Randy A. Graves, D.Sc. '78 and chair of SEAS National Advisory Council, speaks with Dr. Manzari, chair, GW Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Earthquake Engineering and Structures Laboratory (Photo by Eleanor Kaufman Photography).
Over 100 alumni, faculty, staff, and students from the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), along with members of the school’s National Advisory Council (NAC), gathered on August 16, 2012 at GW’s Virginia Science & Technology Campus (VSTC) for the fourth annual summer barbeque.
The event, organized by SEAS, serves to engage their alumni in the DC metropolitan area with the SEAS National Advisory Council, through an evening of networking and a showcase of key research laboratories.
This year eight VSTC laboratories from the civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical and aerospace engineering departments were open for tours, including the:
- Driving Simulator Laboratory, CISR (CEE)
- Earthquake Engineering and Structures Laboratory (CEE)
- High Performance Computing Laboratory (ECE)
- National Crash Analysis Center (CEE)
- Nanomaterials & Nanomechanics Laboratory (MAE)
- Smart Systems Laboratory (MAE)
- Thermo-Fluids Laboratory (MAE)
- Turbulence, Fluid Dynamics & Wind Energy Laboratory (MAE)
SEAS Dean David Dolling provided brief remarks focusing on what he calls a significant transformation taking place within the School of Engineering & Applied Science. Since 2008 SEAS has hired 37 key new faculty members, including six this fall, which are invigorating the faculty profile and expanding the school’s capabilities in the classroom and the research laboratories. Additionally, this year’s incoming class of more than 220 freshmen is a new school record and SEAS continues to have a higher than average female/male student ratio.
Dean Dolling also spoke about his excitement for the new Science and Engineering Hall (SEH). Currently under construction, the SEH is slated to open in early 2015 at the university’s main Campus in Washington, DC. The SEH will create a hub of science and engineering discovery fostering knowledge creation to tackle the critical challenges facing our nation and our world.
More information about the SEH.
The Virginia Science & Technology Campus hosts a dozen centers of excellence in critical research areas such as, transportation safety and security, high performance computing and energy. Campus research initiatives fall heavily under the School of Engineering & Applied Science with the most recent awards as follows:
- Studying the Effect Earthquakes Have on Nuclear Reactors. Philippe M. Bardet, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and lead researcher on the project, and his colleagues, Elias Balaras, associate professor of engineering and applied science, and Majid Manzari, professor of civil and environmental engineering, were recently awarded more than $860,000 over three years by the U.S. Department of Energy to devise a model for simulating the impact of fuel rod vibrations inside a nuclear reactor. MORE
- Investigating the Impact of Roadway Infrastructure on Driver Behavior. Samar Hamdar, assistant professor of civil engineering, is collaborating with faculty from Louisiana State University and Cal Poly to study the impact of roadway infrastructure on driver behavior and its implications on vehicle-to-vehicle interactions, as well as on assessing macroscopic transportation network performance. GW has been awarded $250,000 out of a $400,000 National Science Foundation grant. MORE
The annual summer barbeque hosted at the VSTC has become an extremely popular event and the backdrop of the Northern Virginia technology corridor speaks to the transformation the school is currently undergoing. SEAS alumni are invited to more than 300 social, educational, cultural, networking, and athletic events and programs annually. Visit the alumni programs website for information about upcoming events, the SEAS website for complete information about the school, or the website for the Virginia Science & Technology Campus.