SEAS Colonial Cable

Message from Dean David Dolling

The SEAS calendar is filled this month with activities and opportunities for learning, reconnecting with friends, and even getting career advice. Let me highlight just two of them.

The SEAS Seminar Series: SEAS has initiated a bi-weekly seminar series, Engineering Challenges in the 21st Century, which we kicked off on October 5th with the first of our topics, energy and climate change. Each seminar is devoted to a different topical issue that engineers are working on today and looks at its impact on human life and health. Our next seminar, on October 19th, looks at project design in civil engineering. We hope you’ll join us for it. A full schedule of the fall seminar series is available on the SEAS website.

The Frank Howard Distinguished Lecture Series: As part of the School’s 125th anniversary celebration, SEAS is hosting the Frank Howard Lecture series, bringing three leaders in engineering and computer science to campus throughout the fall. The first speaker, Dr. Mihail Roco, will speak next Monday, October 12th, on the subject of nanotechnology. I encourage you to come learn more about one of engineering’s hottest fields. Information on each of the lectures is posted in our Events section below.

Lastly, let me say again how much I enjoyed seeing so many of you at last Saturday’s Alumni Weekend BBQ Celebration here on the front lawn of Tompkins Hall. I was particularly pleased to see members of the Class of ’59 who were here to celebrate their class reunion and see longtime friends. Thank you all for your interest and involvement with SEAS. It truly does make a difference.

Sincerely,

David S. Dolling, Ph.D.
Dean

News & Events

• A Message from Development
• SEAS Celebrates Its 125th "Birthday"!
• GW Receives NSF Grant to Study the Effect of Road Environment on Driving Behavior
• Professor Riffat Nominated for Two Medals for Published Papers
• SEAS 125th Anniversary Event: Frank Howard Lecture Series
• Resume Critique Event
• Event: GW Celebrates Hampton Roads
• Call for Volunteers: Alumni Career Networking Night
• GW Global Forum: The United States and Asia in a Time of Change

A message from Development . . .

Dear SEAS Alumni and Friends:

There are a number of reasons why SEAS takes pride in celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, and one of the most important reasons is this: by knowing and celebrating our foundation, we better prepare ourselves to build for our future.

One of the best ways we can build for the future is by helping to support the education of our students. The SEAS 125th Anniversary Scholarship Fund is a great opportunity to do that.

Your gift will provide important and needed financial aid for aspiring SEAS students as they develop the skills and expertise that will be necessary to solve some of our most pressing global issues. With your help, SEAS can prepare more students to take their places among engineers and computer scientists working toward greater energy independence, better computer security, cleaner water, and more technologies with healthcare applications.

Please join us in this 125th year of engineering at GW as we build and strengthen our great school for the future.

Your gift can be made online at https://www.gwu.edu/online_giving/, or by mail to SEAS, Office of Development and Alumni Relations, 210 Tompkins Hall, 725 23rd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052.

I, or a member of the SEAS Development staff, would be happy to talk with you and can be reached at 202-994-8474 or by email to seas@gwu.edu.

On behalf of Dean Dolling and all of us here at SEAS, thank you.

Thank you, and my best regards,
Jim Howard

Assistant Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations
210 Tompkins Hall
jphoward@gwu.edu
Tel: 202-994-4121

~~ SEAS 2009 - Celebrating 125 Years of Engineering ~~

SEAS Celebrates Its 125th "Birthday"!

On October 1, 1884 the Corcoran Scientific School—the precursor to SEAS—opened its doors, bringing engineering education to GW and to DC.

On Thursday, October 1, 2009, SEAS celebrated its 125th “birthday” with a party on the front lawn of Tompkins Hall for SEAS students, faculty, and staff. The afternoon’s festivities included music, cake and ice cream, a trivia contest, and raffle drawings for student prizes.

With Mr. Howard Davis as emcee, SEAS hosted “Trivial Pursuit –SEAS Edition” to test students’ knowledge of engineering and the School’s history. Students competed to answer questions such as “In what year was civil engineering first offered at GW?” and “What famous horror movie producer was also an engineer?” and “Who is considered the world’s first programmer?” The dean’s office provided SEAS 125th anniversary t-shirts and various gift certificates which students won during the trivia contest and in raffle drawings held throughout the afternoon.

GW Receives NSF Grant to Study the Effect of Road Environment on Driving Behavior

Professor Samer Hamdar of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and his colleagues, Drs. Vinayak Dixit and Brian Wolshon of Louisiana State University and Dr. Anurag Pande of California Polytechnic State University, have received a three-year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for their proposal, “New Methods for Measuring, Evaluating and Predicting the Safety Impact of Road Infrastructure Systems on Driver Behavior." GW has been allocated $250,000 of the total grant.

This research project seeks to address the question: How does the road environment affect aggressive (risk attitudes) driving behavior from a traffic flow theory perspective? By explicitly modeling risk attitudes and perceptions as part of the driving behavior model, it is possible to consider the effects jointly and build a unified theory. The main idea behind this unified approach is to develop a framework to understand the effects of road infrastructure on the risk attitudes and aggressive behavior of drivers. This will lead to a better understanding of the behavioral implication of road infrastructure features such as: pavement characteristics, geometry, sight distance, signal density, number of lanes, lane width, and curb width and grade.

Professor Riffat Nominated for Two Medals for Published Papers

The Water Environment Federation has nominated Professor Rumana Riffat of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for two medals for papers she published in its journal, Water Environment Research. She has been nominated for the Harrison Prescott Eddy Medal for the 2008 publication of “Influence of Source Characteristics, Chemicals and Flocculation on Chemically Enhanced Primary Treatment.” The medal is awarded for research that makes a vital contribution to existing knowledge of the fundamental principles or processes of wastewater treatment. The paper is coauthored by her graduate students Dilli Neupane and Marija Peric. She was also nominated for the George Bradley Gascoigne Medal for the 2008 publication of “Denitrification with Carbon Addition – Kinetic Considerations.” The medal is awarded to the author(s) of an article that presents the solution of an important and complicated operational problem within a full-scale, operating wastewater treatment plant. The paper is coauthored by her graduate students Yalda Mokhayeri, Adam Nichols, and Jeneva Hinojosa.

Upcoming SEAS Events

Resume Critique Event
A career event for SEAS students and young alumni

Do you have a resume that needs updating? Would you like a professional to look it over and critique it? Please join us for the Resume Critique Night for SEAS students and Young Alumni. Resume Critique Night is an opportunity for you to meet one-on-one with experts from various disciplines of engineering and related fields, get professional advice on the form and content of your resume, and network with other SEAS alumni and students. (Read more and register…)

GW Celebrates Hampton Roads

Please join us for an evening celebration of GW's Hampton Roads Campus. We welcome all alumni and students to join us for a reception and update on the exciting initiatives of the Hampton Roads Campus, featuring SEAS Dean, David S. Dolling. Hampton Roads Center Associate Dean Greg Logan, GSEHD MA '80, EdD '97, will also join us with an update on the Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD) and the Hampton Roads Center's progress over the years. (Read more and register…)

GW Global Forum: The United States and Asia in a Time of Change

Date:	Friday, November 13 - Saturday, November 14, 2009
Location:	Island Shangri-La Pacific Place, Central, Hong Kong

GW’s inaugural Global Forum provides an opportunity for alumni, parents, students, and friends to convene at one of Asia’s most exciting locations. Join us to network with members of the GW worldwide community and to hear from recognized experts from the U.S. and Asia about the most pressing issues facing the United States and Asia today! (Read more and register. . .)

Call for Volunteers: Alumni Career Networking Night

The Office of Alumni Relations is seeking volunteers for GW’s first ever, school-wide, Alumni Career Networking Night. Volunteers will serve as table facilitators for their specific industry, helping connect fellow alumni in similar fields and providing conversational leadership and direction. If you are interested in serving as a table facilitator, please email your full name, employer, professional title, graduation year, and degree to Kate Duis. All volunteers will receive specific instructions as the event nears. If you are unable to serve as a table facilitator, we welcome you to attend the event and make the most of your GW connections as a participant! (Read more and register. . .)

SEAS 125th Anniversary Event: Frank Howard Lecture Series
In celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the School of Engineering and Applied Science

This fall, the Frank Howard Distinguished Lecture Series will host three engineering experts in fields that are the focus of the cutting-edge research happening in engineering. Please join your fellow alumni at these lectures, each followed by a networking reception.

Mihail Roco is the founding chair of the National Science and Technology Council's Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET), and is the Senior Advisor for Nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation. Prior to joining NSF, he was professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Roco was also a key architect of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. (Read more and register…)

Frieder Seible is considered a world-leader in bridge design and strategies to mitigate earthquake damage to buildings and bridges. His research achievements include the development of large-scale structural testing techniques, seismic assessment and retrofit of bridges, and blast protection of structures. Dr. Seible is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the dean of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.(Read more and register...)

Barbara Liskov's pioneering work in the design of computer programming languages underpins virtually every modern computing-related convenience in people's daily lives. Her early innovations in software design have been the basis of every important programming language since 1975, including Ada, C++, Java and C#. Dr. Liskov heads the Programming Methodology Group in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT. She received the ACM Turing Award in 2009, the ACM SIGPLAN Programming Language Achievement Award in 2008, the IEEE Von Neumann medal in 2004, a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Women Engineers in 1996, and in 2003 was named one of the 50 most important women in science by Discover Magazine. (Read more and register...)

Archives: SEAS Colonial Cable

SEAS Colonial Cables from the 2008-2009 Academic Year

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