‘Exhausting’ the Possibilities in Environmental Research: PhD student receives graduate award from American Chemical Society
PhD student Qiyuan Wu has received the 2017 Graduate Student Award in Environmental Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS). As the world’s largest scientific society,
the ACS awards up to 20 students each year who show promise in research and the potential
to make an impact in the field of environmental chemistry. This is Wu’s third award
from the ACS, and his achievements highlight the continued excellence in environmental
research taking place at Stony Brook’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
“Qiyuan developed his research projects independently, exhibiting creativity, thoughtfulness, and hard work,” said Alexander Orlov, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, and Wu’s PhD supervisor. “His achievements are an indication of a bright future and important contributions to our field.”
Originally from Foshan in China, Wu graduated from Stony Brook magna cum laude with a degree in Engineering Science in 2012, and is now pursuing his PhD in Materials Science and Chemical Engineering. The primary focus of his research is to develop a new catalyst for vehicles in order to “clean up” the exhaust.
“Nobody can live without air and, especially in the U.S., it’s increasingly challenging to live without a vehicle,” said Wu. “Pollution from vehicles and transportation is an important and topical issue in today’s environment.”
He says the idea behind his research is to help provide solutions to everyday problems by creating the next generation of catalysts for vehicles, which will in-turn produce less exhaust and eventually drive down the price of cars. Wu has already published seven high-impact papers, including one that was chosen as the cover for the Royal Society of Chemistry's Catalysis Science and Technology journal.
As a recipient of this award during his final year of PhD research, Wu will receive a $125 cash prize and a one-year membership to the ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry. His work will be featured in the ACS newsletter, EnvirofACS, and the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
Meet Dennis Sosa, a senior in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and
this year’s recipient of the Kenneth Short Scholarship.
Dennis is majoring in Computer Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. He is a first-generation college student, and is part of Stony Brook’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP/AIM) providing financial support and other services for qualifying students.
In 2016, Dennis was one of only five students from CEAS to be selected as a software engineer intern at Goldman Sachs. He also completed a research internship with Professor Paul Fodor of the Department of Computer Science on artificial intelligence planning with logic programming.
Dennis is President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; website editor for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers; and website editor for Eta Kappa Nu Electrical & Computer Engineering Honor Society.
Receiving the Kenneth Short Scholarship has helped Dennis pay for his tuition which has afforded him more time to focus on his studies. Last year he worked two part-time jobs as a tutor and in dining services to manage expenses.
Upon graduation, Dennis plans to pursue a full-time position in embedded systems in software engineering. He is also considering graduate school through a fellowship opportunity here at Stony Brook University, University of Illinois, University of Southern California and the University of Maryland.
The Kenneth Short Scholarship is awarded annually to a CEAS senior majoring in Computer Engineering. Applicants are required to complete Embedded Microprocessor Systems Design I and II. The scholarship was established to reward exceptional students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering who embody Professor Short’s spirit of academic excellence.
“Ken is a champion of engineering education, having pioneered flagship courses that are critical to improving our student offering,” said Petar Djuric, Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “He has a recipe for success that we continue to model in our classrooms and labs. We are grateful for his many contributions to our undergraduate programs and look forward to his ongoing insight and expertise.”
Upon hearing of this latest award, Chair Harold W. Walker remarked that Morgan’s project is a “wonderful idea and has great potential to dramatically reduce water use in drought-prone areas”.
“In addition to being the Founding President of the student chapter of ASCE, Morgan
is an active member of WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), in which she serves
as the Civil Engineering Outreach Coordinator. Last year, she delivered a talk at
a TEDxSBU event about inspiring future female engineers. She has also served as a
panelist at the Global Women’s Initiative Conference in Chicago, and worked at the
Intrepid Museum as a member of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
advisory board.Fifteen alumni from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) will be honored at Stony Brook University’s 40 Under Forty event on January 26, 2016. These individuals are being recognized for their contributions in their chosen field as well as their pursuit of innovative civil service initiatives that extend beyond their professional lives. With an entrepreneurial-spirit, these young CEAS alum are pursuing their passions, helping others, and leading the way toward positive global change.
For the first time in his new role as Dean of CEAS, Fotis Sotiropoulos is looking forward to attending this year’s event, taking place at the Edison Ballroom in New York City.
“One of the reasons I joined Stony Brook was because I was so impressed by the caliber of its students and their subsequent commitment to the university, CEAS, and their community. I continue to be impressed and I am looking forward to celebrating with alumni on January 26”, said Sotiropoulos.
Join us in congratulating the following CEAS 40 Under Forty Awardees:
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BE Electrical Engineering |
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BS Applied Mathematics & Statistics |
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Marvin Jaime-Vasquez, ’77, ‘02 BE Engineering Science, PhD Materials Science and Engineering |
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BS Computer Science |
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MS Computer Science |
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MS Computer Science |
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MS Computer Science, PhD Computer Science |
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BS Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Economics |
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BS Computer Science, MS Computer Science |
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BS Computer Science |
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BE Computer Engineering |
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BE Computer Science, Psychology, MS Computer Science |
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BE Computer Engineering, Computer Science |
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BS Computer Science, Mathematics |
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BS Computer Science, Political Science |
To read the university’s article announcing the 40 Under Forty Awards, click here. More information about the awards program and previous awardees can be found here.
Upon hearing of this latest award, Chair Harold W. Walker remarked that Morgan’s project is a “wonderful idea and has great potential to dramatically reduce water use in drought-prone areas”.
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Morgan DiCarlo named one of 10 New Faces of Civil Engineering. Civil engineering student Morgan DiCarlo ‘16 has been named one of 10 “New Faces” of Civil Engineering – College Edition by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This program recognizes young and talented engineering students who through their academic achievements demonstrate strong analytical skills, practical ingenuity, creativity, good communication skills, business and management knowledge, leadership, high ethical standards, professionalism and flexibility. Ms. DiCarlo was selected in part based on her efforts to close the gender gap in engineering. Ms. DiCarlo was employed as a civil engineering curriculum coordinator by the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program at Stony Brook University. In the summer of 2013, DiCarlo designed and implemented curricula to engage young women in engineering through hands-on projects. Ms. DiCarlo is also the founding President of the student chapter of ASCE at Stony Brook University and recently was the sole undergraduate selected to present at TEDxSBU where she gave her talk on “Inspiring the next generation of female engineers.” Read more about Morgan here. |
Nicole Yoo, '16 Nicole spent her summer conducting research in Dr. Abdelaziz's lab, which provided a unique learning environment and an invaluable opportunity to become further engaged in Civil Engineering. In her words:
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"My summer research consisted of utilizing the finite element method to analyze the stresses, strains, and deformations within pavements given certain environmental and material conditions. The responsibilities given to me sharpened my ability to think critically about why a certain input, parameter, or setting within a program would result in inaccurate data. More importantly, this research position allowed me to learn about the construction and maintenance of an efficient roadway system. Over the course of this summer, I came to realize how theoretical an engineering education is, and why companies require their employees to be able to think practically to account for external factors and unforeseen circumstances. One of the main outcomes of this research position was my gained knowledge on how to execute an accurate and reliable finite element analysis, which is applicable to all types of structures requiring analysis. I learned that any numerical modeling approach, including ones that utilize the finite element method, requires validation rather than blindly trusting model results. The validation of a model can be performed using proven analytical solutions or field measurements. I also learned that building a sufficient “mesh” is a large determinant on whether a model will yield satisfactory data. A “mesh” within software utilizing finite element analysis is the layout of the individual elements within the model. The analysis of a structure with a smaller number of elements (a coarse mesh) would yield results that are not as accurate as an analysis of a structure with a large number of elements (a fine mesh). Unfortunately, a large number of elements within a simulated structure creates a long computation time. The challenge of determining a reliable number of elements was solved by determining the parts of the structure that required the most refined data. The final task completed over the summer was to gain an adequate understanding of the physics behind any engineering problem by reading official pavement design guides and to learn more about the roadway industry. My reading of the official documentation utilized in the field to create useful and safe roadway systems allowed me to gain insight into how unpredictable and subject to error an engineering project is. These procedures are often created to lessen error, but I learned that it is ultimately up to the engineer to determine what is the best method to solve a particular problem." |
Example of Mesh Analysis: Example of Stress Solid Analysis:
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The Travelers Insurance Company has awarded two Department of Computer Science students with $2,000 scholarships for achievements in academic excellence and promise. Travelers Insurance has been awarding Stony Brook University students for their academic success since 2000.
The two students, Anthony Musco and Wendy Zheng, a junior and sophomore, respectively, are both computer science majors.
Musco is from Chester, NY in Orange County, and Zheng hails from Massapequa, NY. Musco, who was a resident assistant on Mendelssohn Quad during the spring 2015 semester, was also a teaching assistant for a computer science class he previously completed, Data Structures. Musco’s academic interests involve applying computer science to physics and astronomy, he said.
“For as long as I can remember I have loved space exploration and the challenge of going to new places. This passion has guided a few of my academic projects in the past: the most recent of which is a project for CSE 328 (Computer Graphics) for which my final project is an interactive simulation displaying the curvature of spacetime following the equations of General Relativity via the Tensor Splat rendering technique,” he said. “My dream is to one day work on navigation and trajectory plotting systems for NASA or some space exploration company such as SpaceX or Orbital Sciences Corporation.”
In addition to physics and astronomy, Musco said his other academic interests include machine learning. He is currently working on a project to use NYC Department of Finance data to determine whether arbitrary multifamily properties are over-assessed or under-assessed, he said.
Heavily involved in student groups at Stony Brook, Zheng is a member of the Stony Brook Computing Society, the Event Committee Chair during the spring 2015 for Stony Brook Women in Computer Science, and she served as a student technician for DoIT’s Client Support. Though Zheng said that she struggled throughout grade school because of a language barrier—English is her second language—she has always succeeded academically, earning her spot as one of the thirteen students to receive summa cum laude in her high school graduating class. “I never gave up trying to do my best,” she said. “My ambition and hard word [are] traits I attribute to my parents.”
Zheng has received the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award three times, and last fall, she was a recipient of the DoIT scholarship, funded by Stony Brook’s Division of Information Technology. Zheng, who is the first member of her family to attend college, said she is looking to give back to Stony Brook University as an alumna to help students just as she has been helped.
Musco summed up the meaning of the award when he said, “The Travelers Award is a great honor and a fantastic opportunity. Beyond the obvious financial benefit, being recognized for my academic achievement is both thrilling and humbling.”
In November the ACM Greater New York Programming Contest was held at Queens College. Fifty teams from institutions across the area competed in the annual contest, including teams from Cornell, NYU, Columbia, Princeton and Yale. Out of fifty teams, the highest placed team from Stony Brook finished in 5th place overall, with two other teams of Seawolves finishing in 15th and 18th place.
It was a great showing for Stony Brook, who finished only behind Cornell (home of the 1st place team), two teams from Princeton, and NYU, in that order. Stony Brook topped rival Yale, whose three teams finished in 9th, 10th, and22nd place. They also bested Columbia, whose teams finished 7th, 13th, 16th, and 17th.
At the contest, each team was presented with nine programming problems and given five hours to come up with a solution. No electronic devices were allowed to be brought into the competition, although teams were allowed to bring any printed material they wanted including books of code printouts. The SBU team that finished in 5th place completed 8 of the problems in 21 attempts. The teams that finished 1st and 2nd were able to complete all 9 problems in only 11 attempts, a very impressive effort. As a comparison, most of the teams that finished in the bottom half of the standings only completed three problems or less.
Stony Brook’s top team held a strong lead in the middle of the competition, as they were ahead of every team in the contest by at least one full problem when they finished their sixth out of the nine. They were also the second team in the contest to have completed seven problems, after only the Cornell team that won it all. There was one problem in particular which presented difficulty to every team in the top ten, including Stony Brook’s, which interestingly enough was easily solved by one of Stony Brook’s undergraduate-only teams.
Fellow SUNY-school Binghamton was also at the competition, and their teams finished 25th, 36th, and 47th, behind every Stony Brook team there. Also representing Long Island was Hofstra University, whose teams placed 30th and32nd. Stony Brook was certainly earned its bragging rights at this competition.
“Stony Brook was terrific until our top team made an unfortunate mistake in the last problem which went undetected until the end of the contest” said programming coach RezaulChowdhury. Barring another avoidable misstep, Stony Brook may be poised to win it all at next year’s tournament, given their exceptional performance in Queens. See photos and all of the rankings here.
Tan Li (www.ece.sunysb.edu/~tanli/) is a PhD student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department with Dr. Dantong Yu fromBrookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) as his adviser. His research involves high-performance data transfer and multicore
resource scheduling. He received a travel award from the Institute for Advanced Computational
Science (IACS) to present his paper, as the first author, at the 29th IEEE International
Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2015).
He is the primary developer for the Multicore-Aware Data Transfer Application (MDTMApp) software system. This work is an ongoing project of Fermilab and BNL, whose goals are to design and build middleware and data transfer application to accelerate data movement at multicore systems. The proposed software was proven to provide 1.3x to 1236x speedup to existing popular data transfer tools, such as GridFTP, BBCP and Aspera, on the Department of Energy’s nationwide network testbeds.
Tan is a student member of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and has published and presented multiple technical papers at other IEEE sponsored conferences, such as Supercomputing (SC) and IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS). Tan will graduate in December 2015 and will work for VMware, Inc. upon graduation. His future goals include understanding and making key contributions to the high-performance computing community. Tan will work to design, develop, and optimize the next generation snapshot technology in VMware.
The 2015 BME 100 Class was tasked with redesigning and optimizing the design of various biomedical devices. Congratulations to all participants for a job well done. Images of the work that some of the groups completed are shown below.
Congratulations to the "I Know What They Are Talking About" and "The Design is Market Ready" winners!
The best way to earn extra smiles in BME 100 - that is if you do not win the awards for best design or best presentation - serenade Dr. Ete Chan with sultry saxophone and guitar tunes.
BME 100 - 2015!
Annual Fall Meeting of the BMES - 2015
10 Undergraduate BME students presented their research at the Annual Fall Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society. The students took a quick break from the research to snap a photo together. One of the students, Lukas Vasadi (the tall one in the back), is running for the 2015 SBU Homecoming King. Make sure to support your fellow BME student.
Annual Graduate Student Welcome BBQ - 2015
The Department of Biomedical Engineering welcomes all new BME graduate students with our annual BBQ. This is a time to relax and meet senior students and faculty.
The cooking crew working hard to ensure the food is cooked perfectly.
The food line moving quickly!
The art of BME networking.
BME 2015!
Annual Graduate Student Research Day - 2015
The Department of Biomedical Engineering hosts an annual graduate student research day, with the intention to focus on the amazing work that our graduate students complete throughout the year. For the 2015 research day, 7 podium presentations and approximately 25 poster presentations were featured throughout the day. Great job to all of the presenters.
The motivational introduction by the co-organizers Dr. Rubenstein and Dr. Brouzes.
Dr. Rubin introducing concepts related to research and mentorship.
Best podium presentation winners: Angela Kogler and Jian You. Congratulations!
Rigorous scientific discussions during the poster presentations; including the best poster presentation winner: Bryce Schroeder. Congratulations!
An in-depth scientific discussion between faculty and graduate students.
Graduation 2015
The BME department at Stony Brook University would like to congratulate all of the BME graduates. Best of luck in the future and keep in touch.
Dr. Frame and SBU valedictorian Ariel Yang.
Some of the BME graduates with Dr. Frame and Dr. Rubin.
BME Graduates!
URECA Celebration 2015
BME students presenting their research projects at the annual SBU URECA celebration.
It’s fitting that Lukas Vasadi ’16 was one of six students honored at the Stars of Stony Brook Gala in New York City last May. Lukas has had his head in the stars since he was old enough to remember.
“I was a self-proclaimed nerd, spending the majority of my afternoons pretending to be an astronaut or Jedi Knight,” said the Stony Brook University senior. “I was a huge Star Wars fan.”
His mother encouraged him. “She made me a pair of ‘moon socks’ from a pair of my dad’s socks with craft supplies. I ran around the house pretending that I was leaping across the surface of the moon,” he said.
No wonder then that Lukas was over the moon when he was one of 20 annual students nationwide chosen to receive an internship at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, this past summer. Applicants were subjected to several rounds of rigorous screening and committee reviews of their social media profiles.
Because of Lukas’ interests and background, his application was sent to NASA’s Bone and Mineral Lab, where he was assigned to work with Jean Sibonga, an expert in space-related bone physiology.
The main focus of his internship was to analyze and interpret data from a new testing method that measures changes in the structure of the trabecular region (spongy bone). Bone deterioration has been the primary health concern associated with spaceflight.
“Without exercise or pharmaceutical intervention, in the microgravity environment astronauts lose significant bone mass, which increases their risk for fragility fractures and premature osteoporosis,” said Lukas.
In addition to working in the lab, Lukas attended lectures where he learned about NASA’s plans to send humans to Mars and of the rocket technology developed specifically for that mission.
Lukas in NASA’s robotics lab
He toured the robotics lab, mission control and the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, where astronauts train for space walks. “I formed friendships with people who may become my colleagues,” said Lukas.
Stony Brook had provided a strong foundation for his NASA experience. In order to contribute to the internship projects he was assigned, Lukas required a solid understanding of bone biology, which he had gleaned from Clinton Rubin’s lab under the supervision of PhD student Danielle Frechette.
“Frechette’s research focus is on the effects of high-fat diets on stem cells in the bone marrow,” said Luka. “These stem cells are responsible for rebuilding damaged bone tissue and maintaining normal fat concentrations within the marrow; however, a high-fat diet causes these stem cells to favor differentiation into fat cells over bone-forming cells, which leads to weakening the bones that support body weight.”
Lukas has his sights set on applying to the Astronaut Corps after completing grad school.
“Even if I don’t become an astronaut, I would love to work for NASA or SpaceX, designing spacesuits or vehicles to support human habitation,” he said. “However, if my destiny is constrained to Earth, then I may pursue tissue engineering in robotics. NASA is working on exoskeletons — think Iron Man — to assist people with disabilities in performing ordinary tasks.”
While at Stony Brook, Lukas was also a member of the cross country and track teams and found time to serve as vice president of the Biomedical Engineering Honor Society. He was also a member of the Red Watch Band CARE Team and served as a student ambassador and resident assistant.
“Despite being a graduating senior, I am still in the process of choosing a career path,” said Lukas. “Not because I have too few interests, but rather, because I have too many. But whether I become an astronaut, engineer, researcher or entrepreneur, I want to do something that makes a difference and benefits humanity.”
— Glenn Jochum
Our Solar Boat team has brought home a trophy for winning the first place in SolarSplash
Competition co-sponsored by IEEE Power Electronics Society and ASME Solar Energy Division.
Shown is a photo of our graduating senior Mr. Ankit Tyagi, the team captain, with
the trophy and the plaque. The team has been co-advised by David Hwang, Assistant
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, as well as David Westfield, Assistant Professor
of Electrical Engineering. David Westfield traveled with the team to the competition.
Mechanical Engineering Department sent the first team to participate in SolarSplash
competition in 1998. Last year, the team ranked the 5th overall and this year they
took home the trophy!
PhD student, WISE volunteer awarded for research in Catalysis
Engineering Grad Student Awarded for Her Research Presentation
Building a Better Future for Engineers of Color: Mechanical Engineering
Long Island E-Learning Project for High School Students, DTS
Researcher of the Month: Dennis Sosa
PhD Student Wins Silver Medal at International Supercomputing Research Competition
Grad student Prachi Chitnis Receives European Physical Society Award
For Maryam Ige '16, Leadership Means Service
Gouri Sadananda ’16 Chooses Research
Grandfather Receives Electrical Engineering Degree
SBU Student Engineers Build First-Ever Concrete Canoe for Competition
