Winter 2009 - Engineering eNews


Winter 2009

Engineering for Humanity
Dr. Bernard Amadei, founder of Engineers Without Borders and invited speaker at this year's Dean's Lecture series, presents the challenges and opportunities associated with practicing engineering in the developing world. Amadei says the profession needs social entrepreneurs, community builders and peacemakers.

Kim Knox Engineering Ethics Lecture Series Announced

Tufts Gordon Institute will inaugurate a new lecture series focusing on engineering ethics, thanks to a $40,000 gift from an anonymous alumnus. Tufts Gordon Institute will host the newly created Knox Lecture Series in Engineering Ethics in honor of Associate Engineering Dean Kim Knox, who advised the alumnus during his time at Tufts.

New "Control Knobs" for Stem Cells Identified

David Kaplan, Biomedical Engineering professor and chair, Michael Levin, Professor of Biology, and Sarah Sundelacruz, a biomedical engineering doctoral student show that changes in membrane voltage control timing of differentiation in adult stem cells.

Gute Investigates Obesity Prevention in New Immigrants

David Gute Tufts University has received a four-year, $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to design an obesity prevention program for new immigrants. The research team, including Tufts’ principal investigator Christina Economos and co-investigator David Gute, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will conduct a clinical trial that will randomize more than 400 mothers and their elementary school-age children living in Somerville, Mass., and follow them for two years.

Flights of Fancy: Engineers Create Virtual Hang Time

Engineer Mike Stefaniak (E09) takes to the skies over New Hampshire's Mount Washington. Stefaniak, along with teammates Daniel Thayer and Rachel Yu, created a virtual hang gliding flight simulator for their mechanical engineering senior design project.

Join us for our Fourth Annual
Student-Alumni Networking Night

We welcome all alumni in the engineering and technology professions, as well as alumni who have engineering degrees but have pursued work in alternative fields to attend.
Thurs., February 26, 2009,
6:30pm-8:30pm
Sophia Gordon Hall
Medford/Somerville Campus
Register online for this free event.
Contact Jonathan Kaplan for more information.
(617) 627-5493

Dean's Corner:

The new year brought us sad news of the loss of one of our community's guiding lights-Professor Emeritus, and former Dean of Engineering, Fred Nelson. Fred's warm wit, great intellect, and passion for education will be sorely missed by all of us. A memorial service to honor Dean Nelson and his life is being planned for later in the semester.

We live in interesting times. As a new federal administration grapples with the most severe economic crisis in a generation, Tufts School of Engineering is facing its own significant challenges and some unique opportunities. To address budget shortfalls, we are taking steps both to increase revenues and reduce expenditures that do not impact our core mission. In addition, the University has placed large capital projects on hold. Regrettably, this decision will delay the full-scale design of the new Doble Interdisciplinary Lab Complex.

On the brighter side, I'm pleased to report that undergraduate and graduate engineering applications for the coming academic year are up approximately 10% and 20%, respectively, and we are well-positioned to take advantage of proposed new federal initiatives in energy, health care, and infrastructure. Indeed, we are blessed with extraordinary students, faculty, and alumni, whose energy has not abated. It is the quality and character of its people that keeps me optimistic about the future of Tufts School of Engineering.

I wish to end these brief remarks by thanking all of you for your continuing support of the School in these difficult financial times.

Wishing you and your families a healthy and fulfilling new year,

- Dean Linda M. Abriola

Department Notes:

BME: Read about Adjunct Professor Michael Levin’s Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology.

ChBE: Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos has been awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow.

CEE: Read about our progress on monitoring the structural health of bridges over their lifetimes, from design through years of repairs and alterations.

CS: Professor and Chair, Diane Souvaine, has been confirmed to the National Science Board.

ECE: The department is pleased to announce the establishment of the Alvin H. Howell Endowed Professorship in Electrical Engineering.

ME: We mourn the passing of Fred Nelson—a great friend, teacher, department chair, and Dean of Tufts School of Engineering.

TGI: Tufts Gordon Institute welcomes three new Professors of the Practice to its ranks. Check out TGI’s new website.

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