Cornell
ENGineering 2005 Fall
Upto the Challenge
Harnessing bio data Saturn’s secrets Birth of the iPod Message from the Dean
ornell University’s College of n We have launched a redesigned website, n We are producing a new fact brochure Engineering, the preeminent www.engineering.cornell.edu, with that will provide a quick check of the C engineering school in the Ivy improved navigation, expanded content, vital statistics of the college—thumbnail League, has a long history of excellence and up-to-date news and events. metrics that will help us chart our in undergraduate and graduate education n Starting with this issue, we’ve progress. within the context of a uniquely broad redesigned Cornell Engineering n We are developing a video presentation and renowned research-intensive Magazine to better communicate in which faculty, students, alumni, university. Our strengths have developed the excitement of our research and and corporate partners share with from cutting-edge discovery, a genuine the commitment of our academic viewers the unique aspects of Cornell commitment to students, and a sincere community to educating the next Engineering that brought them to the desire to contribute to society. We are generation of leaders, innovators, college and the wealth of opportunities global leaders in the discovery of new scholars. available here for collaboration in knowledge and creation of transforming n We have published a strategic plan that research and education. inventions, the development of innovative will guide the college’s priorities and interdisciplinary research and programs, initiatives for the next ten years. This is Together, these initiatives will provide a and the education of students who a dynamic document that will continue clear picture of where we are, how we got will better the future. Never before has to grow and change, adapting to new here, and where we are going. The brochure there been such a great opportunity knowledge and discoveries as the future included with the initial distribution of this for creativity, innovation, and rapid unfolds. issue of Cornell Engineering Magazine is a breakthrough discovery. synopsis of the strategic plan. The complete n We have in press a publication to plan and the brochure are available online: describe our research directions and Reflecting the dynamic pace of innovation www.engineering.cornell.edu/strategicplan. to showcase our faculty’s interests and in the college, we are refocusing our We invite you to visit the web site to review accomplishments in projects that will efforts to keep you informed: the plan and to follow our progress as we have a real impact on the quality of work together to place Cornell Engineering in human life. a position of unique transnational leadership. n We are capturing this tradition of Your comments and feedback are welcome. innovation in a history of Cornell Engineering to be published next fall, W. Kent Fuchs as both a tribute to those whose early Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering work established our commitment to Cornell University excellence and a touchstone for those who will carry it forward. C ENG.
contents Fall
Features 12 Behind the Music Jon Rubinstein ’78 EE is the person Steve Jobs entrusted with the responsibility of bringing a digital music player —Apple’s iPod— from concept to market. Does that make him 8 The Podfather? Up to the Challenge By Ken Aaron Cornell students hope their autonomous vehicle is headed for pay dirt in the rugged B terrain of the desert Southwest. By Melanie Bush The Rings Revealed “I love to travel, and this 20 is just the greatest way to go,” says Joe Burns; he’s talking about his virtual trip to Saturn aboard Cassini. Data Connections By Kenny Berkowitz ’81 It’s too soon to say that Biozon will unravel the mystery of life, but this new tool is already allowing biologists to gain better understanding of genes and proteins. 30 By Jay Wrolstad
Departments
News People Hometown At home and abroad: Running the gamut: Hero Cornell heads new AI Faculty join life sciences Cooking Lessons: institute, forms new and provide leadership Working on a solar partnership with India, in biotechnology oven project in renews a contract to and underground Senegal over the manage Arecibo, and infrastructure; win awards summer, Cyprienne begins the search for a new president. for advising, photonics, protein processing, Crowley proved what she already knew: Student teams in racing and robot soccer computer graphics. Students showcase it’s not just about the engineering. deliver a one-two punch to the competition. their research and study the sky. An alumnus leaves his mark. news C ENG.NEWS
Fall Fall 2005
Intelligent Information New institute launched this year marks Cornell’s preeminence in the AI research community. Chalk up another win
ornell University’s Formula SAE uppose the computer from the starship Enterprise or the HAL 9000 from “2001, A Space Ben Kennedy race car team won its ninth world Odyssey” had been scanning intelligence data four years ago. Perhaps it would have made the C S championship in May at the Pontiac connection humans missed between terrorists and flight schools. Or suppose such a computer were Nick Fishbein drives Cornell’s car Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich. Cornell has through the skid-pad course, a designing airline flight schedules: You might get home for the holidays a little faster. won the competition three years out of maneuverability test, during the 2005 These are just some of the possibilities of “artificial intelligence,” or AI, which is not really Formula SAE race car competition the last four. It was the 19th year that a Canada, with 812 points. In all, about making computers that talk back but rather about using computers for the things they at the Pontiac Silverdome. The Cornell team has entered. 140 teams from around the world competition concluded May 22 with are good at: dealing with massive amounts of data or problems with a vast number of choices. Cornell winning for the ninth time in The Cornell engineering students participated. These are the sorts of problems that are being examined by Cornell University’s new Intelligent 19 years. scored 906 points out of a possible 1,000 The joy of winning was tempered Information Systems Institute, launched this year with a $5 million, five-year grant from the U.S. in a series of events that ranged from by a report that three students from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). In keeping with university policy, none of the design evaluation to competitive driving, University of Minnesota–Mankato died research will be classified. and they won the SAE Foundation Cup in a highway accident on the way to the Other problems on the table include honoring Cornell alumnus Neil Schlike. competition. Mankato would have driven race against time, usually five cars drive game theory, information retrieval, The team was first in the climactic car No. 28, so each team added a small the course at once, so overtaking and “At one time and automatic verification of software endurance race, won the Bosch Engine 28 to its car, and many teams added a passing skills contribute to a driver’s and hardware, according to Carla Management System Award for its engine Mankato State sticker. success. But engineering is crucial here Cornell wasn’t Gomes, Cornell associate professor of control computer, and took second place The Formula SAE competition, as well: Due to breakdowns, only about even present computing and information science and in the autocross event. sponsored by the Society of Automotive 40 percent of entrants finish the race. applied economics and management, The team brought home $3,750 in Engineers, Daimler-Chrysler, Ford Motor Other driving events included an in AI, but now and director of the new institute. Some cash awards to be applied to next year’s Co., and General Motors, challenges acceleration test, driving around tight 20 other Cornell faculty members are car, plus 18 tires awarded by Goodyear students to design and build a race circles, and autocross, in which drivers we’re being affiliated with the institute, Gomes said, and Hoosier Tire. car and drive it in a series of events. race a short but unfamiliar course. including not only computer scientists recognized as Cornell News Service The second-place team was the The final score is determined by Teams also were judged on their but also faculty in operations research, University of Western Australia with adding points for driving, design, and designs, on a “business presentation” one of the top applied economics, mathematics, and Carla Gomes thanks Northrup Fowler, chief scientist of the 868 points, third was the University of presentation. pitching designs as if to potential engineering. Visiting scientists will be Information Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory Wisconsin-Madison with 853 The climax is a 22-kilometer (about investors, and on what the car would places.” more the rule than the exception, she (AFRL) in Rome, N.Y., for his support in launching the new institute. Looking on are, from left, Robert Constable, dean of points, and fourth was the 14 miles) race over a 1-kilometer (1,094 cost if put into production. added, with at least 10 scheduled to computing and information science; John Graniero, director of University of Waterloo, yards) road course, at speeds up to 60 Al George, the J. F. Carr Professor arrive this year. the Information Institute of the Information Directorate of AFRL; mph. Each team fields two drivers, each of Mechanical Engineering, was principal The institute dedicated its new and Maj. Amy Magnus, program manager at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. of whom drives 11 kilometers (about adviser to the team. Brad Anton, Cornell facility in Upson Hall last spring with 7 miles). Although this is primarily a associate professor of chemical and a ribbon-cutting attended by AFOSR biomolecular engineering, was co- officials and researchers from the Air adviser. Team leaders, all seniors, were Force Research Laboratory in Rome, Ben Kennedy, chassis; Chris Davin, N.Y., with which Cornell has close research ties. The laboratory also collaborates with Cornell engine; Chris Hopkins, electrical and in the Information Security Institute headed by Fred Schneider, Cornell professor of computer computer; and Erin Green, business. science. Principal sponsors of the Cornell The newly remodeled space includes computer terminals that provide access to the institute’s team include General Motors, Hunter dedicated computer cluster, a high-performance computer made up of a cluster of 12 Intel Industries, Heller Industries, Lockheed processors operating in parallel. But the main purpose of the spacious facility, Gomes said, is to Martin, General Electric, and Shell inspire collaboration among scientists. “There are whiteboards everywhere,” she pointed out, Oil. Some 50 other firms and alumni “and open workspaces, stimulating the exchange of ideas.” contributed parts and other support. The creation of the institute has created a buzz in the academic community, according to —Bill Steele, Cornell News Service Robert Constable, Cornell’s dean of computing and information science. “At one time Cornell wasn’t even present in AI, but now we’re being recognized as one of the top places, and we’re seeing it in the applications to graduate school.” This year, he said, there have been more applications from students wanting to work in AI than any other field, and more of those accepted have decided to come to Cornell than ever before. —Bill Steele, Cornell News Service Charles Harrington
2 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 3 news C ENG.NEWS
Fall Fall 2005 Vote of Confidence India Exchange
he National Science Foundation (NSF) has renewed presidential ndia, which has cornered the world economy’s virtual Cornell University’s management contract for the search begins T backroom, now will bring leading American science, operation of Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest and I The formation of the engineering, and computing faculty from Cornell University most-sensitive single-dish radio/radar telescope. A Puerto Presidential Search and other top colleges to teach students at Amrita Rican landmark, the huge telescope is famous as the Cornell Committee to nominate University and other institutions, thanks to EduSat and a successor to former locale for several movies, including the James Bond film Courtesy of From left, Madhavan Provided emerging distance-learning strategies. ENGineering Cornell University President “GoldenEye” and the movie version of Carl Sagan’s Contact. the NAIC- Nair, director of Jeffrey S. Lehman was Arecibo the Indian Space Cornell University President Hunter R. Rawlings The contract with the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) at Cornell—which ISSN 1081-3977 announced in July by Peter Observatory, Research Organization; III signed a three-year agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 20 in runs until March 31, 2010—is for approximately $70 million, making the NAIC the second- a facility of Ramesh Rao, Volume 11, Number 2 C. Meinig, chair of the Washington, D.C., that will bring visiting faculty and disseminate their lectures via EduSat. “This Fall 2005 the NSF. director, University of Cornell Board of Trustees, largest federally funded research center on campus. NAIC has managed the observatory for the California–San Diego’s is a tremendous opportunity for Cornell University faculty to gain wide exposure in India’s higher and Diana M. Daniels, vice past 34 years. Cornell Engineering (UCSD) Division of the education system, and for Cornell to enhance its ties with India at the highest level,” Rawlings Magazine is published chair of the board. Lehman The award was approved March 30 by the National Science Board, which establishes NSF California Institute for said. by the stepped aside from the policies, following a 15-month-long competition for management of the observatory with the Cornell University Telecommunications Carnegie Mellon University, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University presidency June 30. Hunter Universities Space Research Association, created by the National Academy of Science in 1969 and Information College of Engineering of California campuses at Berkeley and San Diego are partners in the consortium along with R. Rawlings III, president and largely funded by NASA. Technology; Cornell emeritus of Cornell and Cornell. Qualcomm Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Cadence Design Systems are funding this W. Kent Fuchs “We are very pleased with the confidence that the NSF has shown in supporting Cornell’s President Hunter Joseph Silbert Dean a current member of the Rawlings; Manmohan program. proposal to continue its management of NAIC, and we welcome the challenge to develop of Engineering faculty, is serving as interim Singh, prime minister Kent Fuchs, dean of Cornell’s College of Engineering, said: “Cornell enjoys long and president. further the scientific research capabilities at the observatory,” said Bob Brown, director of NAIC, of India; and Frieder Publisher meaningful relationships with Qualcomm and Microsoft; this program provides an opportunity to who spends 25 percent of his time at Arecibo. Seible, dean, UCSD Cathy Long Daniels chairs the search extend that relationship to collaborate with our peers at top institutes in India.” Assistant Dean committee. “I feel honored NAIC was created by Cornell in 1971 as a national center for radio science to operate and Jacobs School of Engineering at the Cornell has a very strong Indian student presence on campus, with 333 Indian nationals, the for Administration to have been chosen to manage the Arecibo Observatory for the NSF. The 1,000-foot-diameter (305 meters) Arecibo signing ceremony. fourth-largest international presence on campus. take on this important task. telescope was completed in 1963 at the initiative of Cornell electrical engineering professor Editor The university maintains eight existing agreements with Indian institutions, mostly in Barbara L. Cain We are all Cornellians, and William E. Gordon. Director the continued excellence agriculture, according to David Wippman, Cornell vice provost for international affairs. This The center provides access to state-of-the-art observing facilities at Arecibo for scientists in Engineering Communications of our great institution is engineering-oriented agreement expands the university’s relationship with India. “It exposes our and Media Relations radio astronomy, solar system radar astronomy, and atmospheric studies. uppermost in our minds. top faculty to India’s vast student body and opens the doors for other projects,” he said. The committee will work Operating with 11 people at Cornell in Ithaca and a staff of 136 at the observatory in Art Director —Cornell News Service Clive Howard diligently to nominate the Puerto Rico, NAIC administers observing time to more than 200 telescope users annually in the person best suited to lead astronomy and aeronomy academic communities. Printer Cornell in fulfilling its goals —David Brand, Cornell News Service Midstate Litho for the future,” she said. Endicott, NY “The committee will seek Photography advice from the entire All photos by University Cornell community and Photography unless from academic leaders A worthy opponent Rock records otherwise indicated throughout the nation and Editorial and around the world on the Business Offices characteristics that should B1 Carpenter Hall be sought in a new Cornell ornell University’s soccer-playing robots placed he Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Ithaca, NY 14853-2201 president.” Csecond in the Small Size league in the RoboCup TResearch Institution (PRI), which is affiliated with phone 607 255-6095 fax 607 255-9606 The committee 2005 competition held July 13–17 in Osaka, Japan, losing Cornell robots Ithaca artist Dan Cornell University, opened a new exhibit in July on e-mail
to the
By Melanie Bush
Sounds simple enough.Go 170 miles
ere’s the Hcatch: the traveler is a completely autonomous vehicle developed by Cornell students and the route, to be announced just hours before the race, is off-road through the rugged terrain of the desert Southwest. If all goes well in the semifinal round, Cornell engineers will advance to the final round of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge in October. Cornell’s autonomous vehicle will compete against 19 other robotic cars in an attempt to negotiate 170 miles of punishing desert terrain in the Southwest somewhere between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The stakes are high: winner takes home $2 million and bragging rights for accomplishing something that’s never been done. In the first DARPA Grand Challenge, held in March 2004, the most successful team, Carnegie Mellon, completed exactly 7.4 miles before being incapacitated by a boulder. The event is part of a congressionally mandated program that authorizes DARPA to conduct tests and award prizes for advances in vital technologies, in this case, the 2001 Defense Authorization Act’s goal that one third of all combat vehicles be unmanned by 2015. DARPA is the central research and development agency of the Department of Defense and has pioneered major technological breakthroughs such as the Internet, Stealth aircraft, and smart bombs. 6 Fall 2005 Collect $2 million. Cornell Engineering Magazine 7 DARPA
Ephrahim Garcia, associate professor of mechanical Cornell’s involvement with the Grand Challenge and aerospace engineering, is the main faculty adviser dates from the summer of 2004, when then- of the Cornell team, although he swiftly explains that “We aim to end this sophomore Noah Zych ’06 ME used the proceeds of this is a completely student-run project. Garcia feels his undergraduate research grant from the College of confident that Cornell will reign in the desert. “We aim Engineering to do a feasibility study on how much it to finish the Grand Challenge. Go 170 miles, collect two would cost to field a vehicle. “It all started with the million dollars. We aim to end this thing once and for thing once and for all.” students coming to me, and me saying, ‘Wait a minute— all.” let’s think about this,’” Garcia says. And what would Team Cornell do with the “DARPA sees the future of the military in machine- $2 million grand prize? Their goal is to establish an augmented human forces,” he continues, “robotic endowment for future student projects that would allow vehicles that will follow soldiers on foot into battle Cornell to make a larger impact at competitions like carrying firepower and ferrying wounded soldiers back DARPA. But actually, Garcia says, “The kids don’t talk to hospitals.” This year DARPA has made the course about the prize money. It’s not the culture of the team, not only longer and tougher but more akin to a real which is to execute well technically.” battlefield, laying down obstacles like tank traps, for Garcia has himself blazed a rigorous path on example, along the route. “Those will stop a vehicle his journey to Cornell. He grew up in New York that can’t sense them,” says Garcia. “DARPA City as the child of Cuban immigrants and earned wants to get people really thinking about this; his Ph.D. at the State University of New York in accomplishing their own research objectives is Buffalo in 1990, concentrating on smart controls in “DARPA sees the purpose of the contest.” microelectromechanical systems. Since then, he’s focused the future of For the 2005 event, 190 teams from both on mechatronics, using entomological academia and private industry applied, but only models to create a new generation of the military 20 would ultimately be selected to compete on bio-inspired robots. Though he doesn’t in machine- the basis of numerous safety inspections and consider himself a roboticist, he’s excited qualifying rounds. The Cornell team already by the challenge of building machines augmented aced its site visit from DARPA on March 1. that can travel efficiently and change human forces.” In an e-mailed report to colleagues, Garcia their shapes to adapt to the environment wrote: “The DARPA Grand Challenge team around them. did extremely well yesterday in front of two Garcia has conducted research for DARPA Program Managers (PMs).... The first NASA, the Air Force, the Office of Naval vehicle’s performance was a flawless three runs Research (ONR), and the Army Research of 200 meters, following a path set by GPS waypoints. The DARPA PMs put trashcans at blind spots ... but the Team and vehicle photos by Peter Moran artificial intelligence algorithms were robust enough to avoid them in all cases. “When the second vehicle was about to begin Ephrahim Garcia, its trial, a computer power supply fried, smoking associate professor spectacularly…. The team adapted brilliantly, of mechanical and aerospace engineering Office; run his own small company; taught at Vanderbilt Garcia believes Cornell students are especially cannibalizing parts from a desktop [computer] that and co-adviser of the University; and, most recently, worked in the Defense well suited to large, ambitious projects like the Grand was being used for diagnostics. The second vehicle Grand Challenge team. Sciences Office at DARPA. He was named a Presidential Challenge in part because of classes like MAE 225 also performed its requisite runs with about ten Faculty Fellow by Bill Clinton and an ONR Young Mechanical Design and Synthesis. “Synthesizing so many minutes to spare. The PMs were very impressed with Investigator. Now, as part of what he calls his “strange but elements in class motivates them to create real projects, Team Cornell’s ability to adapt under a very adverse fun path,” he has come to Cornell. to realize that products are not just something you buy. situation.” Arriving on campus in 2002, Garcia admitted at the It makes them want to do everything themselves. I think The university teams seem to have several time that a typical career trajectory would lead to a high- my mechatronics class—combining electromechanical significant advantages over industry professionals. profile job in industry after a stint at DARPA. But, he says, systems—has also helped. It has further demented their “Industry teams made up of paid workers tend to be “I wanted to get back to the trenches of academia, to go thinking, in a good way.” smaller than school teams,” says Isaac Miller, a Ph.D someplace where there were really good students and really Daniel Huttenlocher, co-faculty adviser and the candidate in mechanical engineering. He’s one of the few good colleagues.” Neafsey Professor of Computing, Information Science grad students involved in the project; about 90 percent And if Cornell’s Grand Challenge team has a secret and Business, is also impressed with the student team. of the team members are undergrads. “We not only weapon, Garcia is convinced it’s those really good students, “The most amazing thing about this whole project is have more manpower but more time. Kids are working who this year put together not one but two potential entries that last summer they had nothing. Now they have two 10-hour days, seven days a week. If you get a group of for the event. “The energy of college students is not to vehicles that run autonomously. And not only do they crazy undergrads together, they can do anything.” be underestimated, and Cornell kids are a zealous group, work hard; they work smart. They’ve done a thorough “Technically, the team that completes the race the working incredibly hard and achieving things that no one analysis of what went wrong last year, and they know fastest will win,” says Matthew Grimm ’06 ME, head of would ever expect from undergrads. I’ve been very impressed where to get their hands on things and when to go look the business team. “Realistically, whoever finishes will with the students’ ability to equip two teams.” for experts.” win.”
8 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 9 DARPA
front of it and a corridor ahead that swerves to the right, hopes will incapacitate their competition. Riding on our AI will synthesize this information completely. Also, 38-inch tires, Code Red can handle virtually any terrain our AI will learn as it’s going, adapting simulations in that could be encountered. Its suspension geometry real time in response to the terrain. Being able to adapt is was originally designed for rock crawling, an extreme a huge advantage.” variant of off-road racing. Titan is based on a military Team Cornell installed the same sensing light strike vehicle, designed to handle demanding configuration and AI algorithms in both vehicles. As combat situations, and is the perfect host for the sensing Schimpf explains, “We put all our energy into designing platform, lightweight and durable, allowing it to support one set of code.” sensors and computers without sacrificing performance. For data-gathering, the Cornell team is using “I do not think that these cars finishing this course a versatile combination of sensors. The vehicle will is an impossible goal,” says Garcia. “Once a vehicle integrate a GPS, LIDAR, stereoscopic vision, and tactile goes 10 miles—if its decision logic is that good—the feedback to provide the vehicle with information. These next 10 miles will be easier. This is an incredibly difficult sensor systems act as eyes, providing the input needed to technical problem, if a team like Carnegie Mellon, create a model of the world. Unlike the human eye, these with 20 years of robotics experience and 15 years of sensors operate on a variety of wavelengths, government contracts, can only make it seven acquiring much more information than even miles. It’s true this year they have the edge of the most experienced driver can gather. experience—they’ve seen things firsthand. But The racecourse itself is defined using GPS they also didn’t do very well, so maybe there waypoints, so an accurate GPS receiver is are ruts in their thinking.” “Technically, the team that essential. Most commercial units have 20-foot “Carnegie Mellon represents the opposite accuracy, and while that is suitable for most end of the spectrum,” says Huttenlocher. uses—hiking in the woods or giving directions “They have a huge robotics department, a completes the race the fastest will in a car—Cornell’s receiver and antenna have huge budget, faculty research scientists, and an accuracy of 10 centimeters. The receiver professional engineers working on this. Cornell also uses a signal from a subscription service is taking the approach of general skill and win.” called OmniSTAR that provides corrections spirit. And Ephrahim Garcia is a great role to improve accuracy further. When the GPS “I do not think model, an energetic, positive guy who doesn’t Grimm calls himself “the overall problem solver, each other appropriately,” explains Garcia. “There are service goes out or becomes less accurate, for think ‘no’ is ever the right answer.” the logistics man.” His focus has been on helping servomechanisms that control things like the steering instance in a valley, the vehicles will also use an that these On June 6, DARPA announced the 40 the team navigate the university bureaucracy and and the brakes; I think of this level as a vehicle’s inertial navigation unit to pinpoint position. teams selected to advance to the semifinals of cultivating the kinds of large-scale sponsors a project musculoskeletal system. At the next, middle level there’s a The stereoscopic image processing, cars finishing the Grand Challenge competition. Those teams like this needs. And large-scale sponsors have been GPS (Global Positioning System) for basic path planning. which mimics a human driver’s eyes, will will compete head-to-head in the National found. AMD has provided substantial cash and With that come the LIDAR (Light Detection and be used for intermediate and short-range this course is Qualifying Event at the California Speedway equipment. Singapore Technologies (ST) donated the Ranging) system and the stereoscopic vision that the car obstacle detection, with original algorithms in September, where half will advance to the entire second vehicle, Titan. When the vehicle had will use to process information collected from the world. providing dramatically improved speed and an impossible finals. engine trouble, ST sent an engineer to Cornell to assess This is a higher-end thinking in which the vehicle will see object resolution. Motion parallax (a form of Given only one entry slot for the semifinal the problem, shipped the truck to Detroit for repairs, the landscape and the obstacles and fuse this information motion flow) will allow the cars to identify goal.” round, Team Cornell had to make a choice then returned it to the team race-ready. into its view of the world. Then the artificial intelligence objects separate from the ground plane using between their vehicles. “We decided to enter “It serves both of us,” says Grimm of the ST (AI) will make decisions about where to go in that world sequential video frames from a single camera. the Titan since the design makes it easier to sponsorship. “DARPA is one of the huge contractors by massive computation—algorithms based on cost: These two complementary techniques will compensate mount all the large components, such as computers and in the military; ST wants to break into the military ‘In which direction will I be least likely to get stuck?’ A for the shortcomings of each. The vehicles will also generators, that we need to include,” explains Schimpf. market. This is a way for them to get their name and vehicle with an accurate view of its world will have a employ texture recognition to distinguish between Although Code Red won’t go to the competition, it products into the forefront.” (Additionally, Cornell has huge advantage. penetrable and impenetrable obstacles. was nevertheless critical to the team’s success. “There the second-largest Singaporean college population in “Realistically, the battle will be won or lost by how The data from each individual sensor (LIDAR, was about six-week period in which Titan was out for the U.S., after Stanford.) good the AI is,” says Garcia. “It needs the ability, for stereo vision, GPS) are combined into one large map of repair,” Schimpf says. “Without Code Red, we would The other vehicle, Code Red, was assembled out example, to navigate complexities like the difference the world, which the AI will use to track where the road never have been able to finish the software and sensor of different sponsors’ parts. “We never ask for gifts, between a dense shrub and a rock. The LIDAR, along is, where obstacles are, how big the obstacles are, where systems in time for the site visit.” just for at-cost or discounted donations, which are with other sensors, must answer the question does this the vehicle is on the race course, and the current status The Cornell team has scheduled six full weeks of incredibly valuable. Companies have been exceptionally object flex? Is it a bush or a rock? There’s a decision tree of the vehicle (for instance, how hard it’s accelerating). practice in the desert, testing their algorithms in the field. generous; in turn, we give them something to brag constantly being generated: ‘What if…what if…what A path-planning algorithm uses the data to decide on the “I think the main mistake teams made last year is that about.” Grimm estimates the team has raised if?’” best way to navigate to the next waypoint, and a separate they didn’t spend enough time practicing,” Garcia says. approximately $90,000 in cash and $250,000 in in- Brian Schimpf ’06 ORE is the AI team leader. “A function, called the system controller, translates the “But in terms of winning, I actually think we’ve already kind donations, all in less than one year. lot of teams had trouble last year because their systems world model into actual driving commands: how much won. The educational goals these students have achieved The three major components involved in mastering couldn’t handle sudden changes; they were designed to throttle is needed, for example, or which way the vehicle cannot be underestimated; they’re enormous, much more the Grand Challenge are the artificial intelligence avoid what was right in front of them,” says Schimpf. needs to steer. than engineers in a corporation would gain in a year.” system, the data-gathering sensors, and the vehicles “The path-planning systems we’re implementing are The final crucial ingredient for success: a vehicle themselves. “This whole project is a system of systems, much more intelligent—they’re not just dealing with that can reliably travel the 170 desert miles that Cornell as well as one of getting all the systems to talk to immediate problems. If the vehicle has a small rock in 10 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 11 iPod
Flying across the Atlantic Ocean last month, three of the four By Ken Aaron people sitting closest to me had small white circles stuck The inside their ears. The same Music plastic doodads adorned a couple Jon Rubinstein ’78 EE, of people in the row in front of me; same for Behind one of the developers of the row behind. In fact, as I looked around, I could see those dime-sized earphones, and the the iPod, describes the dangling white plastic cords that tethered them to team approach and iPods, in row after row.
consumer focus that hat’s sweet music to Cornell Engineering alumnus Jon Rubinstein. Rubinstein is senior vice president of Apple’s iPod division, a created the popular digital Tjob he’s held since last year. He’s also one of the fathers of the iPod, the increasingly ubiquitous digital music player: Back in 2001, Rubinstein is the person music player. whom legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs entrusted with the responsibility of bringing a digital music player from concept to store shelves in an 8-month marathon sprint. Since it was released that November, more than 20 million iPods have been sold, including more than 10 million this year alone. At its core, the iPod is little more than a screen and a hard drive and some other electronics. But that plastic and metal box, little bigger than a deck of playing cards, has changed Apple’s fortunes from the maker of a well-loved but slow-selling line of computers to a relevant-again player in the electronics world. Rubinstein, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1978 and followed that with a master of engineering degree in electrical engineering from Cornell a year later (he also has a master’s in computer science from Colorado State University), has led Apple’s hardware engineering efforts since 1997. But the nature of his contribution to the iPod project has been largely unheralded. That’s because at Apple, Images and photos courtesy of Apple personalities are secondary and products are king, produced by group effort and hatched with much hoopla to a rabid fan base before heading to store shelves. And the hard-charging Rubinstein keeps with that tradition, crediting the success to his team and speaking of his goals with an eye toward the consumer. His first goal, he says, is to make the best products on the market; his second is to build the best engineering team in the world. “To achieve number one, you really need to achieve number two,” he says. The development of the iPod started with the realization that, in the future, consumers would have a constellation of electronic devices that would tie into their home computers. “Our strategy here at Apple has been the digital hub. It started with that six years ago,” Rubinstein said in a recent telephone interview from Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, the heart of Silicon Valley. “We saw the trends starting to form with digital video cameras, digital still cameras, with Palms, with cell phones and all of that. We started developing applications for all of those devices.” So the drive to make the Macintosh, Apple’s personal computer line, a digital hub started with software that helped users edit videos (iMovie), organize photos (iPhoto), and keep track of their music (iTunes.) The trouble with the Mac platform, though, was that even though its hardware and software were widely considered superior to personal computers running Windows, there were still far more Windows PCs than Mac users. The Mac’s market share was below 10 percent and falling.
12 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 13 iPod
Good applications might drive some people to buy That tiny hard drive, which was 5 gigabytes in the Rubinstein acknowledges that Apple’s strength comes he says. “Apple’s a consumer company in its heart. From my Macs, and there’s some evidence that the iPod has convinced first model but now comes in sizes up to 60 gigabytes, was from its tendency to consider the average person who perspective, the iPod’s just an evolution of that.” people to abandon their Windows PCs for the platform. unearthed during one of Rubinstein’s frequent visits to would use the device. One of Rubinstein’s next challenges will be to figure out But there was also sentiment that Apple could make a lot of Apple’s suppliers. “We look at the whole problem, from silicon all the what else will fit under that brand logically. He’s not talking money by making one of the devices that tap into the hub. “The way we found the hard drive, for example, we way up to the Internet,” he says. “The iPod is successful — Apple never does about such things — but the rumor mill is “While iTunes was under development, we looked at the were doing our usual tech review with the vendor in Japan. because we work on the whole user experience. It’s not ablaze. A video iPod? An iPod phone? Something with wireless devices that were available on the market,” Rubinstein says. We were reviewing the standard drive road map that we impossible, but it’s really hard for other companies to Internet? Something else entirely? Video cameras and still cameras, Rubinstein and his crew were using in our standard product.” duplicate what we’ve done,” he says. “There’s just so many dimensions of what we’re doing found, were pretty well designed. Lots of people thought While doing that run-through with Toshiba, somebody That experience begins at the point when you unpack that I see a lot more opportunity going forward,” he says. So Apple would release a Palm-like organizer, but Jobs decided there mentioned that company’s work on a 1.8-inch hard your iPod from the box, which is a black sheath that has far, the company has shrunk not only the iPod — its smallest that their day might have passed. drive, a cool engineering project that didn’t yet have a home. actual-size photos of the iPod printed on it. Inside the model, the Shuffle, is the same size as a pack of gum — but “When we got to digital music players, what was out “If you could find a use for that, we’d really like that,” sheath is a box that opens like a book; on one side is the also its price; iPods sell from $99 now up to $399. there was awful. They were big and they were heavy, the user Toshiba told Apple. iPod, and on the other, accessories. “Designed Rubinstein’s not in the lab doing schematics interfaces were terrible,” Rubinstein says. Rubinstein’s familiarity with the supply chain is by Apple in California” are the only words and ground-level design work any more. His job The players that relied on hard drives to store music one reason why he was able to bring the iPod to market on the sheath, another reminder that the iPod encompasses everything from exhorting his team were too bulky. The ones that used flash-memory chips could so quickly, said Mike McGuire, a research director for you are about to turn on was crafted from the to make the device cheaper, to working closely only store a handful of tracks. In both varieties, it took too GartnerG2, a technology consulting firm. “A lot of it came loving minds at the company and didn’t just with the legions of companies making iPod add- long to transfer songs from computers to the devices, and down to the manufacturability of it,” McGuire says. “It’s fall off some production line somewhere. ons, such as cases, FM transmitters, and other navigating through those one thing to come up The product that results from that kind of accessories, to plotting a roadmap for future songs was painful enough with a great concept. It’s arm’s-length arrangement is often a confusing iPod development. “It’s a real pleasure to be to make users long for another thing to make it mish-mash that only somebody with a able to work through a large team of people and cassette tapes. manufacturable.” computer science degree could understand. Not create lots of products because at the end of the “So Steve asked me He points to the that that stops these devices from reaching the day, I’m really a product guy. And by leveraging to go do a music player,” metal back on the iPod market — because in tech circles, elegance is “The iPod’s a my skills with the capabilities of the team, we Rubinstein says. as an example of where favored less than impressing other techies. can make lots and lots of great products.” As much as iPod users Rubinstein’s expertise Fred Schneider, a Cornell professor of great example In typical Apple fashion, he won’t talk rave about the iPod, it’s came in. Tooling up computer science whose operating systems about anything in the pipeline, other than to hard to tell by looking at a production line to class helped inspire Rubinstein to pursue a of Jon seeing assure that it’s “really, really cool stuff.” it why it’s such a big deal, produce that shiny career in computers, says Apple’s insistence on “I think we’re kind of just getting started,” technologically. At its core, back, every single one of making its technology transparent to the user a piece of Rubinstein says. “I think there’s a constant trend an iPod is a conglomeration which can be personally keeps it successful. to how you improve the product. How do you of about a half-dozen engraved, wasn’t trivial, “All these geeks go off and worry about technology’s raise the bar, make it better and better?” different technologies McGuire says, and building computing systems that are neat in I’m listening to an iPod while I write this. that make a tiny package “speaks a lot to his some way or another technically and think potential — that I’ve owned the album that’s playing, by a band when bundled together. It has a display; it has a long-lasting contacts in the manufacturing world.” of a computing system as a special sort of called The Shins, for a lot longer than I’ve owned rechargeable battery; it has a core microchip that drives Those are just two bits of the finished product. There thing. And what Rubinstein taught me, it’s no very, very small the iPod. In fact, I’ve owned almost all of the the thing. Technologically speaking, iPod is more a direct were plenty of other hurdles to overcome, Rubinstein says, different than a vacuum cleaner. It has to be 1,606 songs currently on the slender white box, descendant of other computer hardware than a new branch such as figuring out how to squeeze a dozen hours of music that easy to use. It has to be that easy, from form-factor hard about the same size as a deck of cards, for years. on the family tree. “From a system architecture point of out of the tiny battery (it involves storing the current song the time you open the box, so he and the folks But despite that, it’s exciting to hit “shuffle” on view, it’s just a slightly scaled down version of the products on a memory chip so the hard drive doesn’t spin incessantly, at Apple have a very different model of doing drive.” the tiny jukebox and have a track come up that we were already doing,” Rubinstein says. sucking juice.) There’s a perpetual quest to shrink the business than any other computing company.” you haven’t thought about, let alone heard, in But in 2000, when Apple first started thinking about internal electronics. And there’s software, of course; half of As intensely consumer oriented as the iPod years — it’s a bit like unwrapping the compact making a music player, “the technology really wasn’t there the iPod’s design team is devoted to the program that runs it. is, much of Rubinstein’s career has involved working on discs all over again. It’s that kind of re-discovery that makes yet to make a great player,” Rubinstein recalls. It was no mean feat to produce an interface that never stalls far less visible, but more powerful, projects. At Hewlett- the gadget more than a gadget. iPod users — and they include But much of what he knew was necessary really wasn’t or hiccups when listeners breeze through their songs. Packard, where he worked after graduating from Cornell, high schoolers, and lawyers, and retirees who’d rather not go that far away. So in early 2001, Rubinstein assembled a team Four years later, Apple still holds a commanding lead in Rubinstein developed workstations. At his next stop, anywhere near a computer otherwise — will tell you that the to figure out which technologies could be brought together the portable music player market, holding 75 percent of the the bygone Stardent, he was responsible for processor box practically changed their lives and is one of those things quickly to make a best-in-show music player. market. Even Sony, which once invented a portable cassette development of a graphics supercomputer. that they can’t imagine living without. But in a good way — An example of how those pieces came together can player called the Walkman that made the notion of carrying That technology sounds a lot heavier than what he’s most people can’t imagine living without a cell phone, either, be found in the hard drive that led to the device’s first around personalized music a reality, has had trouble coming dealing with today. But it’s not too far different. but many people would also hurl them into the ocean if they marketing campaign — to “put 1,000 songs in your pocket” up with a solution; its MP3 players haven’t attracted much “When you’ve got a heritage of dealing with incredibly could get away with it. — and was key to making it a reality. of a following in Europe and North America, where Apple is complex things, when you get paired with a bunch of Rubinstein, who keeps plenty of reggae, jazz, and 1970s Greg Joswiak, vice president of iPod product marketing, dominant by far. people who can design really cool things, it’s a challenge, rock on his iPods, understands why people get so attached to has worked alongside Rubinstein since 1997. “Jon’s very The reason why Apple stays ahead of the pack, consensus and probably a good one,” McGuire says. them. “It makes the music so accessible,” Rubinstein says. “It good at seeing a technology and very quickly assessing how goes, is because its product designers and its engineers Rubinstein downplays the significance of any difference brings all your music together, and it’s just right there. That’s good it is,” Joswiak says. “The iPod’s a great example of collaborate from the beginning. “Everybody may have these in his current and past work. Both the cheapest iPod, at one of the cool things about the whole iPod project. We didn’t Jon seeing a piece of technology’s potential — that very, very outrageously cool ideas, but you have to turn it over to the $99, and the $10,000 servers he used to work on share have to go to do case studies or focus groups. Everybody loves small form-factor hard drive.” manufacturing guys at some point,” McGuire says. similar lineage, Rubinstein says. “Both are storage devices,” music. It was so obvious.”
14 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 15 Biozon
he quest for knowledge takes lots of twists and turns, with both promising leads and dead ends confronting scientists seeking insight into the secrets EC Family 1.1.1.1 of life. Sifting through the massive amount of data continuously churned out by labs can be a daunting task for researchers looking to identify and A establish links between basic biological phenomena. TNow such researchers have a powerful tool to help bring order to the chaos of computer databases in an array of formats storing information on thousands of proteins and genes. Called Biozon, the project is the brainchild of Cornell computational biologist Golan Yona, who has adapted the latest search technologies used by such Internet giants B as Google and Amazon to create a hybrid data processing engine that promises to speed the pace of discovery. “Biological data is being generated in so many different types and in such large- scale efforts, presenting a challenge to analyze it all effectively and to integrate the available information for the greatest benefit,” Yona says. Research facilities evaluating biological entities in vivo are now producing digital records on the physical sequences of chromosomes, the existence of molecular interactions, the expression patterns of genes, and so on, he notes. “The rules of the game have changed, so that scientists have much more information to consider,” he says. His solution was to re-examine the way biological data is warehoused, retrieved, and analyzed, employing an A computational biologist extensive and tightly connected logical graph schema at Cornell has developed a resource to store and explore and advanced data-crunching methods. biological data that may be the A particular challenge is that the functions of key to unlocking the secrets of many genes remain to be discovered, and just the protein universe. looking at the gene sequence itself doesn’t reveal Data the characterization. “And, if you really want to analyze a gene, you need to look at not just related genes, but consider also the interactions it forms and the cellular Proteins pathways it is involved in,” says Yona. The same holds true for biological pathways comprising multiple genes. So understanding the pathway requires knowledge of the constituent proteins. “There is a strong mutual dependency among biological entities,” Yona says. That mutual dependency is the key to Biozon’s effectiveness connections and is something that Interactions Structures By Jay Wrolstad
16 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 17 Biozon
existing biological databases cannot provide. “Biological of database, and few models to use. We had to create the was performing as advertised,” Shafer says. “It will be a contributed to the project. “Biologists now have access data is searchable, but we are creating a resource that will concept ourselves—enabling complex searches not found very valuable tool for biologists.” to all the information they need in one place. This makes integrate all of the data and will relate the entities to each elsewhere,” says Cornell programmer Aaron Birkland, Isganitis concurs, saying, “As my first project, Biozon it much easier to find data on a given gene and related other,” says Yona. That includes connections between DNA who collaborated with Yona in creating the foundation for was a valuable experience in that I learned how to conduct proteins than searching through several databases,” he says. sequences and the proteins they encode, relations between Biozon. proper research methods.” He notes that being an author of Linn cites the search engine’s ability to conduct protein sequences and the structures that they fold into, and Biozon also borrows from concepts developed by a published academic paper detailing the work is a feather comprehensive data analysis, noting similarities, as links between expression data and DNA sequences, to name online retailer Amazon.com, a popular web location with in his professional cap and was influential in his acceptance particularly useful to him and his peers. “The big question a few. the ability to host sites for other vendors and to create by Carnegie Mellon University to do graduate study at the is, what does a gene do? More than half of the identified Biozon currently stores information on no less than purchasing patterns among consumers that often leads to Language Technologies Institute, focusing on computational genes have no known function, and this will allow us to 40 million protein and DNA sequences, 30,000 protein targeted marketing efforts. In a similar manner, accessing biology and artificial intelligence. determine that function more quickly, potentially saving structures, and 200,000 interactions, totaling 90 million a wide variety of biological databases and identifying To conduct a search on Biozon, the scientist first years of time spent on research.” documents from storehouses such as GenBank, Uniprot, patterns across biological data has enormous potential formulates a question, such as “What are all of the In delving into the roles of genes in the human PDB, and BIND, as well as from in-house computations. It for understanding relationships, predicting function, structures of proteins that interact with a particular breast olfactory system, says Linn, he has taken advantage of also lists some 2.5 billion relations between documents. and discovering emergent data structures and biological cancer gene?” The answer requires data on protein-to- Biozon’s capabilities. “We know that these genes have an “We have created a unified resource that allows a view phenomena. protein interactions, sequences, effect on neurons in the nose of every entity in its broader biological context,” Yona says. The more information a researcher has at his or her and structures and the ability to and transmit information to the Down the line, Biozon should be able not only to link to disposal, the greater the accuracy of assertions being made, link it all together. The search brain, but we have discovered the available databases, but also to augment says Yona. “We looked at several different web engine will query all the relations a number of them that have existing information in such a way that searching methods and developed effective between structures and proteins, unknown functions. With scientists can accurately predict interactions searching techniques, after determining that and all relations between proteins Biozon we may be able to between proteins, their domain structure and “This will allow the Google method is the most effective way to and interactions. In Biozon, these determine those functions.” their function, and the pathways they are rank and organize query results.” relations are not established just And that’s just one of involved in. us to determine Biozon’s effectiveness is the direct result based on cross-links between myriad applications for the The process of downloading information of a data graphing structure that is expressive databases. The actual entities are search engine, Linn notes. from a database, analyzing it, and then gene function enough to conduct searches that span highly examined carefully to determine “This has potential for any moving on to the next depository is a tedious, connected entities and can pinpoint those possible relations that are often biological question and any time-consuming chore for researchers who more quickly, connections, Birkland says. “In biology, overlooked. type of biological analysis.” often lack the skills to do the job efficiently, meaning is stated as shapes and pathways, and “This increases tremendously That utility increases with Yona contends. “We want to help them by potentially that lends itself to expressive types of searches.” the expressiveness of our system,” users such as Linn being able compiling the data from multiple databases The underlying data graph holds a mind- says Yona, “We can link biological to register with Biozon so that into a single unified knowledge resource, savings years of boggling one terabyte (roughly a thousand entities based on physical they can contribute or access processing the data to determine relationships gigabytes) of information in a relational properties, not just on identifiers.” comments posted on the site, between biological entities (such as similarity time spent on database. A cluster of 50 machines is used to Biozon takes such capabilities store query results for future relations), and then providing those results as crunch the data. “It’s a very powerful tool,” a step further by enabling reference, and get access to part of the database.” research.” Birkland notes. “fuzzy” searches that list tenuous proprietary information. Four years in the making, Biozon Also working on the search engine were connections among data sets. The A biologist may want remains a work in progress, with mountains undergraduates Paul Shafer and Tim Isganitis, notion of similarity is critical, more than just a list of search of information still to be integrated. The goal is to develop both of whom graduated with computer science degrees in says Yona, because extrapolating results. He or she might want a system that enables open contributions and the sharing of May. They were charged with finding the optimum way to on the properties of a particular the actual entities or biological information data using the infrastructure and tools created rank query results. protein or gene can result in a structures themselves, to by Yona and his team. “Typically results are not sorted by relevance. Instead previously undetected relationship. download or review, says Yona. “ In Biozon, users can The big bang in cyberspace resulted in a demand they may be ranked arbitrarily based on alphabetical Similarities are used often in computational biology to save their queries, materialize the entities, or reproduce from computer users for help in navigating the Internet, ordering or by the date the record was created,” Isganitis infer relationships, and some databases allow this, but not prior results,” he says. “Scientists can focus on research especially for ways to find what they are looking for among explains. “Our method looks at the web as interconnected based on expression data. Measuring the expression levels rather than on database construction, web tools, and other billions of web sites. Google leaped to the forefront in pages, like Google, with rankings based on the connectivity of different genes can indicate their activity in a cell under indirectly related research tasks. This also helps eliminate a search with an uncanny ability to deliver the most pertinent of those pages; usually the pages with the most links are the certain conditions. Thus, researchers can find correlations duplication of efforts in biology labs.” results at the top of what can be very long lists of query most significant.” between genes, or similar patterns of expression, that are To speed the knowledge transfer process, Biozon results on virtually any topic. This approach can be applied to a database, so that by the basis for a functional link (such as an interaction) and in allows experts to add notes to specific biological entities Their success, along with that of engines run by Lycos, looking at entities versus words, protein or DNA sequences turn suggest new relationships. before the formal publication of a paper. “The time between Ask Jeeves, AltaVista, Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft, among can be neatly organized. “We experimented with existing Yona is now offering Biozon to the scientific a scientific discovery and the release of that discovery could others, has ushered in some amazing search capabilities. algorithms to see which ones provide the most useful community and getting some rave reviews. “People are be several years. We can provide links to a research Web Computer users can now quickly search through all of ranking of results,” Isganitis says. Biologists can collect excited about how this can be used, how powerful it is,” he site and release new information, pending authorization.” the information on their machines, obtain directions to a information from many sources—some of which may be says. “A faculty member at one university told me she had Yona calls Biozon a “complete roadmap of the protein restaurant, or get a real-time, bird’s-eye view of locations useful and some of which may not be, because they are a full-time assistant doing these types of searches. There is universe” — an apt description of a tool that will help near and far. outdated or not relevant—and order them to present the still a lot of work to do with the prototype, but we have scientists figure out where they are headed and get there The graph theory technology behind such popular most useful information first. something that is a big advance in database research.” faster. search engines serves as the model for Biozon. “The “It was great research experience, and it was very Also singing Biozon’s praises is David Linn, an challenge was that there is not much precedent for this type rewarding to see that the technology we helped to develop assistant professor of biomedical sciences at Cornell who
18 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 19 Cassini The Revealed Sixth from the sun, the planet Saturn is only ixteen years after Joe Burns started to help plan the now giving up secrets Cassini mission to Saturn, NASA’s orbiter has reached that Joe Burns and its destination, with new data streamingS back to Earth every day. It Rings his colleagues have will take years, or even decades, before it’s all analyzed, and as the first papers are being published, Burns sits quietly in his office, juggling waited years to his three jobs — engineering professor, researcher, and vice provost — and enjoying the vicarious pleasures of being a billion miles away. learn. “I love to travel, and this is just the greatest way to go,” says Burns, a professor of astronomy, the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering, and university By Kenny Berkowitz ’81 vice provost for physical sciences and engineering. “There’s the elegant beauty of space, the excitement of exploration, the chance to see new things. It’s like traveling to another country, where you’re stimulated by seeing something unexpected and trying to understand how that society operates. From a technical standpoint, Cassini provides an opportunity to tackle scientific puzzles that may have very, very simple solutions. Because we’re surveying this system in detail for the first time, we don’t need to have the answers to the nth decimal place — we just need an order of magnitude. We merely want to understand what we’re seeing.” With papers piled on the floor, posters of Saturn taped to the walls, and a bicycle leaning against a bookcase, Burns seems perfectly at home in his office, dressed in a T-shirt and sandals, and speaking with a simple directness that makes a lifetime in space exploration almost sound like an accident. One of five brothers, Burns grew up in the then-rural Hudson Valley, and though he was offered a scholarship to Cornell as an undergraduate, his father sent him instead to Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, located on Long Island Sound. (“When my dad learned that I’d gotten into a school that was totally free,” says Burns, “he said, ‘Son, you’re a naval architect.’ So I became a naval architect.”)
20 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 21 Cassini
Webb was so small, with only 17 students in his of those students have gone on to become very well known graduating class, that Burns joined the intercollegiate and respected in the field themselves — and they all still tennis team, even though he’d never played before, talk to him.” and became student body president. Through Webb’s “Joe can handle a wide range of scientific questions required co-op program, Burns worked as a shipyard on all sorts of matters,” says Peter Thomas, senior welder, an engine room cadet on a merchant ship, and a research associate, who was originally trained as a tester of models for America’s Cup yachts. Nonetheless, geologist (Cornell Ph.D. ’78) and works on the Cassini by the time he graduated, he had already rethought imaging team with Burns. “He’s a great example of career plans as a ship designer. By then, five years after someone who has moved beyond his formal training to the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into space become very prominent in the field. Because whatever your and only months after John Glenn became the first background, after working for a while in space, you train American to orbit Earth, the best minds of a generation yourself to do other things. It’s all about exploration, and were turning toward space, and Burns decided when you’re exploring unknown worlds, you to pursue a doctorate. learn to adapt.” “I was just a Coming to Cornell, Burns shifted his Burns’s first mission, the ill-fated Comet focus from fluid mechanics to space dynamics, Rendezvous Asteroid Fly-By (CRAF), lasted completing his Ph.D. in 1966 and taking a about five years before it was cancelled by space groupie.” post-doc at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Congress, with some of its hardware later Center. Two years later, Burns came back to transferred to Cassini. On Galileo, his second join the engineering faculty at Cornell, where mission, he analyzed spacecraft images of he found himself drawn into Carl Sagan’s Jupiter and discovered two new rings, one orbit. Over the next decade, Burns became an embedded in the other and both composed expert on planetary dynamics, and apart from “Joe can of microscopic debris kicked off the planet’s research appointments in Berkeley, Moscow, smaller moons. The structures were totally NASA-Ames, Paris, Prague, and Tucson, he’s handle a unexpected, and the significance was huge: been in Ithaca ever since. For the first time, Burns and his colleagues Working with colleagues and students, wide range had determined how planetary rings can Burns has discovered numerous irregular be continually reborn after they originated, satellites in orbit around Saturn, Uranus, and of scientific billions of years ago, when the solar system Neptune, sparking research that, since 1997, was forming from a flattened disc of dust and has tripled the number of known satellites questions on gas. in the solar system; in tribute, he’s had an In talking about Cassini, Burns is proud asteroid, 2708 Burns, named after him. Along all sorts of to be associated with the mission’s Cornellians: with teaching graduate and undergraduate Nicholson; Thomas; Joe Veverka, professor classes in mechanics, applied mathematics, matters.” and chair of the astronomy department; Peter astronomy, and physics, he’s edited two books, Gierasch and Steve Squyres ’78, Ph.D. ’81, Planetary Satellites and Satellites; chaired the professors of astronomy; and Matt Tiscareno American Astronomical Society’s divisions of and Matt Hedman, post-doctoral associates planetary science and dynamical astronomy; and spent who arrived last year. Also on the Cassini scientific team twenty years as the editor of Icarus: The International are Mark Showalter, Ph.D. ’85, a doctoral student of Journal of Solar System Studies. Burns’s, and two Engineering graduates whom Burns As Burns tells it, all this came about through his taught: Jeff Cuzzi ’67, the mission’s leader for studies of friendship with various Cornell astronomers, including planetary rings, and Tony DelGenio ’73, an expert on Sagan — “I was just a space groupie,” he says — which planetary atmospheres. In describing his part in their led to Icarus, press conferences, organizing national collaboration, Burns likes to talk about the solar system’s meetings, space policy panels, chairships, congressional smallest bodies — satellites, asteroids, comets, and dust hearings, and ultimately to membership on the CRAF, — and the evolutionary effects of even the most minute, Galileo, and Cassini missions. But when colleagues barely measurable forces, acting over eons. “If my work describe him, the stories are very different: “Joe has a has a theme, it may be that the world is understandable,” tremendously broad, encyclopedic knowledge of the he says. “Even things that at first appear unbelievable can research that’s been done in a lot of areas in planetary be understood with a little creativity and enough study.” science,” says Phil Nicholson, professor of astronomy, If the example of past missions holds true, some who’s known Burns for more than twenty years and of the most influential studies from Cassini may still be works as a member of Cassini’s visual and infrared years away, after the data are all archived, analyzed, and mapping spectrometer (VIMS) team. “His modus analyzed again. Already, Burns and the imaging team have operandi is identify a problem and find a graduate published their first papers in Nature and Science, with student who can make it the nucleus of their thesis. But discoveries that have startled the scientific community. almost always, it was Joe’s idea in the first place. Many New rings have been found around Saturn; new moons
22 Fall 2005 Space images and photos courtesy of NASA Cornell Engineering Magazine 23 Cassini
have been identified in the gaps between rings; and clouds of the rings’ composition and is puzzled to see that of oxygen suggest the presence of tenuous atmospheres they’re “remarkably homogeneous, unvarying, looking over the rings. very much like the ideal laboratory spectrum of low “Research is a very human endeavor, with a lot of temperature water frost.” competition that demands a lot of drive,” says Burns. There are traces of iron silicates and organics in the “For the most part, it’s friendly competition, but to mix as well, and any number of possible explanations, some degree, we all want to be the first person to point with no clear solution in sight. But the biggest surprise something out. Nowadays I don’t care so much about for Nicholson comes from recognizing just how far this “We’ve publication, but I love to tell people, ‘Look at what we mission has come from its inception. “We’ve spent 16 just found!’ It’s not like a steep mountain that I’ve got to years planning this mission in great detail, deciding what climb — I’m old enough now that I don’t need to climb observations we could make,” he says. “It’s hard to come spent 16 years mountains anymore, but I still am excited to learn what’s to grips with the fact that we’re actually getting brand over that next ridge.” new data arriving every day now, which is a huge change In its first year, Cassini has captured many tens of in mindset.” planning this thousands more images than the Voyager flyby missions For old hands like Burns and Nicholson, finally and is expected to send a hundred thousand more before arriving at Saturn leads to more planning, not less, with the nominal mission ends three years from now. “In the increasing amounts of time spent watching others do mission in great detail. past, we used to get a snapshot of these rings, just a few the hands-on analytical and numerical analyses that first pictures that we could stare and stare at,” says Burns. “But excited them about space exploration. “Sometimes I think now, we get to watch the whole movie, so that we can it would be nice to have a week to do nothing except bury It’s hard to come to grips learn how things change. And because dynamics is what myself in the data,” says Nicholson. “Because it’s such a I’m about, if we can see these systems evolve, we can write long mission, you’d think there would be plenty of time the differential equations that describe those changes. And to do things, but there are deadlines coming up every with the fact that we’re that’s fun.” day. And even though we’re getting data now, we’re still “Cassini is producing orders of magnitude more in the process of detailed planning for observations that data about the rings than anyone has had before,” says will happen six months or a year from now. So much of actually getting brand new Matt Hedman, whose previous training in experimental the nitty-gritty science is being done by post-docs and cosmology prepared him to extract weak signals even graduate students, and people like Joe and I have to get when they are contaminated with substantial noise; he our kicks from vicariously looking over their shoulders.” data arriving every day now.” is currently working with both Burns and Nicholson. The time is especially crowded for Burns, who “We’ve been given the opportunity to see things that have spends about half of his day as vice provost trying to never been seen before, things that have only existed in facilitate the research of other faculty members in the simulations. As a relative neophyte, I’m able to ask Joe university and claims that his greatest accomplishment or Phil, ‘What does this mean?’ And sometimes they can as an administrator is “staying alive. My problem is explain it, and sometimes they can’t — which is especially that I try to be involved in way too many things. I’m exciting. I’m learning as I go, and I continue to be amazed attempting to learn about, and help, the dozen research at just how complex these systems are.” centers that report to me, but not willing to pass up this “The thing that’s surprised me is just the incredible chance to explore Saturn.” He hasn’t given up teaching, clarity of these images, and how much detail we can see of or windsurfing, or dinner parties, or an occasional game some structures that had only been theorized about,” says of basketball. But more often than not, he’s here in his his officemate Matt Tiscareno, who works with Burns on office, traveling by satellite and plotting his next move to identifying and unraveling the dynamical phenomenology gather as much data as he can before September, when the of the rings. “It’s like being on the front line of exploration orbiter will shift into the equatorial plane and won’t reach and being among the first people wading in and trying to the proper vantage point to study the rings again until explain all these things.” May 2006. For Tiscareno, the wavy edges of gaps in the main After that, who knows? Cassini is planned to operate rings have a puzzling complexity, raising questions as to in Saturn orbit for two more years, and the project how they are generated; for Burns, the latest mystery lies might continue for as long as four years after that, but in what generates the kinks of Saturn’s rings, and how to that future isn’t known yet, and doesn’t need to be. model the dynamical interactions that keep those kinks “Planetary exploration is great, because it’s not so far moving past his camera. Thomas’s greatest surprises out as astrophysics and extragalactic astronomy, where have come from the first images of Iapetus, one of the you can say just about anything, because nobody can larger satellites of Saturn, which is far less spherical ever test you,” says Burns. “Here, if you’re wrong, you than expected, and has a ridge that’s 20 kilometers high know there’s going to be a spacecraft someday that will running precisely along its equator, “looking like a walnut, kick your butt. And that makes it especially stimulating— and absolutely no one would have predicted that.” knowing that you have this challenge to predict some Nicholson, whose VIMS instrument had no equivalent on things that are only going to be truly understood by those the earlier Voyager missions, is receiving the first results who come after you.”
24 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 25 people C ENG.PEOPLE
Fall Fall 2005
Lessons learned
Continuing Excellence ondon has responded effectively to the disrup- L tion of services following terrorist bombings July Lee steps up as director of the Institute for Biotechnology 7, but the event underscores the need for a careful examination of the vulnerabilities of the under- and Life Sciences Technologies. ground infrastructure of our cities, says a Cornell University engineer. elvin Lee, the Samuel C. and Nancy M. Fleming Associate Professor in the “I was impressed. The London Stock Exchange never stopped. The way they’ve cor- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is the new director of doned off areas, the business continuity was very Cornell’s Institute for Biotechnology and Life Sciences Technologies. K good. For such a potentially disruptive event, they The institute promotes research, education, and technology transfer to benefit the have done very well in recovering and restoring Cornell News Service Life Sciences industries, including agriculture and medicine. services,” said Thomas O’Rourke, the Thomas R. “My primary role as director is to work with institute staff to facilitate and foster Briggs Professor of Engineering. Thomas O’Rourke (left) uses the infrastructure for doing life science research at Cornell,” said Lee, who began his O’Rourke, whose research is aimed at making an earthquake simulator to test appointment as director in July. underground utilities more resistant to damage— gas pipeline performance. His In addition, Lee is responsible for maintaining a healthy relationship between Cornell and whether from man-made or natural disasters—had research is aimed at making the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR), the state’s just returned from London, where he was the underground utilities more resis- funding program to spur technology-based research and economic development. Lee also will featured speaker at a June meeting convened by tant to damage from both natural and man-made disasters. administer the institute’s Center for Life Science Enterprise, one of 15 Centers for the Bank of England to discuss financial sector resilience in the face of disasters. Until recently, Undergrads in Advanced Technology in New York State, which is funded by NYSTAR. “As I look O’Rourke said, financial institutions had worried “As I look forward, I’ll continue to promote the excellence that the research mainly about cybersecurity, but after the World forward, I’ll institute is already recognized for,” said Lee, noting that Cornell has Trade Center attack, they became interested in the Yuk Kee Cheung ’05 EE (below, continue to strong programs in genomics, nanobiotechnology, proteomics, and external infrastructure networks that support their attack underground infrastructure directly. They right) discusses her poster on a promote the agricultural-related research, among many others. “But I’ll also look cyber infrastructure. were aimed at destroying transit vehicles and tying technique that can create synthetic for opportunities to nurture and foster emerging areas in which Cornell In his London talk, O’Rourke described the up the transportation system. But the underground cell membranes with, from left, expertise may contribute.” lessons of 9/11, based on his own research at utility systems of large cities remain highly vulner- Cornell graduate student Jose M. excellence that Moran-Mirabal and visiting Purdue Lee’s own work focuses on studying changes in protein expression the site. Communications in New York City were able to damage. Professor Joseph Irudayaraj at the institute in the central nervous system that relate to the diagnosis and treatment widely disrupted, largely because of damage to “We have been building for ourselves a more the 2005 Cornell Undergraduate is already of Alzheimer’s disease. He collaborates with the Weill Cornell Medical the underground infrastructure near the collapsed and more complex world and packed our systems Research Board (CURB) Spring College, where his biomolecular information regarding the towers. Broken water mains poured 35,000 gallons below street level with more and more different Research Forum. About 100 of water per minute into a seven-story underground components, often with little planning or integra- undergraduates presented their recognized for.” disease is clinically applied. “So far, we’ve had good results,” space, filling it “like a big bathtub” and flooding tion,” O’Rourke pointed out. “These systems have original research in posters and he said. oral presentations in the Duffield transportation tunnels all the way to New Jersey. accidents without terrorists. We’d like to make He also works with Cornell’s Nanobiotechnology Hall atria at CURB’s 20th Annual Falling debris smashed into a vault beside the them work better under normal circumstances. Undergraduate Research Forum Center to create next generation technologies for studying Verizon building just north of the Twin Towers, cut- Irrespective of terrorism, there’s a lot to be gained.” in April. “CURB is a student- proteins, such as microfluidic devices for separating and ting cables. “What wasn’t severed was flooded by —Bill Steele, Cornell News Service run organization dedicated to analyzing proteins more efficiently. In addition, Lee millions of gallons of water from the broken water promoting, publicizing, coordinating, collaborates with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s mains,” O’Rourke told his London audience. and celebrating undergraduate research,” said CURB president Gali He predicted that in a major disaster, cell Agricultural Research Service on campus to research Porat, ILR ’05, of Philadelphia. phones would not be helpful for emergency com- a bacterial pathogen (Pseudomonas syringae) that —Thomas Oberst, Cornell News munications because of the overload on the damages tomato crops and serves as a model Service system that may help shed light on pathogens that system. The prediction was borne out after the London bombings, he found. What does work impact humans and animals. besides two-way radio communication, he said, is —Krishna Ramanujan, Cornell News Service wireless e-mail through portable devices like the Blackberry. Because e-mail is not a continuous flow of data like voice communication, mail routing is more flexible and able to accommodate heavy traffic more easily. Fortunately, the London bombings did not
26 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 27 people C ENG.PEOPLE 2005 Recognizing good advice Grant for Graphics
ary Sansalone, professor in the School of students. “In a group of exceptional advisers, Mary avita Bala, an assistant professor in the Affinito, a 1953 Cornell graduate, and Patricia M Civil and Environmental Engineering, was stands out,” says William Philpot, associate director K Department of Computer Science, was among Carry Stewart, a 1950 graduate. Both are presi- recently named one of the four 2005 winners of of the school. three faculty members to receive a 2005 research dential councillors, trustees emeritae, and mem- the Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Award. Sansalone credits her Ph.D. adviser at Cornell, grant from the President’s Council of Cornell bers of the Cornell University Council. The awards were established by Stephen Ashley, a Professor Emeritus Richard White, with teaching Women (PCCW), an alumnae group that serves as This year the three grant recipients will member of Cornell’s board of trustees, to honor his her by example to be a good adviser. “He truly an advisory council to Cornell University’s presi- receive a total of $33,000 in funding from PCCW. former adviser, Kendall S. Carpenter, a professor of cared about his students and always looked out for dent. Her research project is “Constrained Texture Grant applications were reviewed by a committee business management in what is now the Depart- their best interests. I’ve always tried to follow his Synthesis for Computer Graphics.” of 26 faculty members who rated them accord- ment of Applied Economics and Management from example.” Other winners include Michelle Campos, ing to scholarly merit, research design, feasibility, 1954 until his death at the age of 50 in 1967. Other advising award winners were Janice assistant professor, Near Eastern Studies, for and relevance to promotion and tenure. Nine The $5,000 awards recognize “sustained and Brown, Department of Food Science; Gary Evans, “Palestine Between Empire and Nation: ‘Civic PCCW members, most of whom are academics distinguished contributions of professorial faculty Department of Design and Environmental Analysis; Ottomanism’ in a Shared Homeland, 1908–14” from other universities, reviewed the faculty-rated and senior lecturers to undergraduate advising,” and Mary Katzenstein, Department of Government. and Nancy Wells, assistant professor, design and proposals and awarded the grants. Nonacademic and nominations were accepted from individual Recipients will be honored next spring at a trustee– environmental analysis and the Bronfenbrenner Life reviewers focused on how critical a role the proj- students, university staff, college deans, and asso- faculty dinner recognizing the winners of university- Course Center, for “The Effect of the Environment ect would play in receiving tenure and whether ciate deans, and department chairs. wide teaching and advising awards. on Obesity in Low-Income Families: Influences on other sources of funding might be available. “Professor Mary Sansalone has been the most Also this year, the awards committee made a Physical Activity and Diet.” The 305-member PCCW was established in knowledgeable and helpful adviser I have ever had program award to Rich Robbins, director of engi- Established in 1992 to help advance the 1990 with the mission of advancing the involve- at Cornell University,” enthuses one of her students neering advising, for funds to implement an elec- careers of women in academia through support of ment and leadership of women students, faculty, in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineer- tronic tracking and web-based evaluation system in research leading to tenure, PCCW’s Affinito– staff, and alumnae within Cornell and throughout ing. Many others commented on the exceptional the Engineering Advising office. Stewart Grant Program has presented more than its many constituent communities. amount of selfless dedication she has for her —Cornell News Service $462,000 to 151 women at Cornell. The program —Mary Faber is named to honor the group’s founders, Lilyan
Experiencing Arecibo Smaller and Better
alia Kohen always pictured herself in law school REU students come from schools around the two-year, $200,000 grant from the New York high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Tafter college. But she figured that plan left her United States and live onsite, sharing small cabins AS tate Office of Science, Technology and Aca- for separating and identifying proteins. free to pursue a bachelor’s degree in pretty much or dormitory rooms. Kohen’s research project is demic Research (NYSTAR) will help a Cornell Uni- “Any time anyone does an experiment to anything, so she decided to indulge her analytical in aeronomy—specifically, studying variations in versity mechanical engineer design smaller, faster, understand how proteins are expressed in an side and spend her undergraduate years studying neutral wind patterns in the thermosphere. The and cheaper devices for processing and produc- organism, they use HPLC to quantify them,” Kirby electrical engineering. results could have important implications for satel- ing proteins. The research has implications for a explains. Cornell News Service Somewhere on the way to law school, though, lite-based communications systems, which can be vast array of applications in research of biological The machines that currently perform HPLC are the Cornell University senior from New York City disrupted by phenomena in the upper atmosphere. systems. about twice the size of a desktop computer. Kirby Conor Mancone, right, an got sidetracked. And she landed in a crowded little It’s more complex than anything Kohen has Brian Kirby, assistant professor of mechani- plans to make hand-held devices packaged in a undergraduate in the REU program at the Robert C. office on a steep hill in northwestern Puerto Rico, done in classes so far, so she has been reading cal engineering, won NYSTAR’s 2004 James D. 4-inch cube that can separate and identify proteins. Byrd Green Bank Tele- just a few steps from the world’s biggest and most old papers on the subject, breaking them down Watson Investigator Award, which is part of the The miniaturized device should be faster, cheaper, scope in West Virginia, sensitive single dish radio telescope. sentence by sentence when she has to. “It’s really $225 million Generating Employment Through and better suited to work with smaller volumes of explores the underside Kohen is one of about a dozen undergradu- hard for this topic,” she said. “There doesn’t seem New York State Science (Gen*NY*sis) program. proteins. of the Arecibo telescope ate students spending this summer at the Arecibo to be anything basic or elementary. But what I’ve Gen*NY*sis supports life sciences research being The grant also will help Kirby develop new with Green Bank scientist Observatory, which is run by the National Astron- noticed about here is, you can be honest if you conducted at New York’s academic research procedures for protein production, which is of great Ron Maddalena. omy and Ionosphere Center at Cornell University for don’t know something. It’s okay to say ‘I don’t institutions. The Watson award recognizes and interest to pharmaceutical companies that produce the National Science Foundation (NSF). The stu- know everything.’” supports outstanding scientists and engineers proteins on a large scale. dents are at Arecibo through the Research Experi- Kohen hopes at the end of the summer she who, early in their careers, show potential for Kirby continues Cornell’s connection with ences for Undergraduates (REU) program, an NSF will have good results to offer. “But what’s more leadership and scientific discovery in the field of the James D. Watson Investigator Award, which program that gives undergraduates from around important is walking away feeling like I understand biotechnology. began three years ago. Each year, a Cornell faculty the world hands-on experience in radio astronomy, the science behind it.” The biotechnology and pharmaceutical member has received the grant: D. Tyler McQuade, planetary radar astronomy, and atmospheric sci- Law school, in the meantime, is still a possibil- industries are interested in cheaper and faster assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biol- ence (aeronomy). The students, in various majors ity. But probably not right away. “I’ll go with this,” ways to produce and process protein pharma- ogy, in 2002, and Matthew Delisa, assistant profes- and years, are assigned a 10-week project with a she said, “and see where it takes me.” ceuticals, such as insulin, Kirby says. He seeks sor of chemical engineering, in 2003. staff scientist, and at the end of the summer they —Lauren Gold, Cornell News Service to use mechanical engineering to solve problems —Krishna Ramanujan, Cornell News Service present their results to the observatory community. associated with a widely used technique, called
28 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 29 people C ENG.PEOPLE 2005 Bridge to Biology marking the spot
ara Estroff, a materials scientist who studies highly resilient compounds as bones and seashells. L how seashells and bones are formed and then Since materials with properties similar to those “My work tries to synthesize new materials in the laboratory found in nature are difficult to reproduce in the lab, that emulate the versatility of these natural compos- Estroff looks at natural processes in the hope of wouldn’t be ites, became one of the first College of Engineering making synthetic materials with improved structural faculty members hired as part of Cornell University’s properties. possible without New Life Sciences Initiative when she accepted an She is also looking at how creatures such as assistant professorship in Cornell’s Department of sea urchins, for example, can take minerals and the organisms Materials Science and Engineering. sculpt them to suit their purposes, as researchers Estroff’s interdisciplinary work bridges the also find it difficult to get minerals to conform to Brien Barnett, NSF and without physical and life sciences, which makes her a good desired shapes in their labs. Parshley’s design fit for the new initiative. Estroff received her B.A. degree with honors in tephen Parshley ’98 ME, a research support incorporates a model collaboration “My work wouldn’t be possible without the 1997 from Swarthmore College, where she majored Sengineer in Cornell’s astronomy department, of the new elevated organisms and without collaboration with biologists in chemistry and minored in anthropology. She has plans to leave his mark on the world. Literally. building at the U.S. who study sea organisms,” Estroff said in July from received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale University The plans are Parshley’s winning design for the Amundsen–Scott with biologists South Pole Station. a Harvard University laboratory where she was fin- in 2003. 2006 South Pole marker. Photos by Thomas who study sea ishing a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral “I am looking forward to the collaborative envi- The marker will be fabricated and placed at Nikola. fellowship. She started work in Ithaca in August. ronment at Cornell, and the fact the engineers talk the exact geographic location of the Earth’s South Thomas Nikola organisms.” Estroff’s work takes inspiration from to biologists and physicists and chemists,” Estroff Pole on New Year’s Day 2006 and will remain as Cornell engineer biomineralization—how organisms use minerals said. the pole’s official landmark for one year. The design, which took Parshley about 15 Stephen Parshley and combine them with proteins to make such —Krishna Ramanujan, Cornell News Service For the past three years, Parshley, 30, had hours, is both simple in structure and deep in sym- stands before the been throwing on a jacket, grabbing an umbrella, bolism. Its defining feature is a miniature aluminum Ceremonial South and driving his pickup truck from his apartment to model of the station’s new elevated building. The Pole. His winning work in a climate-controlled laboratory on Cornell’s model stands at the center of a 5-inch-diameter design will mark the campus. This year, however, he puts on insulated brass disk and is encircled by 86 dimples, repre- Geographic South undergarments, a fur-lined parka, ski goggles, senting the members of the winter-over crew. Pole. Focus on Photonics and lip balm and walks in the pitch black through The marker will be fabricated at the South Pole knee-high snowdrifts and wind chills as low as over the next few months by Parshley and Allan 140 degrees below zero Fahrenheit to get from Day, the station’s machinist, who estimates that it ichal Lipson, assistant professor of electrical Research under the new grant will continue his sleeping quarters at the U.S. Amundsen–Scott will take 60 to 70 hours in total. M and computer engineering, is among this the development of all-optical and electro-optical South Pole Station to a telescope facility 1 kilome- “Since all the past pole markers have been year’s recipients of National Science Founda- circuits. Lipson plans to combine the various circuit ter away, where he is a co-operator. basically flat with relief-style engraving, I’d been tion (NSF) Career Awards. The NSF Faculty Early components she has created into working sys- The facility, the Antarctic Submillimeter Tele- playing around for some time with the idea of push- Career Development Program offers NSF’s most tems and find out how to build the systems most scope and Remote Observatory, houses the South ing the marker into the third dimension,” recalled prestigious award for new faculty members, sup- efficiently. The goal will be to minimize the losses, Pole Imaging Fabry–Perot Interferometer (SPIFI), a Parshley. “I also wanted to represent our winter-over porting the early career development activities of size, and power of the system while maximizing the Cornell-owned instrument for observing star- crew … and keep the machining simple. Then it those teacher–scholars who are considered most bandwidth. forming regions of nearby galaxies. Parshley helped just hit me: the elevated station surrounded by 86 likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st She also will study ways to connect photonic build the instrument when he was at Cornell. dimples. Straightforward, yet meaningful.” century. circuits to the rest of the world. Two remaining Now he is a member of the South Pole —Thomas Oberst, Cornell News Service Lipson will receive a five-year grant of bottlenecks are the interface between photonic “winter-over” crew—an elite group of 86 hardy $450,000 to support further research in photon- chips and larger optical components, such as opti- souls representing a wide range of specific trades ics, in which circuits consist of tiny beams of light cal fibers, and using an electrical signal from con- who occupy the station during the eight-month- interacting on a chip. The result, Lipson says, will ventional electronics to switch or modulate a beam long Antarctic winter, from mid-February through be low-power, high-bandwidth, high-speed, and of light in a photonic circuit. Lipson already has built late October, when extreme weather prohibits any ultra-small optoelectronic components. devices that accomplish these goals but hopes to flights into or out of the area. Lipson already has demonstrated methods refine them and see how variations in the size and To keep from going crazy, winter-overs to guide, filter, bend, and split light on silicon geometry affect performance. engage in a number of recreational activities, chips at much smaller dimensions than attained Lipson also plans to refine the techniques including an annual South Pole marker design by previous researchers, offering the promise of used to manufacture photonic chips. While this is contest. The competition’s only rules are that the Parshley’s winning photonic circuits as small as current electronic similar to making electronic chips, there are special marker must be able to be constructed from the design for the 2006 chips. Confining light in very small spaces, where requirements, such as a demand that the walls of somewhat limited materials and tools available at South Pole marker. the dimensions of the waveguide are comparable waveguides be optically “smooth.” “This investiga- the station and that it must carry a few specific to the wavelength of the light, has, in fact, been tion is crucial to the real implementation of the con- lines of official text. Any winter-over may enter a the secret for making some of these devices work, cepts of this proposal,” Lipson says. design, and the entire crew votes to decide the Lipson reports. —Bill Steele, Cornell News Service winner.
30 Fall 2005 Cornell Engineering Magazine 31 C ENG. Provided Hometown hero uring Cyprienne Crowley’s three months in The oven is insulated with raw cotton, D Senegal, tropical downpours, power out- a material easily grown in Senegal, and has ages, herds of white bulls roaming the streets, two reflectors covered in heavy-duty alumi- and temperatures reaching 120 degrees num foil and a glass top. It can reach 302 Fahrenheit became routine. But she loved the degrees Fahrenheit on average and cooks whole experience: living with a Senegalese a full meal for a family of ten in about two family, riding in the bumpy jagen-jaye (the and a half hours. Senegalese equivalent to a public city bus), The oven’s casing is roto-molded recy- going on safari and seeing giraffes, and most cled plastic, a move meant to help encour- of all, just sitting on the floor sharing meals age recycling. “There’s this huge sanitation such as chicken yassa with her host family. problem here,” Crowley explained. Bottles “Just chicken, rice, and onion sauce—it’s and plastic cartons litter the village. really simple but the food is so fresh. I’ve never “Another concern in this engineering Cooking Lessons tasted chicken like this in America,” she said, process is to keep the price low,” Crowley talking via cell phone from Senegal in July. said, “so it can be available to as many Why is an engineer so interested in food? people as possible.” The oven will retail Crowley, who will graduate in May 2006 with for 25,000 CFA, equivalent to about 46 A solar oven project in a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineer- American dollars. ing, spent the summer There was one key Senegal gives students designing and building factor that the engineering the prototype of a solar “It’s a great feel- team hadn’t anticipated: a taste of hands-on oven. Renewable energy grease. The Senegalese technology, she explained, ing to devote time diet is fish-based and usu- engineering. is much needed for devel- ally fried. The solar oven oping countries. In Africa, to something that’s bakes the food, and it just cooking with wood has led doesn’t taste the same. to deforestation, air pollu- really important to “It’s a completely dif- tion, and lung and vision ferent type of engineering problems. Family cooks, other people.” than what I’ve learned at traditionally women, need Cornell,” Crowley said. “I an economical, safe, and have to completely adapt quick way to prepare meals each day for large my prior knowledge to the situation that’s families. The solar oven, which cooks food here. The solar oven is such a different way using only the heat of the sun, is a drawing- of cooking than they’re used to. Everything board–perfect solution. here is so based on tradition that it just isn’t Crowley’s trip to Senegal was sponsored easy to make this popular.” by Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), Even so, she’s optimistic that solar an organization based at Cornell University, cooking will catch on. “I think the main way and by CRESP Senegal, an independent that it can spread is by peer influence,” said non-governmental organization affiliated with Crowley. “If some of the more important, Cornell University’s Center for Religion, Ethics, influential women of the village are using and Social Policy. ESW, with more than 3,000 this oven, everyone else will want to. It’s student and professional members nationwide, just a matter of changing their taste buds a runs an annual summer internship program little bit.” Crowley was particularly pleased that provided support for Crowley’s work. to travel to the small village of Mehke, Crowley joined an on-going project to where she observed Canadian nutrition- bring solar oven technology to Senegal. She ists working with Senegalese women to and Janelle Kolisch, a mechanical engineering develop new recipes for the solar oven. student from Ohio State, refined the design; After spending three months working Crowley focused on window and reflector on the solar oven, Crowley hopes to one orientation to improve the oven’s efficiency. day return to Senegal to see it in use by the The two then built a prototype of an oven at villagers. the University of Dakar machine shop. For “I have always had this altruistic mass production, the Senegalese company bone in me,” she said. “It’s a great feeling Transtech will manufacture the base; workers to devote time to something that’s really employed by CRESP Senegal will assemble important to other people.” and market the appliance. —Bridget Meeds
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