University of Pittsburgh
swanson school of engineering 2 0 11 | 2 012 An n u al Report
U n i v e r s i t y o f P i t t s b u r g h | S wa n s o n s c h o o l o f e n g i n e e r i n g
Pictured from left to right are Hikaru Mamiya, Saik “Kia” Goh, and Britta Rauck
A n n u a l r e p o r t 2 011 | 2 012
Inside Executive Editor Matthew A. Weinstein, PhD Managing Editor Paul A. Kovach Contributing Writers B. Rose Huber Annmarie Grant Senior Graphic Designer Leslie Karon-Oswalt Photography John Altdorfer Ric Evans Engineering Office of Diversity
Front Cover–Pictured left to right are John Walker, Antonina Maxey, and Kimaya Padgaonkar Back Cover–Pictured left to right are
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Robert Allen, Allison Luther, and Dr. Yadong Wang
4 Welcome from the Dean 6 Bioengineering 10 Chemical and Petroleum Engineering 12 Civil and Environmental Engineering 14 Electrical and Computer Engineering 16 Industrial Engineering 18 Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science 20 International 22 Office of Diversity 26 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient 32 Statistics
Welcome from the Dean The past year marked significant achievement in our academic aspirations here at the Swanson School of Engineering. That progress, due to important endeavors from various constituencies of the school, included innovative teaching excellence, student achievement, dynamic faculty research, and engaged outreach programs. All of this was made possible by the unwavering support of our University, one of the best research
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universities in the world, and all the individuals who support our school in so many ways.
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Both the Swanson School and the University achieved two important milestones: reaccreditation of the school by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and reaccreditation of Pitt by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The accreditation process, which is an intensive self-study reviewed by a team of program evaluators from peer institutions, marks the excellence of an institution of higher learning. I am very appreciative of the members of our Board of Visitors, Visiting Committees, and faculty and staff who helped contribute to these intensive efforts that resulted in reaccreditation on both fronts. In 2012, the Swanson School received its second largest philanthropic gift in its history–a $22 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation–one of the largest private foundation grants in Pitt’s history. This extremely generous gift was only precedented in the school by the transformative gift of our alumnus and school namesake, John A. Swanson (PhD ’66). The Mellon gift will accelerate the research and education efforts of the Center for Energy, which is dedicated to improving energy technology development and sustainability through the work of more than 70 world-class faculty members and their research teams. The Richard King Mellon grant will enable the school to create new faculty positions and graduate fellowships and establish a fund for spurring innovative research. The grant–which also will support research infrastructure and center operations–will help the center solidify its position as a powerful leader in energy research. Groundbreaking research in the energy and power area is ongoing and our expert faculty members are often in the forefront of national and international news coverage in the field. Likewise, our faculty and students continue to be recognized for achievements in research and innovation. This past year, Prashant Kumta, PhD, was named by Forbes India as “one of the 18 Indian
minds who are doing cutting-edge work.” The American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) honored Mary Besterfield-Sacre, PhD, with the Sharon Keller Award for Women in Engineering Education and Bopaya Bidanda, PhD, with the John L. Imhoff Global Excellence Award for Industrial Engineering. Our students also have been actively engaged and have garnered many awards at regional and national engineering competitions including the American Society of Civil Engineers; the Institute of Industrial Engineers Annual IE Conference and Expo; the National Society of Black Engineers; and the Society of Women Engineers, to name a few. I encourage you to visit our Web site to see the Swanson School’s ever-growing list of awards and honors. The success of the Swanson School is largely dependent on the academic prowess of our students, the teaching excellence of our faculty and their groundbreaking research, and the school’s ability to attract and retain talent. Our recent strides in these important endeavors (including hiring Bill Cook from Georgia Tech, a member of the National Academy of Engineering) have been tremendously enhanced by the generous donations of those who support the school. As you will see on the charts on pages 32-33, this has been an excellent year across all those metrics. As we mark the passing of another year, I sincerely thank you–our many alumni, faculty, peers, and partners in engineering education. Our continued upward trajectory as one of the top public engineering schools in the country would simply not be possible without your support. I am extremely grateful to you and look forward to our continued work and partnership in the future.
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Gerald D. Holder U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering s w a n s o n s c h o o l o f e n g i n e e ri n g
Bioengineering
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Pictured from left to right are Alan D. Hirschman, PhD, and Pratap Khanwilkar, PhD, MBA
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Even though it’s the youngest department, Bioengineering has had a tremendous impact on the Swanson School and the University in general, whether through its focus on translational research or developing innovative medical technologies to address clinical problems. In other words, take a clinician who has identified a problem and pair him or her with an engineer capable of developing a medical device to solve that problem. Put them together and, based upon their research, you get a more market-driven approach to technology transfer.
This dynamic approach has engendered two centers of excellence that are transforming how Pitt engages in translational research. The Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) and the Coulter Translational Research Partners II Program have developed partnerships with the Schools of the Health Sciences, the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, the School of Law, the Office of Technology Management, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to bring new technologies to light. In their first year, the centers have helped to fund the next generation of medical devices.
CMI awarded its first seed grants of $25,000 to three teams of investigators as part of its 2012 Round-1 Pilot Funding Program. The awardees were selected by the CMI review team from among 32 proposals for innovative early stage medical technologies. Selection criteria involved considerations of clinical, technical, and commercial factors.
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“ SafeDrill: Bi-modal Sensing for Safe and Efficient Neurosurgical Procedures”
“ A New Approach for Laser Surgery in Kidney”
“ Respiratory Dialysis: CO2 Removal for Patients with Respiratory Failure”
Carl Snyderman, MD, MBA Professor, Department of Otolaryngology, and Codirector, UPMC Center for Cranial Base Surgery
Tatum Tarin, MD Assistant Professor of Urology, Department of Urology, UPMC
John A. Kellum, MD Professor of Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Jeffrey S. Vipperman, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Swanson School of Engineering
Kevin Chen, PhD Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering
William J. Federspiel, PhD William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh
The proposed technology is a breakthrough in the use of lasers for endoscopic kidney surgery. Advances in laser optics now make it possible to employ extremely compact endoscopes for diagnostic imaging, tissue characterization and optical ablation therapy in the kidneys through the ureters. CMI will fund the early development of a clinical device suitable for in vivo studies.
The proposed technology is a significant advance in the application of hemodialysis to the treatment of patients with respiratory failure. CMI will fund the early development of a clinical device suitable for in vivo studies.
The co-PIs are developing “SafeDrill,” an innovative system for use with existing tools in delicate cranial surgery. The device will reduce the risk of injury to patients and improve surgical efficiency by providing information to the physician who must penetrate bone in order to treat underlying soft tissue. CMI will fund the analytical and developmental work needed to translate the technology into a clinical instrument.
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Bioengineering
Meanwhile, the Coulter Program selected four projects after a nine-month application and review process that received $340,000 in total funding. These projects range from tactile enhancements for surgeons to improving the body’s own immune and repair systems.
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Resorbable Calcium Phosphate Putty (ReCaPP®) for Bone Regeneration
Hand-Held Force Magnifier: Microsurgical Instruments that Magnify the Sense of Touch
Prashant Kumta, PhD Edward R. Weidlein Chair and Professor of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh
George D. Stetten, MD, PhD William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, and Research Professor, Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute
Charles Sfeir, DDS, PhD Associate Professor of Oral Biology, University of Pittsburgh Bernard Costello, MD, DMD Associate Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Pittsburgh
Addressing a growing need for effective bone regeneration therapy, ReCaPP is a calcium phosphate putty used as bone filler in craniofacial surgery and dental implants. What’s fascinating about ReCaPP is that it stimulates bone growth and is later reabsorbed by the body. According to the team, these medical needs represent a potential $10 billion market. The project is leveraging $5 million of Department of Defense funding, plus $1.2 million from the National Institute of Health, and $800,000 from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
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Joel S. Schuman, MD, PhD Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh
One of the difficulties present during microsurgery is that the surgeon’s sense of touch is greatly diminished, especially within sensitive structures like the human eye. Being able to gauge force is crucial in ophthalmology, where structures within the eye can only be cut and manipulated via sight, rather than feel. The Hand-Held Force Magnifier contains sensors that measure small forces between the tool and tissue, and then return those push-pull forces as an amplified signal back to the surgeon’s fingertips. This potentially allows surgeons to better control small movements.
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Treating Gum Disease Through the Recruitment of Regulatory Lymphocytes
Reducing Surgical Site Infection After Implantation of Permanent Cardiac Rhythm Management Devices (CRMD)
Steven R. Little, PhD Associate Professor, Bicentennial Alumni Faculty Fellow and Chair, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh
Yadong Wang, PhD Associate Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh
Charles Sfeir, DDS, PhD Associate Professor of Oral Biology, University of Pittsburgh
According to the American Dental Academy, periodontal disease affects an estimated 78 million Americans and is the leading cause of tooth loss and contributes to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory diseases, and even premature childbirth. The gum tissue is eventually destroyed by the patient’s own immune response. The team has developed controlled-release microparticles of a protein called CCL22 that utilizes the body’s immune system more effectively than antibiotics to reduce inflammation and induce periodontal regeneration.
David Schwartzman, MD Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Over 600,000 CRMD systems such as pacemakers and defibrillators were implanted worldwide in 2010 and, because of limited battery life, most CRMD patients will survive long enough to undergo multiple device implants. The implications of CRMD infection are profound because infections cannot be cured without complete removal of the devices. This Coulter team proposes the use of coacervate, a material composed of biodegradable spherical droplets configured to protect and deliver fibroblast growth factor (a protein which accelerates healing), rifampin, and minocycline evenly over several weeks, which is more consistent with the actual recuperation time after CRMD surgery.
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Chemical and Petroleum Engineering 2 0 11
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Crude oil extraction could be improved significantly and accessible domestic oil reserves could be expanded with an economical CO2 thickener being developed by two Swanson School engineers, thanks to a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Current oil-extraction methods across the United States involve oil being “pushed” from underground layers of porous sandstone or limestone reservoirs using a first-waterthen-CO2 method known as the water-alternating-gas method. CO2–which is obtained from natural CO2 reservoirs and pipelined to oil reservoirs–is an ideal candidate for oil extraction, given its ability to push and dissolve oil from underground layers of porous rock. However, its viscosity (or thickness) is too low to efficiently extract oil. As such, it tends to “finger” through the oil rather than sweep oil forward toward the production well. This process, “viscous fingering,” results in oil production companies recovering only a small fraction of the oil that’s in a field. During the late 1990s, a team at Pitt was the first to demonstrate that it was possible to design additives that could greatly enhance CO2’s viscosity at low concentrations, although the compounds were both costly and environmentally problematic. “The thickeners we developed years ago were too expensive for wide use,” said principal co-investigator Eric Beckman, George M. Bevier Professor of Engineering, in Pitt’s
Swanson School of Engineering.“ So, in his proposal, we’re looking at designing candidates that can do the job at a reasonable cost.” Beckman and Robert Enick, principal co-investigator and Bayer Professor and Vice Chair for Research in Pitt’s Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, intend to build upon earlier Pitt models of CO2 thickeners, but this time with a more affordable design that could cost only several dollars per pound. Ideally, their small molecule thickener would be able to increase the viscosity of pure CO2 100 times–something that hasn’t previously been accomplished. “An affordable CO2 thickener would represent a transformational advance in enhanced oil recovery,” Enick explains. “More than 90 percent of CO2 injection projects in the United States employ the WAG method to hinder the fingering of the CO2. However, if a thickener could be identified that could increase the viscosity of the CO2 to a value comparable to that of the oil in the underground layers of rock, then the fingering would be inhibited, the need to inject water would be eliminated, and more oil would be recovered more quickly using less CO2.”
“It’s clear there exists a very wide market for this type of CO2 thickener,” Beckman adds. “It’s been long recognized as a game-changing transformative technology because it has the potential to increase oil recovery while eliminating water injection altogether.” This $1.3 million grant from the Department of Energy is through the National Energy Technology Laboratory under the category of “Unconventional Gas and Oil Technologies.” In 2013, the pair’s research was additionally funded through a $2.4 million grant from the United States Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). For his research, Enick was awarded the 2013 Carnegie Science Award for the Environment. Beckman had previously received the 2012 Carnegie Science Award for Advanced Materials, recognizing his development of TissueGlu, an absorbable surgical adhesive. This article was authored by B. Rose Huber, Senior News Representative, Office of Public Affairs.
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Pictured from left to right are Eric Beckman and Robert Enick s w a n s o n s c h o o l o f e n g i n e e ri n g
Civil and Environmental Engineering The development of tools to assess the health of civil structures and the potential to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy will be the focus of a new grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to Piervincenzo Rizzo, PhD, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. Rizzo will serve as principal investigator on this collaborative research grant funded through the NSF’s Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI).
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Pictured from left to right are Emma Ribolla, Vincenzo Gulizzi, Kaiyuan Li, and Piervincenzo Rizzo
Rizzo’s proposal, “Collaborative Research: Highly Nonlinear Transducer Arrays for Structural Health Monitoring,” will investigate the fundamental properties and applications of novel arrays of nonlinear actuators for the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM) of civil structures and materials. “With my colleagues at Caltech, we will explore the possibility of utilizing waves to determine the health of a structure or a building material,” Rizzo explains. “Through wave transmission we hope to be able to monitor a structure’s physical condition and determine whether there is damage or the potential of a future integrity failure.” In addition, the investigators will also explore the ability to use the nonlinear actuators for focusing and harvesting elastic energy in order to power small devices and sensors. “The arrays of nonlinear actuators included in this study can generate highly nonlinear solitary waves (HNSWs), which are compact nondispersive stress waves with a finite spatial dimension,” Rizzo says. “The spatial dimension of these pulses is independent of the wave amplitude and dependent only on the nonlinear material’s geometry. HNSWs hold promise to improve current NDE/SHM devices because of their ability to support nonoscillatory, high amplitude signals that rely exclusively on mechanical excitations.” Besides the impact to the nonlinear dynamics scientific community, the proposed research will have strategic importance to a broad range of engineering applications. The NDE/SHM component of this research
will enable increased safety of existing civil and aerospace structures. Research outcomes will enable the development of novel transducer arrays for acoustic imaging. The successful outcome of our research could impact the biomedical imaging community. On a fundamental level, Rizzo and his team aim to understand the behavior of arrays of highly nonlinear actuators adjacent to different neighboring solid media. In particular, they will: (1) study the ability to focus nonlinear waves as a function of the properties of the adjacent media, (2) design and implement methods to improve transmission of the signal across the interface between the actuators and the adjacent media, and (3) determine the limitations of signal power and the degradation of performance due to failure of the highly nonlinear actuators. From a purely applied perspective, the project will be devoted to the application of HNSWs for the NDE/SHM of structural materials. In 2012, Rizzo was named the recipient of the Achenbach Medal, presented by the International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (IWSHM). The Achenbach Medal recognizes the outstanding contribution of a young investigator within 10 years of his or her PhD for outstanding research contribution in the field of structural health monitoring. The medal is named in honor of Jan Achenbach, professor emeritus (Walter P. Murphy Professor and Distinguished McCormick School Professor) at Northwestern University. His main fields of research are in acoustics, fracture mechanics, and wave motion.
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Electrical and Computer Engineering
With the advent of semiconductor transistors– invented in 1947 as a replacement for bulky and inefficient vacuum tubes–has come the consistent demand for faster, more energy-efficient technologies. To fill this need, researchers at the Swanson School are proposing a new spin on an old method: a switch from the use of silicon electronics back to vacuums as a medium for electron transport–exhibiting a significant paradigm shift in electronics. Funding for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation.
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For the past 40 years, the number of transistors placed on integrated circuit boards in devices like computers and smartphones has doubled every two years, producing faster and more efficient machines. This doubling effect, commonly known as “Moore’s Law,” occurred by scientists’ ability to continually shrink the transistor size, thus producing computer chips with all-around better performance. However, as transistor sizes have approached lower nanometer scales, it’s become increasingly difficult and expensive to extend Moore’s Law further. “Physical barriers are blocking scientists from achieving more efficient electronics,” says Hong Koo Kim, principal investigator on the project and Bell of Pennsylvania/Bell Atlantic Professor. “We worked toward solving that road block by investigating the transistor and its predecessor–the vacuum.” The ultimate limit of transistor speed, says Kim, is determined by the “electron transit time,” or the time it takes an electron to travel from one device to the other. Electrons traveling inside a semiconductor device frequently experience collisions or scattering in the
solid-state medium. He likens this to driving a vehicle on a bumpy road–cars cannot speed up very much. Likewise, the electron energy needed to produce faster electronics is hindered. “The best way to avoid this scattering–or traffic jam–would be to use no medium at all, like vacuum or the air in a nanometer scale space,” Kim explains. “Think of it as an airplane in the sky creating an unobstructed journey to its destination.” However, conventional vacuum electronic devices require high voltage, and they aren’t compatible with many applications. Therefore, his team decided to redesign the structure of the vacuum electronic device altogether. With the assistance of Siwapon Srisonphan, a Pitt PhD candidate, and Yun Suk Jung, a Pitt postdoctoral fellow in electrical and computer engineering, Kim and his team discovered that electrons trapped inside a semiconductor at the interface with an oxide or metal layer can be easily extracted out into the air. The electrons harbored at the interface form a sheet of charges, called two-dimensional electron gas. They found that the Coulombic repulsion–the
interaction between electrically charged particles–in the electron layer enables the easy emission of electrons out of silicon. The team extracted electrons from the silicon structure efficiently by applying a negligible amount of voltage and then placed them in the air, allowing them to travel ballistically in a nanometer-scale channel without any collisions or scattering. “The emission of this electron system into vacuum channels could enable a new class of low-power, high-speed transistors, and it’s also compatible with current silicon electronics, complementing those electronics by adding new functions that are faster and more energy efficient due to the low voltage,” Kim says. With this finding, he says, there is the potential for the vacuum transistor concept to come back, but in a fundamentally different and improved way. This article was authored by B. Rose Huber, Senior News Representative, Office of Public Affairs.
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Pictured at left in the forefront of the clean room in the Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Technology is Hong Koo Kim, Bell of Pennsylvania/Bell Atlantic Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and codirector of the Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering
s w a n s o n s c h o o l o f e n g i n e e ri n g
Industrial Engineering
Transforming the way that engineering is taught within the classroom is part of the mission of the school’s Engineering Education Research Center (EERC), which actively engages faculty to explore new pedagogies for engineering. One recent proposal received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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Paul W. Leu, PhD, assistant professor of industrial engineering, and his team proposed a novel way to engage engineering students in the development of low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells through innovative instruction. His team members include Guangyong Li, PhD, assistant professor of electrical engineering; Jung-kun Lee, PhD, assistant professor of materials science; and Sam Spiegel, PhD, chair of the Disciplinary Literacy in Science team and associate director of outreach and development at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. The project was developed with help from the EERC, directed by Mary Besterfield-Sacre, PhD, associate professor of industrial engineering. Awarded through the NSF’s Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education Program, “Flipping Learning Models to Illuminate Nanomanufacturing and Nanomaterials for Photovoltaics,” will establish an interdisciplinary education and research framework to prepare future engineers to take on the grand challenge of manufacturing low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells through the scalable integration of nanomaterials. “Flipped learning” is a method of teaching that utilizes the Internet to leverage learning skills. Rather than being lectured to in a class and then completing homework, students first
study a given topic via online learning, then return to the classroom or lab to apply the knowledge to solve problems. The students work alone or in groups while the instructor provides guidance but not immediate solutions. The grant is funded through September 30, 2014, and will include high school and undergraduate students, as well as underserved populations. “The National Academy of Engineering has identified making solar energy economical as a grand challenge of the 21st century, and so my fellow investigators and I wanted to develop a method to bring young thinkers into the equation,” Leu says. “By engaging high school students as well as our own undergraduates, we’ll encourage students with the four “Is”: inspirational motivation, intellectual foundations, innovation skills, and increased involvement.” According to the grant abstract, given the critical role of nanotechnology in next-generation photovoltaics and the need for educational programs to prepare future engineers to develop new innovations for this application, the principal investigators propose to develop an interdisciplinary education and research framework for illuminating photovoltaic devices, nanomanufacturing, and nanomaterial concepts and experimental practices.
This project will (1) design a flipped undergraduate course, ENGR 1066–Introduction to Solar Cells and Nanotechnology, where lecturing and reading occur outside the classroom and active learning involving conceptual exercises, learning tasks, and instructional laboratories occurs inside the classroom, (2) teach this flipped undergraduate course, which will impact 30 to 40 engineering students per year and be part of the Swanson School’s new Nanoscience and Engineering Certificate, (3) advise undergraduate summer research projects through the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation that will support roughly six students per year, and (4) create online content for high school students by extending the INVESTING NOW outreach program, which has involved about 150 high school students per year, through Pitt’s Engineering Office of Diversity. In 2012, Leu received the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Achievement Award from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). The award provides seed money for research by junior faculty at member institutions. These awards are intended to enrich the research and professional growth of young faculty and result in new funding opportunities.
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Pictured at left is Paul W. Leu, PhD
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In a first for the University of Pittsburgh, the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded $1.3 million to the Swanson School of Engineering through the DOE’s Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP). The grants will support graduate fellowships and research grants primarily in the school’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science.
Pictured from left to right are Tyler Landfried, DOE-NEUP Fellow, Anirban Jana, PhD, Senior Scientific Specialist, Scientific Applications and User Support at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, John Brigham, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Milorad Dzodzo, PhD, Westinghouse Electric Company, Research & Technology, Principal Investigator Mark Kimber, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
The grant total includes $876,422 for computer modeling research into future generations of high-temperature reactors; $300,000 for a new radiation detection and measurement laboratory; and a $155,000 fellowship for a student pursuing a career in the nuclear field. In addition, a shared $599,802 grant with Stony Brook University will help to develop a self-powered sensing and actuation system for nuclear reactors in case of major power failures. Very High Temperature Reactors A team from the Swanson School of Engineering, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and Westinghouse will utilize the $876,000 grant to develop a comprehensive experimentally validated computational framework for the turbulent mixing in the lower plenum of next generation high temperature gas reactors (HTGRs). These high-efficiency reactors are utilized for electricity production and a broad range of process heat applications. The team includes Principal Investigator Mark Kimber, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science; John Brigham, PhD, assistant professor of structural engineering and mechanics in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Anirban Jana, PhD, senior scientific specialist, scientific
applications and user support at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center; and Milorad Dzodzo, PhD, Westinghouse Electric Company.
Thermoelectric-driven Sustainable Sensing and Actuation Systems for Fault-tolerant Nuclear Incidents
Through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and experimental validation, the results from this project will lay the groundwork for future stress analysis, failure and fatigue studies, and uncertainty quantification for HTGR systems.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear incident in March 2011 represented an unprecedented stress test on the safety and backup systems of a nuclear power plant. Even though independent backup power systems were available, their battery sources were ultimately drained. This $599,802 project, led by the Swanson School and Stony Brook, will investigate the development of sensing and actuation systems powered by the reactor’s own intrinsic heat, rather than external power or backup battery systems.
Radiation Detection and Measurement Laboratory This $300,000 grant with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine will enable Pitt to purchase detectors, instrumentation, and sources to establish and equip a new Radiation Detection and Measurement Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. Co-PIs from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine include N. Scott Mason, PhD, research associate professor of radiology; Michael Sheetz, MS, CHP, DABMP, University radiology safety officer; and Brian Lopresti, research instructor. Graduate Fellowship Rita Patel, MEMS ’12, received a $155,000 fellowship to begin her graduate studies in materials science. Her advisor is Gerald H. Meier, PhD, William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Director of the Materials Science and Engineering Program.
This past year the Nuclear Engineering program experienced both tremendous growth–and loss. Joining the Massively Online Open Courses movement known as Coursera, the University announced that one of its first five online courses would be “A Look at Nuclear Science and Technology” by Larry Foulke, PhD. Its loss was the unexpected passing of John Metzger, PE, PhD, associate professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, and Director of the Nuclear Engineering Program. Professor Metzger, who was responsible for helping to secure several of these NEUP grants, died while traveling on business on October 12, 2012.
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International
Including an international component to an engineering student’s education is an important part of the Swanson School’s academic mission. Whether studying the engineering of Rome, the French nuclear industry, or Australian construction techniques, today’s engineering student has a greater opportunity to be exposed to the rich history and tremendous advances of engineering in today’s global marketplace. Yet an important aspect of an engineering student’s academic career is service to community. Whether in a low-income Pittsburgh neighborhood or a remote Andes village, students today are asked to bring their engineering skills to bear to address problems facing communities in need. Needless to say, our student and faculty commitment to service is exemplary, and last year received national recognition. Engineers Without Borders USA selected the Pittsburgh Professional Chapter as the recipient of the EWB-USA Premier Project Award for its water project in Tingo Pucará, Ecuador. The award recognizes excellence in EWB-USA projects and highlights projects that deliver high quality, sustainable solutions to help meet the basic needs of partnering communities abroad. Beginning in spring 2010, Dan Budny, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and graduate student Rob Gradoville began an Engineering Education research project to measure the impact
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international exposure had on influencing the senior design experience. A portion of the EWB Tingo Pucará, Ecuador, project was taken on by the senior design class the following fall. The original EWB project was designing a pump station to deliver water to a tribe living on top of the Andes Mountains. However, at its inception, the project did not include the design of the distribution system at the top of the mountain. In spring 2010, the Pitt seniors designed and then traveled to Ecuador to assist in the construction of the distribution system and, over Spring Break 2010, the students completed the construction and connected the system to a temporary rain water collection tank. When the students finally returned to Pittsburgh, the people of Tingo Pucará had for the first time running water in their homes. Over the next year, EWB teams completed the remainder of the project, and the complete system was then awarded the EWB premier award. Not only did the student senior design project help EWB win this award, it also launched a new international senior design experience for the Swanson School of Engineering. In spring 2011, the students designed a new gravity feed water system that included a rain water collection as a source of water for a local school in the Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador. This past fall the students assisted the EWB-Panama chapter with a project outside Panama City, Panama.
Pictured are students and villagers at the EWB project in Ecuador
Pitt engineering students are increasingly interested in participating in international experiences. However, there is a per-student cost of up to
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$2,000 associated with the experience that limits involvement of more students. Additionally, extensive research must be conducted by faculty and staff to investigate and select worthwhile projects. Individuals involved with a nonprofit group or those who, through their employer, have connections that would support these projects or those who know of a potential project, please contact Dr. Budny at budny@pitt.edu.
s w a n s o n s c h o o l o f e n g i n e e ri n g
Office of
Diversity
Addressing the Call for Women and Underserved Populations The expected growth of energy sector jobs in the Pittsburgh region is welcome news to many. The 22
Workforce Analysis Report completed by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development shows that there is anticipated growth through 2020 from the prospective employers they surveyed, with three of the job categories representing engineering fields.
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Pictured from left to right are Macy McCollum and Olubanke Kayode
Equally important to the number of jobs available will be the diversity of that workforce. Although women represent more than 50 percent of American workers, less than 25 percent are in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. Even more discouraging, about three percent of African Americans and two percent of Latinos work in STEM fields, according to a recent report by the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME). The U.S. Department of Commerce noted in 2011 that non-Hispanic Whites and Asians are more likely than underrepresented groups to earn a bachelor’s degree, and therefore move on to STEM careers. This means a dearth of American workers to fill these jobs. Indeed, the Commerce Department stated emphatically that “By increasing the numbers of STEM workers among currently underrepresented groups through education, we can help ensure America’s future as a global leader in technology and innovation.” The Commerce Department also reported that STEM workers in all demographic groups, including the foreign-born, earn more than their non-STEM counterparts. This could represent great economic potential for the Class of 2020, whose members are just about to enter junior high. But educators,
employers, government, and parents all share equal duty in ensuring that our children have the opportunity to achieve successful careers and meet the needs of an increasingly advanced job market. At the Swanson School of Engineering, we initiated several programs to help women and minorities achieve academic success and increase their potential to earn a degree and a career in engineering. Our pre-college program, INVESTING NOW, helps ninth- through twelfth-grade students in underrepresented populations develop the skills necessary to succeed in college. In collaboration with local and regional schools, we help to identify and encourage wellprepared students to enter college and pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors. Our programming focuses on student support through academic advising; academic enrichment, including hands-on experience and SAT prep; college planning for students and adults; career awareness; cultural awareness; and parent involvement. Likewise, the Pitt EXCEL program is focused on the recruitment, retention, and graduation of academically excellent engineering undergraduates. It is an interdepartmental effort to provide resources for our underrepresented populations to succeed in engineering. Pitt EXCEL programming includes academic
counseling, mentoring, tutoring, graduate school and career preparation, and community building activities. This is supported by several student-led organizations, including two very strong chapters of the Society of Women Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers. These organizations provide peerto-peer support and cocurricular engagement to lift all academic boats and provide programs that engage all students. Pitt also has a strong cooperative education (co-op) program, which places undergraduate students in rotation between school and full-time work assignments that relate to their chosen engineering field. Students who participate in a co-op program experience a higher retention rate, an increase in GPA, and a greater opportunity to secure a job upon graduation and often with an increase in salary. Our results have been strong to date, especially with increased participation in our pre-college program and a growing number of pre-college students interested in STEM majors upon graduation. Our undergraduate female enrollment is consistently above the national average, and among our underrepresented undergraduate students, we are witnessing a steady increase in the academic performance.
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Most striking is the impact at the graduate level, especially since there is a growing need for engineers with advanced degrees to serve as professionals and educators. This past year, the Swanson School was the top-ranked U.S. school in the percentage of doctoral degrees awarded to women in engineering, according to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). We led an impressive top five: Johns Hopkins University; the University of California - Santa Cruz; the University of Massachusetts - Amherst; Stevens Institute of Technology; and the University of Pennsylvania. In the two previous ASEE reports, the Swanson School came in second. Even with this success, the Swanson School and other engineering schools across the country cannot alone meet the growing workforce needs of our region and our nation. Greater emphasis on and engagement in STEM education must happen at the K–12 level. (In fact, Irving Pressley McPhail, NACME’s president and chief executive officer, noted in a U.S. News & World Report article that “You’ve got to start early, beginning in middle school. Actually, if we had money,
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we’d begin [pushing STEM] in kindergarten.”) Many of our students volunteer at events sponsored by the Carnegie Science Center, which allow young children to partake in hands-on learning experiments that capture their attention and inspire their imaginations. Imagine if they could take this excitement back to their grade school classrooms to further nurture their STEM education. To wit, Pittsburgh is fortunate to be the pilot city for the Science and Engineering Ambassador Program, sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. This program, which includes two Swanson School faculty members as well as representatives from Carnegie Mellon University and publicprivate interests from the National Energy Technology Laboratory to Westinghouse Electric Company and Eaton Corp., allows engineers and scientists to engage directly with the community. Our regional employers too can invest in opportunities to support underserved populations in engineering careers. Providing internship and co-op opportunities to college students are as
important as partnering with communities to provide hands-on STEM programs and mentorship programs, especially in underserved neighborhoods. Indeed, the Academies selected Pittsburgh because of our universities, our engaged corporate leaders, the collaborations we spawn, and our growing energy industry. If we are to encourage children of all walks of life to explore science, technology, engineering, and math, then we, as educators and employers and mentors, need to step out from behind our desks and building walls. We should actively engage our children and encourage them through grade school into high school to consider a college career that, although challenging, leads the way to strong careers and self-enrichment. This commentary by Sylvanus N. Wosu, PhD, Associate Dean for Diversity Affairs and Alaine Allen, Director of the INVESTING NOW, Pitt EXCEL and Pitt Engineering Career Access Program, was published in the Pittsburgh Business Times.
Standing from left to right are Sylvanus Wosu, PhD, Kisler Wilson, Sidhartha Mohapatra, Allison Robinson, Chimeziri Onyewu, Gian-Gabriel Garcia, Zachary Smith, Shatara Washington, Olubanke Kayode, Michelle Rosen, Macy McCollum, Alaine Allen Kneeling from left to right are Alvaro Cardoza, Jamal Samah
During the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) 38th annual convention in Pittsburgh last spring, Alaine Allen was recognized for her exceptional work as director of the Pitt EXCEL and INVESTING NOW programs with the 2012 Golden Torch Award for Minority Engineering Program Director of the Year. The Golden Torch Award recognizes
excellence among technical professionals; corporate, government, and academic leaders; and university and pre-college students. According to NSBE, these awards illustrate the possibilities that can be cultivated through support and responsibility. INVESTING NOW, created in 1988, is a college preparatory program created
to stimulate, support, and recognize the high academic performance of pre-college students from groups that are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors and careers. The program ensures that participants are well prepared for matriculation at the University of Pittsburgh or other selective schools. Pitt EXCEL is a comprehensive
diversity program committed to the 25 recruitment, retention, and graduation of academically excellent engineering undergraduates, particularly individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented in the field. Pitt EXCEL provides academic advising and counseling, tutoring, and summer initiatives including an engineering academy and internships.
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Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient 2012 “When my classmates and I graduated from Pitt in 1968, the expectation for many was that you would work in an industry and retire from there,” Wilson remembers. “But there was a shift coming in the world. At the time, there were about 10 major steel companies in the USA and you had no idea people in the rest of the world made steel.” In the years after World War II, Europe and Japan were investing in rebuilding their steel industry with new equipment and lower labor costs. In the USA, about half of its steel-making capacity was built before the war, with newer plants coming on line in the 1960s and ‘70s. This fast-growing global industry would soon flood the U.S. market with less expensive steel from other countries, many with nationalized steel industries. This combined with other factors such as the need to upgrading older U.S. mills, high labor requirements, and requirements for installing new environmental equipment, would deal the US industry a crushing blow. In about 15 years from the time Wilson was graduated from Pitt, most of the mills in and around Pittsburgh closed, one by one.
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“From an engineering standpoint, the problems facing the U.S. steel industry were challenging. You were on top of the technology yet falling behind, because of larger global issues,” he explains. “Engineers began working to understand what global technology was available, and engineering led the way to redevelop a world-class steel industry, even though it wasn’t necessarily based in Pittsburgh anymore.”
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Wilson Farmerie (BSME ’68) As the large steel producers concentrated on markets with high technical requirements new low cost producers began to supply the construction market. Wilson joined four other steel executives to purchase a shutdown galvanizing facility that would become Metaltech. This partnership had a combined knowledge of operations, engineering, finance, legal, and sales. They realized that they could utilize their expertise in engineering and business to develop a low cost, highquality solution for the high margin galvanized steel market. In addition to having the expertise, they had a major advantage of being able to purchase the shutdown facility for 10% of new construction cost. They also wanted to change the industry culture to one where everyone worked as a team and one where everyone would share in the company’s success through profit sharing. The team would take advantage of excess full hard cold-rolled steel produced by mills. “The excess steel was a gravy product that they could make money off of without further processing,” Wilson says. “A key factor was being able to buy from the same people we were selling against for the end product. We served as a finishing channel and were able to develop one of the highest quality products in the industry. We were able to solve problems because of the technical cooperation we had with the major steel companies. We could do that because of our knowledge of the steelmaking process and cooperation with mill operators.”
For Wilson Farmerie (BSME ’68), who was named the Swanson School of Engineering’s distinguished alumnus for 2012, helping to prepare today’s engineering students for tomorrow is part of his role as a Pitt engineer. And so much of that passion for engineering education comes from his own career as a student and as a successful businessman.
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Pictured from left to right are Gerald D. Holder, Wilson Farmerie, and Minking Chyu
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Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient 2012 (cont.) As Wilson and his team’s expertise grew in providing high quality products to the construction industry, they realized other opportunities. In 1990, no U.S. company was producing very light gauge galvanized steel that could be stamped and used for specialty products such as the back cover of a refrigerators, garage doors, and suspended ceiling grid. They purchased a former Westinghouse facility in Turtle Creek, Pa. and founded NexTech, which produces this thinner galvanized steel. “Although our product cost more per ton, the purchaser was getting more for their money because it was a thinner and had a lower cost per square foot. NexTech could provide cost-competitive operations and a domestic product that no longer needed to be shipped from overseas. Within six months, the line was already full.” Their expertise at producing products specifically for the end market led to the opening of the last of the Techs, GalvTech in Hayes, Pa. “We were investing in improving productivity and taking advantage of a growing market for wider products in the construction industry. By producing steel sheet up to 60 inches wide instead of the standard 48 inches, this enabled service centers to increase their productivity and lower their costs. Today, Wilson dedicates his successful background as an engineer and entrepreneur to helping today’s Swanson School students by serving on the Swanson School’s Board of Visitors and on the Visiting Committee for the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. “I think I and my colleagues on these committees are trying to make sure that the school can prepare students for what we see as today’s world,” he explains. “The days of a mechanical engineer working on his own are over. Regardless of industry, one works with teams of people across disciplines and you have to communicate with one another. “So about fifteen years ago, we focused on integrating communications skills into the curriculum. Five years ago, we started talking about
encouraging international experience. We literally looked around the room and talked about where we’ve travelled on business. We’re living in a world economy and students need that experience. There’s more than just working in your backyard. That’s an advantage that many of us could have used back when the U.S. steel industry thought it was the only game in town.” Wilson believes that identifying industry needs and integrating them into the curriculum can produce better engineers. “You want to emphasize what is needed in today’s world, especially as it changes so rapidly. For example, about 10 or 15 years ago, students were presenting senior projects on flip charts and overhead projectors. We said that industry uses PowerPoint these days, and the students need to learn how to use it. The University and the Swanson School have been very accommodating to the suggestions of the committees, and it’s had a positive influence on the ABET accreditation process.” Wilson’s pride for his profession and his alma mater is evident in his continued relationship with the Swanson School. “I’m a big believer in engineering education and I like to preach it to almost everybody that you can do what you want with an engineering degree. You can apply what you’ve learned to any type of business, any industry, because it’s about problem-solving. “Engineering was good for me and today is a great time to be an engineer. Technology has advanced so quickly that today’s students are quick to adapt, and can utilize engineering in almost any field. (Richard P.) Dick Simmons, the former CEO of Allegheny Ludlum, once said ‘I can teach a metallurgist to be a financial guy but I can’t teach a financial guy to become a metallurgist.’ That’s one of the reasons I believe that there is no better undergraduate education than engineering, which prepares you to work in the world.”
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2012 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients Pictured from left to right are Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Distinguished Alumni Awardee Raymond J. Labuda (BSME ’72) Vice President of Tire Technology Hankook Tire Co., Ltd Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Distinguished Alumni Awardee Ronald J. Bonomo (BSCE ’66) Chief Operating Officer (Retired) DSI USA, Inc. Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Distinguished Alumni Awardee Nicholas J. Liparulo (BSChE ’71, MSChE ’74) Senior Vice President Westinghouse Nuclear Services Swanson School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Awardee
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Wilson J. Farmerie (BSME ’68) Chairman (Retired) RedZone Robotics
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Department of Industrial Engineering Distinguished Alumni Awardee Kenneth D. Burnside (BSIE ’74) President AKJ Industries, Inc. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Alumni Awardee John D. Husher (BSEE ’58) Vice President and General Manager (Retired) Micrel Semiconductor Department of Bioengineering Distinguished Alumni Awardee Robert F. Labadie, PhD (PhD ’85) Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology Vanderbilt University U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering Gerald D. Holder, PhD
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Graduate Enrollment in the Swanson School
Undergraduate Enrollment in the Swanson School 2,600 2,500 2,400 2,300 2,200 2,100 2,000 1,900 1,800 1,700 1,600 1,500 1,400 1,300 1,200
1,000 900 800 700 600 500 400
2006
2008
2010
2006
2012
SAT Scores, Incoming Freshmen, Swanson School 1,400 1,350 1,300
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1,250 1,200 1,150 1,100 1,050 1,000
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2006
2008
2010
2012
2008
2010
2012
Research Productivity in the Swanson School $100 $90 $80
Research Expenditures ($ Millions)
$70 $60 $50 $40
Interdisciplinary
$30 $20 $10 $0
School
2005-06
2007-08
2009-10
2011-12
Engineering Endowment: Book & Market Value Increases $150,000,000 $125,000,000 $100,000,000
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$75,000,000 $50,000,000 $25,000,000 $0
2007
2009
2010
2011
2012
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2012–A Great Year
Opening with Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg announcing a $22 million gift from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to the Center for Energy ‌
and closing with the 5th anniversary of the naming of the Swanson School of Engineering
Swanson School of Engineering 104 Benedum Hall 3700 O’Hara Street Pittsburgh, PA 15261 www.engineering.pitt.edu
The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution. UMC85925-0413