Volgenau School of Engineering
30Ten and Now years 2015 AnnuAl RepoR t
Message from the Dean Thirty years ago when George Mason University founded what would become the Volgenau School of Engineering, the Apple Macintosh was one year old, the Sony Discman was the latest in portable music, and VHS was state-of-the-art for home theater equipment. Cell phones were the size of bound books and heavier than bricks. The world is a diferent place than it was in 1985 and so is the school. We have changed our name, lived in three diferent buildings, and added classrooms, labs, students, and faculty. Our programs have expanded and evolved to match the ever-changing demands for engineering, computer science, and information technology. This year we created a new Department of Mechanical Engineering and launched a PhD Program in Bioengineering. We cut the ribbon on our BS in Cyber Security Engineering, and the frst Data Analytics Engineering master’s student graduated. The visionaries who saw the need for a school of information technology and engineering in Northern Virginia would be proud of these accomplishments. This report commemorates yesterday’s milestones and highlights today’s accomplishments. I hope you enjoy these stories as we honor our past, celebrate our present, and anticipate our future. Best regards, Kenneth S. Ball, PhD, PE Dean
About the Cover Talha (Muhammed) Agcayazi, BS Electrical and Computer Engineering ’15, is one of handful American researchers focusing on the efciency and autonomy of UAVs in search and rescue operations. Agcayazi developed an anomaly detection algorithm to fnd a lost individual or hints of a lost individual in wilderness with a camera. Under the supervision of engineering professor Gerald Cook, his senior design team, which included Eric Cawi, Arsenie Jurgenson, and Parham Ghassemi, developed an overall UAV system that augments search and rescue operations by intelligently planning a search path, fnding potential objects on the fy, and saving information for the ground team to verify. In addition to presenting their project in the 2015 National Conference of Undergraduate Research, the team also won a Student Excellence Award from the university’s Ofce of Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR), which recognizes outstanding Mason undergraduates who participate in research and creative activities.
30 years—VSE Then and Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Signals and Communications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Pump up the Bass to Douse a Blaze: Mason Students’ Invention Fights Fires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Listening to the Ocean. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Big Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Data Mining Advances Biology and Work of Clinicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Big Data Provides Solutions for Airline Savings and Passenger Satisfaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Cybersecurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Cybersecurity of Physical and Information Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Innovative Cyber Program Prepares Students for Crucial Careers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Next Battleground is in the Cloud: Mason Partnership with Army Reserve Creates Pathways for Cyber Warriors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Empowering Robots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Meet Minibot: The Little Robot That Can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Students and Alums Readied Robots to Rumble at Patriot Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Around the Corner or in the Home: Improving Robot Navigation and Localization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Health Care Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Computational Biology Research Promotes Understanding of Human Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Motor Control Theory Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 A Bear-y Good Device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 What the Drone Sees—Developing Accurate, Reliable Data for Robotic Bridge and Tunnel Inspection for Sustainable Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Civil Engineers Build a Concrete Canoe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Global Engagement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Engineering Students Fix Equipment in Guatemalan Hospitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 West Meets East at Postech University in Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Philanthropy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Welcome New Faculty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
v o lg e n Au S C h o o l o f e n g i n e e r i n g Designed and produced by the Ofce of Communications and Marketing Sarah Seeberg, creative director Colleen Kearney Rich, managing editor Joan Dall’Acqua, graphic designer Evan Cantwell, Alexis Glenn, and Craig Bisacre, photographers
30 y e A r S — v S e t h e n A n d n o w For more information, contact Martha Bushong, director of communications George Mason University Volgenau School of Engineering mbushong@gmu.edu Phone: 703-993-5595
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30Ten and Now years Then and Now
1980
1980 Area business leaders convince the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia that engineering degree programs are needed in Northern Virginia.
1990 First chair of the Department of Information and Software Systems Engineering is appointed.
1981 The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia approves the establishment at George Mason of the following programs: BS in computer and electronic engineering, MS in computer and electrical engineering, MS in computer science, and MS in operations research and systems management.
1991 IT&E moves into the new Science and Technology II Building.
1985 The Board of Visitors approves the School of Information Technology and Engineering (IT&E); Andrew P. Sage becomes the frst dean of IT&E. “It was MOVED by Mr. Lampe and seconded by Mr. Alcalde that the Board grant approval to establish a School of Information Technology and Engineering to encompass three departments: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Computer and Information Sciences. Discussion followed. MOTION CARRIED.” —taken from the minutes from the Board of Visitors March 19, 1985, meeting 1987 IT&E moves into the new Science and Technology I Building.
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1996 Dean Andrew P. Sage retires as dean and is named Founding Dean and Emeritus and University Professor. 1997 Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering Department is established. 1998 Lloyd J. Grifths is named dean of IT&E. 1999 Sidney O. Dewberry, who played a key role in the development of the urban systems engineering program, receives the school’s frst Lifetime Achievement Award.
“All indicators at George Mason say there has been a great increase in the visibility of the institution. The university is becoming what it has long been planned to become—a premier Virginia university. The president cited the School of Information Technology and Engineering as the best example of this progress.” —taken from the minutes of the Board of Visitors September 11, 1985, meeting
2000
2010 2010 BS in Bioengineering is approved.
2002 BS in Information Technology Program for undergraduates is established.
2012 Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering changes name to Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering.
2005 School receives $10 million gift from Ernst and Sara Volgenau to establish new Department of Bioengineering.
2012 Kenneth S. Ball is named dean of the Volgenau School of Engineering.
2006 State Council of Higher Education for Virginia approves name change to Volgenau School of Engineering.
2013 MS in Data Analytics Engineering approved by SCHEV.
2009 School moves to a new building and building is named in honor of Long and Kimmy Nguyen.
2014 BS in Cyber Security Engineering and PhD in Bioengineering are approved by SCHEV. Sidney O. Dewberry leads efort to establish Bill and Eleanor Hazel Endowed Chair.
Deborah Goodings hired as Sid and Reva Dewberry Endowed Chair.
2015 Department of Mechanical Engineering is established. Name of the Applied Information Technology Department is changed to Information Sciences and Technology. Dean Ball signs Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Army Reserve for P3I funding and Mason is designated as lead partner.
then
now
Facilities
Various buildings on the Fairfax Campus
Active on fve campuses
Total Students
1,787
5,211
Degrees Conferred
192
1,112
Full-Time Instructional Faculty
55
156
Number of Departments
3
8
Number of Academic Programs
8
29
Tuition and Fees
$1,656
$10,182
Research Expenditures
$277,737
$18,699,413
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Signals and Communications Designing and building devices and systems for applications in transportation, health care, and manufacturing M A r k e r S A n d M i l e S to n e S 2004 Electrical and Computer Engineering celebrates 20 years 2015 Electrical and Computer Engineering video about fghting fre with sound reaches more than 3.4 million viewers on YouTube
Pump Up the Bass to Douse a Blaze: Mason Students’ Invention Fights Fires A thumping bass may do more than light up a party— it could fat out extinguish it, thanks to a new sound-blasting fre extinguisher by George Mason University undergrads. The fre extinguisher uses low-frequency sound waves to douse a blaze. Engineering seniors Viet Tran and Seth Robertson now hold a preliminary patent application for their potentially revolutionizing device. The idea to fght fre with sound waves came when they were choosing a class project for ECE 492 and 493, Advanced Senior Design, where students produce and present a project for a fnal grade. Tran and Robertson's 20-pound, Flash Gordon-style prototype was born through $600 of their own money and about as many trials. Their sound-wave device is free of toxic chemicals and eliminates collateral damage from sprinkler systems. If mounted on drones, it could improve safety for frefghters confronting large forest fres, urban blazes, and even fames in space. "Fire is a huge issue in space," Tran says. 4
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"In space, extinguisher contents spread all over. But you can direct sound waves without gravity," adds Robertson. Initially, both students thought big speakers and high frequencies would douse a fre. "But it's low-frequency sounds—like the thump-thump bass in hip-hop that works," says Tran, who joked that rappers like 50 Cent could probably douse a fre, and that hip-hop celebrity endorsements might be just the ticket to hawk their fre extinguisher. It has taken time for their idea to catch on. In researching ideas for the class project, Tran learned that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was working on the concept, and that West Georgia University was working on "Prometheus." So Tran thought, "Why don't we be the ones to make it happen?" Robertson and Tran's classmates said, "You guys will make us fail." Several professors also threw cold water on their idea before they convinced Electrical and
Computer Engineering professor Brian Mark to mentor their project. "My initial impression was that it wouldn't work," he says. "Some students take the safe path, but Viet and Seth took the higher-risk option." Mark knew nothing about fre extinguishers, so he took a wee step into the abyss himself. "They're really special," Mark says of the duo. "Viet is the idea man, and Seth is practical. At the fnal presentation, he wanted to use some fancy new presentation technology, but Seth convinced Tran to stick with a simple PowerPoint. They didn't win the competition, but their presentation before a large audience was impressive." The inventors make a powerful team. They met as freshmen. Tran, an admitted sub-stellar student in high school, and a pitiful culinary pupil who couldn't tell a zucchini from a cucumber, learned study discipline from Robertson, a student-athlete who mastered time management.
"I'd wake up at six after we studied until three in the morning, and he'd already be at wrestling practice," Tran says. Robertson works for the Department of Defense while studying, and he's been ofered a permanent position at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts. Tran has an internship at Zodiac Aerospace in Dulles, Virginia, with the promise of a full-time job upon graduation. Mason helped the inventors apply for a provisional patent. "The provisional patent application they fled gives them a year to talk publicly about the invention, to test the market, and to determine whether pursuing the patent makes sense," says Carolyn Klenner, intellectual property paralegal in Mason's Ofce of Technology Transfer, who assisted them with the patent application. Keep your eye on these young inventors. A version of this story by Molly Brauer appeared in Mason News.
Students Viet Tran (left) and Seth Robertson with their invention, a sound-wave fre extinguisher, at the Fairfax Campus. V O LGE N AU S C HO O L O F E N GI N E E RI N G 2 0 1 5 A N N UA L R E P OR T
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Listening to the Ocean Kathleen Wage’s love of the ocean led her to study its sounds. An associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Wage studies sounds in the ocean and enjoys spending time on research ships. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Navy is interested in this type of work, and her Ocean Acoustic Signal Processing group has received nearly $1 million in funding from the Ofce of Naval Research for two separate grants. From the time she was an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville, to when she interned at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, through her graduate work at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to her recent project in the Philippine Sea, Wage has been interested in signal processing and how sound travels underwater. “Underwater there is no such thing as GPS, and sound is the only efective way to determine the position of submerged objects,” says Wage. “Sound travels diferently in the ocean than it does in the air. It travels much farther and at a very low frequency. It doesn’t travel in a straight line, and it is afected much more by ambient or background noise.”
Wage has been at Mason since 1999 teaching and researching problems that blend array processing, acoustics, and oceanography. Her current research combines her knowledge of signal processing and her love of the ocean. Wage’s research group is collaborating with Lora Van Ufelen of the University of Hawaii who is an oceanographer. In this study, they aim to characterize ambient noise in the deep ocean, understand how sounds scatter due to internal waves, and develop new processing techniques that make acoustic tomography easier to use by employing stationary and mobile platforms. From 2009 to 2011, Wage spent 55 days onboard research ships, deploying arrays of hydrophones (underwater microphones) and other equipment. Now her group is focusing on analyzing data from a 5-km long vertical line array from this voyage. The research is relevant for a number of applications, including tracking seasonal variability of the ocean environment, detecting submarines, and conducting seismic surveys. Earlier, the team was awarded a grant for work on co-prime sensor array processing. The ONR Basic Research Challenge program funds this project, which will investigate techniques for designing sonar arrays that require fewer sensors, making them more cost-effective and energy-efcient. Wage hasn’t been at sea since the PhilSea experiments in 2011, and says she misses the ocean environment. “My time now is spent with my team here at Mason, running programs and analyzing the data,” says Wage. “The emphasis on real data, as opposed to simulated data, is a theme that runs throughout our research. As important as simulations are, things often look diferent on paper than they do in the physical world.”
Volgenau researcher Kathleen Wage prepares to deploy a sonobuoy from the research vessel Melville during a 2009 Philippine Sea experiment. 6
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Her next ocean voyage to gather more data may take her to the Arctic to measure the noise of the polar ice caps. “We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the earth’s oceans,” she says.
Big Data Developing technologies and methodologies necessary for data-driven decision-making.
M A r k e r S A n d M i l e S to n e S 1987 C3I Center established (precursor to C4I Center) 2004 Center for Air Transportation Systems Research founded 2013 MS in Data Analytics Engineering approved by SCHEV
Data Mining Advances Biology and Work of Clinicians Computer science associate professor Huzefa Rangwala says one of his projects related to bioinformatics works on the same principles as Netfix: Both make recommendations based on previous behaviors. Rangwala employs data mining to analyze the behavior of bacteria in the human body, and to look at the whole spectrum of data in disease processes, from infammatory bowel disease to obesity. The fun part, according to Rangwala, is that while he is advancing computer science, he’s also advancing biology and medicine, and the work of clinicians. Collaborating with chemists and others, Rangwala is working with "recommended molecules," taking data mining several steps forward, and inventing new computer software solutions to discover hidden patterns. "Data mining is not just looking for phone numbers," says Rangwala, “but exploring and discovering the unknown. It leads to many innovations in varied felds.”
Rangwala's work, like many of Mason's top researchers, is cross-disciplinary. He is collaborating with Siddhartha Sikdar, associate professor of bioengineering, on a National Science Foundation-funded project to develop a prototype for a prosthetic arm. The project focuses on amputees who have no forearms, and the team is striving to develop a device that duplicates complex movements of the arm and hand. "You have muscular signature remnants in your arm," explains Rangwala, "which can be found with ultrasound probes." The aim is to replicate the patterns in muscle movements using a combination of robotics, electrical engineering, and bioengineering. His interests are far-ranging, and he credits the graduate students and colleagues he works with, as well as his mentors, with helping him advance his work. His own mentoring, which he does with undergraduates, graduate students, and high school students, fuels his fascination with the learning process. It's a question that involves innate physical and intellectual abilities,
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Huzefa Rangwala, assistant professor in the Computer Science Department, confers with Nadine Kabbani, assistant professor in molecular neuroscience, in her lab at Mason’s Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study.
cultures, and the art of teaching, and it's another research area where data mining may help people. Rangwala’s research interests include data mining, bioinformatics, learning analytics, and high-performance computing. He was also the recipient of a long string of teaching and research awards from Mason
and other institutions in recent years. His research is funded by NSF, NIH, DARPA, NRL, Google, and USDA, and includes the prestigious NSF CAREER Award. A version of this story by Molly Brauer originally appeared on the Ofce of Research and Economic Development website.
The goal of data analytics is to make sense of massive amounts of data culled from every aspect of our lives—from shopping habits (think Netfix suggesting a movie you might like) to health statistics to crime trends to weather patterns to any number of applications—and to draw inferences or conclusions from that data to boost efciency, production, or proftability.
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Big Data Provides Solutions for Airline Savings and Passenger Satisfaction What if you didn't have to go to the airport to rebook a cancelled fight? What if you could use your smartphone to rebook before ever leaving your home or hotel? Sounds impossible? Maybe not. Sanja Avramovic, a PhD candidate from the Volgenau School of Engineering, and associate professor Lance Sherry may have a workable solution for passengers and airlines. Avramovic, a Serbian-born mother of a two-year-old daughter, earned a master's degree in Belgrade before coming to the United States in 2009. She chose Mason for its proximity to Washington, D.C., and the quality of its programs. Her research aimed to develop a methodology for pre-emptive rebooking of cancelled airline fights. "I had no previous experience in aviation," says Avramovic, "but as soon as I started working on the fight simulator with Dr. Sherry, I was fascinated." The research studied the feasibility and benefts of preemptive rebooking of passengers on cancelled airline fights by addressing some key questions. For example, what would happen if passengers were given the opportunity to choose a rebooking time prior to their ticketed departure when they know their fight is cancelled? Who would beneft? What would the savings look like? How would this improve the passenger experience? By using massive public data sets from the Bureau of Transportation Safety, Avramovic discovered that pre-emptive re-booking is not only feasible, it is desirable. "Changes in technology and procedures have improved in airline passenger mobility," says Avramovic. "So many people are connected to the airline via email and smartphone apps in a way that they weren't years ago. This communication between airlines and passengers increases opportunities for coordination."
Her research analyzed schedules, on-time performance, and load factors. Avramovic says, "Airlines know in advance if there is a large-scale event such as a snow storm. I wondered what would happen if passengers could decide what is the best for them: rebooking before or after the ticketed departure, instead of going to the airport only to fnd out their fight is cancelled and they have to wait for a later one." She is using a methodology developed at Mason that will estimate the delays and costs on a given day. Her Monte Carlo testing engine is written in Structured Query Language (SQL), a special-purpose programming language. It allows a certain percentage of passengers to be rebooked on earlier fights when their fight is cancelled. She applied the delay and cost methodology to investigate the efects of early rebooking. Avramovic has approached the U.S. Department of Veterans Afairs (VA) about using this methodology in other contexts. "It is very exciting to think about the massive data sets that the VA has. While the air transportation has a great deal of data, the VA has even more." A version of this story by Martha Bushong originally appeared on the Volgenau School website.
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Cybersecurity Protecting the information systems of a broad array of organizations and supporting the nation’s infrastructure.
M A r k e r S A n d M i l e S to n e S 1990 Center for Secure Information Systems is established 2014 BS in Cyber Security Engineering approved by SCHEV 2015 Dean Ball signs MOA with U.S. Army Reserve for P3I funding and Mason designated as a lead partner
Cybersecurity of Physical and Information Systems Massimiliano “Max” Albanese, assistant professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, grew up in Ariano Irpino, a small town nestled in Italy’s Apennine Mountains. He received his PhD from the University of Naples Federico II, one of the oldest academic institutions in continuous operation in the world. Albanese acquired his frst personal computer in his second year of high school, and immediately began to teach himself programing, which fueled his passion for fnding algorithmic solutions to all sorts of problems. These days he is the associate director of Mason’s Center for Secure Information Systems and is playing a major role in a $6.25 million, four-university, joint 10
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research project on “Moving Target Defense,” funded by the Army Research Ofce. An expert in computer security, Albanese spends a good deal of his time pondering the sort of security threats the rest of us have yet to imagine. Security strategy has made seismic shifts on a regular basis since 9/11. The focus has shifted from a Cold War defense. Today concerns about a nuclear holocaust score lower on national security-threat radar than possible cyber attacks on high-level intelligence from hostile nations or terrorist groups. A new generation of technology opened a Pandora’s Box of possible threats. Albanese explained that the ubiquitous cloud-based technology that connects everything from smartphones to aircraft changed everything. “If you are working on your own computer at home, that’s one thing, but the minute you connect to the Internet, you let in the whole world,” says Albanese. Among other projects, Albanese’s team is currently working on research that aims to secure the
communication within and between cars, using a vehicle donated by Volkswagen. The impediments to autonomous [driverless] cars becoming a reality, explains Albanese, “are more legal than technical, and until they resolve those issues, it won’t happen.” The average car has 40 to 60 ECU (Electronic Control Units), which means that each automobile contains a computer network with that many potential targets for hackers. So from messages that might be sent to shut down a car, for example, one can imagine the scenarios that might materialize with airliners or military vehicles, and that’s enough to keep you up at night. How do you counter these scary developments?
provide protection from many types of cyber threats, explains Albanese. Moving Target Defense is far more complex than sliding side-to-side in dodge ball, but the principle is the same. Since no system can remain completely impenetrable forever, the strategy is to bafe and exhaust your opponent rather than attempt to build a rock-solid electronic fortress. Moving target defense strategies can protect systems comprising hundreds upon thousands of servers and network devices. A version of this story by Molly Brauer originally appeared on the Ofce of Research and Economic Development website.
This is where the Moving Target Defense strategy, funded by the Army Research Ofce, comes in to
Innovative Cyber Program Prepares Students for Crucial Careers George Mason University’s new Bachelor of Science in Cyber Security Engineering is one more example of George Mason taking the lead, Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., said March 16 at the program’s ofcial kickof.
Mason’s “unique and innovative approach” initially drew freshman Erika Strano to the new program this spring. Now midway through classes, she calls the decision one of her best at Mason.
“If you’re in this program, you’re very smart,” Warner told students in the atrium of the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building. “You will have careers for as long as you need them.”
“I would recommend the program to anyone who wants to be constantly learning new things throughout their career and has a passion for protecting the public through security,” Strano says.
Industry and the federal government are facing mission-critical skills gaps and looking to universities to fnd the solution. From power grids to banks, cybersecurity needs to be integrated during the design process, not after. Currently, cybersecurity is being shoehorned into existing systems, Warner said.
The Volgenau School of Engineering worked with industry leaders, including Michael Papay, vice president and chief information security ofcer of Northrop Grumman Corporation, to develop the program, said Dean Ken Ball during the ribbon-cutting celebration. Karen Jackson, Virginia secretary of technology, also attended the event.
Mason’s proximity to Washington, D.C., makes it a natural center of the cybersecurity hub, said Warner, who had appointed Long Nguyen to Mason’s Board of Visitors during his governorship.
Building secure systems has moved well beyond personal computers—the country’s future is dependent on it, Papay says, noting, “George Mason gets it.” V O LGE N AU S C HO O L O F E N GI N E E RI N G 2 0 1 5 A N N UAL R E P OR T
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And it’s by partnering with industry leaders that Mason helps prepare students for today’s challenges as well as tomorrow’s, said S. David Wu, Mason’s provost and executive vice president. Cybersecurity draws upon other aspects of Mason’s expertise, including sociology and public policy, says Mason president Ángel Cabrera.
Sophomore Nadia Jehangir, who calls Texas home and is in the cybersecurity program, was drawn to Mason because of its diversity. “I like the aspect of protecting people,” she says. “I’m excited about the opportunity that this degree ofers.” A version of this story by Michele McDonald appeared in Mason News.
“It goes beyond technology,” he says. “That’s what makes this degree so special.”
U.S. Senator Mark Warner and Mason president Ángel Cabrera pose for photos with engineering students after the Cyber Security Engineering Program ribbon cutting at the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building on the Fairfax Campus.
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Te Next Battleground Is in the Cloud:
Mason Partnership with Army Reserve Creates Pathways for Cyber Warriors A recent Government Accounting Ofce (GAO) study identifes cybersecurity as one of six federal workforce occupations facing mission-critical skills gaps—business and industry face similar shortages. To help bridge this gap, George Mason University's Volgenau School of Engineering is one of six top-tier universities and 12 employers partnering with the Army Reserve in a frst-of-its-kind efort to create educational pathways for future cyber warriors.
"The demand for these cybersecurity professionals and cyber-experienced soldiers far outpaces the current inventory," says Lt. Gen. Jefrey Talley, chief of the U.S. Army Reserve. "The GAO estimates that there is currently a need for 40,000 cybersecurity professionals just to satisfy the government's demand. Our belief is the [Army Reserve Cyber Private Public Partnership] efort will serve as a seed to enhance these critical eforts and lessen the skilled soldiers shortage gap." According to Joe Martore, president and chief executive ofcer of George Mason's corporate partner CALIBRE Systems Inc., the partnership introduces a great opportunity for all the participants. "The cyber initiative identifes a mandate and a forum for universities, corporations, and the Army Reserve to make a signifcant impact in an innovative and dynamic way." The Army Reserve is looking to build foundational programs that support U.S. soldiers and enhance their skills, education, and training to develop continuously ready cyber soldiers who can match their military and civilian careers with continuous education opportunities at top-tier regional schools. Mason is among the universities tailoring its curriculum to address the needs of the military.
enhance the operational readiness of the Army," says Kenneth Ball, dean of the Volgenau School of Engineering. "The goal of the P3I program is to train and educate Army Reserve soldiers to be elite cybersecurity professionals through classroom work and feld experience," says Talley. "These schools have been chosen for their excellence in cybersecurity research, teaching, and their experience in helping the public and private sectors address cybersecurity issues." In addition to Mason, the university partners are University of Washington, Norwich University, Drexel University, University of Colorado, and University of Texas at San Antonio. Corporate partners include Rackspace U.S. Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Microsoft Corp., Professional Project Services Inc. (Pro2Serve), Chevron Corp., and CALIBRE Systems. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also a partner in this efort. A version of this story by Martha Bushong appeared in Mason News.
"This partnership with the Army Reserve enhances our ability to protect the nation's infrastructure and
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Empowering Robots Improving robot intelligence and autonomy, especially multi-agent systems ranging from small teams of robots to large numbers of simple agents.
M A r k e r S A n d M i l e S to n e S 1995 Learning Agents Center established 2001 Applied Robotics Club is founded 2014 Volgenau School of Engineering hosts DC regional FIRST Robotics
Meet Minibot:
Te Little Robot Tat Can When disaster strikes or dangerous work needs doing, humans look to robots for help. That’s why undergraduate engineering students at the Volgenau School of Engineering are building robotic systems of the future today.
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Minibot, a custom designed and 3-D printed robot, was created as a part of a Volgenau senior design project. (Courtesy photo)
manipulated with virtual reality gear by amateur users who have little or no training.
Consider the cleanup after a meltdown of three Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan in 2011, which seemed like a perfect task for robots to prove themselves. But many challenges made the chore too difcult. The robots used at the site couldn’t climb stairs or ladders, navigate the debris-ridden areas, or pick up tools. And the robot operators were specialists in nuclear cleanup, not robotics, so by the time they learned how to control the robot helpers, much of the damage was done.
Standing 18 inches tall, Minibot’s proportions mimic those of an average human. The robot moves on six wheels for stability and its arms end in claw-like pinchers that allow it to pick up and hold objects. The real innovation, however, comes with the user interface. Because Minibot is kinematically scaled and includes haptic feedback, the operator feels and sees what the robot feels and sees.
A system like the award-winning senior design project Apparatus for Remote Control of Humanoid Robots (ARCHR) and its little robot “Minibot,” could make a big diference. Minibot, a pint-size humanoid robot, weighs less than fve pounds and can be controlled and
“We chose this design for its agility and fexibility,” says Martyna Bula, one of the members of the senior design team. “We used AutoCAD for the design, did the code in open source so anyone can use it, and printed the parts with a 3-D printer.”
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“By wearing a virtual reality headset you can see exactly what the robot is seeing in 3-D. It felt like something out of a movie, like you have swapped bodies with someone—but in this case the swap is with a freaking cool robot.” —Mannan Javid, BS Electrical and Computer Engineering ’15
The students admit that they didn’t really know much about 3-D printing when they started, so there was a bit of a learning curve. It takes a long time to print parts—in fact, the robot’s tiny head took 18 hours.
The students discovered that even people without previous experience could learn to use it quickly.
After building the prototype, the students put the system through its paces with untrained users, such as middle school students, Mason undergraduates, and faculty members.
What’s next for Minibot? Daniel Lofaro, associate professor and the team’s advisor, has submitted a grant to the National Science Foundation that proposes using the little robot and its system in Ebola-ridden Africa, where it can perform tasks for longer periods of time than hazmat-suited humans.
“We had the most fun when we took the system to the Johnson Center during lunch time and asked people to try it out. People were very curious and eager to test their skills,” says Bula.
“I’m impressed with what these students were able to do with the design, building, and testing of the robot,” says Lofaro. “Next year’s seniors already have plans to take the design and modify it by making it smaller.”
The “Minibot” design team members with their adviser: Martyna Bula, Patrick Early, Mason professor Daniel Lofaro, Mannan Javid, and Eric Eide. (Courtesy photo)
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Students and Alums Readied Robots to Rumble at Competition Robots brought Jacob Cohen's future to life and he's returning the favor. The George Mason University alumnus returned to the Patriot Center, now EagleBank Arena, this spring to mentor students from his former high school in Haymarket, Virginia. Their six-foot-tall robot competed in the FIRST Robotics DC regional competition March 27–28. "I was Mr. Fix-It in my family from age 6," says Cohen, who earned his computer engineering degree from George Mason last year. "I didn't know what computer engineering was until I joined the ILITE Robotics team at Battlefeld High School. It just clicked. Plus, robots are also a ton of fun." A FIRST Robotics competition is no quiet afair. A thumping soundtrack, cheering fans, and center ring competition make it feel like a professional wrestling event. The robots break down and teams fx them at furious speeds. The ILITE Robotics team won the Chairman's Award at the event. FIRST's most prestigious award, it goes to the team that, in the judges' estimation, best represents a model for other teams to emulate, embodying the goals and mission of FIRST. There are enough FIRST Robotics alums at Mason that freshman Katie Barthelson started the FIRST Alumni and STEM Club in the fall. The Mason student, who is also an alumna of Battlefeld High School and the ILITE Robotics club, has two siblings earning their degrees at Mason.
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And since this year's competition theme is recycling, competitors donated their scrap metal at the Patriot Center. Barthelson, who's studying systems engineering at the Volgenau School of Engineering, hauled the scrap to the recycling center. "They say ‘measure twice and cut once,' but sometimes you can't always cut perfectly," she jokes. The engineering school's growing robotics expertise is catching on. Engineering students used Mason's 3-D printer to create some specialized parts for the ILITE Robotics robot. Roughly 600 students have been a part of the ILITE team––many of them have gone to Mason and all have gone on to college, says Gail Drake, ILITE coach and a professor at Northern Virginia Community College. The NOVA-Mason connection is appealing to students, especially those who want to earn their master's degrees, she says. College students continue to beneft from the robotics team as volunteers and mentors, says Lakshmi Meyyappan, who's now working on her master's degree in computer engineering after graduating last year. Both Meyyappan and Cohen work as consultants for the software company Macedon Technologies, a team sponsor. "The reason I stick around the organization is, it's more than just robots," says Meyyappan, whose sister is also a Mason graduate student. "Students get life skills. They're taught organization and how to present a plan. If you can't program, it's not the end."
Cohen adds, "It's very similar to real life—you have a deadline and you'd better hit it. We've pulled all-nighters.” And mentoring grade school to high school students has helped the college students through challenging engineering classes at Mason. "There are points in engineering when it's difcult and I wish I had taken an easier major," Meyyappan says. "What I'm passionate about is getting kids into STEM. The STEM felds are the future." Seeing the younger students having that "light bulb" moment is amazing, Meyyappan says. One gradeschool student kept herself in the background until Meyyappan stepped in to give her some guidance. "A few weeks in, she said ‘I can do this!' and then she started helping someone else," Meyyappan says. "She owned it." And the younger students can see the possibilities of where robotics can take them. "I'm these kids in four years," Cohen says. "It gives them a glimpse of a closer future." A version of this story by Michele McDonald appeared in Mason News.
Lakshmi Meyyappan, computer engineering graduate student
“What I’m passionate about is getting kids into STEM. The STEM felds are the future.” — LAKSHMI MEYYAPPAN
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Around the Corner or in the Home: Improving Robot Navigation and Localization Imagine being dropped of in a new city without a map or your GPS and think about how you would move around and not get lost. Most people would try to recognize landmarks and keep track of their turns and motions, so they could eventually reach their destination or retrace their steps. Now, imagine doing this with your eyes closed. That's what it feels like to be a robot without "eyesight."
"A really good example of computer vision at work is a robotic ofce or home assistant doing various fetch-and-delivery tasks such as navigating a room and trying to fnd keys, a phone, or a stapler," says Košecká. "In addition to knowing its way around, the robot assistant must be able to detect and recognize objects in a large amount of clutter. Computer vision makes all this happen."
The problem of navigation and localization is one of the main challenges robots or autonomous cars must solve very accurately. Computer science professor Jana Košecká is conducting research that seeks to open the "eyes" of robots, allowing them to perceive the visual world. A person who is blind can learn and adapt because of the human brain, but it is much harder for a robot that is limited by its computer programming. The challenge for computer scientists is to build a sufciently robust robot "brain" that can interpret what its cameras and sensors detect.
The use of visual information, however, goes beyond the navigation, recognition, or scene-understanding tasks, which are the main problems that Košecká's group is focusing on. Developing computer programs for interpreting the visual world that surrounds us can beneft the visually impaired, enhance manufacturing and service robotics in households and health care environments, expand robot use in search-and-rescue missions, and enable drones to deliver packages. "In recent years, our feld made some great strides. Some pieces of the puzzle are coming together," says Košecká. "Yet large portions remain unsolved. While we are still far away from having systems that can describe in words something as complex as Monet's paintings, the number of specialized applications that rely on interpreting visual information in restricted domains is growing faster than ever." The natural environment is notoriously unpredictable and changing, so agents [robots] that can navigate around buildings or through landscapes in place of humans have valuable practical applications. Košecká says she fnds the problems in her feld contagiously interesting. She says, "I enjoy teaching students about computer vision, robotics, and artifcial intelligence, and sharing a laboratory with many cool robots." A version of this story by Martha Bushong originally appeared on the Volgenau School website.
Computer science professor Jana Košecká 18
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Health Care Technologies Applying engineering concepts and practice to solve problems in biology and medicine and translate basic science to bedside care. M A r k e r S A n d M i l e S to n e S 2005 School receives $10 million gift from Ernst and Sara Volgenau to establish new Department of Bioengineering 2010 BS in Bioengineering approved 2013 MS in Biostatistics approved 2015 PhD in Bioengineering approved
Computational Biology Research Promotes Understanding of Human Health Amarda Shehu, associate professor of computer science, who works at the intersection of computer science and biology, grew up without a computer. She said when she saw her frst computer in 1998, she didn't even know where the 'on' button was. What Shehu did have was an abundance of imagination and persistence. Her research now spans several disciplines as she works with colleagues across the university. Shehu holds afliated appointments in the Department of Systems Biology and the Department of Bioengineering. She researches computational structural biology, biophysics, and bioinformatics with a focus on issues concerning the relationship between sequence, structure, dynamics, and function in biological molecules. Her research is supported by various National Science Foundation (NSF) programs, as well as other state programs and private foundations.
Over the past fve years, she's received more than $1.5 million in funding from the NSF. During Shehu's years at the American University in Bulgaria, and later in graduate studies at Rice University in Texas, she came of age professionally in a world dominated by males. But as a girl in Albania, being a math/science geek was mainstream. She competed in myriad national and international math competitions and dominated math Olympiads in high school. She was rewarded for her success with status among her teachers, parents, and peers. Describing her childhood in Albania, Shehu says, "Education was the only liberating experience; it was like sports here." Enamored with Western culture at a young age, her literature professor father and her physician mother encouraged her to master German and English. While she loved music, and dreamt soprano dreams, her father pointed her frmly toward math and science.
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Amarda Shehu, associate professor in computer science, mentors computer science students.
"Sopranos are poor," he told her. As a mathematician, she understood the beauty of patterns, and in high school Shehu had her frst important mentor. That inspiring, creative biology teacher provided an introduction to computational biology. "I cared about the relationship between what I was learning and human health," Shehu says of the principle that guides her research. The research is long and arduous, but it is advancing our understanding of molecular mechanisms in healthy
and diseased cells as well as in computer science, as Shehu's work leads to new software solutions that solve biological conundrums. For example, she is examining how certain proteins participate in the formation of cancer and other diseases, and she has collaborated with colleagues from Mason's Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study to study addiction. As Shehu puts it, "They don't put menthol in cigarettes for taste!" A version of this story by Molly Brauer appeared on the Ofce of Research and Economic Development website.
“I cared about the relationship between what I was learning and human health.” —AMARDA SHEHU
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Motor Control Teory Research Good things come in small packages, and the human brain is no exception. Tipping the scales at a mere three pounds, the human brain is the most complex organ in the body. It contains a hundred billion nerve cells, with more than 10 billion of them linked to the motor system that controls movement. It is this motor system that Wilsaan Joiner, assistant professor of bioengineering, and his research team are studying in the Volgenau School of Engineering’s SensoriMotor Integration Laboratory. Joiner came to the school in 2012 after postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard and the National Institutes of Health. His current research aims to use laboratory discoveries to help create devices and treatment strategies for people with disabilities. In 2014 he received $977,000 from the National Institutes of Health in the form of Mason’s frst-ever K99/R00 Award to help fund this work. "The main objective of this research is to use what we discover in the laboratory setting to help create devices and treatment strategies for the motor and perceptual disabilities associated with disorders of neural movement signals and their transmission throughout the brain," says Joiner. Establishing the correct spatial and temporal patterns of movement activation is a complex process. It involves studying various muscles, sensory organs, neural levels, and numerous interactions. Everyday movements—walking, jumping, or running—require a learning process we rarely think about unless we need to relearn these actions because of injury or disease. We use a similar learning process for new motor skills such as writing or playing tennis. Human movements also pose an interesting problem for our senses. In other words, how do we distinguish the changes in the environment (feeling the wind on our skin) from the sensations that result from our own
Wilsaan Joiner
actions (feeling air rushing past our arms as we move)? Joiner's research focuses on how we learn new motor skills and how we distinguish self-caused and externally caused sensations. The work has two major themes. The frst concerns visual perception and eye movements. The team is applying engineering control theory to biological systems, specifcally modeling the behavior and coordination of the eye and arm movement systems. The second uses behavioral approaches to determine the mechanisms that underlie visual stability and perception, especially during the disruptions to visual input that occur during eye movements used to sample the environment. The work seeks to quantify the ability of healthy individuals to distinguish sensory changes and then apply this knowledge to disease states such as schizophrenia, where people have difculty distinguishing self-caused actions from externally caused events.
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A Bear-y Good Device Jade Garrett admits to knowing very little about launching a business or developing hardware from scratch. She's into software, and she's pretty good at it. With the help of the Mason Innovation Lab, she's able to combine those elements to create something that's not only tactile and salable; it's also helpful to those with special needs.
In the special education community, the bear has been "received very well," says Garrett, who was also president of the Mason Inventor's Club. "Teachers tell me they can't even use computers for the severely physically impaired, but this could improve outcomes for them," because it would remove that computer anxiety.
Garrett, who graduated this spring with a bachelor’s degree in applied information technology, spent summer 2014 working on a toy bear that is also a computer game controller. Designed for children with autism, the plush bear answers several needs across the autism spectrum. For instance, a plush animal is easier to hold for longer periods of time than a controller, and those with motor-control issues fnd the buttons easier to use than a track ball or keyboard.
Garrett also wants to make it easier on parents and special education teachers by developing a web application that will track and record metrics about the child while they are playing a game with the bear. She is currently working on the software, which will generate a report showing if the child has been able to master a skill, such as better accuracy or cognition of a subject.
The bear is named CADI (pronounced "Caddy”), short for Computer Assisted Device Input Bear. It's still in the prototype stage, but with the help of the School of Business's Mason Innovation Lab and the Lab for IT Entrepreneurship, the bear is coming out of hibernation and making the rounds as Garrett meets those in the business of creating businesses for those with special needs.
Mason faculty and staf have helped her fll in a business plan, identify a market, conduct focus groups to hone the idea, and "have conversations to see the viability and opportunities" with those in business, she says. So far, the single mother has spent $2,000 on the bear; some funding came from a Google contest, and the rest of her own upfront funding is reimbursed by the Innovation Lab. She's driven by an innate need to help others, not by profts. "I used to teach adapted aquatics, teaching people without limbs or with cerebral palsy or autism how to swim," she says, adding that having a baby took her out of the pool. "But I still like helping people learn. I probably wouldn't fnd a lot of interest in it if it was just for the money. I could get a job programming, but I'd rather do something to feel like I'm making a change." A version of this story by Buzz McClain appeared in Mason News.
Student Jade Garrett with CADI Bear attends Patriot Demo Day outside of the Mason Innovation Lab. 22
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Sustainability Leading in the development of sustainable cities and villages through innovation, research, and practice. M A r k e r S A n d M i l e S to n e S 1989 The Civil Engineering Institute is established 1997 Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering is established 1999 Dewberry Chair for Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering is established 2012 CEIE renamed to honor Sid and Reva Dewberry 2014 Hazel Endowed Chair for CEIE established
What the Drone Sees—
Developing Accurate, Reliable Data for Robotic Bridge and Tunnel Inspection for Sustainable Infrastructure Assistant professor David Lattanzi knows how dangerous bridge inspection can be because he has done it. Prior to completing his PhD, he was a structural engineer at Gannett Fleming, a frm specializing in international planning, design, and construction management, where he inspected and was responsible for the rehabilitation design of automobile and railroad bridges, tunnels, and other structures.
"Most of the nation's highways, bridges, and tunnels were built to last about 75 years. The big postwar building boom was in the 1950s so these structures are nearing the end of their life span," says Lattanzi. "The cost and difculty of inspecting and repairing them will demand that we think of new ways to attack this problem."
Anyone who has ever tried to navigate a busy street or drive an interstate highway when roadwork is going on knows that traditional repair methods can be a slow and cumbersome process. These methods use heavy, expensive equipment and often place workers in life-threatening situations. "If we can develop safe, cost-efective, and accurate robotic inspection tools, we can eliminate many of the dangers of this hazardous work," says Lattanzi. That's where robots can help. But as they become a more accepted tool for infrastructure inspection, it becomes important to consider how humans will interact with the information that those same robots capture. Lattanzi and his team see this as a data representation problem. If the data are not clearly
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Mason engineering student Jef Bynum works in David Lattanzi’s 3-D printer lab.
represented or interpreted, tunnel walls could be mistaken for foors, or the top of a bridge deck could be mistaken for the bottom. "Sometimes, when you watch the camera footage from one of these Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), you almost need a dose of Dramamine," says Lattanzi. The team is studying how to convert robotic inspection information into virtual computer “worlds” that can be explored by a human inspector. To accomplish this, they adapted techniques from computer vision (such as Structure From Motion) and virtual reality equipment like the Oculus Rift.
Wearing the virtual reality headsets allows the researcher/inspector to see what the UAV sees, to measure, and then to recreate a scale model to discover, examine, and fx structural problems. With this combination of technology and accurate data interpretation, they hope to save time and money while reducing the dangers for inspectors and their crews. A version of this story by Martha Bushong originally appeared in Mason News.
“If we can develop safe, cost-efective, and accurate robotic inspection tools, we can eliminate many of the dangers of this hazardous work.” —DAVID LATTANZI
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Civil Engineers Build a Concrete Canoe Dominick Casciano III, BS Civil and Infrastructure Engineering ’15, has been a member of the Volgenau School of Engineering concrete canoe team since its inception three years ago. In 2014, he led the team that built a canoe named Perseverance and competed near the University of Virginia in the mid-Atlantic portion of this national collegiate engineering competition. This year, Virginia Military Institute in Lexington hosted the April competition, and Casciano and his teammates built a new canoe for it. why Concrete? n “They make ships out of steel,” he said. “Why not a concrete canoe?” Concrete is the most widely used building material on earth, and it requires a certain amount of knowledge and experience to be done correctly. Planning and implementation for the project comes down to the concrete mix the team decides on and the design of the canoe, which they mold using big sheets of foam. “You want the [concrete] mix to be light and strong.” looking for team Players n In addition to coming up with a concrete recipe and a canoe design, Casciano said the other team tasks involve working with suppliers to pull together the materials, and raising funds. The team gets some support from the Volgenau School and its Civil Engineering Institute. They also receive donations. using hands-on research n In 2015, Casciano and team leader Justin Kurz received support from the Ofce of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR) that helped with their work on the canoe. Both had research projects with team faculty mentor and acting Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering Department chair Liza Durant.
ugly. It was too big, too tall, and too heavy. We got the sympathy cheers. We defnitely weren’t a threat so everyone cheered us on.” the team Stats n In 2014, their second year of competition, the team fared better. “Perseverance” won a number of heats against other universities at the regionals, including frst place in the men’s slalom/ endurance race and frst place in the co-ed sprint. Casciano says the 2015 canoe—named The Green Machine in honor of Mason’s award-winning pep band—was the most resilient and smooth canoe produced by the Mason student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers so far. The canoe was a departure from the norm—it was designed and constructed to be too narrow for adequate stability, even under the control of capable paddlers. “We now understand that we cannot sacrifce beam [canoe width] for speed at the cost of stability,” he says. “We were unable to complete some of the races due to the severe instability.” In spite of the difculty, the team’s best heat—men's sprint or endurance—still landed them in second place. A version of this story by Colleen Kearney Rich originally appeared in Mason Spirit, spring 2015.
Civil and infrastructure major Dominick Casciano works on the mold for this year’s concrete canoe.
Kurz’s research involved using graphite nanomaterials as concrete reinforcement. “I am working with geopolymers, basically concrete without cement,” said Casciano. remembering the Maiden voyage n Casciano admits the frst year the team competed was defnitely a learning experience. “It was like trying to paddle a foating bathtub,” said Casciano, who paddled in the frst heat with that frst canoe. Mason’s creation came in last—and backwards. “The frst boat we made was so
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Global Engagement Providing a wealth of extra- and co-curricular activities for students to gain hands-on experiences in cities, towns, and neighborhoods around the corner and around the world. M A r k e r S A n d M i l e S to n e S 2010 Students and faculty establish Engineers for International Development (EfID) to connect engineering students with existing needs for simple infrastructure improvement in developing countries and begin work in Nicaraguan village 2015 EfID chapter wins Second Place in the 2015 National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying Award competition for connecting professional practice and education 2015 Bioengineering students travel to Guatemala to repair hospital equipment
Engineering Students Fix Equipment in Guatemalan Hospitals The Roosevelt and San Juan de Dios Hospitals in Guatemala have no shortage of medical equipment. What the hospitals need, however, are trained and qualifed people who can repair or maintain the equipment. To help solve this dilemma, fve Volgenau School of Engineering students partnered with Engineering World Health to travel to Guatemala and ofer their assistance. The team spent three weeks at Guatemalan hospitals troubleshooting, repairing, and, if necessary, disposing of donated medical devices and supplies. Some devices were as simple as an electric fan, others as complicated as an autoclave. The team made the city of Antigua its home for the month, dividing accommodations between two large homestays on the edge of town. Antigua is known for its beautiful architecture and panoramic views of three volcanoes, but this team wasn't there to sightsee. They had important work to do. In the frst week, the students jumped right into intensive Spanish lessons and their work at the hospitals. 26
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"The hardest aspect of this trip was communication," says bioengineering major Caitlin Johnson. "It was difcult to communicate to the maintenance department how they should maintain the equipment or how to repair easy fxes by themselves. This required a lot of close work with the technicians at the hospital, all of whom had very little English." The students were also surprised at the sheer number of donations the hospital received. "The hospitals have so many donations from other countries sitting around the hospital, or outside in the ‘graveyard'—a fenced-in area reserved for medical devices—that they can't or don't know how to use," says Johnson. "The amount of equipment is staggering." The equipment is donated for many diferent reasons— charity, age limits, or recalls. Some machines are broken, some are incompatible with the local power rating, some are missing parts and some have instructions only in English. Without technicians who understand the machinery or maintain it, the equipment is useless.
“Every single time I put a machine back in service, I would see a doctor’s face light up with gratitude.” The teams repaired hospital beds and fxed kitchen equipment. They devised work-around solutions for dialysis machines and bottle warmers, overcoming not only the language barriers but also a lack of tools to solve technical challenges. For instance, they had to use adjustable wrenches for repairs when they actually needed a set of socket wrenches. The group's favorite fx came after troubleshooting an electrostatic unit for days and repairing several more obvious issues. Finally, they discovered a fried cockroach creating a carbon bridge that shorted out part of the circuit. After they brushed of the remains of the barbecued insect, the unit went back in service. The students agreed the best moments were also the most rewarding. "Every single time I put a machine back in service, I would see a doctor's face light up with gratitude,”
said bioengineering student Mohamed Ali. "Even if they didn't know a single English word, their gestures would say it all." In all, the team was able to repair: • • • • • • • • • • •
3 fully electronic hospital beds 3 manual/electronic hospital beds 1 liquid warmer 1 infant scale 1 ECG printer 7 vital signs monitors 5 cords and power supplies for the monitors 1 industrial oven 1 tortilla machine 1 bread slicer 1 floor fan
A version of this story by Martha Bushong appeared in Mason News.
Mason engineering student Mohamed Ali works to repair a baby bottle warmer at Roosevelt Hospital in Guatemala. (Courtesy photo)
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George Mason University students went to South Korea to work with students from Pohang University of Science and Technology (Postech) to collaborate on innovative approaches for designing products. Mason students on the multidisciplinary team ranged in major from engineering to biology.
West Meets East at Postech University in Korea A group of six George Mason University students with majors in engineering, biology, math, and graphic design took part in a winter intensive class during the frst two weeks of January at the Postech University in Korea. The class, supported by Mason’s Ofce of Student Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR) and led by Professor Padmanabhan Seshaiyer (from the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and director of the STEM Accelerator Program) and Associate Professor Nathalia Peixoto (from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering), also included six Korean students. Peixoto and Seshaiyer taught workshops on Design Thinking, Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship (DICE) at Postech, the leading Korean university in science and engineering. 28
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During the workshops, American students were paired with Korean students and each day they participated in hands-on activities, teamwork endeavors, and projects that required contributions from all team members. The fnal projects were based on a product design for a health care problem. Innovative solutions proposed by the teams will be submitted to undergraduate design competitions. The American group stayed at the Postech dormitories and ate at the student cafeterias every day, immersing themselves in Korean student life. "I think the American students profted from the international experience and had the opportunity to observe how the educational system there works," says Peixoto. A version of this story by Martha Bushong appeared on the Volgenau School website.
Philanthropy By Linda Kovac, Director of Development
Faster Farther:
Te Campaign for George Mason University In September 2015, Mason launched a comprehensive fundraising campaign that celebrates the university’s extraordinary trajectory and helps strengthen it to achieve its bold aspirations for the future. During the fnal three years of this 10-year campaign, the university seeks to raise funds to improve access to higher education and to provide the best possible student experience; to recruit, retain, and reward our stellar faculty and equip them with the spaces and resources they need to lead groundbreaking research initiatives; and to provide the university with longterm fnancial stability that can transcend economic uncertainty. To reach our goal, we need everyone to participate. It won’t be the few who move Mason and the Volgenau School of Engineering faster and farther; it will be everyone—alumni, faculty and staf, parents, students, and long-time friends—coming together with purpose and pride.
higheSt CAMPAign PrioritieS for the volgenAu SChool of engineering n Support for students in the form of scholarships and funds to enhance experiential learning programs and opportunities. n
Recruit and retain exceptional faculty and researchers and strengthen our academic programs by funding chairs, professorships, and fellowships in relevant and emerging felds.
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Invest in modern engineering spaces for collaborative learning and new programs to enhance studentfaculty-industry interactions, ensure diversity, and educate the future workforce.
The Volgenau School of Engineering has three decades of philanthropic support and the potential for many more. As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, we ask you to consider the impact of additional resources. We know that a large public university in the heart of Northern Virginia is valuable to the commonwealth, the nation, and the world.
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TIMELINE OF
Transformational Gifts Since its inception, the Volgenau School of Engineering’s many friends have provided generous philanthropic support. Here are a few of the highlights of transformational gifts during its 30-year history.
1999
Sidney O. Dewberry, founder of Dewberry (a leading professional services frm in Fairfax, Virginia), contributed to and led a fundraising campaign for what was then referred to as the Urban Systems Engineering Department. In honor of his leadership, an endowed chair was established for the Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering Department. Michael Bronzini, PhD, was appointed the frst chair of the newly named department.
2005
The school received a $10 million gift from Ernst and Sara Volgenau. Ernst Volgenau is the founder of SRA International, a leader in information technology solutions. The Volgenaus’ gift was the largest individual contribution in the history of the university, and kicked of the school’s $20 million fundraising campaign. The school bears the Volgenau family name.
2009
Long and Kimmy Nguyen are founders of Pragmatics, an innovative technology company in Northern Virginia. The Nguyens donated $5 million to the school. In recognition of their gift, the new state-of-the-art engineering building was named the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building.
“Because of the number of technology companies in this region, Northern Virginia needs a frst-class teaching and research university in the study of science and engineering. My wife, Sara, and I decided to invest in the school because we believe capable Mason faculty and administrators are creating that frst-class learning environment. We are honored to be a part of this efort.”
“My family and I are extremely grateful for the opportunities and freedom we’ve been aforded since immigrating to the United States. We believe very strongly in education and chose to bestow this gift upon George Mason University because of our commitment to its future.”
—ERNST VOLGENAU
—LONG NGUYEN
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Volgenau School of Engineering Corporate Partners We gratefully acknowledge the following companies as Corporate Partners. Alliances with these companies include recruitment, work force development, research, and a shared vision to create solutions to real-world problems. Accenture Aerospace Corporation Beck Foundation Boeing Booz Allen Hamilton CACI CEXEC CGI CSC Dewberry
Dominion Resources ENSCO Inc. Freddie Mac General Dynamics, Advanced Information Systems General Dynamics, Information Technology GTSI Harris Corporation Health RX
2010
Clark Construction Group, one of the largest privately held general contractors in the United States and its parent holding company Clark Enterprises Inc., pledged a combined total of $1 million to the school’s building fund and to establish the Clark Distinguished Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.
2012
IMC KCG, a ManTech International Company Lockheed Martin ManTech International Metron Aviation, an Airbus Company Micron Technology MITRE Corporation Noblis
Sidney O. Dewberry and his wife, Reva, made a gift of $1 million to the Civil Engineering Department. To honor them, the department was renamed the Sid and Reva Dewberry Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering Department.
Northrop Grumman Pragmatics Inc. Raytheon Segue Technologies SRA, International TASC, an Engility Company Telos VENCORE Volkswagen Group of America Widelity
2014
Sidney O. Dewberry spearheaded eforts to raise more than $3 million to establish the Eleanor and Bill Hazel Endowed Chair in Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering to recruit distinguished faculty whose teaching and research addresses the most forward-thinking approaches in the feld. The Hazel family led the giving with a $1 million gift.
“George Mason University has quickly become one of the many universities across the country that are providing the necessary education and training for future civil engineers. It was a pleasure for my wife and me to provide this gift to the university that will help build a frst-class research and teaching civil and environmental engineering department.” —SIDNEY O. DEWBERRY
Join us in our fund-raising eforts to make an impact now and in the future. For more information, please contact Volgenau School of Engineering Development and Alumni Relations 703-993-9375 or lkovac@gmu.edu V O LGE N AU S C HO O L O F E N GI N E E RI N G 2 0 1 5 A N N UAL R E P OR T
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Welcome New Faculty Samuel dov gordon, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Samuel (Dov) Gordon received a BA in computer science from Columbia University in 2003, and a PhD in computer science from the University of Maryland in 2010. He was a postdoctoral student at Columbia University from 2010 to 2012 and a recipient of the Computing Innovations Fellowship. He now joins George Mason University after spending three years (2012–15) as a research scientist at Applied Communication Sciences, where he performed research in cryptography and in cyber and network security. His research explores new cryptographic techniques for protecting data without sacrifcing its utility. In particular, he is interested in fnding ways to search encrypted data or to compute on encrypted data without revealing the underlying content. thomas latoza, Assistant Professor, Computer Science Thomas LaToza received a BS in psychology and a BS in computer science from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign in 2004. In 2012, he received a PhD in software engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Most recently, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. He has also worked in the Human Interactions in Programming group at Microsoft Research. LaToza’s research interests are in the area of software engineering, encompassing both empirical and design 32
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work on environments for programming, software design, and collaboration. His recent research focuses on crowdsourcing software engineering, investigating new models and interactions for enabling short, highly parallel contributions to software projects. His research is partially supported by the National Science Foundation with a $1.4 million grant on crowd programming. His research has been featured on TechWire and ACM TechNews. LaToza is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery, has served on various program committees, and has served as a reviewer for journals such as Transactions on Software Engineering. He was co-chair of the Second International Workshop on Crowdsourcing in Software Engineering and currently serves as co-chair of the Sixth Workshop on the Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools. hemant Purohit, Assistant Professor, Department of Information Sciences and Technology Hemant Purohit is an interdisciplinary researcher whose interests lie at the intersection of computing and social sciences. His educational journey started with a bachelor’s degree in communication and computer engineering from the LNM Institute of Information Technology, India in 2009. He pursued an integrated MS and PhD program in computer science and engineering at Wright State University, in Dayton, Ohio, under the supervision of Professor Amit Sheth, and worked at the Ohio Center of Excellence in Knowledge-enabled Computing (Kno.e.sis) until his graduation in 2015. At this time he collaborated with experts in cognitive science, public health, and global humanitarian technologies as part of a number of interdisciplinary projects at Kno.e.sis. This work included
a National Science Foundation social computational systems grant on organizational sense making during crises. Purohit’s PhD work focused on mining social media communities for designing a cooperative system between citizens and organizations by addressing the problems of intent mining and user engagement via fusion of top-down and bottom-up computing approaches. His future interests include physicalcyber-social computing for cooperative systems. As a volunteer, he applied his research to real-world crisis coordination during the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir foods, which garnered much mainstream media coverage. He was selected from among 150 international applicants as a 2014 ITU Young Innovator for social entrepreneurship by the United Nations’ ICT agency. He was also one of the eight international 2013 fellows of the U.S. Agency for International
Development, Google, and ICT4Peace at the infuential annual humanitarian conference of CrisisMappers. He has jointly presented tutorials at top conferences and organized workshops on crisis computing. katherine russell, Instructor, Computer Science Russell received a BS in computer science in 2007 from the University of Maryland University College and an MS in computer science in 2012 from George Mason University. She is a PhD candidate in computer science. Her research areas include researching multiagent systems, swarm intelligence, and multirobotics. Russell has previously taught courses for the Computer Science Department in information systems and has published papers in multirobotics, swarm robotics, and reasoning using a computational theory of evidence. She has been a member of Mason’s RoboCup Team (2010–12) and is a professional web developer.
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