CETA Connections

Architecture Competition Held

2010-11-22T12:44:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, November 16, 2010, the students in AET 355, Engineering Mechanics, presented their projects for the juried Sculpture in Tension (and Compression) competition. This event marks the third annual design competition in this class, which is taught by Dr. Christian Carloni. The students had to design and build an original sculpture in which each member is in tension or compression only. The jurors for this competition were Sharon L. Vasquez, provost of the University of Hartford; Louis Manzione, dean of CETA; Mike Crosbie, chair of the Department of Architecture in CETA; Edward Allen, architect and teacher; and Dr. Carloni.

The competition was won by Anthony Papa and Amberlynn Rodriguez, whose sculpture is shown below. They received a gift certificate to the University Book Store for their efforts. Runners up were Domenick Gagliardi and Jacob Hajjar; Maegan Hall and Shana Italiano; Benjamin Schuetz and Stephen Sorak; and Garret Lord and Martin Chase.

Following the presentations, Edward Allen presented a lecture called “Big Adventures with Small Structures,” in which he discussed various small-scale built projects in which he used vaults, trusses, and enhanced post-and-beam framing. His purpose, he said, “is to convince students that they can do interesting structures even on very small projects; they need not wait for a chance to do a major bridge or roof.”

Allen taught architectural design, building construction, and structural design full time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for thirteen years before leaving to develop his architectural practice and write a series of textbooks. His titles include Stone Shelters; How Buildings Work; Fundamentals of Building Construction; The Architect’s Studio Companion; Shaping Structures: Statics; Fundamentals of Residential Construction;, Architectural Detailing; and Form and Forces: Designing Efficient, Expressive Structures. Nearly every school of architecture in North America and many in foreign countries use one or more of these titles as texts. Most of them have been published in at least one foreign language translation. Mr. Allen is the founder and for many years was the editor and publisher of Connector, a newsletter that has been influential in changing the way technical subjects are taught in schools of architecture. He has lectured and taught on four continents and has conducted architectural research on a fifth. Following an appointment as Pietro Belluschi Distinguished Professor of Architectural Design at the University of Oregon in 1997, he has retained a visiting appointment at that institution, where he was instrumental in founding the world’s only graduate program in technical teaching for teachers of architecture. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In 2005 he was awarded jointly by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute of Architects the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education, the highest honor in this field.

CETA congratulates the winners of the Sculpture in Tension (and Compression) competition.

the winning sculpture (top) and one of the studies done by the students in preparation for building the sculpture.

Below are various other entries in the competition.

Anechoic Chamber Dedicated

2010-10-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

On Friday, October 15, CETA celebrated the naming of the Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation Anechoic Chamber in the Acoustics Engineering Laboratory, Dana Hall 126. The dedication of the chamber is the newest development between the Veneklasen Foundation and CETA's Acoustical Engineering Programs.

The Foundation, which was established 30 years ago by Veneklasen Associates to support research in acoustics, has for several years provided funding for various projects in the Acoustics program. The projects have resulted in award-winning presentations by CETA faculty, students, and alumni in both the Acoustical Engineering and Music and the B.S. M.E. with Acoustics concentration programs.

Speaking for CETA, Dean Louis Manzione along with Dr. Michelle Vigeant and Dr. Bob Celmer, thanked the Foundation for its continuing support, which enables CETA students to work on state-of-the-art projects in the field of acoustics.

John J. LoVerde, president of the Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation, and Walter Harrison, president of the University of Hartford, speak together before the unveiling of the plaques.

Dr. Michelle Vigeant explains the plaque acknowledging the many contributions made by the Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation to CETA's Acoustics Program.

Dr. Louis Manzione, dean of CETA, discusses the Acoustics Program and thanks the Foundation for its contributions.

Dr. Bob Celmer, program director of the Acoustics programs in CETA, unveils the name plaque on the anechoic chamber in the acoustics laboratory.

The dedication was followed by a dinner and a concert featuring performances by current and former Acoustics students.

More Faculty Achieve Success

2010-10-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Assistant Professor David Shuman, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Instructor Michael Ryan, both teaching in the Audio Engineering Technology Program here in CETA mixed the audio (music, dialog, effects, etc.) for a musical documentary highlighting the rich Jewish culture of Poland. 100 Voices: A Journey Home had a limited opening in the United States, one day only, September 21, 2010.

The story told in the movie comprises the personal reflections and musical performances of Cantors Assembly members and composer Charles Fox. It offers viewers the opportunity to learn about a culture that produced an artistic and educated outpouring in Europe and tells of two peoples sharing intertwined cultures.

On the opening evening a concert of contemporary American cantorial music was offered, and Shuman and Ryan mixed the audio for that event as well.

Hemchandra M. Shertukde, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has published a book, Tracking of Crossing Targets with Passive Sensors: Using Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) Sensors and Track Before Detect (TBD) Methodology. The book, published by VDM Publishing, is a monograph on Dr. Shertukde’s target-tracking research with the U.S. Air Force and Navy performed over the last 27 years. The research Dr. Shertukde has done will also be used for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) project now being led by Dean Lou Manzione in CETA.

Abby Ilumoka-Nwabuzor, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has received an $83,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support her research into the best practices for recruiting and retaining women and minorities to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) disciplines.

Dr. Ilumoka will use this grant to support a project titled “Development of Pedagogical Insights and Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Women and Minorities in STEM.” The project is an immersion program for high-school students over 12 months with four key components:

     • After-school classroom-based STEM workshops during the school year

     • A STEM summer day camp during summer 2011

     • A year-round industry-based mentoring program to provide on-site shadowing and e-mentoring for students

     • Parent/guardian workshops to inform and empower adults as they support their children in STEM fields.

CETA congratulates these professors on their achievements.

Recent Papers and Presentations by CETA Faculty

2010-09-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ladimer Nagurney, associate professor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering, has had his paper “Sustainable Supply Chain Network Design: A Multicriteria Perspective” published in the September 2010 issue of International Journal of Sustainable Engineering. This paper, co-authored with Professor Anna Nagurney of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, was written during Dr. Nagurney’s recent sabbatical. The paper focuses on the importance of identifying the optimal design of supply chains, which are complex networks consisting of manufacturing plants and various modes of transportation and distribution, along with storage technologies. Supply chains have costs and produce emissions, for instance, carbon, that can affect a business’s profits and reputation. Rigorous tools that determine how to minimize a carbon footprint through sustainable supply chain network design can significantly affect the cost of doing business.

Dr. Abby Ilumoka-Nwabuzor, professor of electrical and computer engineering, hosted a panel discussion and gave an invited talk at the June 2010 conference on Integrating Science and Mathematics Education Research into Teaching at the University of Maine in Orono. Dr. Ilumoka’s talk, “Development of Pedagogical Insights and Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Women in STEM,” featured the results of an after-school STEM program she conducted at Bloomfield and Simsbury, Conn., high schools in 2009 and 2010. Her program was sponsored by a grant from the Women’s Education and Leadership Fund (WELFund) here at the University of Hartford.

Dr. Michelle Vigeant, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, chaired the Concert Hall Research Group (CHRG) Summer Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in July 2010. The summer institute brings together professionals in and students of concert hall acoustics from around the world and featured top professionals in performing arts facility design, concert venue tours, and performances from the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and The Santa Fe Opera. Dr. Vigeant was joined on the organizing committee by Tim Foulkes of Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Carl Rosenberg of AcenTech, and Bill Dohn of Dohn and Associates.

Dr. Vigeant also presented three papers at two international meetings held in Australia over the summer. At the International Congress on Acoustics (ICA), held in Sydney, August 23 through 27, she presented work on the just noticeable difference (JND), the smallest difference detectable on a room acoustics parameter clarity index (C80). She discussed results from two subjective listening tests comparing two different testing methods. This work, supported by the Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation, involved the assistance of four of Dr. Vigeant’s students: Meghan Ahearn, ’09; Matthew Schaeffler, ’09; Clothilde Giacomoni, ’10; and Christopher Jasinski, ’11.

The second conference, the International Symposium on Room Acoustics (ISRA), met in Melbourne, August 29 through 31. Dr. Vigeant was invited to discuss her work on anechoic recordings of orchestral music, work completed during her dissertation studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Vigeant also presented a poster concerning the acoustics subjective parameter of listener envelopment, the sense of being immersed in the sound field, as related to an objective parameter late lateral energy level (GLL). This work, supported by a University of Hartford Greenberg Junior Faculty Grant, was carried out with the assistance of three University students: David Dick, ’10; Madison Ford, ’10; and Carl Vogel, ’10.

Dr. Vigeant’s travel to Australia was funded by the Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation, the University of Hartford Greenberg Junior Faculty Grant, an International Symposium on Room Acoustics Young Scientist Grant, and the University of Hartford International Center Faculty Travel Grant.

CETA Welcomes Class of 2014

2010-09-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

The class of 2014 has arrived in CETA and is settling into college life. A total of 247 new students join us, 37 of them young women, and 28 of them with AP credits. Our new students come from nine different countries and 18 states in the United States. Of the various majors, Architecture is the biggest in the college (and one of the biggest in the University), while Audio Engineering Technology has the biggest gain in numbers.

On August 30, CETA held a meeting with the new students to bring them together regardless of major and make sure they have the information they need to begin their studies. Dean Louis Manzione assured them that, though the majors they have chosen are among the most difficult at the University, they have many resources and people willing to help them succeed. The students met various Student Services staff members and learned about what those people can do for them, and various faculty members were also introduced.

Members of the class of 2014 hear from Dean Lou Manzione.

CETA welcomes the class of 2014 and looks forward to working with them and fostering their careers.

Tai Soo Kim Traveling Fellowship Awarded

2010-05-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

On May 11, in Wilde Auditorium, CETA graduate Michael Varesio presented a report on the trip he took as the 2009 Tai Soo Kim Traveling Fellow. Michael examined the architecture of various Mediterranean sites, including Spain, Morocco, and the island of Santorini, and created a slide show of his trip, sharing the various building styles and influences with an audience that included current architecture students and faculty as well as Tai Soo Kim.

Michael Varesio shares photos of his trip.

Mr. Kim is an architect practicing in the Hartford area who has endowed this fellowship to support the independent travel and inquiry of a University of Hartford Master of Architecture graduate each year. The trips are meant to help the recipients grow as architects.

In this, the fourth year of the fellowship, a trio of graduates received the fellowship. Emphasizing the idea that collaboration is now essential to the practice of architecture, Carolina Calle, Brenda Eaton, and Michelle Miller proposed a collaborative trip to various cities and towns across the United states to examine various communities to learn which components of those communities make them successful—and to strengthen their own collaboration and team skills. They plan to visit Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Savannah, Georgia; and Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Michael Crosbie, Brenda Eaton, Michelle Miller, and Carolina Calle

CETA thanks Tai Soo Kim for his generosity to students and congratulates Michael, Carolina, Brenda, and Michelle on their success.

CETA Graduates 175

2010-05-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

On May 16, under sunny skies, 175 undergraduate and graduate students in CETA received their diplomas. In addition, various honors were awarded to graduating students.

Among the highlights, Neftali Torres, a Civil Engineering major, received the John G. Lee Medal from the University. This medal is presented to a graduating student from the Greater Hartford region who has excelled academically and demonstrated a deep commitment to the community. You can read about his accomplishments in this post on the CETABlog.
At CETA’s diploma ceremony, the recipients of this year’s Tai Soo Kim Architecture Traveling Fellowship were recognized. Carolina Calle, Brenda Eaton, and Michelle Harrigan Miller received the fellowship, which will allow them to travel in the United States and study the formation of community. This award supports the independent travel and inquiry of a University of Hartford Master of Architecture graduate each year. This year, for the first time, a collaborative project has been awarded the fellowship.

Finally, Dr. Chittaranjan Sahay awarded the Dr. Girija Sahay and Ahilya Devi Award for Academic Excellence to Matthew Nilsen, a Mechanical Engineering major who graduated summa cum laude.

In an email to faculty and staff who worked on and participated in the ceremonies yesterday, Dr. Ladimer Nagurney, CETA’s chief marshal said, “On behalf of our graduating students, I would like to thank each and every one of you for making their graduation yesterday special. The weather could not have been better and the ceremony went flawlessly.”

CETA congratulates all the graduating students and hopes that they will share their success stories with us.

CETA Day Celebrated

2010-05-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

Friday May 7 is CETA Day, when we celebrate the creativity of our Engineering, Technology, and Architecture students as they present senior capstone projects and Master’s thesis work. Here is a list of many of the presentations made today:

Audio Engineering Technology:

Rob Hoinsky: Acoustic Modification of a Space for Mixing Music

Diana Rosen: Independent Film Project—Videos for Real Art Ways Community Center

Keenan O’Connor: Harmonic Percolator Guitar Effects Unit

Andy Spalla: Commercial Sound System Installation in the University of Hartford’s Gengras Main Hall/Cafeteria

Computer & Electrical Engineering, ECE 483–Design II:

Jeremy Bredickas & Shruti Khare: Fire-fighting Robot

Michael Carbary: Bluetooth FM Transmitter

Sam Dick: Wondrous Wireless Super-Heterodyne Radiola

Klaudio Doko & Brad Deschenes: The Heat Is On

Michael Mancini & Giuliano Messina: Wireless Power Transfer

Scott Shepard: Pump Reliability/Behavioral Prediction Using Sensor Arrays & Neural Nets

Computer & Electronic Engineering Technology:

Ian Cluggish: Envelope Filter Guitar Effect

David Fairbanks: Hall Call Station Tester

George Thomson: Blues Bottle

Papa Asante, Luis Guzman Lazaro, Taylor McCall: Pick-a-Spot Parking Space Finder

Gavin MacDonald: Head Phone Amp

Rafael Rivera: Punch Smart

Civil Engineering:

Justin Howe, Luca Mineo, Neftali Torres: Replacement of the Goold Road Bridge over CSX Railroad; Chatham, New York

Raymond Culver, Daniel Melnik, Andrew Mukon: Design of a Three-Story Steel Frame Office Building; West Hartford, Connecticut

Ryan Bresnahan, Nickolas Corrozza, Elias Noujaim: Replacement of the Rt. 1 Bridge over Wepawaug River; Milford, Connecticut

Eric Benoit, George Bongart: Hebron Ave./House St. Traffic Study and Roundabout Design; Glastonbury, Connecticut

Biomedical Engineering:

Joseph Arascunaga, Erik Carlson, Stephen Charry, Billdicson Dely, Barry Hansen: Underwater Treadmill Lift

Master’s Thesis Presentations:

Erdem Kutuk: Bacterial Flagellar Motor—a Study

Dennis O’Connor: Simulation of the Thermal Performance of a Net Zero Energy Performing Arts Building

Faisal Rahmani: Wind Energy in Western Afghanistan

Chaitanya Sajja: Finite Element Analysis of Laser Machining Process

Srikanth Sanga: A Study of Carbon Nanotubes

R. Dave Staubach: Performance Analysis of 2-Spool vs. 3-Spool Aero Gas Turbine Engine

Girish Velamakanni: Finite Element Analysis of Machining

Rob Wheeler: Topology Optimization with Manufacturing Constraints

Seniors in Architecture presented their senior thesis design work on Wednesday, May 5, as follows:

Shannon Brown: USET Youth Equestrian Athlete Center

Analiza Fuentes: Learning Through Movement (gymnastics center)

Artur Korpiewnicki: Mercedes Formula 1 Museum and Track

Matthew O’Brien: Mars Research Station

Johanna Schumacher: Linking Through Science

Other seniors presented their thesis projects in an open forum as follows:

Sean Bucher: Dune Surfing Resort

David Flannery: Interactive Water Filtration Plant

Brian Kammerer: Sustainable Seaside Residential complex

Chris Kellogg: The Resort at Goshen

Donisia Martin: Clay Arsenal Gateway

Alex McKeton: Old Lyme Country Club

Amanda McLeman: Renovation of the Vern Theatre

Suzan Ozcelik: Earth, People and Heaven Theater

Robert Spencer: Haiti Parliament and Museum Center

Lauren Holzman: Kids in Motion Playhouse Museum

Also presenting this week on May 5 and 6 were students in ME 505, Mechatronics (the synergistic use of precision engineering, control theory, computer science, and sensor-actuator technology to design products and processes), as follows:

Barry Hansen and Erik Carlson: Portable Surface Roughness Analyzer

Amy Waraksa: SC Single Mode Plug and Play Light Test

Ryan Hargreaves and Stephen Sobocinski: Failsafe System for a Generic Electronic Device

Michael Chowaniec and Richard Avery: Low-cost Surface Analyzer and Vibration Detector

Kervin Lochard: Automated Weight Sensing and Positioning System

Jesse Carmichael and Melissa Cassidy: Airfoil Testing System for the Wind Tunnel at the University of Hartford

Pawan Rai and Christopher Diyaolu: A System for Damping a Vibrating Flap

William Rivera, Mark Noujaim, and Dalil Masood: Design and Testing of a fan Response System Using P.I.D. Controller

David Kurtz and Christopher O’Connor: Sequential Control of a Conveyor System

Mohammed Islam, Susheel Veeraboina, and Mark Turner: Solar Tracking System and a Real-Time Illuminator

Anton Banks: Automated Rotor Imbalance Mitigation

John Fleck, Jonathan Scales, and Matthew Nisen: Automated Tempering Oven

Amy Scherma, Ryan Serbel, and Steven Buck: Automatic Charge Amplifier Test System

Jared Stearns: Digital Control of a Refrigerant Metering Valve

CETA congratulates all the students who presented their culminating projects on their hard work and excellent results.

Ian Cluggish presents his Envelope Filter Guitar Effect project to students from the University High School of Science and Engineering.

Analiza Fuentes presents her design thesis to the jury.

Jeremy Bredickas and Shruti Khare show their fire-fighting robot.

Students design solar water heaters

2010-05-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

ES 242, Engineering by Design, is a course required of all engineering students, and it is a project-based class. That is, students are assigned to work in teams on a project specified by the professor.

For the last three spring semesters, Professor Barry Lubin’s class has been assigned to develop and test a device that uses the sun to heat water to a level acceptable for hygienic use.. The first teams, in 2008, developed preliminary designs based on a fixed design procedure. The second group of teams, in 2009, refined those first designs and built prototypes. This semester, the last in the series for this project, the teams had to evaluate the final design, make changes as needed, and then predict and measure performance. Overall, the design project is directed at third world countries that have plenty of sun but lack sanitary facilities like hot water.

Here are photos of some of the students and their devices.

Team C's variation of the solar water heater.

Team C gathers data as the sun works.

Team A's device being tested as a student checks data.

The students in this semester's EN 242 project are

Team A: Cody Hucke, Eeric Steinberg, Daniel Wright, Martin Bowes, and Anthony Panebianco
Team B: Jeffrey Portal, Harrison Flynn, Michael Thatcher, Vincent Hynes, and Simon Kudernatsch
Team C: Jessica Barringer, Sean Murnan, Sharif Al-Raqqad, Emily McMullan, and Brent Thibodeau

Michael J. Crosbie Wins Frey Award

2010-04-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael J. Crosbie, associate professor and chair of Architecture, in CETA has been named the 2010 recipient of the Edward S. Frey Memorial Award by the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art, and Architecture. The award is given to an architect for outstanding contributions to the field of religious architecture.
Dr. Crosbie is the editor-in-chief of Faith & Form, the only journal of religion, art, and architecture published in North America. He also contributes widely to architectural journals and other publications and is the author of many books on architecture, including a series for children, Architecture COLORS, Architecture SHAPES, Architecture COUNTS, and Architecture ANIMALS. Among Dr. Crosbie’s books are Houses of God: Religious Architecture for a New Millennium, Architecture for Science, and Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer: The Work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva: New Classicists, written with Cesar Pelli, Robert Venturi, and John R. DaSilva.

The Edward S. Frey Memorial Award was established in 1981 to recognize contributions to religious architecture and support of the allied arts. It commemorates the contributions of the Reverend Edward S. Frey who, as the executive director of the Commission on Church Architecture for the Lutheran Church of America, inspired architects to foster spiritual values in design and worked for half a century writing, lecturing, and mentoring individuals working in religious art and architecture. He shepherded three organizations that ultimately became the Interfaith Forum of Religion, Art, and Architecture (IFRAA), which in 1981 became part of the AIA.

To be selected for the Frey Award, an individual must be nominated by an IFRAA member and must meet these criteria:

Be an architect and a member of the AIA,
Demonstrate a passion for and dedication to high-quality worship and sacred spaces,
Foster spiritual values, and
Promote a cross-denominational community focused on religious arts and architecture.

Recipients are selected by a panel comprising two previous Frey award recipients, three architects who are subject-matter experts in the field, and two AIA architects who are also members of IFRAA.

CETA congratulates Dr. Crosbie on this singular honor.

In Memoriam

2010-04-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

CETA reports the death, on April 16, 2010, of David N. LaBau, architect and friend and advisor to the Architecture programs here.

Mr. LaBau, a native of Ridgewood, New Jersey, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, then attended the Syracuse University School of Architecture, from which he graduated in 1952. He founded and was past chairman of the S/L/A/M Collaborative Architects of Glastonbury, Connecticut; Atlanta, Georgia; and Boston, Massachusetts, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and past president of the Connecticut chapter of AIA. He also chaired the AIA committee that worked with the University of Hartford on the creation of the graduate program in Architecture here and advised on accreditation of that program by the National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB). In addition, he was a founding member of the University’s Construction Institute. He continued to advise the Architecture programs until his recent illness and was a frequent participant in juries for student work.

Besides his work in CETA, Mr. LaBau was a member of the Board of Visitors of the Mortensen Library at the University, past chairman and member of the Board of Trustees of the Open Hearth (a charity that provides shelter and recovery counseling for homeless and addicted men in Greater Hartford), a member of the Board of Advisors for the Connecticut Junior Republic in Litchfield, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Elizabeth Colt Bequest, and an advisor for SCORE, the counseling division of the Small Business Administration in West Hartford (helping people who wish to start their own business), as well as an active member of Old St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

A memorial service will be held at 11A.M. on Saturday, May 1, at Old St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 59 Tarriffville Road, Bloomfield. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Old St. Andrew’s Church or to the David N. LaBau Architectural Scholarship Fund at the University of Hartford, in care of Michael Crosbie, Department of Architecture, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117.

Mr. LaBau will be deeply missed by everyone in CETA.

News from CETA

2010-04-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

The Connecticut Space Grant Consortium, led by the University of Hartford, marked the 40th anniversary of the rescue of the Apollo 13 mission with three events the week of April 12. Three engineers who worked for Hamilton Sundstrand, which was involved in developing the rescue plan, participated in the events. Dick Wilde, former UTC (United Technologies Corporation) Apollo Program chief systems engineer; Jerry Pasco, UTC Apollo 13 Exhibit Committee chair; and Don Rethke (also known as Dr. Flush for his work on the shuttle bathroom facilities), former NASA life support system technology expert; talked about their experiences during the 1970 mission.

Dr. Flush explains the Apollo missions to school children at the Connecticut Science Center as the Apollo 13 Mission is remembered.

The three events, at the Connecticut Science Center in downtown Hartford on April 13, at the University of Connecticut on April 15, and at the University High School of Science and Engineering on April 16, also included a display of artifacts from NASA’s space program including a space suit and backpack and a replica of an Apollo-era lunar module.

Dr. Lou Manzione, dean of CETA threw out the first pitch on CETA Day, April 20. The Hartford Hawks played the Quinnipiac Bobcats and won, 10 to 4, spurred by an eight-run third inning.

Dean Manzione coaches a Little League team in West Hartford, so he was well prepared to pitch.

Dr. Ivana Milanovic, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in CETA, has received a 2010 NASA Fellowship Award. She will be hosted by the Turbomachinery and Propulsion Systems Division at NASA’s Glenn Research Center this summer, where she will investigate wake vortices in a jet in cross-flow. Her work will provide projects for graduate students interested in computational simulation studies.

Dr. Akram Abu-aisheh, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in CETA, will conduct a workshop in Sustainable Energy Sources at Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron in May (10 to 13). The workshop is orgranized by the Power Electronics and Signal Processing Research Unit (PESPRU) at Palestine Polytechnic with the cooperation and support of the Consulate General of the United States in Jerusalem. The goal of the workshop is to introduce and train Palestinian academic staff and engineers in alternative energy sources, their applications and modeling.

On April 22, several CETA students were honored to present their projects at the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Colloquium.

Sadie Heald, Dan Luedke, Clay Pipkin, Ellen Skoczenski, and Keith Vaccaro; an interdisciplinary group from the College of Arts & Sciences and CETA; “A Multidisciplinary Approach for Increasing Access to Clean Water, Providing a Sustainable Water Supply, and Improving Sanitation in a Rural Indian Community”; advisor: Dr. David Pines

Neftali Torres; CETA; “Hydrogen Refueling Station Network Development and Analysis”; advisor: Dr. Clara Fang

Brad Deschenes and Klaudio Doko; CETA; “The Heat Is On: A Research Project on Microwave Simulation”; advisor: Dr. Patricia Mellodge

CETA congratulates all the students who participated in the Colloquium for their fine research work.

CETA Senior Recognized by the State of Connecticut

2010-04-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Neftali Torres, a CETA senior majoring in civil engineering, was honored by the Connecticut General Assembly during its annual College Academic Day at the state capitol, on Wednesday, April 14. Along with other honorees, Torres received an official citation noting his accomplishments from the General Assembly.

State lawmakers honor one outstanding student from each of Connecticut’s public and private colleges and universities based on academic and extra-curricular achievements. The students are chosen by their schools for this honor.

Torres has received a number of honors this year: He has been selected as the winner of the University of Hartford’s John G. Lee Medal, given each year to a graduating student from Greater Hartford who has excelled academically and demonstrated deep commitment to the community. He has also maintained a 3.93 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) and has been on the Dean’s and President’s Lists every semester. He has also received the Regents’ Honor Award and fellowships from the Connecticut NASA Space Grant Consortium to work on alternative-fuel vehicle infrastructure.

His extracurricular activities include memberships in the American Society of Civil Engineers, Students in Free Enterprise, Habitat for Humanity, and the Hartford Paintball team. As a member of the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders, Torres helped to design and install a rainwater harvesting system in Abheypur, India, in 2009 to help provide clean drinking water to the residents.

CETA congratulates Neftali Torres, a graduate of Hartford Public High School, on this well-deserved recognition from the State of Connecticut.

CETA Co-Hosting Computer Conference

2010-04-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

On Friday, April 16, and Saturday, April 17, Computer Engineering in CETA and the Computer Science Department in the College of Arts & Sciences are hosting the 15th Annual Northeast Computing Conference of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. The conference brings together faculty, staff, and students from academic institutions throughout the northeastern region of the United States for discussions and presentations about undergraduate computing curricula. Various vendors, including booksellers, will also attend this event.
Of particular note are an undergraduate student poster presentation session and a programming contest for students. It is expected that more than 100 students will attend.

The chairs of the conference are Dr. Hisham Alnajjar, Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering and associate dean of CETA, and Dr. Ingrid Russell, professor of computer science.

The Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges focuses on promoting high-quality computer curricula and the effective use of computing in smaller post-secondary institutions that are generally oriented toward teaching. It supports activities that help faculty decide about computing resources and educational applications of computer technology. Because departments in smaller colleges and universities are typically small, the Consortium also encourages sharing of expertise, effective curricula, and efficient technology applications. The goal is to promote the betterment of computer-oriented curricula in both two- and four-year colleges, to improve the use of computing as a resource for all disciplines, and to promote a national discussion among various organizations working toward the same purpose.

For more information about the conference, please click here.

Professor Collaborates on Transportation Network Research

2010-04-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

As part of his sabbatical (fall 2009 and spring 2010 semesters), Dr. Ladimer Nagurney, Associate Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering, collaborated with two other researchers to investigate the effect of degraded infrastructure on increased pollution. In particular, Dr. Nagurney, along with Dr. Qiang Qiang (now of Penn State–Great Valley) and Dr. Anna Nagurney (University of Massachusetts–Amherst), wondered how the deterioration of our transportation infrastructure affects carbon emissions from vehicular traffic. They also investigated ranking the links in a transportation network in terms of the impact of their degradation or destruction.

The paper based on the research, "Environmental Impact Assessment of Transportation Networks with Degradable Links in an Era of Climate Change," has been published in the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation [Volume 4 (2010), pp 154-171]. The investigators were able to capture the effects of transportation network infrastructure degradation on pollution in the form of carbon emissions. In addition, they constructed link importance indicators that enable the ranking of links under either user-optimizing (U-O) selfish behavior or system-optimizing (S-O) unselfish behavior in terms of the impacts of degradation and destruction. As is evident from recent disasters like as earthquakes and floods, such quantitative measures are more than timely and relevant.

Here is the abstract of the paper:

This paper proposes environmental impact assessment indices to evaluate the environmental effects of link capacity degradation in transportation (road) networks. The indices are applicable in the case of either user-optimizing or system-optimizing behavior. We also construct environmental link importance indicators that allow for the ranking of links in transportation networks in terms of their environmental importance, should they be removed/destroyed. Numerical transportation network examples illustrate the proposed quantitative environmental indicators and further substantiate that system-optimizing behavior does not necessarily lead to reduced emissions.

To read the paper in the journal, use the following link:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a917255896

If you prefer to simply read the paper, use the following link: http://supernet.som.umass.edu/articles/nagurney-qiang-nagurney-environmental-robustness.pdf

CETA Welcomes Visiting Professor

2010-03-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

Dr. Sameer Said, an associate professor in Electrical Engineering at Palestine Polytechnic University, is a visiting professor in CETA through this and the fall semester. While here he is teaching a graduate course, ECE 573, Power Electronics . In addition, he is performing research with Dr. Akram Abu-Aisheh of CETA’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department; the two are working in the field of power supplies and solar energy and, with Dean Manzione, are writing a proposal to obtain funding for their work in renewable energy. Dr. Said is also attending two courses in electrical energy here.

Dr. Sameer Said

Dr. Said’s presence here is sponsored by a USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and AMIDEAST (America-Mideast Educational And Training Services) program promoting cooperation between American and the Middle East through education, information, and development programs. He is also sponsored by OSI-New York, the Open Society Institute, founded by George Soros to promote alliances across borders and continents.

At Palestine Polytechnic, Dr. Said is the director of the Power Electronics & Signal Processing Research Unit. He previously served as vice president for academic affairs, dean of the College of Applied Professions, head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and instructor of various electrical engineering courses. His research work is largely in the fields of power electronics and electrical drives technology, along with renewable energy such as solar and wind energy.

Dr. Said earned his Master’s of Engineering in electrical engineering at the Higher Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Sofia, Bulgaria, and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the Technical University in Sofia.

CETA welcomes Dr. Said.

In Memoriam

2010-03-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

CETA notes with sadness the passing on February 26 of Richard Brown, who taught electrical engineering here from 1963 to 1988 and served as chair of the Electrical Engineering Department from 1969 to 1982.

Brown, an Eagle Scout who earned that rank as a Lone Scout, served in the United States Army in World War II, then earned a Bachelor of Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1949 and a Master’s from Northeastern University. He taught first at Wentworth Institute in Boston, moving to Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, after which he joined the University of Hartford.

A memorial service will be held on March 6 at 2 p.m. at the Avon Congregational Church in Avon, Connecticut.

Our sympathies are extended to Richard Brown’s family and friends.

CETA Professors Win Department of Energy Grants

2010-03-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

Two projects being directed by Dr Cy Yavuzturk and Dr. Tom Filburn have been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The grants total more than $250,000 for the University and CETA.

The first project involves the development of an integrated system simulation and design model for hybrid GHP (geothermal heat pump) systems aimed at balancing ground thermal loads. Using the ground as a thermal energy source and heat sink is more efficient than using the ambient air because ground temperatures at 3 feet or lower are less variable than the air and because at that depth, the ground is warmer than the air during the coldest winter months. Hybrid systems can be used in places where geological conditions will not allow a large enough ground heat exchanger for a particular building; a cooling tower or some other option is used to handle excess heat loads during cooling.

This project will allow the study of such systems by developing a menu-driven software tool for designing the systems for both heating- and cooling-dominated buildings. While one goal of the project is to develop an easy-to-use tool, another is to make ensure that the resulting tool is based on mathematically robust, validated models. No such design tool currently exists. The method that will be used is based on state-of-the-art life-cycle system simulation tools for GHP systems using TRNSYS.

The second project is the development of a least-cost design tool aimed at improving GHP efficiency in varying climate zones and building types. On this project, the University is acting as a subcontractor to ENVIRON Corporation of New Jersey in collaboration with the University of Vermont and Princeton University. The aim of this project is a decision-making system that will enable ground-source heat pump (GSHP) customers to analyze system cost and performance in a variety of building applications, residential, commercial, government, school, and university to aid in design and purchase decisions. The proposed methodology is based on simulation and optimization and is general insofar as it can be applied to a variety of loop designs and sizes, climate zones, and ground conditions.

The proposed design tool will combine the GSHP-specific interfaces of an existing HVAC software design tool with a groundwater flow and heat transport modeling software piece to allow the modeling of vertical, horizontal, and pond/lake loops in different climate zones and building types in the presence of groundwater flow. Most GSHP designs do not get credit for groundwater flow and so are overdesigned. In addition, the proposed tool will integrate a set of optimization software that makes it particularly powerful for least-life-cycle-cost analysis. That software was developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Vermont

The proposed design tool will be applied to the ground-coupled system at Lawrence Apartments Complex on the Princeton University campus. The application will demonstrate the importance of incorporating groundwater flow and heat transport into the design of GSHP systems and the significance of a systems approach to the design of GSHP systems.

Undergraduate and graduate students will work on these projects under the supervision of Drs. Yavuzturk and Filburn and graduate research projects will result from the work.

Five Faculty Awarded Promotion or Tenure

2010-02-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

Five CETA faculty members have been awarded tenure and promotion as follows:

• Dr. Hisham Alnajjar, associate dean of CETA and a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, has been promoted to full professor.

• Dr. Michael Crosbie, associate professor and chair of Architecture, has been awarded tenure.

• Dr. Clara Fang is now a tenured associate professor in the Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering Department.

• Dr. Saleh Keshawarz of the Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering Department has been promoted to full professor.

• Dr. Saeid Moslehpour of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department has been awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor.

These awards were celebrated with cake and applause on February 23 at the College meeting.

Pictured (l. to r.) Dr. Michael Crosbie, Dr. Saeid Moslehpour, Dean Lou Manzione, Dr. Clara Fang, Dr. Hisham. (Dr. Saleh Keshawarz was absent.)

Dean Manzione Elected Vice President of CASE

2010-02-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

CETA’s dean, Lou Manzione, has been elected Vice President/President-Elect of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE). His term as vice president, beginning July 1, 2010, will run for two years, after which he will succeed to the position of president for two years. During his term, Dean Manzione states that he would like to make science and engineering more important to Connecticut’s economic vitality, contributing to a workforce that competes effectively in the global economy.

Dr. Manzione has been a member of the Academy since 2006. In that same year, he was appointed chair of the Academy’s Communications and Information Systems Technical Board. In 2008, he was elected to fill a vacancy on the Academy’s Council and has served as committee chair on two studies: Advanced Communications Technologies and A Study of Weight Station Technologies and Practices.

Dr. Manzione earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry at The Cooper Union in 1975 and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1979. He spent most of his career in industry at Bell Labs, where his research focused on the manufacture of optical fiber and integrated circuits. He patented the process for purifying the reagents used to produce optical fibers and made significant contributions to the plastic encapsulation and packaging of integrated circuits. He also initiated the antenna engineering effort at Bell Labs in 1997, the result of which is more than 3 million antennas deployed worldwide. In addition, he led the establishment of a Bell Labs Research Division in Ireland, which has been awarded $55 million in Irish government funding and which involves close to 100 academic partners.

The Academy is a private, nonprofit institution patterned after the national Academy of Sciences. It identifies and studies issues and technological advances that should be of concern to Connecticut and provides expert advice on science- and technology-related issues to state government and other Connecticut entities.

In addition to his service with the Academy, Dr. Manzione leads the Nanotechnology Curriculum Committee of the Connecticut Department of Higher Education and was named chair of the Connecticut Broadband Coordinating Council in 2008.

Mechanical Engineers Receive Grant

2010-02-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

The Dominion Foundation, operator of the Millstone Nuclear Power Complex in Waterford, Conn., has donated $10,000 to the Mechanical Engineering Department’s Energy and Sustainable Design Concentration. The gift supports the development of an operating see-through reactor model. Drs. Tom Filburn, Ivana Milanovic (the department chair), and Cy Yavuzturk are creating the working model in an effort to incorporate nuclear engineering into the Energy Concentration.

The see-through reactor will allow students to see the operation of a nuclear power plant—using electric heaters in place of nuclear fuel—including typical plant layout and normal and off-normal functioning. The model will be used to demonstrate plant startup, shutdown, and emergency procedures while allowing visual access to the components.

In addition to the $10,000 gift from the Dominion Foundation, which will allow the department to begin work on the model, Dr.s Filburn, Milanovic, and Yavuzturk have a proposal with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requesting the funding to complete the hardware and create two courses that will use the model, an example of which is pictured below.

Gift Made to Help CETA Students

2010-02-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

The University has received a gift from Z-Medica Corporation to support CETA students in their out-of-class activities. The gift of $15,000 is designated for the CETA Dean’s Discretionary Fund, and Dean Lou Manzione plans to use the fund to support activities like the water availability projects in India and Kenya being conducted by the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders and participation in clubs like the Society of Automotive Engineers’ entry in the fSAE international race car competition.

The founder of Z-Medica is Francis X. Hursey, a 1977 graduate of the College of Engineering here and a member of the CETA Board of Visitors. As Dean Manzione points out, Mr. Hursey “has been an active and generous supporter of the college.” He was recognized by the University with a Distinguished Alumni Award at Commencement in May 2006.

Hursey is the inventor of QuikClot®, a hemostatic agent that rapidly stops severe arterial or venous bleeding outside of surgical settings. Z-Medica was launched to market the product and provides it to the military, first responders, and homeland security people, as well as to sports enthusiasts. His development of QuickClot® earned Hursey a spot on the Top 50 list published by Scientific American. In addition, he was named 2003 defense researcher of the year by both Scientific American and Popular Science.

On presenting the gift to the University, Hursey said, “On behalf of the entire Z-Medica team, we are honored to help fund the outstanding work and research being done by the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture. My educational experience at the University of Hartford greatly contributed to my career success and my hope is this donation will help students to continue to have the same experience in the future.”

In Memoriam

2010-02-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

CETA notes with sorrow the death of a student, Majdi Atallah, on January 13 after a four-year battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Majdi graduated from CETA with a degree in Computer Engineering and was working on his Master’s in Engineering along with a Master’s of Business Administration. He was married to Amy Wilson, a resident of Milford, Connecticut.

Majdi was buried in Jordan.

Condolence cards may be directed to

Amy Wilson
54 Summit Avenue
Milford, CT 06460

and Majdi's parents,

Samir Atallah and Mrjan Hanna
Amr. BJmough, Bld No. 15
Box 1155
Zerqa Jordan 13110

A memorial service will be held on the University campus on February 27, at 10 a.m., in Wilde Auditorium to honor Majdi.

CETA faculty and staff extend their heartfelt sympathies to Majdi’s family.

University Awarded $2.4 Million Grant

2010-02-01T06:38:00.000-08:00

The University of Hartford has received a $2.4 million grant for research on the technologies needed to create small UAVs, autonomous aerial vehicles, with the U.S. Army. The intention is to create systems the size of a soda can, that can go from 0 to 150 miles per hour in a split second at launch and then, at apogee (the top of their arch) transform into winged aerial vehicles that can begin controlled flight and be redirected or recalled. Such UAVs can provide surveillance, both visual and audio, and detect dangerous conditions such as gases and radiation.

The Mechanical Engineering (including Manufacturing Science) and Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments will work on the project for CETA, concentrating on aerodynamics, controls, tracking systems, g-force hardening, and design for manufacture. In addition to CETA, University of Hartford science departments, especially Computer Science, will be involved.

A coalition of Connecticut educational and industrial organizations, led by the University of Hartford, will conduct the project. The University of Connecticut, the University of Bridgeport, and CCAT (Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc.), along with several area companies will lend their expertise to this work, which Congressman John Larson characterized as helping to “develop a technology that will keep our nation’s greatest treasure, the men and women of our military, safe and secure.” He went on to say that “This funding can help rejuvenate our state’s manufacturing base to create jobs and help grow our economy.”

The Army is encouraging the participants in the project to generate intellectual property and aim for commercialization of the technologies developed to help realize a lower unit cost and thereby allow more of them in the field.

CETA’s dean, Lou Manzione says that these technologies “are an excellent interdisciplinary learning device for the engineering profession, and they enjoy tremendous student interest.” He adds that “this grant places the University of Hartford at the forefront of this important trend.”

Faculty Member Publishes Text

2010-01-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

Dr. Akram Abu-Aisheh has published a book, Pre-amp EDFA Noise Analysis for Optimal Optical Receiver Performance (VDM Publishers, Germany). He has also contributed three chapters to Erbium, a book published this week by Nova Publishers.

Dr. Akram Abu-Aisheh

Dr. Abu-Aisheh's work in both books focuses on erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, devices used in fiber optic communication systems at the input of the optical receiver to increase receiver sensitivity by amplifying the photon detectro incomping optical signal. In Pre-amp EDFA Noise Analysis, he describes his work in characterizing pre-amp EDFA noise performance at the pre-amp level through computer simulation, followed by experiments to characterize performance at the optical receiver level.

The cover of Dr. Abu-Aisheh's new text.

His chapters in Erbium are "Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers," "EDFA Noise Characteristics," and "EDFA Performance Analysis."

Dr. Abu-Aisheh is the assistant chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and Director of the Electronic and Computer Engineering Technology Programs at the University of Hartford. His Ph.D. in Optical Communications is from the Florida Institute of Technology.

CETA Day

2009-12-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

Many of our senior and Master’s projects are solutions to real-world problems brought to us and sponsored by local industry; others are projects that students propose themselves; all require a demonstration of results. These projects are a valuable integrative experience for CETA students, who must demonstrate what they have learned over the course of their time here through the work they present. Any program accredited by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), as our programs are, requires its seniors to produce capstone projects.

We were joined on CETA Day by students from the University High School of Science and Engineering, one of two magnet schools on the University of Hartford campus. Before they watched the robot demonstrations, the students received a welcome and introduction to the projects by Dr. Hisham Alnajjar, CETA’s associate dean.

Dean Alnajjar talks to our visitors from University High School.

The presentations and presenters are listed below.

First-Year Engineering Students
All Majors
ES 143, Engineering by Design (Boe-Bots)

Ben Accardo, Bandar Almosa, Eric Camacho (Team Soccor)
Pelé-Bot

April Amaral, James Centrella, Berk Dirican (Team Larry)
Secretary-Bot

George Ezeoke, Yumayra Leal, Ryan Maurer, Cameron Villers (Team Ninja)
Ninja-Bot

Dean Alexander, Jasmine Dumas, Steve Sheak (Team 4)
Resident-Hall-Security–Bot

Courtney Barnes, Antonio Bueti, Joe Flanagan, Shedrick Johnson-Jones
AF1

Shania Brown, Sydney Colon, Mohammad Jarrar,
Roxana “Desi” Sagastume, Roshel Vas
Team X

James Downing, Patrick Landusky, Francisco Nunez, Craig Polchinski
Team Rockémon

C.J. Brunner, Rock Emond, Jason Hegenauer, Karl Watson
Fubar

Nick Ceme, Carl Pappalardo, Tim Wase
Spida-Bot

Jessica Caraval, Dan Powers, Jon Savarese, Tiffany Stahura
Walking Through a Neighborhood

Colin Hartung, Tom Ouellette, Bobby Tomasulo, Emily Willhoft
Old Faithful

Jack Briskie, Rick Mantell, Gabe Moses
Pick-It-Up–Bot

Max Accardo, Muhammad Albuti, Troy Hollihan, Sam Nadeau
Parallel Parking Bot

The bot prepares to parallel park.

Amber Sorensen Van Cleave, John Hushaw, Sarah Matloff, Jesse Weinstock
Bat Bot

Vlad Auster, Clint Cyr Gary, Lucas Hope, Rutger Strauss
Lean Mean Singing Machine

John Paneto, Adam Sobiewski
The AutoTank

Alyssa Carra, Joel Daniel, Anthony Marando, John Stevenson
Maze Solver

Abdulrahman Alharbi, Nick Broadhurst, Alfredo Elias, Alex Gladstone
Wirelessly Controlled Boe-bot

Christine Barry, Matt Kelly, John McKinney, Chris Roser
Treadmaster Elite

Matt Dececco, James Hall, Chris John
Watch-Bot

Ferdinand Aliaj, Jerred Jordan, Alton Taylor
Heat and Seak Boe-Bot

J.P. Alexandre, Jeff LaZazzera, Mike Vopelak
Simulated Driving Boe-Bot

Jackie Farley, Scott Klasner, Jasmine Tyson, Danny Yeung
Escape Bot

Mike Bedson, Brendan Bretscher, Jon Kraus, Dave Stewart
Mission Impossibot

Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical
Engineering Department
Biomedical Engineering

Joseph Arascunaga, Erik Carlson, Stephen Charry, Billdickson Dely,
Barry Hansen
Aquatic Treadmill Lift Design for the Hospital for Special Care

Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical
Engineering Department
Civil Engineering Poster Session
CE 420, Water Quality Engineering I, course projects

Eric Benoit, George Bongart, Ray Culver, Dan Melnik
Low-Cost Desalination System

Ryan Bresnahan, Nicholas Carrozza, Andrew Mukon, Elia Noujaim
Laboratory-Scale Water Treatment System

Justin Howe, Luca Mineo, Sarah Shahin, Neftali Torres
Algae Biofuel Project

CE 452, Transportation Engineering I, course projects

Justin Howe, Luca Mineo, Sarah Shahin, Neftali Torres
Traffic Impact Assessment of a New Development in Downtown Hartford

Eric Benoit, George Bongart, Nicholas Carrozza,Raymond Culver,
Daniel Melnik
Traffic Impact Study of the Pathways to Technology Magnet School

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Electronic Engineering Technology Program

David Fairbanks
The Progress of Lighting Dimmer and Controls

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Electronic Engineering Technology Program

Papa Asante, Luis Guzman, Taylor McCall
Pick-a-Spot
(electronic pre-selection of parking places in large parking garage or lot)

Gavin McDonald
Head Phone Pre-Amp
(providing enhanced tone controls)

Rafael Rivera
Punching Bag Analyser
(programmable training routines)

Electrical and Computer Engineering
Master’s Presentations

Pinar Ozturk

Breakthrough Prediction for laser-Drilled Holes Using Ablative Surface Acoustic Signature
Thesis Supervisor: Dr. A.A. Ilumoka

Abstract: Today’s high cost of petroleum imposes much stricter requirements on aircraft engines for fuel efficiency. Engines must operate within appropriate temperature ranges achieved via cooling of engine parts through millions of laser-drilled holes in turbine engine blades and vanes. In order to maximize the benefits available from expensive laser drilling equipment, it is necessary to have the capability to predict the number of laser pulses required for puncturing material, i.e., breakthrough. The work reported here discusses a non-invasive method—based on monitoring of airborne acoustic emissions at the ablative surface—for breakthrough prediction.

Ashis Patel

Designing and Implementing the CORDOC Algorithm
Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Jonathan Hill

Abstract: Many different types of hardware are available to calculate scientific functions. However, one of the drawbacks is that many of these types of hardware use either series expansion or a look up table to calculate circular functions. In addition, these types of hardware require many multipliers and a large ROM for the look up tables. The main focus of this research was to try to avoid using a large number of hardware through the application of Picoblaze Soft Core Processor, Very high-speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL), and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to design and implement Coordinate Rotation Digital Computer (CORDIC) algorithm.

Edinson Murillo

Embedded Temperature and Battery Voltage Level Monitoring System
Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Tom Eppes

Abstract: Videoscopes are often used for inspection and/or observation of confined spaces where the human eye cannot reach. In addition, they feature either a CMOS or CCD image sensor located directly in the tip of the insertion tube along with a light source to illuminate the inspection area for a wide range of applications. These applications can involve harsh environments such as high temperatures, exposing the image sensors to un-repairable damage. Therefore, it is important to determine a safe operating temperature range, and warn the user if the temperature gets too high in order to prevent damages. This project demonstrates a hardware and software design (e.g microcontroller, temperature IC’s) featuring an embedded battery voltage level and temperature monitoring system.

Sustainability Seminar on Clean Water Led by Dr. Pines

2009-12-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

Water and an energy source: Those two things are needed for all life on Earth. Not oxygen. There are, after all, anaerobic creatures that do perfectly well without oxygen. But even those creatures require water.

So began Dr. David Pines in his presentation on “Sustainable Water Supplies,” the third lecture in the CETA Seminar Series on Sustainability. He went on to offer the definition of sustainability created by the World Commission on Environment and Development: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Dr. Pines went on to point out that water and energy are interdependent. For example, water is necessary to grow the corn and soy we use for biofuel. But water is in short supply. Almost 97 percent of the world’s water is ocean—and would require energy for desalinization. Only 3 percent of the world’s water is fresh, but of that 3 percent 70 percent is in the planet’s icecaps and glaciers. And of the 30 percent of fresh water that is ground water, about 13 percent is in lakes, rivers, and the like. The rest is in swamps and otherwise unavailable without energy to make it potable.

The hydrological cycle, evaporation to rain and back again, provides water, but even that cycle is not dependable. New England is a rare place that gets reasonably even rain throughout the year; we have no significant dry season here. But most places on the planet, including many places in the United States, are not so fortunate. There are locations, for instance, that depend on the winter’s snow pack to get them through the dry summer months; if the snowfall is too light, they will experience significant water shortages. And other locations around the globe can vary between too much rain and too little. The built environment also affects water availability. If there is material in the air from smokestacks and other sources, the rain will wash the air clean—and become polluted and undrinkable in the process.

Dr. Pines explains planning water runoff options in the built environment.

Dr. Pines went on to ask some questions: Is water a basic human right? Does water play a role in conflicts? What effect will climate change have on our water supplies.

He explained that more than a billion people worldwide have no access to safe drinking water. Another 2.6 billion live without access to sanitation systems that are necessary to avoid water-borne disease. Given that diarrhea is one of the leading causes of child death around the world, access to clean water is key to saving lives.

Climate change will affect our water supply: Snow packs will be affected, droughts will be longer and more severe, and there can be contamination of what is now drinkable water. For instance, as sea levels rise, water supplies near the coasts can be infiltrated by salt water.

These issues must be addressed by conservation and efficiency of use. For example, we can turn to greywater (from showers and sinks) to water lawns and flush toilets and similar uses. Currently, we purify water to drinking quality, but we actually drink very little of the water that is so treated—domestic use of water is only 7 percent of the 100 billion gallons of water used every day in the United States.

To address these issues locally, Dr. Pines is offering two courses in the spring semester. One is ES 591, Industrial Archeology, which will involve a trip to St. Vincent, in the Caribbean, to design and implement the refurbishment of an old sugar mill. Students will learn about the culture and economy of St. Vincent so that they will have “a historical perspective on the role that technology plays in society” and be prepared in their careers to understand how future technologies will affect society.

The second course is ES 591, Design for Extreme Affordability. In this class students will earn credits as they take part in the ACARA Challenge, a program created by the ACARA Institute, a non-profit organization that creates sustainable social businesses using the best practices from industry in concert with university courses to enable students to create real businesses. The program matches students with counterparts in another country, in this class India, and industry mentors and challenges them to develop solutions to problems like the lack of clean water and energy in urban slums. The winning team in the class will receive funding for travel to India and a two week stay so that they can further develop their business plan and secure funding for their venture. As Dr. Pines pointed out while discussing these two classes, though poor people cannot afford to spend a great deal on the necessities, there are a lot of poor people in the world, around 5 billion; the market is vast and untapped.

All undergraduate and graduate majors are welcome to participate in either class, but to enroll, you must send Dr. Pines (at pines@hartford.edu) a résumé and a two-paragraph summary about why you’re interested in the taking the course. Space is limited in both courses.

The CETA Seminar Series on Sustainability is organized by Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Tom Filburn, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, and sponsored by a Sustainability Grant from the Office of the Provost, as well as by the ASCE, ASHRAE, ASME, IEEE, and SWE student chapters in CETA.

CETA Faculty Receive Homeland Security Grant

2009-12-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded a one-year grant to two CETA faculty, Dr. Tom Filburn, associate professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Nikolay Nazaryan, instructor of Mathematics. The grant, for $125,000, will support development of a new, lighter and more portable X-ray machine with greater intensity X-rays than current models create. This machine will enhance examination of cargo containers at border and maritime security checkpoints.

Filburn and Nazaryan’s design involves various modifications to current X-ray machine models that will allow for a more uniform spherical distribution of the X-rays. Their design will allow for the production of higher-energy-intensity beams that will provide more detailed information about cargo or other material as compared with conventional machines, but it will create much more heat than conventional X-ray machines, and so part of their work involves the development of a new method to cool the machine. Their cooling method requires a cooling jacket around the X-ray source metal that allow the generation of X-rays through the thin metal of the jacket. If Filburn and Nazaryan, assisted by a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering, can prove that their design does remove the heat load it generates, they will seek a follow-up grant with which to produce the machine.

CETA congratulates Drs. Filburn and Nazaryan and looks forward to reporting on their work.

Grad Student Validating Simulations

2009-11-13T10:39:00.000-08:00

In a paper published in the Proceedings of FEDSM’09 (the 2009 ASME Fluids Engineering Division summer Meeting, held August 2 through 6, 2009, in Vail, Colorado), Dr. Ivana Milanovic, associate professor and chair of Mechanical Engineering in CETA, reported on her work on impinging jets. Such a jet is simply fluid issuing from a nozzle that hits a wall perpendicularly and splits. Water pouring from a faucet into a sink is an impinging jet. The study of such jets is important because they have applications in vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, cooling and heating, drying, mixing, and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes. Hence Dr. Milanovic’s continued attention to the subject.

However, experimenting on impinging jets can be expensive. In one experiment, which examined flow structure in the near wall region of a submerged impinging jet using a non-intrusive flow diagnostic technique that involved a laser, the setup cost over $200,000. Dr. Milanovic has therefore turned her attention to computer simulation of such experiments.

Dr. Milanovic’s graduate student, Ajal Parikh, has created a simulation of the experiment and is working to match the simulation’s data to the experimental data; that is to say, she is using ANSYS, Fluent, and Tecplot in an attempt to validate the simulation she has created. If she can do so, experimenters can have confidence in the simulation and use it for other experiments.

Ajal Parikh working on simulating impinging jets

Ms. Parikh, who began her graduate work in Mechanical Engineering in 2008, is performing this work as her Master’s thesis research project and also is interning at Westinghouse, where she works in the Loss of Coolant Accident Analysis & Methods (LA&M) Group. Along with other members of that group, she is responsible for providing high-quality, cost-effective, and innovative solutions to the nuclear power industry. The principal product of the group is systems & safety analysis integrated into the design of the customer utility. More specifically, Ms. Parikh analyses, summarizes and prepares date required for emergency core cooling systems, which must met NRC design criteria.

Her goal here in CETA is to create confidence in CFD (computational fluid dynamics) predictions Once she can demonstrate that the data is indeed valid, other students can use the software to run experiments that are now not possible because of cost and space considerations.

Ms. Parikh reports that “the work is a great learning experience. . . . I am learning different software that can save us on experimental hurdles and still predict the actual results, which is a great help for industry.” The work will be of great use here in CETA, too, where students will be able to perform more experimental studies and learn software that is crucial in industry.

CETA Faculty Make Presentations

2009-11-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

Dr. Christian Carloni, assistant professor of Architecture in CETA, has published a paper, “Investigation of the Interface Fracture During Debonding Between FRP and Masonry,” in the new issue of Advances in Structural Engineering (pages 731 to 743). Dr. Carloni’s co-author on this paper is Dr. Kolluru V. Subramaniam, associate professor of Civil Engineering and director of the Civil Engineering Materials Laboratory at the City College of the City University of New York. The paper reflects Dr. Carloni and Dr. Subramaniam’s ongoing research in concrete and masonry structures.

On November 8, Dr. Carloni will attend the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Convention in New Orleans to present another paper co-authored with Dr. Subramaniam, this one titled “Application of Fracture Mechanics to Debonding of FRP from Concrete Beams.” While at the Conference, Dr. Carloni will attend the annual meeting of the ACI 440 Committee as an associate member. The mission of the committee is to develop and report on information on fiber-reinforced polymer for the internal and external reinforcement of concrete; its members work on the application of composite materials to structural members. The Committee is responsible for guidelines to be used in designing structural members with composite materials in the United States.

Dr. Ladimer Nagurney, associate professor of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering in CETA, attended the annual FIE (Frontiers in Education) Conference held in October in San Antonio, Texas, and presented a paper titled “Software Defined Radio Across the Electrical and Computer Engineering Curriculum.” FIE is an annual conference sponsored by the Educational Research & Methods Division (ERM) of the American Society for Engineering Education, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Computer Society, and the IEEE Education Society with the goal of improving engineering education. The theme of this year’s conference was “Imagining and Engineering Future CSET Education.” Computer science, engineering, and engineering technology (CSET) graduates will directly influence the direction of technology and society, and so this year’s conference goal was to encourage serious conversation about the future of education in these important disciplines.

CETA congratulates Dr. Carloni and Dr. Nagurney on their presentations and publications.

CETA Researcher Receives NASA Grant

2009-10-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

Dr. Tom Filburn, associate professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering in CETA, and Dr. Ramesh B. Malla, an associate professor of Geo-mechanics in Civil Engineering at the University of Connecticut, submitted a proposal through the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium to NASA for research dollars under Phase One of the NASA Ralph Steckler Space Grant Colonization Research and Technology Development Opportunity. They have now been notified that their proposal is one of just 18 proposals from around the United States selected by NASA to receive money under the program. Among other recipients were professors at MIT, Penn State, and U.C.-San Diego.

Under their grant, Doctors Filburn and Malla will design a lunar habitat that takes advantage of efficiencies in design by designing the life support system in collaboration with the habitat structure. Dr. Malla is an expert in lunar soil (regolith) and has worked on lunar structural design. Dr. Filburn, who is director of the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium, has worked on various life support systems for use in space. In addition to the two professors, students from both universities will work on the project to create a lighter, more efficient habitat module.

The Steckler Grants are a legacy of Ralph Steckler, who was an assistant film director and photographer in Southern California with a lifelong interest in space colonization. He left part of his estate to NASA to support space colonization, and it is that bequest that funds the program Dr. Fulburn and Dr. Malla will draw on.

Phase One of the Steckler Grants will last nine months, during which the grant recipients will establish the scientific and technical merit and feasibility of their proposed innovation, research or technology development. Among the projects being funded in Phase One besides habitation are rovers, surface power, communications and extravehicular activity systems.

Phase Two, which will last two years, will provide money to the investigators on each of the four most promising Phase One projects so they can conduct the research and technology development effort. This activity will be followed by Phase Three, during which the Phase Two projects will be integrated with NASA programs or projects.

The Connecticut Space Grant Consortium is a network of colleges and universities, industry, museums and science centers, and state and local agencies working together to support and enhance science and engineering education, research, and public outreach for NASA’s aeronautics and space projects. The affiliates are organized in 52 consortia in the states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The University of Hartford is the lead institution in the Connecticut Consortium.

CETA congratulates Dr. Filburn and Dr. Malla on their grant and looks forward to learning more about their research.

University of Hartford Builds Partnership with CCAT's Incubator Facility

2009-10-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

The University of Hartford has become a collaborator in the business incubator at the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc. (CCAT), a move aimed at growing the relationship between the entrepreneurs who work with CCAT and the faculty, students, and resources of the University.

The University now has an office at CCAT’s Pitkin Street headquarters in East Hartford to serve as a gateway for businesses, students and faculty to find mutually beneficial opportunities to work together, particularly through CCAT’s newly established Entrepreneur Center. The Entrepreneur Center includes the former Innovation Pipeline Accelerator Program (IPA), which over the last several years has helped nearly 30 technology startups in the state to access market and competitive analysis resources within the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business. The IPA was developed by the Connecticut Technology Council with funding provided by the Department of Economic and Community Development prior to its recent acquisition by CCAT.

Several other collaborative efforts between CCAT and the University of Hartford are also envisioned over a broad spectrum of University capabilities in everything from technical evaluations, business case development and visual communications. This collaboration will leverage other joint efforts already underway including those with the University’s College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA).

CETA Dean Lou Manzione says that, “Working with entrepreneurs and start-up companies is an excellent way for our students to prepare themselves for professional careers. In the 21st century global economy, we can all benefit from more entrepreneurial skills. There is no better way for students to develop these skills than to work with entrepreneurs in start-up companies. The collaboration with the CCAT Incubator enables us to develop these opportunities for faculty and students across the University.”

The Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc. (CCAT) helps private and public entities to apply innovative tools and practices to increase efficiencies, improve workforce development, and boost competitiveness. CCAT functions as a unique economic development organization that combines expertise in cutting-edge technology with specialized centers of excellence in manufacturing, education, training, energy, and entrepreneurialism. Throughout these efforts, we promote partnership between industry, academia, and government to create a new collaborative framework for addressing 21st-century economic challenges. The CCAT facility also boasts state of the art telecommunications, distance learning facilities, and interactive meeting rooms that are available for University use.

Sustainability Seminar Series Opens

2009-10-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

On October 15, Dr. Cy Yavuzturk, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, opened the CETA Seminar Series on Sustainability with a talk on Net Zero Energy Buildings.

A net zero energy building is one that annually consumes as much energy as it produces, effectively yielding net zero energy and carbon emission conditions. Given that the operation of buildings in the United States uses a significant portion of the total energy consumed here each year (about 40 percent as compared with about 27 percent for vehicles), engineering design for net zero conditions has gained a great deal of attention, particularly with energy prices rising.

Dr. Yavuzturk emphasizes a point during his presentation on net zero energy buildings.

Dr. Yavuzturk discussed various ways that a building might be considered a net zero one, along with design methodologies and alternatives, passive and active, that incorporate renewable energy technologies into buildings. The case studies he presented exemplified net zero energy building design.

His talk was followed by a question-and-answer period that revealed a great deal of interest in sustainable building design and related topics among students and faculty. Other attendees included members of local organizations committed to sustainable design, including the Connecticut Green Building Council.

The CETA Seminar Series on Sustainability is organized by Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Tom Filburn, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, and sponsored by a Sustainability Grant from the Office of the Provost, as well as by the ASCE, ASHRAE, ASME, IEEE, and SWE student chapters in CETA.

In Memoriam

2009-10-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

CETA notes with sadness the passing of Thomas Skipwith “Skip” Lewis, a former dean of the College of Engineering here at the University. Dr. Lewis died on October 10 in Virginia at the age of 72.

He was dean of the College for 15 years in the 1970s and early 1980s, during which time he organized and oversaw the capital campaign that led to the building of United Technologies Hall, where CETA is now located. He was eventually recruited by the Hartford Steam Boiler Insurance Company to become executive vice president of the Engineering Department and retired from that company in 1996.

Dr. Lewis graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1958 and, in 1967, earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia after serving in the U.S. army.

CETA faculty and staff extend their sympathies to Dr. Lewis’s family.

News from an Audio Grad

2009-09-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

We have heard from Derek Piorkowski, a May 2008 graduate of our Audio Engineering Technology program. Derek works as the monitor system technologist for Taylor Swift on her current concert tour.

What is the monitor system and why is the monitor system tech an important part of a performer’s crew? The monitors are the devices that let the performers hear what is going on. Early versions were speakers on state that faced diagonally toward the performer rather than outward toward the audience. Now, there are both external speakers and flesh-colored ear plugs, the latter especially useful to performers such as Madonna, who dance anywhere on the stage and need to hear the music they’re dancing to.

When the monitor system doesn’t work as expected, disaster can result—even leading to bad reviews for the performer and unsatisfied concert-goers. In one video of a Madonna show, the performer is shown backstage complaining that she can’t hear her cues and is having a hard time. Thus, on tours where the gross receipts of a single show can be in the millions of dollars, the ability of the monitor system tech can be crucial.

Some of the equipment for Taylor Swift's concert, above waiting to be off-loaded, below covered from rain.

CETA Announces the GETSET! Summer Program

2009-09-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

The fields of engineering, technology, and architecture offer rewarding careers that can make a huge difference in people’s lives. Yes, it’s true, engineers, technologists, and architects build bridges and homes and rocket ships and cars—but people, especially women, should know that it’s also engineers and technologies who work with healthcare professionals to create the prostheses that help people who have lost limbs regain their mobility and independence. It’s architects who create spaces where people with limited mobility can lead more independent lives. Engineers help develop new fabrics, new digital technologies, and new habitats for living in space and under water and in cities and give us new ways to reuse, recycle, and reduce, too.

Different people bring new ideas and create new things and so help to make the world better for everyone, so it is crucial that the engineering, technology, and architecture workforce becomes more diverse. . Right now, that workforce is an area where the percentage of women remains low compared to their presence in other fields such as the biological sciences, medicine, and law. In the latter fields, women are half of the students and practitioners. In engineering, only 18 percent of degrees granted in 2008 to all engineering graduates went to women.

We hope that by showing young women what people in these fields actually do, they will be inspired to study one of them. Certainly, we in CETA would be delighted if they were to choose to study with us, but one of our goals is simply to bring women into our disciplines to help solve problems for people.

Therefore, CETA, in collaboration with the University High School of Science and Engineering, is starting a summer program called GETSET!, Girls Exploring Technology, Science and Engineering for Tomorrow. In this two-week, program, rising ninth-, tenth-, and eleventh-grade women will be introduced to engineering, technology, and architecture as helping professions. The young women will experience hands-on introductions to the engineering, technology, and architecture disciplines taught in CETA delivered by CETA professors. They will also interact with women who work in those disciplines as well as with female CETA students who will serve as their mentors and be available to them to answer questions about college preparation and the like.

This program is supported by grants from the Women’s Education and Leadership Fund (WELFund), a legacy of the Hartford College for Women, and other funders.

More information about the program can be found at uhaweb.hartford.edu/ceta/getset.

Professor Townsend Receives Sixth Patent

2009-09-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Dr. Lee Townsend, assistant professor of Mathematics in CETA, has been awarded her sixth laser-related patent. She and Ron LaComb, son of Barney School of Business administrator Ron LaComb, received patent 7,492,805 for their invention of a scalable spherical laser.

Their design is unique in that its output radiation is radially diverging; from outside the laser, the beam looks as if it emanates from a point source. This feature contrasts with traditional lasers, which are characterized by well-defined collimated output beams that are focused, not imaged, on a target. Another unique feature of this spherical laser is that the laser’s active volume can be increased without the excitement of additional radial modes. Their laser consists of two concentric spherical shells. Because the spacing between the shells is constant, the radial modes are not affected if the laser is made larger; there is simply more output power. The Townsend-LaComb laser, because of its unique geometry, has the potential to produce significantly higher single-mode output powers that can be imaged—in an ideal system—to a point.

Townsend and LaComb present two techniques to harness the diverging beam. The first uses a reflecting ellipsoid and results in a sub-diffraction spot size. The laser center is placed at one ellipsoid focus and the target at the other, similar to the geometry in the Whispering Gallery in Statuary Hall in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. This system is thus effectively imaging a point source. Aberrations in the optical train will increase the spot size somewhat, but there will be no spread of energy in the wings of small spot size beams as there is in the traditional focusing of collimated beams to produce a large on-axis spike. A second optical train geometry uses a reflecting parabola to produce a flat-phase collimated output.

The production of a sub-diffraction limited spot size has major implications in the fields of biophotonics and in the life sciences and for photochemical and photo-physical processes, as well as in industrial applications. The ability to increase active volume without altering the radial mode is unique to this laser, and when the laser beam is converted to a collimated beam, it has important, potentially revolutionary implications in the fields of communications, sensing, and high-energy industrial laser applications such as welding and cutting.

A copy of the patent is available on Dr. Townsend’s website, http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/ltownsend/, along with copies of her other five patents.

CETA congratulates Dr. Townsend and Dr. LaComb for their achievement.

CETA to Offer Sustainability Seminars

2009-09-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

Efforts to live create a sustainable environment can take many forms using science and engineering, such as developing renewable energy, creating eco-municipalities, and more vibrant and livable cities, designing green buildings, and constructing sustainable transportation and water supply infrastructure. Sustainability is an emerging field of study, most frequently used in connection with various biological, human and engineering systems. Its development requires different disciplinary perspectives, but few opportunities for this necessary cross-fertilization of ideas or for sustained discussion about it currently exist.

To create such opportunities, Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental, Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Tom Filburn, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the NASA CT Space Grant Consortium, have organized a College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA) Seminar Series on Sustainability. Sponsored by a Sustainability Grant from the Office of the Provost, a series of seminars on various topics related to “Sustainability, Energy, and the Environment” will be offered in the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 semesters, generally one per month. The seminars will be led by CETA faculty and corporate executives.

This series is an opportunity to share knowledge and scientific research with peers and students in a relaxed, informal environment. The seminar leaders will provide about one hour of content with additional time available for questions and discussion (both questions and discussion will be strongly encouraged). The seminars are open to all faculty, staff and students of the University as well as the general public. All CETA graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged to attend.

We believe the study of sustainability is both cutting-edge and timely. This seminar series will provide a unique opportunity to advance research on sustainability across disciplinary and professional boundaries and, in particular, to consider its implications for research and practice in lifelong learning.

Below is a list of seminar dates, topics and speakers. The guest speakers have diverse interests and expertise in sustainability as a field of study. They approach it from different disciplinary and professional backgrounds (for example, mechanical, environmental, energy, transportation, education, industry) and with a wide range of experience and expertise. They have begun to address some of the issues noted above from their own perspectives and to explore them in conjunction with other colleagues in the University, in industry, and in government.
Seminar Series Schedule

On Thursday, October 15, 2009, from 12:15- 1:50p.m., in Mali I, Dr. Cy Yavuzturk, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, will lead a discussion of Net Zero Energy Buildings.
On Thursday, November 12, 2009, from 12:15 to 1:50p.m., in Mali I, James Fuller, professor of Architecture, will lead a discussion of Architecture and the Environment.
On Thursday, December 3, 2009, from 12:15 to 1:50p.m., in Mali I, Dr. David Pines, associate professor of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering, will lead a discussion of Sustainable Water Supplies.
On Thursday, February 4, 2010, from 12:15 to 1:50 p.m., in Mali II, Dr. Thomas Filburn, associate professor of Mechanical and biomedical Engineering, will lead a discussion on Campus Energy Use and Renewable Potential.
On Thursday, March 4, 2010, from 12:15 to 1:50 p.m., in Mali II, Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering, will lead a discussion on Sustainable Transportation.
On Thursday, April 8, 2010, from 12:15 to 1:50 p.m., in Mali II, Dr. Lou Manzione, dean of CETA, will lead a discussion on Cyberspace and Inner Space as Facilitators of Sustainability.
On Thursday, April 29, 2010, from 12:15 to 1:50 p.m., in Mali II, Mike Ahern, vice president of Northeast Utilities, will lead a discussion.

The event is co-sponsored by the Office of Provost’s Sustainability Grant and the student chapters of ASME and SWE. Light refreshments will be served. CETA hopes that many people, whether faculty, staff, students, or community members, will attend these important discussions.

CETA and the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium

2009-09-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

In 1989, NASA began the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, a network of colleges and universities across the United States that works to provide opportunities for students to participate in NASA’s aeronautics and space projects. With this network, NASA supports science and engineering education, research and public outreach. More than 850 affiliates, universities, colleges, industry, museums, science centers, and state and local agencies, belong to one of 52 consortia in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The consortia fund fellowships and scholarships for students in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), along with the research projects that the STEM students work on.

The Connecticut Space Grant Consortium promotes NASA aeronautics and space-related research here in the state. In addition to the University of Hartford, which is the lead institution of the consortium, the members are

Central Connecticut State University
Connecticut Colleges of Technology (14 community colleges)
Eastern Connecticut State University
Fairfield University
Southern Connecticut State University
Trinity College
University of Connecticut
UConn Health Center
University of Bridgeport
University of New Haven
Wesleyan University
Yale University

Here are some examples of projects the CT Space Grant Consortium funds and worked on by students attending various schools in the consortium.

Jason Smith, a University of Hartford mechanical engineering major with an acoustics concentration, is working on a new prototype space suit, the NDX-2, with other Hartford students and a team from the University of North Dakota’s Department of Space Studies. Another mechanical engineering major, Jamie Hamilton, is working on a new life-support system that will be implemented into that new prototype suit. This young woman is testing new, lightweight materials to be incorporated into the system. Another young woman, a junior at the University of New Haven majoring in forensic science and chemistry, is experimenting with biofuel production from algae. She is working on extracting hydrocarbons from a variety of algae strains to determine which will produce the most usable form of biofuel and the greatest yield.

This project demonstrates an important point about NASA and the Space Grant program: Although many of the grants go to engineering students, NASA wants to support students in other disciplines. It takes more than engineers to drive the space program; all kinds of expertise is necessary. Consider the planned moon station and the need for biologists, chemists—all manner of disciplines will be needed to plan, build, and run that project. In addition, NASA has decided to focus, whenever possible, on green projects.

The kickoff for Connecticut’s Space Grant program for the 2009-2010 academic year is being held on September 17, 2009, in the Student Union at the University of Connecticut. Students from all majors with an interest in NASA are encouraged to attend and learn about projects, grants, and other opportunities offered by this exciting program.

CETA Kicks Off the New Academic Year

2009-09-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

On Monday, August 31, CETA’s new students gathered in the Hartford Suite of Gengras Student Union to kick off the new academic year. About 240 students packed the room to hear Dean Manzione welcome them to school. He reminded them that, yes, engineering, technology, and architecture are among the harder disciplines to study, but there are plenty of resources here in the College to help them achieve their goals, including faculty whose office doors are open to them.

Dean Lou Manzione addresses CETA's class of 2013.

After Associate Dean Hisham Alnajjar ran through some important mechanics, such as how to identify their advisor, how to get tutoring help if they want it, how to access the computer labs and other resources, the department chairs introduced their faculty. The professional staff in Student Services also introduced themselves and opened the floor to questions.

Associate Dean Alnajjar explains how to find a faculty member's office.

CETA's class of 2013 waits for Kick-Off to begin.

Classes start today, Tuesday, September 1.

CETA welcomes our class of 2013 and looks forward to working with them toward graduation and careers in their chosen fields.

Dr. Milanovic Receives Faculty Award

2009-08-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

At the Faculty/Staff Kickoff for the new academic year, held August 26 in the newly renovated Gengras Café, Dr. Ivana Milanovic, Associate Professor and Chair, Mechanical Engineering, received an award recognizing her innovations in teaching and learning. Specifically, Dr. Milanovic was honored for her development of a laboratory structure for a sequence of thermofluids experiments for the Mechanical Engineering Technology program here in CETA.

The structure provides a sequence of modules that bring students in Design of Experiment projects from experimental design to engineering design. The new structure has led to dramatic student accomplishments that is documented in course assessment data and alumni feedback. Several alumni report that the structure was a topic in their job interviews and is seen positively by employers.

The Awards for Innovations in Teaching and Learning recognize recent and specific achievements in creative and effective teaching. They are sponsored and funded by the harry Jack Gray/National Endowment for the Humanities Teaching Enhancement Grants. Recipients receive faculty development funding to use during the coming academic year.

(l. to r.) Dr. Marcia Moen, chair of the awards committee, Dr. Ivana Milaovic, Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, provost of the University

CETA congratulates Dr. Milanovic on receiving this important award.

Professor Milanovic Presents at ASME Conference

2009-08-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ivana Milanovic, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Khaled J. Hammad of Dantec Dynamics presented two papers at the American Society of Mechancial Engineers (ASME) Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting (FEDSM) this month in Vail, Colorado. The research studies, “FEDSM2009–78318: Flow Structure in the Near-Wall Region of a Submerged Impinging Jet” and FEDSM2009–78398: APOD Study of an Impinging Jet Flowfield,” reported on the turbulent flow structure and proper orthogonal decomposition modal analysis of an impinging jet flow field and their relevance to various thermal control strategies.

Dr. Milanovic also co-organized the Fifth Symposium on Fundamental Issues and Perspectives in Fluid Mechanics and the Second Symposium on Transport Phenomena in Mixing.

The FEDSM Annual Conference provides a forum for the exchange of information on fluids engineering for engineers from around the world. The conference addresses a range of topics in analysis, numerical methods, and experiments in fluid mechanics. Dr. Milanovic’s presentation was made possible through funding provided by WELFund, a legacy of Hartford College for Women.

Professor Leads Guitar-Curing Project

2009-08-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

Dr. Patricia Mellodge, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, plays guitar and studies, among other things, the mathematical modeling of microwave-material interactions. She has combined those two passions in a project designed to improve the wood coating process for Taylor Guitars using microwave energy. She is working on this project with Dr. Diane Folz, research faculty in Materials Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where Dr. Mellodge earned her Ph.D.), CETA colleague Dr. Bob Celmer, professor and program director of Acoustical Engineering and Music, and students from both CETA and Virginia Tech

Last year Virginia Tech students Chase Hammond, Cary Hill, and Charles Sprinkle, Materials Science and Engineering majors, worked on microwave processing and materials characterization as part of their senior project. The CETA students, Andy Sorenson and Stalin Vera, Acoustical Engineering and Music majors, performed vibrational testing on uncured, Taylor’s ultraviolet-cured, and Virginia-Tech-cured samples and compared the results as a project for their Noise Control Design class. The overall objective for all the students was to determine whether microwaves represent a viable alternative to Taylor’s current UV process that would give Taylor more control over the curing process. Taylor provided samples of their wood and UV-activated coating materials, along with guidance in using them.

In late May, the students traveled with Drs. Mellodge and Folz to Taylor Guitars in El Cajon, California, to meet Taylor staff members Matt Guzzetta, industrial designer, and Steve Baldwin, the Finish Department manager, and present the results of their first year’s work. In addition, the students, faculty, and Taylor staff discussed what Taylor sees as the most crucial issues in their finishing process and what steps need to be taken next in the project.

In addition to the trip to El Cajon, Drs. Mellodge and Folz attended a workshop at Purdue University entitled “Exploring Comprehensive Design and Product Lifecycle Management Through Guitar Design and Manufacture.” The workshop was funded by the National Science Foundation and hosted by Mike Aikens from Butler County Community College, Tom Singer from Sinclair Community College, and Nathan Hartman, Mark French, and Brad Harringer from Purdue University. The intent of the workshop was to expose faculty to the construction of an electric guitar as a vehicle for teaching STEM, engineering design, and manufacturing concepts to students. The hosts also hoped to build collaborations with attendees to expand the project to more schools. Drs. Mellodge and. Folz hope to expand the project with Taylor to incorporate the concepts they learned at the workshop and collaborate with Purdue, Butler, and Sinclair.

In the meanwhile, the Taylor project will continue this coming academic year as student projects at both CETA and Virginia Tech. The Virginia Tech students will develop the microwave process further, with a focus on improving the quality of the base layer coating applied to the wood. The CETA students will continue to evaluate the vibrational characteristics of the samples cured using various methods and will compare the results.

Dr. Mellodge is proud of this project. As she says, it “is a great opportunity for students to engage in a real-world research project and experience the design process from concept to application. As the project continues, we will expand into other engineering areas such as electromagnetic, computer modeling, and simulation. Over the course of this multi-year collaboration, we expect many undergraduates from the University of Hartford and Virginia Tech to work together on this project.”

Helping a Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy Patient

2009-08-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

A family in West Hartford needed very special help. Their 6-year-old son suffers from spastic, quadriplegic cerebral palsy that developed because of complications during his birth. The family wanted to be able to include the child in activities like sledding and bike-riding but couldn’t find equipment adapted for his needs. Dr. Mary Arico and Prof. Sara Zajac, who teach the Biomedical Engineering Design Project II class (BE 461), assembled a team of students in the fourth year of the Biomedical Engineering program to meet the challenge and develop a sled and bike trailer that would be usable with a Blue Sky Cycle Carts Special Needs bike trailer for the child.

The family focused on the durability, the ease of use, and the safety aspects of the final product. The child’s physical therapist required the device to encourage good posture, to protect the child during impact, and provide adequate support for the child’s sensitive areas, such as the head. The design team added such design constraints as the ability to be machined by the team, the ability to operate in snow, a low center of gravity, and the like.

Students Brittany Mejia, Ahmad Osman, Mohammed Osman, Huy Pham, Chris Poudrette, Maria Qadri, and Haralambos Zaharis designed a project that met all of the requirements, and the bike trailer/sled was completed and is being used by the family this summer.

CETA Professor Named to Task Force

2009-08-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ladimer Nagurney, associate professor of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering has been named to the Regional Rail Advisory Task force in western Massachusetts. The task force was formed to advise on the spending of stimulus funds for rail lines from New Haven, Conn., to Vermont and for other lines in western Massachusetts. The final report from the group is due by May 2010. The Massachusetts and Connecticut Departments of Transportation, both states congressional delegations and other elected officials are among the recipients of the group’s reports.

Among the proposals under consideration is extending the Knowledge Corridor, the rail lines and institutions along the Connecticut River from New Haven to Northampton, Mass., into a Knowledge Web. That Web would be achieved by interconnecting the existing rail lines from Amherst, Mass., south to Storrs and New London, Conn. In this plan, the land grant institutions in both Connecticut and Massachusetts could benefit.

The Knowledge Web was conceived because there are roughly 75,000 college students along the New Haven-to-Northampton corridor (which includes the University of Hartford) and another 75,000 along the Amherst-to-New London corridor. All of those students—and many businesses—would certainly be helped by more frequent and wider rail service.

While the stimulus money is intended to be used to improve passenger rail transportation, it will be used to improve roadbeds, change jointed rail to continuously welded rail, and improve grade crossings and bridges, all of which will also improve freight handling. As Dr. Nagurney says, “any vehicles, either passenger or freight, that we can move away from highways, will ‘green’ New England.

Some Recent Faculty Grants, Awards and Publications

2009-08-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

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.

Paper by CETA Faculty Wins Prestigious Award

2009-08-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

A paper authored by Dr. Jonathan Hill, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. Saeid Moslehpour, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. Hisham Alnajjar, associate professor of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering, and published in the journal Computers in Education has been awarded the Harden-Simons Prize. The paper, “Educational Discrete Time Signal Processing Toolkit," appeared in the April-June issue of the journal.

The Harden Simons Prize is an annual award presented to the outstanding paper on computational methods published in the journal. It commemorates the contributions of Dr. Richard C. Harden and Dr. Fred O. Simons, engineering educators, to the Computers in Education division of ASEE and the journal.

The Computers in Education division is a medium for the exchange of ideas pertaining to the users of analog, hybrid and digital computers in education. Its members are engineering, mathematics, and science educators who want to improve the quality of engineering instruction. The division publishes the journal quarterly and distributes it to more than one thousand individuals and departments.

CETA Faculty Present and Publish

2009-08-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

Several CETA professors presented papers at the annual ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) conference and exposition held this year starting June 15 in Austin, Texas. The ASEE Conference is the only national conference addressing the various disciplines in engineering, technology, and architecture.

Dr. Ivana Milanovic, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr. Tom Eppes, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, presented their paper “AC 2009–30: Senior Design Projects for Engineering Technology: Issues, Benefits, and Trade-Offs.” In the paper, the two professors discuss the evolution and structure of and the approach to senior capstone projects in CETA.

Dr. Patricia Mellodge, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, presented two papers. The first, “Digital Health: A Sophomore Level Interdisciplinary Engineering Design Project Course,” was written and presented with Brad Deschenes, a Computer Engineering major here in CETA who will be a senior this fall. The second paper is “A Multi-University, Interdisciplinary Senior Design Project in Engineering” concerns a project that Dr. Mellodge is working on with Professor Diane Folz of Virginia Tech.

CETA student Brad Deschenes and Dr. Patricia Mellodge at the ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition in Austin, Texas.

Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental & Biomedical Engineering, presented her paper entitled “Community-based Service Project Learning in Civil Engineering Courses,” in which she discusses a service project she uses in a Civil Engineering course.

Dr. Fang has also had a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Advanced Transportation in 2009. The paper, authored with L. Elefteriadou, is entitled "Modeling and Simulation Vehicle Projection Arrival-Discharge Process in Adaptive Traffic Signal Controls."

Faculty Publish Paper

2009-06-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

Tom A. Eppes, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Ivana M. Milanovic, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering are authors of a technical paper that appeared in the Journal of Laser Applications, Vol. 21, No. 2, a publication of the Laser Institute of America. The paper is titled “Laser Percussion Drilling Modeling Utility.” Also contributing to the paper was Devdas Shetty, Dean of Engineering at Lawrence Technological University. The paper describes a free-standing MatLab-based design that offers a convenient and flexible way to predict a variety of laser drilling process outcomes.

CETA Celebrates Graduation

2009-05-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, May 17, 2009, 137 undergraduate students and 41 graduate students received their degrees from the University of Hartford and CETA in two ceremonies, a University-wide one followed by ceremonies in the individual colleges.

The University ceremony featured an address by Peter Eio, retired president of LEGO, who received an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degree. Eio reminded the audience that, though the economy may pose difficulties, LEGO was founded around the time of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Among the various awards presented during the main ceremony was the Roy E. Larsen Award for Excellence in Teaching, which went to CETA’s Dr. David Pines, chair of the Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering Department and advisor to the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Dr. Pines spent many years as a practicing engineer before joining the faculty here, and he brings his real-world experience into the classroom. In addition, through his work with the Engineers Without Borders chapter, Dr. Pines and his students designed and installed a solar-powered well and rooftop rainwater-collection system that has given Abheypur, India, a small village near New Delhi a steady and sustainable water supply. That project now involves students from the Hartford Art School, who are designing posters to promote health practices in the village, along with students from the College of Arts & Sciences, who are evaluating the effects of the program, and students from the College of Education, Nursing and Health Professions, who are working on public health issues. The professional Hartford chapter of Engineers Without Borders has also joined the project along with students from local high schools. And now Dr. Pines is working with the University’s provost, Dr. Lynn Pasquerella and members of the University’s Department of Politics and Government, along with colleagues from Brown University and the University of Rhode Island on a project for a village in Kenya. For more information on Dr. Pines, please click here.

Dr. David Pines receives the Roy E. Larsen Award for Excellence in Teaching from University President Walter Harrison.

Juniors Kimberly Powell and Neftali Torres
Seniors Tiffany Cartier and Sara Murray
Graduate Student Tyson Douglas Dorman

Dr. Michael Crosbie announced the winner of the Tai Soo Kim Travel Fellowship for Architecture students, an award supported by the generosity of Tai Soo Kim, a Hartford architect, University regent and member of the Department of Architecture Board of Advisors. The fellowship is given to a graduating Master of Architecture student to support travel anywhere in the world to continue architectural study independently. This year’s winner is Michael Varesio.

Dr. Chittaranjan Sahay presented the Dr. Girija Sahay and Ahilya Devi Award to Jason Smith. This award honors Dr. Sahay’s parents, who encouraged his achievements.

Dr. Bob Celmer, winner of this year’s Professor of the Year Award bestowed by the CETA chapter of Tau Beta Pi, presented the Robert Bradford Newman Medal for Merit in Architectural Acoustics. This medal is an international award recognizing excellence in the study of acoustics and its application to architecture. Students selected for the Newman Medal must have demonstrated excellence in the discipline and in the application of acoustical design principles in the course of their study. This year, two CETA students were selected to receive this prestigious award: Meghan Ahearn and Matthew Schaeffler.

Among the students receiving CETA degrees on Sunday were six faculty members from Herat University in Western Afghanistan who have been studying in CETA for 18 months and who earned master's degrees in Civil Engineering. The six are part of a group of 12 Herat instructors who are studying engineering and architecture here as part of a partnership between the University of Hartford and Herat, which is funded by an almost $2 million grant from the World Bank.

The first Herat instructors to graduate from CETA, l. to r., Noman Moheb Rahmani, Khalil Ahmad Sarwari, Ahmad Sohail Rahimi, Azizurahman Azimi, Noor Sayed Jami, and Sayed Abdul Basit Mododi.

Dean Louis Manzione announced that Joseph Thomas Buonagurio, a CETA student who died four weeks before the graduation ceremony but who had completed his degree requirements, was granted his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Accepting the diploma were Joseph’s father and sisters. Following the graduation ceremonies, a tree planted in Joseph’s memory in the courtyard between United Technologies Hall and Dana hall was dedicated.

Graduating student Jason Smith and Jospeh Buonagurio, Joseph Thomas Buonagurio's father, install the plaque dedicating a newly planted dogwood tree to the memory of Joseph Thomas Buonagurio.

CETA Day Celebrated

2009-05-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

CETA has once again showcased our talented students on CETA Day, May 8, 2009. Seniors presented their capstone projects and several Master’s degree candidates presented their thesis projects.Many of our senior and Master’s projects are solutions to real-world problems brought to us and sponsored by local industry; others are projects that students propose themselves; all require a demonstration of results. These projects are a valuable integrative experience for CETA students, who must demonstrate what they have learned over the course of their time here through the work they present. Any program accredited by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), as many of our programs are, requires its seniors to produce capstone projects.Below is a list of the projects presented.

Professor Jonathan Hill speaks with University High-School Students as they view Electrical Engineering projects.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Audio Engineering Technology Program

Special Audio Guitar Distortion Pedal Unit with Audio Production Incorporating the Unit
Brendan La Chance

Audio “Wah-Wah” (Dynamic Filter) Processor with Audio Production Incorporating the Unit
Keith Harris

Recording Studio Management and Analysis of Business Model
Virginia Keppol

Octave Guitar Pedal
Ryan Loftus

A special showing of
An Independent Film Production
“The Life of a Hawk”
Brien Woodaman

Electronic Engineering Program
ECE 483, Design II for Engineering

DTSP Delay-Based Guitar Effects Processor
Matthew Hollis, James LoRusso

Economizer Controller for Air Conditioning
Paul Patnoad

Paul Patnoad

Flying Saucer Model
Joseph Merlo

Image Processing on the Cell Processor
Alex Pannaman, Jacob Komar

Microprocessor-Based Autonomous Toy Car
Joshua Rinker, Andrej Dukalev

MP3 Player for SD Cards
John Horgan, Jonathan Swanson

Performance Peltier CPU Cooler
John Nobile

Speech Sound Recognition Security Lock
Zain Almasri, Thomas Casasanta, Renaldo Dojce

Tablature Recording System
Sean Irby

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Electronic Engineering Technology Program

Car Care Awareness; Lighting Systems
Sam Yourstone

Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering Department
Civil Engineering

Connecticut Rt. 37 Bridge over Padanaram Brook; Danbury, Connecticut
Tiffany Cartier, Ricky Mears, Steve Mgrditchian
Sponsored by Nicholas R. Giordina, P.E., and John Hapkiewicz
AECOM Transportation, Rocky Hill, Connecticut

Rt. 1 (Boston Post Road) Bridge over Wepawaug River; Milford, Connecticut
Joshua Bartkus, Edward Powell, Benjamin Sobocinski
Sponsored by Kyle A. Turschman, P.E.
Baker Engineering, NY, Inc., Rocky Hill, Connecticut

Partial Design of a Three-Story Steel-Framed Office Building; Farmington, Connecticut
Michael Grygus, John Hollywood, Dennis Meuer
Sponsored by Douglas S. Graham, P.E.
Girard & Company, LLP, Rocky Hill, Connecticut

Mechanical Engineering Department
Master’s Presentations

Eugene Gasmen
Root Cause Analysis of PW2000 Synchronizing Ring Bumper Cracking and Redesign of Bumpers

Yodsapat Janeborvorn
Thermal Performance Model of a Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator

Jeanne Caplet
Minimizing Measurement System Variation in Frequency Response Test of Gas Turbine Compressor Blades

Linda Taylor
The Effect of MTBF of Full V/s Limited Repair of Aircraft Engines

Jesse Goodwick
Analysis of Horn for Ultrasonic Machining

Elizabeth Yang
Opportunities for Energy Savings at a Wastewater Treatment Plant: Conservation and Cogeneration

Dave Sander
Effect of Residual Stresses in Rib Structure Due to Welding

Jose Prieto
Design Improvements of a Vane Platform

On Friday, May 1, the following projects were presented:

Mechanical Engineering Technology Senior Design Project Presentations:

Fairchild Collar Trim Tool
William Rice, Joseph Storey
Sponsored by Pratt & Whitney

Compression Set Performance
Chris Fitzgerald, Joey Herr, Stephen Morosko, David Sarnowitz
Sponsored by Hamilton Sundstrand

Pin on Disc Tribometer
Mike Becker, Tony Ievorlino, George Tolhurst
Sponsored by Pratt & Whitney

Tube Cutting Apparatus
Joseph Belmonte, Aaron Brown, Maxwell Lewis
Sponsored by Westinghouse

Grinding Machine for Amaranth
Ryan Carr, Dave Hamilton
Sponsored by Engineers Without Borders

Mechanical Engineering Master’s Presentation

Angelie Ng
Model Extraction for Spiral Inductors at High Frequency Using Artificial Neural Network

On Wednesday, May 6, the following projects were presented:

ME 502, Noise Control Design

Noise Reduction Study of the “Titanic” Vacuum System at Jacobs Vehicle Systems
Owen Leackfeldt, W. Khachadourian

Modeling Computer Data Center Noise in ODEON
Michael Lunoe, Nicholas Statzer

Noise Survey of Jacobs Vehicle Systems’ Alcove Area
David Yeung, Paul Katz

HVAC Noise and Sound Transmission Reduction at Trinity College Dance Studios and Black-Box Theater
Jack Zybura, Stalin Vera

Muffler Design for NASA Orion Space Crew Module
Jamie Hamilton, Jason Smith

Sound Power Measurement and Design Evaluations of Theater Lights
Paul Katz, Owen Leackfeldt

Just Noticeable Difference of Clarity Index (C80) Study
Meghan Ahearn, Matt Schaeffler

Acoustical Review of Gengras Servery Area Renovation
Andrew Sorenson, Meghan Ahearn

ANR Headphone Design Evalauations for Sikorsky Aircraft
Jeffrey Howard, Jeffrey Doyle

Noise Isolation at P&W QCPC Conference Center
Matt Schaeffler, Jack Zybura

Interior Submarine Noise ODEON Validation Study
Jeffrey Doyle, CJ Smith

Modal Analysis of Taylor Guitar Wood Finishes
Stalin Vera, Andrew Sorenson

Biomedical Engineering

Winter Sled & Bike Trailer Seat for Spastic, Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy Patient
Brittany Mejia, Ahmad Osman, Mohamed Osman, Huy Pham, Chris Poudrette, Maria Qadri, Haralambos Zaharis

CETA and Shandong Jiaotong University, China, to Collaborate

2009-05-11T12:11:00.001-07:00

On April 20, 2009, Lynn Pasquerella, provost of the University of Hartford, and Zhang Cheng, vice president of Shandong Jiaotong University, China, signed a Memorandum of Understanding under which a partnership of the two universities is established. A highly productive collaboration is envisioned between Shandong and CETA’s programs in civil engineering, architecture, and sustainable design.

Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, provost of the University of Hartford, and Dr. Zhang Cheng, vice president of Shandong Jiaotong University, China, sign the Memorandum of Understanding.

The delegation, led by Dr. Zhang along with three of his faculty members, spent April 20 in meetings with Dean Lou Manzione and CETA faculty and taking tours of both CETA and the University. Dr. Clara Fang facilitated by serving as the translator. The day began with Dean Manzione, who talked about the various programs offered by CETA with particular emphasis on the industrial partnerships that result in not only faculty research and collaborations but student projects as well. When they toured CETA’s labs and classrooms with Associate Dean Alnajjar, Dr. Zhang reported being impressed by the state-of-the-art equipment and research capabilities—and the fact that students worked in the labs outside of class hours on projects and lab experiments. They also enjoyed the Architecture design studio in the Harry Jack Gray Center, including an exhibit of student work being shown at the time.

Vice President Zhang Cheng of Shandong Jiaotong University presents a gift to Dr. Clara Fang and Dean Lou Manzione.

Dean Lou Manzione, Dr. Clara Fang, and the members of the Shandong Jiaotong University faculty visiting the University.

They spent time with the Civil Engineering Dept, including Dr. Fang and Civil Engineering Department Chair, Dr. David Pines and also visited with Dr. Michael Crosbie, chair of the Architecture Dept, as well as other Architecture faculty. Dr. Fang discussed her transportation research projects for various communities in the area, and Dr. Pines spoke of the Center for Integrated Design, which brings together engineering, art, and business disciplines at the University to work with communities in the area. The Chinese delegation was impressed with the work done outside the University for the larger community. They discussed urban planning and sustainable design with Dr. Crosbie.

Dean Lou Manzione, Dr. Clara Fang, and Dr. David Pines, chair of Civil Engineering, in discussions with the Sandong faculty.

As a result of the meetings and tours, the University, CETA, and Shandong University are exploring student exchanges such as Chinese students studying two years at Shandong, then coming to the University of Hartford for two years under an articulation agreement. In addition, we will also consider a plan where faculty from Shandong University come here and pair with CETA faculty to learn to teach our more hands-on curriculum and our lab courses to better align our exchanges. Given the large number of students at Shandong—2,600 in Civil Engineering alone—it will take some adjustments to implement more hands-on learning and design-based projects, but everyone agreed that it can be done.

The day was capped off by a dinner that included the delegation, Dean Manzione, Dr. Fang, President Harrison, Provost Pasquerella, and Vice President Carson. Both academic and cultural discussions were conducted over dinner.

John Carson, vice president of the University of Hartford, meeting with Dr. Zhang Chen, vice president of Shandong Jiaotong University, accompanied by Dr. Clara Fang.

The meeting and agreement are the result of work begun by Dr. Fang during a trip she took last summer with Harrison, Carson, Alan Hadad and State of Connecticut Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan, among others. (Shandong state is a sister state of Connecticut; hence the involvement of Connecticut officials.) An agreement was reached at that time to bring Chinese students to the University, and Dr. Fang wanted specifically to bring engineering and technology students to CETA. During the summer trip, Dr. Fang spoke to officials in Shandong, which has a student population of 16,000 with 53 years of history focusing primarily on engineering, with a strong emphasis on civil and transportation engineering; and with the support of Dean Manzione, options were explored and the university agreed to send a delegation to West Hartford.

CETA looks forward to working with Shandong University and hosting Chinese students and faculty.

Graduate Students Honored

2009-05-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

A group of CETA graduate students were honored by inclusion in the poster session for the Graduate Research/Creativity Symposium held Wednesday, April 29. The purpose of this symposium is to showcase the wide variety of original scholarship (for example, research projects, case studies, artistic performances, or exhibits) conducted by graduate students at the University of Hartford.

The students who presented posters are

Chih-Chieh Chang, Master of Engineering program–Mechanical Engineering; “Effect of Mesh Size in the Prediction of Residual Stress in Machining”; faculty sponsor: Dr. Chittaranjan Sahay
Vishal C. Edake, Master of Engineering program–Mechanical Engineering, and Deepthi Teegala, Master of Engineering program–Electrical Engineering; “Desalination of Salt Water”; faculty sponsors: Drs. Chittaranjan Sahay and David Pines
Gregory Mellor, Master of Engineering program–Civil Engineering; “Experimental Evaluation of FRP/Masonry and FRP/Concrete Fracture Properties”; faculty sponsor: Dr. Christian Carloni
Elizabeth Yang, Master of Engineering program–Mechanical Engineering; “Opportunities for Energy Savings at Wastewater Treatment Plants: Conservation and Cogeneration”; faculty sponsor: Dr. Chittaranjan Sahay

Gregory Mellors with Dr. Christian Carloni, his faculty sponsor

During the symposium, another CETA graduate student was named a recipient of the Regents’ Honors Awards for Graduate Students. Tyson Douglas Dorman, a Master of Architecture student, received this award, which acknowledges exceptional accomplishment in coursework (only students with a GPA over 3.8 are invited to apply), professional training, and capstone projects; scholarly productivity; academic and professional positions and honors; community outreach; and placement or promotion. Dorman has previously received the Tai Soo Kim traveling fellowship for Architecture students and now works as an architect and teaches in the Architecture department here in CETA. His faculty sponsor is Dr. Michael Crosbie.

Tyson Douglas Dorman receiving his Regents' Honors Award from University Provost Lynn Pasquerella.

CETA congratulates all of these graduate students and their faculty sponsors.

Dean Manzione Throws the First Pitch

2009-04-28T08:05:00.001-07:00

The University of Hartford Hawks baseball team hosted CETA Day on Thursday, April 23, and Dean Lou Manzione threw out the first pitch with CETA students and faculty in the stands to cheer him on. After the pitch, a moment of silence was observed to honor Mechanical Engineering major Joseph Bonagurio, who died in a car accident the weekend before.

The Hawks went on to defeat the Yale Bulldogs in an extra-inning win, 7–6.

Lou Manzione pitching.

Lou and the Hartford Hawks.

CETA Makes a Showing on Community Day

2009-04-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, April 18, the University held its seventh annual Community Day, on which the Greater Hartford community is invited to campus for free events, treats and attractions. Among the day’s events were a reading of Edgar Allen Poe’s poems (this year marks the 200th anniversary of his birth), a bike rodeo, an art exhibit at the Joseloff Gallery, and demonstrations by the University’s cheerleading team. CETA featured a Student Showcase, with an exhibit by the Architecture students, a demonstration by the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders, a robot game, a demonstration of the Biomedical Engineering senior class design, and an exhibit of the Formula SAE race car.

Below are photos of the CETA Community Day activities.

The CETA fSAE race car team (l. to r., Kevin Zheng, John Scales, Eric Rickert, George Bongart, and Bob Dynan) shows off their vehicle.

Dr. David Pines, advisor to the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders, explains how the solar collector (similar to ones being used to provide clean water to Abheypur, India) works.

Robot golf, run by students from the University High School of Science and Engineering, is especially popular with the younger crowd.

One of the robots used in the robot golf game on Community Day.

In Memoriam

2009-04-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

CETA notes with deep sadness the death of Joseph T. Buonagurio, a senior studying Mechanical engineering here, in an automobile accident on Sunday, April 19 in his hometown of Yorktown, New York.

Buonagurio worked on his senior design project with fellow student Owen Leakfeldt. Their project, a wear-testing machine for Pratt & Whitney, won first prize in the student design competition held at the University in December 2008 and sponsored by the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). They moved on to the Hartford Region competition at the University of Connecticut in March of this year. Their project was selected to represent the University of Hartford at the ASME regionals (ASME Region A), where senior design projects from New England and New York were presented at Tufts University on April 18.

One of Joe’s professors, Dr. Tom Filburn recalls Joe as someone who was “interested in learning , hard working, and provided insight into many of the technical subjects discussed in class.” Buonagurio’s classmates remember him as a likable person and a hard-working student who loved cars.

The funeral will take place Friday, April 24, at 10a.m. at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, in Shrub Oak, New York. The University will hold a memorial service at the family's convenience, with the date and time to be announced shortly.

The faculty, staff, and students of CETA join in expressing their profound sympathy to the Buonagurio family.

CETA Professors Using Emerging Technologies in Classes

2009-04-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Dr. Patricia Mellodge and Dr. Michelle Vigeant are using two emerging technologies in classes as part of a pilot program sponsored by the Emerging Technologies Committee of the Faculty Center for Learning and Development (FCLD) here on campus. Dr. Mellodge’s students in ES 242, Engineering by Design, are using Wikis for collaborative work, while Dr. Vigeant’s students in ME 350, Vibrations I with Applications for Engineering, are using personal response devices, “clickers,” to answer multiple-choice and true/false questions posed on PowerPoint or other software-created slides.

The students in ES 242 are working this semester on a digital health project: an in-home health monitoring system. The class has separated into three groups, each working on a subsystem of the project, with the goal of assembling the subsystems into a working system by the end of the semester so that it can be tested in a simulated environment.

Each group must document their progress weekly on the wiki, which is now the central location where anyone in the class can find up-to-date project information. Thus, each group and group member knows the status of the other groups and how the subsystems must interface with one another and so can work outside of class without directly meeting other students. The project can progress despite the fact that the class meets only once a week.

Dr. Mellodge’s goals in using the wiki in the class are to enhance organizational and project management and to help the students improve their writing skills. With all the writing assignments and progress reports being on the wiki and available for editing by anyone (the editor’s name appears with the edits), improvements in writing are visible. In addition, the final report on the project will be easier than otherwise to write because all the information on the project will be available to the writers on the wiki.

In ME 350, Dr. Vigeant has her students use the clickers to respond to three kinds of questions: informational, retention, and “QEDs,” Questions to Engage Students in Discussion. Informational questions are survey-like, often used at the beginning of the term to capture information on the types of students in the class, their class level, their expected interest in the course, and so on. Retention questions can be used for immediate follow-up after a topic is covered in the class to make sure that students have understood the material presented. And QEDs can help to generate discussion because students might feel more comfortable discussing an issue after having voted anonymously on it and seeing the class’s general opinion.

More specifically, Dr. Vigeant opens each class meeting with three to five multiple choice or true/false questions to review material from the previous class. She also presents retention questions during the presentation of new material to track students’ understanding of it and their ability to relate it to previous material. She reports that she hasn’t used QEDs in ME 350; however, she does say that the students seem to feel comfortable explaining their answers when asked to do so.

Two primary advantages of using clickers in the classroom have emerged from Dr. Vigeant’s experience this semester. First, she is able to monitor students’ understanding of material in real time. If a certain concept seems to be unclear given the student responses to the questions, she can review it immediately. Second, the clickers promote active learning in the classroom. The students seem to be highly engaged throughout the 75-minute lecture period, even when clickers are used only intermittently. Many students both ask and answer questions, not just the small number of students who generally always participate in the class. Students learn from their mistakes during the class period and develop a better understanding of the material.

The FCLD was established to stimulate and support the teaching and learning environment by assisting faculty to incorporate technology and new teaching methods into their curriculum. As part of their program, Drs. Mellodge and Vigeant were among nine faculty members from across the University who received FCLD grants in the fall to support the work necessary to implement the emerging technologies in their classrooms. A showcase for all the participants will be held on April 27 in the Watkinsen Library so that other faculty can hear how the tools were used and what the participants learned.

CETA Faculty Member Is Awarded Greenberg Grant

2009-04-10T06:32:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michelle Vigeant, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has received a Greenberg Junior Faculty Grant to be used in her research on acoustic absorption in concert halls. Dr. Vigeant’s research focuses on the relationship between late lateral energy and acoustic absorption. She is considering the sense of being enveloped, completely surrounded, by sound in concert halls and how late lateral energy relates to acoustic absorption and the sense of envelopment that is important to the listening experience. In studying the relationship, Dr. Vigeant hopes to derive a better understanding of how the physical aspects of any acoustically sensitive space contribute to envelopment, an understanding that will help designers and researchers in advancing concert hall design. Three undergraduate Acoustical Engineering students will assist Dr. Vigeant as she analyzes the Belding Theater at the Bushnell Hall in downtown Hartford, develops a computer model of the theater, and analyzes the resultant data.

Dr. Vigeant earned her B.S. at the University of Alberta, and her Ph.D. in Engineering (Architectural Engineering, Acoustics) at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Her principal research interests lie in architectural acoustics, psychoacoustics, musical acoustics, and noise control. To learn more about Dr. Vigeant’s research, you can go to her web page by clicking here.

Dr. Michelle Vigeant

The Greenberg Junior Faculty Grants are grants given by the University to promote high quality scholarship by faculty members just beginning their careers. The grants are endowed by Arnold and Beverly Greenberg, long-time benefactors of the University of Hartford.

CETA Holds Student Convocation

2009-04-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

On April 7, CETA held the annual Student Convocation, a chance for students to socialize with faculty and staff. This year’s festivities, held in Konover Campus Center, began with lots of food, after which Dean Manzione spoke, reminding the students to get involved with the various activities offered in CETA and to get help if they need it. Following his brief remarks, various scholarship winners were announced and club officers spoke about what their organizations have done this year and what they have planned for next year. The convocation ended with games, including a trivia contest played by teams of five, including one comprising faculty (which won).

Here are some photos of the Convocation.

Dean Lou Manzione addresses the Student Convocation

Students at the Convocation

Laura Zeleznicky, president of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) at CETA, talks about what the club has done this year.

The faculty Triva Contest team (l. to r.), Dr. Bob Celmer, Dr. Hisham Alnajjar, Peter Norwood, Tim Britt, and Dr. Cy Yavuzturk, with their assistant, Barbara Schwartz, faculty secretary.

Faculty and staff observe the early proceedings.

Architect Opens Lecture Series

2009-04-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael Crosbie, chair of Architecture, made a presentation on “God’s Green House—Connections between Theology, Ecology, and Architecture” Wednesday, April 1. His presentation was the first of a five-lecture series on “Technology: The Leading Edge,” for the President’s College, a non-credit program offering short courses and activities for adults, engaging the population of the communities surrounding the University in the intellectual and academic life of our campus.

Dr. Michael Crosbie addresses the President's College.

Dr. Crosbie’s talk focused on buildings recently designed and made for various faith communities in North America. The buildings he discussed are all sustainable designs, involving recycled materials and using natural light and heat as much as possible, along with other green strategies, to reflect the fact that the communities using these buildings feel a responsibility to the planet created by God for our use and care. They see themselves as stewards of the planet and want their buildings to be part of their stewardship.

Dr. Crosbie, Registered Architect, has served as an editor of Faith and Form magazine and writes regularly on architecture and faith communities for various magazines and newspapers. He is the author of numerous books on architecture and has taught at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. He is now associate professor of Architecture as well as chair of the department here in CETA. His B.S., M.Arch., and Ph.D. were earned at Catholic University. For more information about Dr. Crosbie and the Architecture Department, please click here.

The next lecture in the Technology series will be made by Tim Britt, program director of Audio Engineering Technology, who will talk about “Audio and the Digital Revolution” on April 15. Other speakers will be Dr. Lou Manzione, Dean of CETA, on “Healthcare Technologies and the Coming Decade” on April 22; Dr. Tom Filburn on “Life Support Technologyies for the Orion Crew Vehicle, the Next Lunar Exploration Capsule” on April 29; and Dr. Michelle Vigeant on “Acoustical Engineering: Auralization—Hearing a Room Before It Is Built” on May 6. The speakers are leading researchers in CETA.

Other programs in the President’s College include an upcoming series on “The Symphony After Beethoven” presented by Michael Lankester who was music director of the Hartford Symphony for 15 years and is now a guest conductor with various orchestras around the world; three lectures on “The Beatles: A Confluence of Musical Styles” by Michael Shiano, an associate professor of musical theory in The Hartt School; and a talk about Old Newgate Prison in East Granby, Connecticut, the first state prison in America. The President’s College is led by Dr. Humphrey Tonkin, University Professor of the Humanities and President Emeritus of the University of Hartford. Please click here for more information about Dr. Tonkin and the President’s College.

CETA Welcomes ASHRAE Student Branch

2009-03-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

CETA students have formed a student branch of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, ASHRAE, with Dr. Cy Yavuzturk, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, serving as the branch faculty advisor. CETA’s is the first student branch of ASHRAE in Connecticut. The student application for forming the branch was sponsored and endorsed by the Connecticut Chapter of ASHRAE and ASHRAE President Mr. William Harrison. The founding students are Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Technology majors in CETA.

ASHRAE is a worldwide organization whose membership comprises consulting engineers, contractors, manufacturers and manufacturing representatives, sales representatives, and architects. The organization is dedicated to ensuring energy-efficient buildings, comfortable and productive indoor environments, healthful food, and preservation of the outdoor environment.

Students interested in joining the ASHRAE student branch should contact Max Lewis, (hlewis@hartford.edu), Steven Buck (sbuck@hartford.edu), or Dr. Yavuzturk (yavuzturk@hartford.edu) for more information.

from l. to r., Matthew Mullen, president of the Connecticut ASHRAE Chapter; student Kervin Lochard; Matthew Owens, Conn. ASHRAE liaison for education; students Max Lewis, John Fleck, Pawan Rai, Steven Buck, Mark Noujain; Dr. Yavuzturk, faculty advisor; William Harrison, president of ASHRAE; Students Aaron Brown, Ryan Carr, Masood Dalil.

CETA's student branch banner.

Dr. Yavuzturk with the student branch charter.

Professor to Publish Two Papers

2009-03-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

A paper written by Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering, with Joseph Rimiller and Najib Habesch of Urban Engineers, Inc., in Hartford, Connecticut, titled “A Simplified Empirical Bayesian Method to Safety Evaluation of Traffic Calming Treatment for Urban Road Systems” is featured today on
EurekAlert! an online, global news service operated by AAAS, the science society. (EurekAlert! provides a central place through which universities, medical centers, journals, government agencies, corporations and other organizations engaged in research can bring their news to the media. EurekAlert! also offers its news and resources to the public. EurekAlert! features news and resources focused on all areas of science, medicine and technology. Click here to see the release.) The release is expected to be picked up by newswires and journalists worldwide.

The paper will appear in the International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications (2009, 6, 349-363). The paper reports on an analysis of before and after crash data for various traffic calming devices to determine which were most effective in reducing accidents.

Hartford was the first U.S. city to develop and implement a traffic calming master plan that included mini-roundabouts, curt extensions, speed tables, parking chicanes, bicycle lanes, and the elimination of excess lanes from specific streets. To determine the actual effects of these devices, Fang, Rimiller and Habesch used an empirical Bayesian method to analyze the before and after statistics and compared crash rates with and without such devices for the same time period.

They report that all the safety devices led to fewer crashes, though the higher the before rate of crashes, the lower the after rate, so that streets with few crashes before the implementation of the devices had few crashes afterward. However, streets with reduction in lanes saw a significant reduction in crash rates, due primarily to a reduction in speed on those streets.

Dr. Fang also has written “Fuzzy Data Mining Approach for Quantifying Signalized Intersection Level of Services Based on User Perceptions,” which will appear in the Journal of Transportatoin Engineering, Vol. 135, no. 6, June 2009, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Her co-author on this paper is Dr. Kelley Pecheux of the Science Application International Corporation.

The paper reports on work performed by Fang and Pecheux to create a user perception database from the reactions of 100 subjects assessing 24 approaches to intersections in terms of stopped delay and rating of service. The researchers considered how users perceive quality of service at signalized intersections and how many levels of service (LOS) drivers can perceive. Their conclusion is that drivers are able to differentiate among six levels of service—but not the ones in the existing Highway Capacity Manual. They propose six new levels of service in the fuzzy domain.

CETA congratulates Dr. Fang and all of her co-authors on the publication of their work.

Awards and Publications Announced

2009-03-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

Dr. Chittaranjan Sahay, professor of Mechanical Engineering and Vernon D. Roosa Endowed Distinguished Professor in CETA, has received a grant of $20,000 from Pratt & Whitney, a division of the United Technologies Corporation. He will use the grant to study the single crystal rate independent plasticity model and develop a new model to integrate a rate-independent slip-based plasticity model and creep.

In addition, Dr. Sahay, along with Ted Doiron and Sami Farooqui, has published a paper in Measurement (vol. 42, no. 4, May 2009, Elesvier), an official journal of the International Measurement Confederation. The paper is titled “Uncertainty Analysis of Cylindricity Measurements Using Bootstrap Method.”

CETA students have been named Regents Scholars for the 2008–2009 academic year. Seniors Sara Murray, Architecture, and Tiffany Cartier, Civil Engineering, received the honor. Seniors in any college of the University who have demonstrated excellence and accomplishments related to their studies at the University, including projects and papers, presentations, publications, independent studies, internships and community service, are eligible for the award.

Murray, who is in the studio-intensive track in Architecture, has also been involved in the campus television station, STN. She has served as the station’s general manager and organized the 15-year Anniversary Celebration for the station. She has also received a Student Leadership Award in 2008 for her work at STN. She is an active member of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) and has been recognized at the national convention of that organization for her efforts to recruit new members. In addition, her senior thesis Project, a redevelopment plan for her home town of Burnt Hills, New York, has been presented to the Town Planning Board of Burnt Hills and is now on display in the Town Hall.

Cartier has been active as a researcher. An energy study she helped to conduct for the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) was presented to the Connecticut Legislature. With the support of a NASA Student Fellowship she received through the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium , she has conducted research for which she built a pilot-scale system. The project, a Vapor Phase Catalytic Ammonia Removal (VPCAR) system, is intended for water recovery on long-term space missions. Cartier’s most recent internship was with the URS Corporation, which provides businesses with professional planning, engineering and architectural design, environmental, construction, and program, construction management and other specialized technical services. Cartier has accepted a position with URS that will begin after her graduation in May.

In addition to Cartier’s and Murray’s awards, two juniors were named recipients of Junior Regent Awards: Kimberly Powell, Audio Engineering Technology, and Neftali Torres, Civil Engineering, received the awards as ranking members of the Junior class in CETA.

CETA congratulates those students on their outstanding achievements.

Graduate Architecture Program Accredited by NAAB

2009-03-10T12:35:00.000-07:00

The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), the only agency authorized to accredit professional architecture degree programs in the United States, has accredited the Master of Architecture degree program at the University of Hartford. In most states, a professional architecture degree is one of the requirements to take the architectural registration exam. The University of Hartford architecture program is now only one of two NAAB-accredited degree programs in Connecticut; the other is Yale University’s. According to Architecture Chair Michael J. Crosbie, AIA, “This is great news for our graduates, faculty, students, advisors, supporters, friends, and everyone who has been part of the program over the years, working toward this goal.”

The Master of Architecture degree program grew out of the architecture department’s Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering Technology program, begun in the early 1990s. The master’s degree program admitted its first class in fall 2004.

The professional degree program has a 4+2 structure, in which students receive a pre-professional bachelors degree in architecture after four years of study. Students then must apply (even if they graduated from the CETA undergraduate program) to the master’s program, which is designed to be completed in two years.

The graduate program is full time, requiring 64 credits of course work. Students must take four studios (one each semester) with the final studio dedicated to a thesis project defined by the student. Other courses cover such areas a site design, mechanical systems, building economics, structural systems, design theory, urban design, professional practice, and thesis research. Students must take four professional electives in areas such as art, engineering, or business. A number of Hartford graduate students have pursued dual degrees in architecture and business.

The graduate program takes advantage of the department’s lecture series, which in the past has brought to campus such practitioners and designers as Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, James Wines, Cesar Pelli, Jon Pickard, Ann Beha, and Kent Bloomer. The lectures are free and open to the public, and usually attract a large contingent of practitioners.

The program’s focus is on the links between architecture and its civic, social, and professional functions. Over the past few years a greater emphasis has been placed on forging links with the City of Hartford, working on projects with the city planning office and the office of development. This semester a new downtown graduate urban studio was established with the firm JCJ Architecture.

For more information about CETA’s graduate architecture program, please visit the department website here.

CETA congratulates everyone who worked to make the NAAB accreditation a reality.

A New fSEA Car Is Under Construction

2009-02-24T11:42:00.000-08:00

The fSAE team is working on a new car, aiming at the competition scheduled for May 13 through 16 at the Michigan Motor Speedway sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The team this year comprises team captain Jon Scales, Eric Rickert, Bob Dynan, Kevin Zheng, George Bongart, and Greg LaPointe.

Eric Rickert adjusts the seat of CETA's fSAE racecar.

While construction on the car is going according to plan and should be done in time for the competition, the team is in need of assistance to support the work they’re doing. United Tool & Die, of West Hartford, Connecticut, has given them the space to work and the use of many machines, but other tools or money would help. To contact the team, please see their website here or email the captain, John Scales at scales.hartford.edu.

Team captain Jon Scales with Eric Rickert and the new fSAE car.

Another view of the fSAE car under construction.

CETA is excited at the progress the team has made on the car this year and is looking forward to rooting them on at the races in May.

A Career Fair for CETA STudents Held

2009-02-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

On February 16, Career Services here at the University hosted a job fair for engineering, technology, and architecture. Sue Landolina, assistant director of Career Services, put the fair together and oversaw the afternoon’s activities, assisted by Bonny Stoecklin, also of Career Services, and student Marissa Harriss.

The idea for the fair originated with two students, Eric Carlson and Steve Charry, both biomedical engineering majors in CETA. They went to Landolina with the idea and requested her help in establishing the event.

CETA students registering for the career fair. (That's Sue Landolina standing by the career fair sign.)

Plans are to hold the fair again next year because this year’s was so successful. At least 150 students attended the fair at which 15 companies had booths. The corporate attendees were

Aerotek, a commercial and technical staffing company
Barnes Aerospace, a producer of machined and fabricated components and assemblies for turbine, airframe and gas turbine builders
Covidien, a producer of medical and imaging devices and pharmaceuticals
Connecticut Space Grant Consortium, which promotes research supporting NASA objectives
FM Innovations, consultants in computer-aided facility management and integrated workplace management systems
Fuss & O’Neill, an engineering consulting firm
Hamilton Sundstrand, a designer and producer of advanced aerospace and industrial products
Hanger Orthopedic Group, a provider of orthotic and prosthetic patient care
HB Communications, providing audiovisual, video and professional audio work
Loureiro Engineering Associates, an engineering consulting firm

Northeast Utitilities, the operator of New England’s largest utility system
Phonon Corporation, a manufacturer of hybrid semiconductors for military and space systems
Simulations, LLC, which provides engineering services for the medical, aerospace, defense, and product-based commercial industries
Texcel, a contract engineering and manufacturing service provider for medical devices
Travelers, a property and casualty insurance and surety product provider

Among the recruiters was a former CETA student, Michael Meczywor, now the engineering manager for Barnes Aerospace. Meczywor was a mechanical engineering technology major here.
Most of the employers said that our students were well prepared for the event, and so planning will begin for another engineering, technology, and architecture career fair to take place in the next academic year.

Former CETA student Michael Meczywor (in the sports jacket) talking to current CETA students

CETA thanks Sue Landolina for her help to our students.

Professor Granted Tenure and Promotion

2009-02-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

Dr. Jonathan Hill, electrical and computer engineering has been granted tenure and promoted to associate professor. With a teaching focus on computer engineering, Dr. Hill’s research involves embedded microprocessor-based systems, devices enhanced by the inclusion of a small computer system. His most recent projects include the development of embedded microprocessor-based medical instruments, digital data communications, discrete time signal processing, and intelligent sensor instrumentation. In particular, he works collaboratively with the physical therapy department here at the University of Hartford, as well as at Hartford Hospital.

Dr. Jonathan Hill

Dr. Hill earned his B.S. from Northeastern University and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), where his dissertation involved receiver design for the Global positioning System. Currently, Dr. Hill enjoys square as well as round dancing and is also a figure skater. He reports making progress toward mastering the Axel jump.

CETA congratulates Dr. Hill on his achievement.

CETA Grads Win Acoustics Award

2009-02-04T06:12:00.001-08:00

Two recent graduates of CETA, Jonathan Silver and Robert Tanen, won the Best Student Paper Award competition held at the 156th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), recently held in Miami, Florida. This is the second year in a row that CETA students have won this award; last year Samantha “Sammi” Rawlings, ’07, and Joshua Magee, ’07, took first prize. Both years, the work our undergraduates reported on beat the work of graduate students from other schools in the competition. During the conference, a subcommittee of ASA judges anonymously attended the sessions at which presentations were made and scored the participants on the content of the papers and the quality of the presentations.

Robert Tanen and Jonathan Silver

Silver and Tannen did work building on that done by Rawlings and Magee, who studied the acoustic signatures of footfall noise. This year’s winners created additional floor profiles and correlated the results of human walkers to the sounds produced by a standard tapping machine, then compared the footfalls’ airborne noise to the amount of vibration produced in the floor beneath each test subject. The studies were run in the Reverberation Room in CETA’s Acoustics Engineering Laboratory as part of a second research grant from the Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation. The grant was obtained by the students’ advisor and program director of the Acoustical Engineering and Music Program in CETA, Dr. Robert Celmer, professor of mechanical engineering.

Silver, who graduated summa cum laude in May 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with an acoustics concentration, is now attending graduate school at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Tanen graduated magna cum laude in May 2008 with a Bacnelor of Science in Engineering majoring in acoustical engineering and music. He works as an acoustical engineering with Shen, Milsom & Wilke Consultants, Inc., in New York City.

Trane Awards Scholarships to CETA Students

2009-01-27T10:51:00.001-08:00

On Friday, January 23, 2009, Daniel J. Wendl, vice president for the northeast, and William H. Harris, III, district leader–Connecticut, of Trane, manufacturers of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and building management equipment and systems with a worldwide presence, came to CETA to congratulate this year’s recipients of the Trane High Performing Building Scholarships. Pictured below with Wendl and Harris are Amy Scherma, a mechanical engineering major, and Suzan Ozcelik, an architectural engineering technology major.

From left to right, Daniel J. Wendl, William H. Harris, III, Suzan Ozcelik, Amy Scherma.

The scholarships are awarded each year to CETA students majoring in engineering, technology, or architecture, who have a GPA of at least 3.5. The winners are chosen by the Dean of CETA and the Director of Financial Aid. Because high-performance buildings are key to a green, energy efficient, sustainable future, Trane decided to emphasize that in their scholarship awards.

CETA thanks Trane for their generosity to our students and congratulates our two students for their hard work.

New Faculty in CETA

2009-01-23T13:03:00.001-08:00

CETA welcomes Mary C. Arico to the College. Mary has accepted a one-semester appointment in the Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering Department. A graduate of RPI with a Bachelor’s in biomedical engineering, Mary is ABD on her Ph.D. at UC-Davis. Her specialty is biomechanics, in particular prosthetics and impact biomechanics. Her dissertation research is on work zone safety, specifically looking at injuries incurred in highway work zones and how to better protect workers in those zones.

Mary was a lacrosse player at RPI and likes swimming and running. She also wants people to know that her nickname is Cater (from her middle name, Catherine), so anyone receiving an email signed “Cater” now knows who it’s from.

We look forward to working with Mary.

Presentations and Publications by CETA Faculty

2009-01-16T06:47:00.000-08:00

Research conducted by Dr. Abbly Ilumoka, professor of electrical and computer engineering, is featured in a new book, Intelligent Engineering Systems Through Artificial Neural Networks (ASME Press, 2008). Her research in neural network techniques for the design of engineering systems is in Part VI, “General Engineering Applications.”

The book contains the proceedings of the Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering Conference and contains 168 refereed papers from researchers in 20 countries. The papers cover such topics as smart engineering systems, artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic and evolutionary programming.

At the Joint Mathematics Meetings held January 5 through 8 in Washington, D.C., Dr. Patricia Mellodge, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, presented research performed by her and Dr. Lee Townsend, assistant professor of physics and mathematics, on “Approximating Bessel Functions of the First Kind Using Super-Gaussians.” The objective of their work is to approximate the Bessel function using a configuration that converges more rapidly and is more computationally efficient than the well-known series expansion for small arguments.

The Joint Mathematics Meetings at which Dr. Mellodge presented is the annual meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America. Various other societies also take part, among them the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, of which Drs. Mellodge and Townsend are members; the Association for Symbolic Logic; the Association for Women in Mathematics; and the National Association for Mathematicians. The joint meeting is held to advance mathematical achievement, encourage research and provide a forum for communication in furtherance of mathematical scholarship and research.

In Memoriam

2009-01-06T07:23:00.000-08:00

CETA notes with sadness the passing of Dr. Richard F. Donovan, who taught Electrical Engineering in the College of Engineering and retired in June 1987. Dr. Donovan earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. from Purdue University and taught there in the Physics and Engineering Department. Later he joined Hamilton Standard (now Hamilton Sundstrand) as an engineering manager in the space program and became a member of the faculty of this College.

While here, Dr. Donovan initiated the chartering of the Iota Epsilon Chapter of Eta Kappa Nu, the electrical and computer engineering honor society. In addition, students and faculty remember him not only as an excellent teacher but also as a lover of all things Irish. Dr. Lad Nagurney of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department remembers that Dr. Donovan always called him early in March to remind him to cancel classes on St. Patrick’s Day.

In addition to his membership in Eta Kappa Nu, Dr. Donovan was a member of the Sigma Pi Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi honor societies as well as IEEE and the National Society of Profession Engineers. He also served honorably in the United States Navy During World War II.

Dean Lou Manzione comments on Dr. Donovan: “Although he was only at the University for six years, he clearly helped to set an example for accomplishment and caring that influences our faculty to this day.” Our thoughts and prayers are with the Donovan family.

CETA Day, December 12, 2008

2008-12-15T12:18:00.000-08:00

CETA once again showcased our talented students on CETA Day. Several seniors presented their capstone projects, first-year students demonstrated a robot project required for their Engineering and Design class (ES 143), and a second-year architecture class, Architecture Design II (AET 233) presented their final projects.

Some of our senior projects are solutions to real-world problems brought to us and sponsored by local industry; others are projects that students propose themselves; all require a demonstration of results. These projects are a valuable integrative experience for CETA students, who must demonstrate what they have learned over the course of their time here through the work they present. Any program accredited by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), as many of our programs are, requires its seniors to produce capstone projects.

We were joined by approximately 30 students and teachers from the University High School of Science and Engineering, one of two magnet schools on the University of Hartford campus. In addition to taking in some of the projects presented on CETA Day, the high-school students saw demonstrations of our digital audio studio and took part in a team-building exercise, making a free-standing tower of spaghetti and mini-marshmallows, that we use in our first-year dialog courses.

University High-School students creating a tower of spaghetti and mini-marshmallows in a team-building exercise.

Here are some of the presentations made on CETA Day.

Audio Engineering Technology Program

Senior Projects

Motion Detection Camera
Phillip Jackson and Sher Thao

Sher Tao demonstrating his motion detection camera for visiting University High-School students.

Dust Collector Control System
Martin Morris

Vacuum Tube Audio Subwoofer Amplifier
Edward “Ted” Dreger

Civil Engineering

Senior Water Quality Projects

Vapor Phase Catalytic Ammonia Removal (VPCAR) System
Tiffany Cartier, Steve Mgrditchian

Laboratory-Scale Water Treatment System
Joshua Bartkus, Ricky Mears, Dennis Meurer, Ben Sobocinski

Laboratory-Scale Oxygen Binding Filter Test for New Britian Water Department
Michael Grygus, Jill Gazzi

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Engineering and Design Boe-Bots

Team Andrew Sloate
Ultimate Snow Removal Roe-Bot
Adam Clark, Carolyn Halaburda, Aaron Lesky, Mark Savo

GRR
Fire-Rescue-Bot
Geoff Clark, Rob McManus, Ryan Prieston

MAD B
Boe-Bot Rescuer
Emmanuel Cruz, Bandon Luckain, Amanda Reyes, Dan Wright

Boe-Bot Rescuer

Electrical Hustlers
Using the Boe-Bot to Reduce Manual Labor in a Manufacturing Plant
Danny Cruz, Greg Lallman, Ian Magor

Far Guard
The Latest in Home Security
Stacey Connelly, Teja Gandhi, Rob Piwonski, Theresa Sobocinski

Munchkin Mess Mover
Keeping Designated Lines Clean One Bottle at a Time
Jake Chaloux, Tom Ludorf, Phil Scalise

The Flame Fighter 3000
Emily McMullan, Matt Peeler, Evan Shaughnessy, Chris Tokarz

Code Blue Rescue with Wall-E III
Jenna Daly, Steve Florkiewicz, Madison Tobar

The Nuclear Power Plant Plumber
Dave Asplund, Jared Canney, Cameron Madge

Team M.A.C.E.
Shooting Grounds
Michael Aboumrad, Cody Hucke, Andrew Karis, Eric Steinberg

Boe-Bot: Wired Guidance
Christopher Connor, Ralph Savastano, Richard Smith, Daniel Suttmeier

Boe-Bot Bug
Amy Golebieski, John McCann, Michael O'Neal

Autonomous Driving Boe-Bot
Zohaib Hasan, Nathaniel Perna, Jeffrey Portal

Stair Climber
Garrett Lord, Richard McDougall, Gary Pelkey

The CAT
Onur Akan, Christopher Brown, Jeffrey Laning

Security Bug
Sean Arkin, Brett Jacobs, Christopher Mazella, Nicholas Powell

Rescue-Bot
Stephen Hrica, Paul Eginton Kautz, Jaleesa Kirton, Cody LaBar

Burgler Buster Bot
Jeffrey Neddermann, Daniel Florio, Alec Sibilia, Mehmet Melik

Construction Boe-Bot
Craig Healey, Michael Spindler, John Heaton IV

The Equalizer Bot
Martin Bowes, Zeljko Jagodic-Kuridza, Simon Kudernatsch,
Anthory Panebianco

Dancing Theremin
Thomas Burns, Daljit Cheema, Clinton Fleming, Peter Guzewich

Bot-Bot. No, It’s Paranoia!
Hakeem Barge, Spencer Brooks, Vincent Hynes, Mark Turner

Sammy the Sort-Bot
Harrison Flynn, Daniel Roditski, Kyle Siderski, Amy Sinkiewicz,
Shemika White

Department of Architecture

AET 233, Design II Projects

Translation of an author’s or artist’s work into a retreat house for that author or artist

Todd Conant
Daniel Condon
Spencer Dauer
Ashley Delvecchio
William Leo
Amanda MacDougald
Taimur Malik
Ashley Michaud
Bartek Pociecha
William Stochmal
Judson Thomas
Ervis Zeneli
Derek Zero

Ervis Zeneli explaining his design concept to the jury.

2008-12-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

On December 4, Connecticut Innovations (CI) sponsored an Entrepreneur’s Day Luncheon Seminar at the University of Hartford attended by students and faculty from CETA and the Barney School of Business. Featured were speakers from CI, a quasi-state agency created by Connecticut in 1989 to provide strategic capital and operational guidance to emerging companies in high-tech industries such as energy, biotechnology, information technology, and photonics. Although CI was originally funded by the state, it has been self-supporting through its investments since 1995. Among the organizations supported by CI are early-stage technology companies and university-business research collaborations.

Dean Louis Manzione welcomed students and faculty from CETA and Barney as well as people from CI and other organizations. He stated that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to CI, who bring together people from technology and business to the benefit of both. Lou also thanked various people who helped to create the luncheon seminar including Roz Reaback, director of major & leadership gifts, Ann Lankford, CETA, and Sandi O’Donnell, Development, who translated the idea into the luncheon; Clif Scorso, assistant dean of CETA, who supported the logistical planning, and Irina Naoumova, assistant professor entrepreneurship, Barney School of Business, who likewise worked to ensure the success of the seminar.

Dean Manzione welcomes participants to the Entrepreneurs Day Luncheon Seminar.

Dean Manzione pointed out that entrepreneurship lies at the heart of U.S. prosperity; the opportunity for average people to start their own businesses is unmatched by other countries, and that opportunity provides a huge advantage, not only to individuals but to the country as well. And so the state of Connecticut, through organizations like CI, ensures that people have help in commercializing their ideas.

Charles Moret, managing director of business development for CI , followed Dean Manzione in emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurship. CI brings people together, he said, to develop their ideas, making sure that people have the help they need to bring their products to the marketplace.

Charles Moret addresses the seminar.

Following Mr. Moret was Mike Roer, the executive director of the Connecticut Venture Group and president of the Entrepreneur Education Foundation, who spoke about the Collegiate Business Plan Competition. This statewide event invites college students to submit business plans that are reviewed by business financing experts. At the spring 2009 finals of the competition, the deadline for which is April 14, 2009, the finalists will make three-minute presentations of their plans to experts who will determine the winners. Top prizes include start-up grants and technology grants.

Mike Roer explains the importance of the Collegiate Business Plan Competition.

Anthony Cuifalo and Brian Smoliga, from Central Connecticut State University, won a start-up grant in last year’s competition. They emphasized how useful the advisory board they formed with CI’s help has been. Feedback on their own ideas and fresh points of view have been extremely important for them as they work on their business called Digi-Wait in an incubator supported by CI. Cuifalo and Smoliga said that other start-ups’ experiences have guided them as they work toward marketing their product.

Anthony Cuifalo and Brian Smoliga explain how the start-up grant they won last year has helped them begin their own business.

Dan Wagner, an investment associate with CI, reiterated the importance of investing in start-ups for the economic well-being of the state and the country.

Dan Wagner addresses the seminar participants.

Irina Naoumova, assistant professor of entrepreneurship and director of the Barney Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Barney School of Business here on campus pointed out that Connecticut learned from the Asian economic crisis of a few years ago and from various studies that show that when entrepreneurship is strong, economies grow. She offered a collaboration of business with engineering and technology and thanked all the speakers.

Irina Naoumova makes the closing remarks at the luncheon seminar.

Students from both the business school and CETA who attended this luncheon seminar expressed their interest in being able to work together start their own businesses.

CETA Contributes to Open Hearth

2008-12-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

Open Hearth, founded in 1884, is one of Hartford’s most respected human service agencies, a residential living program for homeless and addicted men in recovery. Located in downtown Hartford, Open Hearth offers a traditional emergency shelter, a transitional living program, single room accommodations, and a home ownership program. It also operates a wood products business that serves as a work therapy program for the organization and supplies firewood to more than 1500 residences and restaurants.

CETA is proud to have sponsored a tee in Open Hearth’s Sixteenth Annual Benefit Golf Tournament held this fall at the Hartford Golf Club and which raised money for the organization’s operating budget. The honorary event chairman of the event was Boston Celtics’ player and coach K.C. Jones, who is currently special assistant to the Director of Athletics here at the University of Hartford doing color commentary for the men’s basketball team.

Clif Scorso, CETA's assistant dean; Ann Lankford, CETA's liaison manager and Open Hearth board member; and Eric Ringwood, Open Hearth's director, with the sign that appeared on the course during the outing.

CETA is also connected to Open Hearth through our liaison manager, Ann Lankford, who also serves as Student Services manager for our Architecture students. Ann sits on the Executive Committee of the board, chairs the Department of Corrections Comittee, and serves on several other committees, including the 125th Anniversary Planning Committee, which has been organized to celebrate this major milestone in Open Hearth's history, which occurs in 2009.

CETA hopes to continue our connections to Open Hearth.

CETA Helping to Bring Clean Water to Kenya's Lake Region

2008-11-11T11:59:00.000-08:00

CETA has become a partner of ACESS, the African Centre for Engineering Social Solutions, an organization aiming to develop and support indigenous solutions to the lack of financial resources, safe water, and reliable electricity transportation in Africa. Clarice Odhaiambo, the founder of ACESS, met with University of Hartford faculty, staff, and students on October 30 to explain the ideas behind the organization and show examples of successful projects already underway in Kenya’s Lake Region.

Ms. Odhaiambo, an alumna of the University of Rhode Island, an M.S. in chemical engineering, and holder of three U.S. patents, worked for Unilever in Africa, where she supported local products. Later, she worked for Coca-Cola, which is in every country on the African continent. As she said, “you can always find Coke, even if you can’t find milk.” At her urging, Coca-Cola, which requires clean water to produce its product, piloted a clean water project, which was also supported by the Gates Foundation in an effort to supply safe water for schools. She realized that there are simple, local solutions to many of the problems in sub-Saharan Africa, but someone has to provide support, get things moving. And Ms. Odhaiambo decided to undertake the effort and found ACESS.

Clarice Odhaiambo, founder of ACESS, presenting to University of Hartford faculty, staff, and students.

Focusing on Kenya’s Lake Region, where over 58 percent of households live in absolute poverty, ACESS determined that women spend hours to fetch water. Further, affordable irrigation prevents farmers from raising agricultural productivity. But locally based agribusiness could make households competitive in the market. Basically, the lack of adequate and inexpensive water management technologies reduces agricultural output and prevents economic growth in the area (“Economic Empowerment in Kenya’s Lake Region,” concept paper submitted to US AID Mission Kenya, September 30, 2008). In addition to clean water, ACESS is hoping to assist in establishing high-value cash crops such as the grain amaranth and tilapia (a fish, which is a favored local food).

Last summer, Ms. Odhaiambo traveled through the region accompanied by professors from Brown University, the University of Rhode Island, the provost of the University of Hartford, Lynn Psasquerella, and several students, including Teagan Rosendhal from the University of Hartford. As In her presentation to us, Ms. Odhaiambo reported seeing many local solutions to local problems. “The people are poor in terms of money, but they are not lazy. They have indigenous ideas.” So any appropriate solutions to the problems of water and viable agriculture will be “small scale, affordable, and locally produced and controlled” (“Economic Empowerment” 3). The objective is to combine modern ways with tradition, “not even Engineering 101. If there’s such a thing as Engineering minus 101, that’s it.” Teams of Kenyan and U.S. students and faculty will support local populations in implementing appropriate technologies to the local problems. As Ms. Odhaiambo said, “the students can help—but also learn.” Another summer trip for interested university people as well as sponsors is planned for next summer so that participants can find out what the local people want and then work with them.

Among the various projects being considered by ACESS are point-of-use water treatments, safe and inexpensive storage containers (plastic being too expensive), solar-powered pumps, wind-driven pumps, and the like. Ms. Odhaiambo calls these solutions social engineering, which is to say engineering for social, not commercial, gain. CETA’s expertise in water supply and treatment will certainly find applications in working with ACESS.

Crosbie's Book Featured in Museum Show

2008-11-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

A new book by Associate Professor Michael J. Crosbie, AIA, chair of Architecture in CETA, is featured in the exhibition “Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer,” which opened November 1 at the Cape Cod Museum of Art. Drawings, models, and photographs illustrate the designs of Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects Builders, which include the Cape Cod Museum of Art itself. Dr. Crosbie’s book, Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer: The Work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva Architects, will be available in conjunction with the show. The exhibit will run until January 4, 2009.

The author of more than 15 books on architecture and a contributor to scores of other books and publications, Crosbie has made significant contributions in the fields of architectural journalism, research, teaching, and practice. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Catholic University and is a registered architect in the state of Connecticut. He has served as an editor at Architecture: The AIA Journal, Progressive Architecture, ArchitectureWeek.com and is editor-in-chief of Faith & Form, a quarterly journal on religious art and architecture. He is also a frequent contributor to Architectural Record and writes about architecture and design for the Hartford Courant. Dr. Crosbie is Chairman of the Department of Architecture at the University of Hartford and has previously served as an adjunct professor at Roger Williams University and Catholic University. He has also lectured and served as a visiting critic at architecture schools in North America and abroad, including the University of California—Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, and the Moscow Architectural Institute. Dr. Crosbie has practiced with Centerbrook Architects and Steven Winter Associates.

CETA Course featured in "Above Ground Level" Magazine

2008-10-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

A course taught by Ladimer Nagurney, associate professor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering here in CETA, is featured in the most recent edition of Above Ground Level, the trade magazine of the cell-phone-tower industry. ES 342, Engineering Practice, is a study of the engineering process from concept and design to the release to manufacturing or construction. Students learn about feasibility studies, financial viability, environmental impact, societal concerns, licensing, and working with regulators. Professor Nagurney used the construction of a cell tower as the class project.

The article by Don Bishop, titled “University Course Uses Wireless Tower Example, featured an interview with Jonathan Silver, now a graduate student at Notre Dame. Majoring in mechanical engineering with an acoustics concentration, Jonathan took the course because it was an “opportunity to explore areas that normally wouldn’t be covered in my mechanical classes.”

In the article, Professor Nagurney explains that juniors from all CETA engineering majors, including electrical and computer, mechanical, civil, and biomedical, take the course, so he looks for projects that involve all the majors. And since companies want students who are technically competent but also able to work in multi-disciplinary situations, cell towers are a good project to work on. “You need a civil engineer to certify the plans and show that the tower will stand up, and an electrical engineer for the antenna, and a mechanical engineer for the brackets and pieces to hang the antennas on and the HVAC for the shelter.” Dr. Nagurney went on to say that “We want to graduate engineering students who can work on this kind of team. We want to graduate students who are sensitive to social and political implications of their designs. . . . If your engineer says the wrong thing before a zoning board, that puts an end to the project.”

For more information about ES 342, Engineering Practice, or other courses taught by Dr. Nagurney, please email him at nagurney@hartford.edu. You can also go to our website, uhaweb.hartford.edu/ceta.

Dean Manzione Hosts Nanotechnology Curriculum Committee Meeting

2008-10-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

On October 17, 2008, Dean Louis Manzione chaired a state-wide meeting of the Connecticut Nanotechnology Curriculum Initiative here at the University of Hartford. The meeting, held in the Harry Jack Gray Center, featured the introduction of a nanotechnology curriculum to be shared among the 48 institutions of higher education in Connecticut, including the 14 community-technical colleges. The meeting was sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Higher Education, the Office of Workplace Competitiveness, and the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technologies and funded by The Center for Advanced Manufacturing of the Connecticut College of Technology. The Curriculum Committee is part of the Advisory Council on Nanotechnology, which aims to position Connecticut as a leader in developing and applying nanotechnologies in research and industry. The meeting was attended by approximately 50 faculty members and administrators from various colleges, universities and industry.

Dean Louis Manzione welcomes participants to the Nanotechnology Curriculum Committee meeting.

There were two keynote speakers: The first, Dr. Fotios Papadimitrakopoulos, professor of chemistry at the University of Connecticut, explained the goals of the Nanotechnology Curriculum Committee:

To attract young minds to the field of nanotechnology
To raise industry awareness of nanotechnology
To diversify undergraduate and graduate education
To promote cross-disciplinary work, which is required in the field of nanotechnology
To provide experiential learning in the field

In addition, Dr. Papadimitrakopoulos said, the committee is working with the Advisory Committee to increase the nanotechnology industry in the state by educating and attracting workers and scientists to the workforce and promote centers of excellence in the field. The hope is to address societal problems in all areas, including health and energy. He noted in particular that nanotechnology “will be a pervasive technology, and we have to promote it as education not just for STEM majors.”

The second keynote speaker was Dr. Mitch Horowitz, Vice President and Managing Director of Batelle Technology Partnership Practice. He explained that there will be no nanotechnology industry per se; rather there will be nanotechnology in everything. “The value of nanotechnology,” he said, “is in applications.” It will alter supply chains, cost structures, and servicing, in all industries.

Other speakers, including Dean Manzione, introduced the curriculum developed by the committee.

Besides the introductory course, the curriculum, which is inclusive and transportable, includes two courses each in electrical, biological, and materials applications.

With the curriculum developed, Dr. Vargos Hadjimichael, dean of engineering at Fairfield University, reported, the Committee sees the next step as procuring resources to make experiential learning possible. There are also safety and ethical issues to address since nanotechnology is such a new field and will have such a pervasive reach. From an academic point of view, procedures must be developed to achieve periodic assessment and continuous improvement in the curriculum.

Other presenters at the meeting were Dr. Jonas Zdanys, the associate commissioner for academic affairs and chief academic officer of the Department of Higher Education; Dr. Christine Broadbridge, professor of physics at Southern Connecticut State University and the education director at CRISP, an NSF MRSEC at Yale/SCSU/BNL; Christine Thatcher, State Department of Higher Education; and Deb Santy, program director of Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR), CCAT.

The participants of a panel discussion on the future of the nanotechnology curriculum: (l to r., Dr. Hadjimichael, dr. Papadimitrakopoulos, Dr. Broadbridge, Dr. Horowitz, Dr. Zdanys, and Dr. Thatcher.

In her closing remarks, Dr. Karen Birch, the director of the Connecticut College of Technology, Connecticut Community Colleges/Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing reminded the committee that the National Science Foundation now demands collaboration; she congratulated the committee on its exemplary collaboration.

Dr. Karen Birch closes the meeting.

For more information on the Nanotechnology Curriculum Committee, please go to http://nanoworkforce-ct.org.

CETA Introduces Rehabilitation Device

2008-10-10T08:53:00.001-07:00

The Ambulatory Suspension and Rehabilitation Apparatus (“Gait Keeper”) is a new medical device that can be used in physical therapy for people with movement disorders and musculoskeletal and nervous system injuries and diseases. The patient is supported upright in a body harness suspended by a cable attached to an overhead computer-controlled mechanical trolley that follows the moving person. Sensors attached to the suspension cable direct the trolley’s movements in all directions, including up and down, thereby preventing falls and providing a prescribed level of support. The therapist does not have to support the patient and so can attend to the patient’s needs. Gait Keeper is operated by the therapist through a computer interface.

The Gait Keeper was developed by Professor Devdas Shetty and research engineer Claudio Campana, along with engineering students, in CETA at the University of Hartford in collaboration with Dr. Avital Fast, Chairman of Rehabilitation Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. Ongoing clinical and biomechanical research is being conducted by Dr. Kevin Ball, Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Hartford and Dr. Fast in New York City. Dr. Thomas Carnow, Director of the Digital Health Technology Program at the University of Hartford, is responsible for promoting research collaborations and managing all patent and commercialization activities.

Dr. Shetty climbing stairs while supported by the Gait Keeper.

Gait Keeper can be used for different patient populations, including people with Parkinson’s Disease and the elderly with brain atrophy who have lost the ability to walk. Since it decreases the amount of weight born by the extremities, it can benefit patients after joint replacement surgery and patients with spinal cord injuries. Another important use is to provide exercise for patients with general body weakness or those recovering from surgery. It assists the therapist and clinician during motion and gait therapy and helps patients regain strength, function and mobility.

For additional information about the Gait Keeper, please contact Dr. Lou Manzione, Dean of CETA, or Dr. Carnow, Digital Health Technology Program (manzione@hartford.edu or carnow@hartford.edu).

Faculty Member Wins Grants for Studies

2008-10-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering, has received a grant of $12,000 from the Transportation Research Board and the National Academies as a co-principal investigator working with researchers from the University of Florida to validate and enhance the interchange ramp terminal methodology of the Highway Capacity Manual.

Dr. Fang has also received a grant of $25,000 from the New England University Transportation Center (NEUTC) of the U.S. Department of Transportation. She is the co-principal investigator along with researchers from the University of Vermont on a project that will develop a lead driver typology for traffic simulation and vehicle emissions research.

In addition, Dr. Fang is working with Dr. David Pines, associate professor and chair of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical engineering on a study of weigh station technologies. The study is sponsored by the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The Dean of CETA, Dr. Lou Manzione, chairs the study committee, which comprises a number of experts nationwide. The study is aimed at reviewing the best practices on the topic and identifying implementation strategies for the state of Connecticut.

Dr. Fang also received a WELFund (Women’s Education and Leadership Fund) grant that supported the work of two female undergraduate students this past summer. The young women worked on interactive computer simulation. This grant is the third Dr. Fang has received from the WELFund with the goal of stimulating female students’ interest in engineering.

Finally, Dr. Fang has received a technology education grant from the University to develop a virtual transportation learning laboratory to be used to teach various traffic flow modeling topics in senior-level undergraduate transportation engineering courses.

CETA Student Receives Mayor's Scholar Award

2008-09-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

Wednesday evening, September 24, four University of Hartford students were honored at the 2008 Hartford Scholars Dinner. Hartford Scholars provides half-tuition scholarships to qualified high-school graduates from the city of Hartford to attend the University. One of the students honored is Phillip Jackson, a CETA electronic engineering technology major with a minor in audio engineering technology who has earned an Associate’s in computer engineering technology. Phillip will graduate this academic year.

At a dinner held Wednesday to recognize the students, Phillip received the Mayor’s Scholar Award, created by JCJ Architecture and presented to Hartford Scholars program juniors or seniors who demonstrate a commitment to both academics and involvement in the University community and to community service outside the University. Two other Hartford Scholars, Irmarie Rios, a junior psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Aja Wilson, a junior jazz studies major in The Hartt School, also received the Mayor’s Scholar Award.

A fourth student, Marva Williams, a junior management major in the Barney School of Business received the Northeast Utilities Scholar Award. That award is given annually to a junior or senior Hartford Scholars student who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement, a clear commitment to the community, and clear career potential as an intern at Northeast Utilities.

Phillip is a Jamaican native who has lived in Hartford for the last four and a half years. He participates in the INROADS program, which develops and places talented minority youth in business and industry to prepare them for corporate and community leadership. Through INROADS, Phillip interned at Carrier, a United Technologies Corporation company, for the last two years and was recently offered a full-time position with them (which he has accepted). In addition, Phillip performs community service as a member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and at the Seabury Retirement Community in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

Among the speakers at the dinner, which is held to raise funds for the scholarship program, was Arturo Arroyo, a graduate of CETA’s undergraduate Architecture program in 2003 and of CETA’s graduate Architecture program in 2008 and now a designer at JCJ Architecture. Arturo is a first-generation American who was the first person in his family to go to college, a dream made possible with the help of the Hartford Scholars program.

CETA congratulates Phillip on his achievements and the Mayor’s Scholar Award.

CETA Welcomes New Faculty

2008-09-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

Three new faculty members are teaching in CETA this semester.

Dr. Christian Carloni comes to Architecture from the University of Bologna (Italy)to teach AET 355, Engineering Mechanics for Engineering Technology, and to coordinate the structures sequence for the College. He is a structural engineer who has worked on various restoration projects in Italy, and his research interests are fracture mechanics, masonry structures and composite materials. A licensed engineer, Dr. Carloni holds a five-year bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a doctoral degree in structural mechanics from the University of Bologna. He is currently a member of the Italian Association for Structural Analysis and the Italian Association for Engineers.

Dr. Christian Carloni

Dr. C. Cy Yavuzturk received his Diplom-Ingenieur degree from the Technical University of Berlin (Germany) in energy and process engineering and his Ph.D. from the Oklahoma State University in Mechanical Engineering. Before joining Mechanical Engineering here in CETA, Dr. Yavuzturk was a tenured associate professor at the University of Wyoming (1999 to 2008), research engineering at the Oklahoma State University (1994 to 1999), and held various engineering positions in the U.S. defense industry and at the Technical University of Berlin. His research interest include thermodynamics; heat, mass, and momentum transfer; thermal systems modeling and simulation; energy efficient systems design and renewable energy technologies, energy analysis and management; thermal energy storage; numerical modeling and inverse methods; HVAC-R equipment; and geothermal and solar energy utilization. He is an active member of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE); Dr. Yavuzturk is currently the National Chair of the ASHRAE Solar Energy Utilization Technical Committee.

Dr. Cy Yavuzturk

Dr. Ying Yu joins Electrical and Computer Engineering from her post-doctoral research project, “Hands-Free Voice Interface for Video Gaming Environment,” which she conducted in Trento, Italy. Her project was sponsored by the Province of Trento and conducted at her host research institute was the Fondazione Bruno Kessler. Before that, Dr. Uy earned her Bachelor’s of Engineering at Fudan University, in Shanghai, China, and her Master’s and Ph.D. from Brown University. Her research interests lie in digital signal processing, speech processing, speaker recognition, talker localization, acoustic echo cancellation, and hands-free voice interaction systems for video gaming environments. Dr. Yu is a member of IEEE. She tells us that she loves all things Harry Potter and playing basketball.

Dr. Ying Yu

CETA welcomes all of our new colleagues.

CETA Student Works Audio at the Olympic Games

2008-09-19T08:26:00.001-07:00

Kevin Callahan, a graduate of CETA’s Audio Engineering Technology program studying here for his master’s in electronics engineering, worked with NBC Olympics this summer as a technical intern in the audio department in Beijing, China. Kevin covered both the Olympics, which ran from August 8 to August 24, and the Paralympics, which ran from September 6 to September 17. Before the internship began, and based on his knowledge and experience with broadcast video and STN, the campus television station, Kevin was asked to work at the NBC Olympics facility here in Connecticut as a replacement house engineer because the senior engineers left early to set up venues in China.

On his arrival in Beijing in July, Kevin and Jon, another intern, this one from New England Institute of Art in Boston, began working with Lloyd Jacobson, the head of the audio integration team, and Mark Butler, a mixer who has handled Superbowls, NASCAR events, and other sports broadcasts. They took responsibility for the ENG–electronic news gathering–audio kits that went out with all the camera crews to the various venues. Kevin and Jon also set up and tested the audio systems for the basketball, indoor volleyball, and boxing venues. The systems included Digico audio consoles, AES sound processing and distribution racks, and intercoms. Each system had to be tested at NBC Olympics’ warehouse before installation, then tested again after installation. Each setup and test procedure took about three days. And after testing, Kevin and Jon were on call for support and training at each of the three venues. What’s more, rain required the interns to test cable paths, dry out connections, and replace shorted gear. In addition, microphone kits and supplemental gear had to be supplied to all the other venues. Kevin was also involved in helping to set up other venues and troubleshoot after the opening ceremonies.

Once the Olympic Games were completed, Kevin went to work as a lead engineer for NBC’s coverage of the Paralympic Games. He oversaw a recording and archiving process that took in 14 high-definition feeds for 18 hours each day, live Internet streams, and two field production crews who gathered athlete profiles and stories for later airing. Although the process was on a smaller scale than that for the Olympic Games (which involved 3,000 NBC employees), the same equipment and technology were required. NBC received feeds from the Beijing Olympic Broadcaster (the host) in HD at 50Hz and used five standard converters to convert to HD 70Hz for use in the United States. The feeds were recorded on Sony XDCAM recorders using Blu Ray optical technology.

In 2006, Chris Hareema, an Audio Engineering Technology undergraduate student, interned with NBC at the Winter Games in Turin, Italy, along with a student from the University’s Music Production & Technology program in The Hartt School. The strong performance of those two students led the head of sports audio for NBC, Bob Dixon, to come back to the University for interns for this year’s Olympic Games.

Kevin says that the one thing that truly prepared him for the work he did with NBC is “diversity in subject matter” in his studies in CETA. Not only did the many audio courses in recording, mixing, and multi-track recording help him, but what set him apart from other candidates, according to his supervisor at NBC, is that he also knows electronics, circuitry, acoustics, and wireless technologies, “which is why they have continued to select audio interns from CETA.” The equipment used at the Olympics is “beyond state of the art,” most of it custom built and often a hybrid of technologies. So the various courses required for an Audio Engineering Technology major and the electives Kevin took in fiber optics and industrial controls, among others, definitely prepared him to work at the high level required by NBC.

CETA is proud of Kevin and Chris and the work they’ve done for NBC and the Olympic Games. They have represented our Audio Engineering Technology program and our College and University in excellent fashion. As Tim Britt, the audio program director says, “our hope is to continue to produce top talent that will aid NBC in broadcasting such world-attention-grabbing sports events to their audience.”

Kevin Callahan and some of the equipment used at the Paralympic Games.

CETA Faculty Earn Accolades

2008-09-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

At this year’s induction ceremony at the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame Dr. Abby Ilumoka, professor of electrical and computer engineering, will be honored as “one of the best of ‘A New Century of Women in Science,’” for her leadership and achievements in electrical engineering and her efforts to mentor young women. The ceremony is to be held on October 30.

Dr. Ilumoka, who earned her Ph.D. at Imperial College, London, UK, specializes in ULSI circuit design and optimization, high speed interconnect crosstalk and delay prediction, artificial neural networks, circuit design and optimization, system-level interconnect crosstalk minimization, knowledge-based RFIC synthesis, spiral inductor modeling, and artificial neural networks. She is a Chartered Electrical Engineer. In addition to teaching in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department here in CETA and among her mentoring activities, Dr. Ilumoka has participated as an instructor for CPEP, the Connecticut Pre-Engineering Program that runs a summer program here in CETA’s buildings on the University campus.

The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame publicly honors the achievements of Connecticut women. Among the many inductees to its Hall of Fame are Beatrice Fox Auerback, Barbara Kennelly, Marian Anderson, Madeleine L’Engle, and Clare Boothe Luce. The Center also runs various programs such as the Ella Tambussi Grasso Center for Women in Politics, which helps women interested in and active in politics in the state. The women who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during the event at which Dr. Ilumoka will be honored are Barbara McClintock, Patricia Goldman-Rakic, Joan Steitz, and Jewel Plummer Cobb, all scientists.

Dr. Ladimer S. Nagurney, associate professor of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering, has been selected for elevation to Senior Member in the Radio Club of America, the oldest professional society in the field of radio (now including radio, television, cell phones, etc.)

Dr. Nagurney is currently on sabbatical leave from the University, working at the Center for the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA), an NSF research center that is a partnership of the University of Massachusetts (the lead institution), the University of Oklahoma, Colorado State University, and the University of Puerto Rico, along with other academic institutions, governmental organizations, and industry. CASA is dedicated to engineering revolutionary weather-sensing networks that will save lives and property by detecting the region of the lower atmosphere currently below the range of conventional radar, mapping storms, winds, rain, temperature, humidity, and the flow of airborne hazards. Dr. Nagurney is working at CASA’s lead office in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts with UMass faculty on integrating multi-band digital transceivers and software-defined radio systems into pulse compression weather radars. His host there is Professor David McLaughlin, the Center Director.

The Radio Club of America was founded almost 100 years ago by a small group of radio amateurs and experimenters. Among its members have been such leaders in the industry as Edwin Armstrong, David Sarnoff, and Allen B. Dumont, to name a few. Senior membership is an honor conferred by the society on relatively few members.

CETA congratulates both Drs. Ilumoka and Nagurney for the honors being conferred on them.

Alumni News

2008-09-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

Three more Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) alumni have reported back to us with their accomplishments. The most recent to graduate is Brandon Tyson, who received his diploma in January of 2008. He is currently working for Gulfstream Aerospace in Savannah, Georgia, where the company manufactures large-cabin business jets. As a manufacturing engineer, Brandon covers three departments, Nose, Nose/Forward-Mid Fuselage Joining, and Aft-Mid Fuselage, where he investigates manufacturing issues on the GIV and GV product lines and implements process and product improvements. His work will help Gulfstream produce 90 aircraft this year under budget and on schedule.

Brandon reports that CETA and the University of Hartford prepared him, not just for his career “but also life in general. The diversity I encountered on campus and in the classroom allows me to interact professionally with colleagues who are from all over the world.”

We have also heard from Captain David McKelvin, class of 2003, who is currently serving in the Army Corps of Engineers in the Great Lakes and River Division as a project manager in the Buffalo District, which covers parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Prior to this posting, Capt. McKelvin served in Germany and was twice deployed to Iraq. In both Iraqi postings, he led soldiers in engineering assignments, the first involving light construction, excavation, and security, the second involving counter-improvised-explosive-device (IED) work. In the later position, he planned and managed daily missions with the engineer battalion to find IEDs, the number-one killer of soldiers in Iraq, before they could be detonated, and he worked extensively with his Navy and Air Force counterparts to develop new ways to defeat the IED threat. He has been serving in Buffalo since February of this year. In Buffalo, where he lives with his wife and 2-year-old son, he is working on a dam project, replacing hydraulic gates and clearing debris from a dam training wall, and the development of a confined disposal facility for dredged material in Cleveland’s harbor.

Captain McKelvin tells us that among the many things he learned here at CETA, a couple of lessons stand out. One is that you don’t need to know all the answers—but you definitely need to know where to go to find them. He also says that “the driving force to becoming a . . . well-rounded engineer is constantly building and relying upon your knowledge in other subjects and understanding their specific application in each engineering subject.” In other words, students should try to understand how each of their courses relates to their other courses.

Finally, we have had a visit from Philip Nasadowski, who graduated back in September of 2001. Phil is working as a project engineer for PCS Integrators, in Fairfield, New Jersey. The company is involved primarily with control systems for water and wastewater plants and sells pumps and other water- and waste-related equipment. Phil’s most recent project for PCS Integrators was a water filtration plant in Toms River, New Jersey, where he set up the supervisory controls and instrumentation and tied it into their other systems. He reports running into some very old equipment, including a pump that included a motor with a patent date of 1915; he’s even seen a vacuum tube occasionally. Phil says that he does a lot of work with programming and electrical systems along with light mechanical engineering: “My job is basically a bit of everything—electrical, mechanical, computer, politician, salesman, mechanic, draftsman, shop monkey, tech support hotline.”

And did we help prepare him for his job? “Oh, yes. I learned about PID loops in school, my senior project was that automated bottle filler, which I did the controls for. And technical writing! I’ve had to write proposals and stuff in the past, and these tend to end up in the hands of customers and their consulting engineers.”

If you know of other alums who would like to let people know what they’re doing, please email Natalie Segal at nsegal@hartford.edu. She is glad to share your news.

Engineers Without Borders Returns from India with Results

2008-09-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

The team of CETA and high-school students and professionals who traveled to Abheypur to assess and extend the work they did last January has returned and reports exciting results. In addition to installing a pipeline from the new water storage system to a part of the village that did not have access to clean water and moving the solar panels that power the water pumps to a different roof (to minimize problems with monkeys and peacocks), the team constructed a new solar panel support, replacing the original structure, which had failed. They also corrected some minor leaks from defective valves.

In an exciting development, the assessment team, led by Marcia Hughes, assistant director of the University’s Center for Social Research, reports that attendance and grades at the girls’ primary school have improved significantly as a result of having water available. In the past, the girls went home when they became thirsty and did not return to school. Now they stay for the duration of classes.

The team has also learned that water is still a key issue for many residents of Abheypur. Making sure that their families have enough water available for their needs is not only tiring for women but also stressful because water is a problem they face every day. Further, even families who can afford a private well must find water when electricity is unavailable for long periods of time since water storage is limited to their storage vessels. An NGO works in the village organizing women’s self-help groups to improve economic conditions, but their effectiveness is necessarily limited until these water issues can be resolved.

Consequently, Engineers Without Borders will continue to address water issues in Abheypur. In January 2009, the team will construct a demonstration rooftop rainwater harvesting project and implement the educational campaign on cleanliness, respect, and sharing created by the Hartford Art School. The team is also planning future work on water, soak pits, and a solar-powered computer center in the common village building.

We’ll keep you posted on the projects and the team.

In Memorium

2008-09-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

We note with sadness the death of Paul W. Devin. Mr. Devin and his wife Lucy have been benefactors of the College, supporting the Dennis Paul Devin Scholarship Fund, a memorial to their son, who predeceased his father.

A New Semester at CETA Lifts Off

2008-09-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

Today, Tuesday, September 2, CETA held Lift-Off for 240 first-year students who will start their studies tomorrow. Kelly Cofiell, Recruitment Manager, introduced herself and Dean Manzione, who urged the students to take advantage of all that our University has to offer. Associate Dean Alnajjar also addressed the students, covering topics like Blackboard. Other faculty and staff introduced themselves and answered questions for the freshmen.

CETA faculty and staff wish our new students every success.

CETA's fall 2008 freshmen class

Kelly Cofiell addresses the new students as faculty and staff look on.

News from Our Graduates

2008-08-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

Two Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) students who graduated in May 2008 are working for the Wood Group, an international energy services company with approximately $5 billion in sales; 26,000 employees worldwide; and operations in 47 countries. The alums are two of just six graduate trainee engineers hired for the Graduate Trainee Program worldwide by the Wood Group last spring, and two of just three hired in the United States. Neil Patel and Jillian “Jill” Calderone began their training in Aberdeen, Scotland, last week. Neil is now working in the Gas Turbine Services section of the company here in Connecticut for six months, after which he will rotate into another six-month training position, this one in Cumbernauld, Scotland (just east of Glasgow) where he will work in Heavy Industrial Turbines. Jill is also currently working in Connecticut before rotating into a position in a Wood Group subsidiary in Dubai.

Neil’s assignment at the Wood Group Power Technology Center in East Windsor, Connecticut, involves learning how each department operates and how the various operations function together to overhaul gas turbine components such as the fan blades that draw in and compress air, veins that exhaust emissions to be recycled for other uses, liners that combust the compressed air, and rotors that drive the generators to produce electricity. The components may be overhauled or even redesigned and manufactured if such work will make a more efficient product. His first project after training will involve a coating qualification for New York Power Authority’s two generators at their Queens, New York, power plant. The coating protects blades and veins from external elements, and Neil will be analyzing the coating for defects, proper mix, and thickness.

Jill is currently working in fuel systems and accessory repair service, specifically in the repair and overhaul of fuel nozzles, injectors, starters, actuators, and other similar components. Once she finishes her basic training, her first project will be to develop a repair process for a common part regulated by the FAA. Jill will be developing and writing procedures involving a machine (an induction brazier) that hasn’t been used in the process before.

Before arriving in their assignments, the two spent a week in Aberdeen learning about the company, meeting various corporate personnel including the others in the training program, and getting the big picture on the corporation and their own positions.

The two both agree that the MET program here in CETA prepared them for their work, and not just in their technical classes. For example, after each rotation, the grads will have to make a presentation, either in Aberdeen or the U.S. headquarters in Houston, about the work they performed and what they learned. Neil is thankful that both Professor Milanovic and Professor Segal prepared him to make presentations “so it’s not so totally nerve-wracking!” And Jill comments that since she’ll be writing work instructions for repair of the part, as well as instructions and training documents for using the induction brazier, her technical communications classes will “come in handy here.” But “labs, writing lab reports, and training my mind to think mechanically” really helped her to feel confident in her new job.

We wish Neil and Jill continued success in their careers.

Faculty Members Publish

2008-08-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

Dr. Patricia Mellodge, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will see the publication of a second book October 1, 2008, by Springer. She has co-authored Model Abstraction in Dynamical Systems: Application to Mobile Robot Control (Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences) with Dr. Pushkin Kachroo, who was Dr. Mellodge’s thesis advisor at Virginia Tech and is now Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Co-Director of the Transportation Research Center/University Transportation Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Mellodge and Dr. Kachroo also published Mobile Robotic Car Design with McGraw-Hill in 2004.

Dr. Michelle Vigeant, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, presented a paper, “Auralization of an Orchestra with Phase-Shifted String Sections,” at the 155th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. The meeting was a joint conference held with the European Acoustical Association in Paris, France, from June 30 to July 4, 2008. Dr. Vigeant’s paper was the final study from her Ph.D. thesis.

Dr. Clara Fang, assistant professor of Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical engineering, recently published two peer-reviewed journal papers. “Capability-Enhanced Microscopic Simulation with Real-Time Traffic Signal Control” was published in the IEEE Transactions of Intelligent Transportation Systems. This paper reflects Dr. Fang's contributions in the area of traffic-adaptive controls and simulation. The other paper, co-authored with two transportation practitioners, considers the use of a simplified empirical Bayesian method for safety assessment of traffic calming treatment. The work is based on a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive, city-wide traffic-calming master plan developed by the city of Hartford in 2006 and will be published in the Journal of Advanced Transportation Engineering.

In addition, Dr. Fang will present her paper on “Portable Intelligent Traffic Management System for Work Zones and Incident Management Systems” at the upcoming IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems. The work reported on in the paper was sponsored by the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Engineers Without Borders Returns to India

2008-08-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

CETA’s student chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) has returned to the village of Abheypur, near New Delhi, India, to assess and extend the work they did last January in installing a solar-powered well and water storage facility. The well, constructed with local help, allowed the girls of the village the time to attend school and the women of the village the time to participate in projects supported by a local NGO. Without the well, obtaining water for family use took up to five hours every day.

On this trip, the team plans to install a 1,000-foot pipeline between the new water storage tanks and a neighborhood in the village that still does not have easy access to clean water; to rehabilitate several of the non-working public wells in the village; and to initiate a social and medical assessment of how the EWB projects are affecting the village, especially the women and girls, to determine how to increase the effectiveness of their projects.

The team , which left for India today, comprises both students and professionals. The University of Hartford students are Rachel LaDue and Maria Qadri, both of whom participated in the original installation project. They are accompanied by Dr. David Pines, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and advisor to the EWB chapter here, and Marcia Hughes, the assistant director of the University of Hartford’s Center for Social Research, who will lead the assessment team of Parminder Parmer, a faculty member at Penn State who has worked with her on projects before and who speaks fluent Hindi, and two high-school students, both of Indian heritage who also speak fluent Hindi.

Also on the team are Jeff Lake from UTC Power, who will be the technical lead on the project, and Nadia Glucksberg, a hydrogeologist from Portland, Maine, who will lead the effort to rehabilitate non-working wells. Nadia worked with the team last January, too Nadia is assisted by Jay Peters, who works with her in Portland. Anna Smith, from Kleinfelder in Windsor, Conn., will lead the work on the pipeline, assisted by Daizy Peters, a fluent Hindi speaker from Kleinfelder’s Kansas office (who learned about the project from Kleinfelder's corporate intranet.

The team will return to Hartford August 31, though Jeff, Nadia, and Jay will stay an additional ten days to oversee the completion of the various projects.

A student trip is planned for next January to build a rainwater harvesting system for the village's girls school. In addition, students from the Hartford Art School will work on their educational campaign, and the Center for Social Research will continue their assessment of the various projects in Abheypur.

CETA Welcomes Students from Herat

2008-08-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

In an effort to revive the undergraduate engineering curriculum at the University of Herat, Afghanistan, after 30 years of war and neglect, CETA and that university have formed an alliance spearheaded here by Dr. M. Saleh Keshawarz, associate professor of civil engineering in CETA and a native of Afghanistan. In support of the rebuilding work, the project has received two grants: $215,000 from the U.S. Agency for International Development (UNSAID), awarded in February 2007, and $1.3 million awarded by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education from funds given to the Ministry by the World Bank.

Dr. Saleh Keshawarz addresses the reception.

For the past two years, Dr. Keshawarz and various University of Hartford faculty members have traveled to Afghanistan to work with the engineering faculty on the engineering curriculum. The Minister of Higher Education, the Steering Committee for SHEP (Strengthening Higher Education Program), and Mr. Abdul Hai Sofizada, senior advisor to the Minister of Higher Education, have all been involved in the discussions, along with the Chancellor of the University of Herat, Dr. M. Naim Assad; the Dean of Engineering, Mr. Abdullah Kazemi; and the Chair of Civil Engineering, Mr. Azizrahman Azimi.

Mr Sofizada speaks with Professor Beth Richards, who has traveled to Herat University to work on the technical communications and English portions of the engineering curriculum there.

In the fall of 2007, two faculty members from Herat, Mr. Azimi and Mr. Noor Sayed Jami, came to CETA to work on their Master’s degrees in civil engineering. And on August 11, a reception was held at the Harry Jack Gray Center to welcome nine of their colleagues, who have joined them to study in CETA. On hand to greet the students and make presentations during the reception were President Walter Harrison, Provost Lynn Pasquerella, Chancellor M. Naim Assad, Dr. Keshawarz, CETA’s associate dean Dr. Hisham Alnajjar, and Mr. Sofizada.

Attending the reception are (l. to r.) front row: Mary Dowst, Dr. Hisham Alnajjar, Dr. Beth Richards, Mahsa Khatibi, Said Faisal Rahmani, Azizrahman Azimi, Homaira Fayex; Back row:Noor Sayed Jami, Edris Naseri, Abdul Hai Sofizada, Dr. Saleh Keshawarz, Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, Chancellor M. Naim Assad, Dr. Walter Harrison, Sayed Abdul Basit Mododi, Noman Moheb Rahmani, Mohammad Tariq Popal, and Ahmad Sohail Rahimi.

In welcoming the students to the University, President Harrison said that the University community is aware of how much we have to learn from one another. “You’re teaching us about Afghanistan,” he said, which is an important part of the process that will “make a difference in the world. Today is a wonderful milestone in a great program.”

In his remarks, Chancellor Assad spoke about the history of his university. When the Taliban were removed from power, Herat had 400 students and 40 faculty members, none women. Now, 6,000 students, of whom 34 percent are women, attend the university in 53 departments. To reach this point and continue building, Herat has had to find ways to send faculty abroad to get their Master’s degrees. The World Bank’s grant has made it possible for Herat to build partnerships with universities around the world, among them this one with the University of Hartford.

Chancellor Assad presents President Harrison with a gift.

Mr. Sofizada explained the long-term vision of higher education in Afghanistan. When the Taliban government collapsed, there were 4,000 university students in the entire country. Now there are 60,000, and the Ministry is working to increase the capacity for higher education by licensing private universities and sending students abroad, for example.

SHEP was formed in 2005 by the World Bank and the Ministry of Higher Education in partnership to focus on six major universities and specific disciplines. Engineering is considered crucial because it will contribute to the rebuilding of the country. English language skills are also valued because of its international importance.

SHEP programs have two components: block grants for labs and physical plant, which must be linked to the other component, the partnerships. Security considerations can make the partnerships hard to form, and so Mr. Sofizada expressed the gratitude of the Afghani participants for all of the university partners, the faculty members, and the leadership of the universities, and Saleh Keshawarz. “The Ministry is committed to this partnership and will work to keep it going beyond the contract period and make it traditional,” Mr. Sofizada said.

Honored guests and speakers at the August 11 reception include (l. to r.) Dr. Alnajjar, Dr. Keshawarz, Provost Pasquerella, Chancellor Assad, President Harrison, and Mr. Sofizada.

Other speakers included Dr. Alnajjar, who spoke about CETA and the various programs offered here; Dr. Tom Filburn, who discussed industry-academic collaborations; Dr. Keshawarz, who spoke about Afghanistan and the partnership; and Mr. Azimi. He was the Chair of Civil Engineering at Herat and has been here studying the longest, so is helping his colleagues find their way around Hartford and the University. He spoke of the students’ learning and their eagerness to take what they have learned home so that they can “have a good living situation.”

CETA welcomes our Afghani colleagues and looks forward to learning from them.

CPEP Students Graduate

2008-08-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today, August 1, in the Mali I lecture hall, approximately 60 middle- and high-school students graduated from the 2008 summer Connecticut Pre-Engineering program—CPEP—program. The students, from Hartford, East Hartford, Bloomfield, and Newington, spent the month of July in CETA’s facilities in United Technologies and Dana Halls studying math, science, language arts, and college preparedness. Having completed their studies, they made presentations (as shown above) about some of what they had learned and received certificates for completing the program. The students and their parents also heard from CETA Dean Louis Manzione (shown below) and Recruitment Manager Kelly Cofiel, who spoke about the opportunities open to students in this college and at the university, as well as Dr. Marty Leftoff, assistant principal of the University High School of Science and Engineering, who addressed the opportunities for students there.

CPEP was founded in 1986 by a group of educators and engineers with the mission of helping “underrepresented students explore, prepare for and reach their full potential in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).” Exposing students to people who work in the STEM fields and providing hands-on programs to inspire them allows the students to connect their efforts at school to their future goals. CPEP programs now support students in 11 school districts in the state and serve over 1,000 students a year. For more information about CPEP’s programs, you can go to http://www.cpep.org/.

Each summer the focus of CPEP’s science classes changes. Last year, the topics including solar power and electronics. This year’s theme was genetics, and the students had the opportunity not just to study how genes work but to apply the principles they learned in crime-solving, among other things. The students also worked in groups to research a genetic theme, and today, each group presented what they had learned. Many of the presentations were about genetic illnesses such as sickle cell anemia, diabetes, and hemophilia, but one group explained how genetically modified foods work and another discussed cloning.

Not every day was spent studying. The students took a trip to a bowling alley—and learned about group dynamics. They also went to Lake Compounce. But when they were studying, hands-on learning went along with lectures. For instance, in their math class, in which the theme was permutations and combinations (supporting their study of genetics), the students made sandwiches out of paper one day to see how many possible combinations they could make. And as they studied genetics, they took a field trip to DNA EpiCenter in New London, Conn., where they learned to perform electrophoresis.

In addition to academic work, the students learned about preparing for college, including topics like what courses to take, how to choose a college, and how to find financial aid. The goal is to give the children choices about their future, to help them set and reach career goals. On July 30, Career Day, engineers from various fields came to CETA to speak to the students about what they do at work and how they became engineers. The photo to the right shows one of the speakers, an engineer who works for the Metropolitan District Commission, ensuring the safety and good taste of the water supply in Hartford and the surrounding communities.

The University of Hartford and CETA have opened our facilities to CPEP because we agree that STEM careers are excellent careers and that a diverse workforce can only increase the creativity and productivity in all the STEM fields. Over the course of several summers, many CETA faculty have taught units in their specialties for the program. Program Manager June Thomas (shown left), who oversees day-to-day operations says, “I can’t say enough about the support the University has given us. Here’s an institution that has opened its doors to so many minority and female students.”

CETA congratulates the students who completed this summer’s program and wishes them success in reaching their career goals.

In Memoriam

2008-07-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Chester Dudzik, Ph.D., professor emeritus of mechanical engineering in CETA, died on Monday, July 28, 2008 at St. Elizabeth Home in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, after a long illness. He was the husband of Gloria Crowell Dudzik of Warwick, R.I. Born in Pawtucket, R.I, he was one of three children of the late John and Anna Dudzik. Besides his wife and a sister, he is survived by six children, Diane Burns of Warwick, Chester Dudzik, Jr. of Greenwich, Conn., Greg Dudzik of South Kingstown, John Dudzik of Greenwich, Conn, Gail Votoloto of Warwick, and Frank Dudzik of Basking Ridge, N.J.; and fourteen grandchildren. He was the father of the late Marc Dudzik of Warwick.

A graduate of Pawtucket East High School, he received his bachelor's degree in engineering with high honors from Brown University. He then attended and taught at Purdue University, where he received his Master’s and Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering. A distinguished member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, he worked as Head of Engineering for the Leesona Corporation in Warwick, before he became an internationally acclaimed professional consultant in textile patent litigation. Dr. Dudzik also became a tenured professor at the University of Hartford's College of Engineering. An avid and accomplished bridge player, he achieved Master status. He enjoyed golf, and was a member of the Wannamoisett Country Club for many years.

Dr. Dudzik’s funeral will be held on Thursday, July 31, at 9 a.m. from the Barrett & Cotter Funeral home, 1328 Warwick Avenue, Spring Green, Warwick, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in St. Timothy Church, 1799 Warwick Avenue, Warwick. Visiting hours are Wednesday 4-7 p.m. Burial will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Providence. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to St. Elizabeth Home, One St. Elizabeth Way, East Greenwich, RI 02818.

Our sympathies are with Dr. Dudzik's family.

A Correction

2008-07-25T08:15:00.001-07:00

In our last post, about various papers and presentations made by CETA Faculty, Anna Nagurney's title and affiliation were incorrectly reported. Dr. Nagurney is the John F. Smoth Memorial Professor in the Department of Finance and Operations Management in the Isenberg School of Management with appointments in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. We apologize for the error.

Bloomfield Students Visit CETA

2008-07-25T07:51:00.001-07:00

On Friday, July 18, ten eighth-grade students from the Learning Is Earning Program at Carmen Arace Middle School in Bloomfield toured CETA as part of their visit to the University. BriAnna West, Salma Bazlur, Ashley Brown, Jordan Gary, Victoria Hayes, Lashan Lee, Sashe’ Llewelyn, Corrine Patterson, Evan Varela, and Jasmin Walker were accompanied by two Arace guidance counselors, Karen Goldman and Allison Glenney.

The focus of the Learning Is Earning Program is teaching the students about the importance of education as it relates to careers and life style. The students spent three weeks learning about life skills such as budgeting, etiquette, listening and communication skills, and career exploration using career software that helps the students hone in on possible career clusters, college choices, résumé writing, etc. The program also included guest speakers who talked about their career paths and visits to various workplaces such as the Bloomfield Police Department and CIGNA as well as the University of Hartford.

In CETA, the students saw various labs and classrooms and then were introduced to Maria Qadri, a senior majoring in Biomedical Engineering, who showed the students several projects being worked on in our Environmental Lab. Maria also took the students to see one of CETA’s two wind tunnels. Because the tunnel was being set up for an experiment, she couldn’t demonstrate it, but the students were interested in the setup and asked many questions.

Here are some photos of the visit.

Maria and the students in the Environmental Lab talking about experiments being run there.

Maria with the spacesuit mockup used in experiments run for NASA.

One of the students trying on the mockup.

Maria explaining the wind tunnel to the students.

Faculty Present Findings and Publish Papers in June

2008-07-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

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.)

CETA Faculty Win Grants and Awards

2008-07-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

Among the many grants and awards won by University of Hartford faculty last spring are the following won by CETA faculty.

Dr. Saeid Moslehpour, assistant professor of computer and electrical engineering, won a Greenberg Junior Faculty Grant that he will use to develop a simulation model for a microprocessor. The grant, an internal award to promote high-quality scholarship by faculty members just beginning their careers, provides for course release time and funding for a research assistant.

Dr. Moslehpour also won a Coffin Grant from the University to develop a translator of VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language) to SPICE (Simulation Program for Integrated Circuits Emphasis). His goal is to simulate analog/digital circuitry in one software environment.

In addition, Dr. Moslehpour received a $3,000 sub-award from NASA to work on Connecticut Space Grant College Consortium curriculum development.

Dr. Akram Abu-aisheh, assistant professor of computer and electrical engineering, won a Coffin Grant to develop a low-cost fiber optics communications and sensors laboratory for teaching and developing new experiments in fiber optics. Coffin Grants are awarded to full-time faculty for a variety of scholarly and creative projects and for activities that enhance teaching or contribute to professional development.

Dr. Robert Celmer, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received a $25,000 grant from the Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation that funded research into footfall noise characterization carried out by two of Dr. Celmer’s students under his supervision. Samantha “Sammi" Rawlings and Josh McGee won the Best Student Paper Award at the recent Acoustical Society of America held in New Orleans with their report on the results of this research.

Dr. M. Saleh Keshawarz, associate professor of civil, environmental, and biomedical engineering, Dr. Hisham Alnajjar, associate professor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering, and Dr. Ivana Milanovic, Associate Professor of mechanical engineering, received a grant from the Ministry of Higher Education in Afghanistan for work they are doing to improve engineering education at Herat University in Herat, Afghanistan.

Dr. Thomas Filburn, the director of the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium, and Dr. Ivana Milanovic, chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, received a total of $403,385 from NASA for three years of programs and projects in the Consortium, which comprises the University of Hartford, Bridgeport University, Central Connecticut State University, Connecticut College of Technology, Eastern Connecticut State University, Fairfield University, Southern Connecticut State University, Trinity College, University of Connecticut, UConn Health Center, University of New Haven, and Wesleyan University. The projects are carried out by students working with faculty.

Dr. Filburn also received grants for various projects being performed by students under his direction as follows:

ATCO Catalyst Study, funded by Jacobs Sverdrup, $29,975
Bed Depth and Ammonia Capacity Testing, funded by NASA, $23,35
Connecticut Space Grant Consortium–OWC, funded by the State of Connecticut Office for Worksforce Competitiveness, $78,000
Development of Ion Flow Control Techniques, funded by Pratt & Whitney, $1,600
Low-Cost Solar Concentrators, funded by Connecticut Innovations, $280,416
Novel CO2 Removal Technologies for Use on Mars, funded by NASA, $114, 933

James Fuller, associate professor of architecture in CETA; Associate Professor Terri Albert, associate professor of management and marketing in the Barney School of Business; Jeffrey Cohen, associate professor of economics, finance and insurance in the Barney School of Business; Associate Professor David Pines, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in CETA; and Nancy Wynn, assistant professor in visual communication design in the Hartford Art School received a $25,000 grant from the Capitol Region Council of Governments for an Assessment of Current Resources in the Capitol Region for Livable Community Design Support and Building Livable Community Design Capacity.

Dr. Pines also received a grant of $10,000 from Pratt & Whitney to support the work of the student chapter of Engineers Without Borders. That chapter recently built a solar-powered well in the village of Abheypur in India, providing a sustainable solution to the problem of how to more easily access water for the villagers.

Frank Lahey, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, who serves as advisor to the fSAE (Formula Society of Automotive Engineers) club and team, received a $15,000 grant from the Newman’s Own Foundation in support of the team’s efforts to build a car and compete in the national fSAE competition.

Dr. Louis Manzione, Dean of CETA, received $30,000 from the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology in support of his Nanotechnology Curriculum Initiative. Dean Manzione chairs the
Connecticut Department of Higher Education Consortium on Nanotechnology, which to develop new course curriculum with an emphasis on nanotechnology and the twenty-first century workforce.

Dr. Chittaranjan Sahay, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received a grant for $63,990 from Jacobs Vehicle Systems, Inc., for New Product Development of Machine Layout. Professor Sahay also received a grant of $9,900 from Pratt & Whitney to work on Thermo-Mechanical Fatigue Studies in Single Crystals Under Low Cycle Fatigue.