Some Recent Faculty Grants, Awards and Publications

Sustainability Grants

A project created by Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental & Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Tom Filburn, associate professor of Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering and assistant director of the Clean Energy Institute, is among the six recipients of sustainability grants awarded by Lynn Pasquerella, provost of the University, for the upcoming academic year. Dr. Fang and Dr. Filburn are offering a seminar series open to both the University and wider community on sustainability. The seminars will be held during the fall and spring semesters.

The Sustainability Grant program was established by the Office of the Provost to address sustainability and encourage student learning in that interdisciplinary field. In addition, the program is meant to identify and establish resources to educate people at the local, regional and national levels about the environment.

Coffin Grants and Summer Stipends

Three CETA faculty are among the fourteen recipients of Coffin Grants and Summer Stipends awarded for the 2009–2010 academic year. Dr. Michelle Vigeant, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received a Coffin Grant that enables course release time so that she can pursue her research in architectural acoustics. Her project is aimed at determining whether a listener’s acoustic perception varies will small as well as large changes in position in a hall. Dr. Vigeant will make her measurements and recordings in the Bushnell Belding theater in Hartford.

James Fuller, associate professor of Architecture, received a Summer Stipend to allow him to write papers in continuation of work he is performing under a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. Fuller’s work focuses on sustainable growth and permits development of model regulations for incorporating affordable housing in smart growth development. Relevant portions of the project will be included in course curricula in CETA.

Dr. Christian Carloni, assistant professor of Architecture, also received a Summer Stipend. Dr. Carloni’s work involves a numerical analysis of the debonding mechanism of certain laminates used in construction, a continuing study for him. He will prepare conference papers based on the results of his analysis for two symposia on masonry.

A Student Presentation

Two of Dr. Michelle Vigeant’s students presented a paper at the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) spring conference in Portland, Oregon, in May. Clothilde Giacomoni, Acoustical Engineering and Music, and Amy Scherma, Mechanical Engineering with Acoustics concentration, both class of 2010, offered their paper “Comparisons of Different Microphones, Microphone Orientation and Spacing on Late Lateral Energy Measurements.” In the paper, the two discuss research in architectural acoustics relating to the subjective impression of spaciousness in concert halls. In addition to Dr. Vigeant’s supervision, the students received support from a WELFund (Women's Education and Leadership Fund, a legacy of the Hartford College for Women) grant.

The ASA conferences are the premier venue for presentations of the latest research in Acoustics in North America.

Faculty Publications

Dr. Michelle Vigeant published a paper in Acta Acustica 94(6) along with colleagues L.M. Wang and J.H. Rindel, entitled “Investigations of orchestra auralizations using the multi-channel multi-source auralization technique.

Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental & Biomedical Engineering, recently authored a paper entitled “Modeling and Simulation of Vehicle Projection Arrival Discharge Process in Adaptive Traffic Signal Controls,” which will be published in the Journal of Advanced Transportation. She also recently co-authored two papers on the use of fuzzy logic in freeway ramp metering and interchange signal controls with a research group in Intelligent Transportation Systems at Massy University, New Zealand.