Virginia Tech College of Engineering, Engineering Now 2011

The next generation of philanthropists:

CONTENTS 2

Dean’s Message Meet the next generation of philanthropists – 20 somethings surpass $1M in giving

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Use IMPACT, avoid a crash In this case, go for a belly landing

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Girl [Scout] Power “What can’t I do?”

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Geeks Speak Need a lesson in Gobblerpedia?

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Bridge to Prosperity “Open up my heart and see how happy I am…”

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Anything but an Island Vacation Finding clean water for a Third World hospital

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Ride the Lightning No carbon footprint for this motorcycle

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Out of this World Passing the torch for space exploration

the Student Engineers’ Council at Virginia Tech

Brian Keller

Student Engineers’ Council Chair 2010-11

Dean’s Message

Meet the next generation of philanthropists – 20 somethings surpass $1M in giving In 1985 the Virginia Tech Student Engineers’ Council

ing some 250 companies, sometimes with as many as 50 to

(SEC) announced at a Committee of 100 black-tie dinner

75 on a waiting list because of a lack of space. Revenue was

its establishment of the Paul E. Torgersen Leadership Schol-

now climbing.

arship. The two student leaders of the SEC at the time, Jean

Nystrom was concerned that the SEC, a 501 C3 non-

Skomorucha (now Jean Swartz) and Scott Taylor, chair and

profit, needed to invest its money in more than a bank

vice-chair, respectively, surprised Torgersen, who was the

account. Her idea was for the SEC to issue a formal call for

dean of the college, with the establishment of this $20,000

funding proposals from engineering faculty members and

endowment.

students, the primary guideline being that the funds go to

The students of the SEC had used their fundraising skills

areas benefiting the largest number of students. The students

to ask the members of the Committee of 100 to support

agreed and formed their own guidelines. In 1998, the

the scholarship in honor of Torgersen, and the alumni were

SEC made its first substantial awards to assist with college

happy to do so.

endeavors: $30,000 to equip the Student Assistance Center

This gift started a philosophy of philanthropy that has consumed much of the time of the members of the SEC, who on average range in age from 18 to 22. The engineering

and $10,000 as seed money to help generate support for the Freshman Design Engineering Laboratory.

In the 26 years since they established the Torgersen

students of the SEC understand the value of philanthropy

Scholarship, the SEC has given more than $1 million back

before they graduate and enter the professional arena. The

to the College of Engineering’s students and faculty for a

SEC generates the greatest percentage of its income from

host of projects, ranging from support of the Frith Fresh-

operating Expo, an engineering career fair that has grown

men Design Engineering Laboratory, mentoring programs,

into one of the largest in the nation.

and upgrades of classroom space, to a host of student

Expo’s continued success prompted SEC faculty advi-

organization projects. The latter range from $20,000 in

sor Lynn Nystrom, who has been with the council more

support of the design and building of the first CHARLI, a

than 30 years, to suggest that the student members use

world-famous walking humanoid made by students at the

Expo revenue for philanthropic purposes. In 1978, only 26

Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), to smaller

companies and government agencies registered for Expo.

grants for the group Bridges to Prosperity to build lifesaving

In 1980, that number doubled. At the time, the revenue

bridges in Haiti.

essentially covered the expenditures of organizing the career fair. But by the late 1990s, the SEC was regularly attract-

The SEC executive team understands how to require engineering students and faculty to create and present pro-

Virginia Tech’s Student Engineers’ Council is giving $100,000 toward construction of the Signature Engineering Building.

Construction started in the summer of 2011.

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ENGINEERING NOW

posals. These requests are voted on by both the executive council and the larger general assembly of the SEC in a three-step process. The proposal must include the project’s impact, an overall budget, and how the SEC contribution would be spent.

With the additional revenue, the SEC has undertaken some truly ambitious projects in addition to the ad hoc funding of requests. In 2006, it created a Design Team Endowment with a goal of reaching $500,000 by 2010. The SEC reached its goal, and is now able to award $40,000 (the interest off the principal) each academic year to engineering student organizations for equipment, conference attendance, and other essential needs.

Not satisfied, the SEC took on two additional pledges to support the College of Engineering during the 2010-11 academic year under the leadership of Brian Keller. The officers signed the paperwork for a three-year $100,000 gift to the

Representative History of Philanthropy of the Student Engineers’ Council 1985 Creation of the Paul E. Torgersen Leadership Scholarship 1998 $30,000 to equip the college’s Student Assistance Center (SAC) and $10,000 as seed money to help generate support for the Freshman Design Engineering Laboratory 1999 $10,000 for multimedia enhancements for a lecture classroom; $10,000 for the construction of a prototype Personal Rapid Transit System (Virtual Corporation) 2000 $20,000 to Engineering Education 2001 Endowed the Nathaniel Gebreyes Scholarship, named after its 1981 SEC chair, who died in an automobile accident 2002 $46,000 for technology upgrades to classrooms, matched by the university 2003 $15,000 to Tutoring Center for hourly employees; $1,000 to Engineering Education Lecture Series 2004 $10,000 to Freshman Engineering Lecture Series; $5,000 to Ware Lab General Hardware Fund; $4,274 to Fuel Cell Experiment for Frith Freshman Engineering Lab 2005 $14,700 to McGyver Boxes, Freshman Program; $18,500 to Open Electronics Laboratory; $1,800 for general support for Undergraduate Research Symposium

The SEC also established a $1 million unrestrict-

2006 $7,386 to the Mechatronics Experiment in Engineering Exploration; $12,615 to the Joseph F. Ware Jr. Advanced Engineering Laboratory

ed endowment for the College of Engineering,

2007

new Signature Engineering Building, and contributed the first one-third of the pledge in 2011.

and opened it with a $50,000 payment, naming it in honor of their advisor, Nystrom. The SEC’s new goal is to have the Lynn Nystrom Engineering Organization Fund completely endowed by 2020.

Clearly, the Student Engineers’ Council’s continuing endeavors will make one of the nation’s premier engineering colleges even better as the impact of the students’ giving is realized. As dean, I asked that this issue of Engineering Now be devoted to the philanthropy of the Student Engineers’ Council, and I hope you will enjoy reading about just a few of the impacts their gifts have made.

Richard Benson Dean of Engineering

$9,330 for the Ware Lab Plasma Cutter; $5,670 for study area furniture for Hancock Atrium to be matched by the college; $105,000 to initiate the Design Team Fund, plus an additional $125,000 within a few months

2008 $5,411 to the Ware Lab; $4,589 to materials science and engineering for furnaces; $20,000 to the RoMeLa Laboratory to fund building CHARLI, a humanoid robot 2009 $40,000 in grants to engineering student organizations*; $30,000 to design team endowment; $20,000 in donations to various faculty projects 2010 $40,000 in grants to engineering student organizations and $30,000 to design team endowment; $20,000 in donations to various faculty projects 2011 $40,000 in grants to engineering student organizations; $50,000 to start a new general endowment; $30,000 toward the Signature Engineering Building; $20,000 to various faculty projects, such as a satellite station and a 3-D printing vending machine in Randolph Hall * With the completion of the $500,000 Design Team Endowment, the Student Engineers’ Council should be able to award in perpetuity some $40,000 annually to support engineering student groups.

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USE AVOID A CRASH

By Steven Mackay

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ENGINEERING NOW

When a U.S. Airways’ Airbus A320214 commercial jet made an emergency ditch landing on the Hudson River—in the water—in January 2009, America held its breath and stood in awed silence. All passengers and crew were

In this case, go for a belly landing

Starting in 2010, Bayandor formed and led a senior design student team called IMPACT, an acronym for Impact Modeling Project and Crash Team. The gist: take scaled down models of airplanes—roughly 1/36th to 1/25th scale

safe, and the plane’s fuselage remained

of the most popular commercial aircraft

virtually intact. Veteran pilot Chesley

—hooked to a cable zip line system and

Sullenberger was hailed as a hero. It was a rare and some say

“crash” them into a shallow water tank built inside a sandbox-

miraculous event.

like structure. Waterproof cameras inside and outside the tank

Javid Bayandor, now an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, reacted like most people: “I was shocked yet relieved to hear that it survived the severe impact.”

capture the action, while sensors built inside the underbelly and wings of the aircraft take various measurements via computer.

“Subsequent to the field trials, we constructed and carried

(Incidentally, Bayandor later briefly met and spoke with Sul-

out numerical simulations which will be verified using the test

lenberger at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.)

data from the small models,” says Bayandor. “We hope that we

But Bayandor also had a vested interest in what had hap-

eventually would be in a position to extend the trials to larger

pened on the Hudson. Bayandor, who worked for years in

models. The validated predictive numerical methodology that

the aerospace industry, including with Cooperative Research

we develop has the potential to be used as a tool during the de-

Centre for Advanced Composite Structures, Airbus Deutsch-

sign and impact certification processes of future aircraft, while

land GmbH, German Aerospace Center, and Hawker de

drastically reducing the high costs associated with developing

Havilland-Boeing, had during that time proposed studying

new products.”

water impact landings. In 2008, he started research into such

The IMPACT team—comprised of seven undergraduates

incidents during an invited appointment at the Massachusetts

and one graduate student—started from scratch. In addition

Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., before moving to

to the makeshift water tank, the scaffolding stands about 8 feet

Virginia Tech.

tall, resembling a miniature power line tower. Student team

After the Hudson River incident, many in the commercial

members built the towing mechanism and the tank on their

aerospace industry decided to revisit the previously inconclusive

own, mostly with money provided by the Student Engineers’

issue of water landings, says Bayandor. “Not many full-scale

Council.

water impact tests have been done before. It would be wildly

Team member Alan Smisko, a mechanical engineering

expensive for the aerospace companies to test-crash full-scale

student from Vienna, Va., says assembling the large wood tank

models, with a new representative aircraft costing anywhere

structure and filling it with 600 to 700 gallons of water for each

from $250 million to $300 million.” And no one is trying that

day of field experiments was its own challenge. “It took up to

to this day. Not with real planes, anyway.

several hours just to do that,” he says. Weather also was a fac-

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The Impact Modeling Project and Crash Team (left to right) included mechanical engineering seniors Matt Henry of Chesapeake, Va.; Matt Liwanag of Virginia Beach, Va.; David Wolf of Baltimore, Md.; Andrew Rogers of Scarboro, Maine; Jessica Gretsch of Cary, N.C.; and Alan Smisko of Vienna, Va.

tor in the outdoor experiments. Cold temperatures meant ice,

can make a huge difference in how the model plane makes

while high winds could ruin the test parametric settings.

contact with water. As the plane is a scaled model based on

“Coming in at the beginning of the year with no back-

the Pi Theorem it need not go fast in order to simulate the real

ground in finite-element analysis, aerospace, or composites was

speeds and impacts of an actual commercial jet in a laboratory

a little daunting at the beginning,” says Jessica Gretsch, a senior

setting. Findings thus far show that if the plane’s nose lands

in mechanical engineering from Cary, N.C., who served as

first, pitched down, the aircraft’s forward section could sustain

experimentation team leader. “Everyone pushed really hard to

a grave impact force that can jeopardize the plane’s structural

learn everything though and we really covered a lot of ground

integrity. A belly landing—with nose slightly up—seems safest,

this year.”

relatively speaking.

Experiments so far have shown that slight changes in velocity, rate of descent, angles of attack, and yaw and roll angles

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ENGINEERING NOW

The experiment likely would never have been realized during the 2010-11 academic year without funding from the

Student Engineers’ Council, which kicked in $1,300, as well as some financial and in-kind support from the College of Engineering’s Joseph F. Ware Jr. Advanced Engineering Laboratory. A majority of the remaining money after the trial costs was used to help pay for the IMPACT team to travel to Cambridge, Mass., in June 2011 to present its findings thus far at the MIT Conference on Computational Fluid and Solid Mechanics.

Bayandor and Gretsch hope the presentation will spur more interest in the project.

Bayandor would like to see major aerospace companies and federal agencies come forward with grant funding or other support. “This has a unique potential to significantly contribute to the aerospace industry, as well as our knowledge of advanced aircraft design and impact damage tolerance in future-generation aerospace structures,” he says. “It can greatly facilitate the development of concept crashworthy air vehicles by cutting down heavy experimental costs.”

Bayandor plans to expand the scope of IMPACT and provide students with more opportunities to work closely with the aerospace industry on its immediate structural design and analysis problems. Airbus and the European Aeronautics Defense and Space Company already have expressed interest in working with Bayandor’s CRASH Lab, short for Crashworthiness for Aerospace Structures and Hybrids Lab. Gretsch was looking toward handing off the project to her successors. “I learned a ton about planes, composites, and modeling, and all of that should be useful in my future career,” she says. “However, the experience gained from working on a team that started from nothing and was able to present results at the end of eight months was really the most important experience.”

Adds Bayandor on his first IMPACT team: “The students are now at a level where they can consider themselves rising star researchers due to the extensive training that we have been through during this project.”

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ENGINEERING NOW

Girl [Scout] P wer “What can’t I do?”

By Lindsey Haugh

“Are you all excited?” [Silence] Caitlin Proctor enthusiastically repeats the question to more than 40 Girl Scouts, 9 to 13 years old, all from Southwest Virginia troops.

“ARE YOU ALL EXCITED?” It’s 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and the Virginia Tech Society of Women Engineers’ (SWE) 5th annual Girl Scout Day is in full swing.

Well, almost.

Proctor, SWE’s educational outreach chair for the 2010-

ships, mentoring, and social and service opportunities for its

11 academic year, is a rising senior in the Charles E. Via, Jr.

members. Service projects are geared toward encouraging other

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering program.

female college students and school-age females to consider engi-

For this Girl Scout Day, she is the co-chair of the event and

neering as their career path. They even host a fashion show for

extremely passionate about it.

female engineering students to assist them in choosing appro-

“I was a Girl Scout…no, no, I am a Girl Scout,” Proctor emphatically says as she smiles.

“At an early age I can recall the fun things and experiences

priate professional attire for the interview process.

SWE has more than 400 women on its LISTSERV. About 40 participate regularly. Active members pay annual dues,

I had being involved with my [Girl Scout] troop. I enjoy being

which helps fund projects throughout the year. Other fund-

around kids. Having the opportunity to share with them or

ing comes from corporate engineering sponsors,

impact their life decisions in a positive way is so rewarding.

fundraising, and the Student Engineers’

Girl Scout Day is important to me because not only might I

Council (SEC) at Virginia Tech.

foster someone’s idea of community outreach and engineer-

“We applied for their

ing, it reminds us, the SWE members, of why we came to love

[SEC] slush fund and were

engineering.”

awarded money to aid our

Proctor is a member of the Virginia Tech chapter of SWE, a network of female engineers that offers career advice, scholar-

volunteer and community efforts,” Proctor says. “Portions

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of the money helped fund our annual Brownie Day in the fall,

“Children often approach problems in a much different

our trip to the national SWE conference, and our spring Girl

manner than adults since they do not often restrict themselves

Scout Day.”

to feasible or practical solutions. Interacting with the kids

Katie Geier, a rising sophomore, also majoring in civil

reminds me to take a step back and go at problems without

engineering and a SWE leader for the event, says, “Donations

thinking, ‘what can’t I do?’ and instead think, ‘What could I

from the SEC allow us to buy materials and supplies in order to

do?’ ” says Geier.

better teach the Girl Scouts and help them earn a badge. Without having the necessary materi-

to her group of Girl Scouts, “What problems do you see in

als or having a limited number of things, it

the world today?” “Nuclear issues” is the response of a seventh

would have been difficult to reach out to as

grader, who then goes on to explain her ingenious take on

many young girls.”

This particular Girl Scout Day event was off to a quiet start.

SWE leaders demonstrate jumping jacks, “star jumps,” and

the cycle of events resulting from the earthquakes in Japan in March of 2011.

Throughout the morning the young girls are challenged and enlightened. In an informal, relaxed question and answer

dance moves to get the Girl Scouts to loosen up, have fun, “put

session, Donna Dix, a troop co-leader of two years from Rural

on their thinking caps,” and start earning their Creative Solu-

Retreat, Va., asks the SWE leaders, “How did you know you

tions badge, Geier says.

wanted to be an engineer?”

The girls respond with giggles and whispers as they hesitantly participate in these ice-breaking activities.

Then the real fun begins.

To earn the Creative Solutions badge, the Girl Scouts

Geier explains her inspiration was spurred by her love of mathematics and attending a Virginia Tech camp while in high school.

Kori Price, a freshman studying electrical engineering and

must complete six out of 10 requirements. The SWE leaders

next year’s educational outreach co-chair with Proctor, says her

proposed the following problems to the groups. First was the

motivation to pursue electrical engineering came from child-

Chinese Tangram, a puzzle made up of seven geometric pieces

hood trips to amusement parks, where she became fascinated

that must be made into five different objects. Second, Ordinary

with how roller coasters worked, and her curiosity about

Items, Extraordinary Uses encourages ways to use everyday

thunderstorms.

items, such as paper clips, rubber bands, toothbrushes, flash-

By the end of Girl Scout Day, some 40 young girls had

lights, safety pins, bandages, socks, and white unlined paper for

earned a new badge and the SWE members hope they have

another purpose. Third was Shipwrecked on an Island, where

“spark[ed] an interest, so when they get older they consider

participants select one person and five items to have with them

becoming an engineer,” says Geier.

on a deserted island. Fourth was Alternative Solutions where

“Girl Scout Day helps me learn more about younger girl’s

participants create a new ending to a well-known story or fairy

interests. This is important so that SWE can be effective in

tale. Fifth was How Others Solve Problems which identifies

reaching out to younger girls to help them become more

how various professionals solve matters in the workplace. And

interested and involved in science, technology, engineer-

last was Local, National, and Global Problem Solving which

ing, and mathematics areas,” says Price. “I also hope that

involves listing local, national, or global issues.

the girls can see women like us in SWE

Each problem-solving activity ends with discussion of the

10

Another SWE leader, Theresa Garwood, poses a question

working toward engineering

decision-making process, asking “why” and “how,” and then

degrees and think, ‘If they

analysis of the possible results of their decisions.

can do it, then I can do it.’”

ENGINEERING NOW

Chris Covington, left, and James Schwinabart, members of the Linux and Unix User Group at Virginia Tech, promote open data and the availability of free software to assist the local community.

GEEKS SPEAK Need a lesson in Gobblerpedia?

When Chris Covington was a self-described “poor high

By Lynn Nystrom

continually updated by computer gurus around the world, and

school kid with a limited allowance,” he found it “awesome”

its success is validated by its use in some of the world’s fastest

that he could download the GNU/Linux operating system and a

supercomputers.

whole array of applications to run on it for free.

Today, Covington, a senior in computer engineering, has

As the Web allows the world to move toward increased free sharing of information, Covington’s contributions show he is a

spent much of his college career helping others install GNU/

follower of this philosophy. “I like the open ideology that Linux

Linux on their laptops or tablet personal computers. And his

was founded on,” Covington says. Most college students do.

skill set has already landed him a job with Qualcomm, a world leader in the field of wireless technology and services.

Covington is a member of the

“It was harder to convince others on campus, like the Student Budget Board, of our needs,” Covington adds. “The SEC made the whole thing happen.”

So, in the interest of sharing information, Covington is personally responsible for the advent of Gobblerpedia, a Virginia Tech take-off on Wikipedia (https://gob-

Linux and Unix Users Group at Virginia Tech (VTLUUG),

blerpedia.org/wiki/Main_page). Gobblerpedia is a community-

dedicated to improving the computing skills of its members,

made repository for free information about the Blacksburg, Va.,

supporting the use of Linux and Unix on campus, and serv-

university. The main difference he sees between Wikipedia and

ing the local community through free software and open data

Gobblerpedia is that contributors are encouraged to write local

(http://vtluug.org/).

histories never before published. This is not the case on Wikipe-

An analogy to the Linux operating system kernel might

dia, where such contributions would run afoul of project goals

be Wikipedia, where people are able to access the underlying

like easy verifiability by users around the globe. Covington sees

markup and modify an article’s contents. Because the underlying

Gobblerpedia as growing into different guidelines. For example,

source code for Linux is open, somewhat similar to Wikipedia,

“dropping into a professor’s office to fact-check,” would be a

interested parties are free to make changes to it. The software is

reasonable process in a university community, he says.

Continued on page 24

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Bridge to

Prosperity

By Lynn Nystrom

Three children have lost their lives since 2009 by drowning in the Thomonde River in Haiti.

Today, a lifesaving bridge connects the remote mountain village of Ti Peligre with Casse, where a medical clinic and marketplace provide resources to this Haitian town that is often transformed into an island because of the Caribbean country’s rainy seasons. Children and others can now walk safely over the river below.

Engineering students at Virginia Tech were instrumental in accomplishing this humanitarian gesture.

“This bridge connects the two towns on either side of the river, but in reality, it goes so much further. The successful completion of this bridge required the collaboration and hard work of so many people around the world, including the members of the Partners in Health based in Boston, the town of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech, and Haiti,” says Matt Capelli, the immediate past president of Virginia Tech’s chapter of Bridges to Prosperity (www.b2p.org.vt.edu/).

“Open up my heart and see how happy I am…”

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ENGINEERING NOW

“I believe the true foundation and power behind the bridge were the solid relationships and faith of the Haitian communities involved and all of the people in the world that the bridge project connected. It is a tribute to the leadership of all,” Capelli adds.

The Virginia Tech student chapter started the project in 2009 and completed it in March 2011.

Capelli, a civil engineering student, was drawn into the project by Brian Cloyd, a Virginia Tech professor he had met while working on rebuilding homes with the Appalachian Service Project. So when Cloyd asked Capelli if he would be interested in designing the pedestrian bridge over this often dangerous, 210-foot-wide span of the river in Haiti, he agreed.

Cloyd, Capelli, and two other civil engineering students, Nick Mason and Katie Masoero, traveled to Haiti in November 2009 to conduct a feasibility study.

“It was certainly a shock to experience Third World poverty for the first time in my life. But what I remember the most from that trip was how beautiful the country of Haiti was, both the island and the people. I was overwhelmed with the Haitian culture. They were so willing to help and serve others and to work hard. If I were to describe the Haitians, they have unending, inspirational hope,” Capelli says.

“I want to emphasize it was not Virginia Tech students building a bridge for Haiti. It was Virginia Tech students helping Haitians build their own bridge. We could have never completed the project without the leadership of the Haitians,” Capelli adds.

After the students returned from their first trip, they went to work on the design, enlisting the aid of two CEE faculty members, Carin RobertsWollmann and Tommy Cousins, who have expertise in bridge design. Will Collins, a doctoral student, also played an

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integral role in helping students develop a design that would withstand earthquakes.

The earthquake in January 2010 delayed the project, and with the rainy season beginning each March, the students were unable to return until November 2010. Then, surveys were conducted, decisions were finalized, and they were ready to lay the base foundations. The Haitians did the work while the students finished their fall semester. The students returned in January 2011, and stayed two more weeks for the building of towers to support the cables. When they left, all it needed was the wood decking.

With 98 percent of Haiti deforested, finding wood of good quality was no easy task. And again, they were faced with another rainy season commencing in March.

However, when Capelli returned in early March, along with the new leadership of Virginia Tech’s chapter of Bridges to Prosperity, Chris Cooke, Tyler Welsh, Nick Mason, Kelsey Brandt, and Kin Wong, the Haitians had completed the bridge.

However, the islanders had held off the ribbon cutting and celebration until the students arrived on March 5 during their spring break.

Even Mason’s father decided to join the team, telling the students some people have to wait an entire lifetime to see two communities come together. He wanted to see what his son and others had accomplished.

“From now on, the Haitians have a complete sense of ownership. They will make all of the decisions on its upkeep and maintenance,” Capelli says.

During the dedication, the Haitians responded to a survey conducted by the students. Questions ranged from demographics of the users of the bridge to what it actually meant to them.

Capelli recalls one Haitian said, “I wish you could open up my heart and see how happy I am because I can’t describe it.”

“We build bridges, but it is the relationships that we build that really matter and the true power behind our purpose and mission,” Capelli summarizes.

Related articles:

http://www.b2p.org.vt.edu/?q=content/ti-peligre-bridge-completion http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti/blog-entry/the-bridge-to-ti-peligre

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ENGINEERING NOW

The importance of seed money

When the Virginia Tech chapter of Bridges for Prosperity needed financial support for the concrete for the bridge foundations, it solicited funding from the Virginia Tech Student Engineers’ Council (SEC).

The SEC gave the chapter $5,000, and was one of its largest single donors. “We were a brand-new group with the SEC, and we did not expect the support. But the SEC gave us so much more than what we could have expected. We want a long-standing relationship with the SEC and to give back to them. They really stepped in and stepped up and we could not have completed the project on time without them,” says Matt Capelli, of Bridges to Prosperity.

After the installation of the bridge, the Rotary Club’s national chapter provided a $95,000 grant to the national organization of Bridges to Prosperity. The caveat: It will provide the successful Virginia Tech chapter with the money to completely fund two future bridges.

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Finding clean water for a Third World hospital

By Lynn Nystrom

Can you imagine a hospital that does not have access to clean water on a regular basis? Or a medical staff who throw their waste into a pile outside the hospital doors?

Neither can the Virginia Tech student members of Engineers Without Borders (EWB).

So, one of their current four projects is focusing on how to resolve clean water and sanitation issues for the St. Therese Hospital in Hinche, Haiti. In another project, they just completed the development of a maintenance and operation plan for a malfunctioning ultraviolet disinfection system for a free health clinic operated by the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine in the Dominican Republic town of Ver贸n.

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ENGINEERING NOW

Engineering students working on both projects were able to

incinerator was missing one of its components and was not op-

travel to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, divided into the

erational,” Emrani, an electrical engineering honors student, says.

two countries, during their spring break in 2011, partially due

During their five-day stay in Haiti, Emrani and the other

to the $1,000 in support from the Student Engineers’ Council

members of his group, including faculty advisor Theo Dillaha

at Virginia Tech, according to Chelsea Shores, the 2010-11

of biological systems engineering, met with the director of the

president of the chapter and an ocean engineering major. “We

hospital to understand its priorities, as well as with administra-

have to fund all of our own trips, so a large portion of our ef-

tive specialists. They then evaluated the hospital complex, walk-

forts is fundraising,” she says.

ing the site, and building a computer-aided-design diagram of

“Once we start a commitment, such as our projects in

every meter of the space, including the locations of sinks, drain-

Haiti and the Dominican Republic, we maintain them for a

age, toilets, pit latrines, abandoned wells, water system infra-

minimum of five years. This often represents a challenge as our

structure, and even structural components such as bad gutters.

membership turns over. We have about 50 to 60 active mem-

They met with the regional director of the national Depart-

bers, and we are one of the largest in the nation for the number

ment of Potable Water to speak about the needs and learn

of projects we are involved in,” Shores reports.

about the available sources of water.

Darius Emrani, one of the members of the group travel-

Within a week of their trip, the students developed an

ing to Haiti, describes his academic spring break spent in the

alternative to the water system

central Haitian city of Hinche as anything but an island vaca-

at the hospital that

“Engineers can create things that can have an impact on millions, billions of people. We have to make sure good ideas come to fruition.”

— Darius Emrani tion. However, he left the island with a spirit of the university’s

addressed water pressure,

motto, Ut Prosim, and inspired to achieve his long-term goals.

which they perceived to

“Engineers can create things that can have an impact on mil-

be a major issue. They had

lions, billions of people. We have to make sure good ideas come

discovered that—because of

to fruition,” Emrani says. “Everyday people’s needs are going

low water pressure in the public water system and the elevation

unmet, and it affects people’s health.”

of the hospital’s water storage tank—the tank could not be filled

Emrani knows this problem first-hand from his trip. The

when it received water three times a week. A further complica-

hospital he visited was built in 1929, and the Haitian earth-

tion was that the generators required to pump the water in the

quake in 2010 compromised its aging problems even further

hospital could not be run for more than eight hours per day since

because of the increased number of patients afterward, as well

the cost of fuel was prohibitive. Hence, power outages were com-

as the outbreak of cholera.

mon. Their solution: the Department of Portable Water agreed

“In terms of sanitation, there were two main issues. Poor

to supply municipal water to the hospital every night, and the

hygiene in general was due to the lack of toilets for patients and

hospital would then run a generator nightly to transfer municipal

a lack of clean water for personal hygiene, drinking, and cleaning

water from a below ground storage tank to the hospital’s elevated

the hospital. And in terms of medical waste, a recently installed

water storage tanks.

2011

www.eng.vt.edu

17

EWB may be able to accomplish more for the hospital by working with Partners in Health, The Haitian Health Care Foundation, and the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population. The water pressure problem is just one aspect of the teamwork. EWB is also working with the local Hinche Rotary Club.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Will Ayers, a civil engineering major, led the EWB team that busily repaired the ultraviolet water purification system used by the clinic and elementary school in Ver贸n, adjacent to the resort town of Punta Cana. His team included Rafael Suriel, a native of the Dominican Republic, and Jessica Hwang, of mechanical engineering. They found some other U.S. colleagues there as the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center uses the medical facility as a place to send some of its students for clinical experience.

18

ENGINEERING NOW

The purification system had not functioned for some five months, and the Haitians had no ability to maintain its vital components. Ayers and his team developed a maintenance plan, including diagnostic procedures, a parts list, and general cleaning guidelines. They met with the engineer at the nearby resort and briefed him and his technicians about the plan. “The ultraviolet aspect was the unique part of the system that they were not familiar with,” Ayers explains.

When the EWB team left, the purification system was working, and the clinic had a manual on how to keep it a clean and working system. It probably helped that Ayers had already obtained a chemistry degree and worked in water-quality

Ayers, an avid traveler who at one point in his life took the

management for the U.S. Geological Survey before he decided

time to hike the Pacific Crest from Mexico to Canada, also pre-

to pursue his second degree in engineering at Virginia Tech.

pared with his team a visual assessment of the piping at Veron’s

And it also helped that Dillaha has a UV water purification

elementary school. “It had a lot of leaks, causing a lot of loss in

system at his home near campus where the team could educate

pressure,” he says. A future project will probably evolve from

themselves before they traveled to the island.

this discussion.

Engineers without Borders-USA at Virginia Tech has its own fundraising committee that allows it to participate in its international projects. The funds they solicit are used to subsidize costs for travel, material, and equipment.

Corporate Sponsors

Kathy Norrenbrock

WSP Environmental

Edward Hofler

Schnabel Engineering

David Danner

Wiley and Wilson

Betty Sinclair

McDonough Bolyard

Marilyn Mitchell

Malcolm Pirnie

Shirley Grossman

CDM

Chemical Engineering

CH2M Hill

Department

Jansen Land Consulting

Honors Program

Individual Donors

Student Engineers’ Council

Dr. Theo Dillaha

John Markunas

Brian McDonald

John Allevi

2011

www.eng.vt.edu

19

RIDE THE

LIGHTNING No carbon footprint for this motorcycle

By Steven Mackay

The 2010-11 BOLT senior design team includes (left to right) Paul Gray of Edgewater Park, N.J.; Rob Wax of Westchester County, N.Y.; Ben Boddery of Warrenton, Va.; Derek Coller of Yorktown, Va.; George Sink, of Bassett, Va.; and Ryan Davenport, of Chesapeake, Va.

Student team builds an electric bike that can speed, but won’t pollute

20

ENGINEERING NOW

The movement toward greener, more Earth-friendly, low-emission vehicles is not just for cars anymore. It is moving toward motorcycles. Several international specialty companies already sell electric motorcycles, and now an international race is entirely dedicated to the format.

TTXGP is the world’s first zero toxic emissions motorcycle race series. It takes place in North America, Asia, and Europe, climaxing in Spain.

In a crowded bay inside the Joseph F. Ware Jr. Advanced Engineering Laboratory is the work of the BOLT (Battery Operated Land Transportation) Team, a group of College of Engineering seniors building an electric motorcycle for eventual competition in the Grand Prix event in late 2012. For now, the bike is mostly a skeletal chassis with wheels and some equipment. The bike’s main body is a 2009 Honda CBR6000RR, while the fork is from a Kawasaki ZX6R. The pieces were welded together.

Components—such as the electric motor—sit on a workbench nearby or on shelves in a cabinet. Other senior design projects also share the cage, including a robotic-wheeled device designed to work on the moon and another contraption that resembles a massive rat maze. Looking at the bike—a black

Ryan Davenport, of Chesapeake, Va.; and Paul Gray, of Edgewater Park, N.J., work on a cylinder for BOLT.

carbon body that one day will sport the Hokie Pride colors of

This is the second BOLT electric motorcycle effort overseen

orange and maroon—is one of the team’s leaders, Rob Wax, a

by Taheri. The first team finished in the 2009-10 year, but due

senior from Westchester County, N.Y.

to finances was unable to compete in the worldwide finale of

“I love two wheels,” Wax says with a grin. He started riding

the TTXGP event after doing quite well stateside. The chief

dirt bikes as a child with a friend and the boy’s father, and the

sponsor of the motorcycle took the vehicles once the competi-

hobby stuck. Wax street races—legally, he adds—and owns a

tion was finished.

motorcycle, which he sold in April as part of his preparation to

The current team opted for a combination of the two mo-

move to Wisconsin for a post-college job. For him, joining the

torcycle models, building on their own equipment, and adding

BOLT team was natural, and instant.

a 200-pound battery. It will feature DC batteries with AC out-

“I wanted to find a project with two wheels,” he says, add-

put, top out at 120 mph, and be able to hold a constant speed

ing that he was looking to put his motorcycle knowledge and

of 80 mph. The bike is designed as a racer, but will eventually

skills to use while learning.

be made highway ready. The engine will be an AC20 Thunder-

Not everyone on the team is a motorcycle enthusiast like

struck, as it was during the first BOLT effort. The motorcycle’s

Wax. One participant self-mockingly said he liked bicycling.

design has developed from its beginnings as a magic-marker-

But whatever their connection to the project, faculty advisor

on-paper concept to CAD work on the Ware Lab’s computer

Saied Taheri, himself once a motorcycle sports participant and

lab. Bowing to TTXGP weight limits, the team must keep the

enthusiast, has seen his students grow. “I could see the students

vehicle under 500 pounds. Thus far, the students are well under

mature during the course of the project, where they looked at it

that threshold.

as a hobby when we started and took it very seriously as things

Safety is paramount in the design; the battery and electric

progressed,” says Taheri, an associate professor of mechanical

motor’s contacts with the outside elements must be limited,

engineering.

and the batteries, meant to be changed out with ease, must be 2011

www.eng.vt.edu

21

absolutely secured during motion in case of a crash. “We need

The team hasn’t gotten everything it needs easily, so it

to bolt the batteries down very securely,” says one team mem-

has turned to fundraising. “They got disappointed when we

ber. “We cannot have them coming off at 200 pounds.” The

couldn’t find any sponsors for the batteries,” says Taheri. “There

engine and batteries must also be air-cooled to prevent over-

are a bunch of molds that we need to develop for fairings

heating, which could cause the bike to break down.

to make the bike aerodynamically compatible with the race

Funding has been hard in the current economy for this group as well. The Student Engineers’ Council (SEC) kicked in $1,750 in the spring and $1,500 in the fall, and several sponsors—Boeing, General Motors, FFR Trikes, Solutia—have donated parts and/or money.

“The Student Engineers’ Council funding was quite vital

requirements in addition to a host of other parts and pieces which we still need.”

“We spend it right after we get it,” says Derek Coller, of Yorktown, Va., the team’s 2010-11 leader.

The seniors on the 2010-11 team hope that by next year their motorcycle—sleek and gleaming with its orange and

as they were very supportive of our team,” says team member

maroon paint job—will be taking practice laps at the Virginia

Ryan Davenport, of Chesapeake, Va. “Their requirement of

International Raceway in Danville, Va. This team will be work-

our team to become more active in their events allowed us to

ing on their individual careers when the motorbike sees its rac-

get our name out to many more students than we were nor-

ing glory, first in North America, and if successful, in Spain for

mally able to. We hope that the future BOLT teams will take

a world championship event. But the 2010-11 team members

advantage of the SEC’s offers to stay active in the engineering

will keep in touch. “I’d like to keep an eye on things and see

community and receive all of the support that the SEC

how it goes,” says Coller. “I think we have a good team for next

will give.”

year. It looks promising.”

(Left to right) John Meier, of Sterling Va.; George Sink, of Bassett, Va.; and Derek Coller of Yorktown, Va., all work on the bike, which will be finished by rising seniors during the 2011-12 academic year. The goals: race the electric bike in competition, and with zero emissions.

22

ENGINEERING NOW

Virginia Tech College of Engineering juniors Nastia Ilinichna Soukhareva and Cameron Crowell stand in front of the university-run observatory just off Prices Fork Road in Montgomery County. The students hope to put the facility – located down a country road in a field — to more use during the 2011-12 academic year, possibly with school tours and other events.

Out of this

WORLD

By Steven Mackay

Passing the torch for space exploration For about five years Virginia Tech was without a Students

sponsored competition fell by the wayside. Crowell eventually

for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) club.

took over the group because Keller was busy with his own

The group was dormant until the summer of 2010, when two

duties – serving as the Student Engineers’ Council chair for the

groups of students—one led by Cameron Crowell, a junior

2010-11 academic year.

from Winchester, Va., and the other by Brian Keller, a junior

We wanted to “make the club more of a societal club where

from Charleston, W.Va.—decided to restart the group. The ef-

students would have opportunities to explore the space industry

forts were launched separately unbeknownst to each other just

and do outreach to get more people involved,” says Crowell.

days apart. Keller was first, Crowell second.

“This is the type of club SEDS traditionally is.”

“I got the idea to start something like that because there

The group had an operating budget of more than $5,000 a

were not many space-related activities at Virginia Tech at the

semester, according to Keller. “In addition, I connected them

time that I was interning at NASA,” says Keller. “I knew a lot

with the national SEDS organization, which then published an

of (aerospace and ocean engineering) students and I knew that

article about us in their quarterly newsletter,” he adds.

the campus could use something like that, and that with my

The club attended a spring rocket launch at Kentland Farm

understanding of registered student organizations I could build

in Blacksburg that was sponsored by the American Institute of

it.”

Aeronautics and Astronautics. The group also hosted Nahum Keller served as president of the group at first. The club

Arav, an associate professor in Tech’s College of Science physics

found two faculty advisors, Kevin Shinpaugh, director of

department, for an informal talk that ranged from early space

cluster and research computing at Virginia Tech, and Troy

exploration to economic discussion on the costs of space travel

Henderson, assistant professor of aerospace and ocean engineer-

to satellites. It attracted about two dozen people from various

ing. There were also some bumps while reworking the group.

majors and of various ages. A handful of people in the room

An original plan to design a heavy launch vehicle for a NASA-

remembered watching the Space Shuttle Challenger explode on

2011

www.eng.vt.edu

23

Jan. 28, 1986, but most of the attendees appeared to be watch-

pay for projects the club takes on, and help us to do outreach in

ing the video footage for the first time.

local schools,” he adds.

“The rest (of the year) was basically planning and doing

A new interest in space exploration is timely, Crowell says.

logistics for next year,“ Crowell says. “This summer a few of us

“There are changes going on in the space industry that are just

are going to try and get our amateur rocketry licenses, with an

as important as what happened in the 1960s. With the end of

idea to eventually compete in a rocketry competition SEDS

the Space Shuttle program, the torch has been passed off to pri-

hosts and/or build rockets.”

vate companies to ‘get people to space,’ and already the price to

Nastia Ilinichna Soukhareva, a junior in aerospace engineering from Northern Virginia, says she would like to see the group host events for local school children on campus or at

do so has dropped tremendously. It’s exciting to be witnessing these events and it’s easy to get inspired to be involved.”

Even though the club now consists mostly of engineering

observatories just off Prices Fork Road or near the Mountain

students, Crowell and Soukhareva want to see it encompass

Lake resort in Giles County. During the summer break, she

all majors and interests. “One of my goals is to get the word

planned to attend a Space Camp-type event at NASA’s Marshall

out that space isn’t just for engineers; we need people to get

Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Crowell says he hopes

involved from business backgrounds as well as communica-

other SEDS members can participate in similar summer efforts

tions, art, journalism, and even agriculture—people need to eat

and that the group can participate in various space-themed

in space, you know,” he said.

competitions.

Student Engineers’ Council funding already has been vital

Keller agrees. “My hopes are that they can find a way to bridge gaps between majors and colleges, bringing students

to the group. “The funds needed to start the club were very

together and build excitement about the space industry within

important,” Crowell says. SEC funds even helped with basic

Virginia Tech by pushing for more faculty research in the astro-

necessities, such as advertising, building a temporary kiosk for

propulsion and other space-related fields.” High-profile speak-

the Drillfield, and having identifier polo shirts made. “Funds in

ers and participation in national conferences and competitions

the future will help with sending representatives to conferences

also are on his wish list.

that are attended by many leaders of the space industry, help

GEEKS SPEAK Continued from page 11 His chapter on the Linux and Unix Users Group has also

11 for $800 in support to install a dedicated server for its com-

ventured into map-making, putting Blacksburg and campus in

puting needs. Previously, their work was conducted on a virtual

extraordinary detail into the online OpenStreetMap project.

machine. With the financial support, they bought all of their

This map, tailored for all Hokie followers to use, shows the

own parts, including a “tricky power supply and an oddball

routes and up-to-the-minute locations of Blacksburg Transit

connector,” Covington says, and spent hours putting the server

buses, as well as pedestrian paths (including where stairs are),

together, with the help of their advisor John Harris, a systems

volleyball courts, recycling bins, bike racks, and trails

engineer in the College of Engineering.

(http://map.vtluug.org/).

For Engineers’ Week, the group hosted an arcade games

experienced computer geeks were on hand to assist other

booth. With borrowed projector, screen, and Wiimote, they

students with the installation of the free software, the server

gave booth visitors a chance to play with some of the recre-

was in place. With a few clicks and about 30 minutes of time,

ational software that GNU/Linux has to offer.

Covington and his cohorts were able to install the GNU/Linux

To improve upon its ability to assist Virginia Tech students, the group petitioned the Student Engineers’ Council in 201024

By the time the group held its 2011 Installfest, when its

ENGINEERING NOW

software on each new machine brought to the event.

The College of Engineering’s Development Office hosted an appreciation luncheon, recognizing the more than $1 million in gifts that the Student Engineers’ Council has awarded to numerous engineering projects sponsored by Virginia Tech. President Charles W. Steger was the guest speaker. From left to right are: John Sherwood, director of finance; Rebecca Dickos, vice chair; Steger; Brian Keller, chair; Richard Benson, dean of engineering; and John Lohr, Expo chair for 2011.

Credits: Dean: Richard C. Benson Editor and Writer: Lynn Nystrom

Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering shares its news

Virginia Tech does not discriminate against

at the following sites:

employees, students, or applicants on the

www.eng.vt.edu/main/index.php Writers: Steven Mackay and Lindsey Haugh

basis of age, color, disability, gender, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion,

twitter.com/VTEngineering

sexual orientation or veteran status. Anyone

Art Director: David Stanley

vtengineering.tumblr.com

having questions concerning discrimination

Designer: Robin Dowdy

or

Photographers: Kelsey Kradel, John McCormick, Jim Stroup, Steven Mackay, and members of the EWB and Bridges to Prosperity student groups.

Contributors: Richard Lovegrove

join us on Facebook Private monies pay for the printing of this publication.

or accessibility should contact the Office for Equity and Access.

ENGINEERING NOW College of Engineering Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, Virginia 24061