 percent of all U.S. prescriptions.

Choosing an appropriate treatment is incredibly complicated. “Every patient is unique,” Harshit Saxena said. “Every treatment should be tailored to the individual sitting in front of the doctor.”

It is not easy. More than 2,000 drugs are prescribed in the U.S.; asthma alone has more than 100 FDA-approved drugs.

Each drug performs differently depending on a patient’s age, sex, genetic profile, and co-conditions that include diseases, susceptibilities, and allergies. Doctors must also consider a multitude of relevant scientific literature, clinical trials, and FDA guidelines.

Nagamine, who researches machine learning for her PhD, explains that traditional methods for choosing a treatment plan can be difficult to use in such a complex setting. “The answer lies in artificial intelligence—more specifically, in advanced natural language processing, which can analyze huge amounts of

patient information in the form of text from electronic health records. This gives us critical insights into the best treatment strategy for a patient, which might otherwise be impossible for a doctor to find,” she said.

Droice’s software predicts the performance of a treatment by combining medical research with an analysis of how that treatment has performed on millions of patients in the past. From this collective information, it predicts how the same treatment will perform on a new patient.

It is a sophisticated use of artificial intelligence, but for the Droice team, it wasn’t enough to build the software; to truly assist doctors, the predictions had to be delivered in a form that doctors could easily interpret and trust while not disrupting their workflow.

Over several months, the Droice team sought feedback in designing an intuitive interface—interviewing doctors, entering hackathons, and taking advantage of the advice and support provided by alumni and other Columbia connections.

Based on this feedback, they embedded

Droice intelligence in the software that doctors use to view and update patients’ electronic health records. With a single glance, doctors can see predictions for each drug treatment, backed by trusted scientific papers. “If our software makes predictions for 10 treatment options, we point to the relevant papers in each case so doctors can understand the reason why,” Harshit Saxena said.

In an indication of the interest surrounding the use of artificial intelligence in health care, two hospital-wide rollouts are already in progress, with 576 doctors currently using Droice software. As results come in, the team will use this additional data to refine the software.

A paper to make their results public is planned for mid-2017.

“By using artificial intelligence techniques,” Mayur Saxena said, “we are able to help doctors cope with difficult medical decisions and deliver a positive impact on the health and well-being of patients.”

By Linda Crane

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INNOVATION

Tapping into Engineering’s Artful Side The restructured Art of Engineering class puts students in touch with the field’s possibilities

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rofessor David Vallancourt believes that an abiding creativity underpins the field of engineering—and it’s that playful, collaborative spirit that he wants to incubate in his newly revamped Art of Engineering Class.

Students don’t just learn about engineering in this introductory course; they get hands-on with the different disciplines to explore, design, and create.

“It was quite deliberate, using ‘art’ as the first word,” Vallancourt said. “I literally mean that engineering is an art, with everything that goes with it.”

The one-semester course, which surveys the engineering disciplines, is a requirement for all freshmen in the School of Engineering, and it occasionally draws curious students from Barnard and Columbia College. The course has been a staple of Columbia’s undergraduate engineering program for years, but starting with the 2016–2017 school year, it has a

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new five-pillar structure that combines deep technical learning, hands-on experimentation, and group projects designed to connect students to both the broader engineering community and one another. As led by Vallancourt, a Columbia Engineering alum himself (BS’81, MS’84, and PhD’87) and the current senior lecturer in circuits and systems, the class draws deeply on a sense of engineering as a critical element of the liberal arts.

“If you’re here at Columbia for engineering, what we have to offer that most schools can’t touch is the quality of the instruction,” he said. “Columbia is very, very good across the board. I took advantage of that, and that’s what I want to bring to this course.”

The first of the five pillars is covered in the Friday lectures that discuss each Engineering department. The talks leverage Vallancourt’s experience, as well as that of fellow faculty members

and outside lecturers who present their current projects and what they’re actively designing—“real applications of the physics or math they know,” Vallancourt said. The lectures, which also cover topics like patents and engineering ethics, and the history and culture of the field, are designed to put engineering into context, he said.

The second pillar, a newer addition, is community engagement. Students are required to connect with the broader engineering world by joining campus groups like Engineers Without Borders or service groups that are working in the community on projects like advising local high school robotics clubs.

A third piece of the course is a MATLAB unit that introduces the students to the programming language and data science as a whole through simulation projects.

This year, the students are taking the passenger manifest from the Titanic and

Art of Engineering

engineering.columbia.edu/spring2017video

“It was quite deliberate, using ‘art’ as the first word. I literally mean that engineering is an art, with everything that goes with it.”

Right: Professor David Vallancourt encourages hands-on learning in his Art of Engineering class.

(Photo by Jeffrey Schifman) Left: Student teams build robots to navigate a maze. (Images: Jane Nisselson)

using machine learning to predict which voyagers survived.

“Making is just a portion of the actual engineering. A lot of it is thinking about how you could go about the problem,” said student Irene Chen ’20SEAS. Two projects round out the curriculum. Students each select a department project from a list that includes an option from each engineering major, which gives students who have chosen their majors already a chance to tackle a different side of engineering and students who are still undecided an opportunity to try out a discipline that interests them.

Finally, the common project organizes students into teams and introduces them to Columbia’s MakerSpace to create. Past projects have included reimagining a TV remote for use by the elderly and then 3D printing a prototype, and using an Arduino board to craft handheld video game systems.

The project is “a fun thing that is still very technical and that gives them hands-on skills right away,” Vallancourt said.

Nehemie Guillomaitre ’20SEAS said the class changed the way she thinks about engineering—and her own plans.

She is pursuing a major in chemical engineering, so she chose the mechanical engineering department project: building a robot that could navigate a maze and blow out a candle.

“I didn’t think I could do it, but I got it done and, honestly, I really loved it. In fact, I decided to do a minor in mechanical engineering,” she said. A similar experience with the common project, in which Guillomaitre and her teammates made a snake game, helped solidify her plans.

“Before this, I didn’t know how to code at all, and now I’ve coded a robot and a game and used a laser cutter. You can do so much more than you realized you could,” she said.

The lab time she spent honing her skills

has already paid dividends: a professor who saw her clocking time on her projects invited her to be a researcher.

Since the course is designed to be “freewheeling and fun and adaptive,” as Vallancourt puts it, it changes each semester as new developments, new projects, and new interests filter in. An outside lecturer on entrepreneurship who had given a TED Talk, for example, fielded a number of questions about the TED experience. Now, every student in the class writes his or her own TED-style talk, and the five best are presented at the end of the semester.

Vallancourt said he wants the course to be able to broaden students’ understanding of what they can be as engineers—and what engineering can be to them and to the world. “Columbia did that for me,” Vallancourt said. “And every semester we try to improve it a little bit.”

By Jennifer Ernst Beaudry

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EDUCATION

Introducing Design-Thinking,

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ith technology extending ever deeper into our lives, engineers and designers face an evolving challenge: integrating advances into seamless, human-centered products that feel instantly indispensable. Future transformative innovations—the next iPhone or Uber— will likely emerge as much from the design studio as from the research lab.

Enter a groundbreaking new course at Columbia Engineering, taught in collaboration with the global design and strategy firm frog. The course gives students from across the University a rare opportunity to work with industry leaders on developing potentially billiondollar ideas.

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“Our course is about leading industries through transformations, not just in product design and service delivery but also associated cultural and social change,” said Harry West, frog’s CEO and a former professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, who leads the class alongside Turi McKinley, executive director of frog’s New York studio. The firm specializes in helping companies anticipate customers’ future needs and create better user experiences and has consulted on products from Apple devices to thermostats to 3D printing.

Starting last November, students convened on Fridays for five intensive sessions, learning design processes for turning ideas into prototypes and potential businesses. As a theme, they took on the

disruptive possibilities of self-driving cars, which are already beginning to transform humans’ relationship with automobiles and how roads are used.

Working closely with West, McKinley, and designers at frog, students began with methods to help conceptualize evolving products in changing environments, looking not just at established models but also at the ethnography of market niches and the fundamental services that customers want (and will want). Then, they divided into teams for the ideation phase, honing and evaluating a series of prototypes based on the emerging potential of autonomous vehicles.

The final phase was designing companies to bring their concepts to market and developing compelling

Where the User Comes First “Our course is about leading industries through transformations, not just in product design and service delivery but also associated cultural and social change.”

Left: Harry West, CEO of the design firm frog, teaches a Columbia class about human-centered design concepts.

Right: Students discuss their design ideas.

(Photos by Timothy Lee Photographers)

multimedia pitches to woo investors and capture potential users’ imaginations.

On December 9, students traveled to frog’s studio in Brooklyn to deliver their final presentations.

“Human-centered design is incredibly useful for all aspects of life, not just startups and design school,” said Anna Libey ’17SEAS, whose team designed PORTR, a system to empower self-driving cars to verify the identities of passengers headed to an airport and scan their luggage on the way.

Other pitches included Project M.O.S.E.S. (Massively Optimized Smart Emergency Services), which proposes deploying a fleet of roving autonomous emergency vehicles to cut response times by as much as 40 percent; and Demospace, which aims to help

communities and businesses partner to optimize the use of newly available real estate as ride-sharing renders parking lots less necessary.

The course is back this spring, empowering engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries across campus to apply human-centered design principles to another set of futuristic challenges.

“The course started with just one seed idea—autonomous cars—and generated so many more concepts,” said McKinley.

“It’s exciting that the students will take this approach and the supporting methods we taught to their other projects.”

By Jesse Adams

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Education

“Robotics and artificial intelligence are going to have a great impact on almost every industry you can think of, from health care and manufacturing to finance, energy, and transportation. We’re helping learners gain foundational skills that will help them in their careers.”

Columbia Pioneers Launch Online MicroMasters in Artificial Intelligence

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rtificial intelligence (AI) is being touted as a driver of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, an era expected to disrupt what came before yet offer unprecedented opportunity for new inventions, new markets, new methods, and new jobs. Experts predict that the coming changes will also require new models for educating a capable and thriving workforce. Columbia Engineering is leading the way by partnering with online learning destination edX to offer the first and only online MicroMasters program in AI. MicroMasters programs are an innovative hybrid graduate education model in which learners can earn a certificate to further their career or even expedite a degree in a traditional master’s program. A MicroMasters certificate can count as one quarter, or up to one semester, of a master’s degree, allowing students to fast-track their graduate program.

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Taught by top faculty from Columbia Engineering, the new AI program is a self-paced opportunity for students to learn the fundamentals of AI and machine learning and dive into two common applications: robotics and computer animation.

Soulaymane Kachani, senior vice dean of Columbia Engineering, believes the program will give participants an important edge in career advancement.

“Robotics and artificial intelligence are going to have a great impact on almost every industry you can think of, from health care and manufacturing to finance, energy, and transportation,” he said.

“We’re helping learners gain foundational skills that will help them in their careers, but also help employers who are in need of high-tech professionals in AI but can’t always find them.”

In the first course, an introduction to AI, Computer Science Lecturer in Discipline

Ansaf Salleb-Aouissi shows students how applications such as self-driving cars, industrial robots, and tumor detection are using AI to solve real-world challenges. In the Machine Learning course, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering John Paisley delves into algorithms and the basics of supervised and unsupervised machine learning.

The program assumes students have some comfort with basic linear algebra and statistics, as well as some mathematical maturity, but Paisley, who also teaches in the data science program at Columbia, says learners with little background in computer science or statistics should not be intimidated.

“The course will introduce a set of useful techniques for working with data to those who may not have had the chance to take such a course when they were in college,” Paisley said. “I hope students will find the material accessible regardless

Left: Four Columbia Engineering professors are teaching the AI courses: (left to right) Matei Ciocarlie, Eitan Grinspun, John Paisley, and Ansaf Salleb-Aouissi.

of their field. As part of the Department of Electrical Engineering, I know how relevant and useful our students find machine learning to be.”

In the Animation and CGI Motion course, taught by Eitan Grinspun, director of Columbia’s Computer Graphics Group, students will learn to code their own physics simulator to master algorithms for creating realistic animated clothing, hair, liquids, and other materials. The course builds on a class that Grinspun has been teaching at Columbia for over 10 years and that he looks forward to bringing online.

“The bulk of this class will focus on technical aspects of animation. However, we also aim to give a glimpse into the art of physically based animation,” Grinspun said. “By focusing on the fundamentals of computer-based methods for predicting physical behavior, we equip students with knowledge that applies

wherever machines need to understand and reason about objects and materials in the real world.”

Finally, in the Robotics course, Matei Ciocarlie, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, will lead students in an investigation of how mobile robots and robotic arms perform physical tasks and interact with their environment. Ciocarlie noted that the time is particularly ripe for an online course in robotics, thanks to the availability of open-source resources like the Robot Operating System and Robot Web Tools.

“We now have widely accessible software packages that anybody can use to visualize and program robot models,” said Ciocarlie. “This allows us to teach robotics over the web in a way that simply was not possible a decade ago.”

MicroMasters programs were created by edX in concert with top universities

to help students advance their careers in some of the most in-demand fields.

Columbia Engineering has long been an innovator in the field of online learning.

It launched the Columbia Video Network back in 1986, enabling thousands of distance learners to pursue degrees in engineering and applied science. It also partnered with edX for the first XSeries on Data Science, a group of courses that has been accessed by learners from 180 countries around the world.

Enrollment in the AI MicroMasters program has been high: more than 100,000 students registered for the first course.

By Allison Elliott

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ALUMNI

Celebrate Our Pioneering Alumni Reunion Weekend Is June 1–4

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n labs around the world, Columbia alumni are developing scientific and technological innovations that are having profound effects on our lives. They are deepening our understanding of DNA and improving cancer therapy, increasing the speed at which data travels, and expanding the reach of digital media, among many other advances across a vast range of industries. To celebrate some of the talented and industrious pioneers behind today’s innovations, the Columbia Engineering Alumni Association presents three prestigious awards each Reunion Weekend to science and engineering superstars affiliated with the University: the Michael Pupin Medal, the Thomas Egleston Medal, and the Samuel Johnson Medal. These are the 2017 winners.

Changing How We Understand DNA Jacqueline K. Barton | Pupin Medal The Michael Pupin Medal for Service to the Nation in Science, Technology, or Engineering recognizes individuals whose lasting and broad contributions to society reach beyond the candidate’s professional field. This year, Jacqueline K. Barton of the California Institute of Technology is being awarded the Pupin Medal for her crossdisciplinary research related to the chemical and physical properties of DNA. In addition

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to her groundbreaking research in the laboratory, Barton strives to prop up those around her, acting as mentor to budding young scientists and junior faculty.

From her discoveries about the fundamental nature of DNA to electron transport and its implications for biological processes, Barton has made scientific contributions that are changing how we understand chemistry. Her research cuts across the disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics and has contributed to new diagnostic tools and novel chemotherapeutics for cancer treatment.

In 2011, Barton was recognized at the highest level in the United States when she was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Obama for “discovery of a new property of the DNA helix, long-range electron transfer, and for showing that electron transfer depends upon stacking of the base pairs and DNA dynamics.” She also is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, better known as the “genius grant,” and the Priestley Medal, the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society, in addition to numerous other prestigious accolades.

A native New Yorker, Barton developed a strong interest in

mathematics and science while attending the Riverdale Country School.

Although the school was separated by gender, Barton’s affinity for the hard sciences was so evident that she was permitted to take calculus on the boys’ campus. Her academic excellence led her to Barnard College, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in chemistry in 1974. She was then able to delve deeper into chemistry at Columbia, where she completed her PhD in 1978.

After working at Bell Laboratories, Yale University, and Hunter College, Barton returned to Columbia as an assistant professor in 1982 and became a full professor in 1986. She is currently the John G. Kirkwood and Arthur A. Noyes Professor and the Norman Davidson Leadership Chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology.

Twisting Light to Speed Up Data Alan Willner | Egleston Medal Alan Willner of the University of Southern California is the recipient of the Thomas Egleston Medal for Distinguished Engineering Achievement. Willner’s advances in the field of electrical engineering have made him a foremost scholar in the areas of optics, photonics, and high-speed optical networks. This medal recognizes his achievements as a transformational scientist who has significantly advanced his field of work.

Using his knowledge of optics and photonics, Willner is developing ways for data to move even faster as it streams through high-speed optical networks around the globe. One of his recent projects demonstrated that multiple twisted beams of light could be combined to transmit data thousands of times faster than consumer broadband Internet connections.

Willner earned his BA from Yeshiva University in 1982 and enrolled at Columbia Engineering with the intent of using his master’s degree to pursue a career as a patent lawyer. Under the guidance of Professor Richard Osgood, he changed the scope of his academic focus and applied to the PhD program at Columbia Engineering instead. In 1985, Willner won the Armstrong Memorial Award, given to the highestranking MS student in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He earned his PhD in 1988.

After he completed his doctoral work in laser-controlled photochemical etching of semiconductors for electrooptical devices, Willner went to work for AT&T Bell Laboratories and then Bell Communications Research.

He later co-founded Phaethon Communications, whose technology was acquired by Teraxion and is used in telecommunication systems worldwide.

Willner has been a visiting professor at Columbia University, the University College London, and the Weizmann Institute of Science. In 1992, he joined the faculty at the University of Southern California, where he is the Steven and Kathryn Sample Chaired Professor of Engineering in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering at the Viterbi School of Engineering.

Because of his pioneering research and professional leadership, Willner is a member of the U.S. Army Science Board and has served on many scientific advisory boards. Last year, he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, a prestigious honor.

He also is a fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering; the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the IEEE; the National Academy of Inventors; the Optical Society (OSA); and SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

By Maggie Hughes

Above: Jacqueline Barton, winner of the 2017 Pupin Medal.

(Photo by Bob Paz for Caltech) Below: Alan Willner, winner of the 2017 Egleston Medal.

(Photo courtesy of Alan Willner)

Please join us in celebrating the achievements of the 2017 Columbia Engineering Alumni Association Awards recipients at the Engineering Reunion Welcome Dinner on June 1.

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Think Big, Take Risks, and Choose Your Partners Wisely

ALUMNI

Len Blavatnik is being awarded the Samuel Johnson Medal in recognition of his outstanding leadership in business. The medal is presented to an alumnus of distinguished achievement in a field outside the realms of traditional engineering and applied science who has significantly advanced his or her chosen field of endeavor. Under the umbrella of Access Industries, which he founded in 1986, Blavatnik’s accomplishments span a wide and diverse range of global industries and include natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications, real estate, and venture capital.

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hen Len Blavatnik came to New York from Russia (USSR) in 1978, his first job was as a computer programmer for Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he created an algorithm to check the test results of medical students to see if any of them were cheating on their exams.

“I had attended the engineering school at Moscow State Engineering University, and there I studied early computer science. The Soviets had ‘adopted’ IBM technology, and we studied what was called automated control systems, in English,” Blavatnik recalled.

His success with the Mount Sinai project spurred Blavatnik to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at Columbia University. “Mount Sinai very generously let me pursue my master’s, and after making up a couple of courses, I went to school part time at first, then full time. After graduation, I went to work for Arthur Andersen in their new consulting business.”

With offers from IBM and Hewlett Packard, Blavatnik instead gravitated toward a job that was out of the mainstream of the high-tech computer science and engineering companies to one that combined

Len Blavatnik is being awarded the 2017 Samuel Johnson Medal in recognition of his outstanding leadership in business.

(Photo by Timothy Lee Photographers)

“Engineering trains

your brain to be both systematic and adaptable, and those qualities prepare you to handle almost anything.”

computers and business. “We were programming large-scale computers for our clients, many in retail, including Macy’s, who at the time were installing accounts receivable and data entry systems that ran on mainframe computers.”

He later joined Macy’s, heading their information systems area and managing a team of 15 employees. The company was going through a leveraged buyout when he decided to go to Harvard Business School. “My boss reminded me that I was one year from being granted equity, but I was ready to take some risks. I needed to force myself to get out of a comfortable corporate job, otherwise, I knew I wouldn’t do it,” Blavatnik said.

Known as a successful risk-taker, Blavatnik explained that growing up in Russia, where there was no private enterprise at the time, he had always been entrepreneurial. “I had a sense of the opportunity and understood the importance of thinking big and taking risks. I have taken big risks, and it has paid off. You have to force yourself not to be too comfortable.”

The risks have definitely paid off. The privately held industrial group Blavatnik founded in 1986, Access Industries, is both global and diversified, with strategic investments in the United States, Europe, and South America in natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications, real estate, and venture capital.

Blavatnik brings this philosophy of thinking big and taking risks to his philanthropy. “My philosophy is to do something that improves life. I like to support areas that are interdisciplinary and non-traditional because that is where the truly revolutionary breakthroughs will come from.” He is especially drawn to the work of smart, young scientists and engineers, observing, “that’s where you leverage their enormous brain power. It is a force-multiplier.”

Through his family foundation, Blavatnik has been celebrating and supporting the work of young scientists and engineers

with the annual Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists. Established in 2007 and given in conjunction with the New York Academy of Sciences to faculty and postdoctoral professors at scientific institutions throughout the United States, the awards support innovative work in science and technology that addresses society’s most pressing needs. In 2017, the awards are being expanded internationally to also recognize scientists in the UK and Israel.

“Mankind is driven forward by the development of technology. Technology improves the quality of life,” Blavatnik said, citing examples that we now take for granted, such as the dishwasher and washing machine that freed women from housework and the enormous progress that China has made in improving the living standards of its people over the past 20 years.

“Engineering trains your brain to be both systematic and adaptable, and those qualities prepare you to handle almost anything.

People who are trained in engineering can go into so many fields—life sciences, space, agriculture, medicine,” Blavatnik said.

Along with thinking big and taking risks, Blavatnik values partnerships, in business and in research. “In general, I believe in partnerships,” he said, “and the partnership of creative and analytical people is the most powerful.”

“I’ve found that teams of two or three people are the best for solving complex problems. But you need to choose your partners carefully,” he advised. “It’s more important than choosing a spouse.”

Classmates often make excellent partners, Blavatnik said. “I have had partners from my student days in Russia and also from my computer science program at Columbia,” he said. He also offered some advice for current Columbia Engineering students: “You are at a premier institution, one of the best in the world, and even if you don’t realize it now, you will one day realize how it will shape your future. But don’t forget to leave time to have some fun.”

By Joanne Hvala ­­ | 39

NEWS

Electrons in Graphene Behave Like Light, Only Better

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or the first time, researchers have directly observed electrons behaving like light rays in graphene, an atom-thin form of carbon. The discovery, first theorized a decade ago, could enable new experimental probes and low-power electronics with electron switches based on the principles of optics rather than electronics.

“The ability to manipulate electrons in a conducting material like light rays opens up entirely new ways of thinking about electronics,” said Cory Dean, an assistant professor of physics who leads the team along with James Hone, Wang Fong-Jen Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Avik Ghosh of the University of Virginia.

“For example,” Dean said, “the switches that make up computer chips operate by turning the entire device on or off, and this consumes significant power. Using

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lensing to steer an electron ‘beam’ between electrodes could be dramatically more efficient, solving one of the critical bottlenecks to achieving faster and more energy-efficient electronics.”

Electron lensing could also enable onchip versions of an electron microscope, with the ability to perform atomic-scale imaging and diagnostics. “Other components inspired by optics, such as beam splitters and interferometers, could additionally enable new studies of the quantum nature of electrons in the solid state,” Dean said.

Light changes direction—or refracts— when passing from one material to another, a process that allows us to use lenses and prisms to focus and steer light. A quantity known as the index of refraction determines the degree of bending at the boundary and is positive

“Optical metamaterials are enabling exotic and important new technologies such as super lenses, which can focus beyond the diffraction limits, and optical cloaks, which make objects invisible by bending light around them.”

for conventional materials, such as glass.

Through clever engineering, however, it is also possible to create optical “metamaterials” with a negative index, in which the angle of refraction is also negative.

Electrons in Graphene

engineering.columbia.edu/spring2017video

“This can have unusual and dramatic consequences,” Hone noted. “Optical metamaterials are enabling exotic and important new technologies such as super lenses, which can focus beyond the diffraction limit, and optical cloaks, which make objects invisible by bending light around them.”

Electrons traveling through very pure conductors can travel in straight lines like light rays, enabling optics-like phenomena to emerge. In materials, electrons refract when they pass from one region to another that has a different density.

Moreover, current carriers in materials can either behave as if they are negatively charged or positively charged, depending on which band of the atomic structure they inhabit. In fact, boundaries between positive and negative conductors, known as p-n junctions, form the

building blocks of electrical devices such as diodes and transistors.

The development of two-dimensional conducting layers in high-purity semiconductors in the 1980s and 1990s allowed researchers to first demonstrate electron optics, including the effects of both refraction and lensing. However, in these materials, electrons travel without scattering only at very low temperatures, limiting technological applications. The researchers’ use of graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon with unsurpassed performance at room temperature and no energy gap, overcame the limitations, allowing them to demonstrate negative refraction for the first time.

The possibility of negative refraction in graphene was first proposed in 2007 by theorists at Columbia University and the University of Lancaster. How-

ever, observation of this effect requires extremely clean devices, such that the electrons can travel ballistically, without scattering, over long distances. Over the past decade, a multidisciplinary team at Columbia—including Dean and Hone, along with Kenneth Shepard, Lau Family Professor of Electrical Engineering and professor of biomedical engineering, and Abhay Pasupathy, associate professor of physics—has worked to develop new techniques to construct extremely clean graphene devices.

By Holly Evarts

Above: Graphene is an atom-thin form of carbon. (Illustrations courtesy of Nicoletta Barolini and Young Duck Kim)

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From Smart Windows to Infrared Camouflage, New Optical Material Has Cloaking Potential

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olumbia engineers are conducting some of the first demonstrations of a new phase-transition optical material that has the potential to transform optoelectronic technologies such as smart windows, infrared camouflage, and optical communications.

They discovered that samarium nickelate (SmNiO3) can be electrically tuned continuously between a transparent and an opaque state over an unprecedented broad range of spectrum, from the blue in the visible, with a wavelength of 400 nanometers, to the thermal radiation spectrum in the mid-infrared, with a wavelength of a few tens of micrometers.

“The performance of SmNiO3 is record breaking in terms of the magnitude and wavelength range of optical tuning. There is hardly any other material that offers such a combination of properties that are highly desirable for optoelectronic devices,” said Nanfang Yu, assistant professor of applied physics at Columbia Engineering. He leads the team that demonstrated for the first time how SmNiO3 could be used to dynamically control light over a much broader wavelength range and with larger modulation amplitude than is currently possible.

“The reversible tuning between the transparent and opaque states is based on electron doping at room temperature and is potentially very fast, which opens up a wide range of exciting applications,” Yu said.

For example, SmNiO3’s capability to control thermal radiation could lead to “intelligent” coatings for infrared camouflage and thermoregulation. These coatings could make people and

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“The reversible tuning between the transparent and opaque states is based on electron doping at room temperature and is potentially very fast, which opens up a wide range of exciting applications.”

vehicles appear much colder than they actually are so thermal cameras would not be able to discern them from the surrounding environment at night. They could also help reduce the large temperature gradients on a satellite by adjusting the relative thermal radiation from its bright and dark sides with respect to the sun and thereby prolong the life of the satellite. Because the material can potentially switch between the transparent and opaque states at high speed, it might also be used in modulators for free-space optical communication and optical radar and in optical memory devices.

Researchers have long been trying to build active optical devices that can dynamically control light. These include Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s “smart windows,” which partially control the transmission of sunlight, and high-data-rate, long-distance

NEWS

Left: Using the Columbia Engineering logo, Nanfang Yu demonstrates how samarium nickelate (SmNiO3) can be tuned between transparent and opaque states. Right: Nanfang Yu works in his lab. (Left image courtesy of Nanfang Yu; right photo by Jeffrey Schifman)

fiber optic communications systems where information is “written” into light beams by optical modulators.

When Shriram Ramanathan, associate professor of materials science at Harvard, discovered SmNiO3’s giant tunable electric resistivity at room temperature, Yu took note. In collaboration with Ramanathan, Yu and his students conducted initial optical studies of the phase-transition material; integrated the material into nanostructured designer optical interfaces, called “metasurfaces”; and created prototype active optoelectronic devices, including optical modulators that control a beam of light, and variable emissivity coatings that control the efficiency of thermal radiation.

“SmNiO3 is really an unusual material because it becomes electrically more insulating and optically more transparent as it is doped with more electrons—this is just the opposite of common materials such as semiconductors,” said Columbia PhD student Zhaoyi Li. It turns out that doped electrons “lock” into pairs with the electrons initially in the material, a quantum mechanical phenomenon called “strong electron correlation,” and this effect makes these electrons unavailable for conducting electric current or for absorbing light. After electron doping, SmNiO3 thin films that were originally opaque suddenly allow more than 70 percent of visible light and infrared radiation to pass through.

One of the team’s biggest challenges was integrating SmNiO3 into optical devices. To make it work, they developed

special nanofabrication techniques to pattern metasurface structures on SmNiO3 thin films.

“We envision replacing bulky optical devices and components with ‘flat optics’ by utilizing strong interactions between light and metasurfaces to control light at will,” Yu said. “The discovery of this phase-transition material and the successful integration of it into a flat device architecture are a major leap forward to realizing active flat optical devices not only with enhanced performance from the devices we are using today but with completely new functionalities.”

By Holly Evarts

“We envision replacing bulky optical devices and components with ‘flat optics’ by utilizing strong interactions between light and metasurfaces to control light at will.”

New Optical Material

engineering.columbia.edu/spring2017video

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NEWS

Implantable Microrobots: Using Hydrogels, Engineers Create Biocompatible Micromachines

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team of researchers led by Columbia Engineering’s Sam Sia has developed a way to manufacture microscale machines from biomaterials that can safely be implanted in the body.

These tiny machines could carry out targeted drug delivery, allowing for lower doses, or be used to deploy stents, and they hold promise for major advances in precision medicine.

Working with hydrogels, which are biocompatible materials that engineers have been studying for decades, Sia invented a new technique that stacks the soft material in layers to make devices that have three-dimensional, freely moving parts. He calls the manufacturing method “implantable microelectromechanical systems,” or iMEMS. By exploiting the unique mechanical properties of hydrogels, the researchers developed a “locking mechanism” that can precisely trigger actions and created freely moving parts that can function as valves, manifolds, rotors, pumps, and drug delivery systems. They were able to control the devices after implantation without a sustained power supply, such as batteries, which can be toxic.

Working with an orthopedic surgeon at Columbia University Medical Center, the team tested the drug delivery system on mice with bone cancer. The targeted treatments, described in the journal Science Robotics, delivered chemotherapy adjacent to the cancer and limited tumor growth with less toxicity than chemotherapy administered throughout the body. Testing has shown high success rates at one-tenth of the standard chemotherapy dose.

“Overall, our iMEMS platform enables development of biocompatible implantable microdevices with a wide range of intricate moving components that can be wirelessly controlled on demand and solves issues of device powering and biocompatibility,” said Sia, a biomedical engineering professor. “We’re really excited about this because we’ve been able to connect the world of biomaterials with that of complex, elaborate medical devices.”

Sia’s iMEMS technique addresses some fundamental challenges that biomedical engineers have faced in building biocompatible microdevices, including how to power small robotic devices without using toxic batteries and how to communicate wirelessly once the device is implanted.

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With the new technique, the researchers were able to precisely trigger the micromachines to release multiple payloads over days to weeks by using magnetic forces to induce gear movements that, in turn, bend structural beams made of hydrogels.

“These microscale components can be used for microelectromechanical systems, for larger devices ranging from drug delivery to catheters to cardiac pacemakers, and for soft robotics,” Sia said. “People are already making replacement tissues, and now we can make small implantable devices, sensors, or robots that we can talk to wirelessly. Our iMEMS system could bring the field a step closer to developing soft miniaturized robots that can safely interact with humans and other living systems.”

By Holly Evarts

iMEMS Demonstration

engineering.columbia.edu/spring2017video

Sam Sia is designing micromachines that can function inside a living body and deliver drugs with precision targeting and on a schedule.

Presidential Honor

engineering.columbia.edu/spring2017video

SPOT NEWS ROUNDUP Columbia Engineers Develop New, Low-Cost Way to Capture Carbon By confining water in tiny pores too small to see without a microscope, a team of researchers has discovered a new way to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere more efficiently and at a much lower cost than other methods.

The team, led by Xi Chen, associate professor of earth and environmental engineering at Columbia Engineering, and Klaus Lackner of Arizona State University, discovered an unconventional reversible chemical reaction in the confined nanoenvironment. The discovery, a milestone in clarifying the scientific underpinnings of moisture-swing chemical reaction, is critical to understanding how to scrub CO2 from Earth’s atmosphere.

Water is the key player. The group found that reducing water quantities in nanoconfinement could promote carbonate ions (CO32-) to hydrolyze water (H2O) into a larger amount of hydroxide ions (OH-).

The discovery led to a new nanostructured CO2 sorbent that binds CO2 spontaneously in ambient air when the surroundings are dry and releases it when exposed to moisture. The mechanism of the moisture-swing chemical reaction in nanopores could lead to new classes of sorbents driven by water: evaporation in ambient air through solar energy drives the sorbent to absorb CO2 as it dries, and hydration releases CO2 when wet. The estimated cost of capturing CO2 from

air could be lower than that of any other carbon-capture technology, enabling negative carbon emissions, Chen said.

Chen, whose research focuses on the mechanics of nanoporous materials, has long been interested in studying fundamental interactions between water and ions in confined spaces. When confined to nanopores, the hydrogen bonding of water and ions changes, affecting both the physical structure and dynamics of water molecules and also the chemical energy transfer through the formation of highly structured water complexes.

“Water is the most magical substance in the world—it produces life,” Chen says. “Its hydrogen bond is incredibly strong—except, as we discovered, when you have a very small environment with very few molecules. Then everything changes, and we were able to actually reverse chemical reactions when the number of water molecules fell below about 10.”

Chen’s team, including PhD students Xiaoyang Shi and Hang Xiao, also found that the humidity-driven sorption effect is extendable to a series of ions, suggesting a new approach to gas separation technology.

New Method Extends Life of Lithium Batteries When today’s lithium ion batteries are charged for the first time to power smartphones or electric vehicles, they lose 5 to 10 percent of their capacity, and the loss is even higher for some

materials currently being investigated for next-generation batteries. Yuan Yang, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, saw a way to cut those losses significantly and produce batteries that last longer.

The trick is in the structure and a special protective coating. Yang has developed a trilayer structure that is stable even in moist ambient air. His new design could improve the energy density of lithium batteries by 10 to 30 percent.

“We think our method has great potential to increase the operation time of batteries for portable electronics and electric vehicles,” Yang said.

During the first charge of a lithium battery after its production, a portion of liquid electrolyte is reduced to a solid phase and coated onto the negative electrode of the battery. This process, usually done in the factory before the battery is shipped, is irreversible and lowers the energy stored in the battery.

The loss is approximately 10 percent for state-of-the-art negative electrodes, but it can reach 20 to 30 percent for next-generation, high-capacity negative electrodes, such as those containing

Above: Medical imaging innovator Christine Hendon has won the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor the U.S. government gives to young scientists and engineers.

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silicon, because the materials have large volume expansion and high surface area.

The large initial loss reduces the capacity in a full cell and thus compromises the gain in energy density and cycling life of these nanostructured electrodes.

The traditional approach to compensating for this loss has been to put certain lithium-rich materials into the electrode; however, most of these materials are not stable in ambient air. Manufacturing batteries in dry air, which has no moisture, is a more expensive process than manufacturing in ambient air.

Yang’s new trilayer electrode structure protects the lithium with a layer of the polymer PMMA, to prevent lithium from reacting with air and moisture, and then coats the PMMA with active materials such as artificial graphite or silicon nanoparticles. The PMMA layer dissolves in the battery electrolyte, exposing the lithium to the electrode materials.

“This way, we were able to avoid any contact between unstable lithium/lithiated electrode and air, so the trilayer-structured electrode can be operated in ambient air,” Yang explained. “This could be an attractive advance toward mass production of lithiated battery electrodes.”

Yang’s method lowered the loss capacity in state-of-the-art graphite electrodes from 8 to 0.3 percent, and in silicon electrodes from 13 to -15 percent. The negative number indicates that there was more lithium than need-

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ed. That “extra” lithium could be used to further enhance the cycling life of batteries by compensating for capacity loss in subsequent cycles.

Yang’s group is now trying to reduce the thickness of the polymer coating, so it will occupy a smaller volume in the lithium battery, and to scale up use of his technique.

Increasing Tornado Outbreaks—Is Climate Change Responsible?

Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms kill people and damage property every year, with the heaviest tolls often coming during tornado outbreaks, when dozens of twisters strike in close succession.

Last spring, a research team led by Michael Tippett, associate professor of applied physics and applied mathematics at Columbia Engineering, published a study showing that the average number of tornadoes during outbreaks has risen since 1954. But they were not sure why.

They looked at trends in the severity of tornado outbreaks, where they measured severity by the number of tornadoes per outbreak. They found that these upward trends are increasing fastest for the most extreme outbreaks. While they saw changes in meteorological measurements that are consistent with these upward trends, the trends in meteorological changes were not the ones expected under climate change.

“This study raises new questions about what climate change will do to

severe thunderstorms and what is responsible for recent trends,” Tippett said.

“The fact that we don’t see the presently understood meteorological signature of global warming in changing outbreak statistics leaves two possibilities: either the recent increases are not due to a warming climate, or a warming climate has implications for tornado activity that we don’t understand.”

Better understanding of how climate affects tornado activity could help predict tornado risk in the short-term, a month, or even a year in advance.

The researchers used two NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) data sets: one containing tornado reports, and the other observation-based estimates of meteorological measurements associated with tornado outbreaks. Using extreme-value analysis, they found that in the United States, the frequency of outbreaks with many tornadoes is increasing, and it is increasing faster for more extreme outbreaks.

Extreme meteorological environments associated with severe thunderstorms showed consistent upward trends, but the trends did not resemble those currently expected to result from global warming. Modeling studies have projected that convective available potential energy will increase in a warmer climate leading to more frequent environments favorable to severe thunderstorms in the United States. However, the researchers found that the meteorological trends

NEWS

were instead consistent with trends in storm-relative helicity, a measure of wind shear, which has not been projected to increase under climate change.

Medical Imaging Innovator Christine Hendon Wins Presidential Honor Christine Hendon, an electrical engineer who develops innovative medical imaging instruments for use in surgery and breast cancer detection without the use of radiation, has won the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor the U.S. government gives to young scientists and engineers. She was one of 102 researchers honored this year.

“These innovators are working to help keep the United States on the cutting edge, showing that federal investments in science lead to advancements that expand our knowledge of the world around us and contribute to our economy,” President Obama said in bestowing the awards in early January.

Hendon develops optical tools that aim to provide surgeons with a clear understanding of the tissue on which they are operating. She uses near-infrared spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT), a noninvasive imaging technique nicknamed “optical ultrasound” that provides depth-re-

solved, high-resolution images of tissue microstructure in real time. These “optical biopsies” offer much higher resolution than current medical imaging options. Using OCT, a surgeon could image a wide area of tissue and, unlike invasive biopsies, remove as little tissue as possible. Hendon is also exploring the use of OCT and spectroscopy in the treatment of heart arrhythmias.

Other projects running in Hendon’s Structure Function Imaging Laboratory include using optical tools to detect and image breast cancer and using imaging to assess the mechanical properties of the cervix in relation to preterm birth.

“For a young researcher, this is the pinnacle of recognition, and I am thrilled to be included in this brilliant group,” said Hendon, assistant professor of electrical engineering. “It is wonderful to see the White House acknowledging scientific accomplishments from investigators working on a diverse array of problems.”

Previous Columbia Engineering professors to receive the PECASE include Antonius “Ton” Dieker, associate professor of industrial engineering and operations research (2016); Jose Blanchet, professor of industrial engineering and operations research (2010); Helen Lu, professor of biomedical engineering (2009); Xi Chen, associate professor

of earth and environmental engineering (2007); and Jeffrey Kysar, chair and professor of mechanical engineering (2006).

Professor Steve WaiChing Sun Wins Air Force’s Young Investigator Program Award Steve WaiChing Sun, assistant professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics, has won a prestigious Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

The three-year, $360,000 grant will support research to help understand how wet granular materials, such as sand and sediment, respond to the impact of blasts, subsurface explosions, and mining activities; and also research into the ballistic vulnerability of military structures.

Sun also added a twist to his proposal: he plans to use 3D printing and open-source code so his work can be replicated and validated by other researchers.

“Granular material is the secondmost-handled material in the global industry—second only to water—so the fundamental knowledge we gain will have far-reaching consequences, from helping engineers make more efficient and safer designs for mining and containment of underground explosions to

Steve WaiChing Sun (left) is working on research to understand how wet granular materials, such as sand and sediment, respond to the impact of explosions.

Paul Sajda (right) uses computer modeling, machine learning, and advanced neuroimaging to investigate and develop ways to manipulate the behavior of the nervous system.

Opposite page: Photo courtesy of John Allen

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NEWS Left: A finite element “mesh” of a sand grain that Steve WaiChing Sun uses in computer simulations to model how granular materials will respond to the impact of explosions.

(Image courtesy of Steve WaiChing Sun and Kun Wang) Right: The same grain printed by a 3D printer.

(Image courtesy of Laboratoire 3SR)

assessment of earthquake damages,” Sun said. “It is essential that we foster collaboration because that is how we will advance our field.”

Sun works in the fields of theoretical and computational solid mechanics, poromechanics, and multiscale modeling of fully coupled multiphysical systems, looking to improve predictions of large-scale field problems with insight from small-scale observations and simulations. His research is focused on advancing the understanding of multiphase materials under extreme conditions and expanding predictive capabilities for related engineering applications, including geological carbon sequestration, hydraulic fracturing, and nuclear waste disposal.

His proposal was selected from among more than 230 to the YIP, which fosters creative basic research in science and engineering and the development of outstanding young principal investigators. In 2015, Sun also received the U.S. Army’s Young Investigator Program award to model how microscopic water and air seepages inside each pore of granular materials affect the stability of the ground.

Additionally, Sun recently won a threeyear, $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Programs to study the thermal-mechanical-hydrologic-chemical coupling effect on the reconsolidated salt-clay mixture used for underground nuclear waste disposal.

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Professor Paul Sajda Named an AAAS Fellow Paul Sajda, professor of biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and radiology, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his “distinguished contributions to the understanding of neural correlates of vision, human perceptual decision-making, and cortically coupled computer vision.”

He joins three other Columbia faculty members who are among 391 new fellows awarded the honor this year for their advances in science or its application.

Sajda’s research is focused on neural engineering, an emerging interdisciplinary field that uses engineering techniques to understand and interface with the brain. He uses large-scale computational modeling, machine learning, and advanced neuroimaging to investigate the function and manipulate the behavior of the human central and peripheral nervous systems.

His work has led to the development of several innovative systems under what he terms “applied neuroscience,” including brain computer interfaces for image search and expertise assessment.

Three startups have emerged from his Laboratory for Intelligent Imaging and Neural Computing at Columbia, focused on commercializing neurotechnology in market areas ranging from sports to neurogaming to autonomous driving.

Of being named an AAAS fellow, Sajda said: “Of course, this honor would not have been possible without the group of outstanding students, postdocs, and colleagues I have had the privilege to work with while here at Columbia and throughout my career. I am proud to share this honor with them.”

Four other Columbia Engineering professors have received the honor: Shih-Fu Chang, senior executive vice dean, Richard Dicker Professor of Telecommunications, and professor of computer science (2010); Aron Pinczuk, professor of applied physics and physics (2001); Peter Schlosser, Earth and Environmental Engineering Department chair, Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel Professor of Geophysics, and professor of earth and environmental sciences (2010); and Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and professor of medical sciences (2014).

By Holly Evarts

DEPARTMENTS

New Faculty ALLIE OBERMEYER Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT, 2014–2016; PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 2013; BS, Rice University, 2008 Allie Obermeyer’s research is focused on engineering protein-based materials for applications in biomedicine and biotechnology. She is interested in improving the physical properties and functionality of proteins by combining them with robust, responsive polymeric materials. Through the genetic and synthetic modification of proteins, she seeks to obtain responsive control of protein assembly and activity. Obermeyer plans to teach thermodynamics and biochemical engineering.

OMRI WEINSTEIN Assistant Professor, Computer Science Simons Society Junior Fellow, Courant Institute, New York University, 2017; PhD, Princeton University, 2015; BS, Tel Aviv University, Israel, 2010 Omri Weinstein is interested in interactive communications and information theory and their role in computational complexity, data structures, and economics. His research in information complexity has led to significant progress on some of the major open problems in communication and circuit complexity and to a better understanding of the limits of parallel computation. This fall, Weinstein will be teaching a new course, Information Theory in Computer Science, which will showcase some of the exciting recent techniques and applications of information theory to computational complexity.

RENATA WENTZCOVITCH Professor, Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics Postdoctoral Researcher, Cambridge University and The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 1994; Research Associate, Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University, 1992; PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 1988; MS, University of São Paulo, Brazil, 1982; BS, University of São Paulo, 1980 Renata Wentzcovitch’s research stands at the interface of computational materials physics and mineral physics. Her work seeks understanding of atomic scale phenomena in materials at planetary interior conditions. She and her group have introduced or popularized several methods to simulate materials at extreme conditions. In her previous appointment at the University of Minnesota, Wentzcovitch was a professor of materials science and engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and a member of the graduate faculties of the School of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Earth Sciences, Chemical Physics Program, and Scientific Computing Program. She was also the founding director of the Virtual Laboratory for Earth and Planetary Materials there. She was recently elected vicechair of the Division of Computational Physics of the American Physical Society.

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Dear Fellow Columbia Engineers: arm greetings from Morningside Heights! As the spring semester comes to a close, and as projects and problem sets consume our School’s students, we remember fondly our own late nights in the Mudd building and send our sympathies to those courageous souls who are hard at work training to become the future alumni of Columbia Engineering. The end of the academic year and, for seniors, the excitement of graduation, is just around the corner.

As engineers, we are trained to constantly seek out innovative work-arounds, efficiencies, and solutions. In this spirit, Dean Boyce and the School’s administrators have been hard at work developing a comprehensive vision to guide our School into its next phase of growth.

In close collaboration with the Engineering faculty, the Dean has begun foundational efforts to spotlight the countless ways Columbia Engineering researchers are positively impacting lives around the world in areas where creative solutions are most needed. We are energized by this encompassing vision and hope you will watch for further details in the months ahead as “Engineering for Humanity” is rolled out.

In the meantime, our work as alumni remains unchanged: supporting the School we love in any way we can. If you’ve participated in programming, attended an event, interviewed prospective students through the University’s ARC initiative, or supported the Annual Fund with a contribution, then you already know how vibrant and active our alumni community can be. If you haven’t yet had a chance, we encourage all Columbia Engineering alumni to check out your local regional Columbia Club, make plans to attend a Reunion event, or connect to the CEAA and CEYA via our websites and Facebook pages for upcoming events and programs: cuengineeringalumni.org and ceya.engineering.columbia.edu.

Professor Emeritus Rene B. Testa MS’60, EngScD’63 President Columbia Engineering Alumni Association

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Jessica Aspis Wender BS’08, ’13BUS President Columbia Engineering Young Alumni

Class Notes: Undergraduate Alumni GOLDEN LIONS CLASS REUNION: 1966 and Years Prior To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Jack Reilly at jr2813@columbia.edu or 212-8510734 or Paolo Santonocito at ps2811@columbia.edu or 646-745-8417.

1945

Class Correspondent: Gloria Reinish reinish@fdu.edu

1950

Spencer Almen BS’12 received an Engineering Class of 1950 Scholarship and keeps in touch with Joe Alvarado. Almen writes: “Columbia continues to play a big role in my life after college.

After spending my first two years out of school working in energy efficiency in New York, I took that work experience to Bogotá, Colombia (where my roommate was a buddy from the Columbia Ski Team) to start a new job in energy efficiency (which I found through a Columbia classmate).

The year and a half I spent working in Colombia was invaluable and unforgettable as I experienced professional and social life in that country, improved my Spanishlanguage skills, traversed a wide, beautiful swathe of Latin America, and gained a more nuanced understanding of the world. Since February 2016, I’ve been installed in Massachusetts, working in business development at a renewable energy company. The Columbia connection has been a blessing again here in the Boston area, where a number of college friends live and where I can drop

in to occasional alumni events.

Thanks again to the Engineering Class of 1950 for helping make it all possible!”

1951

Class Correspondent: Ted Borri tjb63@columbia.edu

1952

Class Correspondent: Peter Mauzey p.mauzey@ieee.org

1953

Class Correspondent: Don Ross dross52@optonline.net

1955

Class Correspondent: Leo Cirino lcirino3333@gmail.com

1956

Class Correspondent: Lou Hemmerdinger LHemmer@aol.com

1958

Robert Drucker writes that his top news is that his granddaughter Blythe Drucker will join the Columbia family as a member of the Barnard College Class of 2021. In 2016, he toured the Arctic region around Svalbard, Norway, “replete with polar bears, walrus colonies, and thousands of cliffnesting birds. All bright for 10 days in the Land of the Midnight Sun. Fortunate to be able to balance the cold of the Arctic with a warm latefall cruise about the Caribbean.”

1959

Joseph Coogan MS’60 shares a story about bumping into President Truman on campus: “Harry Truman visited Columbia in September 1954. As he was leaving campus

and crossing Broadway, I was exiting the subway station, which was then on a median separating the two lanes of traffic. I was a freshman enrolled in Columbia College on the five-year program, which included three years in the College and two in the Engineering School. Being a little late for my chemistry class in Havemeyer Hall, I rushed across Broadway and accidentally bumped into Truman, knocking him down. His two aides and I helped him up. After a sincere apology, I proceeded to class. Six years later, after three Columbia degrees and a commission in the Navy, I arrived at the Naval Air Station in Key West for a two-year tour of duty. Truman loved Key West. The house where he stayed and worked is now a museum, called The Little White House. I walked by many times but never saw him again. By then, he must have been a permanent resident of his hometown in Missouri, dutifully watching out for traffic and harried students.”

Michael J. Guerriero shares some of his top projects over the years as a civil engineer, including Thimble Shoal Island, Virginia, connecting bridge to tunnel for the 17.6-mile Chesapeake Bay Crossing (“to determine the expected settlement for the 1,500-foot-long, 60-foot-high island, I calculated 8 feet, and the actual was 7 feet, 6 inches”); 400 miles of new roads in East Pakistan (Bangladesh); the residential retirement communities of Rossmoor and Clearbrook, New Jersey; and supervising surveying for the Eastside Access rail crossing into Manhattan, among many other civil designs and highway, survey, and geotechnical projects.

1961

Class Correspondent: Doug Kendall dkjr@roadrunner.com

1962

Class Correspondent: Marshal (Mickey) Greenblatt mg840@columbia.edu Lynn Conway MS’63 writes: “I returned to campus last spring to present the invitational Magill Lecture, sharing thoughts and envisioning technology-futures with young Columbia Engineering students. This was a wonderful trip down memory lane and provided quite a feeling of life come full-circle! Awareness also continued to grow last year about the impact of my early research on VLSI microelectronic chip design, and last November I was thrilled to receive an honorary doctorate of engineering from the University of Victoria for that work. Meanwhile, my engineer husband Charlie and I are enjoying life together on our 24-acre ‘nature preserve’ in rural Michigan, out to the west of Ann Arbor.”

1963

Class Correspondents: Chuck Cole ccole6250@att.net Mark Herman mnh18@columbia.edu

1964

From top: Lynn Conway ’62 MS’63; Tom Magnani ’64, Bob Ford ’64, Jon Kohn ’64

Class Correspondent: Tom Magnani tm421@columbia.edu Lawrence Kuznetz MS’65 writes: “I will be teaching a course at UC Berkeley called the Design of Space Suits for Mars. We hope to link up with all the universities including Columbia’s extreme space initiative. All lectures are available by live streaming and archiving at bluejeans.com for those who are interested.”

Tom Magnani writes: “A search through our boxes of photographs

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CLASS NOTES

to share with our four grandchildren led to an interesting find from my senior year. It was a photo of Bob Ford, Jon Kohn, and I studying together in Bob’s room in Furnald. Once the grandchildren got past the confusion of seeing their grandfather with some hair, I decided to scan it and send it to Bob and Jon. The three of us had a good time reconnecting and reminiscing. Other classmates I regularly hear from are Joe Spindel and Dan Lehrfeld. I look forward to hearing from you.”

1965 & 1966

Diane (Dee) Samuel Goodman BS’66 and Seymour (Sy) Goodman BS’65, MS’66 celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on December 18.

Sy was recently appointed as Regents’ Professor at Georgia Tech, the most distinguished academic professorship there.

1967

50th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Jack Reilly at jr2813@columbia.edu or 212-8510734 or Paolo Santonocito at ps2811@columbia.edu or 646-745-8417.

Richard B. Goldstein writes: “I retired in 2014 after 43 years from my position as professor of mathematics at Providence College. My wife, Donna, and I moved to Bonita Springs, Florida, and regularly attend Columbia alumni events. I am still active as a courtesy professor of mathematics at Florida Gulf Coast University.”

Bill Quirk PhD’70 was reelected to a third term in the California State Legislature as an assembly member from the 20th District.

He is the chair of the Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials and serves on the

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Agriculture, Utilities and Energy, Revenue and Tax, and Public Safety Committees.

1969

Class Correspondent: Ron Mangione Ronaldm@archeng.com

1970

Kevin Hom ’74GSAPP is in his sixth year as dean of the City University of New York’s College of Technology, School of Technology and Design, where he has responsibility for nine engineering and design departments and a student body of 7,000. He was recently elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows; and his architectural practice, Kevin Hom Architects PC, recently completed the design and construction on the Fordham University Lincoln Center campus for a new graduate school of business, library, and campus activities and wellness center.

1972

45th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Brian Alkire at ba2524@ columbia.edu or 212-854-2317 or Paolo Santonocito at ps2811@ columbia.edu or 646-745-8417.

1977

40th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Star Sawyer at ss3858@ columbia.edu or Paolo Santonocito at ps2811@columbia.edu or 646-745-8417.

Joel Rosenblatt, director of network and computer security at the Columbia Information Security Office, writes: “After working on the Morningside campus in the

Watson building for the last 38 years, I moved my office to the new Manhattanville campus, and I am now in the Studebaker building. It is interesting to watch the evolution of the area, and I am looking forward to other buildings opening in 2017 and beyond.”

1978

Class Correspondents: Larry Chung Lpc34@columbia.edu Peter Luccarelli Peter.Luccarelli@pliplaw.com Jason Makansi has written a new book, Painting by Numbers: How to Sharpen Your BS Detector and Smoke Out the Experts. He uses examples from polling data, medicine, climate modeling, and other areas to help explain complex modeling concepts. The publisher, Layla Dog Press, describes the book as a “tool for making sense of the numbers shaping modern society.”

1979

Class Correspondent: Stewart Levy srlevy@att.net

1981

Class Correspondent: James Reda jfreda@jfreda.com Costantino Volpe MS’84 lives in Wrentham, Massachusetts, with his wife and two sons and has held a position as staff metallurgist at Senior Aerospace Metal Bellows in Sharon, Massachusetts, for the past five years. He writes that his older son, Timothy, just began his first year at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he is enrolled in the honors college and is majoring in electrical and computer engineering.

1982

Philadelphia. The firm provides structural engineering services on a wide variety of project types throughout the United States.

Vincent Frank Carrubba writes that a Columbia Engineering degree started him on a journey to develop products that solve problems and generate profits. At GE, he developed the SpaceMaker kitchen appliances. When the NYSE phones needed overhauling, he patented and installed a redundant, hot-swappable power supply. He also engineered fastacting electronic safety devices now widely used on hair dryers to avoid electrocution, and a process and machinery to turn coconut husk waste into fire-resistant, lowcost building materials. Vincent’s latest invention is the patented SpaceMaker Outdoor Flooring, tongue-and-groove decking with a waterproof HTV silicone seal that creates dry and sheltered social or storage space under the deck.

pilot, and instructor pilot. My service took me on multiple deployments to include the Middle East, Far East, Somalia, and Afghanistan. After retiring from the Marines, I was employed by Corning as an engineer in the fiber optic division before returning to aviation. Currently, I am a captain with Netjets Aviation and spend my free time on the water.”

Avi Kaner MBA’89 writes that he and his team have expanded the Morton Williams Supermarkets chain by four stores, for a total of 15 supermarkets, primarily in Manhattan. Avi also serves as elected second selectman (deputy mayor) in Westport, Connecticut.

Louis J. Soslowsky MS’87, MPhil’89, PhD’91 was appointed associate dean for research integration at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. The role was created to increase collaboration across campus and bridge research efforts and strategy between the Perelman School of Medicine and partnering schools and programs.

Lou, who is Fairhill Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and professor of bioengineering, also oversees Research Core Facilities for the school.

1985

1987

1990

35th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Star Sawyer at ss3858@columbia. edu or Paolo Santonocito at ps2811@columbia.edu or 646-745-8417.

Class Correspondent: Dan Libby kdl26@columbia.edu

Brian Kenneth Swain MS’87 writes: “I recently published my seventh book, a poetry collection entitled Chicken Feet. It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other book sites. I have, to date, published three novels, three poetry collections, and an essay collection, and am busily working on finishing my fourth novel, hopefully due out late this year.”

1986

John Gadjo writes: “I served in the United States Marine Corps for 24 years after graduation as an infantry officer, attack helicopter

30th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Star Sawyer at ss3858@columbia. edu or Jill Galas Hickey at jg426@ columbia.edu or 212-854-4474.

1988

Class Correspondents: Caryn Frick carynfrick@gmail.com David Shofi david.shofi@yahoo.com Daniel Weinstein MS’89 opened Essential Structural Engineering, LLC (www.essentialse.com), in

1989

From top: John Gadjo ’86; Aminuddin Ab Ghani ’89; Dr. Christopher Ahmad ’90

Class Correspondent: Shreosee Roy shre.roy@att.net Aminuddin Ab Ghani is a senior professor and deputy director of River Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre (REDAC) in Malaysia. He writes that his main research interests are sediment transport, flood risk management, and sustainable urban drainage systems.

Aminuddin is a member of the Sewer System and Processes Working Group (SSPWG) under the auspices of the International Water Association (IWA) and the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research’s (IAHR) Joint Committee on Urban Drainage. He is also an editorial board member for the International Journal of River Basin Management, published by IAHR, and an associate editor for the IWA’s Water Science and Technology journal.

Class Correspondent: Laura Cordani Christopher zchristophers@gmail.com Dr. Christopher Ahmad writes: “I continue my lifelong passion on the soccer fields and baseball diamonds of New York City as head physician of both the New York Yankees and NYCFC. I graduated from Columbia as an engineer in 1990, and from NYU in 1994 as a doctor of medicine.

Throughout my life, I have always been driven to learn more about the mechanics of the human body. As an orthopedic surgeon, I strive to innovate and be as

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CLASS NOTES

active as possible—publishing over 250 articles and becoming one of the world’s most respected Tommy John surgeons. Outside of work, I live with my wife, Dr. Beth Shubin Stein, and three children in lower Manhattan. I am writing my second book, a follow-up to Skill, and I commit passionately to my nonprofit organizations Crutches4Kids and the Baseball Health Network. I was also honored to be featured in the fall edition of Columbia Magazine.”

1991

Class Correspondent: Radhi Majmudar radhi@majmudar.org

1992

25th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Star Sawyer at ss3858@ columbia.edu or Jill Galas Hickey at jg426@columbia.edu or 212-854-4474.

Class Correspondent: Janneth Ignacio Marcelo jannethmarcelo@gmail.com

1993

Class Correspondent: Herbert Kreyszig Hek7000@gmail.com

1996

Class Correspondent: Enrico Marini Fichera em75@columbia.edu

1997

20th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Beth Manchester at em2702@ columbia.edu or 212-854-4472 or Jennifer Feierman at jf2275@ columbia.edu or 212-851-4020.

Aaron Frankel writes that he spent a year after graduation teaching

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English in Israel and then attended Harvard Law School. He married Maria Fox in 2009. Following a honeymoon in Tahiti, they moved to Allendale, New Jersey, where they now have three boys and two large dogs. Aaron is an intellectual property litigator at Kramer Levin.

After working in sales and for a nonprofit (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), Maria will be attending Columbia’s School of Social Work in the fall.

2000

Class Correspondent: Daisy Chow daisy@caa.columbia.edu

2001

Class Correspondent: Catherine Marcinkevage marcinkevage@gmail.com

2002

15th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Beth Manchester at em2702@ columbia.edu or 212-854-4472 or Jennifer Feierman at jf2275@ columbia.edu or 212-851-4020.

Class Correspondent: John Morris jpm53@columbia.edu

2003

Class Correspondent: Amar Doshi abd19@columbia.edu

2004

Class Correspondent: Eric Rhee eric.rhee@gmail.com

2005

Class Correspondent: Devang Doshi devang.doshi@gmail.com

Brandon Basso writes that after serving as the vice president of engineering at 3D Robotics, he will be joining Uber ATG’s self-driving car effort. He will be working on autonomous vehicle technologies, with an emphasis on mapping and safety. At 3D Robotics, Brandon led the engineering development of the first consumer drones.

2006

Class Correspondent: Nick Jennings nfj2003@caa.columbia.edu

2007

10th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Jack Reilly at jr2813@ columbia.edu or 212-851-0734 or Jennifer Feierman at jf2275@ columbia.edu or 212-851-4020.

Class Correspondent: Tamsin Davies tamsin.davies@gmail.com Tamsin Davies writes: “Hi, fellow members of Class of 2007! This year marks our 10-year reunion in June. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible and catching up.”

2008

Class Correspondent: Amy Lin seas2008.engineeringnews@ gmail.com Jessica Aspis Wender ’13BUS married Brian Wender on Long Island in 2016 with many Columbia friends attending, including three as bridesmaids. The couple lives in Manhattan, where Jessica works in the Chief Analytics Office at IBM. She is also president of the Columbia Engineering Young Alumni (CEYA).

2010

Class Correspondent: Heather Lee meheatherlee@gmail.com

2011

Class Correspondent: Justin Merced jmm2238@columbia.edu

2012

5th REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Jack Reilly at jr2813@ columbia.edu or 212-851-0734 or Jennifer Feierman at jf2275@ columbia.edu or 212-851-4020.

Class Correspondents: Rebecca Frauzem rfrauzem@gmail.com Hannah Cui hannah.cui@gmail.com Spencer Almen, who received an Engineering Class of 1950 Scholarship, writes a note of thanks to the Class of 1950. Read his note and personal update in the Class of 1950 section.

Nikkan Das is currently a pediatric resident at the University of North Carolina Children’s Hospital.

She writes that she stayed in the city after graduation for medical school and then decided to try out a new town for a few years (but definitely misses the city life). She is enjoying residency so far and is keeping her options open as to what she wants to do in the future.

She is planning to get married this fall and is excited to see what this year will bring.

Serge Yegiazarov writes: “I was recently included in Features magazine’s 2017 30 Under 30 list.

The list includes other notables such as Evan Spiegel, the CEO and cofounder of Snapchat; The Weeknd, a Grammy Award–winning artist; and Odell Beckham Jr., one of the top talents in the NFL.”

2014

Class Correspondent: Victoria Nneji vcn2101@columbia.edu

Save the Date!

Reunion: June 1– 4, 2017

Stay Connected! @CUSEAS @CUSEAS ColumbiaSEAS @ColumbiaEngineering

2015

Phoenetia Browne graduated from the University of TexasAustin with a master’s degree in civil engineering (construction engineering and project management) in 2016. She was the Women’s Soccer Assistant Coach at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey, and is now an engineering assistant at Turner Construction, working on the Barnard New Building Project.

Olivier Jin started graduate school at Stanford University in 2015 and expects to graduate in June. In summer 2016, he did a summer internship at Intel Corporation and will be joining NVIDIA full-time in September.

2016

1st REUNION To take an active role in your Class Reunion activities, please contact Beth Manchester at em2702@ columbia.edu or 212-854-4472 or Swaati Puri at sp3139@columbia. edu or 646-745-8411.

2013

Class Correspondent: Mary Byers mbyers2202@gmail.com

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Program Notes: Graduate Alumni Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics Geoffrey R. Akers MS’70, MS’71 writes that he has a new position at General Dynamics/Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, as a senior management systems engineer and is also working parttime in the Physics Department at Yale University. He is serving his 25th year as a Columbia ARC member, interviewing prospective applicants to Columbia as undergraduates. In 2016, he ran his 100th marathon, coming in second in his age division, and he won his age division in the 11.6-mile Kelley Road Race in New London, Connecticut.

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BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING Cheng Dong MS’84, MPhil’86, PhD’88 is a distinguished professor of biomedical engineering and head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Penn State. He writes that since taking leadership of the department, he has been focused on expanding its faculty research and education to more interdisciplinary frontiers.

Cheng’s recent research focuses on immune cell–mediated nanoparticle and drug delivery technologies. He plans to further develop this for delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier to target brain cancer, for which he and his collaborators recently received a $300,000 university planning grant for building an NIH Program Project.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING Khalid Suliman Al Fawaz MS’16 writes: “I was sponsored by Saudi Aramco Company. I reported to my company in late February, and, since that time, I have been assigned to different roles due

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to the knowledge and skills I got from Columbia University.

I assumed the responsibility of defining and understanding market and technical requirements for the polyol business in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and I have been assigned to a business development function focusing on government liaison to aggregate kingdom incentives as part of the value proposition to investors.”

Yukun Liu MS’16 writes that she is continuing her studies in chemical engineering as a PhD student at New York University.

Her current research interest is microreaction engineering.

CIVIL ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING MECHANICS John Luk PhD’76 writes that, on top of a distinguished working career in the construction industry, property development, and law, he has been an avid lifelong learner. He has achieved some 18 academic qualifications in a variety of disciplines over the past 50 years, including most recently a doctorate in education from the University of Nottingham, via HKU Space (2015); a licentiate diploma in singing from Trinity College of Music, London (2014); and a master’s degree in music from the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing (2014).

Enrica Oliva MS’07 writes: “The past 12 months have been extremely exciting for me. After nine years as project engineer at Thornton Tomasetti, my first job after receiving my MS in structural engineering in 2007, I joined Werner Sobek New York (WSNY) as the director of the Structures Group in January 2016. In addition to the high responsibility of leading a design group, I have been co-managing the New York office, and I am also in charge of its business development activities. My

group is currently involved in high-end projects in New York, St. Louis, and Moscow, as well as many other locations around the world. Our projects range from luxury residentials to specialty structures and complex geometry projects in general (concert venues, academic buildings, cultural venues). In the fall, I also had the pleasure of being an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia GSAPP. Being able to follow the students’ progress throughout the semester and teaching the basic principles of structural engineering was extremely rewarding. I look forward to hopefully repeating this experience next year!”

Jaime Silva MS’11, chief engineer at SES Stressteel Engineering Services, LCC, has been working on an 88-story high-rise at 53 West 53rd Street, commonly referred to as the MoMA Tower. He writes: “This structure was designed combining highstrength concrete and highstrength reinforcement (HSR).

The complex geometry of the building and the challenge of reinforcing heavily congested framing joints identified as nodes were best addressed by the use of the HSR. Utilizing BIM modeling, multiple layers of reinforcement were coordinated and optimized to fit within the concrete framing of the building.

A steel node concept was also developed and implemented at the core of critical joints of the structure using load-bearing gusset plates, threaded bars, and accessories. Due to the constantly varying geometry of the building, over 30 custom steel node pieces were designed and fabricated for the project.

Coordination of several trades was critical for the installation of the steel nodes. The biggest steel node of the structure was over 8

PROGRAM NOTES

feet tall and weighed more than 18,000 pounds.”

Mohammad Doughan MS’12 writes: “During my time at Columbia Engineering, I was exposed to many life-changing experiences, but the most influential with no doubt was my GLCM research program with Dr. Odeh. I am so proud to say that the people I was exposed to then and the relations I built with these people enabled me to open my own specialized contracting company and have multimilliondollar contracts with these clients. Using skills I learned at Columbia and GLCM, I was able to expand my scope of work from just specialized contracting into trading and many other trades.

Columbia Engineering gave me the exposure that allowed me to grow, have a wider mind-set, and most importantly have the confidence to open new businesses. I would encourage any fellow colleagues to make the best of their time there.”

Eleftherios Stavrakas MS’13 writes: “After graduation in 2013, I worked for two years as an assistant estimator in New York and then decided to move to the UK in 2015. I managed to find a job immediately and started working at a multinational construction consulting company as an assistant cost manager.

A crucial point in my career was last year, when I decided to relocate to the Economics Department of my company.

That was a major milestone and challenge for me, as I left the engineering practice for good and moved to a sector that I did not know much about.

However, overall engineering knowledge proved to be very helpful in analyzing problems and structuring the solution, which allowed me to learn faster and acquire the necessary knowledge. I have worked on

many major projects in the UK (highways, rail, subway) worth up to £4 billion and am still looking for new challenges!”

Juan Carlos Gabriel Ramirez MS’14 writes: “Right after graduation, I interned at Skanska and contributed to the research of the Skanska USA Civil 2020 Business Plan with Professor Ibrahim Odeh and my graduate friends Jesus Pacanins MS’15 and Tarek Soubra MS’14. Once our work was done, I received a full-time job offer, and, ever since then, it has been an ongoing learning experience.

I am currently on the Core Competency Training Program—a two-year rotation program covering six disciplines with a mentor from senior management and core area advisers per discipline. So far, I’ve worked on multiple projects, and my mentor, Gary Winsper, has given me a lot of insight on innovation and different management styles. So far, my professional experience after graduating has helped me envision the numerous opportunities in innovative and sustainable infrastructure systems in the U.S.”

Pictured here: CHEMICAL ENGINEERING: 1) Khalid Suliman Al Fawaz MS’16; 2) Yukun Liu MS’16; CIVIL ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING MECHANICS: 3) John Luk PhD’76; 4) Jaime Silva MS’11; 5) Eleftherios Stavrakas MS’13; COMPUTER SCIENCE: 6) Unni Narayanan MS’92; 7) Igor Boshoer MS’11

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COMPUTER SCIENCE Unni Narayanan MS’92 writes that he completed his PhD in computer science from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. Currently, he is a director at Google, where he leads product and engineering teams for Google Search App on iOS. Igor Boshoer MS’11 writes: “After graduating Columbia Engineering, I’ve spent a great deal of my career working in some of the top visual effects studios in New York City and San Francisco, building studio and film technology. Having worked on such Hollywood blockbusters as The Wolf of Wall Street and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I have

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now fully immersed myself in building a Silicon Valley startup, Linum.io. Our team is disrupting the film production process by helping studios and artists create content with ease and collaborate on a global level.”

EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING Amanda Caudill MS’03 writes: “I am a coffee research scientist who has done research on coffee farms throughout the tropics for my doctorate research and my postdoctoral work with the Smithsonian Institution. I am launching Blue Leaf Travels— curated coffee and cultural tours (www.blueleaftravels.com), which are inspired by my field research and travels through coffee lands.

After graduating from Columbia, I continued on to receive a doctorate in environmental science with a focus on conservation biology and sustainable agriculture. I have lived and led research teams in the coffee-growing regions of India, Mexico, and Costa Rica to understand how coffee farms can be managed to protect wildlife habitat, foster ecosystem services, and provide a viable income for coffee farmers. Right now, I am teaching a sustainable coffee course with the Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability program. We are accepting reservations for Blue Leaf Travels coffee and cultural tours in Costa Rica starting this June.

I would love for members of the Columbia community to join us!”

Jun Xu PhD’14 began working as a professor in the Department of Automotive Engineering at Beihang University in Beijing shortly after graduating, and he is now the director of the university’s Advanced Vehicle Research Center. Jun received the National Excellent Young Scientists in Impact Mechanics award in 2016. He writes that during the

past two years, his Xu Group has published 16 peer-reviewed papers and secured more than $1 million in research funding. His research group focuses on the safety of lithium-ion batteries and ultralight material design, working toward greener, safer, and lighter vehicles.

At Columbia, he was the recipient of a Distinguished Presidential Fellowship.

Qiuhua Cho Lu MS’15 writes: “After interning with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and the Office of the Attorney General of New York State, I’m currently working at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection as an energy analyst and project manager. I’m managing over $60 million in city funding for 30-plus energy and greenhouse gas reduction projects, and I am also involved in the major biogas-to-grid and food-wasteto-energy projects in the city. I have always been interested in the improvement of the environment, and I am working my best to support New York City’s aggressive energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals to mitigate climate change and contribute to the development of a more sustainable future.”

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING Michael Otten MS’65 writes: “After more than 30 years managing large development projects in global IBM, I’m currently teaching business and communications-related courses to graduate engineers at a French Grande Ecole called EFREI, Ecole Française d’Electronique et d’Informatique, in Paris. I also mentor students in social entrepreneurship at INSEAD in Fontainebleau and Singapore. In the U.S., I cofounded a couple of years ago the Sam and Myra Ross Institute at Green Chimneys School

in Brewster, New York. The goal is to educate, communicate, and advocate for the effectiveness of nature-based programs (especially with farm and wildlife animals) in special education environments.”

Jody Alperin MS’97 is working at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, New York, as a chip designer in Quantum Computing.

Alex Chan MS’02, cofounder and CEO of patent analytics company DataNovo, was recently named by the National Law Journal as one of 50 honorees in its annual list of Intellectual Property Trailblazers and Pioneers, which highlights the top 50 intellectual property lawyers in the nation “who are raising the bar in intellectual property law.” Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, DataNovo offers analytics identifying potential patent infringers and infringing products as well as provides information validating and invalidating U.S. patents. Clients include national universities, Fortune 50 companies, venture-backed startups, and investment banks. An inventor of multiple patents, Alex was also named by Silicon Valley Business Journal to its “40 Under 40” to watch in 2016.

Eric Zavesky MS’05, MPhil’08, PhD’10 writes: “Since graduating from Columbia, I’ve been inventing new computer vision and machine learning technology at AT&T Labs Research. Recently, I’ve also been on the founding team of a robotics startup called bots_alive, launching on Kickstarter. In a unique way, bots_alive creates artificially intelligent robot creatures that feel organic and alive, built from your smartphone and a Hexbug Spider (an RC toy). The phone acts as the eyes and brains for the robots, and owners interact with them by designing obstacle courses, mazes, and cages for the robots. The longterm vision is to develop simple, animal-like robots that seem

alive but are backed by a cloudmanaged platform for intraplayer activity and academic experiments.

This work is supported in part by a recent SBIR Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation.”

Justin Bi MS’15 is currently working at MIT Lincoln Labs as a modeling and simulations engineer working on a ballistic missile defense project.

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS RESEARCH Dimitri Mongeot MS’08 writes that he recently relocated from Hong Kong to Singapore to join the Royal Bank of Scotland on the USD rates trading desk. “I now have the opportunity to work in a smaller team, much more dynamic, refocusing on our core customer base. This involves daily trading of U.S. Treasuries in Asia time and USD swaps, while meeting our counterparties across the region, including Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, etc.”

Niti Poosomboon MS’16 writes: “Since graduation, I have joined EXL Service, which is an analytics consulting company in New Jersey. One of our services is developing customized Windows applications for investment banking clients in the aspects of data management via the use of various software and programming languages. I have enjoyed working in a multinational firm with distinguished professionals from around the world. We have exchanged knowledge as well as personal experiences to better understand and support each other in achieving our goals.

Work-life balance is great; I was able to take time off to travel to many places during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Upon resuming work, all of us are full of energy to drive projects forward and make a difference. So, I would say that I have had a really great time after graduation. Thank you,

Columbia, for opening up doors to fantastic opportunities!”

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Mirkó Palla MS’10, MPhil’12, PhD’14 writes: “After completing my PhD at Columbia, I have been a postdoctoral fellow at George M. Church’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School. Recently, I had the fortunate opportunity to present my latest scientific result on the international stage in Busan, South Korea, at the IEEE SENSORS 2015 conference.

My work, which was featured in the top 10 percent of submitted conference papers, detailed a novel analytical model for biomolecule quantification using an optical nanosensor platform.

Currently, in conjunction with Jingyue Ju’s laboratory at Columbia University and industry partners, I have been developing a novel, integrated circuit-based, single-molecule DNA sequencing device. This may provide the foundation for a low-cost diagnostic tool for clinical medicine. I am excited to be involved in such an exciting R&D project, and I hope to pave the way toward the realization of precision medicine.”

Jonathan Kyle PhD’14 writes: “After graduating from Columbia University with my PhD, I worked at a small aerospace company in New Jersey that manufactured valves for SpaceX rockets. The work was extremely challenging but allowed me to pursue my goals of working in the aerospace field, building rockets, and sending humans into space. My passion for human spaceflight was further catapulted after serving as the TA to Columbia’s first class on human spaceflight, taught by former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino.

I currently work as an aerospace engineer in the Fluids Department at Blue Origin. Sending people into space has always been a childhood

dream of mine, and now getting the opportunity to send paying customers on a suborbital flight to see our Earth from a vantage point so few have seen is extremely rewarding and humbling for me.

Gradatim Ferociter!”

Pictured here: EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING: 1) Qiuhua Cho Lu MS’15; ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING: 2) Alex Chan MS’02; 3) Eric Zavesky MS’05, MPhil’08, PhD’10; INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS RESEARCH: 4) Dimitri Mongeot MS’08; 5) Niti Poosomboon MS’16; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING: 6) Jonathan Kyle PhD’14

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IN MEMORIAM

Bruno A. Boley, Professor Professor Bruno A. Boley, a distinguished figure in engineering mechanics, died on February 11, 2017. He was best known for his work on thermal stress analysis and for his highly regarded textbook Theory of Thermal Stresses.

Boley was born Bruno Bollafio in Gorizia, Italy, in 1924. After a hurried exit from Italy to escape anti-Semitic laws, and a circuitous trip through Europe, his family arrived in the United States in 1939. The change in family name followed.

Boley earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the College of the City of New York in 1943. In 1946, as a student of the eminent Nicholas Hoff, he earned a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, where he remained as an assistant professor until 1948. Boley worked for Goodyear Aircraft for two years, then returned to academia. He was an assistant professor of aeronautical engineering at Ohio State University until 1952, associate professor and then full professor of civil engineering at Columbia University until 1968, J. P. Ripley Professor and chairman of the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at Cornell University until 1972, and Walter P. Murphy Professor and dean of the Technological Institute of Northwestern University until 1986, when he returned to Columbia.

Boley made significant contributions in a wide spectrum of applied mechanics. In particular, he received international recognition for his work in the analysis of thermal stresses, exhibited in the classic treatise Theory of Thermal Stresses, which he coauthored with Jerome H. Weiner. He was awarded the Warner Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Theodore von Karman Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers, and he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1975.

In addition to his engineering work, Boley was involved in many governing bodies and technical societies. He was a founder of the Association of Chairmen of Departments of Mechanics, editor-in-chief of the journal Mechanics Research Communications, and president of the American Academy of Mechanics and the Society of Engineering Science. He also served on the Board of Governors of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and of Argonne National Laboratory and was chairman of the U.S. Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.

Boley’s interest in intellectual areas outside his principal discipline was eclectic. He had a particularly deep knowledge of European history and literature, especially Italian, and was an accomplished public speaker.

Boley is survived by his son, Daniel, and granddaughter Lelwani.

By Frank DiMaggio

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Leon Lidofsky, Professor Emeritus Columbia Engineering Professor Leon Lidofsky, an expert on medical physics and nuclear safety whose mentoring was lauded by students, died on September 12, 2016, in Shelburne, Vermont. He was 93 and held the title of professor emeritus of nuclear engineering and medical physics.

Lidofsky served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and completed his undergraduate education at Tufts University before coming to Columbia for graduate school. He earned a PhD in physics from Columbia in 1952 and joined the Engineering faculty eight years later.

At Columbia Engineering, Lidofsky was a founding member of the Division of Nuclear Science and Engineering, the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, and the graduate-level Program in Medical Physics. His fields of specialization included nuclear physics, radiation transport and shielding, application of computers to nuclear research, and nuclear safety. He later extended the reach of his research to include radiation imaging and other applications of radiation in medicine. Of the 30 doctoral dissertations he sponsored, nine were in or directly related to the field of medical physics.

Lidofsky also established the Gussman Computer Lab and taught numerous courses. He was the principal investigator of an IBM project to develop a school-wide undergraduate course, Engineering Design with Interactive Computer Graphics. In 1988, he received the Great Teacher Award, an honor he valued. The citation reads, in part, “The Columbia community is proud to have you as one of its most insightful and compassionate faculty members.”

In addition to his service to the University, Lidofsky served on government committees at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He was a consultant for American Physical Society (APS) Study Groups, Ebasco Services, IBM, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Schlumberger-Doll, and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, among others. He was also a fellow of the APS, a visiting research fellow at the University of Amsterdam, and a member of the American Nuclear Society.

At his retirement dinner in 1992, Lidofsky’s colleagues praised his distinguished career in nuclear science, and his students remembered him as a brilliant and dedicated teacher who was always available to help. As one of his protégés wrote: “All the grad students I knew adored him. In fact, everybody did. He was always around, always available to anybody for anything.”

Lidofsky is survived by his sons, Bart Lidofsky and Steven Lidofsky ’75CC, GSAS (MPhil’80, PhD’80), and PS (MD’82), and two grandchildren. His wife, Eleanor, died in 2015.

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IN MEMORIAM

Samuel Higginbottom BS’43, Former University Trustee Samuel Higginbottom, a former Columbia University Trustee, aviation industry leader, and Columbia Engineering alumnus, passed away at his home in Miami-Dade County, Florida, on November 13, 2016. He was 95. His deep love of Columbia Engineering and dedication to its continued growth were on display throughout his life.

Higginbottom completed his undergraduate degree in civil engineering in 1943 and served in World War II. During his time in the service, he was awarded the Bronze Star and rose to the rank of captain. After the war, he began a long and successful career in the airline and aviation industries. He first worked for Trans World Airlines and then joined Eastern Airlines, where he served as president, CEO, and a member of the Board of Directors. In 1974, he transferred to Rolls-Royce N.A., an aircraft engine manufacturer, where he worked as chairman, president, and CEO until his retirement in 1986. He was named an Honorary Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to the industry.

Higginbottom began his tenure as a Columbia Trustee in 1982 and served as chairman from 1986 to 1989. As chairman, he spearheaded numerous initiatives, including improving the appearance of the campus grounds. He was also eager to share his passion for globalization, which was shaped by his experiences abroad. He was a strong advocate for increasing the number of students with international experience at Columbia, regardless of financial background.

Higginbottom is survived by his wife Jana; children Samuel L. Higginbottom ’71CC, ’74LAW, Fair Higginbottom, and, Rowan Maclaren; stepchildren Guilherme, Geana, and Bruna Sieburger; brother Jim Higginbottom; nine grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

Sameer Shetty MS’93, Board of Visitors Member Sameer Shetty (MS’93, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research), a member of the Columbia Engineering Board of Visitors and an important partner in connecting Columbia University and India, passed away on October 17, 2016.

Born in 1971, Shetty was a Mumbai native and attended the Cathedral & John Connon School, a prominent private high school there. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from DePauw University in 1992 and his master’s degree in operations research from Columbia Engineering in 1993. Shetty was managing director of Boving Fouress Ltd. (BFL), an Indian hydro turbine equipment manufacturer based in Bangalore. The organization provides “water to wire” solutions in the field of small hydro power systems.

Between 2010 and 2016, Shetty was an active member of the Columbia Engineering Board of Visitors, serving as an important partner in India. He was also involved with the Columbia Alumni Association India Advisory Council and helped launch the Columbia Global Center in Mumbai. Shetty enthusiastically volunteered himself as an essential link between a Columbia undergraduate education and many talented students in India.

Notably, he was a member of the Alumni Representative Committee (ARC), working to provide Columbia with the opportunity to connect with Indian students who might not have otherwise been able to access the University. His legacy will live on through the generation of students he helped introduce to Columbia University.

Shetty is survived by his wife, Sohya; his three young children, Maanit, Maanya, and Myeisha; his mother, Soumyalatha Shetty; his older sisters, Smita Shetty and Sucharita Hegde; and his extended family, including nephew Rithvik Hegde ’10BUS and niece Priyadarshini Shetty ’11LAW.

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Kenneth Brayer MS’65, Endowed a Professorship in Electrical Engineering Kenneth Brayer (MS’65, Electrical Engineering) made contributions to the field of electrical engineering that stretch far beyond his prolific work in communications, computing, and networking.

Brayer, who passed away on January 24, 2015, at the age of 73, will be remembered for his scientific achievements and his work as a mentor throughout his professional career.

A New York City native, Brayer was a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, the City College of New York, and Columbia Engineering. After receiving his master’s degree in electrical engineering, he worked at MITRE, specializing in networking and distributed systems, until his retirement in 2002.

Brayer’s pioneering research provided some of the key creative advances that shaped the information age. Notably, he designed the first reentrant computer learning system (a form of artificial intelli-

gence), developed concepts for low and medium Earth orbit satellite networks, and designed the largest military computer communications network of its time. He was also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, becoming an IEEE Fellow in 1990.

Brayer was associated with numerous universities as an instructor, thesis adviser, and consultant. In the words of his work associate Linsey O’Brien: “From his own experience, Ken knew the value of education and shared it. . . . His advice to colleagues on the value of education was as appreciated as his major contributions to the field of engineering.”

At Columbia, his legacy will continue in the form of an electrical engineering professorship. The Kenneth Brayer Professorship of Electrical Engineering will ensure that his contributions as a lifelong scholar, researcher, and teacher will have a lasting impact.

Alumni

1946 Jerome (Jerry) Robert Harris BS’46 of Charlottesville, Virginia, passed away on January 3, 2017, at the age of 96. He had been vice president and general manager of the Mid-Atlantic Division of McCall Printing Company and cofounded the magazine printing company American Press.

Born and brought up in Manhattan, Harris’s first job was working as an office boy for the Straus family at R. H. Macy & Company. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1939 and served during World War II in Iceland as an aviation chief radioman with Patrol Squadron 82, which later received recognition from the U.S. Navy for “outstanding heroism in action against enemy forces in Atlantic Waters.” Harris attended Columbia University as part of the V-12 Navy College Training Program. He earned his BS in electrical engineering in 1946 and was presented the USN ROTC and V-12 Unit Columbia University Sword for Outstanding Military Achievement. Harris was captain of the fencing team and vice president of the Columbia

1945 Edward Cohen (BS’45; MS’54, Civil Engineering), a distinguished Columbia Engineering alumnus whose projects included the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. Capitol, passed away peacefully on January 28, 2017.

Cohen, the son of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, and graduated from high school during the depths of the Great Depression. Determined to pursue an education, he took classes at numerous universities before finishing his undergraduate degree at Columbia Engineering in 1945.

He worked his way through college, including as a laborer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Although he was rejected for military service because of a heart condition caused by rheumatic fever as a child, he was awarded a medal for civilian engineering service during World War II by the Corps. From 1948 to 1951, Cohen was a lecturer in architecture at Columbia and

went on to complete his master of science in civil engineering in 1954 at Columbia Engineering.

In 1949, Cohen began working for Ammann & Whitney, where he remained for nearly 50 years, eventually serving as chairman and CEO from 1977 to 1996. Some of his most notable projects at the firm include the VerrazanoNarrows Bridge, restoration of the Statue of Liberty, and restoration of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The list of Cohen’s professional memberships and awards is robust and illustrious. At Columbia, he was the recipient of the Illig Medal in Applied Science in 1946 and the Egleston Medal in 1981. He also served on the Engineering Council, including as vice chairman, and on the Columbia Engineering Alumni Association Board of Managers.

Reflecting on the significant construction projects he was involved in, Cohen once said, “The important thing is to deserve monuments, not to have them.” He leaves behind his wife, Carol Simon Kalb; his children, Samuel, Libby M. Wallace, and James; and his stepchildren, Anne Kalb Bronner and Paul Kalb.

Branch of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. After graduating, he remained active in the Naval Reserve, teaching missile guidance systems and retiring as senior grade lieutenant.

Harris pursued a career as an engineer and business leader in the magazine printing industry.

He became vice president and general manager of the MidAtlantic Division of McCall Printing Company and later cofounded American Press, an innovative magazine printing company in Gordonsville, Virginia. In the early 1970s, he served as president of the Magazine Printers Division, Printing Industries of America. He was also considered for the job of Public Printer of the United States in the Nixon administration, but he declined in favor of staying in the private sector.

Harris’s wife of 60 years, Carol, died in 2012. He is survived by his son, Robert Sean Harris; his daughter, Donna Harris Mustanski, and her husband, Steve; and his grandchildren, John and Anna Mustanski.

Compiled by Maggie Hughes

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DONOR S POTL i GHT Parents Invest in Propelling Columbia’s Interdisciplinary Research

Left: Kittu Kolluri. Right: Maodong “Modern” Xu.

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nitiating and propelling disruptive research and innovation requires inspirational ideas—and often a financial boost to bring to fruition. Kittu Kolluri and Maodong “Modern” Xu, both fathers of Columbia Engineering students, have quietly started providing that boost at Columbia with seed funds aimed at supporting the interdisciplinary research of an important group: Engineering faculty.

The two families are financing competitive seed grants for faculty members at an initial exploration stage of new innovative projects and interdisciplinary partnerships.

“Both Mr. Kolluri and Mr. Xu have provided generous support to faculty research at the critical, early stage,” Dean Mary C. Boyce said. “Their support not only benefits our professors, but also provides our graduate students with opportunities to participate in the very beginning stages of groundbreaking work.”

Last year, their support helped fund four projects from across the engineering disciplines: a multimodal robotic skin sensor, a 3D “food printer” that prints with edible materials, an investigation of a cyber insurance marketplace, and a rethinking of chemical imaging based on line probes and compressed sensing. This year, three more projects were added to the roster involving machine learning, imaging, and light-written assembly of multiscale architecture. Each project receives funds to support a doctoral graduate student and to cover additional research costs, such as materials and conference travel.

Kolluri sees the opportunity to help take professorial research to the next level as a way to give back—on a global scale.

“Breakthrough innovation, disruptive innovation, comes from fundamental research, and that starts with faculty,” he said.

Kolluri is a successful serial entrepreneur. He was a cofounder of Healtheon/WebMD and former executive vice president and general manager for the Security Products Group at Juniper Networks and general partner at New Enterprise Associates.

He had previously established an innovation fund at his alma mater, the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India. After his son started at Columbia Engineering, he became a founding contributor to the Ignition Fund, which

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gives grants to individual Columbia Engineering students or teams of students to help catalyze their projects to the next level.

A conversation with Dean Boyce led Kolluri, who also serves on the Columbia Engineering Board of Visitors, to get involved in funding faculty research.

“Dean Boyce came to me and said the faculty have a similar problem, where they need startup capital to get things off the ground before they can go and apply for external grants—and that was another worthy initiative,” he said. “I was happy to help get that off the ground.”

A similar interest in helping entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market drives Xu, board chairman and CEO of Galaxy and World Group and board chairman of Galaxy Internet Group. He has founded a number of successful ventures in China, including Qilu Supermarkets, Galvez DotAd Co., Xiao Neng Technology, Welink Information Technology, and WoWo Ltd. Xu’s efforts to integrate Internet and Internet-related technologies into traditional industry to improve their efficiency led him to decide in 2009 that he wanted to help young entrepreneurs. He founded Galaxy Internet Group, an incubator that helps startups fine-tune their business models, develop key accounts, obtain financing, and connect to research and development and to support services like human resources, accounting, and legal support. Today, Galaxy assists startups from seed rounds all the way to pre-IPO. It has fostered more than 150 companies working in areas including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital entertainment.

At Columbia, Xu has continued to foster entrepreneurship and encourage interdisciplinary research.

Both Xu and Kolluri are motivated by the potential they see in the Engineering faculty and students to change the world for the better.

“I think that engineering is the new liberal arts, in a way,” Kolluri said. “Engineering has a role in finding solutions to the problems that affect humanity in a positive way.”

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Back cover: Matthew Baideme, Chenghua Long, and Catherine Hoar, PhD candidates in the lab of Professor and MacArthur Fellow Kartik Chandran, are growing complex microbial communities capable of energy-efficient nutrient removal from nitrogen-enriched waste streams. (Photo by Jeffrey Schifman)

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