SEAS Colonial Cable

Message from Dean David Dolling

In addition to SEAS’ achievement in hiring female faculty into our engineering programs, ABET congratulated SEAS for its success in attracting women to our graduate programs, where 27.8% of our master’s candidates and 26% of our doctoral candidates are female. ABET also noted that SEAS has significantly increased activities for female engineering students through our Society of Women Engineers (SWE) chapter and our active peer mentoring network. These efforts have helped with the recruitment and retention of female engineering students at GW. In addition, this environment has provided women graduates with an extraordinary learning experience.

Congratulations go out to all at SEAS who work to make our school a welcoming environment in which all can thrive.

Sincerely,

David S. Dolling, Ph.D.
Dean

News & Events

• GW Establishes New Institute for Nanotechnology
• SEAS Research Team Demonstrates "Voter-Verifiable" Voting System to Media
• SEAS Welcomes Professor Pinhas Ben-Tzvi
• Join Us for Pitch George!
• Volunteer to Interview Prospective Students
• Join Us for the Career Relaunch Forum
• Luther Rice Society Launches The GW Real Estate Alliance In DC
• American Society for Engineering Management--National Capital Section Luncheon

GW Establishes New Institute for Nanotechnology

Sixteen faculty in SEAS and the Columbian College of Arts and Science (CCAS) are founding the new GW Institute for Nanotechnology (GWIN). GWIN will strengthen GW's research and educational activities involving nanotechnology by uniting faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students from the Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, and Biochemistry. The University is providing financial support for the new institute under its strategic academic excellence initiative, designed to help foster promising areas of research and academic programming at GW. These funds will support the acquisition of new nanotechnology equipment, the establishment of a new lecture series, and support for new seed projects.

Nanotechnology, a field at the intersection of science and engineering, studies and applies the phenomena of natural and man-made materials with dimensions below 100 nanometers. It attempts to image, measure, model, and manipulate matter and find new applications of it. GWIN will undertake research projects related to nanostructured materials and their properties; applications and devices incorporating nanostructures; computational modeling and analysis; and nano manufacturing and metrology.

“Nanotechnology is a vital area of national importance with applications across a wide spectrum from medicine to electronics to improving water quality world-wide,” said David Dolling, dean of GW’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “National laboratories, federal agencies, and private sector corporations all recognize the as-yet untapped potential for discoveries in this emerging field, and we believe that our engineers and scientists will be among those who unlock some of its exciting secrets. GWIN facilitates their task by creating an infrastructure that fosters multi-disciplinary efforts and provides research support.”

Ryan Vallance, GW professor of mechanical engineering and lead professor in the establishment of the institute, explained the importance of work in nanotechnology to the university’s engineering and science education programs. “Nanoscale phenomena are frequently incompatible with our classical intuition and experiences,” said Vallance. “Traditional engineering theories, like continuum mechanics, which engineers have used for over a century to design new devices, break down in nanotechnology. We have to now teach students additional physical, chemical, biological and statistical principles that govern nanotechnology . GWIN will help us incorporate nanotechnology into our educational programs, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.”

SEAS Research Team Demonstrates "Voter-Verifiable" Voting System to Media

Professor Poorvi Vora

With the help of GW’s Office of Media Relations, SEAS hosted a Media Breakfast event on October 21st, featuring faculty and students from the Department of Computer Science. Professor Poorvi Vora and doctoral student Stefan Popoveniuc gave a presentation to the media and demonstrated their research, while Professor Rahul Simha and doctoral student Ben Hosp also attended the breakfast and participated during the question and answer session with the media.

A media breakfast is simply an hour-long event here at SEAS to which we invite members of the media to hear a presentation on some area of research in which our faculty is engaged. GW periodically hosts these events to introduce its faculty to the media and to build relationships with the media. If we are lucky, we sometimes get some coverage out of the event. This time, we were very fortunate in the coverage we received.

The research that Professor Vora and Mr. Popoveniuc presented ("voter-verifiable" voting systems) is a very timely topic, and because of this, we received an unusually high amount of publicity out of the breakfast. Their research was covered by WMAL, WAMU (DC’s National Public Radio affiliate), The Washington Times, Voice of America (radio, broadcast, and Web), and Medill News Services. More information on the presentation and the coverage is available on the GW News Center.

Additionally, Mr. Stefan Popoveniuc ran a mock election for GW’s international students last night, November 4th, to give them the chance to express their opinions on the U.S. presidential candidates and, at the same time, allow the research team to informally test the Scantegrity "voter-verifiable" voting system that they’ve developed. We look forward to the results.

SEAS Welcomes Professor Pinhas Ben-Tzvi

Professor Pinhas Ben-Tzvi

Prof. Pinhas Ben-Tzvi has joined SEAS as an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Prof. Ben-Tzvi received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering (Summa Cum Laude) from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto, both in mechanical engineering. From 2000 to 2002, he was employed by General Electric Medical Systems, where he worked mainly on the design, analysis, development and integration of medical diagnostic robotic systems. His areas of research and academic interests are focused on the advanced mechanics and control of mechatronic and robotic systems, the design of intelligent autonomous systems, and the application of smart materials for the development of novel sensors and actuators for biomedical and miniature mechatronic and microrobotic systems.

Join Us for Pitch George!
“Great businesses start with great business ideas”

If you’ve got an exciting business idea, but lack the know-how to get it off the ground, we want to hear from you! Come to Pitch George!

Pitch George is a risk-free opportunity to present your idea and get important feedback on the viability of your business concept and win money. Even better, the Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence (CFEE) will help those individuals with strong proposals expand and refine their ideas into solid business plans to compete in the Rick and Ann Scott Business Plan.

For more information and to sign up today go to www.gwupitchgeorge.com. Alumni will be granted a one week extension on submitting their plan until November 10, 2008.

Volunteer to Interview Prospective Students

Join GW Admissions staff, current students, and alumni and parent volunteers at an interview weekend near you. If you are interested, please contact the Admissions Alumni & Parent (AAP) program at aap@gwu.edu. Learn more about AAP...

New York City Interview Weekend
November 15 & 16

Philadelphia Interview Weekend
November 15 & 16

Los Angeles Interview Weekend
November 22 & 23

San Francisco Interview Weekend
December 6 & 7

Miami Interview Weekend
November 15 & 16

Upcoming SEAS Events

Luther Rice Society Launches The GW Real Estate Alliance In DC

Please join the Luther Rice Society in launching the GW Real Estate Alliance (GWREA) in DC. GWREA is a network of alumni and friends working in real estate and related fields. We provide professional development and networking opportunities for our membership and we serve as a vital link between the university, students, the vast field of real estate, and its membership. Read more and register...

American Society for Engineering Management--National Capital Section Luncheon

Join us for a lunchtime presentation by Philip C. Koenig, D.Sc., of the Futures Concepts and Surface Ship Design Group Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard. Dr. Koenig will report on an interdisciplinary study conducted in-house of alternative fleet architectures with the goal of addressing the high cost and extended duration of naval vessel design and construction. Please visit the SEAS website for more information and to RSVP.

The Career Relaunch Forum

This is a one-day conference for mid-career professionals looking to resume careers after time out of the workforce. The forum provides attendees with unprecedented access to career re-entry resources and expert advice. GW alumni receive a special discount of $30 off the regular price. To receive the discount, type “GWU” in the "How did you hear about us?" box when registering. You will then receive a $30 credit within 48 hours. Read more and register...

Holiday Open House At Alumni House

Celebrate the holidays with fellow GW alumni at an open house at Alumni House! There will be music, drinks, food and fun! Read more and register...

For a complete list of alumni events, including regional happy hours and other programming, please see the Online Alumni Events Calendar.

Archives: SEAS Colonial Cable

SEAS Colonial Cables from the 2007-2008 Academic Year

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