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Volume LVII
Number 12
December 2008
THE TOP OF THE NEWS

Replicating Nature
Model For New UAV Concept
4 8 10 15 18 21 27
Duplicating Keys
Software Makes Possible Using Photos
Improving Lunar Navigation

Astronaut Safety Is Top Priority
Portable Imaging System

Tool To Aid First Responders
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Space@VT
Perseverance Creates New Center
Reducing Aircraft Noise

Innovative Materials May Hold Key
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buildings, zoom under overpasses, land on apartment balconies or sail along the coastline for surveillance. Pterodactyls lived 228 to 65 reated in response to the Geological Society of America million years ago from the late need to gather real time held in Houston, Texas. information from extremely danAccording to paleontologist Triassic Period to the end of the gerous or inaccessible environ- Sankar Chatterjee of Texas Tech Cretaceous Period, Dr. Chatterments, some with the imminent and Rick Lind, an associate pro- jee explained. They dominated possibility of violence, without fessor in the University of Flor- the Mesozoic sky, swooping over endangering people, unmanned idas Department of Mechanical the heads of earth-bound dinoaerial vehicles (UVAs) have pro- and Aerospace Engineering, this saurs. Their sizes ranged from vided an immense step forward project will demonstrate a next- that of a common sparrow to a in providing increased surveil- generation capability of sensor Cessna plane with a wingspan of lance capability. But as circum- emplacement using a pterodac- 35 feet. Structurally, their bodies featured lightweight bones and stances in the world continue tyl as the model animal. to evolve, so must information The unmanned, sensor- an intricate system of collagen gathering techniques. packed craft now in develop- fibers that added both strength Toward that end, a Texas ment could soon be demon- and agility to their membranous Tech University curator in col- strated using existing materials wings. These animals take the best laboration with an aeronautical and actuators, the researchers engineer from the University of said. Pterodrone, the militarys parts of bats and birds, Dr. Chatterjee said. They had Florida have successfully the maneuverability of a bat, developed a 30-inch robotbut could glide like an albaic spy plane modeled after tross. Nothing alive today the aeronautic capabilities compares to the performance of a 225 million-year-old and agility of these animals. Brazilian pterosaur, from They lived for 160 million the Greek word meaning years, so they were not stuwinged lizard, often repid animals. The skies were ferred to as pterodactyls, darkened by flocks of them. from the Greek word meanThey were the dominant flying winged finger. The drone, incorporat- Based on fossil remains, this artist rendering ing animals of their time. Tapejara wellnhoferi, a ing an extremely unusual clearly illustrates a most unique aeronautical and somewhat counter- feature a large, thin rudder-like sail on its pterodactyl from Brazil, feaintuitive aircraft design head that functioned much like a flight com- tured a large, thin rudderfeaturing a rudder at the puter in modern aircraft. Image courtesy of like sail on its head that funcMark Witton. tioned as a sensory organ. nose of the craft instead of Though as big as a Canada the tail, would gather data from sights, sounds and smells next generation of airborne goose, its strange design made in urban combat zones and then drones, wont just be small and it stand out from the Cretaceous transmit that information back silent. They will also have the crowd when it came to flying. to a central command center. added capability to alter their This design showed promise as This new concept in robotic wing shapes using morphing a model to develop into an unspy plane design was present- techniques to squeeze through manned aerospace vehicle called ed at the annual meeting of the confined spaces, dive between Pterodrone, which has superior
UAVs Seek To Replicate Natures Aeronautic Capabilities
Page 4 December 2008
agility to perform missions requiring aerial, terrestrial and aquatic locomotion. Putting the tail at the nose of an airplane would seem like a failed design. However, Dr. Chatterjees research into Tapejaras flight showed that the rudder acted similarly to a flight computer in a modern-day aircraft and also helped with the animals turning agility. Since the discovery of a complete Tapejara in Brazil about 10 years ago, weve found they could actually sail on the wind for very long periods as they flew over the oceans, he said. They spent most of their time hunting for fish. By raising their wings like sails on a boat, they could use the slightest breeze in the same way a catamaran moves across water. They could take off quickly and fly long distances with little effort. According to Dr. Chatterjee, the new drone has been designed to perform in much the same fashion. Initially, Prof. Lind recounted that he had his doubts about creating a drone built with a tail at the nose of the aircraft. A vertical tail on the head is a destabilizing influence, so we immediately questioned how Tapejara could survive in that configuration, Prof. Lind explained. The issue of flight control becomes quite relevant as the animal, and thus aircraft, must alter its flight properties to take advantage of the turning capabilities presented by this vertical tail and yet remain stable. Dr. Chatterjee and Prof. Lind
used computer simulation models and, based off the complete skeleton of the Tapejara, were able to unlock the secrets of flight from this strangely shaped flying animal. Sankar actually contacted me about three years ago after seeing a story on the Discovery Channel on our bird-inspired aircraft to inquire if a pterodactyl-inspired aircraft could also be feasible, Prof. Lind said. We shared some discussions for a while and then finally got serious this year once we had a common concept and could build upon that foundation. Bio-inspiration has repeatedly provided the basis for a surprisingly wide variety of robotic design, especially small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for urban environments that have taken cues from birds, bats and insects. Compared with a conventional fixed-wing aircraft, a pterodactyl wing is a complicated structure of skin, hair, muscles, tendons, blood vessels and nerve tissue. A team of students from the University of Florida will begin building the aircraft this fall. Dr. Chatterjee and Prof. Lind have submitted a joint proposal to The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) at the Department of Defense, which is currently under review. But improved aerial capability alone will not suffice. Getting there is only half the equation. The other half of the equation is instrumentation advances. New miniature image-capturing technology powered by
water, sound, and surface tension could lead to smarter and lighter cameras in everything from cell phones and automobiles to autonomous robots and miniature spy planes. With funding for the project awarded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have designed and tested an adaptive liquid lens capable of capturing 250 pictures per second and requiring considerably less energy to operate than currently available technologies. The lens is made up of a pair of water droplets, which vibrate back and forth upon exposure to a high-frequency sound, and in turn change the focus of the lens. By using imaging software to automatically capture in-focus frames and discard any out of focus frames, the researchers can create streaming images from lightweight, low-cost, high-fidelity miniature cameras. The lens is easy to manipulate, with very little energy, and its almost always in focus no matter how close or far away it is from an object, said project leader Amir H. Hirsa, professor and associate department head for graduate studies in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer. There is no need for high voltages or other exotic activation mechanisms, which means this new lens may be used and integrated into any number of different applications and devices. Results of the study were detailed in the paper Fast focuswww.vaeng.com Page 5
ing using a pinnedits distance from the contact oscillating object. The images are liquid lens, which captured electronicalwas released online ly, and software can be in addition to apused to automatically pearing in a recent edit out any unfocused issue of the journal frames, leaving the Nature Photonics. user with a stream of Prof. Hirsa coclear, focused video. authored the paper The great benefit with Carlos A. Loof this new device is pez, who earned his that you can create a doctorate at Renssenew optical system laer and now works from a liquid lens and for Intel Corporaa small speaker, Prof. tions research and Hirsa explained. No development lab in one has done this beMexico. Prof. Hirsa fore. and Dr. Lopez have The size of the filed a provisionary droplets is the deterpatent on this new mining factor in how technology. rapidly they oscillate. Most current Prof. Hirsa said that methods for manipwith small enough ulating liquid lenses apertures and propinvolve changing A new technique for creating liquid lenses with water and erly selected liquid the size and shape sound could enable a new generation of low cost, light- volumes, he should of the area where weight, energy efficient cameras. This series of time-lapse be able to create a lens the liquid contacts a photos shows how the lens, made up of two droplets of wa- that oscillates as fast as surface, in order to ter vibrating at a high speed, changes shape and, in turn, 100,000 times per secmoves in and out of focus. The time between frames is bring an image into four milliseconds. Photo courtesy of Rensselaer/Carlos A. ond and still be able focus. This requires Lopez. to effectively capture both time and valuthose images. able energy. Prof. Hirsa said a pendulum: the water droplets Prof. Hirsa says he anticikey feature of his new technique resonate back and forth with pates interest in his new device is that the water stays in con- great speed and a spring-like from cell phone manufacturers, stant, unchanging contact with force. Researchers can control who constantly seek new ways the surface, thus requiring less the rate of these oscillations by to improve the performance of energy to manipulate. exposing the droplets to differ- their devices and outpace their To do this, his new method ent sound frequencies. competitors in terms of lighter couples two droplets of water By passing light through weight, more energy efficient through a cylindrical hole. When these droplets, the device is phones. He also sees small, exposed to certain frequencies of transformed into a miniature lightweight, liquid lens cameras sound, the device exploits iner- camera lens. As the water drop- being integrated into a new gentia and waters natural surface lets move back and forth through eration of unmanned and micro tension and becomes an oscilla- the cylinder, the lens moves in air vehicles for homeland securitor, or something akin to a small and out of focus, depending on ty and military applications. ##
Software Duplicates Keys From Photographs

University of California-San Diego (UC San Diego) computer scientists have built a software program that can perform key duplication without having the key. Instead, the computer scientists only need a photograph of distance without them even noticing." Prof. Savage presented the work, Reconsidering Physical Key Secrecy: Teleduplication via Optical Decoding, by Benjamin Laxton, Kai Wang, and Stefan
Kai Wang, a UC San Diego computer science graduate student and an author on the key duplication paper, points to the roof where researchers photographed keys that are at his table. The computer scientists subsequently decoded the keys using the new software program. Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - San Diego.
the key. "We built our key duplication software system to show people that their keys are not inherently secret," said Stefan Savage, the computer science professor from UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering who led the studentrun project. "Perhaps this was once a reasonable assumption, but advances in digital imaging and optics have made it easy to duplicate someone's keys from a
Savage, at the Association for Computing Machinerys Conference on Communications and Computer Security (CCS) 2008. The bumps and valleys on your house or office keys represent a numeric code that completely describes how to open your particular lock. If a key doesn't encode this precise "bitting code," then it won't open your door. In one demonstration of the
new software system, the computer scientists took pictures of common residential house keys with a cell phone camera, fed the image into their software which then produced the information needed to create identical copies. In another example, they used a five inch telephoto lens to capture images from the roof of a campus building and duplicate keys sitting on a caf table about 200 feet away. "This idea should come as little surprise to locksmiths or lock vendors," said Prof. Savage. "There are experts who have been able to copy keys by hand from high-resolution photographs for some time. However, we argue that the threat has turned a corner - cheap image sensors have made digital cameras pervasive and basic computer vision techniques can automatically extract a key's information without requiring any expertise." Prof. Savage notes, however, that the idea that one's keys are sensitive visual information is not widely appreciated in the general public. "If you go onto a photo-sharing site such as Flickr, you will find many photos of people's keys that can be used to easily make duplicates. While people generally blur out the numbers on their credit cards and driver's licenses before putting those photos on-line, they don't realize that they should take the same precautions with their keys," said Prof. Savage. As for what to do about the key duplication threat, he says that companies are actively de-
veloping and ate student and marketing new one of the contriblocking systems uting authors on that encode electhe new paper. Mr. tromagnetic seWang is a comcrets as well as puter vision rea physical code. searcher working "Many car keys, on the creation of for example, have systems capable RFID immobilizer of reading text on chips that prevent product packagduplicated keys ing. This is part Scenes from one of the proof-of-concept telephoto experiments from turning the using a new software program from UC San Diego that can per- of a larger project car on," he says. In form key duplication without having the key. Instead, the computer on creating a comthe meantime, he scientists only need a photograph of the key. Credit: Image cour- puterized pertesy of University of California - San Diego. suggests that you sonal shopping treat your keys assistant for the like you treat your credit card a reference image to equivalent visually impaired from the lab and "keep it in your pocket un- points in the target image. of computer science professor less you need to use it." "The program is simple. You Serge Belongie. ## The keys used in the most have to click on the photo to tell common residential locks in the it where the top of the key is, and United States have a series of 5 a few other control points. From or 6 cuts, spaced out at regular here, it normalizes the key's size intervals. The computer scien- and position. Since each pixel tists created a program in Mat- then corresponds to a set disLab that can process photos of tance, it can accurately guess the keys from nearly any angle and height of each of the key cuts," CONTRACTORS measure the depth of each cut. explained Benjamin Laxton, the String together the depth of each first author on the paper who MANHOLE & WET WELL cut and you have a key's bitting recently earned his Master's deREHABILITATION code, which together with basic gree in computer science from Cementitious Linings information on the brand and UC San Diego. Epoxy Coatings type of key you have, is what The researchers have not re Bacteria Inhibitor (CONSHIELD) you need to make a duplicate leased their code to the public, Cast-in-Place key. but they acknowledge that it Embedded Liners (PVC T-LOCK, The chief challenge for would not be terribly difficult HDPE AGRU SURE GRIP) Epoxy Coatings the software system, called for someone with basic knowl Bacteria Inhibitor (CONSHIELD) "Sneakey," is to adjust for a wide edge of MatLab and computer range of different angles and dis- vision techniques to build a simCCTV Manhole Inspections tances between the camera and ilar system. VHS or DVD the key being captured. To do so, "Technology trends in comFlow Monitoring Chemical Grouting the researchers relied on a classic puter vision are at a point where Chimney Seals Vacuum Testing LADTECH HDPE Adjustment Rings computer vision technique for we need to consider new risks normalizing an object's orienta- for physical security systems," (800) 362-7369 tion and size in three dimensions explained Kai Wang, a UC San www.manholerestoration.com by matching control points from Diego computer science graduwww.vaeng.com Page 9
Improving Astronauts Lunar Navigation

People are used to having certain visual cues to judge distances, such as the size of a building or another car on the horizon, Prof. Li explained. But the moon has no such cues. Getting lost, or misjudging a distant object's size and location would be easy, and extremely dangerous. He described incidents during past lunar missions when astronauts were traveling to a target site such as a crater, and got within a few yards of it, but couldn't see the crater because of difficult terrain. "They were so close, but they had to turn back for safety's sake," he said. Astronaut safety will be a top priority for Prof. Li's team, which includes experts in psychology and human-computer interaction as well as engineering. "We will help with navigation, but also with astronauts' health as well," Prof. Li said. "We want them to avoid the stress of getting lost, or getting frustrated with the equipment. Lunar navigation isn't just a technology problem, it's also biomedical." He explained how the system will work: images taken from orbit will combine with images from the surface to create maps of lunar terrain; motion sensors on lunar vehicles and on the astronauts themselves will allow computers to calculate their locations; and signals from lunar beacons, the lunar lander, and base stations will give astronauts
The same Ohio State University researcher who is helping rovers navigate on Mars is leading a new effort to help humans navigate on the moon. When NASA returns to the moon the space agency has set a target date of 2020 to do so astronauts won't be able to use a global positioning system (GPS) to find their way around, explained Ron Li, the Lowber B. Strange Designated Professor of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science. The moon doesn't have satellites to send GPS signals. So NASA has awarded Prof. Li $1.2 million over the next three years to develop a navigation system that will feel a lot like GPS to the astronauts that use it, but will rely on signals from a set of sensors including lunar beacons, stereo cameras, and orbital imaging sensors. Prof. Li described the project in a poster session recently at the NLSI Lunar Science Conference, held at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The new grant grew out of Prof. Li's ongoing development of software for the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Researchers have learned a lot about navigation from exploring the red planet. New technology including sensors, inertial navigation systems, cameras, computer processors, and image processors will make the next trip to the moon easier for astronauts.
a picture of their surroundings similar to what drivers see when using a GPS device on Earth. The researchers have named the entire system the Lunar Astronaut Spatial Orientation and Information System (LASOIS). Prof. Li, who leads Ohio State's Mapping and Geographic Information Systems Laboratory, will work with Kaichang Di, a research scientist, and Alper Yilmaz, an assistant professor, both of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science. Prof. Yilmaz works in the university's Photogrammetric Computer Vision Laboratory. LASOIS partners at NASA Glenn Research Center will convert a pre-existing communications beacon to do double-duty for communication and navigation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers will design the touch-pad that astronauts will wear, possibly on the arm of their space suits, Prof. Li said, to view their location and search for new destinations. University of California - Berkeley researchers will work out the visual cues that astronauts will need to find their way, and study the kinds of psychological stress they will experience. According to Prof. Li's plan, the team will create a prototype navigation system, then travel to the Mojave Desert to test and refine it. The third year would possibly be spent testing the system on NASA astronauts. NASA would then have several years to incorporate the navigation system into its other lunar technologies before 2020. ##
Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, United Kingdom, where he earned a B.A. degree in Interior Architecture and Design. After graduating, Mr. Ratti worked for a design firm in Warwickshire for over a year and then moved to Australia to In-depth coverage of Engineers and Their Colleagues On The Move do 6 months of volunteering. He including photographs is available at www.vaeng.com then moved to Sydney where he joined one of the largest firms in Australia and became involved Timmons Group is pleased engineer and office manager with 3D design; and Thomas S. Ostasiewski, P.E. to announce the following staff in the firms Norfolk, Virginia, promotions: office. Mr. McCormack has 23 has joined Clark Nexsen as a John Bennett, P.E. and Roger years of experience leading pre- Project Manager. He is a regisRodriguez, P.E. have been pro- dominantly large facilities man- tered Mechanical Engineer and moted to Group Leader; agement organizations and con- certified Project Management Michelle Virts, Danny struction management. A retired Professional (PMP) and brings Lamie and Scott Dunn have Civil Engineer Corps Naval Of- over 15 years of experience in been promoted to Senior Project ficer, he earned a M.S. degree in the commercial construction inManager; Engineering from the University dustry to his new position. Don Leo, associate dean of Tracey Ruff, P.E., Evan of Florida and a B.S. degree in Bowles, P.E. and Nick Hadiaris, Civil Engineering from the Uni- research and graduate studies in Virginia Techs College of EnP.E. have been promoted to Proj- versity of Maine. ect Manager; James M. Pruett, L.S., head gineering and professor of meMichael Elander, Kirk Haw- of surveying services for Bay De- chanical engineering, has been ley, Stuart Toraason, Laurie sign Groups Northern Neck of- named special assistant to the Epps and David Wilmoth have fice, is now an owner of the firm. vice president for research for enbeen promoted to Project Engi- A 1992 graduate of James Madi- ergy initiatives. In 2007, Dr. Leo neer III; and son University, Mr. Pruett has served as a program manager in Brian OKane, Craig Ko- been employed by Bay Design the Defense Sciences Office of tarski, Turner Bradford, Ter- since 2003. Bay Design Groups the Defense Advanced Research rell Hughes, Kevin OMeara, Northern Neck office is located Projects Agency (DARPA) in Washington, D.C. He earned his John Combs, Clint Smith, Tim in White Stone. Seldon, Mike Marshal, Mitch Clark Nexsen is pleased to bachelors degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical engineerBowser, David Grandfield, Ben announce the following: Jackson, Cory Taylor, Daniel Erik H. Dupilka, E.I.T. has ing from the University of IlliMcBride, Luke Fetcho, Roger passed the LEED Certification nois at Urbana-Champaign. He Robbins, Melissa Pritchard and exam, earning him LEED Ac- earned his masters and Ph.D. Sam Chopade have been pro- creditation from the US Green degrees at the University of Bufmoted to Project Engineer II. Building Council (USGBC). Mr. falo in Mechanical and AeroThe firm also extends con- Dupilka is a Mechanical E.I.T. space engineering in 1992 and in gratulations to Laura Mwirigi and 2007 graduate of the Vir- 1995, respectively. He joined the who passed the Association of ginia Military Institute where he Virginia Tech faculty as an assisState Floodplain Managers (AS- earned a B.S. degree in Mechani- tant professor in 1998, becoming a full professor over the course FPM) exam and is now a Certi- cal Engineering; Gareth J. Ratti has joined the of the next six years. fied Floodplain Manager (CFM). David Maurstad has joined Dewberry has named Pat- firm as an Architecture Intern. rick McCormack, P.E., senior Mr. Ratti is a graduate of the PBS&J as vice president and naPage 12 December 2008
tional business manager for its risk and emergency management (REM) division, federal services. Mr. Maurstad most recently served as assistant administrator and federal insurance administrator, mitigation directorate, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He was previously the FEMA Region VIII regional director. Mr. Maurstad will be located in the firms Chantilly, Virginia office. McKim & Creed announces that Wayne Rountree, P.E., has joined the companys Virginia Beach office. Mr. Rountree has joined the firm as a senior project manager in the water and wastewater group. He received his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech. He has more than 35 years of experience in water and wastewater planning, design, construction, operation and management. Prior to joining McKim & Creed, he served as Director of General Services and Director of Public Utilities for Isle of Wight County. Hankins and Anderson, Inc., announces the following additions to its professional staff: Christine Swanson, P.E., CFPS has joined the Life Safety Department as Senior Fire Protection Engineer. Ms. Swanson was formerly on the staff at Clark Nexsen; Steven Wigley, P.E., has joined the Project Management Department as Project Manager. Mr. Wigley was formerly on the staff at the W.J. Vakos & Company; Benjamin A. Doyle has joined the Mechanical Department as Plumbing Designer. Mr.
Doyle was formerly on the staff at Warwick Air Conditioning, Inc.; Dennis Finley has recently joined the IT Department as Systems Administrator. Mr. Finley was formerly on the staff at CENVEO; and Stephen D. Butler, AIA, LEED AP, has joined the Project Management Department as Project Manager. Mr. Butler was formerly on the staff at Commonwealth Architects. William R. Jennings Jr. Consulting Engineering, P.C. is proud to announce that Doug M. Kidd PE. has recently joined the firm in the position of Senior Engineer. Mr. Kidd brings over twenty years of experience in planning, design and implementation and maintenance of electrical systems to the firm. Draper Aden Associates is pleased to announce: Samantha Rowell and Campbell Bolton have joined the firm in the Charlottesville office as staff engineers. Ms. Rowell and Mr. Bolton are graduates of the University of Virginia and both hold Civil Engineering degrees. Ms. Bolton has joined the Site Planning and Engineering Team and Mr. Rowell is now a member of the Utilities Engineering Team; Jason McNew has joined the firm as a Subsurface Utility Engineering Technician on the Surveying Team in the Richmond office. Mr. McNews duties will include data gathering with the use of ground penetrating radar and vacuum extraction; Priscilla M. Morales, P.E. has been hired as a Project Manager on the Site Planning and Engineering Team in the Blacksburg
office. She has nine years of engineering experience in both the private sector and municipal public works. Ms. Morales is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering and an MBA degree from the University of Florida; and Jennifer L. Bunting, E.I.T. has joined the firm as a Staff Engineer on the Utilities Engineering Team in the Richmond office. She specializes in the field of water resources engineering and has experience in floodplain modeling and analysis, drainage studies and stormwater management. Ms. Bunting received her B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware. Draper Aden Associates is also pleased to announce that Allyson Woody and Jackie Haurand have joined the firm as Project Administrators in the Richmond office. Ms. Haraund brings over 20 years experience of executive assistance to the firms Site Planning and Engineering Team. She has past experience in construction and housing development administration. Ms. Woody will join the GeoTech Team and has over 12 years of administration experience. Their duties will include the facilitation of project scheduling, budgeting and planning for their respective teams. Anderson & Associates, Inc. would like to welcome: Sharon Stacy as Blackwell Web Programmer; Whitney Blankenship as Blacksburg Design Technician; and Mathew Chumbley as Blacksburg Survey Technician. Anderson & Associates
would like to extend congratulations to Stevie Steele on his promotion to full Vice President of Municipal Engineering. A veteran Certified Professional Services Marketer has joined the Richmond branch of S&ME, Inc. to lead the branchs business development efforts. Patricia L. Polen, CPSM, has 35 years of experience in the architecture, engineering and construction industry, the past 15 of those years involving client development and maintaining client relations. Paciulli, Simmons & Associates has named two new associate partners. Lonny Sturgeon, LS and Allan Morton, RPA have been promoted to associate partners the firm announced. Mr. Sturgeon is a licensed Land Surveyor with over 34
years of experience serving as Chief of Surveys. He is responsible for the management and performance of the land surveying department within the firms Fairfax office, which serves the Mid-Atlantic region. With over 18 years of experience in cultural resource management, Dr. Morton is a registered professional archaeologist and serves as the firms Director of Cultural Resources with responsibility for the departments management and overall performance. Wiley & Wilson, Inc. is pleased to make the following staff announcements: Thomas (Tim) M. Slaydon, P.E. joined the firm as a Project Manager. His duties include business development for water and wastewater projects,
Locating That Special Someone
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project management for water and wastewater projects, and department management for utility services. Mr. Slaydon has over 30 years of experience with water and wastewater design and management. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech. Daniel T. Sutton, E.I.T. joined the firm as an Engineerin-Training 3 in the Civil Engineering Department. His duties include design for land development and utility projects. Mr. Sutton received a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University. ECS Mid-Atlantic (ECS) is pleased to announce the addition of Jose N. Gomez, M. Sc., as the branch manager of the Virginia Beach, Va., office. Mr. Gomez, received his M.S. degree in Civil Engineering, with a concentration in Geotechnical Engineering, at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1983, and acquired extensive and varied project experience while living in Bogota, Colombia. Dunlap and Partners Engineers has recently announced that Dawen Lu has been promoted to director of mechanical engineering. Atlantic Constructors Inc. has recently announced that: Steve Sadler is steel and machinery division manager; Robert Harrington is steel detailing manager; Beth Johnson is marketing communications manager; and Scott Grabham is special projects estimator. ##
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Portable Imaging System To Aid First Responders
cane or other natural disaster. The resulting visual information can be used to estimate the number of storm refugees and assess the need for health and humanitarian services. Aid organizations currently dont have a quick and accurate way to determine how many people need assistance. Satellites can collect images of areas affected by a natural disaster, but there are dissemination restrictions and cloud cover can prevent collection of images. Without a real-time map, its very hard to do population estimates and demographic estimates to figure out where people are, how theyre moving, how theyre spaced out and even how many people you have on the ground, said Benjamin Sklaver, a project officer from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch. This technology does not exist currently, so GTRIs imaging system is really an innovative project. The imaging system was developed with fund-
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esearchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed a lowcost, high-resolution imaging system that can be attached to a helicopter to create a complete and detailed picture of an area devastated by a hurri-
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ing from the CDC, and agency to stitch together the photos officials would like to begin to create a complete picture. using this device as soon as The pilot made two passes, at possible. After responding to altitudes of 500 and 1,000 feet the recent devastation caused above ground level. by Hurricanes Hanna and Ike, This test flight was sucthe CDC asked GTRI to accelcessful in confirming the Mini erate delivery of the imaging ModPODs ability to activate device for use during the 2008 the camera within the zone of hurricane season. interest. The resulting photos The white box attached to this helicopter We plan to package the contains a low-cost, high-resolution imag- were extremely sharp and system for use on Coast Guard ing system developed by GTRI research- clear they were free of any UH-60J Black Hawk helicop- ers that creates a complete and detailed vibration or motion effects, ters, which were among the picture of an area devastated by a hur- added Mr. Price. first to fly over Haiti follow- ricane or other natural disaster. Georgia The photos were successTech Photo: Gary Meek. ing Hannas devastation, fully matched to the flight said David Price, a GTRI sedata, which enabled the CDC nior research technologist. were very pleased, said Mr. to adjust them for geospatial The imaging system de- Price. We could see tennis balls reference. However, due to a signed by Mr. Price and senior on the ground and people read- software glitch, they were not research engineer Gary Gray ing books at outdoor tables. This overlapped as planned. The is called the Mini ModPOD, was sufficient detail to allow ac- researchers made a small adwhich stands for Miniature curate counting of the number of justment to the software and Modular Photographic Obser- people in an area. completed a third test flight in vation Device. It consists of an After the first flight, the re- August. off-the-shelf Canon Digital Rebel searchers reduced the weight This flight resulted in imXTi digital camera, a global posi- of the device and developed a ages that were 60 percent overtioning system receiver, a small more accurate geo-referencing lapped, enabling CDC engineers circuit board that uploads mis- capability, which allowed the to build a high-resolution mosasion parameters, and an inertial physical location of the scenes ic image, noted Mr. Price. Inmeasurement unit that measures shown in each photograph to be dividuals on the ground were the aircrafts rate of acceleration determined with precision. With easily distinguishable as people and changes in rotational attri- the modifications made, the re- separate from other objects. butes, including pitch, roll and searchers went for a second The imaging system will also yaw. The images collected from flight test in July. be available to the CDC and oththe system can be stitched toThe research group selected a er agencies, such as the Amerigether to create a complete pic- rectangular zone of interest and can Red Cross, to count people ture of the affected area. loaded the latitude and longi- in refugee camps for health and The research team has tested tude coordinates of the zone into humanitarian services planning. the device on several flights, pur- the system from a USB drive. The research described in this posely selecting areas with large As soon as the helicopter flew article was supported by cooperpopulations of people would into the zone, the camera began ative agreement #U38 EH000363 likely to be outdoors. snapping pictures. The electron- from the CDC. Its contents are During the first test flight, ics were set to measure the speed solely the responsibility of the we wanted to test the clarity of the aircraft so that each photo authors and do not necessarily and resolution of the images col- overlapped 60 percent of the pre- represent the official views of lected during the run, and we ceding photo, making it easier the CDC. ##
'Can You See Me Now?'

Using Sign Language Over Cell Phones
group at the University of Washington (UW) has developed software that for the first time enables deaf and hardof-hearing Americans to use sign language over a mobile phone. UW engineers got the phones working together this spring, and recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for a 20-person field project that will begin next year in Seattle. The project represents the first time two-way real-time video communication has been demonstrated over cell phones in the United States. Since posting a video of the working prototype on YouTube, deaf people around the country have been writing on a daily basis. For mobile communication, deaf people now communicate by cell phone using text messages. "But the point is you want to be able to communicate in your native language," said principal investigator Eve Riskin, a UW professor of electrical engineering. "For deaf people that's American Sign Language." Low data transmission rates on U.S. cellular networks, combined with limited processing power on mobile devices, have so far prevented real-time video transmission with enough frames per second that it could be used to transmit sign language. Communication rates on United States cellular networks allow about one tenth of the data rates common in places such as
Europe and Asia (sign language over cell phones is already possible in Sweden and Japan). Even as faster networks are becoming more common in the United States, there is still a need for phones that would operate on the slower systems. "The faster networks are not available everywhere," doctoral student Anna Cavender pointed out. "They also cost more. We don't think it's fair for someone who's deaf to have to pay more for his or her cell phone than someone who's hearing." The team experimented with several different approaches to make American Sign Language (ASL) comprehensible on lowresolution video. They discovered that the most important part of the image to transmit in high resolution is around the face. This is not surprising, since eyetracking studies have already shown that people spend the most time looking at a person's face while they are signing. The current version of MobileASL uses a standard video compression tool to stay within the data transmission limit. Future versions will incorporate custom tools to get better quality. The team developed a scheme to transmit the person's face and hands in high resolution, and the background in lower resolution. Now they are working on another feature that identifies when people are moving their hands, to reduce battery consumption
and processing power when the person is not signing. The team is currently using cell phones imported from Europe, which are the only ones they could find that would be compatible with the software and have both a camera and video screen located on the same side of the phone so that people can film themselves while watching the screen. Mobile video sign language won't be widely available until the service is provided through a commercial cell-phone manufacturer, Prof. Riskin said. The team has already been in discussion with a major cellular network provider that has expressed interest in the project. ##
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Space@VT:
Perseverance Creates New Space Research Center
Wayne Scales, the director of the Center for Space Science and Engineering Research at Virginia Tech
he naysayers said it couldn't be done. But sheer determination on the part of Wayne Scales proved them wrong. In 1992 Scales was among the nation's entry-level assistant professors of electrical engineering. His specialty - space plasma physics - was not the topic of a household dinner conversation. Only a handful of universities in the country were powerhouses in space research. They included Cornell, where he obtained his Ph.D., Stanford, University of Washington, University of Michigan, and several schools in the University of California system, including Berkeley. Cornell, the home of the late Carl Sagan, encouraged Dr. Scales to consider joining its faculty. When he countered that he
planned to join the Virginia Tech Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, they were surprised. Since Virginia Tech did not have a space science and engineering program, his Cornell colleagues felt Dr. Scales would not be satisfied in Blacksburg and that it would be too difficult for him to initiate an enormously expensive competitive research program by himself. But Dr. Scales had an emotional tie to Southwest Virginia, wanting to live near his mother who resides in Virginia, that outweighed the interest of other universities and government laboratories. Dr. Scales followed his heart. His intellect and his fortitude prevailed, opening a number of doors, and in a little more than a decade, he became
the director of the Center for Space Science and Engineering Research at Virginia Tech, otherwise known as Space@VT, with annual research revenues of about $2.5 million. The center is now making its own headlines around the world. The center was the result of a successful proposal that Dr. Scales and Joseph Wang, aerospace and ocean engineering professor, submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF). In 2005, $805,000 was awarded to create the interdisciplinary center for space research. Dr. Scales became the director and Dr. Wang the associate director. The National Science Foundation funding allowed the hiring of Brent Ledvina, one of the most highly respected young space scientists in the nation. Next came Scott Bailey, a talented young space instrument and space mission scientist from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, which has one of most highly recognized space science programs in the world. Last, but certainly not least, came Robert Clauer, one of the most noted names in magnetospheric physics in the country and a former NSF program manager, as the third member of the center's initial cluster hire. Dr. Clauer was designated as the second associate director. "These were like three strikes of lightning," Dr. Scales reflects, "and the next bolt came" shortly afterward. Within a year of the research center's announcement, Virginia Tech was able to persuade the highly prestigious
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SuperDARN Radar Group to relocate from Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL) to the Blacksburg campus. In enticing the group to come to Blacksburg, Dr. Scales and his colleagues capitalized on Virginia Tech's advantageous ability to award Ph.D.s (applied physics laboratory's research centers cannot) and utilization of the initial NSF support to create a doctoral specialization in space science in electrical and computer engineering and aerospace and ocean engineering, including the development of several new space-oriented courses. This commitment to graduate education and the possibility of tenure-track faculty positions provided the necessary incentive to the applied physics laboratory group to relocate to Virginia Tech. At the Applied Physics Laboratory, the group was receiving more than $1 million annually from the NSF, a government agency that looks at Ph.D. production as one of it primary missions. Dr. Scales says this criterion enabled him and others, including Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Head James Thorp and engineering Dean Richard Benson, to convince the Applied Physics Laboratory researchers to relocate to Blacksburg. The SuperDARN network is an international radar network for studying the Earths magnetosphere, ionosphere, and connection into space. The laboratory group is now operating its radar at Virginia Techs BlackPage 20 December 2008
stone Agricultural Research and Extension Center. New faculty members Joseph Baker and Michael Ruohoniemi are responsible for its daily operations, aimed at studying magnetic storm associated electric fields. Ray Greenwald, described by Dr. Scales as the godfather of the SuperDARN group, is now retired but continues to consult. It makes sense that Virginia should excel in space science and engineering. We are close to Washington, D.C. Also, Wallops Island, Va., is expected to become a more prominent launch facility. We have the Virginia Space Grant Consortium and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) located in Hampton, Va. A lot of things are coming into alignment, Dr. Scales says. But Virginia is just one piece of the equation for Space@VT. For example, Dr. Clauer who works out of the National Institute of Aerospace is establishing an Antarctic chain of autonomous magnetic observatories along the 400 magnetic meridian. A prototype system has been tested successfully at the South Pole during the past two years. The Sun-Earth system is our laboratory, Dr. Clauer says. It is a large electrodynamic system and the space weather in this system can affect many important technologies upon which our society depends. Space weather includes galactic cosmic rays, micrometeoroids, solar cell damage, plasma bubbles, and airline passenger radiation. Scott Bailey, a new assistant professor of electrical and
computer engineering, is working at the opposite end of the Earth, along with Chris Hall of the aerospace and ocean engineering department, to launch a sounding rocket from Poker Flat, Ala., in 2010. The experiment will demonstrate if stellar occultation is a viable technique to measure nitric oxide. According to Prof. Bailey, there is growing evidence showing that solar energetic particles lead to the production of ozone-destroying nitrous oxide. The project is being conducted with Colorado Universitys Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Dr. Scales also credits the Center for Space Science and Engineering Research Advisory Board for much of the groups progress. Dan Sable, president of VPT Inc., serves as the chair of the board. Dan has been critical to our success with his knowledge of businesses and space research, Dr. Scales says. Other members of the Advisory Board include representatives from Boeing, Orbital Sciences Corp., Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, and several other industries and government agencies. The center is also making efforts to engage underrepresented groups in science and engineering in general, and in space science and engineering in particular. It is developing joint research and educational ventures with minority serving institutions such as the Inter-American University in Puerto Rico and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. ##
In this approach, tiny parallel tubes in porous media such as metal or ceramics create a honeycomb-like structure that traps sound regardless of frequency. Instead of resonating, sound waves plunge into the channels and dissipate through a oise from commercial and military jet air- process called viscous shear. craft causes environmental problems for Viscous shear involves the interaction of a solid communities near airports, obliging airplanes to with a gas or other fluid. In this case, a gas sound follow often complex noise-abatement procedures waves composed of compressed air contacts a on takeoff and landing. It can also make aircraft solid, the porous medium, and is weakened by the interiors excessively loud. resulting friction. To address this situation, engineers at the It's the equivalent of propelling a little metal Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) are turn- sphere down a rubber hose when the sphere is just ing to innovative materials that make possible a a hair bigger than the rubber hose, Dr. Nadler exnew approach to the physics of noise reduction. plained. Eventually the friction and the compresThey have discovered that honeycomb-like struc- sive stresses of contact with the tube would stop tures composed of many tiny tubes or channels the sphere. can reduce sound more effectively than convenThis technique, Dr. Nadler adds, is derived tional methods. from classical mechanical principles governing This approach dissipates acoustic waves by how porous media interact with gases such as essentially wearing them out, said Jason Nadler, the air through which sound waves move. Noise a GTRI research engineer. Its a phenomenological shift, fundamentally different from traditional techniques that absorb sound using a more frequency-dependent resonance. The two-year project is sponsored by EADS North America, the U.S. operating entity of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V. (EADS). Most sound-deadening materials such as foams or other cellular materials comprising many Chewning & Wilmer, Inc. small cavities exploit the fact that acoustic waves Contractors, Founded 1924 resonate through the air on various frequencies, Virginia Registration #6 Dr. Nadler explains. Just as air blowing into a bottle produces resonance at a particular tone, an acoustic wave hitting Industrial and Commercial a cellular surface will resonate in certain-size caviElectrical Contractors ties, thereby dissipating its energy. An automobile Robert Zahn, President muffler, for example, uses a resonance-dependent technique to reduce exhaust noise. Bill Powell, CEO Robert Zahn, President The drawback with these traditional noiseJohn Williams, Executive Vice-President Jay Atkinson, Art Nelson, Carson Rogers reduction approaches is that they only work with Vice-Presidents some frequencies those that can find cavities or Jed Wilson, P.E., Consultant other structures in which to resonate. Dr. Nadlers research involves broadband 2508 Mechanicsville Turnpike Telephone (804) 231-7373 Richmond, VA 23223 Fax (804) 231-1330 acoustic absorption, a method of reducing sound www.ChewningandWilmer.com that doesnt depend on frequencies or resonance.
New Approach Focuses On Physics Of Noise Reduction
and a much lower structural density. Creating such low-density structures presents an interesting challenge, Dr. Nadler says. It requires a material thats light, strong enough to enable the walls between the tubes to be very thin, and yet robust enough to function reliably amid the high-temperature, aggressive environments inside aircraft engines. Among the likeGeorgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) research engineer Jason Nadler has devel- ly candidates are suoped a new microchanneled material that reduces aircraft engine noise by wearing it peralloys, materials down through a process called viscous shear. Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek. that employ unusual blends of metals abatement using micro-scale to achieve desired qualities such honeycomb structures rep- as extreme strength, tolerance of resents a new application of high temperatures and corrosion these principles. resistance. You need to have the hole Dr. Nadler has developed big enough to let the sound what could be the worlds first waves in, but you also need superalloy micro honeycomb enough surface area inside to using a nickel-base superalloy. shear against the wave, he At around 30 percent density, said. The result is acoustic the material is very light a clear waves dont resonate; they advantage for airborne applicajust dissipate. tions and also very strong and In researching this ap- heat resistant. proach, Dr. Nadler constructHe estimates this new aped an early prototype from proach could attenuate aircraft off-the-shelf capillary tubes, engine noise by up to 30 perwhich readily formed a low- cent. Micro-honeycomb mateA prototype microchanneled material density, honeycomb-like rial could also provide another composed of many metallic nanotubes structure. Further research means to protect the aircraft in was developed at the Georgia Tech showed that the ideal matecritical areas prone to impact Research Institute (GTRI) to validate rial for broadband acoustic from birds or other foreign obacoustic absorption experiments designed to reduce noise in aircraft. Geor- absorption would require jects by dissipating the energy of gia Tech Photo: Gary Meek micron-scale diameter tubes the collision. ##
Thermoelectric Devices
new technique for growing single-crystal nanorods and controlling their shape using biomolecules could enable the development of smaller, more powerful heat pumps and devices that harvest electricity from heat. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered how to direct the growth of nanorods made up of two single crystals using a biomolecular surfactant. The researchers were also able to create branched structures by carefully controlling the temperature, time, and amount of surfactant used during synthesis. Our work is the first to demonstrate the synthesis of composite nanorods with branching, wherein each nanorod consists of two materials a single-crystal bismuth telluride nanorod core encased in a hollow cylindrical shell of single-crystal bismuth sulfide, said G. Ramanath, professor of materials science and engineering at Rensselaer and director of the universitys Center for Future Energy Systems, who led the research project. Branching and core-shell architectures have been independently demonstrated, but this is the first time that both features have been simultaneously realized through the use of a biomolecular surfactant. Most nanostructures comprised of a core and a shell generally require more than one step to synthesize, but these new re-
Nanorods May Enable New

A
search results demonstrate how to synthesize such nanorods in only one step. Our single-step synthesis is an important development toward realizing large-scale synthesis of composite nanomaterials in general, said Arup Purkayastha, who worked on the project as a postdoctoral researcher at Rensselaer and is now a scientist with Laird Technologies in Bangalore, India. Because of their attractive properties, core-shell nanorods are anticipated to one day enable the development of a new generation of nanoscale thermoelectric devices for power generation, as well as nanoscale heat pumps for cooling hot spots in nanoelectronics devices. Our discovery enables the realization of two very important attributes for heat dissipation and power generation from heat, Prof. Ramanath said. First, the core-shell junctions in the nanorods are conducive for heat removal upon application of an electrical voltage, or generating electrical power from heat. Second, the branched structures open up the possibility of fabricating miniaturized conduits for heat removal alongside nanowire interconnects in future device architectures. The researchers discovered that synthesis at high temperatures or with low amounts of the biomolecular surfactant Lglutathonic acid (LGTA) yields branched nanorod structures
New branched nanorods. Photo courtesy of Rensselaer/Ramanath.
in highly regulated patterns. In contrast, synthesis at low temperatures or with high levels of LGTA results in straight nanorods without any branching. It is interesting to note that at the point of branching, atoms in the branch resemble a mirror image of the parent crystal a finding that reinforces Prof. Ramanaths conclusion that LGTA is able to induce branching through atomic-level sculpture. Since LGTA is similar to biological molecules, our discovery could be conceivably used as a starting point to explore the use of proteins and enzymes to atomically sculpt such nanorod architectures through biological processes, said Prof. Ramanath Results of the study, titled Surfactant-Directed Synthesis of Branched Bismuth Telluride/ Sulfide Core/Shell Nanorods, were recently published online and will be featured in the journal Advanced Materials. The research project was supported by the Interconnect Focus Center New York through MARCO, DARPA and New York state. The National Science Foundation and Honda Motor Co. also supported this project through research grants. ##
Transform Your Business with 2009 New Year's ReVolutions

By Michael Guld While the origin of New Year's resolutions goes back as far as 153 BC, in modern day times, they usually evoke feelings of guilt. Most verbs associated with resolutions are restrictive in nature, including to quit, stop, loose, reduce or eliminate. The implication is that you need to improve, fix or repair something that's broke or not complete. By its very nature, people see New Year's resolutions as a difficult exercise at best, requiring discipline, determination and willpower which are not exactly energizing words. As a result, most people "make" the resolutions January 1, and usually begin to "break" them by February 1 as their commitment fades and enthusiasm for attainment wanes. Case in point: The extreme increase in traffic at a health club the beginning of the year, which quickly subsides as the weeks and months progress. A reVolution - a drastic and far reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving. New Year's reVolutions are personal and broader in scope than the traditional resolutions. The framing of your reVolutions requires stepping back and deciding what do you want to be as opposed to what do you need to do. If someone were to introduce you to a large crowd recognizing you for your accomplishments, what would you want your bio to say? Are you on track to be that person? If not, what actionable steps can you take today that will help you get there tomorrow? them in front of you at all times so your daily actions will lead you to the attainment of these goals. 2. Positive attitude plus positive actions equal positive results - While having a positive mental attitude is a good start, it is the positive actions that follow that will lead to success (vs. wanting, hoping and waiting for them to happen). Make a plan on how you will achieve each goal with mini-plans, mini-goals and corresponding dates for each.
3. Follow your passion Commit to doing more of what you enjoy doing that invigorates, provides pleasure and satTo help increase the chances isfaction and less of what you do of keeping inspired (vs. disci- not enjoy that leads to procrastiplined) with your New Year's nation and stress (delegate, hire revolutions, follow these 10 tips: out, etc.). Your chores are other peo1. Goals are dreams with ple's challenges. a deadline - Dreams are all Well here's an idea: This year, about "wants and desires" with 4. Soar with Your Strengths consider creating New Year's no commitment, where goals - Spend more time on those projreVolutions; transformational are "concrete and defined" with ects, tasks or activities that acactions that will lead to break- commitment. Where do you ul- centuate your talents and natuthrough results. New Year's reV- timately want to be and what do ral gifts and less time on the olutions can energize and invig- you want to do? improvement of your weaknessorate by the thought of "what's Imagine limitless opportu- es or shortcomings (delegate to possible." By definition, which nities and be willing to take a others). one of the below would inspire chance to lay yourself on the line By focusing on your strengths you to get out of bed January 1? to achieve them. Write down - what you are naturally good A resolution - a solution, ac- three actionable goals that you at - you will have a higher selfcommodation or settling of a can visualize and that you WILL esteem, be more professionally problem. achieve by the end of 2009. Keep fulfilled and you will ultimately
be far more successful. 5. Be the organized executive - Being overwhelmed with clutter can make you feel busier than you actually are. Start the year fresh by doing a total catharsis or cleansing. Go through every piece of paper in every file with a goal to trash it, box it (future needs) or re-file it (near term needs). Your files will be reduced by 66 to 75 percent. You will start out the year with a refreshed attitude. Begin or end each day with 20 minutes worth of organizing, even if it means hiding piles until you can get to them. 6. Re-analyze your "to-do list." - Does your "to-do list" look more like an annual plan? Are you working 10, 12 and 14hour days and you still don't feel like you get it all done? Go back through your "to-do list" and prioritize it to "do it," "delegate it" or "scratch it." Prioritize your list so you can do more of what brings you personal, professional and monetary rewards and less of what steals your time. Make sure you add in your "want todo list" items, as opposed to only those tasks that others ask you to do. 7. Compartmentalize your priorities - Once you have decided on your priorities of the day, week, month, and year, focus on the tasks at hand setting up firewalls to keep any distractions from diluting your focus. While we have two arms, two eyes and two ears, we only have one brain, so it is extremely difficult to concentrate on two or
more projects and do them well at the very same time. 8. Change the way you see everything - By reprogramming your brain to see opportunities vs. obstacles, challenges vs. chores and celebrate what you've accomplished vs. feeling bad about what you have not, you will increase your energy, improve your attitude and raise your level of professional satisfaction. 9. Surround yourself with positive people - Good attitudes are contagious, elevating organizations to heights previously thought unreachable, but bad attitudes are more contagious, draining energy, accelerating discontent, and destroying morale. Choose to spend your precious time with people that will support you, encourage you and celebrate in your success. 10. Reinvent Yourself - Even performers like Madonna realize that change is cathartic, energizing and can be very good for a career. It is easy to become stale and accept the way things are if we don't shake it up every once and a while, even in our dress and our surroundings. While we now have new technologies like cell phones, email, PDAs, wireless cards - all designed to save us time, make us more efficient and more effective - the reality is they can be pulls and distractions as well taking us off tasks to what is truly important. Do not become a slave to technology, but instead use technology as a tool to help you achieve your goals.
Finally, we all have a goal to "get it all done," when in reality we have to accept that we will never "get it all done." There is no way to accomplish all that we want to do plus all that is asked from us by our work, family, friends and organizations. The reality is wherever we spend our precious resources - time, money and energy - is where we will get the greatest results. Decide first on what results you want to accomplish in 2009, and spend your time, energy and focus to achieve your New Year's reVolutions. ##
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Michael Guld is an author, speaker, entrepreneur and radio commentator whose business development expertise lies in the "soft skills"; increasing sales performance, marketing exposure, employee productivity and creating a worldclass service experience. He is the president of The Guld Resource Group and creator of "Talking Business with Michael Guld," airing on Central Virginia's Public Radio and heard at www. talkingbiz.net.
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Greetings
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The Virginia Engineer

During this holiday season, we send our thanks and expressions of gratitude to our many loyal readers, business associates, colleagues and friends without whom our success would not be possible. We wish you and your loved ones peace, health and happiness during this holiday season and throughout the coming year.
Researchers Create A Field Hospital On-A-Chip

ith a $1.6M grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), University of California-San Diego (UC San Diego) NanoEngineering professor Joseph Wang will lead a project to create a "field hospital on a chip" that soldiers can wear on the battlefield. The automated sense-andtreat system will continuously monitor a soldier's sweat, tears or blood for biomarkers that signal common battlefield injuries such as trauma, shock, brain injury or fatigue. Once the system detects a
battlefield injury, it will automatically administer the proper medication, thus beginning the treatment well before the soldier has reached a field hospital. "Since the majority of battlefield deaths occur within the first 30 minutes after injury, rapid diagnosis and treatment are crucial for enhancing the survival rate of injured soldiers," said Prof. Wang, primary investigator on the project. To realize their "field hospital on a chip" idea, the engineers will need to build a minimally invasive system that monitors mul-
tiple biomarkers simultaneously and uses the system's "smarts" to process all this biomarker information and tease out accurate, automated diagnoses. These diagnoses would immediately trigger drug delivery or other medical intervention. "Today's insulin and glucose management systems for patients with diabetes don't include smart sensors capable of performing complex logic operations," said Prof. Wang, who helped to develop the first noninvasive system for monitoring glucose from a patient's sweat. "We are working on a system that will be different. It will monitor biomarkers and make decisions about the type of injury a person
has sustained and then begin logic system. Electrodes contain- ide, lower norepiquinone, higher treating that person according- ing a combination of enzymes NADH and lower NAD+. This ly," said Prof. Wang. will serve as sensors and pro- will cause the built-in logic struc"Developing an effective in- vide the logic necessary to con- ture to output the signal "1,0,1,0" terface between complex physi- vert the biomarkers to products which points to shock and will ological processes and implant- which may then be picked up by trigger a pre-determined treatable devices could have a broader another enzyme on the electrode ment response. biomedical impact, providing for further logic operations. The "This is biocomputing in acautonomous, individual, tion," said Prof. Wang. 'on-demand' medical "We are just at the care, which is the goal of beginning of this projthe new field of personalect. During the first two ized medicine," said Prof. years, our primary foWang. cus will be on the senTo reach this level of sor systems. Integrating automated diagnostic enzyme logic onto elecdexterity, the researchtrodes that can read bioers plan to build upon marker inputs from the "enzyme logic" breakbody will be one of our throughs recently demfirst major challenges," onstrated by Evgeny said Prof. Wang. Katz, a Co-PI on the grant An illustration of the sense-and-treat system being By the end of the and the Milton Kerker developed at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of En- project, the researchers Chaired professor of gineering. Credit: Image courtesy of University of expect to have a working chemistry and biomolec- California - San Diego. prototype that can detect ular science at Clarkson different combinations University. electrodes will also act as trans- of injury biomarkers thanks to Prof. Katz and colleagues ducers that produce strings of 1s the enzyme logic. At the same demonstrated recently that en- and 0s that will activate smart time, the researchers will also zymes can not only measure materials that release medica- be working on signal-responbiomarkers, but also provide the tion based on predetermined sive membranes that can release logic necessary to make a lim- treatment plans. drugs, as well as the electrical or ited set of diagnoses based on "We just want the ones and optoelectronic systems that almultiple biological variables. zeros. The pattern of ones and low the sensors to communicate One of the many challenges zeros will reveal the type of in- with the drug delivery system. now facing Prof. Wang and his jury and automatically trigger "We really hope that our enteam, however, is to get the en- the proper treatment," said Prof. zyme-logic sense-and-treat syszyme logic system to reliably Wang. tem will revolutionize the moniwork on sensing electrodes that For example, if an injured toring and treatment of injured humans can wear. Thus far, en- soldier were to enter a state of soldiers and lead to dramatic zyme logic operations have only shock, enzymes on the electrode improvements in their survival been demonstrated in solution. would sense rising levels of the rate," said Prof. Wang. Lactate, oxygen, norepineph- biomarkers lactate, glucose and The new project is titled "Aurine and glucose are examples norepinephrine. In turn, the tonomous Devices for Advanced of the kinds of injury biomark- concentrations of products gen- Personnel Treatment (ADAPT): ers that will serve as biological erated by the enzymes would Use of enzymes as "logic gates" for input signals for their prototype change - higher hydrogen perox- sensor fidelity and control." ##
AS THE WEATHER GROWS COLD and people start planning for the holidays, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have released two new research videos that illustrate the benefit of having sprinkler systems in homes. Scientists exposed two dry Christmas trees to an open flame in a living room mock-up built inside their laboratory and recorded the results. The video of the room with the sprinkler shows that the sprinkler eventually dampens and extinguishes the tree fire. Without a sprinkler system, the other video shows that the tree burns rapidly. Fire research, such as our videos and measurement science, are showing the importance of residential sprinkler systems, explains Dick Bukowski, coordinator of codes and standards for NISTs Building and Fire Research Laboratory. Sprinkler systems have been required for years in high-rise buildings, he says, and with the 2009 editions of both of the model building codes, they will be required in all new residential buildings. Fire and building researchers hope that as the number of homes with sprinkler systems increases, the number of fatalities from Christmas tree fires will decrease, says Dan Madrzykowski, a NIST fire protection engineer. These are the remains of two dry Christmas trees NIST researchers burned in an experiment. The room shown on the left had a sprinkler system; the one on the right, which is destroyed, did not have a sprinkler system. Photo courtesy of NIST.
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and activity level of the person. Professor Works to Inspire School Children In his native Newark, N.J., Joseph Freeman, an assistant professor at the Virginia Tech Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences and director of the Musculoskeletal Tissue Regeneration Laboratory, has been working with Diana Freeman, his mother and a science teacher, to provide school children in the third through eighth grades with DVDs showing the work he is doing in Blacksburg. The idea to share Dr. Freemans in-lab work at Virginia Tech with students in Newark was sparked in 2006 after she invited her visiting son to participate in Career Day. Dr. Freeman arrived the next day, wearing a Superman T-shirt and spoke to her third through fifth graders about his career in scientific research. Using a classroom skeleton to show students the various bones on the body, he discussed knee replacements and knee ligament surgeries and replacements. He also drew complicated nerve cell structures on the classroom chalkboard to show students why doctors cannot rebuild spinal cords or so many of the bodys complicated tissues that allow paraplegics to walk, the mother said. Dr. Freeman said he was thrilled that students became involved in the lesson, asking question after question. From that class, Dr. Freeman and his mother decided to start making DVDs of lab-based lessons that he films so she can show them to her students. The DVDs, according to Dr. Freeman, are under 10
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minutes and have or will include work he is using in the lab, such as electrospinning, how nanofibers are made, mircospheres, and hydrogels. So far two DVDs have been completed and Dr. Freeman has ideas for more. The cost is cheap: he uses a digital recorder from home, with graduate students demonstrating the lesson after he gives a brief introduction. He adds music, positive-themed hip hop mostly, and edits the production on his home computer. In early 2009, Dr. Freeman says he also plans to work Internet conferencing into the classroom lessons, as well as DVDs. NAF, NACME and PLTW Collaborate To Further Programs The Gateway Academy, a nationwide initiative of the SME Education Foundation, has received the endorsement of the Academy of Engineering (AOE) a dynamic partnership between the National Academy Foundation (NAF), the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) and Project Lead The Way (PLTW). The partnership of these three organizations focuses on recruiting more high school students to choose careers in engineering and engineering technology; increasing participation of women and minorities, and preparing high school graduates to enter post-secondary engineering programs fully competent in the required mathematics, science and technical subjects. The Society of Manufacturing Engineering Foundation will provide funding at Academy of Engineering sites in the summer of 2009. ##
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The Virginia Engineer

ille, Virginia 23111 7401 Flannigan Mill Road Mechanicsv Friday, November 14, 2008 The Honorable Jeffrey M. Frederick The Richard D. Obenshain Center 115 E. Grace Street Richmond, VA 23219 Chairman Frederick, being prepared for the upcoming chale of the political precipice, it would seem that Standing on the edg ost on your agenda. lenges beginning in January would be upperm to communicate our message to the growstated, Republicans have to find a better way As you recently families. dent on the key issues that matter most to our population who consider themselves indepen ing but time tested solution concrete action. Might I suggest a seldom used legislatively s transportation ing struggle to meaningfully address Virginia With little surprise, the legislatures continu again, may I offer a suggestion. How about , according to many, top the agenda. Here challenges will but a statew legislators or other members of the choir, ing to the professionals? No, not your fello t talk and land development/use. Virginia is bles with career professionals in transportation wide consultation be of trewhose expertise and experience might just y transportation and land use professionals with man tation issues. ble approach to solving our long term transpor mendous value in fashioning a truly sustaina t deal of n policy is not an accident. It requires a grea ctive and efficient land use and transportatio Effe uring have no ion, an environment where rhetoric and post serious and thoughtful planning and preparat tion where erent. Offer a challenge or create a competi In this the year of change, do something diff place. the prestige, could showcase their concepts, if not just for n Virginias public and private professionals develop a vision for a state-wide transportatio ible remuneration. Let these professionals some more tang tical expediwide range of other professionals, not on poli cy based on the options contributed from a poli ons. Then the essionals to analyze and provide feasible opti ence. Give the technical problems to the prof wrangling can begin, but not before. rminably in traffic trying to get to work only take, Virginians clearly understand sitting inte Make no mis cars front e. They fully comprehend paying to have the endure the same travail trying to get back hom to understanding ance. What they are not as well versed in is end realigned because the roads need mainten adgeable problem, and not just short term. Knowle tical bombast is actually going to solve the how poli as well. for Virginia, and possibly in this case, for you leadership is essential to promote what's best Hopefully, Richard O. Carden, II
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