Lehigh Engineering Update - November 2010
Students
Faculty
Alumni
- Julie Molinari '05, a Ph.D. candidate, received 3rd place for her poster presentation entitled Raman, UV-vis and ATR-IR Study of Vanadium Haloperoxidase Enzyme Mimics at the 7th International Symposium on the Chemistry and Biology of Vanadium in Toyama City, Japan. Together with her advisor, Professor Israel Wachs, she recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a higly cited research journal that covers all topics of chemistry. What's more, in January 2011 she'll be published in this journal once again, this time along with undergraduate ChemE student Elizabeth Upton '11. Molinari also serves as president of the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association (CHEGA).
- In late September, the Rossin Junior Fellows, the Lehigh Engineering student service-leadership society, hosted the 2nd Annual Engineering Day Competition. During the competition, teams made up of engineering students and faculty from several departments had to solve brainteaser puzzles, construct a tower out of newspaper and tape, and build a catapult. The winning team represented the materials science department and was made up of Professor Richard Vinci, Jacob Bumgardner, Dan Guan '11, and Timothy Krentz. Second place went to Professor Frank Curits, Kimberly Hetrick, Stephen Louie, and Adam Shaub, all '14.Third place winners were of the mechanical engineering department, including Professor Edmund Webb, Forrest Holdcroft, Lee Teck Tze, Anthony Presto '12, and Scott Scheraga '12. A few days earlier, the RJF team hosted an ice cream social at The Cup in Campus Square for first-year engineering students. The event was an informal social gathering of the first-year students, as well as upper-class engineering students, to help welcome the new students and answer questions about classes, majors, and engineering activities.
- After several years in research for ExxonMobil, Kevin Doura came to Lehigh as a Ph.D. candidate in 2006. Since then, he has garnered various awards for his research. Most recently, he earned 2nd place at the Philadelphia Catalysis Club 2010 Student Poster Session. His research dealt with chemical fuel additives that suppress the formation of environmentally undesirable soot emission. Along the way, Doura has participated in NSF's International Research Experience for Engineers (IREE) program, which took him to the University of Caen in France during the summer 2008 to perform research that serves as the basis for his ongoing work.
Faculty
- Dan M. Frangopol, an expert in life-cycle engineering for buildings, bridges and other structures, joined a select group of faculty and alumni recently when he was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) on Oct. 21 during the organization's 140th Annual Civil Engineering Conference. Frangopol serves as the first Fazlur R. Khan Endowed Chair of Structural Engineering and Architecture at Lehigh, and is one of 13 new distinguished members of ASCE, the world's premier organization for civil engineers.
- John DuPont, professor of materials science and engineering and associate director of Lehigh’s Energy Research Center, is helping to establish a new national research center devoted to the welding and joining of materials used in the energy industry. The Center for Integrative Materials Joining Science for Energy Applications at Lehigh seeks to extend the lifetime of welds in the existing energy infrastructure and to increase the efficiency of the advanced welding materials used in new infrastructure. The new center is a collaboration among Lehigh and three other universities, three national laboratories, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and 16 companies that produce materials for the energy industry. The National Science Foundation (NSF) last month approved the center, along with more than $5 million in funding over the next five years.
- Israel Wachs, professor of chemical engineering, Christopher Kiely, director of the Nanocharacterization Laboratory and the Lehigh Microscopy School, and Wu Zhou, a Ph.D. candidate in materials science and engineering, co-authored a paper with Rice University professor Michael Wong on their collaborative research into the use of tungsten oxide as a catalyst to help produce more efficient fuels. Their research will help oil refineries make the process of manufacturing gasoline more efficient and eco-friendly. The paper was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
- Arup K. SenGupta, professor of civil and environmental engineering as well as chemical engineering, was recently chosen as the first engineer to receive the 2009 Astellas USA Foundation Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS) for his nano-inspired filtration system tha tremoves arsenic from water intended for human consumption. The Astellas Award is given to individuals or teams who conduct research in the chemical and related sciences and who make a significant contribution to public health.
- U.S. News and World Report has covered the work of a research group led by Charles Lyman, professor of materials science and engineering. The article details their work on the development of catalysts that convert harmful nitrogen oxides emitted from coal- and gas-fired power plants to harmless nitrogen and water vapor without the use of ammonia.
Alumni
- Bill Maloney '80 visited campus to give a talk about his pivotal role in the rescuing of the 33 Chilean miners. Dismayed by late-August news reports claiming that the 33 miners trapped in Chile would not be extracted until Christmas, he put his experience and knowledge to work. Along with like-minded colleagues from around our region and around the world, he helped hatch what came to be known as Plan B, which freed Los 33 as the world watched.
- LifeServe Innovations, founded by Zach Bloom and Rick Arlow, both '09, is a finalist in Businessweek.com's search for the most promising entrepreneurs aged 25 and under. The company develops medical devices, specifically airway products that help open a patient's airways to receive more oxygen in emergency situations. With their products, patients will be able to receive noninvasive procedures to open their airways, taking only 60 seconds to perform, compared to the 10 to 15 minute surgical procedure comparative. The company started as an undergraduate research project at Lehigh, but Bloom and Arlow continued research and development. While at Lehigh, the team successfully competed for the 2009 Joan F. and John M. Thalheimer '55 Student Entrepreneurs competition and the 2009 Michael Levin Advanced Technology Prize. LifeServe Innovations is now a sponsor of student projects through Lehigh's Integrated Product Development program.
- Alton Romig '79 has been selected for a Distinguished Public Service Award by the governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson. According to its Web site, the award is given to those who exhibit unusual contributions to the public service and to the improvement of government at all levels. He will receive the award at the Distinguished Public Service Award banquet in Albuquerque, NM, on November 16.
- Steven Kreider '79, investment manager and former NFL star, returned to Lehigh to talk to students about the value of simplicity in the world of finance as part of the Gruhn Speaker Series hosted by Lehigh's College of Business and Economics. After earning a B.S. in electrical engineering from Lehigh, Kreider went on to play football with the San Francisco 49ers, and later earned a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Cincinnati.
- The STEPS Building was selected as Project of the Year at the 17th Annual March of Dimes’ Commercial and Industrial Real Estate Awards held in late October. Lehigh President Alice P. Gast accepted the award for the state-of-the-art green facility. To learn more about the STEPS building, see the current issue of Resolve magazine.
- On Saturday Oct. 9, Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society that was born at Lehigh, returned to campus as part of the celebration of its 125th anniversary. Hosted by Lehigh Engineering, most of the the three-day convention was held in Valley Forge, PA. Some 500 top engineering students and leaders visited campus on Saturday to rededicate the Bent, the official symbol of TBP, in front of Packard Laboratory. President Alice Gast formally rededicated the Bent, citing the unique relationship between Lehigh and TBP over both institutions' histories.
- In the latest National Research Council's rankings of more than 5,000 doctoral programs in the country, Lehigh engineering graduate programs were recognized for their overall excellence. Several programs achieved more specific recognition, including the electrical and computer engineering and computer science and engineering, which were distinguished for their high levels of faculty and student diversity.
Posted on:
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Share This Story:
