Faculty Present Findings and Publish Papers in June

Several CETA faculty members attended the 2008 ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) Conference and Exposition June 22 through 25. This was the 115th annual meeting of the ASEE, held this year at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. More than 3500 engineering educators and students attended 386 sessions where papers were presented representing research in all areas of engineering education, including educational methods.

CETA faculty presentations included the following:

• Dr. Jonathan Hill, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, “Using an Educational Microprocessor Architecture and FPGA Implementation to Introduce Interrupts”


• Dr. Hill and Dr. Patricial Mellodge, assistant professor of electrical engineering, “Control System Design and Implementation Using the Motor Controls Toolkit—The Robot Car”


• Dr. Hill and Dr. Akram Abu-aisheh, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, “Educational Optical Fiber Data Communications Toolkit”


• Dr. Ivana Milanovic, associate professor and chair of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr. Tom Eppes, associate professor and chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering, “Modular, Adaptable and Reusable Approach to Thermal-Fluids: Outwitting the Norms (MARATHON)”


• Dr. Milanovic, Dr. Eppes, and Janice Girouard, manager of Student Services for CETA, “An Integrative Approach to Undergraduate and Graduate Change”


• Dr. David Pines, associate professor and chair of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Hisham Alnajjar, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate dean of CETA, “Evolution of an Interdisciplinary Sophomore Design Course at the University of Hartford”


• Dr. Devdas Shetty, dean of the College of Engineering at Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan; and Claudio Campana, research engineering in CETA, “Design of a Methodology for the Inspection of Broaching Tool”


• Daniel Davis, AIA, professor of architecture, director of design in the Hartford, Connecticut, office of Fletcher-Thompson Architects and Engineers, “Understanding Construction Project Relationships”

All the CETA participants in the ASEE Conference report that, in addition to the interesting presentations they attended and the networking opportunities on offer, they were able to enjoy the city of Pittsburgh and baseball—Professor Davis reports attending a Yankees baseball game against the Pirates.

Dr. Hill also attended the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Biomed 2008 Conference, held this year June 18 to 20 in Irvine, California. The conference sessions covered such topics as “Imaging and Anatomic Interaction,” “Device Technology and Innovation,” and “Bio-sensors and Diagnostics.” Dr. Hill presented three papers at the conference as follows:

• “System for Recording the Bowel Sounds of Premature Infants,” with M. Regan, a student; R. Adrezin (associate professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering), and L. Eisenfeld (physician at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center)


• “Wireless Central Apnea Response System for Neonatal Intensive Care,” with R. Adrezin and L. Eisenfeld.


• “Flexible Wireless Research-Oriented System for Human Performance Studies,” with M. Atallah (a student) and K. Ball (assistant professor of physical therapy in the College of Education, Nursing, and Health Professions)

Finally, Dr. Ladimer Nagurney, associate professor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering, attended the Third International Conference on Funding Transportation Infrastructure in Paris, France. This conference, which was held June 19 and 20, focused on the relationship between pricing of transportation infrastructure and investments, considering institutional mechanisms such as earmarking of revenues, transportation funds, public private partnerships, and intergovernmental relationships that facilitate (or potentially impede) efficient pricing and investment decisions for transportation infrastructure. It was directed toward academics, researchers, industry practitioners and policymakers. Theoretical, empirical/case-study and policy-oriented contributions were presented. Dr. Nagurney presented a paper titled “Environmental Impact Assessment of Transportation Networks with Degradable Links in an Era of Climate Change” with Anna Nagurney (professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) and Qiang Qiang (Ph.D. student in management science), both of the University of Massachusetts–Amherst.

(The photo of the Pittsburgh skyline and one of the cities many bridges is used with the permission of Dr. Jonathan Hill.)