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On Tuesday August 14th, we traveled to the CEB manufacturing facility in St. Louis where we were briefed on the properties, advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of the material. The CIM students had a chance to build of a 160 square foot curing room employing the CEB. The students participated in all the stages including anchoring steel rebar reinforcement to the foundation, laying a mortar bed "only the initial mortar bed is required for leveling blocks", and stacking the blocks. The interlocking system allows for the easy Lego-style stacking of blocks without the need to mortar "glue" them together. We plan to break ground tomorrow and begin the layout of CEB in the actual site where the home will be erected. David and Naveed wants us to take our experience and brainstorm new and innovative ways to streamline the production and application of compressed earth blocks in the U.S. which can vary greatly to other countries around the world.
Photos of CEB wall system construction:
On Monday August 6th, the CIM program was invited by the New Jersey Concrete and Aggregate Association for a wonderful golfing event at the Riverton Country Club in Riverton, NJ. The CIM program assembled a foursome and attempted to take on NJCAA members which included many of our CIM Northeast Patrons. We managed to make it by all 18 holes and had a great time. Evan Hoff, CIM student participant, won a prize in the “Longest Drive” competition which took place in the final hole. We would like to give thanks to Bill Layton, NJCAA Executive Director, and Katie Gibbs, Special Events Coordinator, for having us participate in the outing.
Photos: NJIT CIM Flicker
This REU program will provide 10 undergraduate students, recruited nationally, with research experiences for 10 weeks during the summer. This program, coordinated by NJIT, has been made possible by the commitment of faculty of biomedical engineering at both NJIT and UMDNJ to encourage and support the participation of undergraduates in research and design outside the classroom. The mentors in this proposal form the core of our broad effort in Neural Engineering spanning the engineering of nervous tissue for repair to rehabilitation engineering and neuromuscular control to neurological function and behavior. The objectives for this REU are to encourage undergraduate students to pursue advanced degrees in neural engineering, prepare them for productive careers as scientist/engineer/researcher in academics or industry, train them to become independent, intellectual thinkers, and master the art of dissemination
Over the last year, Associate Dean Lisa Axe has spear-headed NCE’s efforts to increase undergraduate student participation in cooperative education. While currently 14% of NCE undergraduate students participate, in the next 5 years significant increases are targeted. In 2009, the NY Times reported that 95% of students in co-op programs have jobs when they graduate, and greater than 60% have taken positions with companies they worked for while in the program. Under the leadership of Dean Sunil Saigal and at the request of the NCE Board of Visitors, a number of measures are being implemented to increase student participation. Specifically, undergraduate students will only pay tuition for one experience, receiving 3 degree credits. In addition, in a number of departments, undergraduate students may begin the co-op program after completion of their freshmen year. Further measures include the ability for students to enroll in a co-op experience during the summer; providing a freshmen seminar on the benefits of the co-op experience with a panel of industry representatives; and, providing students with one advisor for both academics and cooperative education advisement.
Associate Dean Lisa Axe coordinated the NCE application selected to participate in the ENGAGE project, which is an Extension Services project funded by the National Science Foundation. The goal of ENGAGE is to increase retention of undergraduate engineering students through implementing three research-based strategies. “ENGAGE is a unique and valuable opportunity to improve the learning experience for NCE students” stated Dean Sunil Saigal. Over the course of 3 years, 30 engineering schools (10 per year) will participate in this project of implementing ENGAGE strategies. NJIT was selected for the 2nd year of the project which will run from Fall 2011 through Fall 2012. The team includes the following individuals leading specific strategies:
• N. M. Ravindra (Chair and Professor, Physics) and Denis Blackmore (Professor, Math): Integrating into coursework, everyday examples in engineering (E3s) – the focus will be on Physics 111 and calculus.
• David Lubliner (University Lecturer, Engineering Technology): Improving student spatial visualization skills.
• Priscilla Nelson (Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering): Improving and increasing faculty-student interaction.
The progress of this project will be tracked over 18 months providing time to broaden and generalize the research-based strategies across the NCE curricula. As part of ENGAGE, NCE hosted three associated webinars: “Improving Spatial Visualization Skills” (http://vimeo.com/19361741); “Using Everyday Engineering Examples in the Classroom” (http://vimeo.com/17535600); “Improving Faculty Student Interaction” (http://vimeo.com/16984211).
In Fall 2011, NJIT is embarking on a new initiative led by Provost Ian Gatley and Associate Provost Judith Redling to improve student engagement in their learning experience and in their connections with instructors, advisors, and peers. Students will enter learning communities – Community Connections in their first year through curricular-based cohorts. They will be afforded peer mentors, close advising, weekly seminars, and integration of course material. Dean Sunil Saigal is committed to providing all necessary resources to ensure the utmost success for this critical and most beneficial initiative. Associate Dean Lisa Axe is the college coordinator of the eight first year cohorts and the one transfer student cohort. All departments in NCE are deeply committed as well to ensuring the success of each of their students. For more information please go to http://www.njit.edu/communityconnections/.
Associate Dean Lisa Axe and Professor Donna Fennell (Rutgers University) coordinated a meeting between DuPont Corporation and NJ researchers held on Thursday, May 26 at NJIT. DuPont is planning to fund New Jersey-based research on remediation science and technology. In anticipation of awarding several research grants to begin in early 2012, a series of informative meetings are being held for interested researchers. DuPont currently has seven sites undergoing remediation in the state of New Jersey. They seek innovative research efforts to meet challenges associated with remediation obligations at these sites and to contribute broadly to the field of remediation science and engineering. Dean Sunil Saigal enthusiastically supported this first meeting for potential principal investigators as an introduction to DuPont’s remediation program and to provide information about remediation challenges at New Jersey sites.
The long awaited trip was the most prestigious way to end the Spring 2011 term. On May 13 , fifteen students from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Department of Engineering Technology’s Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program (including a student from Construction Management Technology and a student from Civil Engineering), received a special invitation from The Port Authority of NY and NJ to visit the New York World Trade Center to view $23 billion of construction. Port Authority engineers accompanied the students to the construction site where they had the chance to ask questions about the project as well as job and internship opportunities as they viewed the pouring of concrete. The scheduled opening for the memorial is September 11, 2011.
Finally, I have seen the happiness and joy on the face of the students that they have made it to such a trip.
NCE Excellence in Advising Award
Peggy Sullivan
NCE Excellence in Teaching Award
Sanchoy Das
Saul K. Fenster Innovation in Engineering Education Award
David Lubliner
NCE Outstanding Staff Award
Allyn Luke
NCE Dean's Service Award
Ellen Learner
NCE Outstanding Student Organization Award
Society of Women Engineers
Saul K. Fenster Innovation in Design Award
Paul Rodriguez
NCE Outstanding Graduate Student Award
Walter Vittitoe
Departmental Outstanding Senior Student Award
Namrata Patel
Rachel Wallner
Keith Corkery
Jigar Tailer
Walter Vittitoe
Nathaniel Ching
NCE Madame Mau Outstanding Female Engineering Student
Endowment Award
Julia Gayner
Faizan Naqvi, a student in Electrical Engineering, was awarded a Goldwater Scholarship. The program, honoring Senator Barry M. Goldwater, was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering. Naqvi, a scholarship recipient from the Albert Dorman Honors College, is also the president of the Rotaract Club and a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.
The NJIT ASCE Steel Bridge team took first place honors at the annual Metropolitan New York Region Steel Bridge Competition for the sixth straight year! The team heads to Texas A&M University in May to compete against 175 teams from across the nation.
Dr. Ronald H. Rockland, professor and Chair of the Department of Engineering Technology, was named a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He will receive his official designation in June at the ASEE Annual Conference, which will be held in Vancouver, Canada.
The “Flying Highlander” won fourth place at the international annual Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design West competition held in Fort Worth, Texas. The Highlander is an oversized model airplane, with a five-foot wing span and a three-foot long body. It was designed and built by team members: Michael Anderson (team Captain), Jeffrey Van Fossen, Michael Melillo, Carl Ritacco, Chamberline Nwokey, and Jonathan Weiss.
Ammar Abdo, a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering, received the NSF Neural Engineering Travel Award. This award recognizes excellence in the field of Neural Engineering. Abdo is scheduled to present a paper, which was co-authored with Dr. Mesut Sahin, entitled, “Intraspinal microstimulation with light activated micro-stimulators” at the 5th International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering.
Martha Molinini, a student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was accepted to present her paper at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Middle Atlantic Section Conference. The paper is entitled, “The BP Oil Spill: Containment Efforts and Ethical Considerations.” The conference was held in Farmingdale, N.Y. on April 29, 2011.
The North Jersey Section of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) awarded their 2011 scholarships, which are based upon both scholastic achievement and service to the AIChE Student Chapter. Recipients were: Olakemi Akinlabi, Rizkullah Dogum, Maria Khouzam, Jibin Modayil, Estefanos W. Selwaness, and Rachel Wallner.
Carlo Badiola and Paul Dupiano, graduate students in the Otto H. York Department of Chemical, Biological & Pharmaceutical Engineering, competed at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Region I-NE Student Conference in Nashua, New Hampshire, on April 8 and 9. The conference is a technical paper competition for AIAA undergraduate and graduate student members. Badiola placed second and Dupiano took third place.
The American Society of Civil Engineers recently honored Priscilla Nelson, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, for being a pioneer in geotechnical engineering, one who paved the way for innovative research and education in the field. Read more.
On April 4th, 2011, Associate Dean Lisa Axe hosted Rector Ulrich Radtke and representatives of the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) for a signing with Provost Ian Gatley of a Memoranda of Understanding and Agreement for fostering research and academic collaborations between the universities. UDE is a member of the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr (UAMR), an alliance of three large research universities (25,000 + students at each university) located along the Ruhr River in Germany. The other members are the Ruhr University Bochum and the TU Dortmund University. All three universities are very strong in engineering & applied sciences, especially in nanotechnology, energy research, biochemistry, and urban studies. UDE is particularly strong in nano-sciences, being the home to Germany's strongest nano-research cluster, CeNIDE. In May 2010, NCE researchers met with Drs. Sebastian Engell and LeeAnn Renninger from the UAMR. The meeting was organized to discuss potential research collaborations and student exchange programs. This agreement is an opportunity for NJIT students to study abroad with the UAMR and is important for a number of reasons among which include improving global awareness, enhancing academic learning, and learning another language. Furthermore, NCE Dean Sunil Saigal is committed to developing this relationship and forging research collaborations that will provide long-lasting opportunities.
The FE Examination is an 8-hour supplied-reference examination: 120 questions in the 4-hour morning session and 60 questions in the 4-hour afternoon session. More Information
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The Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research was established in 1996 in honor of Henry L. Michel, Past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Civil Engineering Forum for Innovation (CEFI), formerly the Civil Engineering Research Foundation. The annual award recognizes and acknowledges leaders of the design and construction industry whose dedication and aggressive vision have provided cornerstones for improving the quality of people's lives around the world through research in the design and construction industry. The Henry L. Michel Award is presented during ASCE’s OPAL Awards Gala held each spring in the Washington, D.C. area.
Yeheskel Bar-Ness, distinguished professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Foundation Chair of the Center for Communication and Signal Processing Research, received a patent for “Equal BER Power Control for Uplink MC-CDMA with MMSE Successive Interference Cancellation,” a system designed to increase efficiency and reduce interference in wireless telecommunications.
Ivan Dentcho, research professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the NJIT Microelectronics Fabrication Center, earned a patent in collaboration with Joseph R. Madsen at Harvard Medical School, for a “Waveform Sensing and Regulation Fluid Flow Valve,” which is used to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid from the brain in hydrocephalus patients.
Anthony East and Michael Jaffe, research professors in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, were awarded a patent for “Thermoset Epoxy Polymers from Renewable Resources,” a substance made from sugar derived from corn that can be used commercially in adhesives and coatings.
Robert Pfeffer, professor emeritus in the Otto H. York Department of Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, received patents for “System and Method for Nanoparticle and Nanoagglomerate Fluidization” and for a filter composed of nanoparticles, “Fractal Structured Nanoagglomerates as Filter Media.”
Yun-Qing Shi, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received four patents for his work in data hiding for: “Method for Identifying Marked Content, Such as By Using a Class-Wise Non-Principal Component Approach;” “System and Method for Data Hiding Using Inter-Word Space Modulation;” “System and Method for Robust Lossless Data Hiding and Recovering From the Integer Wavelet Representation;” and “System and Method for Reversible Data Hiding Based on Integer Wavelet Spread Spectrum.”
Jay Meegoda and Hsin-neng Hsieh, professors in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the NJIT Student Chapter of Engineers Without Borders received a grant of $10,000 to develop an ecologically sustainable sanitation system for Hopital Sacre Coeur in Haiti. The system will collect human waste, convert it into fertilizer through anaerobic digestion, and capture the methane gas emissions formed as a byproduct of the process for on-site use as a heating fuel.