TRANSCENDING TECHNOLOGY VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
Transcending Technology Mason Engineering is setting new records in research funding, student enrollment, and faculty hiring. Our multidisciplinary mindset transcends the traditional boundaries of department and discipline, increasing our size and expanding our horizons.
Research Growth Active collaborations with external agencies, industries, and other universities promote research growth.
Research Expenditures and Awards (in millions of dollars)
$80 $77.5
Research expenditures totaled $54,542,763 and research awards $77,571,221–a record high for the third consecutive year.
$51
$54.5
$40 $30 $16
$17
$16.8 $16.8
$16.6 $16.7
FY15
FY16
$21
$22
0 FY14
FY17
Expenditures
Enrollment Growth We provide opportunities for an outstanding education. We are constantly looking at ways to increase access. Our programs work closely with industry to gain up-to-date strategies to address their workforce needs.
FY18
FY19
Awards
Students by Degree 8,000
4,000
0 * Projected numbers
Fall ’14
Fall ’15
Bachelor’s
Fall ’16 Master’s
Fall ’17 PhD
Fall ’18
Fall ’19*
Non-degree
Mason Engineering is breaking records and crossing boundaries with a multidisciplinary mindset.
Total Number of Engineering Students 8,044
8,000
6,979
6,544 6,020 5,029
5,027
Fall ’14
Fall ’15
4,000
0
Faculty Growth Our faculty members—who combine practical experience with in-depth scholarly studies— instruct students, guide them, and make them partners in advanced research.
Fall ’16
Fall ’17
Fall ’18
Fall ’19
Faculty by Year 197 169
170
Fall ’14
Fall ’15
Research
Fall ’16
Instructional
211
Fall ’17
231
Fall ’18
Tenure Track
248
Fall ’19 Tenured
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | i
Dean’s Message Breaking records and crossing boundaries—
For the fifth consecutive year, the Volgenau School of Engineering has grown its research enterprise, student enrollment, and faculty workforce. Our research expenditures have grown by 90 percent and awards by 50 percent, our enrollment has almost doubled since 2013, and we have hired more than 100 new faculty. These numbers set new records for the school and break through departmental and discipline-specific boundaries. Numbers and growth are impressive, but numbers alone are only an indirect measure of our success. The more important measures are the reach and impact of those numbers—best captured with stories and images. As you read through this report and look at the photos, you will see examples of how Mason engineers, computer scientists, and IT professionals are making strides to move beyond the boundaries of technology. Our students, teachers, and researchers are inventing the technology of tomorrow, exploring the needs of future students and industry, and improving society. Once again, we have divided the report into sections based on our areas of expertise—big data, cybersecurity, health care, global engagement, robotics and autonomous systems, signals and communications, and sustainability. As our school has grown, we have added new areas. This year, we added the area of advanced materials to reflect the work of some of our researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. More change is on the way as we launch new programs, hire more faculty, and continue to transcend previous boundaries and extend our impact. Look for us online and on social media as we continue to share more stories and successes. Ken Ball, PhD, PE Dean, Volgenau School of Engineering
ABOUT THE COVER Jeff Moran, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is working with colleagues at MIT to develop materials for wet suits that will provide better insulation for divers who spend time in frigid waters. Photo by Sam Hakes
ii | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
Contents TRANSCENDING TECHNOLOGY Research, Faculty, and Enrollment Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i BIG DATA Order up: PhD Grad Helps Grubhub Deliver Food Faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 100,000 Neurons and Counting: Sharing Data Saves Time and Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Data Translates into Safer Construction Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Mining Data for College Course Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 CYBERSECURITY PatriotHacks: An Incubator for New Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Computer Science Professor Secures the Building Blocks of the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT Student Aviator Lands French Flying Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 International Student Will Fight Crime with Big Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 HEALTH CARE ADVANCES
VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING 2019 ANNUAL REPORT Designed and produced by Mason Creative Services Martha Bushong Editor Priyanka Champaneri Copy Editor Evan Cantwell, Ron Aira, and Lathan Goumas Photographers David Lewis Designer Marcia Staimer Illustrator
Student Project Thaws Frozen Shoulder Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Perchance to Dream: Professor Uses Statistics in Sleep-Loss Impact Study. . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Nanotech’s Microscopic World Could Have a Global Impact on Vaccines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS A New Fish in the Sea: Engineers Create Swimming Robotic Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Casting a Lifesaving App to Commercial Fishermen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 SIGNALS AND COMMUNICATIONS Countdown to Launch: Engineering Students Team up to Reach Starry Heights . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Professor Signals New Way to Transmit Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 SUSTAINABILITY Students Build Bridges and Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Oh Shenandoah: Looking into that Rollin’ River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 ADVANCED MATERIALS AND EMERGING AREAS Artificial Blubber Battles Bitter Cold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Exploring the Use of Nanomaterials for Water-Treatment Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 A BRIGHT FUTURE We’re Ready . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Mason, NOVA, and AWS Join Forces and Reach for the Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 1
BIG DATA 2 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
$22,146,203 Research Expenditures in Big Data
Mason’s researchers are inventing systems that organize, analyze, and learn from complex fields of information. These applications and systems are helping with everything from national security and defense to health care and education.
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 3
11011111001010111 001011011111001010111 11011111001010111
00110010011010111010001011011111001010111 110000110010011010111010001011011111001010111 00110010011010111010001011011111001010111
4 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
10001011011111001010111 11010001011011111001010111 10001011011111001010111
0011010111010001011011111001010111 10010011010111010001011011111001010111 0011010111010001011011111001010111
1111001010111 11011111001010111 1111001010111
0011010111010001011011111001010111 10010011010111010001011011111001010111 0011010111010001011011111001010111
Illustration by Marcia Staimer
010111 001010111 010111
BIG DATA
Order up
PhD Grad Helps Grubhub Deliver Food Faster
Ryan J. O’Neil, PhD Systems Engineering and Operations Research ’18, developed a recipe to expedite the pickup and delivery of takeout. For his dissertation, he created algorithms that make it easier and more efficient for food-delivery services, such as his former employers Grubhub and Zoomer, to get meals to customers promptly. His goal was to find the most efficient route for a courier to pick up deliveries and take them to diners. And there was another part to the equation: determining which orders a courier should receive for a route. “We had to come up with good solutions quickly to also do real-time routing,” says O’Neil, who earned his MS in operations research from Mason in 2010. “We have seconds to respond to new information, and we are getting new information all the time.” It’s so complex that “we encode our decision-making strategies into software services,” he says. “During dinner rush, there are far too many orders to deliver and potential couriers for humanoid
processing to be fruitful. The urgency of our decisions also motivates automation.” O’Neil, who is starting a new company dedicated to tools for real-time dynamic logistics and routing, likes “to solve hard problems that are applicable to the real world. I’m not interested in theories or pure math. “Mason gave me a way to pursue higher-level education in a way that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do.” His dissertation examined multiple approaches and found one that used many different algorithms, called hybrid optimization, that established bounds on how far the solution was from the best optimal outcome, says his faculty supervisor, Karla Hoffman, a professor in the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research. O’Neil is “a talented mathematician and computer scientist,” she says. n Nanci Hellmich
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 5
BIG DATA
100,000 Neurons and Counting
Sharing Data Saves Time and Money
Bioengineering professor Giorgio Ascoli and other researchers around the world recently celebrated tracing 100,000 neurons and storing their reconstructions in an online database Ascoli created called NeuroMorpho.Org. “All that every single human being is, her or his memories, dreams, aspirations, emotions, thoughts, and reasons, for every second of one’s life, is produced by this gigantic, fantastic forest of intricately connected neurons,” Ascoli says. “Understanding the human mind requires reverse-engineering the brain, and mapping those neural trees will provide the much-needed blueprint along the way.” The human brain is a vast network of about 100 billion neurons, which are tree-like cells— complete with trunks, roots, and branches— that communicate with electrical impulses. In 2006, Ascoli and his team created NeuroMorpho.Org, an open-access repository for neural tracings on the web, with researchers freely exchanging data. Reconstructing neurons takes hours of manpower, but researchers believe the work is worth it. Data from NeuroMorpho.Org have been used to investigate important health issues, from the pathways of the progressive neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to the risks of galactic cosmic rays to astronauts’ central nervous systems during a space mission.
Hong Kong-based theater company Zuni Icosahedron commissioned the audiovisual rendering of NeuroMorpho.Org content by graphic designer Tobias Gremmler for a 2016 opera production on philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein; Drvision Tech has developed and launched their best-selling image analysis product, AIVIA5, in 2017 using NeuroMorpho.Org for algorithm training; and at least three major universities (besides Mason) offered undergraduate courses or graduate modules based on NeuroMorpho.Org material. There is ample evidence of NeuroMorpho.Org’s success: ¡¡ More than 112,244 digitally reconstructed neurons are contained in the repository. ¡¡ Researchers from 595 labs around the world, with 36 different countries represented, have contributed to the repository. ¡¡ More than 1,700 peer-reviewed studies describing or using data from the database have been published. ¡¡ A total of 142 National Institutes of Health grants, totaling about $246 million, have used its data. Ascoli says the 13.7 million reconstructions downloaded would have taken 1,000 people working for 274 years if they had to independently map those same neurons. Sharing data saved $7 billion in labor. n Lauren Huey
These data have also been employed in artistic, corporate, and educational sectors. For example,
6 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
Professor Giorgio Ascoli is pictured with a sculpture representing the mammalian brain. Photo by Evan Cantwell
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 7
BIG DATA
Data Translates into Safer Construction Sites One day, when Mason Engineering doctoral student Pouya Gholizadeh was walking near his apartment complex in Fairfax, Virginia, he was alarmed to see a construction employee on a roof, working without a hard hat or any safety system that would protect him if he fell. Gholizadeh knew this was an accident waiting to happen, and he has the research to back it up. As a PhD student in civil and infrastructure engineering, he is reviewing federal government data to determine the causes of accidents and fatalities on construction sites. “The safety of construction workers is unfortunately not the best,” he says. His interest in this field dates back to his childhood growing up in Iran, when he accompanied his father to his uncle’s construction sites, including homes and small apartment complexes. “As a kid, it fascinated me how a few men can work together and build something brick by brick.” Gholizadeh earned a BS in architectural engineering and an MS in project and construction manage-
ment in Iran. He went on to get an MS in construction management with a minor in statistics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). He was working on his PhD with Behzad Esmaeili at UNL when Esmaeili decided to take a job as an assistant professor with Mason’s Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering. Gholizadeh decided to come as well. “I’m happy with this decision,” he says. “I like the vibrant environment of Mason and the interdisciplinary programs at the Volgenau School of Engineering.” After he graduates, Gholizadeh would like to continue his research and teach at the college level. He hopes his work saves lives. “At the end of the day, we want to provide good information to safety managers on construction sites, so they can make better decisions and mitigate accident outcomes.” n Nanci Hellmich
8 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
Pouya Gholizadeh, a PhD student in civil and infrastructure engineering, is reviewing federal government data to determine the causes of construction accidents and fatalities. Photo by Ron Aira
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 9
Huzefa Rangwala, a professor of computer science, mines educational data to create course-selection software to help undergraduates be successful in college. Photo by Ron Aira
10 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
BIG DATA
Mining Data for College Course Guidance College students may one day choose their courses the same way they choose books on Amazon. A computer program will suggest the best classes based on students’ grades in other courses and their career goals, instructor preference, and learning style. Huzefa Rangwala, a professor in Mason Engineering’s Department of Computer Science, and his research team are using educational data mining to build the foundation for personalized course-selection software aimed at helping undergraduates succeed in college. “Our goal is to create an automated degree-planning system that would provide timely feedback to college students,” he says. “We need to identify students at risk of dropping out and see if we can help them succeed,” Rangwala says. “Nationally, only about 59 percent of full-time college students at four-year institutions graduate in six years.” Existing educational technologies assist students in choosing majors and selecting classes, but most don’t consider such factors as past academic performance, career goals, and capabilities, he says. His research team analyzes college students’ academic history—including high school GPAs, SAT scores, and college grades—to develop new algorithms. These machine-learning models will drive degree-planning software to help students make more personalized course selections.
This research could lead to the creation of systems that help students ¡¡ identify the best courses for their career goals; ¡¡ pinpoint the best sequence of courses that will enable better learning and workforce readiness; ¡¡ plan their schedules and workloads based on how many weekly study hours each course requires; ¡¡ determine which topics they should review from previous classes to be successful in upcoming courses; and ¡¡ decide which instructors and courses are best suited to their learning style. This “educational early warning system” could offer guidance to students at risk of failing some courses, thereby increasing their chances of earning a degree, says Qian Hu, a doctoral student on the project. “Our model may help predict the best combination of courses a student should take in the next semester,” adds Zhiyun Ren, a PhD student who works on the research. n Nanci Hellmich
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 11
CYBERSECURITY 12 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
$8,283,500 Research Expenditures in Cybersecurity
Our school holds one of the longest track records of information security advancement in the United States. Our location within the nation’s epicenter of security technology makes us an incubator for the newest networks, systems, and trained experts.
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 13
“
“The best part of the hackathon was the expo at the end where students shared their projects. Throughout the weekend, there was a sense of magic coming from students as they worked tirelessly on their ideas, and seeing the results at the expo was worth the wait.” —Jonathon Vega, Information Systems and Operations Management Photo provided
14 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
CYBERSECURITY
PatriotHacks
An Incubator for New Ideas
New ideas need space and energy to grow and thrive. Last fall, the MIX@Fenwick became such a space when future and current technology leaders and entrepreneurs gathered to sow seeds for innovation at PatriotHacks, Mason’s first-ever collegiate hackathon. The event was the vision of information systems and operations management student Jonathon Vega and computer engineering student Afnan Ali. When Vega and Ali pitched their idea to Sean Mallon, vice president of entrepreneurship and innovation, and Kammy Sanghera, Mason Engineering’s executive director of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), the engineering students described a hackathon open to students of all disciplines and from colleges and universities in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas. The students hoped that the hackathon would present an opportunity to make new friends and learn from each other—and, by all accounts, the event exceeded their expectations. A programming marathon for aspiring developers, the hackathon allowed participants to choose, design, and implement a unique software or hard-
ware application. The format presented specific themes and challenges to competitors, who then spent 36 intense hours coding, socializing, sharing ideas, and competing for prizes. “The number of students who pushed themselves until the end after the long midterm exam week was amazing,” says Sanghera. “They followed through with what they started and impressed the judges with their capabilities.” The competition culminated with 33 entries for the judges to evaluate. An internet-of-things smart trash can that automatically sorted different types of waste into specific categories won the prize for Best Sustainability Hack. An immersive lecture that allowed students to interact with objects in virtual space, making abstract objects more concrete, won in the category of Best Hardware and Best Virtual Reality. Students, sponsors, volunteers, and organizers hope to make PatriotHacks an annual event and possibly add tracks for medicine and health care, and arts and entertainment. When asked if he would do this again, Ali says, “300 percent, yes.” n Martha Bushong
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 15
CYBERSECURITY
Computer Science Professor Secures the Building Blocks of the Internet
Eric Osterweil
When you tap your phone to make a purchase or fill out a health or financial form online, you hope your private data is secure.
research and operational innovation would give us the tools we need to combat today’s and tomorrow’s cybersecurity threats.”
But cyberattacks occur partly because “our systems remain hamstrung by the internet’s yet-to-be-secured foundations,” says cybersecurity researcher Eric Osterweil, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science.
His goal is to create a more secure, stable infrastructure for the internet. “The foundation has to be built on bedrock. It needs to be as secure as it can be.”
“I believe we are losing the cybersecurity arms race, but a combination of basic
16 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
Osterweil is investigating ways to improve the security of core internet protocols, including interdomain routing, the super highway of the internet that carries all traffic, and the
“
“I believe we are losing the cybersecurity arms race, but a combination of basic research and operational innovation would give us the tools we need to combat today’s and tomorrow’s cybersecurity threats.” —Eric Osterweil, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science
Domain Name System (DNS), which gives names to all internet resources. He’s also working to extend those protections to other security mechanisms and tools throughout internet systems. This work could help prevent many common malicious attacks, including data theft, problems with authentication and authorization, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks—massive volumes of cyberattack traffic that routinely make headlines by knocking large websites offline, Osterweil says. “It will help secure email, the internet of things, mobile health, and cyber-physical systems like those in cars.” “I’m investigating solutions that will, for example, ensure no one—not even your email provider— can see the email conversations that you have with others.”
Osterweil spent almost 20 years working in industry, operations, standards, and policy communities to gain insights into cybersecurity. While in industry, he faced and investigated many of today’s largest cybersecurity threats and tackled them head-on in an operational context. He has brought his lessons, insights, and experience to academia to try and remediate fundamental problems with basic research. “We need to secure the internet’s foundation in a way that enables coherent, consistent, and usable security all the way up the layers of software, so users feel secure when they tap their phones, bring connected devices into their homes, and rely on the safety systems in their cars.” n Nanci Hellmich
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 17
GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT 18 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
The World in One Place Mason Engineering’s location at the doorstep of the nation’s capital attracts students and faculty from around the world and allows access to international experiences.
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 19
GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT
Student Aviator Lands French Flying Award Amy Rose came to Mason with a clear direction— to study aviation, engineering, and geography and become a pilot.
ing’s aviation flight training and management minor. She’s also minoring in systems engineering and operations research (SEOR).
But the junior never dreamed that having her private pilot’s license and being fluent in French would land her a spot in a prestigious event overseas.
One of the biggest challenges of the event was flying the plane upside down. “I was so nervous before that flight, but it was amazing,” she says.
Rose was selected as the U.S. representative to the HOP! Tour des Jeunes Pilotes in France, a twoweek, all-expense-paid summer program that gives young pilots a chance to participate in daily aviation competitions and demonstrations.
SEOR associate professor Lance Sherry, director of the Center for Air Transportation Systems Research, says the aviation minor gives students like Rose a significant competitive advantage when pursuing employment with airlines, airports, and air traffic control.
She was one of 45 pilots in the biannual event, sponsored by several associations and France’s aeronautic federation. “I would rather have participated in this program than won the lottery because the experience was priceless,” says Rose, a geography major who earned her pilot’s license through Mason Engineer-
20 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
“Students gain practical skills to get a pilot’s license, as well as experience from a diversified curriculum that includes everything from aerodynamics to weather to human decision-making,” he says. n Nanci Hellmich
Junior Amy Rose, who got her private pilot’s license through Mason Engineering’s aviation flight training minor, participated in a prestigious program in France where young pilots flew in daily aviation competitions and demonstrations. She’s pictured here with Jean-Luc Charron, president of the Fédération Française Aéronautique. Photo provided
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 21
Mochammad Yunnus Saputra, who is getting a master’s degree in applied information technology, is sharpening his engineering skills so he can use data to solve crimes in Indonesia, where he has been a police officer for 13 years. Photo by Evan Cantwell
22 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT
International Student Will Fight Crime with Big Data Solving a crime isn’t easy under the best of circumstances, but without good data, it can be a real mystery.
advanced degree. He chose Mason because “it has one of the best IT departments on the East Coast.”
Mason Engineering master’s student Mochammad Yunnus Saputra has investigated hundreds of incidents—including high-profile murder cases, robberies, bank fraud, street crimes, financial crimes, and property crimes—during his 13-year career as a police officer in Indonesia.
The engineering course work here has been challenging, he says, because English is not his first language, and his undergraduate degree is in police science. “It’s a big jump to applied IT, but the professors here are helping me a lot. They push me to the limit.”
About 10 years ago, he realized that officers’ jobs would be easier if they had access to more data. “We did not have a criminal database at that time. I didn’t think it was the proper way to do investigations,” says Saputra, who is getting a degree in applied information technology.
Saputra is developing new technical skills that he wants to use to create programs that help officers solve crimes around the world. He’d also like to help create a robo-investigator. “My ultimate goal is to make a robot that can handle investigations. We’d send it to the crime scene, where it would collect data and analyze it as a human does.”
He worked with a few of his computer-savvy friends to build a web application to manage the criminal investigations for the Surabaya Police Department. The Indonesian National Police modeled their system after his. In recognition of his efforts, the Indonesian government gave him a scholarship to pursue an
But for now, “I need to get educated, go home, and help us move forward,” he says. “I hope to network with Mason alumni who can help me build a better and safer community in Indonesia.” n Nanci Hellmich
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 23
HEALTH CARE ADVANCES 24 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
$3,198,472 Research expenditures in health care advances
Concern, compassion, and hard science combine to create tools and systems that solve complex biological and medical problems in a wide-ranging field.
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 25
Five systems engineering seniors developed a system, which includes a wearable device connected to an app, to help patients with frozen shoulder syndrome. Pictured here in front of the George Mason statue on Wilkins Plaza are Will Calaman and Farzad Nikpanjeh (front row) and Faisal Alharbi, Blaine Lacey, and Emmanuel Kwakye-Dompreh (back row, left to right). Photo provided
26 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
HEALTH CARE ADVANCES
Student Project Thaws Frozen Shoulder Syndrome Five Mason Engineering students created a system to help patients with frozen shoulder syndrome. The senior design team’s wearable device, which is connected to an app, increases the likelihood that patients will stick with prescribed rehabilitation exercises and improve their quality of life.
just above the elbow, to monitor their maximum range of motion and their compliance with their rehabilitation exercises. The device is connected to an app, which gives the patients directions on how to do the activities and tracks what they have done.
“We used the system engineering process to identify a problem experienced by patients and then designed a solution to address that problem,” says team leader Farzad Nikpanjeh, a senior in the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research.
The patient’s health care provider can then receive this data to determine how much progress the patient has made and the exercises they have performed. Based on that information, the provider may modify the program.
“This project showcases the power of engineering to improve the quality of life of patients,” says faculty advisor Lance Sherry, an associate professor in the department.
In theory, the system could save patients money by shortening their recovery time and getting them back to work sooner, says systems engineering senior Blaine Lacey.
Frozen shoulder syndrome, a condition characterized by stiffness and pain in the shoulder joint, is most common among people ages 40 to 70, especially women. Health care providers prescribe exercises for patients to do at home between physical therapy sessions, but many patients do not comply, says systems engineering senior Will Calaman.
The students are considering their options to commercialize the product, Sherry says. “If not, they will pass the project on to the next generation of systems engineering students, who can continue the long tradition at Mason Engineering to make the world a better place.” n Nanci Hellmich
The group devised a system that includes a wearable device that patients put on their upper arms,
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 27
HEALTH CARE ADVANCES
Perchance to Dream Professor Uses Statistics in Sleep-Loss Impact Study Mason Engineering’s Scott Bruce sometimes loses sleep over his research, even though he knows the importance of getting enough shut-eye.
outcomes. It can be used to figure out potential pathways through which poor sleep quality may be linked to ill health and functioning,” he says.
disorders may affect a person’s balance, which can be assessed by analyzing the oscillatory patterns in gait and center of balance.
Sleep deprivation increases the risk of accidents and many serious health problems. For years, scientists have been monitoring and studying patients’ physiological characteristics, including their brain and heart activity during sleep.
Bruce also developed new statistical methods to evaluate the sleeping habits of different groups of people, including those who are primary caregivers for an ill spouse, and healthy 20- and 30-yearolds without serious medical conditions.
William F. Rosenberger, University Professor in the Department of Statistics, says, “Scott works in the hot areas of statistics: big data, long-range timeseries data, Bayesian data analysis, and financial analytics.”
“These signals are collected and monitored throughout the night, forming a large collection of time-series data,” says Bruce, an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics.
“There is a need for a methodology that can be used to uncover and explore significant differences in the characteristics of time-series data across different populations.”
“I’ve developed practical statistical methodology that can characterize the behavior of these time-series and how they are associated with health
Some of the same statistical methods can be applied to the study of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, he says. Such
Many health problems are linked to poor sleep, and scientists need access to the right statistical tools for exploring these connections, Bruce says. “My goal is to partner with researchers to better understand the problems they are facing and develop appropriate statistical solutions to address them.” n Nanci Hellmich
Scott Bruce, an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics, has developed statistical methodology that can facilitate important health research.
28 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 29
Illustration by Marcia Staimer
HEALTH CARE ADVANCES
Nanotech’s Microscopic World Could Have a Global Impact on Vaccines When Rémi Veneziano was growing up in France, he dreamed of becoming a scientist, wearing a lab coat, and doing experiments. “I knew I wanted to do something related to science. I wanted to change the world. I was a dreamer,” he says. Now, as an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering, he is living his dream. Veneziano is using DNA nanotechnology—which involves manipulating matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale—to lay the foundation for developing vaccines that could block infection from deadly viruses. One benefit could be defending populations from viruses used in potential bioterror attacks. “It’s a safe and elegant way to design vaccines,” he says. “These would be new, efficient, and safer vaccine platforms that could apply to numerous infectious diseases that currently don’t have an efficient vaccine strategy.” Many biological mechanisms involving bacteria, viruses, and cells happen at the nanoscopic scale, which is very small and requires specialized techniques to investigate, says Veneziano, who conducts research at the Laboratory for Bio-Inspired Nanoarchitectures at the Science and Technology Campus in Prince William County. His lab is part of the Institute for Biohealth Innovation.
Before coming to Mason in the fall, he did postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, designing DNA nanoparticles for the presentation of HIV antigens to immune cells to understand the relationship between the nanoscale organization of antigens and the immune response. Veneziano is continuing that line of work here. “DNA is a fantastic polymer that is useful in building nanoparticles,” he says. “When working on the nanoscale, DNA can be made in the same shape of the virus and modified with viral proteins to mimic viruses.” The goal is to make the immune cells believe the nanoparticle is a virus and trigger an immune response. This research could lead to the faster, safer, and more cost-effective creation of vaccines, he says. Michael Buschmann, chair of the Department of Bioengineering, says, “Professor Veneziano’s DNA nanostructures are an amazing, versatile platform that can elucidate fundamental processes, as well as be applied to a myriad of therapeutic applications in human health.” Veneziano adds, “Every day I go to the lab, I’m happy and smiling. I love what I’m doing. When you are passionate about something, you enjoy what you’re doing.” n Nanci Hellmich
30 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
“
“Professor Veneziano’s DNA nanostructures are an amazing, versatile platform that can elucidate fundamental processes, as well as be applied to a myriad of therapeutic applications in human health.” —Michael Buschmann, chair of the Department of Bioengineering Photo by Ron Aira
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 31
$350,634
Research Expenditures in Robotics and Autonomous Systems Our researchers, programmers, and engineers are pushing the boundaries of electronic communication, applied computation, computer learning, and sensor networks, making Mason Engineering a leader in advanced robotic controls and design.
32 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 33
Computer engineering seniors designed and built this robotic fish so that a user can send commands to the buoy through a private wireless network on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Seniors Sergio Cruz (front), Morteza Eskandari, and Blazej Horyza, with Feitian Zhang, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (left to right) try out the robotic fish in Mason Pond. Photo by Evan Cantwell
34 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
A New Fish in the Sea
Engineers Create Swimming Robotic Fish
It swims like a fish, turns like a fish, and dives like a fish, but it’s not a fish. It’s a robot. Three Mason Engineering seniors have created a robotic fish that can navigate water through wireless commands. “We designed and built the robotic fish from scratch,” says Blazej Horyza, one of the computer engineering team members on the capstone design project. “It’s about four feet long and weighs 17 pounds and performs as we wanted it to perform.” “We can talk to the robotic fish and tell it what to do—swim forward, speed up, turn left, and turn right,” says faculty supervisor Feitian Zhang, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Eventually, marine biologists and environmentalists will use robotic fish to track aquatic life and monitor the conditions of the ocean, rivers, and lakes. “If there is a disastrous event such as an oil spill, we can deploy the robotic fish to investigate,” Zhang says.
The yellow-and-black robot that the team, which includes Sergio Cruz and Morteza Eskandari, calls Bumblebee or Goldilocks, has •
three battery-powered electric motors to generate tail movement;
•
an onboard computer, magnetometer (compass), water-pressure sensor, video camera, and an accelerometer; and
•
a buoy on top, with a wireless antenna inside.
The user sends commands to the buoy through a private wireless network on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. A tethered cable transmits those directions to the fish’s onboard computer. In the next few years, Zhang plans to work with other students to build on this concept, with the goal of creating a school of robotic fish. Robotic fish will be equipped with sensors that can collect data on temperature, algae, dissolved oxygen content, and oil, he says. “We will have real-time feedback and information about water quality.” n Nanci Hellmich
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 35
Leigh McCue, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, is building a team of researchers who will work on a safety app for commercial fishermen. Photo by Evan Cantwell.
36 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS
Casting a Lifesaving App to Commercial Fishermen Mason Engineering researcher Leigh McCue created an app that could be a lifesaver for commercial fishermen.
When fishermen are asleep, SCRaMP can track the movement of the ship and alert them if there is a problem. It’s useful for vessels both big and small.
The profession is consistently rated the most dangerous job in the United States, says McCue, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “They are risking their lives to put food on people’s plates.”
“The idea is we are giving them output of accelerometer and gyroscope data and their location information—so they’ve got heading, latitude, longitude, and a compass rose—then, we’ve added in some safety metrics to give them a real-time sense of what’s going on with their vessel,” McCue says.
Her free app, SCRaMP (Small Craft Motion Program), gives fishermen insights into what’s going on with their vessels. “They know their boats well, but this tool can help empower them even more and improve their safety,” says McCue, an avid boater and expert in ship dynamics who has degrees in mechanical, aerospace, and naval engineering. SCRaMP provides a warning system if a boat’s motion is getting dangerous. “It can help them detect if something has gone awry in the ship, like icing or downflooding, which is when the ship takes on water from an open hatch cover or some damage from a rusty plate,” she says.
It’s heartening to see that some fishermen want to probe the depths of her work, she says. A few years ago, McCue, who owns a motorboat, met a fisherman at a conference in Kodiak, Alaska. He said he’d buy her a beer if she explained the math behind ship stability. “We ended up doodling stability curves on the back of a coaster. He even took the coaster home with him to study further.” n Nanci Hellmich
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 37
SIGNALS AND COMMUNICATIONS 38 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
$18,639,454 Research Expenditures in Signals and Communications
Researchers make dynamic inroads in the analysis, modeling, processing, transmission, and reception of information in areas that affect our national defense, information security, biotechnology, transportation, and economy.
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 39
SIGNALS AND COMMUNICATIONS
Countdown to Launch
Engineering Students Team up to Reach Starry Heights
Mason Engineering students took a giant leap into complex space-related research this year. A senior design team with 14 students from three engineering departments worked together all year on three experiments that are being integrated into one small satellite about the size of two smartphones. The satellite, called a ThinSat, is scheduled to take the science experiments into Earth’s lower orbit next spring on an Antares rocket—a vessel whose main mission is to deliver cargo to NASA’s International Space Station. ThinSats piggyback on the cargo mission. “The students from different disciplines cooperated to design, implement, and test the experiments, and then integrated everything into an infrastructure that complies with NASA requirements,” says lead faculty advisor Peter Pachowicz, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Students in the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research provided the parameters for the designs and helped test the projects after they were created, while seniors in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the Department of Mechanical Engineering created the hardware and software for the experiments, which include •
a new thermal battery shield to protect a lithium polymer battery from freezing temperatures during an
eclipse, designed by the mechanical engineering students; •
•
a method to scan a range of ultrahigh radio frequencies used by ham radio to see which are suitable for inexpensive, low-bandwidth satellite communications in the Washington, D.C., area, in a project from the ECE seniors; and a comparison of two solar-powered systems to find out which is more efficient, also from the ECE students.
The students got experience in realworld engineering, says Lance Sherry, an associate professor in systems engineering and operations research. “When we build aircraft or other complex systems, there is never enough time, space, or energy.” Teamwork was essential because complex engineering projects are rarely undertaken outside a multidisciplinary environment, says Robert Gallo, director of senior projects for mechanical engineering. Brandon Goodrich, a senior in mechanical engineering, says the experience taught him valuable lessons about working with people with diverse design perspectives. “We all had different ideas of how things should be laid out. Every time we have a meeting, we worked together and talked through our differences.” Hina Fatima, an ECE senior, agrees. “The ECE students looked at the project
40 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
in terms of circuit components. The mechanical engineering seniors considered the materials that are allowed in space, and the systems engineering students were looking at whether the mission meets all the requirements and goals.” Virginia Space and Twiggs Space Lab, the project sponsors, are testing Mason’s ThinSat in a high-altitude balloon to make sure everything is launch ready. Next year, the satellite and other ThinSats are scheduled to launch in a rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia. Juniors are waiting in the wings to take over the projects, as well as design other experiments for another ThinSat, Pachowicz says. He has other aspirations for future engineering students. “The long-term goal is to engage senior design students in designing their own satellite and their own path to space.” “Mason is uniquely positioned to provide students this incredible hands-on learning opportunity in one of the fastest growing engineering fields,” Sherry says. Let the countdown begin. n Nanci Hellmich
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 41
SIGNALS AND COMMUNICATIONS
Professor Signals New Way to Transmit Knowledge When Kathleen Wage teaches signal processing, she doesn’t stand in front of her students and lecture for the entire period. “That’s what a ‘pop-star prof’ would do,” says Wage, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “I consider myself more of a ‘DJ prof’—mixing different modes of instruction to design the best learning experience.”
Professor Kathleen Wage
She has a formula for an active-learning classroom: Intersperse short lecture segments with collaborative problem-solving sessions. While students work on exercises with their classmates, she moves around the
42 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
room, guiding their efforts. She also augments in-class instruction with tutorial videos posted on YouTube. Her most popular video has more than 200,000 views. Her innovative classroom strategies and dedication earned her Mason’s 2019 John Toups Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Teaching, one of several teaching awards she’s received during her career. For almost 20 years, Wage has focused on improving signal processing instruction. Her interest in interactive teaching strategies began with a project aimed at designing assessment tools for engineering educators.
A year after joining Mason in 1999, she and a friend from graduate school began a decade-long project funded by the National Science Foundation. They developed the Signals and Systems Concept Inventory (SSCI), an assessment tool that has been administered to thousands of students at universities in the United States and around the world. Concept inventories are typically administered at the beginning and end of a course to measure a student’s gains in comprehension. The questions examine conceptual understanding, rather than rote computational skills. In physics, a concept inventory study prompted reforms when it showed that students in active-learning courses gained approximately twice as much knowledge as students in traditional lecture courses. The SSCI study convinced Wage that switching to an interactive format was the right method. She is working with colleagues at Mason and elsewhere to develop active-learning materials for undergraduate signal processing and acoustics classes. Her main area of research is a synthesis of signal processing and ocean acoustics, which is
funded by the Office of Naval Research. “I’m currently applying new results from mathematics to analyze and improve algorithms for processing data from larger and larger arrays of sensors,” she says. Sometimes, she’s able to weave that research into classroom discussions. “I love using experimental data from deep-water arrays to illustrate applications of abstract signal-processing concepts.” Signal processing is mathematical, and students don’t always see the connection to engineering, she says. “The challenge of it is convincing them that these are tools that will be helpful if they put some effort into learning them.” What she likes most about teaching is “getting students excited about the material and helping them develop critical-thinking skills that apply to my course and beyond. “At Mason, I am grateful to have found a community of other DJ profs who are devoted to improving their pedagogical playlists and engaging students in learning.” n Nanci Hellmich
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 43
SUSTAINABILITY 44 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
$1,759,123 Research Expenditures in Sustainability
Mason Engineering researchers focus on complex, critical goals, such as making solar energy cost-competitive with coal. They also specialize in sustainable energy systems and environmental and water resources problems.
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 45
Engineers for International Development students designed and built a wooden bridge over a stream near a Civil War battlefield in Toms Brook, Virginia. Photo provided
46 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
SUSTAINABILITY
Students Build Bridges and Bonds For a group of Mason Engineering students, the summer of 2018 was all about building bridges. About 20 members of Mason’s Engineers for International Development (EfID) designed and built a wooden bridge over a stream near a Civil War battlefield in Toms Brook, Virginia, about 70 miles west of the Fairfax Campus. While they worked, they also strengthened their bonds. “We went into the project as good friends and came out as great friends,” says civil and infrastructure engineering major Andrew Simpson. “We have a team of people who respect each other as individuals and also as engineers.” “We worked around rain, heat, and people’s availability on weekends to construct the bridge,” says project manager Jack Scherer, a mechanical engineering senior. Every year, EfID does one international project and a few projects closer to home. The students wanted to build a bridge, so the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club told them about the need for one along the Tuscarora Trail.
The students honed the skills they’d learned in their engineering classes throughout the project. During the planning stages, civil and infrastructure engineering senior Min Lu Kelly-Durham consulted with David Lattanzi, a licensed bridge engineer and an assistant professor of civil, environmental, and infrastructure engineering. After the students did numerous hand calculations, Kelly-Durham used RISA-3D, a structural engineering software program, to ensure the structure would be safe and strong. Then civil engineering major Omar Azizi had several professional engineers critique the plans and give the students feedback. “Every time we talked to someone, our design would get a little better,” he says.
feet above the stream. The group bought the wood and other materials using money from grants, donations, and fundraising activities. Students worked on weekends, sometimes scrambling to go to the site at the last minute when the weather was better than predicted. “Building the actual bridge was a lot of manual labor, but it was fun to work together with your friends,” Scherer says. The group headed back to Toms Brook in September to clear and mark trails. The experience offered lots of lessons. “There are some things you learn when you are put to the test in real life,” Azizi says. “You have to adjust and think on your feet. Hopefully, the bridge will be there for 100 years or more, and it will be used by thousands of people.”
Their advisor Matt Doyle, an engineer and adjunct faculty member, also reviewed the design, went with members to survey the site, and helped build the foundation and the structure, Azizi says.
Simpson says one of the best parts of the projects they complete is that “we built relationships with one another and other engineering professionals that are going to last a lifetime.”
The bridge, which is made of pressure-treated wood, is about 32 feet long and 42 inches wide and sits six
n Nanci Hellmich
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 47
Students explore the flora and fauna of the Shenandoah River watershed during the intensive week-long Environmental Assessment and Watershed Process course at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation. Photo by Evan Cantwell
48 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
SUSTAINABILITY
Oh Shenandoah
Looking into that Rollin’ River
Last summer, students from the Sid and Reva Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering geared up in waterproof field boots, hats, and bug repellant to participate in a week-long course, Environmental Assessment and Watershed Processes. For decades, the water quality of the Shenandoah River and its tributaries that run through the Front Royal, Virginia, community—home to the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation—has suffered because of a nearby Superfund site (i.e., the Avtex Fibers Inc., site) and significant agricultural operations in the region. “We wanted to give our students an opportunity to live and study at this beautiful and unique site on the campus near Front Royal,” says Liza Wilson Durant, professor and associate dean for strategic initiatives and community engagement. The course filled quickly. Students traveled to the Shenandoah Valley and lived in dormitories at the Front Royal site for one week. They worked around the clock in teams, acting as consultants to address a real-world problem involving data
collection (field and lab), modeling and simulation (computer lab), and communication (report and presentation). During the day, they waded into the streams and tributaries of the Shenandoah and reached under rocks to find crayfish and other critters signaling the health of the stream. They measured nitrogen, phosphate, turbidity, and flow with sensors and then returned to the labs in the evening, where they used computational methods to develop a model of the watershed that drains the region’s surrounding area. Their projects characterized the current state of the watershed, as well as threats to the water quality and ecology. Their experience ended with a presentation of the watershed management plan that they developed during the week-long course. Durant, Associate Professor Celso Ferreira, and Assistant Professor Viviana Maggioni collaborated to develop and teach the immersive 3-credit course. n Martha Bushong
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 49
ADVANCED MATERIALS AND EMERGING AREAS 50 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
$165,377 Research Expenditures in Advanced Materials and Emerging Areas
Mason Engineering researchers are launching projects designed to develop new, inexpensive, and sustainable solutions needed for industry and society. As our research enterprise expands, we expect growth in these areas.
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 51
ADVANCED MATERIALS AND EMERGING AREAS
Artificial Blubber Battles Bitter Cold A George Mason University researcher is part of a team of scientists who have devised a wetsuit treatment that greatly increases the amount of time divers can safely spend in bitterly cold water. Jeff Moran, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a plan to triple the survival time for swimmers using wetsuits in unforgiving environments, including Arctic waters. The team, which worked on the project in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy SEALs, published their findings in the June 2018 edition of the journal RSC Advances. The development comes at a critical time as the U.S. military is seeking to expand its presence in the Arctic. Continued melting of the polar ice caps means the region will see increased shipping traffic, commercial fishing, and efforts by various nations to tap the region’s many resources, including oil. “Current wetsuits—current solutions that we have for diving in super-cold
water and very cold conditions—are fundamentally limited,” Moran says. “Hypothermia becomes a serious risk after 20 to 30 minutes. We saw room for improvement.” The wetsuit treatment will also have applications for swimmers, athletes, surfers, and recreational divers. Standard wetsuits are made of neoprene foam, a synthetic rubber filled with pockets of air that account for most of the material’s volume and half of the heat that escapes. When the wetsuit is placed inside a five-gallon pressure tank—no bigger than a beer keg—filled with a heavy, inert gas such as xenon or krypton for one to five days, the heavier gas replaces the air within the neoprene. The process creates an artificial blubber-type substance that greatly enhances the wetsuit’s thermal insulation properties. “The fundamental idea of the project is to replace air with a better insulating gas,” says Moran, who worked closely on the project with Jacopo Buongiorno and Michael Strano, the MIT professors whose visit to the Defense Science Study Group inspired the project.
52 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
The breakthrough could have significant national security implications for U.S. military personnel operating in water colder than 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) by increasing survivability in those conditions from less than an hour to as long as three hours. Mechanical Engineering Department chair Oscar Barton Jr., taught at the U.S. Naval Academy for more than 20 years before coming to Mason, and he lauds the breakthrough for its potential contributions to the U.S. military. “There’s always an effort to push the envelope for anything that involves man and machine,” Barton says. “In my mind, it’s taking what we do in the classroom, developing the technology, and getting it to market.” Moran and his team hope to soon complete a next-generation longterm version of the wetsuit and begin human trials. They’ve already applied for a patent to protect their work. “The goal is to make diving in cold water a less miserable experience,” Moran says. n John Hollis
Jeff Moran, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Volgenau School of Engineering, is working to make wetsuits more effective and keep divers warmer longer. Photo by Evan Cantwell
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 53
Pei Dong, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is designing the next generation of nanomaterials for the water-energy nexus. Photo by Ron Aira
54 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
ADVANCED MATERIALS AND EMERGING AREAS
Exploring the Use of Nanomaterials for Water-Treatment Technology When it comes to living in a material world, Mason Engineering researcher Pei Dong is making sustainable strides. As the industrial sector expands, the demand for water and energy will be even greater than it is today, says Dong, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. To address this challenge, her research team focuses on designing the next generation of materials and using them for the water-energy nexus— the interdependence of water and energy systems. “A lot of water is used in all phases of energy production, and at the same time, a lot of energy is used for water treatment,” she says. “We have to figure out a way to minimize the input of required energy for the water desalination, so energy-efficient water-treatment technology is one of our current research areas.” “This work has a direct benefit to society,” says Oscar Barton Jr., chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “[Dong’s] research explores the development of nanomaterials for use in water treatment, renewable energy, and other technologies.”
By modifying materials on the atomic level and developing a deep understanding of the kinetics of the process, her team can create new materials with the needed properties for better performance. “With surface modifications, we can dramatically improve the salt-absorption capacity during the water desalination process,” she says. The team is also working on low-cost semiconducting materials for solar cells, as well as fabricating all-weather integrated renewable energy devices. “On a cloudy day, most solar cells only generate around 10 percent to 25 percent of their normal power output,” Dong says. “We are working on designing and fabricating ultra-lightweight, robust, flexible solar-energy systems, which could operate efficiently under various weather conditions. “As a diverse team that includes material scientists, mechanical engineers, and electrical engineers, we are dedicating our green efforts in research and education to promote sustainability for a better tomorrow.” n Nanci Hellmich
Dong’s group is looking for sustainable solutions that involve designing and manufacturing advanced materials, including nanomaterials and polymers.
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 55
A BRIGHT FUTURE
We’re Ready Liza Wilson Durant knows a thing or two about George Mason University’s effort to expand computing and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs. For the past several years, the associate dean for strategic initiatives and community engagement at the Volgenau School of Engineering has helped prepare students for high-demand jobs in Northern Virginia’s bustling technology industry. So it made sense that she was at the center of Mason’s pitch to help bring Amazon to Virginia. “My first response was ‘Perfect timing!’” Durant says of Amazon’s decision to locate its newest headquarters in Northern Virginia. “George Mason University has been working for the last decade, and maybe the last six years in earnest, to really deliver on the tremendous tech demand of the flourishing tech economy of Northern Virginia. We’re 8,000-strong in our engineering school, with 5,000 students in computing and IT. So, for us, it was the right time, the right place.” Mason has pledged more than $250 million over the next five years to expand programs and hire large numbers of new faculty at its Arlington Campus to boost undergraduate and graduate enrollment numbers in STEM-related fields by 2024. On how the ready availability of so many well-trained students in Northern Virginia influenced Amazon’s decision: “We’ve been attracting students—particularly to computing and engineering—because of the tremendous partnerships we’ve had with industry in Northern Virginia. I like to believe that we have incredibly well-trained students [who] are really prepared to meet the demands specifically dictated and designed by the companies that hire them. I think we’re ready.”
56 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
On incorporating technical skills with the kind of criticalthinking skills humanities students gain–in fields like communication, government, and history–with the establishment of a digital credential program for nonengineering/ computing majors: “The skills that those students have are of tremendous value to tech companies, and the tech companies would also like to see the students who are focused on humanities have a little bit of exposure to some of the tech fields so that they are well versed in the language [that] the engineers and the computer scientists will be speaking. We see that there’s value in the study of cyber and data analytics, for example, by both STEM and non-STEM majors.” On bringing everything together to get ready for Amazon’s arrival: “We’re very careful to plan ahead, to provide not only the facilities for the growth, but also world-class faculty. That student-faculty ratio is so important. And also, finally, we want to ensure that our community is ready to support the well-being of our students. That’s a very high priority for George Mason. To invest in student well-being and student experience and culture, including the arts, is very important as well. So we’re bringing it all together by sticking to our strategic plan and following through on the work we began many decades ago. We’re excited.” n John Hollis
Liza Wilson Durant, Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 57
Dolica Gopisetty is one of six college students enrolled in the cloud computing program who shared her experiences at an Amazon Web Services (AWS) summit in Washington, D.C., in June 2019. Mason and Northern Virginia Community College hope to grow the number of students with cloud computing experience to reach high demands with their new program starting fall 2019. Photo by Lathan Goumas
58 | VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING ANNUAL REPORT 2019
A BRIGHT FUTURE
Mason, NOVA, and AWS Join Forces and Reach for the Cloud George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) announced a new bachelor’s degree in cloud computing in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The new Bachelor of Applied Science pathway will offer a seamless transfer from a two-year associate’s degree to a four-year bachelor’s degree in cloud computing. The program will launch in fall 2020. “This new pathway demonstrates our commitment to creating both educational and employment access,” says Michelle Marks, vice president of academic innovation and new ventures. “These students will be prepared to compete for our region’s most in-demand jobs.” NOVA and Mason faculty worked in unison with AWS Educate curriculum designers to create a path that will help students pursue careers in cloud architecture, cybersecurity, software development, and DevOps—a system of software development and delivery. Mason students Dolica Gopisetty and Shadman Hossain were among six college students enrolled in cloud computing degree programs who shared their experiences during an AWS summit in Washington, D.C., in June 2019.
“BAS is different from traditional degrees,” says Kammy Sanghera, the associate professor of Information Sciences and Technology who serves as the executive director for the Engineering School’s STEM Outreach program. “Because of the transition of public and private sectors to the cloud, the demand for cloud computing skills is on the rise. This program will prepare students to address industry needs.” “Developing a cloud-ready workforce is an urgent challenge and an incredible opportunity,” says Teresa Carlson, vice president for AWS’s Worldwide Public Sector. “Both George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College have been global pioneers in developing cloud curricula for students. We are delighted to be working with these innovative institutions to turn the growing demand for cloud skills into pathways in technology for students from all backgrounds.” All students in the program will receive membership in the AWS Educate program and gain hands-on, real-world experience with leading cloud technology and tools. n John Hollis
“What I wanted to get across was how important cloud computing is and how important it is for kids to get into cloud,” says Gopisetty, a senior and information technology major from the Volgenau School of Engineering. “They’re able to grasp anything complex very quickly.”
ENGINEERING.GMU.EDU | 59
Volgenau School of Engineering 4400 University Drive, MS 5C8 Fairfax, Virginia 22030
engineering.gmu.edu
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Fairfax, Virginia Permit No. 1532