H A P P E N I N G SN E W S F R O M E N G I N E E R I N G S C I E N C E A N D M E C H A N I C S A T V I R G I N I A T E C H

A HISTORIC

JUNCTURE

FOR ESM

The venerable halls of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering have been buzzing since the an-nouncement on August 11 that the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics would be merging with the biomedical program at Virginia Tech. I concur with Dean Benson in his statement that this has been a very personal project, and that the historic moment in which we all participated on that day was worth all of the perspiration it took to get there.

I have asked been numerous questions about why this department has been formed the way we chose. Engineering Science and Mechanics is a field which has been paired with other depart-ments at other schools many times before, often under the umbrella of mechanical engineering or aerospace engineering. Its foundational and often theoretical studies can make it a difficult fit in any one department.

I know of no other school which has made the choice we have with the biomedical field. In the case of Virginia Tech, however, it was a logical fit. The realms of biomechanics, bio-inspiration, injury research, and damage science have direct cor-relation to studies which SBES has pursued since its inception. Many of our faculty have worked to-gether on projects, and several were already listed among our affiliates prior to the merger. It was less a feeling of strangers joining forces, more like a group that already felt connected.

ESM has another trait which I consider of tremen-dous value: its legacy. A department which has existed in some form since 1908 certainly has distinction. The name of that department may have changed several times over the years, but there has always been a steadfast focus on engineering

fundamentals and a presence of some of the best teachers and researchers you can find in the field. Because of that great tradition and the respect it has garnered by its thousands of participants, I count it an honor to play a role in the continu-ing success of this program and its impact on the students who entrust their educational experience to our hands.

Stefan DumaHarry C. Wyatt Professor

Head, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics

A New Team: BEAM

3www.beam.vt.edu

On August 11, 2014, a formal announcement was made as to the creation of a new department in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech: The Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, or BEAM. This announcement was made by Richard Benson, Dean of the College, at which time he also formally introduced the new department head, Dr. Stefan Duma.

The new department will effectively combine two established programs within the college: The De-partment of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) and the Virginia-Tech Wake Forest Univer-sity School of Biomedical Engineering and Sci-ences (SBES). Both programs will maintain their respective degree programs. ESM will continue to offer the undergraduate degree in Engineering Science and Mechanics and the M.S. and Ph.D. paths in Engineering Mechanics, while SBES will offer the M.S. and Ph.D. programs in Biomedical Engineering, eventually adding an undergraduate program as well.

Both programs are storied groups within the University. ESM has existed since 1908 and is a cornerstone of the Virginia Tech educational experience. SBES is a rising program which has been in existence for a considerably shorter time, but has gained momentum in recent years due to the strength of its research enterprise. The combined program represents an exciting future for both programs, dedicated to keeping all of the existing faculty and staff, bringing together great disciplines for a stronger program than either could be on its own.

So What Does That Mean for ESM?

Engineering Science and Mechanics will still exist as an undergraduate degree program, and will continue for the forseeable future. Engineering Mechanics will continue as a graduate degree for both PhD and Master’s. The change may be largely unnoticed to students.

All existing staff from ESM are now employees of BEAM. No positions were eliminated, and downsiz-ing was not in any way a part of the merger plan. Both programs still have staff who are critical to the work being carried out.

Some things which will be affected:• ESM website. Over the next few months, the

newly formed Marketing Team will be transi-tioning content currently on www.esm.vt.edu over to a new domain, www.beam.vt.edu. Work is proceeding right now to move that content expediently, and the new domain will also feature a new design which is optimized for mobile devices. Ultimately, the old site will disappear and all future updates will be featured at the new site.

• Official documents and publications. Per-sonnel will see new business cards, and new letterhead was handed out at the August 11 event. Publications are under review, as well as a new initiative in e-mail updates. Future publications such as Happenings will include updates from across the department, not just Engineering Science and Mechanics.

A Historic Moment

: IN THIS ISSUE

5 EAGER for Microfluidics

6 Summer Outreach Program Gives Mentorship to High School Teachers

7 ESM Bids a Fond Farewell to Dr. Michael Madigan

7 De Vita Receives Presidential Recognition

8 An Evolutionary Department The history of a department whose adaptive history follows the development of Virginia Tech.

10 ESM Timeline

12 Sound Leadership

12 Milestones for Women in ESM

14 Popular Science names Nicole Abaid as one of 2014’s Brilliant 10

16 New Faces

17 Eight Million and Counting

18 Outstanding Graduate Student: Hoda Koushyar

19 Lessons in LEGOTM

20 2014 Engineering Mechanics Graduate Student Awards

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“Happenings” is a publication of the Virginia Tech Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, with emphasis on the undergraduate degree program in Engineering Science and Mechanics, and the graduate degree programs in Engineering Mechanics. ©2014 Virginia Tech.

Department Head: Stefan Duma • Photography: Michael Diersing, Jim Stroup, and VT Imagebase • Writing: Anne-Marie Bracken, Alex Parrish, Steven Mackay • Copy editors: Tess Sentelle and Mindy Buchanan-King • Layout and Design: Alex Parrish • Special thanks: Pat Artis and Dan Frederick

Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants on the basis of age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law.

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Assistant professor Anne Staples recently earned an NSF Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) Award to explore bio-inspired gas microfluid-ics. EAGER awards are used

to support exploratory work in its early stages on un-tested but potentially transformative research ideas or approaches. This may involve radically different approaches, develop new expertise, or engage nov-el disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives.1

In this project, Dr. Staples will take a closer look at biologically inspired gas flows at the micro scale, performing computational modeling of gas flows through tiny channels whose widths are on the or-der of micrometers (0.000001 meters). The intent is to determine how mixing and transport might be enhanced based on recent advances in understand-ing the physiology and function of the respiratory systems of insects and other invertebrate arthro-pods, which mix and transport gases very efficiently. These studies will have an impact on open research questions in gas microfluidics. She will investigate, among other things, how the curvature, shape, and roughness of the inner surface of the channel might affect gas transport and mixing.

Dr. Staples’ motivations to pursue this area of re-search stem from previous research in the respira-tion of ground beetles. In nature, the same basic mechanism is used for internal gas transport at the microscale across a wide range of species, includ-ing beetles and other insects. Recent developments created new questions in this field, and the nature of Dr. Staples’ research was directly in line with this growing data set.

Potential practical applications for this work might involve electronics cooling and fuel cells, as well as lung-on-a-chip medical devices. Dr. Staples intends to pursue this research to build new computational tools such as hybrid atomistic-continuum multiscale techniques and Navier-Stokes computations with slip boundary conditions. The Navier-Stokes equa-tions govern all fluid flows and are the basis for many fluid-based research dynamics questions.

Krishnashis Chatterjee, Engineering Mechanics grad student, is working on this endeavor with Dr. Staples. He observed regarding his involvement, “Apart from the fact that it will enhance my theo-retical and computational skills, what fascinates me most about this project is the potential it has for the development of novel microfluidic strategies, and it can add a completely new dimension to our under-standing of gas flows at the micro scale.”

EAGER for Microfluidics

1 https://www.nsf.gov/geo/plr/opp_advisory/briefings/may2010/gpg_rapid_eager.pdf

Dr. Staples works through a problem with Max Mikel-Stites

6 HAPPENINGS • FALL 2014

Jake Socha recently gained tenure at the university, but he hasn’t forgotten his roots. Before coming to Virginia Tech, Dr. Socha found himself in a Louisiana town of 2000 people, working at a public school teaching physical science, biology, chemistry, physics, computer science...and gym. That experience ingrained a grassroots understanding of the challenges public school teachers face as well as the need for providing exceptional opportunities to the teachers who are working to produce great learners.

When he discovered a National Science Foundation funding opportunity that provided finances for such an undertaking, it seemed the perfect opportunity to bring about the environment where teachers could participate in existing research, offering valuable experience for them to take back to their classrooms. The project, “Biomechanics from Molecular to Organismal Scales,” was funded for $500,000 and a three-year commitment was made to use Virginia Tech lab facilities for this unique partnership.

During summer 2014, Virginia Tech welcomed the first group, eight teachers from Virginia and West Virginia high schools. Teachers were paired

with a graduate student mentor who helped each of the guest researchers understand the project, and then each teacher was given an independent project. Often, these tasks were original or untested research which provided new insights into the project at hand.

Feedback from participants revealed their enthusiasm for the program and what they learned during their time on campus. Physics teacher Stephen Kamanda remarked: “The most valuable skill I developed this summer is the ability to make keen observations while working with living animals, in order to establish whether a pattern exists in the animal’s behavior. This is not only about observing, but making connections between behaviors over an extended time period.” He added, “I will be using my experience gained in doing scientific research to get my students excited about doing science.”

Tiffany Hunter is a biology teacher. She found great value in the experiences of both research and working with a graduate student. “My graduate mentor plans to become a professor. I was able to teach him valuable teaching skills and he was able to teach me how to do research. We were able to practice and critique one another.”

Chemistry teacher Melissa Carr enjoyed the new ideas which she can take back to her classroom in Vinton, Virginia. “In addition to the experience of researching and performing tests and re-evaluating procedures, I learned a great deal of information about subjects I had no knowledge of previously. This knowledge base will help me better explain links between chemistry, biology and physics in my classroom. I feel better prepared on how to facilitate useful learning via research and science fair projects.”

The program for teachers will continue through the summers of 2015 and 2016, providing two more years of enrichment and collaboration for guests and instructors alike.

Summer Outreach Program Gives Mentorship to High School Teachers

Stephen Kamanda

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Professor Mike Madigan, who started with ESM in August 2001 as an assis-tant professor, pursued his tenure-track until his final promotion to professor in 2013. Since his original ap-

pointment, he has been a core faculty member in the Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences and an affili-ate faculty member of the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech. Since 2002, he has been an affiliate faculty member of the VT Mechanical Engineering Department.

Dr. Madigan was appointed as the Kevin P. Granata Faculty Fellow in 2013 and served as director of the Kevin P. Granata Biomechanics Laboratory. His research has focused on the dynamics and motor control of human movement, biomechanical mod-eling, human physiology, and injury prevention. In 2006, he received the College of Engineering Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Madigan was VT Scholar of the Week in 2012 and 2006, and won the Liviu Librescu Faculty Prize in 2011. Virginia Tech wishes Dr. Madigan the very best of everything as he joins the Biomedical Engi-neering Department of Texas A&M.

ESM Bids a Fond Farewell to Dr. Michael Madigan

Raffaella De Vita is one of 102 researchers named a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

The honor follows a 2012 National Science Founda-tion Faculty Early Development (CAREER) Award which provided special funding for De Vita’s re-search in the field of pelvic floor disorders.

Dr. De Vita is working with several collaborative research partners including the Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Department of Obstetrics and Gy-

necology in Washington, D.C., and the Biophysics Collaborative Access Team at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago.

Her strategy is to determine the elastic and visco-elastic properties of two major ligaments support-ing the uterus and the vagina: the uterosacral and the cardinal ligaments. She and her colleagues are characterizing the roles these ligaments play as supportive structures of the uterus and the vagina. Using a specific type of X-ray diffraction imaging, they will then conduct further mechanical testing to learn new details about the microstructure of the ligaments.

De Vita Receives Presidential Recognition

Dr. De Vita (front row, third from the right) and other recipients of the PECASE award, with President Obama.

8 HAPPENINGS • FALL 2014

Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) is a program that has experienced a great deal of evolu-tion through the years. Its purpose has always been central to the Ut Prosim mission of Virginia Tech, making it integral to the history of the university. Part of that history has involved a few renamings as the department has adapted to meet the needs of changing times. It started when Virginia Tech was only as old as the average grad student.

Experimental Engineering (and Applied Mechanics): 1908 - 1914

The engineering department of Virginia Agricultural and Technical College saw a significant growth in applied mechanics courses in the first fifteen years of its life. To adequately address the needs of these service courses, Experimental Engineering was created in 1908. Six years later, Applied Mechanics was added to the division name.

Applied Mechanics: 1932

The department reorganized in 1932, this time with another department known as Power Engineering and Machine Design. The result was two new de-partments: Mechanical Engineering and Applied

Mechanics. This clarified the administration of the mechanical engineering B.S. and M.S. programs and gave Applied Mechanics the oversight of ser-vice courses in applied mechanics, engineering materials, and aeronautics. Applied Mechanics ex-panded staff and programming as a result, eventual-ly supporting all engineering programs with valuable hands-on experience valuable to a high standard of excellence.

Engineering Mechanics: 1958

World War II brought about dramatic changes. The department provided courses for the Army Spe-cialized Training Program, which helped to equip soldiers for the war effort and resulted in a much-needed boost to the student body as collegiate en-rollment nationwide plummeted. When the War end-ed, expansion did not; in 1946 the department was issued the authority to grant master’s degrees. The presence of that offering more clearly designated the program for engineers. Keeping the department true to its roots, the name was changed to Engi-neering Mechanics and the degree title followed in kind, establishing the master’s and Ph.D. degrees which continue today.

EVOLUTIONARYAN

DEPARTMENT

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1958 also saw the presenting of the first B.S. de-grees in Engineering Mechanics with emphasis on mathematics and the physical and engineering sci-ences.

Engineering Science and Mechanics: 1972

Virginia Tech officially became a university in 1970, which caused the need for many amendments cam-pus-wide. The Department of Engineering became a college, and a review of all programs became the

natural side effect. In 1972, Engineering Mechanics was renamed Engineering Science and Mechanics as a department, with the undergraduate program also taking that label. The name held for the lon-gest time in the department’s history --a total of 42 years-- when it was combined with the small but growing Department of Biomedical Engineering in August of this year. The combination of these two disciplines (and indeed, there are many overlaps between them) resulted in the current department name, Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics.

The Growth of Biomedical

The history of ESM can be traced with the devel-opment of Virginia Tech. It has been an adaptable, flexible, and enriching department focused on pre-paring students for the uncertainties of the job mar-ket, grounded in the bedrock of engineering experi-ence. Curiosity and innovation have been as closely connected to the path that graduates have chosen as math, science, and engineering have been. The results are scholars who have chosen careers with NASA, Michelin, DuPont, General Motors, the armed forces, and many others.

This most recent adaptation is no exception to the shaping of the program to its times. The Princeton Review calls Biomed one of the top 10 majors. US News names it one of the “11 Hot College Majors,” and the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the field will see a 62 percent growth in jobs between 2010 and 2020. The field is one of rapid growth, and Virginia Tech currently has no undergraduate pro-grams in the area. It should come as no surprise that the department that was called upon to parallel this area of potentially explosive growth is the same department that has seen a steady flow of changes since its inception.

The justification goes further than the theoretical. ESM had faculty working in the biomedical area as far back as 1973. Many faculty who teach in ESM today are already doing work which directly impacts the biomedical and biomechanical fields. Research by faculty such as Jake Socha, Raffaella De Vita, Anne Staples, Mark Stremler, and others has for some time been a part of the educational and re-search landscape for the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. With partnerships of that kind already existing, a formal coalescence was the next logical evolutionary development.

Moving forward, the future of two programs com-ing together will likely have a few bumps along the way. The last few months have seen many ques-tions about the logistical aspects of putting together a unified team, and those have been addressed to the fullest extent possible. The confidence of leader-ship within the University is steadfast, however, and hope is high that the department that has helped Virginia Tech tighten its focus multiple times dur-ing the past 106 years is once again up to the chal-lenge.

Sources: http://www.esm.vt.edu/about/history/esm-frederick-years.pdfhttp://spec.lib.vt.edu/archives/depthistory/engmech/index.htmlhttp://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/slideshows/11-hot-college-majorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech

1908

Experimental Engineering established within the Department of Engineering

1914

Name change:Applied Mechanics and Experimental Engineering

1932

Name change:Applied Mechanics

1958

Name change:Engineering Mechanics

1946

Applied Mechanics masters’ program originates

1951

Applied Mechanics doctorate program originates

1958

Applied Mechanics undergrad program originates

1918

Department head: J. S. A. Johnson

Department head: Dan H. Pletta

Department head: Louis O’Shaughnessy

ESM timeline

1948

1932

1972

Name change:Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics

2014

Name change and merger:Department of

Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics

1989

$3,800,000 in research expenditures, 85 sponsored projects

1970

Department head: Daniel Frederick

Department head: Edmund G. Henneke

Department head:Ishwar K. Puri

Department head:Stefan Duma

2014

1989

2004

1969

$44,284 in research expenditures

12 HAPPENINGS • FALL 2014

Dr. Nicole Abaid has been capturing information on the dynamics of how bats fly together in a swarm. In the summer of 2014, she ventured to China to observe bats in their natural environment with two students and affiliate Dr. Rolf Mϋller, director of the Shandong University - Virginia Tech International Laboratory.

The bats’ home was in a cave located on Lian Tai Shan, a mountain in Shandong Province. Partici-pants in this study were Nicholas Orange, Engineer-ing Mechanics BS/MS student; Matthew Bender, Mechanical Engineering graduate student; Yuan Lin, Engineering Mechanics graduate student; Taikara Peek, Aerospace and Ocean Engineering graduate student; and Thomas Tucker, associate professor with the School of Visual Arts. Experimenters Nicho-las, Yuan and Dr. Abaid designed the experiment and collected the data. Many of the students from Dr. Müller’s lab accompanied the experiment lead-ers to the cave to gather data over seven different nights.

To observe active flight, researchers observed the regular route that the bats traveled each night from their daytime roost to hunt outside. They then in-stalled obstacles which allowed for observation of the bats’ ability to navigate new challenges as a group. The result was recorded from multiple angles on video to reconstruct the bats’ three-dimensional trajectories.

The communication of bats is a unique phenom-enon in the animal kingdom. Schools of fish use vision, electro-chemical cues and flow sensation;

birds employ vision and magnetic sensing to navi-gate. Bats, however, use echolocation, which is a biological analog for sonar in engineering systems. The signals they emit interact with the environment and peers can hear both the signals and echoes. In this seeming chaos of sound, the bats do not appear to be confused by the complex soundscape. They may even benefit from hearing each other’s signals. In addition, there is no centralized leadership in the group mediating their flight, and cues are taken con-tinuously from other members within the swarm.

The project isn’t quite complete. 2014 research de-termined whether or not the bats even were inter-acting via sensing signals. Next summer, the focus will shift to exactly how the interaction occurs and if there are unique collective behaviors as a result.

But what do you do with the data once you have it?

Dr. Abaid forsees a future in which the behavior of these nocturnal aerial troopers inspire practical ap-plication for this research and development. New developments may include better control of groups of aerial, land or underwater vehicles which mimic a biologically based design. These systems have the potential to give birth to new technologies such as robust environmental mapping, where the loss of one agent wouldn’t disable the whole group.

The research was funded through two sources, 1) National Science Foundation (NSF) program: BRIGE- Broadening Participation Research Initia-tion Grants in Engineering and 2) the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) at Virginia Tech.

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Thomas Tucker and Matthew Bender

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First Female GraduatesFirst female student completing a BS in Engineering Mechanics: 1967 Nancy Jean Strople

First female student completing a MS in Engineering Mechanics: 1972 Gloria Adame Bennett

First female student completing a PhD in Engineering Science and Mechanics:1978 Maria Romaniuk

Dr. Xanthippi Markenscoff was an Assistant Professor with ESM (1974-76). She recalls receiving moral support from the chair and faculty. During her tenure she obtained her first NSF grant and went to her first conference. She taught Statics, Dynamics, Strength of Materials and Elasticity at the graduate level. Dr. Markenscoff is now a Distinguished Professor of Solid Mechanics in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering with the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Karen L. Frair was an Assistant Professor with ESM (1974-1984), and was also the head coach for the women’s tennis team 1978-1979. Presently, she is a professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alabama where she heads an NSF-funded coalition of seven institutions that are designing and implementing innovative engineering curricula involved course integration, cooperative learning, technology, and assessment.

First Female Faculty

Milestones for Women in Engineering Science and Mechanics

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The story of women’s emergence and involve-ment in ESM runs parallel with Virginia Tech’s own progress toward equity and inclusion. The university’s educational offerings for women were managed through a partnership with Rad-ford State Teacher’s College from 1943 until 1964, when the union was dissolved and the Blacksburg campus was made coeducational. Until that time, participation in the Corps of Ca-dets had also been mandatory, a rule that was

lifted when the ladies joined the Blacksburg campus. (Cadet membership was opened to women in 1973.)

Virginia Tech’s status being elevated to state university in 1970 prompted expansion in a number of areas. That same year, department head Daniel Frederick started his leadership tenure, which included the hiring of two female faculty.

BLACKSBURG, Va., Sept. 17, 2014 – Popular Sci-ence magazine has named Nicole Abaid, an assis-tant professor with the Virginia Tech Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, as one of its 2014 Brilliant 10.

Abaid is featured in the October issue, now avail-able online and at newsstands.

Abaid, who joined the Virginia Tech faculty in 2012, studies how animals – most prominently bats -- swarm in order to gain insights on improving the control of multi-agent systems, such as underwater robotic vehicle teams that rely on sonar.

“I am looking at collective behavior in groups that use active sensing -- sensing that relies on a self-generated signal, such as sonar or radar -- inspired by bat swarms,” said Abaid. “Inspired by these unique animal groups, we want to build a math-ematical model of groups with active sensing that may have access to novel emergent behaviors not yet seen in systems with only passive sensing, such as vision. Then we’re hoping to translate this model to the physical world through a team of robots with bat-inspired active sensors.”

Abaid regularly collaborates with Rolf Mueller, as-sociate professor of mechanical engineering, and a world-celebrated expert on bat biosonar who also is interested in studying bat flight. Mueller’s work into the study of bats, including the changing shape of their ears and noseleaves to enable complex sens-ing, inspired Abaid’s own work.

“Bats in swarms are navigating by echo-locating with loud ultrasonic calls, which they all can poten-tially hear,” added Abaid. “So, when they are flying in a group, they could run into a lot of problems by getting confused about which echoes are from their

sounds and which are from the sounds their peers make, which is called jamming.”

The ability of bats to fly in a swarm without the dan-ger of collision is seen as key in building underwater vehicles and other robotics systems that can oper-ate similarly. Abaid is working on an algorithm of this behavior using echolocation for sensing which is be-ing validated against data collected from wild bats swarms at the Shandong University-Virginia Tech International Laboratory, located in China.

Following that, Abaid, Mueller, and their research teams will build a team of robotic ground vehicles that can mimic the ultrasound of a bat swarm and avoid not only collision, but jamming, by using bat-inspired behavioral and sensing strategies.

Popular Science calls Abaid and her fellow nomi-nees “tomorrow’s Einsteins, Zuckerbergs, and Ma-rie Curies,” adding, “remember their names: they are already changing the world as we know it.” The ten honorees are culled from hundreds of nomina-

Popular Science names Nicole Abaid as one of 2014’s Brilliant 10

14 ESM HAPPENINGS • FALL 2014

by Steven D. Mackay,Virginia Tech College of Engineering

tions vetted by experts in each scientific field, ac-cording to the monthly magazine, first published in 1872, the same year Virginia Tech was founded.

“Popular Science has always looked optimistically towards the future, and there’s no more promising sign of what that future will bring than the inspired work of young scientists and engineers across the country,” said editor-in-chief Cliff Ransom. “The Bril-liant Ten is a celebration of the best and brightest.”

Abaid earned a bachelor’s degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree from University of Kansas, both in mathematics, and a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York University.

Among her previous honors and awards, Abaid re-ceived Best Student Paper award at the 2011 Amer-ican Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Dynamic Systems and Control Conference.

Abaid is the fourth Hokie to receive the Brilliant 10 designation from Popular Science during the past six years. David G. Schmale III, an associate pro-fessor of plant pathology, physiology, and weed sci-ence in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was honored in 2013.

Also listed: two-time College of Engineering alum-nus Maurizio Porfiri – now an associate profes-sor at Polytechnic Institute of New York University and Abaid’s doctoral advisor– in 2010, and Dennis Hong, an associate professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the time of his honor in 2009. Hong is now a professor at University of California Los Angeles and remains an affiliate pro-fessor with the Virginia Tech College of Engineering.

The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is in-ternationally recognized for its excellence in 14 en-gineering disciplines and computer science. The college’s 6,000 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a “hands-on, minds-on” approach to engineering education, com-plementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 2,000 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engi-neering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nan-otechnology. Virginia Tech, the most comprehensive university in Virginia, is dedicated to quality, innova-tion, and results to the commonwealth, the nation, and the world.

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Dr. Abaid confers with Yuan Lin, an advisee

16 HAPPENINGS • FALL 2014

Dr. Jonathan Boreyko joins ESM as a tenure-track assistant professor in the area of experimental engineering science and mechanics. He received his Ph.D. in Mechani-cal Engineering from Duke University in 2012 based in part on his dissertation work “From Dynamical Superhydrophobicity to Thermal Diodes.” Since that time, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Prior to his Ph.D. studies, he received B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

Jacob Grohs received his MS with ESM in May 2009, an MA in Educational Psychol-ogy in December 2012, and his BS from ESM, Summa Cum Laude, in May 2008. Dur-ing his tenure with ESM, he taught Mechanics of Deformable Bodies, an undergradu-ate course. Currently, Mr. Grohs is a PhD candidate in Educational Psychology and expects to defend in Spring 2015. He has served as Associate Director of VT Engage: The Community Learning Collaborative.

Dr. James K. Lord comes to ESM from the Department of Biomedical and General Engineering at California State Polytechnic University. He obtained his Ph.D. from Newcastle University in the UK in 2012. His teaching experience includes undergradu-ate and graduate courses in subjects such as engineering science, engineering funda-mentals, computational methods, biomaterials and biomechanics.

New FacesN E W F A C U LT Y

Alex Parrish is now Marketing Team Lead for the new Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics department, serving both ESM and the School of Biomedical Engineer-ing and Sciences. Previously he worked at the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, just up the sidewalk at Kelly Hall. Alex has more than twelve years’ experience in design and marketing and will be taking the lead on publications, confer-ence visibility, websites, and more.

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When was the last time you talk-ed to eight million people about something? For Media Specialist Mike Diersing, those conversa-tions are ongoing through pho-tography. In addition to providing website support for the depart-ment, Mike uses his spare time to photograph the activities of the Virginia Tech Corps of Ca-dets throughout the academic year. His flickr account has regis-tered well over eight million -- in fact, by the time you read this, he could be at nine million -- views.

Diersing started photography as a hobby in 2008, providing him with an outlet for his own cre-ativity. Then, one fateful day in September 2009, he happened to be doing a photoshoot at the Duck Pond when a woman ap-proached him. She was the

mother of a former Highty Tighty and had continued driving down from her home in northern Vir-ginia to photograph the Corps after her daughter’s graduation. Hotels were expensive, but she considered it important enough to continue. She asked Mike if he would consider taking up the mantle. Not knowing what he was getting himself into, he agreed to give it a shot.

Five years and 100,000 photos later, Mike has found a real sense of purpose in his work. Moments like the one below symbolize the spirit that draws people to the Corps.

Diersing captured this moment by coincidence, standing near the statue of Addison Caldwell near the base of the steps to the

upper quad. Two cadets, one of whom was on crutches, ap-proached. As Mike watched, the one on crutches hefted himself onto the back of the other, and up they went. Diersing calls this moment his favorite of all he’s photographed.

“Being around young, smart kids rubs off on me,” Mike says. “It’s awesome to watch them grow.”

Every year, Mike watches through his lens as a crop of fresh recruits enrolls, many of whom look a little uncertain at first. As the year progresses, they grow as adults and gain courage, pro-ducing bountiful moments of in-spiration.

Many outside the Corps only see the Cadets at football games or marching in formation to dinner. Mike sees it as his mission to give an insider’s view into the rest of a cadet’s life. Each year, the Corps contribute some 12,000 volun-teer hours to their school and community in addition to main-taining their academic studies.

General Randy Fullhart, the Commandant of the Corps, con-siders Mike a pivotal part of the organization: “In the Corps, we work to instill in our cadets a sense of selfless service. Mike Diersing epitomizes that. He rises early and stays up late with us. He travels on his own to be where we will be. He is there, taking pictures to share with oth-ers, because of his innate since of goodness and his pride in what the Corps represents. It is an honor to know him.”

Check out Mike’s flickr account to be a part of the next million viewers: ht tps: / /www. f l ickr.com/pho -tos/42316262@N08/

Eight Million and Counting

“No One Left Behind”

17

18 HAPPENINGS • FALL 2014

In May 2014, Hoda Koushyar, an Engineering Mechanics doc-toral student, was awarded the David W. Francis and Lillian Francis Scholarship from the Vir-ginia Tech Graduate School. This scholarship provides graduate fellowships in research empha-sizing longer, safer, and healthier lives.

Hoda’s research aims to better understand biomechanical fac-tors contributing to falls, a leading cause of injuries among adults over the age of 65. For this schol-arship, Hoda will receive a sti-pend of $18,000 plus tuition for one academic year. Hoda has been working toward her PhD in the Kevin P. Granata Biomechan-ics Lab at Virginia Tech, under the supervision of Dr. Michael Madi-gan, since Fall 2011. Hoda plans on defending in 2015.

Through a grant of Dr. Madigan’s funded by the Occupational Safe-

ty and Health Research Center, Hoda conducted research re-garding the effect of weight and age of people in the workplace and how these factors relate to a higher fall risk.

The prevalence of obesity is over 30% of the United States popula-tion, and the prevalence of older adults, currently 13%, is project-ed to increase to 20% by 2050. Beside health concerns such as diabetes, heart attacks, and some type of cancers, obesity and aging have been associated with impaired mobility and a high-er risk of falls. Falls are twice as common among individuals who are obese compared to their non-obese counterparts, and over one-third of older adults over the age of 65 suffer a fall each year.

Altered muscle strength is a main contributor to impaired mobility and higher risk of falls, and both obesity and aging are linked to

lower muscle strength relative to body mass. Therefore, this study broadly investigates how muscle strength at ankle, knee, and hip is affected by obesity and age, and how these alterations in strength influence gait and balance recov-ery. The study involves collecting human experimental data and computer simulation. These stud-ies give insight into the underly-ing factors which contribute to the gait alterations and higher risk of falls associated with obesity and aging, and could contribute to the development of strength training interventions to improve mobility and reduce the risk of falls among these individuals.

Hoda Koushyar

18

OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENT

19www.beam.vt.edu

Hypatia is a program for female first-year College of Engineering students and focuses on mentor-ing, education, and building re-lationships. The program brings together women in a residential environment to provide encour-agement and support in pursuing a career in engineering.

Two program participants, Melis-sa Masters and Renee Spangler, had an opportunity to provide mentoring for 8-12 year-old girls during the spring and fall semes-ters. As participants of the Lego Robotics Club, the girls spent one hour per week for eleven weeks learning how to build and pro-gram robots with the purpose of competing in a Lego competition this fall. In spring 2015, the senior participants will, in turn, mentor younger club members.

Melissa observed, “I’ve had pri-or experience mentoring FIRST LEGO League students and I re-ally enjoyed watching the prog-ress kids made through their competition season.”

During the club sessions, stu-dents enthusiastically tackled the tasks at hand. The typical assign-ment uses a team setting to teach technical engineering principles and creative problem solving. As participant Lacy Bailey noted the complexity of the task at hand. “I learned that sometimes you have to persevere because not all

ideas work and you have to work together.”

The project is being funded through a BRIGE (Broadening Participation Research Initia-tion Grants in Engineering) grant through the National Science Foundation. The motivation of the project is to broaden the par-ticipation in engineering of people from groups underrepresented in these fields. Since women are historically absent in mechani-cal engineering, the connection wasn’t a hard one to create.

Nicole Abaid, Assistant Profes-sor in Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, set out to create a space for girls in Blacksburg to have a similar experience to the girls she worked with as a gradu-

ate student in Brooklyn. From that point of view, she saw great value in a single-sex environment to work and play with peers inter-ested in robots and to learn about engineering by actually doing it.

The work paid off. On Novem-ber 8, the girls now calling their team, “The Peanuts” participated in the FIRST LEGO League quali-fier tournament in Roanoke. The competition included a technical course that a robot created by the team had to complete au-tonomously, as well a research competition themed around edu-cation. The Peanuts took home a first place ribbon for their re-search and innovation piece, which included ideas to better engage students in public class-rooms using existing technology.

Isabel Hendrix (left) and Riley Kaufman(right) prepare the robot, named, “Snoopy,” for the technical course competition

LESSONS IN

Guillaume Antoine has been selected as the 2013-14 recipient of the Daniel & Frances Frederick Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to the outstanding doctoral student for the academic year based upon academic record, creativity in research, performance on doctoral exams, and other appropriate doctoral student measures. Guillaume was nominated by Romesh Batra, his Ph.D. ad-visor. His nomination materials note that “his research advances the state-of-the-art of finite element modeling of crack propagation in materials with complex constitutive equations”. As a sign of his mastery of engineering mechanics, Dr. Batra states that “during my 40 years of academic experience, and having given the Preliminary Exam to more than 100 Ph.D. students, Mr. Antoine is the only one to pass the test in about 40 minutes”. In addition to the honor of being selected, Guillaume will receive a one-time monetary award.

Matthew Webster has been selected as the Fall 2014 recipient of the Liviu Librescu Memorial Fellowship. This fellowship is awarded to students with out-standing academic records and who have demonstrated strong leadership po-tential and commitment to professional or community service. Matthew was nominated by Raffaella De Vita, his Ph.D. advisor. His nomination materials note that he “was greatly influenced both by Prof. Librescu’s passion for me-chanics and from the example of selflessness and dedication that he demon-strated up to his final moments.” Dr. De Vita sums up Matthew’s many contri-butions by stating that “Matthew embodies many of the traits that made Prof. Librescu a great researcher and teacher.” In addition to the honor of being selected, Matthew will receive a monetary award that includes partial payment of his tuition and stipend.

Gary Nave has been selected as the 2014 recipient of the Manuel Stein Schol-arship. This scholarship is awarded to students with potential for scholarly achievement in teaching and research, and a demonstrated dedication to the welfare and well-being of others. Gary was nominated by Mark Stremler, his PhD advisor. His nomination materials note that he “is highly engaged in the Virginia Tech community, has a quick mind, is a good researcher, is a fantastic communicator, and has a keen desire to model Ut Prosim in his professional career.” In addition to the honor of being selected, Gary will receive a one-time monetary award.

2014 Engineering Mechanics Graduate Student Awards