Celmer to be on WNPR Radio’s Colin McEnroe Show on Wednesday Afternoon

Robert Celmer, director of the Acoustics Program and Laboratory in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture, will be a guest on the "Colin McEnroe Show" on WNPR Radio (90.5 FM) on Wednesday, July 25, from 1 to 2 p.m., to discuss the role of sound in everyday life and explore the line that differentiates sound from noise. The show can be heard online by clicking here.
Source: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13234

Shertukde Authors Chapter in Electric Power Transformer Engineering

Hemchandra Shertukde, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has co-authored a chapter in the recently published third edition of Electric Power Transformer Engineering edited by James H. Harlow. Shertukde wrote the chapter titled "Transformers for Wind Turbine Generators and Photovoltaic Applications" with David E. Buckmaster.  Visit www.crcpress.com or www.taylorandfrancis.com for more details.

In addition, CRC Press of Taylor & Francis Group has awarded Shertukde, who will be on sabbatical in the fall, a contract to write a book on Distributed Photovoltaic(DPV)-GRID Transformer Applications by the end of the year.
Source: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13238

Milanovic Presents Research Paper at Conference in Puerto Rico

Ivana Milanovic, professor of mechanical engineering, College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA), presented a research paper at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Heat Transfer, Fluids Engineering, & Nano-, Micro- and Mini-channels Conference (HTFNMM2012) this month in Puerto Rico. The HTFNMM Conference brought together international researchers and engineers focusing on heat and mass transfer and fluid flow in a variety of applications. The objectives of the meeting were to provide a forum for the presentation of state-of-the-art research and opportunities for technical interactions among participants.

The research paper "Effect of Artifical Perturbation on Unsteady Wake Vortices in Jets in Cross-Flow," was co-authored with Khairul Zaman and Timothy Bencic of NASA Glenn Research Center. The experimental study examined unsteady wake vortices of jets in cross-flow and explored the possibility of periodic perturbation of these vortices with oscillating tabs. Tab oscillation introduced periodicity of the flow manifesting by side-to-side oscillatory motion of the entire flow field with varying phase.

Milanovic also co-organized the 11th Symposium on Fundamental Issues and Perspectives in Fluid Mechanics and 5th Symposium on the Transport Phenomena in Mixing.

Source:  http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13202

Nagurney Has Medical Nuclear Supply Chain Article Accepted

Ladimer S. Nagurney, Associate Professor of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, CETA, is the co-author of a article, Medical Nuclear Supply Chain Design: A Tractable Network Model and Computational Approach, that has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Production Economics. The article was co-authored with Professor Anna Nagurney of the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

This is the first article of its kind, discussing the supply chain for the most important Medical Radioisotope, Mo99-Tc99m, and explicitly includes the radioactive decay, radioactive waste disposal, and shipping constraints due to the radioactivity in this supply chain. 

Read a preprint of the article.

Source: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13237

Professor Townsend featured on Contextures blog

CETA  Professor  Lee Townsend was given the honor of having her Excel VBA code published on the Contextures blog.  Contextures.com is one of the well established goto sites for learning Excel.  The code written by Professor Townsend documents the structure of the VBA code in an Excel workbook, thus allowing an easy method for tracking procedure calls.  She is in the process of improving it.  Classes and Forms have been added and a procedure flow tree is in the works.

She has written the code for several Excel workbooks over the last few years that may be of interest to our UH community.  They work on both Mac and PC.  One identified the prerequisite grade history of students enrolled in a particular course based on reports from the Registrar.  Another, created in collaboration with Professor Patricia Mellodge, takes the data from Registrar reports then creates a worksheet for the Academic Standings Committee that contains GPAs, course completion rates etc. for the over 800 CETA students.  A third take the University schedule as generated by Class Search then reformats it for usability.  A few of its features are presentation of room and faculty schedules on a UH weekly schedule form, identification of conflicts for both faculty and students, identification of required course availability for a given major and semester, and the ability to present in a graphical format the overlapping schedules for a set of given CRNs.   Please contact Professor Townsend (ltownsend@hartford.edu) if you are interested in seeing the codes in action for possible porting to your UH college.

Students Take Part in National Steel Bridge Competition

Pictured with the bridge are: (Back Row, L-R) Paul Eginton-Kautz, Dylan Parr, Vincent Hynes. (Center Row, L-R) Jeffrey Portal, Thomas Loveless, Dominic Santaniello, Jessica Barringer, Theresa Sobocinski. (Front Row, L-R) Michael Bedson, Christine Barry, James Centrella, Stephen Bruno, Peter Andrews, Nicholas Lorenzo. Not Pictured: ASCE faculty advisor Brian Swartz.

The University of Hartford student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) participated in the National Steel Bridge Competition for the first time this spring. The competition is sponsored by the national ASCE organization and AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction). The University of Hartford competed in the regional tournament, hosted on the campus of UMass-Amherst this year.

The competition requires students to simulate a realistic design and construction scenario. This year’s rules required teams to construct a model scale bridge 22 feet long and 3 feet wide as proof of concept for a larger structure. There were very strict limits related to the geometry and construction of the bridge.

The bridge must be built up entirely of pieces that fit within a 4"x6" box that is three feet long. Those pieces were all fabricated – cut, drilled, and welded – by the student team in advance of the competition. At the competition site, the team is judged on their ability to construct the bridge quickly and without penalty (i.e. stepping in an area designated as “water,” dropping a tool, etc.)

The bridge is further judged for its strength and stiffness in a load test once assembled. Strength-to-weight ratio is a major scoring criterion. The bridge is also judged for its aesthetic appeal.

The University of Hartford team’s bridge survived the many rigors of the competition – a rare feat for a team competing in its first year. They finished 9th of the 11 teams in the regional competition. The student group is energized for next year’s competition now that they have a better understanding of what it takes to compete. They considered it a valuable learning and team-building experience.

The project was sponsored by the University of Hartford SGA, Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers, Bartlett Brainard and Eacott, United Steel, Shepard Steel, Macri Associates, Construction Institute, and CT Space Grant.
SOURCE: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13217

Professor Townsend awarded senior membership in The Optical Society (OSA).

CETA Professor Lee Townsend was awarded senior membership in The Optical Society (OSA).  She was one of the 142 members chosen this year out of a total membership of more than 17,000 individuals from over 100 countries.  The importance of the senior member distinction is underscored by the dedication and outstanding accomplishments of its recipients. OSA Senior Members are well-established individuals with a designation that recognizes their experience and professional accomplishments or service within their field that sets them apart from their peers. Senior Members have at least 10 years of significant professional experience and are active OSA Individual Members.  Congratulations to Professor Townsend on this achievement!

For more information please visit http://www.osa.org/membership/member_categories/senior/2012_OSA_Senior_Members.aspx.  Her CV is available on her University of Hartford website, http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/ltownsend/.

Program Will Encourage Girls to Go ‘Mad About Science’

Participants in the "Mad About Science" program and their parents attended an orientation session in the spring.

Sixteen middle school-age girls will be going “Mad About Science” later this month through a unique collaboration between the Women’s Education and Leadership Fund (WELFund), Summer Place, and the University’s Office of Community Relations.

"Mad About Science" is an innovative new summer scholarship program that is designed to inspire girls to pursue their love of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The goal is to encourage future female scientists, engineers and mathematicians.

The two-week, full-day program will take place on campus from July 23-August 3 during the third session of Summer Place, the University’s popular summer enrichment camp for kids. The 16 participating girls will experience hands-on STEM programming in the afternoon and take part in athletics and other Summer Place activities in the morning. The STEM portion of the program will be taught by Assistant Professor Mary Arico of the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA).

The program is free of charge for the participating girls. This opportunity was made possible through the generous support of the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium, WELFund, Summer Place and the Office of Community Relations.

The participants, who are entering grades 6-9, were chosen through an application process in which they had to answer several questions about their interest in STEM and provide a recommendation from a teacher or a guidance counselor. About 100 girls applied for the 16 spots, said Donna Haghighat, grants and programs manager for WELFund.

In selecting the students, organizers “made every effort to strive for geographic diversity,” Haghighat said. Community Relations Manager Christine Grant said that “It was extremely important to the committee that we recruited young women from our neighboring communities of Hartford, West Hartford, and Bloomfield as part of the selection process.” In addition to those towns, participants come from East Hartford, Newington, Windsor, Rocky Hill, Middletown, Windsor Locks, and Coventry.

Organizers worked with school systems and women’s organizations to recruit students for the “Mad About Science” program. Many of the girls who were not selected for “Mad About Science” were referred to the Connecticut Pre-Engineering Program (CPEP), which also is holding programs on campus this summer.

“Mad About Science” will feature many hands-on STEM activities. For example, the participating girls will learn how to design interactive accessories by programming small computer chips called LilyPads. LilyPads make clothes react to their surroundings, and will help the girls discover how bones and muscles allow us to move.
Source: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Article/View/13188