SEAS Colonial Cable

Message from Dean David Dolling

I am sure when you look back on your own lives you will recall that at some stage a light bulb went off, your eyes were opened, and you developed a new interest that became a passion….and that this brand new direction came from an interaction, perhaps a very brief one, with someone who was excited by what they do, passionate about what they do. I call this a MasterCard moment (“priceless”) and I invite you to create one. You may spend only 15-30 minutes with a student, but those few minutes may impact that student’s career in ways that you may never know and in ways that turn out to be “priceless.” Please consider it.

Finally, for those of you who are not local, there will be other opportunities to remain involved with SEAS, too. GW’s Office of Alumni Relations is planning a full schedule of regional events across the country this year, and I encourage you to attend the activities in your region if you can. As I get settled in here at SEAS, I plan to attend as many as I can, too.

Sincerely,

David S. Dolling, Ph.D.
Dean

News & Events

• SEAS Welcomes Three New Faculty Members
• National Science Foundation Awards Five Grants to Computer Science Faculty
• Prof. Pelton to Retire
• SEAS Alumni Scott Amey and Julie Lee Receive Alumni Achievement Awards
• Call for Alumni Volunteers: Boy Scouts and Engineering
• GW Entrepreneurial Roundtable Event: October 6, 2008
• American Society for Engineering Management--National Capital Section Luncheon

SEAS Welcomes Three New Faculty Members

Professor Howie Huang

Professor Howie Huang has joined SEAS as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Before joining SEAS, Huang completed his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Virginia. He earned his M.S. from Colorado School of Mines, and B.S. from Wuhan University, China. His research interests include high performance computing, grid computing, and computer architecture.

Professor Nan Zhang has joined SEAS as an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science. Before joining SEAS, he was an assistant professor of computer science and engineering for two years at the University of Texas at Arlington. Zhang earned his Ph.D. in computer science from Texas A&M University and his B.S. in computer science from Peking University, China. He is a National Science Foundation Career Award winner whose research interests include security and privacy issues in databases, data mining, and computer networks. The topics he researches include: security and anonymity in data collection, publishing, and sharing; privacy-preserving data mining; and wireless network security and privacy.

Professor Yongsheng Leng has joined SEAS as an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Before joining SEAS, he was a research assistant professor of chemical engineering at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, for two and a half years. Professor Leng earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in mechanics and tribology (the science of friction, lubrication and wear between two solid surfaces) from Tsinghua University (China), and his B.S. in mechanical engineering from North China University of Technology. His research projects, supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense, focus mainly on computational materials science at nanometer scales. Research interests include computational nanotribology, molecular modeling of self-assembly at organo-metallic interfaces, nanomechanics, mechanical property of metal nanowires, and the development of computational methodology.

National Science Foundation Awards Five Grants to Computer Science Faculty

In August and September, five faculty members from the Department of Computer Science received a total of $1.32 million in grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support their research.

Professors Rahul Simha and Bhagirath Narahari received a $600,000 four-year grant from the NSF’s Cybertrust program to support a research project entitled, "Hardware Containers for Software Components." The award is part of a $1 million project in collaboration with researchers from Northwestern University and Iowa State University. The project is part of Simha’s and Narahari’s ongoing research, which explores how additional hardware can be utilized to provide more secure computer systems. Their projects in this research area have thus far received over $2 million in total funding from the NSF and the Air Force Office of Sponsored Research.

Professor Poorvi Vora received a two-year $164,478 NSF grant, also from the Cybertrust program, for research on voting systems. Vora explains, “The challenge of a voting system is to prove to voters and observers that the tally is correct, without violating the privacy of the individual voter.” With this research, Vora and doctoral student Ben Hosp hope to be able to understand the privacy limits of the practical voter-verifiable voting systems, using an information-theoretic model that they have developed.

Vora also has received another NSF grant to study statistical cryptanalysis of block ciphers as channel communication. Through this two-year, $125,643 grant, Vora and her team hope to begin an effort to define a framework for cipher attacks so they may better understand how to design good ciphers that avoid the attacks.

Professors Xiuzhen “Susan” Cheng and Hyeong-Ah Choi received a four-year, $330,000 grant to study a number of fundamental problems critical to mesh network throughput optimization—a process that attempts to optimize the total amount of traffic delivered through a network within a unit of time. Because their project requires joint effort from computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, statistics, and biology, Prof. Cheng believes that it has the potential to inspire interesting methodologies that could be applied to many domains.

Separately, Professor Choi received a two-year, $100,000 grant to support a research project entitled, “Resource Management in Secure Open Wireless Networks.” Her research project explores three key issues in the resource management of secure open wireless networks: access selection, QoS scheduling, and security management. Prof. Choi expects that the results obtained through this research will enhance the resource management in next generation wireless networks with multi-access environments.

Prof. Pelton to Retire

Joseph Pelton, research professor of engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering, will be retiring from SEAS at the end of October. After 30 years in the satellite communications field, he joined GW in 1999, working initially with the Institute for Applied Space Research (IASR) and then serving as director of the MS Program in Telecommunications and Computers, located at GW’s Virginia Campus. He later consolidated the research projects he had at the Virginia campus and the activities of the IASR to create the Space & Advanced Communications Research Institute (SACRI).

Dr. Pelton’s research work at GW has included advanced satellite design concepts for the Communications Research Lab of Japan, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, three major studies on space safety related to the Space Shuttle, research for Northrop Grumman, setting up a communications research lab at the Virginia Campus under sponsorship from the State of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, and organizing three major space related conferences. Also while at GW, he was appointed by the Diet of Japan to be an external evaluator of the Japanese Space Program and by NASA and the National Science Foundation to be a co-chairman of a global review of satellite communications technology.

Upon retirement, Dr. Pelton says that he will continue writing a series of books, support programs of the International Space University, and continue working with a number of foundations and professional associations.

SEAS Alumni Scott Amey and Julie Lee Receive Alumni Achievement Awards

Mr. Scott Amey 2008 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award Recipient	Ms. Julie Lee 2008 Recent Alumni Achievement Award Recipient

On September 25th, GW honored seven alumni with achievement awards, and two of them are SEAS alumni. Mr. Scott Amey, MS (computer science) ’75, was presented with the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, and Ms. Julie Lee, MS (systems engineering) ’05 with the Recent Alumni Achievement Award.

Scott co-founded RS Information Systems (RSIS), a company that provides advanced technical and business solutions in information technology, systems engineering and other areas, to the defense, civilian, and law enforcement agencies of the federal government. Before he retired in 2004, he helped grow the company to 1,700 employees, and in 2005, the company was ranked 35th on the Washington Technology list of the largest federal technology services contractors.

After his retirement, Scott served for roughly three years as the volunteer director of the SEAS Career Services Office, dedicating three days a week to helping our students start their careers. He was also very active in helping Georgetown’s Lombardi cancer center where his daughter had been successfully treated.

Scott subsequently started another company, Amyx Inc., which has already grown to 70 employees and which he leads as its president and chief executive officer.

Julie Lee is the president, and chief executive officer of Access Systems, Inc., which provides IT services to the federal government and has been recognized by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce as one of Virginia’s fastest growing companies (2004-2008). It has also been recognized by Inside Business magazine as one of the best places to work in the state, and named among Washington Technology’s “Fast 50” for seven years in a row (2002-2008). From 1998-1999, Julie served as president and chief executive officer of ATECH Corporation.

Julie is an active member of numerous industry organizations, most notably as a member of the Director’s Advisory Council on Women’s Business of the Virginia Department of Business Assistance, an organization to which she was appointed in 2003 by then Governor Mark Warner. In 2006, she received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Small Business Administration in the DC area. She was named one of Fifty Most Influential Minorities in Business by the Minority Business and Professional Network in 2002 and 2004, as well as a Minority Small Business Advocate by the Asian American Business Roundtable in 2004. Julie is active in a number of local and national volunteer organizations, and she is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in engineering management here at SEAS.

Call for Alumni Volunteers: Boy Scouts and Engineering

Mr. Michael Zarroli, a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of the Old Dominion (Virginia) District, has contacted SEAS asking for help in lining up speakers to talk to Scouts about engineering. Mr. Zarroli is seeking volunteers to speak about engineering and give a demonstration at one of the several Boy Scout troop meetings he is organizing in Fairfax County during the month of October. If you would like to help out, please contact him at Michael.Zarroli@USPTO.GOV or 571-272-2101.

Upcoming SEAS Events

Second Annual GW Entrepreneurs Roundtable and Award for Distinguished Entrepreneurial Achievement

You are cordially invited to an event that will celebrate entrepreneurship at GW and honor Asghar Mostafa, M.S. ’82, with the 2nd Annual Award for Distinguished Entrepreneurial Achievement.

The event will include the presentation of the 2008 Entrepreneurship Award, a panel discussion by GW alumni entrepreneurs, and a networking reception to close the event. Please reference the complete schedule below.

AGENDA

Please click here for more information or to register.

This event is sponsored by The George Washington Entrepreneurs Round Table (GWERT), the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the GW School of Business.

American Society for Engineering Management--National Capital Section Luncheon

Join us for a lunchtime presentation by Dr. David R. Gallay, project director of the Logistics Management Institute. Dr. Gallay's topic will be "Project Management Oversight of the Secure Border Initiative: Helping Build the Barrier Fence Along the Southwest Border of the United States." Please visit the SEAS website for more information and to RSVP.

Archives: SEAS Colonial Cable

SEAS Colonial Cables from the 2007-2008 Academic Year

SEAS Colonial Cables from the 2006-2007 Academic Year

SEAS Colonial Cables from the 2005-2006 Academic Year

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• September 2008