HAPPENINGS
Fall 2012
CREATIVE
DISCOVERY
NOTABLE
IMPACT
ESM
GRADUATE
PROGRAM
COMPREHENSIVE
LEARNING
Engineering Science and Mechanics
Happenings Fall 2012
1
LETTER FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD
Happenings
Publisher
Ishwar K. Puri
Editor
Anne-Marie Bracken
Layout and Graphics
Christine Burgoyne
Contributing Writers
Pat Artis
Anne-Marie Bracken
Catherin Doss
Suvojit Ghosh
Lindsey Haugh
Michael Hyer
Alison Matthiessen
Lynn Nystrom
Ishwar K. Puri
We want to hear from you!
Please forward your comments,
suggestions, and story ideas to:
Anne-Marie Bracken
ESM Department
Norris Hall, Virginia Tech
Mail code: 0219
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Phone: 540-231-3243
Fax: 540-231-4574
Email: brackena@vt.edu
Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants on the basis
of race, sex, handicap, age, veteran status, national origin, religion, or political affiliation. Anyone having questions concerning
discrimination should contact the
Equal
Opportunity/Affirmative
Action Office.
FRONT COVER IMAGES
Courtesy of:
Dr. Jeffrey Bolton
Dr. L. Glenn Kraige
Dr. Raffaella DeVita
Mr. Navish Wadhwa
Dr. Sunny Jung
Dr. Ishwar K. Puri
Dr. Michael Madigan
Dr. Scott Case
Mr. Michael Diersing
Dr. Shane Ross
2
Happenings Fall 2012
In this issue of Happenings you’ll find stories about the accomplishments of ESM
students, faculty, staff and alumni. We thrive!
The latest US News & World Report rankings of undergraduate engineering science/
engineering physics programs places us fifth in the nation in a list that includes peer
programs at Cornell, Caltech, Illinois-Urbana Campaign, UC Berkeley and Stanford.
Dr. Shane Ross was promoted to Associate Professor and received the Liviu Librescu
Faculty Prize. Both he and Dr. Roger Chang received a College of Engineering
Certificate of Teaching Excellence. Dr. Michael Madigan and Dr. Ross both became
College of Engineering Faculty Fellows. Dr. J. Wallace “Wally” Grant retired as Kevin
P. Granata Faculty Fellow Emeritus. Dr. Raffaella De Vita conducted research that
was highlighted as a Notable Accomplishment by the National Science Foundation
Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems.
ESM junior Winston Becker received a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Alumnus
Dr. Maurizio Porfiri (EM, Ph.D.’06) was selected as the Virginia Tech College of
Engineering Outstanding Young Alumnus. Dr. Larry Marshall (EM, Ph.D.’74)
was inducted to Academy of Engineering Excellence. Dr. Satish Kulkarni (EM
Ph.D.’72) received the Virginia Tech Graduate Alumni Achievement Award for his
lifetime achievements and service.
We are pleased to welcome newest faculty member, Dr. Nicole Abaid, who joins us
as an assistant professor with expertise in dynamical systems.
Sadly, Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus C. W. Smith, an iconic figure in
ESM history, passed away in August. He attended Virginia Tech and joined ESM
as a full-time instructor in 1948. He touched several generations of students and, of
course, faculty and staff members.
As our graduate and undergraduate programs continue to flourish and develop, we
encourage you, our alumni and friends, to strengthen us with
your continued support.
Please visit our website: www.esm.vt.edu. Thank you for keeping
in touch.
Ishwar K. Puri
N. Waldo Harrison Professor
and Department Head
Contents
Department and Faculty News..............................................3
Student News..................................................................................14
Scholarships and Graduate Degrees..............................18
Staff News..........................................................................................20
Alumni News.....................................................................................20
DEPARTMENT NEWS
ESM Undergraduate Program Ranks 5th in the Nation
In the latest US News & World Report ranking of undergraduate engineering science/engineering physics programs, the Virginia Tech Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics is 5th in the nation.
The top five programs in that ranking include:
1.
2.
2.
4.
5.
5.
Cornell University
California Institute of Technology (tie)
University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (tie)
University of California, Berkeley
Stanford University (tie)
Virginia Tech (tie)
Nicole Abaid Joins ESM as Assistant Professor
Dr. Abaid has master’s and baccalaureate degrees in mathematics, from
the University of Kansas and University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill respectively.
Dr. Nicole Abaid joined ESM as
a tenure-track assistant professor
in the area of dynamical systems
in the fall 2012 semester. She received her doctoral degree in mechanical engineering in May 2012
from the Polytechnic Institute of
New York University based on her
dissertation, “Fish, networks, and
synchronization.” Her expertise
lies in developing network-based
mathematical models of biological
systems and data-driven analysis of
collective behavior.
She is the author of several archival journal articles, including those
published in the Journal of the Royal
Society Interface, SIAM Journal on
Applied Dynamical Systems, IEEE
Transactions on Automatic Control, IREE Robotics and Automation Magazine, IEE Control Systems
Magazine, and Physics of Fluids. She
received the Best Student Paper
award at the 2011 ASME Dynamic
Systems and Control Conference,
worked for three years under a NSF
GK-12 fellows program to apply
mechatronics to promote science,
and was a J. M. Rubin Foundation
Scholar and a Whitaker Scholar. As a
student, she also won best presentation
and design awards in regional and national competitions.
Dr. Abaid has interests and accomplishments in bringing science and
engineering into the K-12 classroom. She acted as an “engineer-inresidence”, conducting laboratory
experiments in elementary and middle school classes, coached robotics
teams participating in the FIRST
LEGO League competition, and
designed K-12 mechatronics lessons
that are available from TeachEngineering.org. She organized interactive activities at the New York
Aquarium on bioinspired fin design
for robotic fish, helped develop exhibits for the 2011 World Science
Festival, and designed and presented
robotic fish activities at the 2010
USA Science and Engineering Expo
in Washington, D.C. v
Happenings Fall 2012
3
DEPARTMENT AND FACULTY NEWS
Raffaella De Vita’s research highlighted as a
“Notable Accomplishment” of NSF CBET division
vance knowledge about the mechanisms that lead to sprains and, thus,
have the potential to change the current prevention and treatment strategies for sprains. Her useful contribution could uncover the damage
evolution process of more complex
biological tissues such as skin and arteries.
Dr. Raffaella De Vita's research has
been highlighted as a "Notable Accomplishment" of the National Science Foundation (NSF) CBET division. She is an Assistant Professor in
the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech.
NSF calls this research transformative, since it combines state-of-theart experimental, computational,
and theoretical methods in order to
provide fundamental knowledge of
sprains. The ultimate goal of the research is to develop structurally based
The highlighted research unravels the mathematical models that capture
mechanisms of sprains, particularly the experimental observation and
the role of knee ligaments. Sprains molecular dynamics predictions.
are the most common orthopedic in- The models could be employed in
future as predictive tools for the dejuries.
velopment of grafts for ligaments and
Dr. De Vita's research findings ad- stretching routines that minimize the
occurrence of sprains. v
Norman Dowling AUTHORS 4th EDITION of MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR of MATERIALS
Dr. Norman Dowling authored the
“Mechanical Behavior of Materials:
Engineering Methods for Deformation, Fracture and Fatigue” (4th edition). The publisher is Prentice Hall.
“Mechanical Behavior of Materials,
edition 4” introduces the spectrum of
mechanical behavior of materials, emphasizing practical engineering methods for testing structural materials to
obtain their properties, and predicting their strength and life when used
for machines, vehicles, and structures.
With its logical treatment and readyto-use format, it is ideal for practicing
engineers and upper-level undergraduates who have completed elementary
mechanics of materials courses.” v
4
Happenings Fall 2012
EMERITI NEWS
Shane Ross Promoted to Associate Professor of
Engineering Science and Mechanics
by Anne-Marie Bracken
In recognition of his scholarship
and teaching, Dr. Ross received the
Virginia Tech College of Engineering Dean’s Award of Excellence for
Outstanding New Assistant Professor in 2010, a Certificate of Teaching Excellence from the college in
2012, and was also named College
of Engineering Faculty Fellow in
2012.
He is a recipient of the coveted National Science Foundation (NSF)
CAREER Award. This award is
NSF’s most prestigious recognition that recognizes junior faculty
who “exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding
research, excellent education and
the integration of education and
research within the context of the
mission of their organizations.”
Dr. Ross is the 2011-2012 recipient
of the Liviu Librescu Faculty Prize.
During the past year, he published
several journal articles in archival
volumes, which added to his impressive record of published scholarship which, according to Google
Scholar, has been cited over 1,650
times and with an h-index of 21.
He was invited to three high-profile
international venues within the dynamical systems community: (1) as
a Keynote Speaker at a Lorentz Centre Workshop on Coherent Structure
and Dynamical Systems, in Leiden,
The Netherlands, (2) as a Plenary
Speaker on Computational Methods
in Dynamics at Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics,
in Trieste, Italy; and (3) as an Invited
Speaker at the International Congress
on Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICAM), in Vancouver, Canada.
Dr. Ross joined ESM in 2006 as an
assistant professor. Since his arrival he
has taught various courses pertaining
to dynamics and dynamical systems,
and in 2008 co-authored a book entitled, “Dynamical Systems, the ThreeBody Problem and Space Mission
Design.” As an invited speaker, Dr.
Ross presented at the British Science
Festival in 2009 and at the Zurich
Physics Colloquium in 2008.
He earned his Ph.D. in Control and
Dynamical Systems and his B.S. in
Physics, both from the California Institute of Technology. v
ESM ADVISORY
BOARD MEMBERS
Michael Fisher, Chair
Scott Hart, Co-Chair
Balakumar Balachandran
Michael D. Hayes
Shelley Henkell
Jennifer Holmquest
Russell D. Jamison
Satish Kulkarni
Larry Marcus
(David) Fred McBagonluri
Heather M. Pierce
John Troll
Roger Chang Awarded 2012
COE Certificate of
Teaching Excellence
Dr. Roger Chang has been awarded
a 2012 College of Engineering Certificate of Teaching Excellence for his
teaching for the 2010-2011 Academic Year.
After graduating with both master’s
and doctoral degrees from ESM, Dr.
Chang decided to concentrate his efforts on teaching. He stated, “I had
to choose between what I wanted to
do and needed to do. I decided to go
with the teaching route.”
Student enthusiasm for Dr. Chang’s
teaching has earned him the Sporn
Award for teaching twice, as well as
being voted second best teacher at
Virginia Tech last year by students. v
Happenings Fall 2012
5
A Memorial to Dr. Liviu Librescu
by Karl L. Drews, Vice President of Operations, National Institute of Aerospace
I had the chance to meet Dr. Librescu
when he often visited the National
Institute of Aerospace and NASA
Langley Research Center. From the
moment I first met him, I was struck
by his presence and bearing. He was a
delight to talk with about any range of
subjects from academic to historical.
Like so many, I was shocked by the
insensibility that occurred at Virginia
Tech. When I heard how Dr. Librescu
died saving his students lives, it was an
act of heroism that restored my faith
that good people will do the right thing
even at the cost of their own life.
singular act of courage, and that even
in the darkest hour something good
emerges. When NIA and Virginia Tech
were involved with the construction of
the NIA Research and Innovations Lab,
there were discussions about having
some feature or fixture that would
have some part fashioned out of Hokie
Stones. So I decided that since Dr.
Librescu loved to sit down and talk with
his students and colleagues that a way to
honor him would be the construction of
the bench currently located at the front
of the building. I hope that Dr. Librescu
would be pleased to know that future
students will have a place to sit outside
I wanted to have something located at and enjoy the freedom of academic
NIA that would remind students of this discourse that he so cherished. v
Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research
Recognizes ESM Clifton C. Garvin Professor Romesh Batra
As Teacher of the Week, September 2, 2012
Dr. Batra uses chalkboard, written
reports, oral presentations, problem
solutions, classroom discussions,
PowerPoint slides, movies depicting
simulations of physical phenomena,
DVDs of lectures on the internet,
and e-mail exchanges to promote students’ learning of concepts and their
building of mathematical models of
The Center for Instructional Develop- real world problems. Students in his
ment and Educational Research (CI- classes work on a project which often
DER) has recognized Dr. Romesh results in a refereed journal publicaBatra, Clifton C. Garvin Professor of tion. As a part of the final examinaEngineering Sciences and Mechanics, tion students present their work to
for excellence in teaching graduate level peers, thus sharpening their commucourses that prepare students to con- nication skills.
duct cutting-edge research in emerging
fields, and challenging them to critically His former mentee, S. S. Vel (Ph.D.,
examine their work and the assump- ESM, 1999), won the 2006 American Academy of Mechanics Distintions made in proving a result.
guished Young Researcher Award,
and M. Porfiri (Ph.D., 2006) won
6
Happenings Fall 2012
a much coveted NSF Career Award
in 2007, and was named 2012 Outstanding Young Alumni by Virginia
Tech’s College of Engineering. Shakti
Gupta (Ph.D., 2009) received the Silicon Medal and a Certificate of Appreciation from the Indian Defense
Minister on the National Science
Day held at the Defense Institute,
Poona, February 28, 2010.
Of Romesh Batra’s 19 former doctoral
students at Virginia Tech, seven are
faculty members, and 12 are employed
in the public and the private sectors.
Dr. Batra’s mentee, Bryan M. Love
(Ph.D., ESM, 2004) writes “Dr. Batra taught me how to effectively convey my research to the academic community, resulting in me becoming a
continued on page 19
ESM Professors Named Scholars of the Week
The Office of the Vice President for
Research named four ESM professors
Virginia Tech Scholar of the Week in
four different weeks this fall.
The Office of the
Vice President for
Research recognized
Jake Socha, Assistant
Professor of Engineering Science and
Mechanics, for his work to understand the biomechanics of gliding in
flying snakes.
Socha also leads a multi-disciplinary effort that aims to understand how insects
pump fluids through their bodies and
to use these principles for novel engineering designs. Through this project,
he is directing a summer program that
directly integrates high school teachers,
undergraduates, and high school students into the research team's efforts.
Socha is an organismal biomechanist
studying the relationship between form
and function in animals, with a broad
range of projects involving locomotion, breathing and feeding. His current
work focuses on gliding flight in snakes,
mechanics of convection in compressible tracheal structures in insects, and
dynamics of pumping in liquid feeders such as butterflies and ants. Other
interests include 3D morphology using
microtomography and synchrotron imaging of small animals.
The Office of the
Vice President for
Research recognized
Michael Madigan,
associate professor
of engineering science and mechanics
(ESM), for research that uses both
human subjects testing and computer
modeling to study factors contributing to slip, trip, and fall accidents.
ments and tendons in vertebrates and
tracheal tubes in invertebrates.
The common theme of De Vita’s research is the study of the relationship
between complex structures and mechanical behavior of biological systems, using approaches that combine
physically sound theoretical models
with novel experimental methods.
Recently, she received the prestigious
NSF CAREER award to study the
mechanical properties of the uterosacral and cardinal ligaments supporting the uterus and vagina. Her
research will serve in establishing
science-based guidelines and specific
protocols for the treatment of pelvic
floor disorders in order to provide
Two major demographic trends in the better care for millions of adult womUnited States are the increasing num- en affected by these disorders.
ber of adults over 65 and the growing
prevalence of obesity. Madigan’s current project funded by the National
The Office of the
Institute for Occupational Safety and
Vice
President
Health aims to better understand
for Research rechow these two factors contribute to
ognized Marwan
falls, and will provide valuable inAl-Haik, associate
formation to update fall prevention
professor of engiguidelines and strategies in light of
neering science and
these demographic trends.
mechanics, for the synthesis and mechanics of nanoscale materials.
The Office of the
Vice President
for Research recognized Raffaella De Vita, assistant professor
of engineering
science and mechanics (ESM), for her research focusing on characterizing the mechanical properties of biological structures
ranging from cell membranes to liga-
Al-Haik conducts research on hybrid
nanoscale materials for blast resistance, nanovehicles for drug delivery,
and embedded piezoelectric nanomaterials for energy harvesting. He is the
co-author of a textbook on experiments
in materials science and engineering and
has written over fifty journal articles. He
holds three U.S. patents. v
Happenings Fall 2012
7
J. Wallace ‘Wally’ Grant
honored with
emeritus status
by Catherine Doss
Dr. J. Wallace
"Wally" Grant,
Kevin P. Granata
Faculty
Fellow
and Professor of
Engineering Science and Mechanics in the College
of Engineering, has been conferred
the “Kevin P. Granata Faculty Fellow
Emeritus of Engineering Science and
Mechanics” title by the Virginia Tech
Board of Visitors.
Michael Hyer delivers
keynote address
Dr. M.W. Hyer,
N. Waldo Harrison
Professor
Emeritus of Engineering Science
and
Mechanics, delivered the
SDM Lecture at
the 53rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/
ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics,
and Materials (SDM) Conference in
Honolulu April 23rd. The title of the
lecture was “Tailoring of Composite
Structures Using Spatially Varying Fiber
Orientations.” Fiber orientations within
contemporary fiber-reinforced composite structures generally do not vary
with spatial location. Professor Hyer’s
plenary lecture focused on work he and
several other researchers have conducted
to consider varying the fiber orientation
continuously within the structure to
compensate for local or global geometric features, or to better accommodate
particular loads.
A member of the university community for 31 years, Professor Grant was
instrumental in developing a biomedical engineering education, research,
and outreach program and was a key
individual involved in establishing
the School of Biomedical Engineering, serving in the roles of director and
later department head until 2009. The
school graduated its first class in 2006
with three Ph.D. and three master’s An example is illustrated below, where
instead of using straight fiber trajectories
degree students.
to resist axial buckling in a noncircular
During his tenure, Professor Grant cylinder, as on the left, the fiber trajectoobtained several million dollars in bio- ries are a function of circumferential lomechanics funding from the National cation in an effort to mitigate the effects
Institutes of Health and mentored nu- of the noncircular geometry, as on the
merous students by using those funds. right. Formally stated, within a layer of
fiber-reinforced material the direction
Professor Grant was a dedicated teach- of material orthotropy varies continuer of a wide range of courses, from ously with the circumferential coordifreshman to advanced graduate level, nate. The challenge is to determine the
twice receiving a Certificate of Teach- manner in which the orientation varies
ing Excellence from the college, as so as to maximize load capacity P. v
well as the Frank J. Maher Award for
Excellence in Engineering Education.
He was appointed the first Kevin P.
Granata Faculty Fellow in 2010.v
8
Happenings Fall 2012
ESM Icon
Bill Smith Passes
By Lynn Nystrom
Professor C. W.
Smith, Alumni
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
of Engineering
Science
and
Mechanics and
a member of
the Academy of Engineering Excellence at Virginia Tech, passed away
Monday, July 30. He was a lifetime
resident of Christiansburg.
Professor C.W. Smith was the epitome
of the hometown boy who made good.
Born in Christiansburg, Va., he lived
in the same home his grandfather built
in 1905 and where he was raised. The
1929 stock market crash forced the
sale of the home, but Smith was able to
purchase the landmark building back
in 1948. He continued to live there
until recently when his health failed.
While attending Virginia Tech, he garnered some experience his senior year
teaching mathematics, and that landed
him a job offer from Dan Pletta, the
engineering mechanics department
head in the 1940s. He pursued his
master’s degree and became a full time
instructor in 1948. Upon receiving his
graduate degree in 1950, Pletta promoted him to an assistant professor.
Professor Smith became one of the
first of the engineering faculty to transition from a strictly teaching role to
assuming a teaching and research responsibility in the college. Smith was
continued on page 19
Pat Artis (EM BS’72) Remembers Professor C.W. Smith
The passing of Professor C.W. Smith
on July 30th marks the end of a great
life. Having been a fixture in the
ESM department for 60 years, C.W.
is fondly remembered by generations
of students and faculty members.
While everyone has their own distinct memory, I think that everyone
shares his memorable laugh. C.W.
never seemed to have a bad day;
rather he was always a wealth of infectious good humor. His door was
always open and he always had time
for anyone who came to visit. Over
the past 40 years, C.W. was always
the first person I visited when I returned to campus.
As a student from 1967 to 1971, I
was fortunate to know C.W. in his
prime. During the 1960s, C.W. became the unofficial advisor to ESM
seniors, a function that he preformed
for decades until his retirement. He
was also responsible for the capstone
Experimental Stress Analysis course
that was a right of passage for all seniors. In the fall of 1971, the course
met late Monday and Friday afternoons, with a 3-hour lab session on
Wednesday afternoon. Each week,
we would discuss an experimental
technique on Monday, perform an
experiment on Wednesday, and then
discuss data reduction on Friday.
While every experiment required
hours of data reduction, the analysis
of the data from the photo elasticity experiment required most of the
Thanksgiving holiday to complete.
For C.W., experimental mechanics
demonstrated each student’s mastery
of the ESM curriculum and was the
ultimate application of our education. From the student’s perspective,
the course was a full time job.
I have two wonderful memories from
this course. First there was a Friday
afternoon where he lost himself in
the material, covered his tweed jacket
with chalk dust, and lectured until
almost 7 pm. Suddenly, he realized
that it was dark outside, put down
his chalk, and apologized to us about
running well over the scheduled
length of the class. Then he observed,
“I could talk about experimental mechanics for the rest of your lives.”
Realizing that the class was enormously difficult, he offered a “sur-
vivors benefit” for any student who
completed the course. That benefit was a celebration dinner hosted
by C.W. and his wife Doris at their
home in Christiansburg just before
finals in December. My date for the
dinner was Nancy Eisenhart, a young
woman that I would marry one year
later. Over the intervening decades,
C.W., Doris, Nancy, and I became
fast friends.
While C.W. retired, he never stopped
contributing to students and the department. As head of the honorifics
committee, he jealously guarded the
reputation of the department. After
the horrific events of 4/16, Department Head Ishwar Puri asked C.W.
to chair the first meeting of the faculty. It was a great call, everyone respected C.W.
For a department that characterizes
itself as a small and tight-knit family,
we have all lost our “grandfather”. To
honor his memory, please greet everyone with a smile, encourage and help
everyone you can, and meet adversity
with a chuckle! v
Happenings Fall 2012
9
DEPARTMENT AND FACULTY NEWS
Graduate Director’s Corner: Professor Muhammad Hajj
The ESM graduate program is thriving. Our graduates continue to be sought after by a
variety of industries, research laboratories and universities.
This success is consistent with our long-term vision. In 2006, Dr. Puri and I agreed that,
as noted in ESM’s 2004 strategic plan, our department had to improve the numbers of
Ph.D. graduates to strengthen our reputation as a major global center for interdisciplinary
research in mechanics. Hence, we set the target that ESM should graduate on average a
doctoral student every two years for each of our faculty members.
While that target set in 2006 was challenging then, the ESM Faculty responded so
enthusiastically that we have exceeded it. We now have almost 90 enrolled Ph.D. students
and expect to consistently graduate approximately 17 doctoral students each year. On
average, each faculty member now mentors almost four doctoral students.
The accompanying graph shows that a three-year average of the number of enrolled M.S. and Ph.D. students has increased
steadily since Dr. Puri and I first had our discussion. Although the number of M.S. students during this period has decreased,
the total number of ESM graduate students has increased. Considering that it takes at least twice as long for a student to
complete a Ph.D. degree than it does for an M.S. degree, the effective increase in the number of enrolled students is actually
larger.
Due to fiscal difficulties, the number of university-supported
graduate assistantships decreased by seven positions between
2002 and 2008. In order to ensure that adequate support for
classroom teaching continued, Dr. Puri decided to maintain
the number of graduate teaching assistants at almost the same
level that we had in 2002 by reallocating funds from other
sources. Hence, support for the graduate program remains
strong despite budgetary difficulties.
There is another encouraging sign. While several internationally
renowned research-active faculty members have retired over
the past ten years, we have nevertheless been able to hire junior
colleagues who have rapidly built up their own scholarship
and research, and thus involved large numbers of doctoral
students in their research programs.
Number of enrolled PhD and MS students over the past ten
years. The three-year average (black line) is included to
eliminate spikes in the data associated with possible onetime events.
I note with pleasure that 50% of ESM’s graduate students
are able to publish at least one journal article before they graduate although almost all prepare archival publications based
on their dissertations. Indeed, over the past three years, five students published at least ten archival papers related to their
dissertations prior to graduating. ESM’s graduate students continue to win awards at national and international conferences,
as well as some of the very prestigious university awards, such as Virginia Tech Graduate Man of the Year, Outstanding
Engineering Doctoral Student, and Honorable Mention for an outstanding dissertation. During the past two years, we know
of five students who were appointed as assistant professors in U.S. universities.
These successes in our graduate program would not have been possible without the depth of scholarship of our faculty, the
external research support that they are able to attract, the dedication of our staff members to the ESM mission, the response
of our graduate students to what many consider as one of the most rigorous mechanics programs in the world, and the light
10
Happenings Fall 2012
that our alumni shine on us.
I am aware that we face challenges. We will continue to work on enhancing our student diversity. Although we have students
from 15 countries and 20% of them are women, we must significantly increase the number of underrepresented minorities
represented in our graduate program.
Over the past year, the graduate committee has been revising the graduate curriculum. Our objectives are to provide ESM
graduates with the training to become independent researchers and an environment that encourages breakthrough research, and
also streamline our examinations. We hope to enable our students to initiate their research earlier, write more comprehensive
dissertation proposals, and change the composition of their advisory committees by including members who can genuinely
contribute to student research and learning. We intend to create a core sequence of classes to ensure that all graduate students
have a common and fundamental body of knowledge upon which to draw.
I have been fortunate to be a steward of the graduate program over this dynamic and interesting time of change for ESM. Our
ability to strengthen the graduate program over this transitional period predicts a bright future for the program. v
Students and alumni say...
In ESM, my coursework was tied very
well with my interests and allowed me
to explore exciting areas.
Mehdi Ghommem, Ph.D., 2011, King
Abdullah University of Science and
Technology, Saudi Arabia
I was welcomed into ESM by faculty
and staff members, and senior students. ESM was definitely my second
family away from home.
Ganesh Balasubramanian, Ph.D., 2011,
Assistant Professor, Iowa State University
ESM is a one-of-a-kind department full
of strong coursework and research. I really enjoyed my wonderful life in ESM
Mondrudee Liangruksa, Ph.D., 2011,
Researcher, National Nanotechnology
Center, Thailand
ESM successfully strikes the balance
between the fundamental mechanics
education and state-of-the-art technological educaiton required to conduct
and follow cutting-edge research.
Alper Erturk, Ph.D., 2009, Assistant Pro
fessor at Georga Tech
ESM laboratories offer high quality equipment to aid in experimental research and
the professors are enthusastic and very
good at demonstrating how to use the
knowledge gained through coursework to
address particular research questions.
Tina Rossi, Ph.D. student, NSF Student Fellow.
ESM professors are eager to mentor students outside of the classroom on coursework and research topics. I am grateful
that my education has provided me the
tools and confidence I need to accomplish any research project.
Jessica Dibelka, Ph.D. student
ESM is unique in that its administrative staff
members are familiar with your specific situation and are always friendly and helpful.
Tony Nelson, Ph.D. student
The instruction and mentoring I receive in
ESM makes it possible for me to take on a
diverse collection of problems and gives
me the confidence to tackle any new ones
which come my way.
Frances Davis, Ph.D. student,
NSF Student Fellow
Happenings Fall 2012
11
DEPARTMENT AND FACULTY NEWS
Innovative NSF-Initiated Programs Support Undergraduate Research
by Anne-Marie Bracken
This summer, several ESM faculty members mentored groups of Virginia Tech undergraduate students, high school
students and high school teachers in immersive research projects that were initiated by support from the National
Science Foundation (NSF).
ESM faculty members Drs. David Dillard and Romesh Batra joined with Dr. Don Ohanehi (of Biological and Systems
Engineering) to initiate projects that conducted fracture tests of adhesive bonds to determine how small amounts
of shear loading influence debond growth, investigated mechanisms that lead to bridging and tearing of hydrogel
layers
of
importance
during the fabrication of
biomedical
components,
and characterized fracture
parameters in elastomeric
and bonded systems. A
fourth student reviewed
the relevant literature on
adhesives used in biomedical
adhesives.
“Students were expected
to make weekly group
presentations,
meet
regularly with their faculty
advisor (and graduate
student mentors in some
cases), and provide multiple
drafts of their final report
prior to final submission at
the end of the project,” said
Dr. Dillard.
“They gained insights into
engineering research, often putting concepts learned in recent classes into practice as part of their project. Three
of the students were involved in numerical research, using a commercial finite element code. Two projects focused
on experimental work augmented with numerical analysis of their test specimens. In addition to making practical
applications of what they are learning in classes, they gained an appreciation of what graduate-level research might be
like and explore possible directions for their engineering careers,” he added.
Armanj Hasanyan, an ESM undergraduate participant with Professor Batra, shared, “Failure in adhesive bonded
materials is an important problem in failure mechanics. Its understanding is important to many industries such as the
automobile industry, the shoe industry, and the textile industry. This past summer, I learned how to analytically model
adhesive bonded materials and to predict when failure occurs using different methods, such as the use of the commercial software Abaqus. The experience has helped me apply what I learned as an ESM undergraduate to real problems,
which is something that is hard to do in the classroom.” The groups mentored by Drs. Jake Socha, Rafael Davalos (who is an ESM affiliate faculty member) and Ishwar Puri
participated in the EFRI-REM: Complex microsystem networks inspired by internal insect physiology program. Led
by Dr. Socha, the faculty members obtained NSF funding for the program by collaborating with Dr. Bev Watford,
12
Happenings Fall 2012
associate dean of engineering, and Dr. Ray Van Dyke of the Office of Assessment and Evaluation.
Sara Winter, a mechanical engineering student in the EFRI-REM program, stated, “My research was computational,
not experimental. I worked on creating a model of three-dimensional flow within a sphere using a pulsating line sink
and source system. This idea was basically inspired by the flow of nutrients throughout an insect’s abdomen due to the
pumping of the heart. I ended up completing enough computer code to produce a plot representing 10,000 pulses,
illustrating how well the system was mixing. There is still much to be refined with my code, and I have already decided
to continue working on this project with my faculty advisor over the next academic year. If I complete the code, there
is even a possibility that I could publish my work.”
“This was an amazing opportunity for me not only because of the new software I learned to use, but also by learning
how to work as part of a team. We all worked on individual projects, but we all had a team goal: to inspire high school
students to pursue math and sciences. I am so happy that I could be a part of this program and really hope that our
promotional video inspires high school students to be involved in research someday,” she said.
Lindsay Carr, a biological systems engineering sophomore in the EFRI-REM program added, “This non-classroom
experience has given me a better understanding of the engineering process. I was absolutely amazed at the overlap of
different fields in science and engineering within this program. It inspired me to find creative ways to solve problems.”
ESM undergraduate, Jessica Aviles, also in the EFRI-REM program, agreed, “I was able to learn some of the skills it
takes to be a successful researcher and I was able to learn from the best. I
learned that without patience, an experiment would never be finished. I
“I am now more prepared to
am now more prepared to do research and contribute to discovering the
do research and contribute
to discovering the unknown in
unknown in this world.”
this world.”--Jessica Aviles, ESM
Stephen Kamanda is a physics teacher who participated in the EFRIsophomore
REM program. He teaches at the Commonwealth Governor’s School,
which a part of the Stafford County Public School system. The school
offers “gifted and highly motivated high school students a challenging, differentiated, and interdisciplinary program.” He related, “Through this summer research, I have experienced firsthand what it takes to do advanced research and
to be successful at it. Through the various components of this research and the interactions with office personnel,
colleagues, professors and other researcher students, I have developed confidence, hard skills (scientific process skills)
and soft skills (communication and presentation skills) that will be extremely vital for me as I start graduate work this
fall.” Mr. Kamanda continued, “When you discover or learn something exciting and have confidence in the acquired
knowledge and skills, you can’t wait to show-off or brag about it. As a teacher, you know that you understand something
when you can explain and teach it to others. So, I can’t wait to return to school to begin this transfer of knowledge to
my colleagues and students. My classroom will not be the same again. There will be more in-depth learning, critical
thinking, inquiry-based lessons, more presentations of students’ findings, more doing on the part of the students and
less talking on the part of the teacher in my classroom. This experience has made me a believer that this is how students
will acquire the skills to succeed in this twenty first century global market workforce.”
High school student, Sachith Gullapalli, who also worked in the EFRI-REM program said, “This program has given
me a new perspective on what research is all about. It allowed me to go through an abbreviated version of the whole
scientific process from start to finish, but equally valuable was the opportunity to be part of the lab and see what they
were doing, and benefit from the experience of the graduate students. I wasn’t sure I wanted to pursue research before,
but now I’m certain it’s the right choice for me.” v
Happenings Fall 2012
13
14
Happenings Fall 2012
Happenings Fall 2012
15
STUDENT NEWS AND AWARDS
University Honors student Winston Becker
awarded prestigious Goldwater Scholarship
Excerpts from an article by Alison Matthiessen
Winston Becker of Advance, N.C.,
a junior honors student majoring in
engineering science and mechanics in
the College of Engineering, has been
awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for the 2012-13 academic year.
Becker has already completed more
than 100 credit hours towards his degree in just two years, while maintaining a 3.98 overall grade point average
(on a 4.0 scale).
Becker is also a member of the inaugural cohort of Scieneers at Virginia
Tech, through which he is a pursuing a
minor in interdisciplinary engineering
and science. In addition, Becker is mi- Mechanics, as well as the 7th Annual
noring in chemistry and mathematics. ACC Meeting of the Minds Conference, the Undergraduate Research and
He is among 282 scholarship winners Prospective Graduate Student Conferfrom a field of 1,123 mathematics, ence
science, and engineering students who
were nominated by the faculties of col- “I knew before coming to Virginia
leges and universities nationwide.
Tech that I wanted to be involved in
In addition to school, Becker has been
involved in volunteer and outreach
efforts. This semester, he served as a
STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) facilitator at rural
middle schools to get students excited
about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics career fields. He
is also a member of Oxfam America
at Virginia Tech and the Honors Residential College Mentoring Program.
Winston Becker presented at several
conferences in 2011 and 2012 including the Biomedical Engineering Society National Meeting, the 63rd Annual Southeast Regional Meeting of the
American Chemical Society, the 12th
Pam American Congress of Applied
Goldwater Scholarships cover the cost
of tuition, fees, books, and room and
board up to a maximum of $7,500
per year. Since its first award in 1989,
the Goldwater Foundation has given
more than 6,200 scholarships worth
around $39 million. v
research, specifically in the field of biomedical research,” said Becker. “Upon
graduation, I hope to enter an M.D./
Ph.D. program in biomedical engineering. After that, I would like to do
research and teach at a university or
academic research hospital.”
COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN TEAM win ESM Best Senior Project Scholarship
Excerpts from an article by Alison Matthiessen
Former ESM seniors Aleksandr Andreyev, Andy Borum, James Burns, and
Peter Wentzel worked on "Capturing
Near-Earth Asteroids Using A Binary Exchange Mechanism", a project where they
did modeling, simulation, and analysis
of a new method of capturing an asteroid in an orbit around the Earth, with
Dr. Shane Ross, who is an associate
professor of Engineering Science and
Mechanics, as advisor. Not only did
the project win the Dan Pletta Award
for the best design project, but also
the Howard Sword Award for the best
computational design project.
16
Happenings Fall 2012
to develop serious plans to mine asteroids using robotic spacecraft.
Asteroids are rich in minerals which are
rare on Earth and as terrestrial supplies
reach their limit, looking for natural
resources in space becomes more attractive. Planetary Resources, a new
company with funding provided by
Hollywood director James Cameron
and the founders of Google, is the first
The main idea is that after a close approach with the Earth, a binary asteroid pair (two asteroids which orbit
each other while they orbit the Sun together) will be disrupted an one of the
asteroids will be captured in a stable
orbit around the Earth.
See the team’s conference paper in
PDF format at: http://www2.esm.
vt.edu/~sdross/papers/borum-et-al2012-conference.pdf. v
Nanocamp 2012: To think big you must think small
by Suvojit Ghosh and Anne-Marie Bracken
ESM students Aschvin Chawan, Austin Fergusson,
Suvojit Ghosh and Souvik Pal of the ESM
Multiphysics Research Group (MuRG) demonstrated
the importance of nanomaterials to forty high school
juniors and seniors through the Nanocamp program,
which was hosted by the Virginia Tech College of
Science and the Living and Learning Programs in
August 2012. The program objective was to motivate
students to consider research careers.
The sessions discussed why nanomaterials are important
and the corresponding research in the MuRG lab.
They explained how the wide diversity of physical
properties of materials found in nature are correlated
to the underlying atomic structure of materials. For
instance coal, soot, and diamonds, all carbon-based
materials, are different because nature plays with their
atomic arrangements. Similarly, the MuRG lab takes
tiny building blocks consisting of nanoparticles that
contain only a few atoms and arranges these into
different patterns in materials. This influences the
overall material properties such as hardness, magnetic
response, and electrical and thermal conductivity.”
The lab considers rules by which two magnetic
nanoparticles interact with each other, which it
scales up to understand the collective dynamics of
millions of particles under the influence of an external
magnetic field. An understanding of these collective
dynamics, also known as self-assembly, allows these
MuRG students to develop engineering methods
for nanomaterials. By controlling the arrangement
of nanoparticles in such materials, the bulk material
properties can also be controlled.
The high school students showed great interest in
the sessions and were excited by the prospects of
nanotechnology in current and future applications. v
Happenings Fall 2012
17
STUDENT NEWS AND AWARDS
ESM Undergraduate Scholarship Recipients for 2012
Alice & Dan Pletta
Scholarship
Katie Sherman
Brittany Gater
Sydney Hitzke
Jaclyn Press
Jacqueline Rizzi
Matthew White
Louis O’Shaughnessy
Scholarship
Caleb Koch
Professor C WIlliam & Doris
Smith Scholarship
Joseph Castellano
Brian Chang
Christopher Cork
Joel Luehr
Eric McDowell
Alexander Skavdahl
Matthew Wojciechowski
Loretta & Ken
Reifsnider Scholarship
Winston Becker
ESM Advisory Board
Scholarship
Alex Friedman
Nicholas Sharp
Robert A. Heller Scholarship
Nicholas Orange
Jordan Plahn
Frank J. Maher Scholarship
Katie Sherman
ESM Graduate Fellowship and Scholarship Recipients
for 2012
Amir Chand and Dwski Bai Batra Scholarship
Abdessattar Abdelkefi
Daniel Frederick Scholarship
Mehran Tehrani
Davenport Graduate Fellowship for 2012
Khaled Adjerid
Joshua Hogancamp
Manuel Stein Scholarship
Masoud Safari
18
Happenings Fall 2012
Pratt Presidential Graduate Fellowships
Fall 2010 and Spring 2011
Mohammad Haik
Shuvodeep De
Mohammad Albakri
Seyedmeysam Khaleghian
Priyal Shah
Subhradeep Roy
Chen Chieh Liao
Walts Graduate Fellowships
Fall 2010 and Spring 2011
Max Mikel-Stites
Malihe Ghadimi
GRADUATE DEGREES
M.S. Graduates Fall 2011-Summer 2012
Name
Thesis
Advisor/s
Choudhury, Udit
Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Cockroach (Periplaneta Americana) Resilin
Dudek
Douglas, Harold
An Evaluation of Optical Fiber Strain Sensing for Engineering Applications
Duke
Siuta, Chase
Measuring Material Properties of Proton Exchange Membranes Using
Pressxure Loaded Blister Testing and Digital Image Correlation
Case
Wadhwa, Navish
Non-Coalescence of Jets
Jung
PhD Fall 2011-Summer 2012
Name
Dissertation
Advisor/s
Abdelkefi, Abdessatta
Global Nonlinear Analysis of Piezoelectric Energy harvesting from Ambient
and Aeroelastic Vibrations
Hajj
Aboelkassem, Yasser
Novel Bioinspired Pumping Models for Microscale Flow Transport
Staples
Bahrami, Arash
Nonlinear Dynamics of Tapping Mode Atomic Force Microscopy
Nayfeh/ Hajj
Ghommem, Mehdi
Modeling and Analysis for Optimization of Unsteady Aeroelastic Systems
Hajj/Puri
Islam, Mohammad
Global-Local Finite Element Fracture Analysis of Curvilinearly Stiffened
Panels and Adhesive Joints
Kapania
Karimi, Alireza
Gaining New Insights Into Spatiotemoral
Paul
Liangruksa, Monrudee Nanoscale Thermal Transport for Biological and Physical Applications
Puri
Locatelli, Davide
Optimization of Supersonic Aircraft Wing-Box Using Curvilinear SpaRibs
Kapania
San, Omer
Multiscale Modeling and Simulation of Turbulent Geophysical Flows
Staples
Welker, Joseph
Modeling the Simulation of Bestibular Hair Cell Bundles Using
Computational Fluid Dynamics and Finite Element Analysis
Grant
Happenings Fall 2012
19
STAFF NEWS
Patricia Baker receives 2012 Staff Career
Achievement Award
Patricia Baker, retired fiscal technician
in the Department of
Engineering Science
and Mechanics in the
College of Engineering, has received the
2012 Staff Career Achievement Award.
Baker retired in 2011 after 22 years of
service to the university.
Created in 2012 to recognize retiring
staff members, the Staff Career Achievement Award is presented annually to
up to five individuals who have distinguished themselves through exemplary performance and service during
their university career. Each recipient is
awarded a $1,000 cash prize.
During her tenure, Baker was known
for her deep commitment to self-improvement and professional development. She began in the department as a
receptionist and retired as fiscal technician, an illustration of her dedication to
lifelong learning.
In 1994, Baker was the only staff member of the department who was familiar
with Microsoft Word. She increased her
professional skills with training from the
controller’s office, the Office of Sponsored Programs, and an Office Software
Skills training program. When the department was a volunteer pilot group
for the implementation of HokieMart,
Baker served as a trainer, teaching 50
faculty and staff in its use.
Melissa Nipper Helps
with CASE/Salvation
Army School Supply Drive
Through CASE (The College
Association for Staff in Engineering),
Ms. Melissa Nipper, ESM’s Fiscal
Technician, recently assisted the
Salvation Army with its yearly drive
to provide book bags and supplies
to needy students in the New River
Valley area. v
ALUMNI NEWS
Satish V. Kulkarni (EM Ph.D ‘72): Graduate Alumni Achievement Award Recipient
University as Associate Vice-President
for New Initiatives and Partnerships.
During this year’s Graduate Commencement Ceremony on May 11th,
Dr. Satish V. Kulkarni was awarded
the 2012 Graduate Alumni Achievement Award. Dr. Kulkarni is the Director of Energy Initiatives in the Office of the Vice-President of Research
and Research Professor of Engineering
Science and Mechanics at Virginia
Tech, working at the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington and at the
Blacksburg campus. Before moving to
the university, he was at Georgetown
20
Happenings Fall 2012
Dr. Kulkarni has an exemplary record
of innovative scientific, educational
and policy leadership in national and
international arenas. After obtaining his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech, he
began his career in the nascent field
of advanced composite materials and
moved on to Babcock & Wilcox’s
Nuclear Power Generation Division
before joining Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory (LLNL) where
he directed numerous interdisciplinary programs in national security, energy and environment.
Until recently, he was the Counselor for
Science, Technology, Environment and
Health Affairs within the U.S. Depart-
ment of State in the U.S. Embassy in
New Delhi, India. He was instrumental
in facilitating collaborations and agreements between the U.S. and India in
the areas of S&T, nuclear and space
research, climate change, healthcare initiatives and wildlife.
Dr. Kulkarni earned his B.S. in civil
engineering from Calcutta University
and his M.S. in structural mechanics
from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. At Virginia Tech he earned
his Ph.D. in engineering mechanics in
1972 and has been an outstanding
ambassador for the university ever
since. Dr. Kulkarni’s professional career exemplifies the Virginia Tech
motto, Ut Prosim. v
ALUMNI NEWS
Ashok Sinha, ESM Alumnus,
Assumes New Position with
Dolomite Microfluidics
in the UK
Virginia Tech honors Engineer Larry Marshall for his
career achievements
Excerpts from an article by Lindsey Haugh
Larry Marshall, of Chesterfield, Va., who earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace
engineering from Virginia Tech in 1966, is a 2012 inductee into Virginia Tech’s
College of Engineering Academy of Engineering Excellence, joining an elite group
of 112 individuals out of more than 58,000 living engineering alumni.
Dr. Ashok Sinha, ESM Ph.D. 2008,
joined Dolomite Microfluidics in the
UK in November as a Technical Applications Specialist. His role reports
to the Head of Microengineering,
while functioning as liaison between
Marketing and Operations. His job
responsibilities include: microfluidic
device design – designing and manufacturing microfluidic chips and
systems for customer applications,
microfluidic applications – supervising experimental work and generating application notes for the range
of standard products, marketing
support – increasing publicity and
customer base by generating press releases, datasheets and disseminating
information at fairs and conferences,
as well as sales and technical support
– providing pre-sales support (helping to decide what products, systems
customers should buy) and post-sales
support (performing customer installations and resolving customer issues).
Dolomite Microfluidics is located in
Royston, UK, and is the world leader
in solving microfluidic problems as
well as in driving innovation. They
provide their services globally in a
wide range of applications outside the
field of research chemistry. v
The Academy of Engineering Excellence was founded in 1999 by F. William Stephenson, past dean of the college of engineering, and the College’s Advisory Board.
The inductees are engineering graduates of Virginia Tech who have made continuous and admirable engineering or leadership contributions during their careers.
This year marked the thirteenth anniversary of the first induction.
Marshall, who grew
up in Pulaski, Va.,
was the first person
in his family to attend and graduate from college.
He couldn’t afford
room and board at
Virginia Tech and
was actually able
to join a group of
Pulaski Hokies who formed a corporation and bought a bus. So for a little over
$1000 in academic fees, he earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in
1966, a subject he selected because of his boyhood interest in the burgeoning space
program that was intent on putting a man on the moon by the end of that decade.
On the Saturday following graduation, Marshall married his college sweetheart,
Jo Ann, and on Monday he reported to his new job at Boeing in Huntsville, Ala.
Working with this aerospace giant had been his goal, mainly because he was infatuated with its production of the first stage of the Saturn V rocket, used by NASA’s
Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973.
While working part-time at Boeing, and enrolled in graduate school at the University of Alabama at Huntsville where he spent an additional 20 hours each week. He
received his master’s in fluids and thermal sciences in 1970, but although he found
the space program “electrifying in its intensity,” he made a tough career decision to
leave this branch of engineering behind.
Subsequently, he returned to Virginia Tech where he started his doctoral program
as a teaching assistant in Engineering Science and Mechanics. Marshall’s adviser
was Dean Mook, a professor who worked closely with Ali Nayfeh, both of whom
continued on page 19
Happenings Fall 2012
21
ESM ALUMNI NEWS
Virginia Tech Honors Engineer Maurizio Porfiri for his Career Achievements
by Lindsey Haugh
Dr. Maurizio Porfiri, of Brooklyn,
N.Y., who earned his engineering mechanics master’s degree and doctorate,
both from Virginia Tech, in 2000 and
in 2006, respectively, received Virginia
Tech’s College of Engineering Outstanding Young Alumnus Award for 2012.
Dr. Porfiri, a native of Rome, Italy, also
holds a combined undergraduate and
master’s degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Rome, and doctorates in theoretical and applied mechanics from the dual-degree program at
the University of Rome and at the University of Toulon, both with the Class of
2005.
“As I learned more about the science of
engineering in the ESM department, it
made a big impact on me,” he said of his
first years at Virginia Tech.
When he returned to Blacksburg and
was in the unusual position of obtaining
yet another doctoral degree, Porfiri was
able to simultaneously work as a postdoctoral researcher with Virginia Tech’s
Autonomous Systems and Controls Laboratory directed by Dan Stilwell in the
Bradley Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering.This lab specializes in marine robotics, and develops autonomous systems for both an aqueous
surface and its subsurface. As Dr. Porfiri
recalled, the time was “intense.” But he
had set his goal of becoming a professor,
and felt that a career in the U.S. would
be “very exciting and have a creative aspect. In the U.S., one gets “a lot of freedom and is more independent” than in
Italy with its more hierarchal system, he
explained.
In 2006 Dr. Porfiri landed his first tenure track position at the Polytechnic
Institute of New York University’s De22
Happenings Fall 2012
partment of Mechanical Engineering
and Aerospace Engineering. Within five
years, he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.
There, Dr. Porfiri has created his own
version of Stilwell’s lab, called the Dynamical Systems Laboratory at the New
York University. He conducts research
in modeling and control of complex
dynamical systems with a developed
expertise on underwater applications,
spanning from underwater robotics to
mechanics of advanced materials.
Using his 2008 NSF CAREER Award,
Dr. Porfiri started studying the problem
of designing robots that could engage
fish shoals and regulate their collective behavior. By improving the current
understanding of complex multi-agent
dynamical systems, the research has potential impact for multi-vehicle robotics,
animal behavior science, aquacultural
engineering, and fish protection methods.
“His research has received many accolades including the Best Robotics Paper
Award in 2009 at the Dynamics Systems
and Control Conference and the Best
Student Paper Award at the same conference in 2011. He received the Honors
Center of Italian Universities medal in
2008 for his outstanding scientific and
engineering contributions,” said Ishwar
Puri, who holds the N. Waldo Harrison
Professorship and currently heads the
Virginia Tech ESM department. Porfiri
is an outstanding mentor, said Puri.
In 2010 Popular Science named
Maurizio Porfiri one of its Brilliant 10,
calling him the “Water Wizard.” In addition, the Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering received an invitation from the National
Academy of Engineering to join its 2011
symposium, Frontiers of Engineering.
In September he received another NSF
grant of $560,000, this time to explore
how a cyber-enabled citizenry can become actively engaged in the monitoring
of water in the highly polluted Gowanus
Canal in Brooklyn.
Another of his current ongoing projects,
supported by the Office of Naval Research, is aimed at furthering the understanding of how advanced marine structures such as unmanned underwater
vehicles behave when faced with extreme
conditions including blasts and other
types of impacts. He currently advises a
team of 20 post-doctoral fellows, graduate, and undergraduate students. v
Romesh Batra Continued...
better researcher.”
C.W. Smith Continued...
one of Virginia Tech’s investigators on
the 1969 Themis grant, the landmark
H.-K. Ching (Ph.D., ESM, 2002) Department of Defense program that
states, “Dr. Batra encouraged me to catapulted the University into its curpolish my public speaking skills by rent international stature in composite
presenting the work in the [weekly and advanced materials.
group] meetings and always showed
great patience listening to what I said. In 1977 the University recognized
Smith for his many achievements, preDavide Spinello (Ph.D., ESM, 2006) senting him with its Alumni Award for
reminiscences I perceived Dr. Batra Excellence in Research. That same year,
as a great teacher through his capa- the Society for Experimental Mechanics
bility to communicate to students his made him a Fellow. In 1986 he received
NASA’s Langley Research Center Scienknowledge and his passion
tific Achievement Award. Other honors
Brad Klenow (Ph.D., AoE, 2009) followed including election to Fellow of
says “As a student I felt Dr. Batra re- the American Academy of Mechanics
spected my willingness and drive to in 1991 and of the American Society
learn. The mutual respect shared by of Mechanical Engineers in 1996. He
both Dr. Batra and his students fos- became an honorary member of SEM
tered a unique classroom experience in 2002.
where Dr. Batra treated us, as he
would a colleague.”
In Professor Smith’s field of research,
fracture mechanics, his work is known
Wesley Slemp (Ph.D., AoE, 2010) “worldwide” as are his contributions to
adds “In my Ph.D. preliminary the discipline of photoelasticity. In recexam, Dr. Batra asked a question to ognition of his accomplishments, Smith
which I initially had no idea how to has received numerous honors includrespond with regards to the difference ing the 1983 M. M. Frocht Award, the
between ‘collocation methods’ and 1993 William M. Murray Medal, and
‘Galerkin methods.’ However, Dr. the 1995 B.J. Lazan Award, all from
Batra asked additional directing ques- the Society of Experimental Mechanics
tions through which I was able to de- (SEM).
duce how to proceed. His warm but
firm personality made a potentially Professor Smith directed some 50 gradstressful situation very educational. uate-level students, helped establish a
I would guess that very few people foreign exchange program with Moscan honestly leave their preliminary cow State University, authored or co-auPh. D. exam and say ‘I have learned thored more than 150 technical papers,
wrote five book chapters, served as an
something today.” v
editor for such publications as Fracture
Mechanics and the Journal of Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics,
and received notable listings in American Men in Science, Who’s Who in Engineering, and Who’s Who in Frontiers
of Science and Technology.
The celebration of life for Professor
Smith was held at St. Paul’s United
Methodist Church on August 4, 2012.
It was followed by a brief graveside ceremony in Sunset Cemetery in Christiansburg. The family requested that
anyone who wished to make a donation
in Professor Smith’s memory, would
do so to either the Professor C. William and Doris Smith Scholarship at
Virginia Tech Foundation, 902 Prices
Fork Road, Suite 4500, Blacksburg, VA
24060 or St. Paul’s United Methodist
Church, 220 West Main Street, Christiansburg, VA 24073. v
Larry MarshallContinued...
shall took his retirement in 2008, and
started his own consulting business. He
soon teamed with venture capitalists interested in nanotechnology. With their
support he soon started Verdex Technologies of Richmond, Va., and now
serves as its chief executive officer.
Marshall has already given back to the
University many times over, starting
the Richmond office of DuPont’s coop program with Virginia Tech in the
1980s. He helped found the advisory
board for the department of engineering science and mechanics. He also
served on the College of Engineering’s
Advisory Board, and worked specifically
on its marketing committee. Among his
many contributions was his personal effort around the turn of this century to
help improve the recruitment and graduation of Ph.Ds. in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering.
The Marshalls are long-term members
of the Committee of 100 of the College of Engineering. Their two children,
Shelly and John, also graduated from
Virginia Tech. v
Happenings Fall 2012
23
Professor Ishwar K. Puri, Ph.D.
N. Waldo Harrison Professor
and Department Head
Engineering Science and Mechanics
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0219
Non Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Blacksburg, VA 24060
Permit no. 28
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ment opportunities in your area. ESM Undergraduate Advisor, agstanle@vt.edu, ESM Graduate Coordinator, lisas@ vt.edu.
10.
Make a presentation to ESM students regarding the work that you do and how your experience in ESM has influenced your professional life. Contact brackena@vt.edu to discuss this event.
24
Happenings Fall 2012
The Department of Engineering Science
and Mechanics (ESM) provides a strong
foundation and a sturdy framework for
the discovery, development, transfer,
and implementation of new knowledge
in the areas of mechanics of materials
and material systems, fluid mechanics,
dynamics and vibration, biomechanics,
and computational methods.
The department is fully committed to providing an environment for strong undergraduate and graduate education that
emphasizes fundamental understanding
rather than specialization, high-quality
teaching, innovation, frontier-level research, and service to the professional
mechanics community.