UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Collaboration

The Brazilian Connection

of people and computers. At the end of the six months, the entire group, Brazilians as well as Americans, returns to the United States to complete their projects. Working side-by-side in Brazil with students from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, and the Ohio State University, U.Va. students have taken on a number of projects. One group is developing a program to assist dispatching of truckers delivering oil and gas throughout southeast Brazil, another is creating an analysis toolkit to help Petrobas, the Brazilian state oil company, pull critical information from its incident-reporting system, while a third is identifying specific improvements for a training simulator used by Brazils Nuclear Energy Institute. To say the least, all the students, Brazilian and American, found the exchange eye opening. I saw this as an opportunity to throw myself a curve ball, said U.Va. student Alex Rixey. I gained confidence as well as knowledge. I think challenges in the future will appear much more manageable to me. The exchange program is currently supported by a four-year seed grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, a U.S. government initiative. The university partners are seeking funding to continue the program. For more information, visit www.sys.virginia.edu/hci/us-brazil.asp. www.seas.virginia.edu

The fundamental underlying principles

of engineering transcend national borders, but the practice of engineering often changes dramatically at the frontier. As the twenty-first century progresses and industry becomes increasingly global, engineers must learn to acclimate themselves to national differences and function in a variety of environments. As one of two American partners in the U.S.-Brazil Cognitive Systems Engineering Exchange Program, the Department of Systems and Information Engineering is offering U.Va.
From left: Christopher Salvatore Cutrona (University of Virginia), Camila Valcarengh (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul), Anelise Faleiro Welter (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul) and Craig Pratsch (University of Virgina)

February 2006 | Volume 6 | Number 3

University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science

After Graduation

Adriane Randolph
ADRIANE RANDOLPHS LIFE has been shaped by her interest in helping people make connections that can enrich their lives. As a student at U.Va., this interest led Randolph (Sys 99) to human-computer interaction and the potential unleashed when people use technology effectively. It caused her to leave a promising career at Accenture for graduate school at Georgia State University and to choose a project helping people for whom technology represents not just a connection, but a lifeline. These are people who are locked infully conscious, but whose voluntary muscles are totally paralyzed. Engineers have devised a variety of biometric systems for locked-in syndrome that connect patients with computers and allow them to exert neural control to browse the Internet, control robotic arms, and answer questions about their health. Randolph is developing an assessment tool to match patients with the biometric system that would work best for them. Randolph credits the School of Engineering and Applied Science for helping her find her way. Randy Pauschs class sparked my chief interest in HCI work, my projects in systems engineering fueled my passion to work on design-related work, and Ingrid Soudek opened my eyes to a future in academia, she says. I have a fond place in my heart for U.Va. and always will.

Take Part in

In this issue: Thermal Research Spanning Two Worlds Honor and Engineering Brazil Exchange Making Connections

Discovery
One of the advantages of attending
an engineering school at a national research university like U.Va. is that you are exposed to the latest developments in the field. When you take courses from professors who are actively involved in cutting-edge research, you have a front-row seat at the discoveries that will define the century. At the School of Engineering and Applied Science, we go a step further. We encourage undergraduates to leave the audience and take their place on center stage, working closely with faculty members and graduate students to make their own contributions.
Undergraduates Kara Parsons (left) and Jason Naramore (right) are conducting interdisciplinary research with biomedical engineering professor Brett Blackman and civil engineering professor Edward Berger.

students a unique opportunity to understand crosscultural issues while conducting hands-on research.

According to Associate Professor Stephanie Guerlain, the programs U.Va. coordinator, students spend six months in Brazil immersing themselves in the language, getting to know their Brazilian counterparts, attending university, and researching issues related to the intersection

Too Hot to Handle Fourth-year student Eugene Ottos work with computer science professor Kevin Skadron is a case in point. As computer chips become more compact and more powerful, the intensity of the heat they generate has increased dramatically. To prevent overheating, operating systems use a technique called thermal throttling, which places the processor in a sleep state whenever heat levels approach the

To accomplish this goal, Otto had to decompile an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface table written for Windows and recompile it and set it up to run on Linux. This experience brings together knowledge from a lot of areas, from traditional computer architecture, operating systems, real-time systems, thermodynamics, and programming, Otto
See Discovery , page 2

Factoid: Founded in 1920, the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro is the largest federal university in Brazil. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul is located in Prto Alegre, as one of the chief industrial and commercial centers in Brazil.

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

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upper limits of its safe thermal envelope. While this fluctuation might not be noticeable for browsing, it can interfere with DVD and MP3 playback. One of Skadrons specialties is architectures for temperature-aware and power-aware computing. Hes

Summer Opportunities
Jiahui Li had been working with biomedical engineering professors Brian Helmke and William Guilford to write a computer algorithm to track structural movement of cytoskeletal filaments of cells lining the blood vessels. Its essentially a plug-in for the Image J analysis software, she says. Her successful application to the Summer Science and Engineering Scholars Research Program enabled her to take the next step and purchase a micromanipulator probe that will help her reach a better understanding of the mechanical properties of cells. The funding also enabled her to attend the annual biomedical engineering conference in Baltimore. It was a wonderful opportunity to find out about the latest work in the field even before it gets published, she said.
Summer Science and Engineering Scholar Jiahui Li

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enlisted Ottos assistance to adjust Linux operating system scheduling so that thermal throttling is less likely to disrupt high-priority or interactive tasks. There is already a large safety margin, notes Skadron, so you can delay throttling until it becomes absolutely critical. Ottos work has been funded by a Research Experience for Undergraduates grant from the National Science Foundation.

Turning Up the Heat on Undergraduate Research

Shes unequivocal. Mechanical engineering
professor Pamela Norris is an enthusiastic advocate of involving undergraduates in her research. From my point of view, theyre just great, she says. Theyre bright, theyre independent, and theyre eager to learn. And if they decide to stay on after they receive their diplomas, I end up with superb graduate students. The benefits for undergraduates are equally clear-cut. They can develop a visceral understanding of the theoretical material covered in their classes, and they can put together an impressive rsum of accomplishments that gives them a competitive edge after graduation. Norris recruits undergraduate students for a number of her projects. A specialist in microscale heat transfer, she is developing a design that incorporates heat pipes in next-generation jet blast deflectors used on aircraft carriers. Working on a much smaller scale, she is studying thermal boundary resistance in thin film metals, an investigation that will help clear the way for smaller semiconductor devices. Patrick Hopkinss experience provides the perfect illustration of the benefits of Norris s approach. Hopkins (MAE, 04) began working in Norriss Microscale Heat Transfer Lab as a third-year undergraduate. Using this experience as a credential, he won a coveted Harrison Undergraduate Research Award to fund his own research project. The Harrison
Mechanical engineering professor Pamela Norris in her lab with students Patrick Hopkins and Jessica Sheehan.

Getting Involved
Award is distributed by the Faculty Senate to the most promising undergraduate research projects at the University. Hopkins enjoyed his research so much that he decided to continue on with Norris as a graduate student. His undergraduate experience proved instrumental in his winning a prestigious NSF graduate fellowship, which provides a $30,000-a-year stipend for each of three years of graduate school. My undergraduate research was absolutely crucial for me, Hopkins said. It broadened my interests and set the stage for everything that followed. Jessica Sheehan is following in Hopkinss footsteps. A transfer student from Old Dominion University, she found a home in

Theres no doubt about it. Engineering at

U.Va. is rigorous and exacting. But theres much more to student life than problem sets and exams, and plenty of opportunity to explore personal interests and discover what the University of Virginia has to offer. The experience of third-year student Alison Tramba is a case in point. One of the first things I did at U.Va. was go to the activities fair, she says. I liked the idea that extracurricular activities are run by students. While completing requirements for a double major in systems and information engineering and American studies, Tramba has stayed involved. She is currently one of two Engineering School representatives to the Universitys Honor Committee, where she is responsible for safeguarding the community of trust that is central to student self-governance at U.Va. One of Trambas responsibilities to is help committee members balance the collaborative nature of engineering assignments with the injunction, expressed in the honor pledge, against giving or receiving aid on schoolwork. Community involvement has also shaped Trambas approach to her studies. My interest in engineering has always had a social dimension, she says. She worked with visiting professor Robert Marquez to design a demonstration version of his innovative kiln, which can help people in the developing world make bricks cheaper, faster, stronger, more easily, and with fewer toxic emissions. Getting involved with the Engineering Schools Washington Internship Program was a natural extension of her interests. As part of this program, she spent most of last summer working on an energy-efficient housing project for the Federation of American Scientists. On returning to U.Va., she joined the EcoMod project, a modular housing venture organized by the Engineering School and the School of Architecture that is exploring alternative, low-cost approaches to conserving energy and natural resources. The University has given me the opportunity to grow as a person and as an engineer, enabling me to place engineering in a broad-based humanitarian context, she says. Its very fulfilling.
Engineering School Honor Representative Alison Tramba

Bridging Engineering and Eastern Europe

Fourth-year student Meg Olson clearly likes a
challenge. Shes double majoring in mechanical engineering and Russian and Eastern European studies and minoring in materials science, a feat that, she admits, has entailed some 21-credit-hour semesters. When I came here, I wasnt sure about staying in the Engineering School because Ive never been that confident about my abilities in math and science, she says. Ultimately, I decided to stay because succeeding in engineering would be a real accomplishment for me. In the process, Olson gained a deeper appreciation for engineering. You come out of engineering with practical skills that really make a difference, she says. For her thesis project, she is working with mechanical engineering professor Pradip Sheth to create biomechanical modeling programs to optimize braces for children with cerebral palsy. Olson is also drawn to events around the world. She speaks conversational German and Russian and has been fascinated by the mass democracy movements that have reshaped the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the linkage between politics, social change, and the arts. A course on trademarks offered by Associate Professor Bryan Pfaffenberger in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society suggested a way for Olson to combine these interests. She has interned at the U.Va. Patent Foundation and will be working at the United States Patent and Trademark Office after graduation, reviewing patent applications and eventually attending law school. She hopes to work in foreign countries to set up systems of intellectual property protection. My goal is to combine my interests and apply my engineering knowledge in a policy context, she says.

Norriss laboratory and won a Harrison Award for research on the jet blast deflector project. She and Hopkins also teamed up to win a Double Hoo Award to study energy transfer in thin film metals. The Double Hoo Award is an innovative University-wide initiative that pairs graduate and undergraduate students on a research project. As part of their project, they are using an ultrafast experimental laser capable of providing information on a picosecond time scale. This whole experience has been eyeopening, says Sheehan. Ive had the freedom in Pams lab to think of a project and go after it using state-of-the-art equipment. Ive also had the opportunity to attend conferences and get a firsthand look at developments in the field as they are happening. Its really very exciting.

DISCOVERY, continued from page 1

says. It showed me what computer science is all about. Skadron has several reasons for encouraging undergraduates like Otto to get involved in research. The first is the high quality of their work, which is both useful and, quite often, publishable. But he also sees it as a transformative experience. I got involved with research as an undergrad, and it motivated me to go on to a career in academia, Skadron notes.

I want to provide my undergraduates with similar exposure.

quantify and adjust for uncertainty. Evans has helped to develop software that creates forecasts using Krzysztofowiczs

Ive been motivated to take higher-level classes because the information I would gain there would help me with my research.

engineer, and Assistant Professor Brett Blackman, a biomedical engineer, they are using an atomic force microscopeBergers expertiseto understand the three-dimensional structure and

Undergraduates can shadow graduate students in the lab, and the department has a third-year, two-semester lab sequence, jointly taught by a team of faculty members, that introduces students to different biomedical engineering concepts used in many of the departments laboratories. All students must complete a capstone project involving research to graduate. Both students found the exposure to research to be revealing. There is a lot of autonomy, Kara says. Its up to us to find the information we need to be successful.

Storm Warnings Everyone talks about the weather, but Professor Roman Krzysztofowicz and undergraduate William Evans are doing something about it. Krzysztofowicz, a professor of systems and information engineering, has funding from the National Science Foundation to develop advanced techniques for forecasting meteorological variables like precipitation that

technique and compares these results to traditional ones. Evans, now in his fourth year, is finishing a verification of precipitation forecasts for 28 weather stations, with nine lead times, every day for a two-year period. I like working with a lot of data and having the independence that doing this type of research involves, says Evans. Over the two years Ive worked with Professor Krzysztofowicz, At the Intersection of Cholesterol and Heart Disease Increasingly, cutting-edge research requires collaboration across disciplines. In the case of biomedical engineering majors Jason Naramore and Kara Parsons, this work combines techniques from civil and biomedical engineering. Working with Associate Professor Edward Berger, a civil

mechanical properties of lipid domains on the cell plasma membrane, the subject of Blackmans research. Changes in these structures, which are governed by cholesterol, can change cell signaling events and lead to disease. The Department of Biomedical Engineering, like other departments in the Engineering School, actively encourages undergraduate research.