Message from the Dean
We have dedicated the April issue of E-News to seven departments within SEAS. Please take a moment to read through the newsletter stories highlighted below, visit the online newsletters and the department sites and enrich your acquaintance with your School. As always, I welcome your comments and your thoughts. Get in touch with me at engr@virginia.edu.
Thanks
Jim Aylor, Dean
In 2005, the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation chose U.Va. as one of nine universities to receive $5 million grants over a five-year period to accelerate the movement of biomedical engineering projects into commercial products and clinical practices. Last year, the foundation teamed with the University to create a $20 million endowment to perpetuate this effort. (More)
Researchers in the chemical engineering and chemistry departments collaborated to document for the first time a new type of catalytic site where oxidation catalysis occurs. Their findings are documented in the Aug. 5, 2011, issue of Science. The interdisciplinary study details the discovery of a dual catalytic site activating an oxygen molecule at the perimeter of a gold nanoparticle held on a titanium dioxide substrate. (More)
In December 2011, J. Kirk Thompson (CEE ’66) made a significant donation to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the form of a charitable gift annuity, a form of giving that he felt was an ideal giving vehicle for him. With a long history of giving to the Engineering School, he said “I feel I got a high-quality education at U.Va. that helped me in my career. I hope this gift will help the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering build on that tradition of excellence well into the future.” (More)
The National Academy of Engineering identified 14 grand challenges that engineers will face in the 21st century. One of those goals — securing cyberspace — invites computer scientists, developers and engineers to strengthen systems and pioneer new processes that will govern information sharing in the modern era. Professor Jack Davidson and his colleagues in the computer science department are at the forefront of efforts under way within the School of Engineering and Applied Science to improve the security of computing systems and protect personal privacy. “We rely on computer systems and software for so many aspects of modern life,” says Davidson. “As our reliance has grown, new threats have evolved.” (More)
New instructor Harry Powell brings his many years of small business experience to a course he and Professor Joanne Bechta Dugan launched this semester. The course focuses on embedded computer systems, and Powell hopes his "jack-of-all-trades" attitude that enabled his success in his family-owned machine design business will rub off on his students. Powell wants the course to reflect his approach to engineering work. "A good engineer should be able to make a reasonable try at solving a challenge beyond their specialty," said Powell. (More)
Engineering disciplines evolve rapidly. That's why mechatronics — the union of mechanical, electrical, and software engineering — is considered by many to be the mechanical engineering of the 21st century. But instead of having students take courses in each subject, the department takes a different approach, requiring all mechanical engineering majors to take a mechatronics course in their third year that integrates all three disciplines. As taught by Assistant Professor Gavin Garner, the course does more than introduce students to the field; it gives them a visceral sense of its power. (More)
For 10 weeks each summer, four systems and information engineering students travel to Limpopo province in South Africa with a diverse group of University of Virginia faculty and students to work on a clean water project. The Virginia team works with faculty and student partners from Limpopo's University of Venda. "The SIE group's mission, part of an ongoing Capstone project, is to help two villages make enough clean water available to within 100 meters of homes so as not to compromise health." (More)
