Published by the University of Southern California Volume I Issue 3

The 2002/2003 Freshman Class The Best and the Brightest Meet Engineering

Contour Crafting Construction Technology for the Future

Aviation Safety Program A Pioneer in Aircraft Accident Investigation

NANOTECHNOLOGY AT USC ENGINEERING: WHEN LESS IS MORE Tiny Research with Big Results

Spring/Summer 2003 * Sample based on * Annual Payout ] 70 & 75 6.3% 75 7.3% 70 6.7% 75 7.3% Age Guaranteed couple of to give as good as you get. as good as you to give

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lexibility, as a gift annuity can be created with cash, securities or real estate. with cash, securities or real as a gift annuity can be created lexibility, shrink out rates are based on age. are out rates A at the School of Engineering; Scholarship and research F A S y 5 3 4 1 2 An annuity to The School of Engineering will provide: The School of Engineering An annuity to Pa while also helping to secure the future of the USC School of Engineering. of the USC the future while also helping to secure } for life stream income with a guaranteed you will provide A gift annuity in thisi ssue features page 18 Nanotechnology at USC Engineering: When Less Is More Tiny Research with Big Results by Eric Mankin p page 24 The 2002/03 Freshman Class 18 The Best and the Brightest Meet Engineering by Dan Gordon page 29 Contour Crafting Construction Technology for the Future by Eric Mankin p24 page 31 USC’s Aviation Safety Program A Pioneer in Aircraft Accident Investigation by Bob Calverley page 33 Sleepy Joe Sleep Apnea Research at USC by Mark Ewing departments p29 page 3 Dean’s Page page 4 Editors’s Note

page 5 Straight & To the Point Short Subjects page 34 Alumni Profile Thomas O. Gephart, BSME ’62 page 35 Alumni Profile Elaine Masako Iba, MSEE ’88 page 36 Alumni Profile Farzad Naeim, MSCE ’80, Phd CE ’82 page 38 SnapShots – Winter & Spring 2002/3 Events

page 41 Calendar

page 43 Class Notes PhD student Fady Morcos’s vision for p9 page 45 Alumni Recognition an interplanetary vessel for space tourism. “I believe we should make Notebook page 48 space tourism possible before this decade is Comments on Challenger over, but this won't happen unless we start to by Paul Ronney r illustration Holmes; Scott by Cohen;Adam by ant photo A. Michelle by class photo freshman H. Smith; take serious steps in colonizing the moon as a ve ntour crafting photo by Irene Fertik and space hotel drawing by Fady Morcos Morcos drawing Fady hotel by Fertik and space craftingntour Irene by photo Co co start, with other celestial bodies to follow.” Where can you hire some of the best engineers in the country?

The Office of Engineering Career Services can help!

Whether you need one summer intern or 25 full-time engineers, we offer many services to help you identify and hire future employees.

Some of our services include: USC remains a very rich source Internet Job Listings of highly talented and highly Internship & Co-op Programs technical graduates who help On-Campus Interviews shape the future of our industry. Career Fairs USC engineering career services Company Information Sessions has been an invaluable partner Strategic Recruitment Planning to Microsoft College Recruiting. Their services and attention have simplified the recruiting process Help the next generation of and have helped us with Trojan Engineers get their start! targeted exposure to first-rate Contact Engineering Career Services USC students. at 213/740-4530 or [email protected]. —Jennifer Graham www.usc.edu/engcs Sr. Technical Recruiter Microsoft College Recruiting dean’sp age

small things considered

The cover story of this issue of USC Engineer describes the School of Engineering’s research efforts in the realm of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology promises to be one of the most exciting and important technology areas of this century. It is still in its infancy, and it is often difficult to separate real nanotechnology from the over-heated rhetoric and hype that sometimes surrounds it.

The idea of nanotechnology dates from a famous 1959 lecture by the physicist Richard Feynman, in which he stated that “the principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom.” Scientist Eric Drexler coined the phrase nanotechnology in his 1986 book “Engines of Creation.” It comes from “nano,” the Greek word meaning dwarf, and is a standard scientific prefix meaning “one-billionth.” The basic unit of this new science is a single nanometer, which is a billionth of a meter. This is truly small. A nanometer is to a meter as a grape is to the earth. The smallest things with which we are used to dealing are measured in millimeters. The period at the end of this sentence, for example, is approximately one tenth of a millimeter, or 100,000 nanometers, in diameter. That’s also the approximate diameter of a human hair. Biologists and computer manufacturers work at the micro level, where the unit of measurement is the micron. A micron is one millionth of a meter. A red blood cell measures about 7.5 microns, or 7,500 nanometers in diameter. The individual transistors in today’s most advanced solid-state circuits created by photolithography are now about 0.1 micron, or 100 nanometers across. Photolithography technology, governed by the wavelength of light, is approaching the limit in reducing the size of features it can produce. Today’s Pentium chip moves about a billion electrons to express a single bit of data. In contrast, single electron transistors mean nanoscale devices would use almost no power while achieving unparalleled levels of sensitivity. Our researchers are working to apply micro- and nanotechnology to bio-implants and drug delivery systems, engineered peptides and new quantum computing devices. These researchers will soon be housed in state-of-the art laboratories in the new Ronald Tutor Hall, which we will break ground on this May. Nanotechnology has proven to be one of the most interdisciplinary areas of academic research. Teams of engineers and scientists from widely differing disciplines perform the research. It is a rich stew of physics, biology, bioinformatics, chemistry, chemical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, photonics and other areas of study that all blend into each other. All of the ingredients can be found at USC. We have expertise, momentum and enthusiasm, and we have a plan to exploit a specific niche where we believe we can do big things in nanotechnology. Our nanotechnology researchers are focusing on the intersection of materials science, biology and information technology, all areas of strength at the School and USC. Our research also builds on the success we have had with MEMS—micro-electromechanical systems. The only thing not small about nanotechnology is the ingenuity on display by our School’s researchers.

C. L. Max Nikias Dean School of Engineering

as photo by Jeff by as photo Corwin USC ENGINEER Vol. 1 No. 3 Spring/Summer 2003 Niki editor’sn ote

t has once again been a busy winter and spring season for the School of Engineering Iand our alumni. In creating this magazine twice a year, my office and the communications team at the School must, like our faculty Dean C. L. Max Nikias colleagues, perform some research. We search for stories about the School that we want to Chief Executive Officer, External Relations highlight, sniff out the hot-topic research Christopher J. Stoy projects, shine a light on hot-shot faculty and Timur Taluy and I at the “Taste of uncover alumni success stories. We set about this USC” event in Ventura this February Director of Alumni Relations research with the single mission of providing Editor, USC Engineer Annette Blain our readers with the best of the best. For other excellence and drive of our alumni, and I thank schools and other publications, it may seem a these individuals for sharing their stories with Managing Editor daunting task. However, at USC Engineer, we us. I am also grateful to all of the alumni who Bob Calverley often find ourselves in the enviable position of take the time to update us about their lives with Senior Writer having too much of the good stuff to cover! class notes. We love to hear about you, right Mark Ewing Shining a light on cutting-edge, hot-topic down to the greatest successes of all, your Contributing Writers and even newsworthy research and researchers marriage or child’s birth. Bob Calverley, Rick Keir, Eric Mankin has increasingly required our light to have a very Some alumni continue to involve us in Cover Illustration broad focus. There is so much to talk about, so very direct ways. We have hosted a number of Scott Holmes many successes, indeed, too much to contain in regional alumni receptions in the past several Art Direction & Graphic Design this magazine. months. Timur Taluy (BSEE ’98), who is a Tracy Merrigan Creative USC Engineering is in the news, members member of our Dean’s Circle and Alumni of our faculty are winning awards all around the Relations Advisory Board, helped to organize We wish to acknowledge the following indi- world, our corporate partnerships are providing a successful alumni event and wine-tasting in viduals for their contributions to this issue of a leading edge for our students and our students Ventura, California this past February. Timur USC Engineer: Joseph Devinny, Paul Ronney, themselves continue to amaze us with their Louise Yates, Steve Bucher, Lisa D. Horowitz, came to me and said, “Hey, let’s get everyone Jacob Evans, Nancy Park, Leslie Baker, well-run organizations, drive to excel in together, invite Dean Nikias to speak and have Jacqueline Williams, Christopher Noll, Paul extracurricular competitions and overall an event in Ventura. There are a lot of alumni up Ledesma, Sam Martinuzzi, Lisa Van Ingen Pope, Joyce Oo Mayne, Anna Norville, Holly competitiveness in the marketplace. here that want to stay connected to the School.” Preble, Sandra Calderon and Kim Cabral. But to top it off, what I find most Timur was right, and the event was a success. USC Engineer is published twice a year exceptional and exciting are our alumni stories. Once again, my job made easy by the spirit, for alumni and friends of the School of Once again, I am the fortunate observer of a the excellence, the best of the best of the USC Engineering at the University of Southern California. steady parade of success stories that consistently School of Engineering. march across my desk. My greatest challenge is Letters to the editor and comments are welcome. Please send them to: USC Engineer, which ones to choose for our scant 48 pages! Annette Blain Alumni Relations Office, Olin Hall 300, The profiles in this issue demonstrate the Director, Alumni Relations Los Angeles, California 90089-1454, or email them to [email protected] BOARD OF COUNCILORS CHAIRMAN Gregg E. Brandow, BSCE ’67 Alan J. Fohrer, BSCE ’73, MSCE ’76 David A. Lane, BSEE ’81 F. Edward Reynolds, Jr., BSCE ’81 Jay L. Kear, BSME ’60 Brandow & Johnston Associates Southern California Edison Diamondhead Ventures The Reynolds Group Kear Enterprises Xiaofan Cao,MA PHYS ’85, Alice P. Gast,BSCH ’80 Robert Lee, BSEE ’70 Forrest D. Sawyer Dean K. Allen, BSME ’57 MSEE ’87, Ph.D. PHYS ’90 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Retired, Pacific Bell Sawyer Media Inc. Retired, Parsons Corporation Avanex Corporation Thomas O. Gephart, BSME ’62 Alexander G. Livanos George M. Scalise Gordon M. Anderson, BSME ’54 Yang Ho Cho,MBA ’79 Ventana Capital Management Northrop Grumman Semiconductor Industry Association Retired, Santa Fe International Korean Airlines M.C. Gill, BSCH ’37 Alfred E. Mann A.R. [Allison] Schleicher III Corporation David W. Chonette,MSME ’60, Merwyn C. Gill Corporation MannKind Corporation Retired, IBM Sonny Astani,MSISE ’78 ENGME ’64 Hester Gill Gordon S. Marshall, BS BUS ’46 Regina P. Smith Lambert Smith Hampton Brentwood Venture Capital Merwyn C. Gill Corporation Retired, Marshall Industries Peter Staudhammer Carlton H. Baab, BSEE ’81 Leo Chu Jeanette K. Harrison, Paul W. Martin TRW Incorporated Raining Data Corporation Hollywood Park Casino and Crystal DPA PUAD ’94 Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation Richard D. Stephens, Park Casino Hotel William F. Ballhaus Jr. Intel Corporation H. Webber McKinney, BSEE ’68, BS NSMA ’74 The Aerospace Corporation Malcolm R. Currie Karl Jacob III,BME ’91, BS CSCI ’00 MSEE ’69 The Boeing Company Retired, Hughes Aircraft Company Ronald R. Barnes, BS ACCT ’76 James J. Keenan, BSEE ’61, MS ’67 Hewlett-Packard Company Mark A. Stevens, BSEE ’81, Norris Foundation David DiCarlo, Ph.D. EE ’79 Hendry Telephone Products Richard G. Miller BA ECON ’81, MS CENG ’84 Northrop Grumman Space Dwight J. Baum Kenneth R. Klein, BS BSME ’82 John Mork,BSPE ’70 Sequoia Capital Technology Dwight C. Baum Investments Mercury Interactive Corporation Energy Corporation of America George A. Strait Steven D. Dorfman,MSEE ’59 Andrew C. Beers Geraldine Knatz,MSENV ’77, Daniel J. Niemann Cyrus Y. Tsui, BSEE ’69 Retired, Hughes Electronics Microsoft TV Ph.D. BISC ’79 Trammell Crow Company Lattice Semiconductor Corporation Corporation Edgar S. Brower, BSISE ’59 The Port of Long Beach Development and Investment Group Andrew J. Viterbi, Ph.D. EE ’62 Daniel J. Epstein, BSISE ’62 Retired, Pacific Scientific Marie L. Knowles, BSCHE ’68, Allen E. Puckett The Viterbi Group, LLC ConAm Management Corporation MSCHE ’70, MBA ’74 Hughes Aircraft Company Retired, ARCO thep oint

Fabric That Hears? USC AND VIRGINIA TECH STRETCH THE IMAGINATION

Engineers from USC and Virginia Tech colleagues have been working on arrays made unrolled (though not folded) without damage. have turned to one of mankind's oldest up of small, stand-alone detectors, individually And even when individual units within the technologies—weaving—to produce a high- placed in the environment, that communicate array fail, the detector is still able to function tech prototype e-textile with very good ears. with each other by radio. effectively. The joint venture is called Stretch, which is not Embedding similar units in fabric has Parker says researchers currently attach an acronym but the name of the program. significant advantages, according The new fabric, currently undergoing to Parker. “The signals they field tests, is interwoven with microelectronic exchange can be carried on components. It functions as a supersensitive wires in the fabric. This greatly detection array to pinpoint sources of faint lowers the power requirements sounds, specifically the sounds of distant to operate the system.” vehicles moving on future battlefields. Additionally, signal According to its creators, Stretch fabric is the exchanges by radio might be first e-textile that can perform all aspects of picked up by an adversary, such a complicated process. giving away not only the fact “Modern methods of making fabrics that surveillance is under way, allow extraordinary control over materials and but also the position of the properties,” says Robert Parker, director of the surveillors—a potentially fatal Arlington, Va., campus of the USC School of drawback on a battlefield. Engineering's Information Sciences Institute “Forming it into a fabric (ISI), and co-principal investigator on Stretch. makes it electronically silent,” “Cloth has properties that can be very useful says Jones. And, while for certain electronic applications. We can embedding the detectors in easily and cheaply make very large pieces of fabric sacrifices some of the Fabric with built-in ears is shown in this artist’s rendering cloth, light and very strong, that can be flexibility of individual of a sound-detection array woven into a new e-textile. stretched over frames into any desired shape.” stand-alone units, it guarantees the The material created by Parker and his units will be in the right positions relative to electronics to the fabric after the normal co-investigator, Mark Jones of the Configurable each other. weaving process. However, their goal is to Computing Laboratory at Virginia Polytechnic The researchers still have some produce individual yarns that perform an Institute and State University in Blacksburg, significant problems to resolve. “While fabric electronic function such as a power source, Va., could be deployed as a parachute, a tent, a manufacturing technology is advanced,” Parker a transistor array, a sensor or an actuator. camouflage net or simply as bolts of cloth that notes, “we expect that the large number of “These yarns are conceived to be very thin roll compactly away when not needed. components and the inherent imprecision in and flexible and able to be woven into the cloth Modern methods of detection utilize the process will make it difficult to weave very on a loom in a standard high-volume cloth arrays of detectors, arranged in a pattern. large, fault-free arrays.” manufacturing process,” he explains. “The type Sophisticated algorithms combine the Making this fabric array tough enough to of fabric chosen would be determined by the individual reports from each of the detectors stand up to weather and rough handling might final use of the fabric and could vary from into a detailed image. seem a challenge. Yet in preliminary tests, the cottons used for blouses or shirts, to heavy For some time, Parker and his ISI material has proven robust. It can be rolled and continued on page 6

USC ENGINEER 5 Read All About It! SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING IN THE NEWS

The USC School of Engineering continues to strut its stuff in national and local media. Here are some of the highlights:

On March 6, the New York Times Circuits section focused on MONICA NICOLESCU, computer science graduate student, and GEORGE BEKEY, professor emeritus of computer science, in a story headlined “Making Robots More Like Us”. Pictured in the story were Nicolescu and her adviser, Associate Professor MAJA MATARIC.

Dean C. L. MAX NIKIAS had an op-ed article in the San Diego Union Tribune on February 27 about how Hollywood can prosper in the new era of digital TV, movies and the Internet. Nikias penned another article for the Sacramento Bee on February 11 calling for increased broadband access to connect to “the next generation Internet” and thus complete the Internet revolution.

On February 6, KELLY GOULIS, executive director of the Distance Education Network (DEN), and DEN, were heavily featured in a worldwide Voice of America story about distance learning.

NAJMEDIN MESHKATI, associate professor of civil engineering, and his KPCC-FM’s Kitty Felde, far right, hosted a discussion of graduate student KRISTA SLONOWSKI wrote an op-ed article published L.A.’s infrastructure broadcast Feb. 12. The panel, from left to in the Orange County Register on February 20 calling for a task right, included County Supervisor Chair Yvonne Brathwaite force to address the high fatality rate at street-level rail crossings Burke; James Moore, professor of civil engineering; Beverly before new light rail projects begin operating. O’Neil, Mayor of Long Beach; economist Jack Kyser; Andy Astronaut-trained Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Lipkis, president of Tree People and Joseph Devinny, professor PAUL RONNEY was the principal investigator of the doomed Columbia’s of environmental engineering. key scientific experiment. In the aftermath of the disaster, in February and March, he was widely quoted in the nation’s media, becoming a and management program in the School, organized the event. strong advocate for manned space flight. Some of the media included In addition to KPCC-FM, many other local radio stations, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Florida Today, the KNX-AM and KFWB-AM covered the report card, as did the Los Angeles Times, the L.A. Daily News, the Boston Globe, L.A. Daily News and Spanish TV station KVEA-TV. The discussion Japan Public TV, Science, Reuters, Associated Press, United Press was broadcast on Channel 36, L.A.’s cable television public access International, Space.com, Automotive News, the Discovery channel, and it can be viewed on the School’s web site at: Channel and television stations KCBS-TV, KNBC-TV, KABC-TV and http://www.usc.edu/dept/engineering/news/news.html KTLA-TV. He also found time to talk to the campus through the HERB SCHORR, senior associate dean and executive director of the Daily Trojan and the USC Annenberg News Service. Some of the Information Sciences Institute (ISI), was quoted in a New York Times stories also featured MOHAMED ABID, a postdoctoral fellow working story January 9 about “virtual worlds,” a sort of digital Club Med for with Ronney. See stories on Ronney and his work on pages 15 and 48. online guests.

Kitty Felde, hostess of “Talk of the City” on public radio station CARL KESSELMAN (MSEE ’84) from ISI, was chosen as a global leader KPCC-FM, broadcast a grading of eleven Los Angeles infrastructure in innovation for his work in grid computing and featured on the systems by the local chapter of the American Society of Civil cover of the February issue of Technology Review. Wired.com pre- Engineers (ASCE). Joining public officials for the panel discussion sented Kesselman’s views on the impact of grid computing in January. of local infrastructure were JOSEPH DEVINNY, professor of civil and environmental engineering (see Devinny op-ed on page 8), and The Integrated Media Systems Center’s ALBERT “SKIP” RIZZO, and JAMES MOORE, professor of civil engineering and public policy and his use of virtual reality technology to assess and treat Attention management. HARVEY GOBAS, (BSCE ’72, MSENV ’75), current Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and other cognitive problems, was the president of ASCE, presented the report card, and HANK KOFFMAN, subject of a story on FoxNews.com. That story led to a television past ASCE president and director of the construction engineering story on KCOP-TV.

Fabric That Hears? continued from page 5 canvas or Kevlar used for heavy-duty with the environment as you pass through it. Not right away, but perhaps soon. It’s not a big applications.” Future wearable fabrics could Think of walking into a mall and your blouse stretch of the imagination. be integrated cell phones, navigation systems tells you where you can get that special gift item Stretch was funded by the Defense Advance or personal warning systems. that has been on your must-get list for months.” Research Projects Agency (Darpa). In addition to Parker concluded with a vision reminis- Will soldiers’ wardrobes someday Parker and Jones, the research group includes cent of the recent film “Minority Report”: include sound detector sweaters, satellite Ron Riley at USC/ISI and Don Leo, Louis Beex “Think of your blouse or slacks interacting signal antenna hats or chemical sniffer vests? and Zahi Nakad at Virginia Tech/CCL.

6 USC ENGINEER thep oint

A Milestone for Engineering & Biomedical Technology Alumnus Endows Chair in Biomedical Technology

David W. Chonette (MSME ’60, ENGME ’64) has pledged $2 million to This entrepreneurial approach appeals to Chonette, who for the past endow a new chair in support of the Biomedical Technology Initiative, 16 years as a venture capitalist has directed investments in innovative which was launched by Dean C. L. Max Nikias in 2001 to enhance the research by small companies. “It is my sincere hope that the Chonette School’s strengths in the fields of biomedicine and biotechnology. Chair in Biomedical Technology will serve as a catalyst, encouraging new “I wanted to endow this chair as an expression of appreciation to approaches and advances in this incredibly important discipline.” USC for the education I received there,” says Chonette. “It gave me the Chonette, who has served as a member of the School of capability and confidence to become a very competent engineer. I’ve Engineering Board of Councilors since 1997, is a general partner of chosen to support the field of Brentwood Venture Capital, and adviser to Versant Ventures, a successor biomedical technology because fund specializing in health care venture investments. He joined I worked as an operating executive Brentwood in 1986 after 19 years with American Hospital Supply in this discipline for nearly Corporation, where he served as president of Edwards Laboratories two decades, leading product (now Edwards Lifesciences Corporation), which grew under his development, manufacturing and management from $10 million in revenues to more than $200 million. marketing, helping to make new He also served as group vice president responsible for several medical technologies available to patients.” device and pharmaceutical divisions totaling $350 million in revenue. The creation of the Chonette has served as a director of Advanced Rehabilitation Chonette Chair in Resources, Biopsys, Cardiovascular Devices, Catheter Technology, Biomedical Technology is General Surgical, Imagyn Medical, InterFlo Medical, Interpore Cross, the latest milestone in the School KeraVision, Neomorphics and Webster Laboratories. He is currently a of Engineering’s quest to lead the director of Interpore Cross and several private companies. nation’s research and expertise in After earning his Bachelor’s degree in engineering from MIT in this rapidly evolving discipline. 1957, Chonette returned to his Southern California birthplace to work in Throughout society, medical and the burgeoning aerospace industry. Working full-time, with a family to scientific advances have produced support, he nonetheless knew he wanted to pursue graduate studies in unprecedented demand for new categories of medical and healthcare engineering. “USC was products, services and technology, noted the dean. He said that scientists well attuned to the are decoding the human genome, that biomedical and biotechnology needs of working industries are producing new products and increasing their success in professionals,” he says. “It is my sincere hope fighting disease and maintaining health. “The School of that the Chonette “We stand at the dawn of a technological revolution in the Engineering offered Chair in Biomedical biological sciences—a revolution that will affect how we live our lives both day and evening every day,” says Nikias. “Since engineering advances will surely determine courses, so I was able to Technology will the future of this revolution, the Chonette Chair in Biomedical develop a schedule that serve as a catalyst, Technology strategically positions the USC School of Engineering to worked for me and my capitalize on this emerging technological revolution. I’m very grateful family.” encouraging new that Dave Chonette has chosen to support this important initiative.” Chonette and his approaches and School of Engineering faculty are working on major advances in wife Suzanne reside in diagnosis and treatment of disease. They are pushing the boundaries Newport Beach and advances in this of research in the fields of biochemical engineering, biomaterials, family has always been incredibly important nanotechnology, bio-MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems), device important to them. and diagnostic technologies and neural engineering with the goal of They are the parents of discipline.” improving human health and well-being. five children and the Under the umbrella of the Biomedical Technology Initiative, the grandparents of nine. School’s faculty and students are also conducting important research “My father, W.C. Chonette, and my uncle, O.W. Chonette, were also in cellular engineering, drug and gene delivery, drug targeting, tissue professional engineers,” he says. “Together, they influenced and guided engineering, metabolic engineering and biophotonics. They take me into this discipline. I chose the name of this chair as a way of advantage of the School’s highly interdisciplinary research environment honoring and thanking them both.” to respond quickly to emerging research opportunities.

USC ENGINEER 7 thep oint Organic Foods: The SUVs of Agriculture?

by Joseph Devinny

Are organic foods becoming the sport utility Studies show that organic produce does are cut vehicles of agriculture? The new Department contain fewer pesticide residues. But the down, of Agriculture rules for organic foods seem amounts now found in foods are generally prairies are to favor a boutique food industry in which below government limits, so organic foods plowed well-heeled consumers will pay premium prices will not significantly improve public health. under and for perceived safety benefits that are mostly Plants absorb the same nutrient chemicals grassy illusory, while increasing the burden on whether they come from soluble fertilizers or meadows precious environmental resources. from manures, so there is no identifiable that Organic farming, a concept that arose difference in food quality. Indeed, the manure support from genuine health and environmental fertilizers favored by the new rules can be diverse concerns, first grew wild as a political ideology dangerous. There have been several outbreaks ecosystems Professor Joseph Devinny and now has been set in bureaucratic concrete. of E. coli from produce and water become The rules assure consumers that foods contaminated by manure, and in some cases monotonous rows of corn. Virtually every wild labeled “organic” are grown on a farm where the victims have died. There are about 50 species in the habitat disappears. most pesticides are banned. Genetically diseases infecting both cattle and humans, and A long-term study in Switzerland recently modified organisms are proscribed and soluble some may be transmitted via manure. showed that organic farming used 50 percent (manufactured) fertilizers are almost entirely Soluble fertilizers pollute rivers and lakes, less energy, 97 percent less pesticide and 51 eliminated in favor of manures. Other rules not because they are toxic, but because they percent less fertilizer than traditional farms— require soil conservation and humane fertilize algae as well as crops. The slower all good results. Productivity declined by “only” animal care. nutrient release from manures may reduce 20 percent; an inefficiency to be made up by Organic farming sounds good because runoff in some cases, but there are abundant charging higher prices to consumers. farming does cause horrendous ecological examples of manure polluting waterways. But if we want to produce the same damage. Fertilizer runoff pollutes streams. Proper fertilizer management by farmers will amount of food organically as we do with prevent pollution in either case. traditional methods, a productivity reduction Organic food advocates worry that of 20 percent will increase the land devoted The most important genetically modified crops may be dangerous to farming by 25 percent. Something like environmental impact to consumers or the environment, but 850 million acres of wildlife habitat would banning them means giving up tremendous be put to the plow worldwide—an ecological of farming occurs when opportunities for better health and disaster of the first magnitude. natural wildlife habitat is environmental quality. Certain aspects of organic farming Modified strains—tested to screen out represent valuable progress, but rigid adherence first converted to farmland. those that are threatening—can resist insects, to an ideology will not produce the best results. Forests are cut down, reducing the need for pesticides. Crops made Farming needs an ongoing program of sound resistant to herbicides will grow in fields where research on all alternative methods and access prairies are plowed under… biodegradable compounds are used in place of to a flexible array of techniques. We should Virtually every wild species a plow to kill weeds, virtually eliminating soil focus our greatest efforts on increasing farm in the habitat disappears. erosion. Genetically modified cattle can productivity—using innovative pest control, produce low-fat meat, while altering peanuts fertilizers, better crop strains or other new could eliminate the protein that causes allergic methods—to stop habitat destruction, and Pesticides migrate from farms to kill wildlife. reactions. Designed plants may produce even to restore existing crop land to the wild. Soil erosion reduces farm fertility, destroying a precisely structured pharmaceuticals, avoiding resource that should be indefinitely renewable, the environmental impacts of drug factories Joseph S. Devinny is a professor of civil and and fills lakes with silt. Worst of all, farming while improving human health. environmental engineering at the USC School of destroys wildlife habitats. The most important environmental Engineering. People should be wary of pesticides, impact of farming occurs when natural wildlife which, after all, are designed to be toxic. habitat is first converted to farmland. Forests

8 USC ENGINEER thep oint SPACE SCHOOL In engineering design, we often work in EXPERTS FROM tightly partitioned processes, grasping THE PROFESSION one element but perhaps not the entirety The Synthesis of a program,” says Madhu Thangavelu, Studio syllabus is the self-described “conductor” of the nearly nonexistent, Space Exploration Architectures Concept Student Casey Bauer played on two with no assigned Synthesis Studio. The School of major themes of the most recent reading beyond Engineering’s aeronautical and Synthesis Studio, space tourism and one of mechanical engineering department and finding commercial applications for Thangavelu’s the School of Architecture offer the the International Space Station. Bauer, who books. Guest lecturers from the space graduate course jointly. In the Synthesis works at Raytheon, developed a concept for industry are featured each week, but final Studio, students conceive and present a space-based hotel and resort. grades are based primarily on space designs and business plans for space architecture concepts that the students something that is far beyond human vehicles and space habitats. Thangavelu, present for midterms and finals. ability at this time,” Thangavelu says. a guest lecturer, has taught the course In assessing and critiquing those The student explored existing and annually at USC for several years now. two projects, Thangavelu, who is a emerging propulsion technologies. She regular consultant on space architecture delved into the various unmanned craft concepts for NASA, is joined in class by a that NASA has aimed at distant sectors rotating panel of industry professionals, of our solar system. She gathered data men and women who have managed about the human life cycle from sources programs for NASA and JPL. including the AARP. Finally, she Where Thangavelu teaches through concluded interstellar travel might encouragement and positive require many generations of people reinforcement, the panelists shine the living on a space ship to reach another harsh light of reality. Their critiques and star system. As a medical student, she advice foster creative thought, but often was keenly interested in the human they are merciless in skewering proposals factors of creating a ship that could sup- that are not tethered to reality. port multiple generations of humans. Students must keep in mind the same “Though her proposal could not be The Synthesis Studio encourages questions the industry panelists live with fulfilled in her lifetime,” Thangavelu says, unconventional thought. It is a every day: Will elected officials buy the “it was considered the best proposal class that forces students to idea? Will the project and its goals with- of that year’s studio, because in spite stand the inevitable scrutiny of taxpayers? of its bold targets, it was rooted in balance their dreams of space logical thought and clearly laid out the travel against cold hard reality. THE UNIVERSAL APPEAL OF SPACE challenges and potential costs.” “The mind expansion needed for my “Most of my students come from course takes time, because these stu- engineering,” Thangavelu explains, “but THIS YEAR’S CROP dents come from very tightly constrained over the years we have had students of This year, the majority of midterm and disciplines,” Thangavelu says. “In the law, the sciences, communications, as finals presentations focused on space Synthesis Studio, students must bring all well as most disciplines of engineering. tourism and the International Space those tools of analysis they have learned We’ve had everything except perhaps Station. elsewhere, on campus or in their aero- someone from the fine arts. That is the The project that best exemplified the space careers, and grow beyond them.” magical thing about space. It appeals to balance between daydreaming and what The Synthesis Studio encourages everyone, and it demands genius from is possible came from Bryan Richardson, unconventional thought. It is a class that every discipline of human learning.” a longtime Boeing employee and naval forces students to balance their dreams Sometimes the boldest thinking aviator. Richardson proposed an of space travel against cold hard reality. comes from those students outside the International Space Station “life boat” To resolve “the conflict between what's engineering school. “One student, an that was an obvious and intentional possible and what’s daydreaming,” M.D./Ph.D. candidate completing her evolution of the proven reentry capsules Thangavelu says, “it is necessary to arrive studies in San Diego, outlined a concept used in the Gemini and Apollo programs at creative, passionate solutions.” for a manned interstellar spacecraft, continued on page 16

USC ENGINEER 9 U.S. News & World Reports Ranks School in Top 10 for Second Straight Year In the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the nation’s best graduate schools, released just as USC Engineer went to press, the School of Engineering placed eighth. “I’m ecstatic that we’re ranked number 1. Massachusetts Institute eight for the second straight year. Five years of Technology ago we were number 16,” says Dean C. L. 2. Stanford University Max Nikias. 3. University of California- Berkeley He said that the engineering school had 4. University of Illinois- intensified efforts on urgent national priori- Urbana-Champaign ties since the 9-11 attack and that fully 70 5. Georgia Institute of percent of the School’s more than $120 mil- Technology lion in annual research funding is defense- 6. University of Michigan- related. Averaging almost $1 million per Ann Arbor professor, the School has the most research 7. California Institute of Technology funding per tenured faculty member. 8. UNIVERSITY OF “This is an excellent engineering This year’s winners (left to right); David Aguilar, James Zimmerman and SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA school and the funding agencies know it,” Ryan Kashfian, with their invincible, robotic cube-catching bulldozer. 9. Purdue University-West Nikias says. “We will continue to climb in Lafayette rankings as more of our peers learn about 9. University of Texas- Austin the academic excellence we are building in LEGO WARS: ATTACK 11. Carnegie Mellon OF THE MINI-BULLDOZERS our research and education programs.” University The dean also expressed his gratitude 11. Cornell University Battle Bots they are not, but the LEGO robots built by students to the faculty. “The faculty should take pride 11. University of California- that their hard work and academic prowess San Diego in Hadi Moradi’s computer science 443 class help them explore is increasingly being recognized. I am proud 19. University of California- the fundamentals of contemporary robotics. The course is of their success.” Los Angeles open to any student with rudimentary programming ability, an interest in robotics and an affinity for LEGOs. Moradi, an assistant professor of computer sci- George Chilingar ence, previously spent several years working at the Endows Civil School’s Information Sciences Institute, where he par- ticipated in the World RoboSoccer championships. Engineering In CS 443, students learn the history of robotics Scholarship Fund and the theories behind the simple robots they build. LEGO robot kits are available at the campus Civil Engineering Professor bookstore. They come with laser sensors to guide George Chilingar (BSPE ’49, movements, electric motors that connect to drive MSPE ’50, PhD GEOL ’56) has wheels and microprocessors that must be pro- donated over $100,000 to create grammed. The robots, which look like miniature the George V. Chilingar Dean Nikias, Professor George bulldozers, have to gather ping-pong balls and Scholarship Endowment in Civil Chilingar and External Relations Engineering. “I am delighted to small cubes scattered around a 5-foot-square “robot CEO Christopher Stoy at a help support the pursuit of quality stu- stadium.” Instead of a bulldozer’s scoop, the robots luncheon celebrating the Chilingar usually feature something akin to a rabbit trap, dents for the department of civil engi- Scholarship Endowment. which can capture the balls and cubes. neering,” Chilingar said in ceremonies The students work in teams and are free to held over lunch at the California Club in Los Angeles on March 12. design with as much creativity as they please, as “You have become the role model for all other faculty to follow,” long as the finished product works autonomously. said Dean C. L. Max Nikias in accepting the gift. “I am very grateful, and They are not radio-controlled vehicles. However, thank you on behalf of all of the civil engineering students who will teams have been known to nudge robots that get benefit from this scholarship fund.” stuck in corners or hooked together, which draws In more than a half-century of academic achievement, Chilingar has derisive catcalls and hoots from colleagues. published more than 50 books and hundreds of articles in the fields of At the end of the semester, the class competi- geology, petroleum engineering and environmental engineering. He tion pits robot against robot in head-to-head elimi- earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in petroleum engineering and nation matches. The team that gathers the most a Ph.D. in geology at USC, and has been a pioneer in the concept of cubes or balls is the winner. It rates as one of the interdisciplinary study. more amusing events at the School of Engineering, His greatest contribution to the petroleum industry is a means of constitutes 20 percent of the final grade for

student works identifying oil-rich rock by analyzing the ratio of calcium/magnesium in students and validates the learning process. core samples.

10 USC ENGINEER thep oint USC’S BIONIC NEURON

In this case, size does matter by Gia Scafidi

Gerald Loeb’s BION, developed at USC’s Alfred trials manager. “They’ve just gone from being available. “Sooner or later this technology will E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering perfectly normal one day to being paralyzed the be available from a physician, but it could be (USC-AMI), is the size of two grains of rice. next. But when they start using the BION years from now. The worst thing anyone could That makes the muscle stimulator small enough regularly, they really like the therapy. Not only do is to let current treatment pass them by to be injected into the newly paralyzed or weak- do patients realize they are helping themselves, because they believe something better might ened muscles of stroke and arthritis patients. but they also enjoy the practicality of the BION come along one day,” he says. Loeb, a professor of biomedical engineering, because they can perform the therapy at home As USC Engineer went to press, the BION sometimes jokingly compares the device to rather than in a hospital.” faced a major hurdle. The U.S. clinical trials those tummy-tightening belts advertised on Strokes occur when a part of the brain were being conducted at Rancho Los Amigos late-night TV, except that the stimulation deliv- becomes starved of oxygen; they can result in National Rehabilitation Center, which the ered by the BION—short for bionic neuron—is the paralysis of many muscles in the face, arms Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors had precisely applied within the muscle itself. and legs. Research has shown the brain has slated for closure due to budget constraints. “The BION allows us to take precise great capacity to recover and relearn, but Loeb was scrambling to find a way to ensure control of muscles,” says Loeb, who is also muscles often remain weak. Therapy with the trials could move forward. director of the university’s Medical Device BIONs strengthens weak muscles by allowing Development Facility. “It links the nervous a patient to exercise them daily. system to the outside world, where a control “If approved by the Food and Drug system orchestrates muscle coordination.” Administration and manufactured Encased in a protective glass capsule with commercially, BION technology could electrodes on each end, the BION is accepted eventually be used for many different medical by the body in much the same way as other problems and disabilities resulting from muscle implanted devices, such as pacemakers and paralysis,” Loeb says. Already under way is bone screws. The device receives command research to determine if BIONs can stimulate signals from an external transmission coil. the muscles that operate the tongue and open The flat rubber coil, which a patient places over the airways of those suffering from sleep apnea, the affected area, causes the BION to produce a condition in which one’s breathing stops electrical stimulation pulses that activate during sleep. Additional research involves using adjacent neurons. The precisely placed the BION to enhance muscle tone and BION enables targeted muscles to be flexibility in stroke patients unable to open their Gerald Loeb holding the BION. strengthened and retrained through the hands, and in assisting stroke patients who have patient’s individualized exercise regimen. regained partial movement in their legs to once The first clinical trials of the device began “The coil is hooked into a small box again master the act of walking. New versions of three years ago in Italy and Canada. The trials programmed with individualized exercises and the technology that could facilitate movements were expanded through a five-year, $5.3 million can send up to 3,000 commands per second to such as reaching and grasping are under grant from the National Institutes of Health. the BION,” Loeb explains. “We can tailor the development at the Mann Institute. “Two of the three local trials of the BION therapy to the needs of the patient, strengthen- With the present technology still in its were supposed to be based at Rancho Los ing the muscles, protecting the joints and early stages of clinical research, however, only Amigos—one trial was actually under way,” helping the patient relearn to use a paralyzed a small number of patients who meet very Loeb says. “We have a subcontract for these trials limb.” The coil and its programming supersede specific criteria currently can benefit from with Rancho’s separate research corporation, the commands the brain would normally send BIONs. “The investigational phase requires Los Amigos Research and Education Institute.” through the nervous system to the muscles. intensive monitoring of each patient,” Loeb As a private foundation worked to save Rancho BIONs are built on USC’s University Park says. “It will be some time before we can Los Amigos, Loeb expressed hope that the Campus in a facility in the Denney Research implant the BION into people who do not research institute would survive or that the Center. They have recently begun clinical trials meet the set criteria of these trials.” clinical trials could resume at facilities treating in the U.S. after initial success in Canada and Loeb advises stroke and arthritis patients patients formerly treated at Rancho Los Amigos. Europe. always to take advantage of the best treatment “The closure of a clinical facility doesn’t “Patients are overwhelmed right after available to them today and not to wait for mean that people will stop having strokes,” a stroke,” explains Anne Dupont, the clinical promising experimental treatments to become he says. hoto by USC by hoto Service News Loeb p USC ENGINEER 11 thep oint

Choong Hoon Cho Dies Father of Y.H. Cho, USC Trustee and School of Engineering Friend

Choong Hoon Cho, who built a huge Korean struggling airline, which then transportation empire and was the father of had only four turboprop aircraft. Y.H. Cho, member of the USC Board of He modernized it and turned it Trustees and the School of Engineering’s Board into one of the world’s largest of Councilors, died November 17 in South airlines with one of the youngest Korea of old age. Cho, 82, had been in fleets of modern jet aircraft. declining health in recent years. His son Y.H. recalls how the yard around Korean Air is the world’s second largest air Cho was one of a generation of leaders of their family home in Incheon was full of trucks cargo carrier and Korea’s flagship carrier. conglomerates, called chaebols, credited with and trailers. Cho ran his business from a Today the Hanjin Group, a vast South Korea’s miraculous economic rise that downstairs office while his family lived upstairs. conglomerate with assets valued at more than began in the 1960s. Unlike other chaebol lead- Trained as a marine engineer, Cho was a $20 billion, is the sixth largest company in ers, who spread their efforts over a diversified creative entrepreneur with a reputation for Korea. Hanjin includes trucking, shipping, range of economic activities, Cho concentrated honesty, hard work and applying innovative travel, transportation and bus companies, and on the transportation sector. He often said that technology. He was the first to operate it remains the parent of Korean Air. while you could drop many lines into the water, inter-city bus lines in Korea and the first to Cho also strongly believed in the value of you didn’t necessarily catch more fish that way. establish an LPG distribution station. When education. He took over and invested in He began in 1945 with a single truck in he entered the shipping business, he built his Incheon’s Inha University when it foundered, the South Korean port city of Incheon and lost own ships, creating Korea’s first container ship becoming chairman of its board of trustees, most of his fledgling trucking company in the systems, and built a private container port. a post now occupied by his son Y.H. Cho. Korean War. But he also won U.S. military He called his company Hanjin, which literally Cho is survived by his wife, Kim Jung II; contracts to transport ammunition and other means “moving Korea forward”. four sons, Yang Ho (known as Y.H.), Nam Ho, supplies. He received more contracts during the When the government privatized Korean Soo Ho and Jung Ho; and a daughter, Vietnam War. Airlines in 1969, it asked Cho to take over the Hyun Sook.

   

Left to right are 40-year-plus research career associate director for student the School of in the area of digital affairs at the Integrated Media Engineering's communications, coding theory Systems Center, received the award winners and signal processing. He USC Associates Award for from USC's helped develop the Baum- Excellence in Teaching. Convocation Welch algorithm for detecting Willner has been the top-rated held March 11, Alan Willner, and predicting the behavior of professor on student Peter Will, hidden Markov models. evaluations in the department Wei-Min Shen “Always ready to help students of electrical engineering- and Lloyd Welch. and colleagues, he is known for systems each of the 10 years his modesty and concern for he has taught at USC. He Four School of Engineering the National Academy of others, and often helps in their received the 1999 TRW/USC faculty were among those Engineering, was one of two research without seeking any School of Engineering honored at the Academic retired faculty members chosen credit for himself,” said USC Excellence in Teaching Honors Convocation ceremony to receive the 2003 Faculty President Steven B. Sample. Award and numerous others. held at USC on March 11. Lifetime Achievement Alan Willner, professor of In the past six years, his Lloyd Welch, professor Award. Welch, who recently electrical engineering, associate students have received three emeritus in electrical received the 2003 Claude E. director of the USC Center of the annual Best Paper engineering and member of Shannon Award, has had a for Photonic Technology and Awards from his department. cation photo by Irene Fertik cation Irene by photo Convo 12 USC ENGINEER thep oint

NSF Approves Renewal of IMSC

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has high-definition digital video and multichannel animation, streaming media servers, speech renewed funding for the School’s Integrated audio across the Internet. The synchronized and face expression analysis, Immersivision™ Media Systems Center (IMSC) for a final video and audio is rendered on a big screen panoramic video technology, and immersive five-year contract as its sole Engineering and multiple speaker sound system. IMSC audio. The center is breaking new ground in Research Center (ERC) for multimedia and demonstrated RMI again for the NSF site haptics (touch-related) technologies, data Internet research. review team in June. In October, IMSC used compression and wireless communications. Its NSF support for IMSC will continue until RMI to stream a New World Symphony integrated research approach is progressing 2007, completing the maximum 11-year concert coast-to-coast for 500 top Internet toward “immersipresence,” a future where the period provided under the ERC program. The researchers who saw it on a 30-foot theater current 2D world of computers, television and NSF selected the School’s proposal for IMSC screen in USC’s Bing Theater. film will transform into 3D immersive in 1996 out of a total of 117 that were “This is one way people will use the environments in living rooms—or anywhere. submitted. Internet in the near IMSC has nearly 40 faculty investigators “We are very pleased that NSF has future,” says and an annual operating budget of approved the IMSC renewal for the full term Neumann. “They’ll approximately $10 million. The center’s of the ERC program, thereby affirming our be able to experi- industry program members include Boeing successes over the past six years and our ence a movie or a Co., Eastman Kodak, FX Palo Alto, Hewlett- plans for the future,” says IMSC Director concert in their own Packard, IBM, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Ulrich Neumann. “We have received living rooms when- Microsoft, NCR, TRW and smaller tremendously positive feedback from NSF ever they want. The entrepreneurial companies. IMSC also partners and our industry program members on the picture and the with the National Aeronautics and Space center’s contributions to advancing the sound will rival that Administration (NASA), including NASA’s Jet IMSC Director multimedia and Internet research fields.” Ulrich Neumann found in today’s best Propulsion Laboratory and the Defense Last year, IMSC demonstrated theaters.” Advanced Research Projects Agency. breakthrough technology called Remote IMSC has developed unique technologies More details about IMSC are Media Immersion (RMI) for streaming such as 3D face and body modeling and available at http://imsc.usc.edu/.    

“A winner of prestigious engineering and materials cular pathways that lead to He is working in the Integrated research awards, Professor science, invented the system acute coronary syndrome (heart Media Systems Center and the Willner balances his teaching and hardware. The internation- attack). The NIH award of computer science department. with directing a vibrant ally recognized robots are able $514,350 over five years, is University Professor research group,” said Sample. to reconfigure themselves into termed a Clinical Scientist Sol Golomb has been named Two Information Sciences insect or snake-like forms and Development Award and is to the Board of Governors Institute researchers, Peter Will can penetrate small places. aimed at young investigators and the Academic Committee and Wei-Min Shen, received Assistant Professor with a health professional doc- of the Board of Technion, Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Tzung Hsiai of the School’s toral degree who are commit- at the Israel Institute of Recognition Awards for their biomedical engineering ted to a career in fundamental Technology. The initial published research on self- department has received a biomedical research. appointment is for two years. reconfigurable robots. Shen, Career Development Award Shrikanth Narayanan, Senior Computer Scientist a project leader and director from the National Institute of assistant professor of electrical Jerry R. Hobbs received an of the Polymorphic Robotics Health for his project entitled engineering and linguistics has honorary degree from the Laboratory, created the “Microsensors to Study received an NSF Career Award University of Uppsala in hormone software concept Endothelial Cell Dynamics.” of $500,000 over five years to Sweden on January 24, only used in the machines, while Hsiai is developing and apply- pursue studies of modeling and three months after joining the Will, a research professor ing micro- and nano-systems to optimizing user-centric mixed- USC School of Engineering's of industrial and systems address fundamental cardiovas- initiative spoken dialog systems. Information Sciences Institute.

USC ENGINEER 13 thep oint

Legendary Leaders The School of Engineering’s Partnership with Hewlett-Packard by Meredith Goodwin

he origin of international powerhouse Hewlett-Packard opportunities for the School’s undergraduates,” McCarthy Company—a single product, manufactured in a garage adds. “We know that creating opportunities for students Tby a pair of visionary young electrical engineers—sounds to develop personal relationships with HP mentors is an like an entrepreneurial fairy tale. Add the merger between excellent way for students to see the end result of the HP and Compaq, a company whose first product was rigorous and challenging course of study they’ve chosen.” designed on a napkin in a pie shop, and the story grows to McKinney underscores the importance of a supportive almost mythic proportions. educational experience. “USC provided a superb education For more than six decades, the Hewlett-Packard legend that helped to build a strong foundation for my career at has fueled the dreams and ambitions of young engineering HP,” he says. “The challenging environment and experienced students. One of them was Harry W. faculty at USC instilled life-long values in me that I believe “Webb” McKinney (BSEE ‘68, MSEE ‘69), are true today. As an alumnus of the USC Engineering who joined HP as a sales engineer straight program, I felt it was important to give back to the from his studies at USC. Today, McKinney institution that helped shape me and my career at HP.” is a member of HP’s executive team. “Webb is the nicest guy on the planet,” McCarthy says. As executive vice president for merger “HP was started by men who lived through the Depression integration and organizational effective- and knew the value of a person’s word. They infused HP’s ness, McKinney leads HP’s ongoing corporate culture with their sense of personal values and merger integration and global citizenship respect. Webb’s entire career has been with HP, and he truly efforts, as well as the company’s organiza- embodies these values.” tional effectiveness and governance initia- The successful USC Engineering-HP partnership also tives. He played a pivotal role in the 2002 extends into the research arena. HP is a member of the merger between HP and Compaq, co- Scientific Advisory Board of the Integrated Media Systems Harry W. “Webb” heading the team whose responsibilities Center (IMSC), and helped to design the School’s graduate McKinney included planning and leading the inte- Creative Technologies Program. It also supports a number of gration of HP’s and Compaq’s systems, processes and people. innovative faculty research projects with research grants and However, he still finds time to serve on the School of equipment. Engineering’s Board of Councilors. “I’m a strong supporter of “There’s a wonderful match between researchers at the education,” he explains, “and I enjoy being part of a team School and HP’s Industrial Research Labs,” McCarthy says. that strives to educate and develop the men and women “They both share a five- to 20-year time horizon for who will soon enter into the work environment.” technology research and development, rather than the zero- McKinney actively supports HP’s longtime commitment to five-year time frame of the rest of the company.” to the School’s student retention and diversity programs. Recently, HP provided IMSC with a face detection and “HP is one of the most active members of the Center for recognition library to support Professor Jay Kuo’s research Engineering Diversity, which provides professional develop- on audiovisual-based speaker identification for movie ment for under-represented engineering students,” says content analysis. The project attempts to identify specific Janene White, the center’s director. “HP’s representatives speakers in a film or video through audio and/or video cues. help students develop important career skills such as writing Another research project the company supports involves effective cover letters and preparing for job interviews. The speech recognition technology that would enable an company also provides scholarships and equipment for our individual to access the Internet by speaking into a wrist- students and participates in our Summer Bridge program, watch. HP also is supporting IMSC Director Ulrich Neumann’s helping freshmen prepare for the challenges of college life.” efforts to add eye-tracking capabilities to videoconferencing. “We view a diverse workforce as a compelling business “Clearly, the HP ‘mystique’ is as strong today as ever,” need,” says Patricia McCarthy, who manages HP’s University says Dean C. L. Max Nikias. “We are truly grateful for the Relations Department. “Our customers encompass all insight and leadership that Webb McKinney brings to the demographics, and we try to ensure that our employees School of Engineering, and to and business divisions reflect this diversity. We find that HP and Pat McCarthy for their diversity and retention programs are extremely effective in exceptional level of support for the encouraging students to complete their degrees. School, its students, faculty and “We also put a lot of effort into providing summer research.” internships, as well as offering year-round research

14 USC ENGINEER thep oint

the middle of the combustion chamber until it finally had to be extinguished. “We never intended a third flight for this project,” Ronney says. “We’ll review the data that we have, build on that and try to address the surprises we came across.” Ronney had trained to be an alternate crewmember on the1997 flight that carried the first SOFBALL experiment. He initially did low-gravity research in graduate school, where he began thinking about conducting the experiments in space. Now he has become a Faculty Profile: Paul Ronney strong advocate of continuing the manned space program and scientific research in space. Out of the Ashes, Hope “This particular program was running for five years before the Challenger disaster When the space shuttle Columbia and its The weakest flame they burned produced half a occurred. Until Columbia, it had been 17 astronauts were lost February 1, a great deal of watt of thermal power, which is exceedingly years without another accident,” he says. scientific data also disappeared. However, the weak: a single birthday-cake candle produces “Two disasters in over 100 flights is terrible, crew left behind a foundation of research that about 50 watts of thermal power. could benefit life on earth. Among the many “What we’re doing is building up a experiments was one developed by the School’s knowledge base about how weak flames burn. Paul Ronney. We’ve known for a long time that if we could Ronney, professor of aerospace and burn weaker mixtures in our car engines, we mechanical engineering in the School of could get better fuel efficiency and lower Engineering, has been examining the dynamics pollutant formation,” Ronney says. “We can of combustion and igniting lean mixtures of use these flame balls to provide data on weak fuel, oxygen and inert gases. Conducting his combustion that will help us develop better experiment, Columbia’s astronauts set records models of combustion, which then can be for the weakest and leanest flames ever burned applied to car engines.” on earth or in space. Ronney lost about 50 percent of the data Their miniature balls of flame could lead obtained on the last Columbia flight, but the to more fuel-efficient car engines, a better researchers were able to downlink much to the understanding of gas explosions in confined ground. In 1997, another Columbia mission spaces such as underground mines, and carried a successful flame-ball experiment, improved methods for spacecraft fire safety which means that altogether, 75 percent of the assurance. data is in hand. Images of flames spreading over solid fuel Ronney, first discovered these tiny flame “Since science was the main objective of beds at microgravity (top) and earth balls nearly 20 years ago, is now on a mission this flight, perhaps the crew would have been gravity (bottom). This flame research is aimed at developing better methods of made more personal since the Columbia pleased to know that SOFBALL did get much assessing fire safety in orbiting spacecraft disaster. His data incomplete, he is driven by of its science,” he says. as well as understanding mechanisms of the loss of the astronauts, and by the memory There were some unexpected results in the fire spread in buildings at earth gravity. of their courage and commitment, to extract Columbia experiment. as many conclusions as possible from the One of the flame balls drifted in the but historically, it’s impressive. Think of the information he has. combustion chamber much more than first 100 outriggers headed out of Polynesia for Called “Structure of Flame Balls at Low expected, and other flame balls, mainly those Hawaii (which they didn’t even know existed). Lewis-number,” or SOFBALL, the project is with methane mixtures, moved in a corkscrew I’m sure that at least two boats were lost there, based on weakly burning flames in mixtures of pattern. The biggest surprise came in the final too. In the history of exploration, we’ve come either hydrogen-oxygen-inert gas or methane- test, which was supposed to last 25 minutes. so far and we’re doing so much better than our oxygen-inert gas. The Columbia crew produced That test produced nine flame balls and, as predecessors.” 55 flame balls in all, naming 33 of them. “Kelly” expected, they extinguished one by one until See Ronney’s personal perspective on the was the longest-burning flame, at 81 minutes. only Kelly was left. Kelly continued to burn in Columbia on page 48. nney photo by Irene Fertik Irene nney by photo Ro USC ENGINEER 15 KEY ADDITIONS TO THE BOARD OF COUNCILORS

EDGAR S. BROWER (BSISE ’59) recently DAVID M. DICARLO (Ph.D EE ’79) is vice retired as chairman of the board, president, president of engineering at Northrop and CEO of Newport Beach-based Pacific Grumman Space Technology. He is Scientific Company, where he had worked responsible for all engineering activities since 1985. Prior to joining Pacifica and processes within Space Technology, Scientific, Brower spent eight years in as well as microelectronics process various senior management positions with development and fabrication. the Allied Corporation. Previously, Brower Prior to joining Northrup Grumman, held directorships at Omega Environmental, DiCarlo served as vice president and general the M.C. Gill Company, Pro Computer Sciences, Ceracon Drilling manager of the electronics and technology division at TRW Products, and Metal Alloys. Key government positions included Space & Electronics. He has also served as vice president and United States Assistant Postmaster General from 1972 to 1976, executive director for Broadband Wireless in TRW Ventures, and during which time he guided the design and implementation vice president and director for the TRW Center for Automotive of the nation’s $1 billion automated mail handling system. The Technology, which transfers TRW aerospace and information system allowed the postal service to handle increased volumes technology to the company's automotive products. He has an of mail with 80,000 fewer people. He served in the U.S. Army extensive background in program management, including the from 1950 to 1954, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. In 1989 management of a major defense payload project. he received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the University of Southern California. HESTER GILL is vice president of the Merwyn C. Gill Foundation. Born in the LEO CHU is an entrepreneur who has made Orange Free State, Republic of South Africa, a significant imprint in textiles, women’s Gill completed her business degree at the apparel, and Las Vegas-style casinos. He first University of South Africa. After holding developed his family’s textile firm in Hong increasingly responsible positions in South Kong before emigrating to the U.S., where African firms, and completing courses and he and his wife started California Ivy, a tests to become a public accountant, she women’s apparel company that they joined Price Waterhouse and immigrated to eventually sold to a Fortune 500 company. Vancouver, Canada. Following a subsequent move to the United He now owns and operates Hollywood Park Casino and Crystal States, she married USC alumnus M.C. Gill (BSCHE ’37). As part Park Casino Hotel in the Los Angeles area. Chu is a graduate of of her responsibilities with the foundation, Gill works with a Hong Kong Polytechnic. range of charities.

SPACE SCHOOL continued from page 9 of the 1960s. He further evolved this it safely to earth by dead reckoning concept for his final project, and intends if all else failed. to submit it as a proposal to NASA and Another evolutionary proposal Boeing. came from Dan Rowan, another Richardson’s thinking meshed well Boeing employee. He elaborated on the with the concept behind the Synthesis space shuttle program and its known Studio. His presentation placed the life costs in his proposal for an earth-orbiting boat in historic context, while the design “trash truck,” which could be based at Bryan Richardson, a Boeing manager and elaborated on known technologies. It the International Space Station. This naval aviator, has evolved the proven concept filled an obvious need for the Inter- orbiting ship would collect and repair of the reentry capsule into a “life boat” for national Space Station, and his concept disabled satellites. the International Space Station. was simple enough to be cost-effective. Other student projects included a Panelist Tony Freeman, a JPL lunar-based space telescope array, an working space architects. “No, not program manager, pointed out that interplanetary “cruise ship,” methods for many at all,” he says. “It is a challenging life boats for sailing ships hardly changed turning the moon’s surface into the solar pursuit, one that forces us to imagine over 200 years because they worked so system’s largest billboard, a lunar resort beyond what has already been defined. well, so the proven concept of a reentry constructed within hollowed-out extinct It’s easier to live and work within the capsule could evolve and adapt to our lava tubes beneath the moon’s surface bounds of what most people already needs for an equally long period. and a reality television show set on the understand. Bill Haynes, whose career started in International Space Station. “As I said before, the conflict a World War II B-29 and included the between what's possible and what's winning design for NASA’s 1970s Skylab WHERE DO THEY GO FROM HERE? daydreaming is necessary,” explains program, was another regular panelist. With students presenting this wide array Thangavelu. “But only a few can stand He liked the fact that Richardson’s life of concepts, it’s reasonable to ask to live at the center of such conflict for boat had windows, so a pilot could bring Thangavelu if many students become a long period of time.”

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T L F—V P Tsunami by Meredith Goodwin Researcher This nation’s leading universities have built their reputations on outstanding research Saves Life and innovation, in a large part, thanks to partnerships they have forged with farsighted individuals and entrepreneurs. Perhaps the best example of this principle at work has at the been the Lord Foundation’s long relationship with the USC School of Engineering. For Beach many years, it has been a source of funding for some of the most innovative research and academic programs at the School. Remembering a “The Lord/USC Engineering partnership has always sought innovative approaches to technology and education. Together, we 25-year-old CPR continue to make important advancements that will benefit class, University Costas Synolakis on a recent generations to come,” says Dean C. L. Max Nikias. “The Lord of Southern tsunami field study Corporation has been a pioneer in its field for nearly 80 years.” The California Civil Lord Corporation is a privately held company that is a global leader in Engineering Professor Costas Synolakis helped save the designing and producing adhesives and coatings as well as vibration, life of a heart attack victim on a Santa Monica beach. noise and motion control products for the automotive and aerospace Synolakis, who lives in Venice, was jogging on industries. Lord’s chairman, Thomas Lord, came from a pioneering the bike path near the point where Pico Blvd meets background. His father, patent attorney Hugh Lord, founded the com- the beach, shortly after 9 a.m. on March 19, when pany in 1924 after being unable to find people who could successfully he came upon a man in his sixties who had col- manufacture his numerous inventions. Eight years later, Charles and lapsed. The man had no pulse and was struggling to Anne Lindbergh switched to Lord mountings for the instrument panels breathe. As Synolakis started cardio-pulmonary on their historic flight to China because most of the instruments used resuscitation (CPR), a woman who was a nurse also during Lindbergh's famous 1927 trans-Atlantic flight failed due to stopped to aid the victim. excessive vibration. Hugh Lord held more than 100 patents when he died in 1952 at the age of 85. Tom Lord was promoted to general “She did chest compressions and I did mouth-to- Top–Thomas manager of the company in 1932, and was named president in 1946, mouth. I had to pull his tongue out to clear the Lord provided overseeing the company’s dramatic growth on both the domestic and airway, “ said Synolakis. The two performed CPR leadership for international fronts. He became chairman of the board in 1968. for several minutes until lifeguards arrived with a the Lord In the early 1970s, Lord began exploring ways to utilize the defibrillator. They continued the CPR while lifeguards Corporation company’s resources to advance research, education and health care rendered a series of three electric shocks. On the for more than in the United States. He asked the corporation’s then-president, third shock, the victim’s heart began working and he Donald M. Alstadt, a noted chemist and inventor who later succeeded five decades. Tom Lord as chairman of the board, to help identify institutions started to breathe. Below–James W. that fit Lord’s philanthropic criteria: private, financially sound and “This guy was as close to dead as you can be. Wright, current decentralized, with graduate programs that could potentially be of He was so lucky to live,” said Angus Alexander, vice president of interest to the corporation. lifeguard captain with the L.A. County Fire Dept. legal affairs and “We wanted to geographically decentralize our philanthropy,” “I’ve been involved in 17 other CPR incidents and secretary. says Alstadt. “So we were looking at 10 to 15 schools with which we this is the first time the victim lived.” might partner. Jack Rebman, who was general manager of our He said the actions by Synolakis and the nurse Mechanical Products Division at that time, had previously worked at Lockheed, and he kept oxygenated blood flowing to the victim’s brain told me USC’s programs were highly regarded on the West Coast.” Alstadt brought Tom Lord to USC and Lord liked what he saw. With Lord’s gift of and maintained his heart in a “shockable” condition. Class B stock, a highly successful three decade-long partnership between the two institu- “It is very tough to do CPR on a complete tions was launched. In 1977, Lord formally established the Lord Foundation of California stranger,” said Alexander. “It’s psychologically, physi- to support the USC schools of engineering and business. The foundation was set up cally and emotionally demanding. We’re very glad that as a “supporting organization” to foster interaction between the two institutions. This Dr. Synolakis and the nurse weren’t just bystanders.” structure mandated that USC, as the fund recipient, would hold a majority of seats on the Alexander had previously assisted Synolakis on Board of Directors, with representatives of the Lord Corporation forming a minority. some tsunami research projects and the two were also “The Lord Foundation of California was the first of five philanthropic foundations that were formed by Thomas Lord,” says James W. Wright, vice president of legal affairs acquainted through the L.A. County Tsunami Task and secretary of Lord Corporation. “I had the pleasure of working with USC in Force. Synolakis is a well-known tsunami research. establishing the foundation and have been involved ever since. There is mutual respect Synolakis said he learned CPR when he took in the relationship, with both parties learning from each other. a SCUBA diving course at Caltech when he was a The foundation has funded an impressive range of programs at the School of student 25 years ago and that he had never taken Engineering—from “big-picture” projects such as the Distance Education Network, to a refresher course. research at the most minute level through the School’s research of nanoscale structures. “It is amazing how quickly things come back Other programs the foundation has supported recently include the Kaprielian Innovation Fund for graduate fellowships and interdisciplinary research. Today, it when you need to remember,” he said. “When I provides approximately $1.5 million in support annually, which is divided between the heard that the guy lived, I was just ecstatic. I couldn’t schools of engineering and business. have been happier.”

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NANOTECHNOLOGY AT USC ENGINEERING: WHEN LESS IS MORE Tiny Research with Big Results

Big Things in the Small, Small World of Nanotechnology The School of Engineering Stakes Out Its Niche

Steve Martin said, “Let’s get small.” The USC School of Engineering says: Eun Sok Kim, Dan Dapkus, Paul Ronney, Tzung Hsiai and Ari Requicha “Let’s get nano.” That’s nano, as in nanotechnology. are working on exceedingly small devices that may lead to applications Nanotechnology involves structures and tools small enough to fit as varied as internal drug-delivery systems or biological monitors, inside single living cells, man-made creations the size of single molecules microscopic full-fledged computers, ultra-sensitive sensors and or even atoms. Several USC Engineering labs have been working on mini-motors. Researchers talk passionately about “smart regulated nanotechnology for almost a decade. bio-implant systems,”“genetically engineered peptides as bio-compatible Such molecule-sized computing devices would need almost no coatings for prosthetic surfaces” and “templates for quantum dot and external power, since electricity would flow through transistors one wire devices.” electron at time. (Today’s Pentium chip moves about a billion electrons The territory being staked out builds on existing strengths in the to express one bit [a one or a zero] of data.) Nanoscale devices could School and other parts of USC. An entire floor of the new Ronald Tutor attain unparalleled levels of sensitivity, perhaps to the point of finding Hall will be devoted to nanotechnology (and micro) research. a single molecule of a target substance. “We have expertise, momentum and enthusiasm, and we The USC effort is intensifying and focusing on a specific have a plan to exploit a specific niche where we believe we can do “nanoarena,” a critical intersection where materials science, biology and big things in nanotechnology,” says Dean C. L. Max Nikias. “That’s information technology meet. Scientists including Chongwu Zhou, why we are going to build these new laboratories in Ronald Anupam Madhukar, Leonard Adleman, Ted Berger, John Granacki, Tutor Hall.” See story on Tutor Hall on page 47.

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MOLECULAR ELECTRONICS quantities of active materials such as germanium to create electronic To realize their most ambitious dreams, nano-engineers need new properties. Using novel doping techniques, Zhou assembles structures structures such as the remarkable ones coming out of Chongwu Zhou’s of doped and undoped nanotubes that function as transistors that are far laboratory. Zhou, an assistant professor of electrical engineering, is a smaller and consume much less power than their silicon brethren. recent arrival from China by way of the University of Science and Zhou’s group already has demonstrated one working nanotube Technology of China, Yale and Stanford. Youthful and energetic, he is electronic device, an integrated logic inverter. pursuing three separate lines of research that are attracting considerable The plastic memory and carbon nanotube transistors have attracted attention. interest, but Zhou’s third research focus, nanowires, is perhaps the most The first is an ingenious way to create a new kind of computer interesting of all. He is working with ultra-thin (10 nanometers in memory with molecules of a plastic called PPV. Most plastics are diameter) strands made from two different semiconductor compounds. polymers with molecules composed of long chains of many units. Zhou The gallium nitride nanowires have been made before, but he is making works with them with unprecedented control over their diameter, location and oligomers— orientation. His indium oxide nanowire is a brand-new material. A molecules of just paper announcing the synthesis appeared in Advanced Materials in two or three of the January, and Zhou believes the nanowires could lead to extraordinarily PPV units that can sensitive chemical and biosensors. receive or give up Currently, thin films of the two substances are able to detect the electrons in the presence of ammonia and other such toxic gasses. But nanowires would controllable way be more sensitive because they expose more surface area while being needed for much smaller. Zhou says a multitude of wires sensitive to different memory. He has substances in a single device would constitute a “laboratory on a chip,” devised a clever a vision others are also pursuing around the world. method to suspend However, a lab on a chip is not the only possibility for the these individual nanowires. They can also sense light. molecules, which “These devices don’t have to be completely electronic,” Zhou says. are about 1.5 “I’m looking at wires that can accept input in the form of light (optical nanometers in switching) and also do the reverse.” length, between Since they can both sense and emit light, the nanowires could be ultra-fine metal nanoscale structures functioning as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and wires. He used possibly even as laser LEDs. palladium in his Is this all? Zhou smiles behind the neat stacks of new research papers ASSISTANT PROFESSOR CHONGWU ZHOU first version and fresh off the press on his desk. You get the idea he has barely begun. gold in the new model, which he is working on now. Wires attached to the “top” of the molecule DNA COMPUTING run in one direction; those attached to the “bottom” are at right angles to Along with Zhou’s nanoscale, molecule-sized computer components, those on top. another more basic development is unfolding. Leonard Adleman, the Zhou has demonstrated that such a grid is able to read and write Henry Salvatori Professor of Computer Science, has turned DNA data. His first working model held a modest 64 molecules into a computer. A computer scientist, bits, but the new version will hold more than biologist and member of the National Academy of 1,000. The system is so compact that more than Engineering, Adleman first used DNA to solve a simple 10 billion units could be packed into a single computing problem in 1994. Employing laboratory square centimeter. techniques to find and read DNA molecules that Zhou is also at work on a new kind of represented alternate solutions to a problem, he made transistor based on carbon nanotubes. Ordinary the billions of DNA molecules in a test tube act as a carbon atoms are linked together in a sheet that massively parallel computer. rolls up tight to form a cylinder, two nanometers This classic experiment captured worldwide or less in diameter. Many researchers are attention. It is cited in many texts and sparked whole Nanotube investigating carbon nanotubes because they are conferences on DNA computing. Backed by USC’s extensive phenomenally strong for their size. Zhou, however, is expertise in molecular biology, Adleman has continued to pursue interested in the electronic possibilities. Carbon in nanotubes can DNA computing and last year made another breakthrough that rippled function the same way its periodic-table cousin silicon does in electronic around the world when his paper was published in the journal Science. devices. Solid-state devices made from silicon are “doped” with small Adleman’s first paper involved what he calls a “toy problem,” one so Illustration by Scott Holmes and Zhou photo by Michelle A. Michelle by and Zhou photo Illustration Holmes Scott by H. Smith USC ENGINEER 19 covers tory simple that almost QUANTUM DOTS anyone could solve it Some of the School’s longest-running research in in a few minutes nanotechnology involves photonics, an area of strength for using pencil and almost two decades. In the late 1980s, Anupam Madhukar’s paper. Last year’s work with semiconductors began to suggest a novel approach experiment, however, to making smaller devices, such as lasers and transistors, than showed that DNA are possible with standard silicon technology. computing could Madhukar, the Kenneth T. Norris Professor of solve a mathematical Engineering and professor of materials science and physics, problem with more deposited a layer only a few molecules thick of the semicon- than a million ductor indium arsenide onto a thick gallium arsenide layer. A possible solutions, seven- percent difference in the spacing between the atoms of far too complex for the two materials resulted in the formation of tiny crystalline anyone to calculate pyramids called quantum dots. The pyramids are about seven without a computer. nanometers high and 20 nanometers in diameter at the base. Despite his “Because of the strain induced by the difference in spacing success, Adleman of the atoms, the indium arsenide buckles and creates the believes existing pyramidal bumps,” Madhukar explains. “Nature’s own elastic DNA computing PROFESSOR ANUPAM MADHUKAR forces form them spontaneously.” technology is too Quantum dots contain 10,000 to a million atoms arranged error-prone to compete “epitaxially,” i.e., in a defect-free relationship to the underlying against conventional computers. Nevertheless, the fact that something as semiconductor surface atoms. They offer new electronic properties not pervasive in biological systems as DNA can work as a computer raises present in either much larger or much smaller collections of atoms. intriguing possibilities. “It’s possible that we could use DNA computers Devices such as lasers, detectors and transistors based upon them require to control chemical and biological systems in a way that’s analogous to a fraction of the power of standard silicon devices. Since publication of the way we use electronic computers to control electrical and mechanical dot breakthroughs in Science and Physics Today,introducing and utilizing systems,”Adleman says. In fact, he is not the only computer researcher at the concept of “surface stress engineering,” Madhukar has continued USC who has found inspiration in the human body. to develop this class of quantum dot technology under a USC-led $5 million multi-institution federal grant. BIOLOGICAL INSPIRATION Madhukar’s group has found dots that detect the presence of certain Ted Berger, professor of biomedical engineering, has been working to wavelengths of infrared radiation. Properly configured, quantum dots build a brain prosthetic device for many years that could take over could work as the senses and the brains of new machines. He has been brain functions lost through injury or disease. By bombarding live brain trying to attach his quantum dot detectors to biological molecules and slices from rats with a huge range of electrical impulses and studying the cells to create what signals that emerge, Berger has been able to model larger and larger might be termed groups of neurons. smart, biochemical John Granacki, director of the Advanced Systems Division at the sensors. Information Sciences Institute, has fabricated computer circuits that More recently, mimic Berger’s neuron models. Armand Tanguay, professor of his interests have electrical engineering, has designed a precisely shaped photonics array expanded to to connect to the hippocampus of the brain. Berger’s team is preparing another class of to test the neural prosthetic device on live rat brain slices. But their quantum dots, single biggest remaining challenge is to attach the man-made hardware nearly spherical to the wetware of the brain. The challenge fits neatly into the USC semiconductor, nanotechnology niche of “smart regulated bio-implant systems,” and metal or ceramic Berger has begun exploring a possible nanotech solution to the nanoparticles with remaining hurdle. diameters from two Meanwhile, Berger’s research has spun off a neuron-based speech to 50 nanometers recognition system that is better than the human ear; it is under suspended in a commercial development. He and Granacki have received grants from solution. As the the National Science Foundation and others to develop a next-generation lead lab in another computer chip based on how neurons compute. concurrent SOME OF ANUPAM MADHUKAR’S POST DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS. 20 USC ENGINEER covers tory

$5 billion multi-university grant under the National Nanotechnology Initiative, his group is examining ways of utilizing engineered pro- NANO’S BIG teins to direct the assembly of the “colloidal” quantum dots into usable device structures. BROTHER “Exploiting the best features of both classes of quantum dots, epitaxial and colloidal, in MICRO: IT’S integrated architectures will potentially revolu- tionize the emerging field of nanotechnology as STILL A applied to life sciences, biomedicine, biomedical prostheses and information sensing, processing SMALL, SMALL and computing technologies,” says Madhukar. Inside the body, he notes, “Chemical signals of WORLD all kinds are constantly being passed” from cells to Along with pioneering This 12-layer chain was made with electrochemical their environments research in the fabrication (EFAB) technology developed at the and other cells. School. The chain is 290 microns wide directly ultra-small realm of Molecules in cells in under an ant's head and each layer is approximate- nanotechnology, USC the pancreas, for ly seven microns thick. EFAB facilitates mass example, detect how Engineering researchers production of complex micro-electromechanicalsys- much sugar is in the have long worked in the tems, or MEMS, devices. The picture was taken by EFAB inventor Adam Cohen with a scanning blood and can send a thousand-times larger Quantum dots electron microscope and has been colorized. signal that triggers microtechnology domain. the release of insulin to metabolize the sugar. Micro may be nano’s big brother, but it is still a very small place. A micron is Madhukar envisions drug delivery systems one millionth of a meter, or a thousandth of a millimeter. The challenges controlled by quantum dots that could do and the potential benefits of micro research are just as great as those of somewhat the same thing. He has begun work nanotechnology. School of Engineering researchers have been crafting a wide to integrate quantum dots with a designed protein matrix. “Imagine a drug delivery system variety of micro devices, from brain implants to cure diseases such as that brings just the right amount of a medicine Parkinson’s to moving assembly lines that would fit on the head of a pin. to the precise part of the body where it is USC’s micro researchers will be joining their nano colleagues in laboratories needed,” he says. in the new Ronald Tutor Hall. Turning this and other goals into reality A longstanding area of research interest at the School has been requires the computing muscle to crunch the micro-electromechanical systems, or MEMS. At the School’s Information enormous calculations needed to predict and Sciences Institute, robotics expert Peter mold the various structures. “It is becoming Will, who collaborates with nanoscale THE CHALLENGES AND THE possible to do computer modeling on this researchers Ari Requicha and Anupam scale,” Madhukar says. “There is a natural POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF Madhukar, has gained recognition marriage between high-performance MICRO RESEARCH ARE JUST computing and nanotechnology.” for MEMS research involving tiny Last year a research team specializing in electromagnetic fingers, or cilia, that can AS GREAT AS THOSE OF the kind of quantum modeling needed by manipulate or move items too small and NANOTECHNOLOGY. nanotechnologists relocated to USC from delicate for human hands. His work was Louisiana State University. Priya Vashishta, described in a 1998 cover story in Discover. Because of Will, ISI has become the Rajiv Kalia and Aiirchiro Nakano, who had location for a major MEMS resource, an online clearinghouse. collaborated with Madhukar previously, all ISI is also the birthplace of Electrochemical Fabrication, or EFAB, a new received joint appointments in the School of Engineering and the College of Letters, Arts MEMS technology that has successfully made the transition to the commercial and Sciences. The new Center for High world. Adam Cohen, who invented EFAB while a project leader at ISI, is now Performance Computing and chairman and executive vice president of MEMGen, a Burbank company Communications, partly run by the School’s continued on page 22 dhukar photos by Michelle A. Michelle by photos dhukar H. Cohen Adam by and ant photo Smith Ma USC ENGINEER 21 covers tory

Information Sciences Institute, has a 570-node (soon to expand to more semiconductor, Dapkus applies a film of polymeric material that than 1,000 nodes) Linux parallel supercomputer, one of the largest of its “self-assembles” into a pattern of nanospheres. The pattern forms kind in academia. because the film is a copolymer, two different long-chain organic mole- cules that tend to avoid one another. The copolymers allow a wafer to be UNIFORM patterned with processes that are similar to the standard photoresist QUANTUM DOT patterning used in the semiconductor industry. The resultant quantum ARRAYS dots have unprecedented uniformity, with a diameter of 20 nanometers Researchers lead by and ordered placement on 40-nanometer centers. This approach of using P. Daniel Dapkus, organic materials to pattern wafers on a nanometer dimension is an William M. Keck important new paradigm emerging in a field termed nanophotonics. Professor of “We are working to control both the light and the electronics of Engineering, photonic devices at the smallest possible physical scale,” Dapkus says. Electrical Engineering and SILVER AND GOLD Materials Science, In the 1980s, scientists discovered that the sharp silicon tip of the newly are perfecting new invented scanning probe microscope not only produced images revealing methods to control individual atoms and molecules, but would sometimes move them. A the size, shape and team led by Ari Requicha, professor of computer science and director of spacing of quantum the Laboratory of Molecular Robotics, has been steadily improving the dots. “Controlling precision with which his team can move ever-smaller materials. Among those parameters them are colloidal gold and silver balls as small as two nanometers in provides you with the diameter on a mica slab, and string-like organic molecules called dithiols PROFESSOR P. DANIEL DAPKUS maximum benefit that tether the balls together. They can chemically link the particles to from semiconductors,” Dapkus form assemblies, and they can make nanowires by depositing metals on says. “The atom-like properties of these nanostructures improve many of strings of carefully positioned balls. the device characteristics and provide new functionality not achieved in With $1.5 million from the NSF, Requicha and several other any other way.” researchers are working to create tiny nano-robots to monitor Before depositing the layer of gallium arsenide or indium arsenide potentially dangerous microorganisms in the ocean. (See “Lilliputians

NANO’S BIG BROTHER MICRO continued from page 21 revolutionizing the production of parts and he has tested the concept up in cantilever structures when they are micromachines and microscale devices. successfully on the macro scale. Next, he energized by sounds or other fluid EFAB works by depositing successive, hopes to make a micro version using the waves. The movement can be monitored very thin layers in precise computer- EFAB technology. very accurately so that the membranes controlled patterns to build up tiny but Two other School faculty are at work act as sensors. They could become a tiny fully 3-D microscale items. on other species of MEMS. In biomedical but rugged microphone array requiring Cohen and MEMGen are engineering, Tzung K. Hsiai is developing very low power. Or, the membranes collaborating with Paul Ronney, professor MEMS sensors that will report on the themselves can vibrate to generate of aerospace and mechanical environment inside blood vessels to give sounds or fluid waves. Kim is exploring engineering, to create a unique an unprecedented, real-time detailed one possible application using a “labora- micro-machine. Ronney, who is an expert picture of how disease—particularly tory on a chip” for biomedical uses. on combustion (See faculty profile, page coronary disease—progresses. Membranes coated with piezoelectric XX), hopes to use EFAB to produce a In electrical engineering, Eun Sok films would generate focused acoustic minute MEMS generator, a micro-engine Kim, head of the MEMS Group, is waves to mix liquids—for example, blood burning hydrocarbon fuel to generate developing applications for the moving with a reagent—for instant analysis. The power through thermoelectric materials, microscale membranes that his group devices also might serve as microscale substances that produce electricity when has learned to fabricate. The membranes fluidic drivers for such things as pumps, heated. Ronney’s design has no moving have strong sections that move or stand liquid-droplet ejectors or micro-propellers

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“Beyond gains in basic scientific understanding,” Nikias says, “our research is aimed at creating devices and making advances that can fulfill longstanding needs in medicine and information technology.”

of Troy” in the Spring/Summer 2002 USC Engineer.) This project spans with smaller particles nanotechnology, robotics, computer science and marine biology. It is and spacing.” centered on the development of ultra-small robotic sensors and software Creation and systems to control them. manipulation of Requicha says it will be possible to build nanoscale devices with nanoscale materials electrical and mechanical components so that the devices could propel involve controlling themselves, send and receive electronic signals and even compute. While biological, chemical a single nanoscale device would have minuscule computing power and and physical process- capability, the idea is to have vast numbers of them operating in concert. es with great preci- This will require considerable advances in the areas of nanotechnology, sion and sophistica- robotics and computer networking. It will be at least a decade, he tion. The School’s estimates, before any nanoscale robots are deployed in the ocean. But ability to do this will along the way, he predicts, the project will spin off technology in marine improve when the biology and other areas. new, specially PROFESSOR ARI REQUICHA “Suppose we put 15-nanometer particles on a grid with 100- designed laboratories in nanometer spacing, which we can routinely do in our lab today. If we the new Tutor building facilitate the work. It will improve further when interpret the presence of a particle as a binary one and its absence as a top faculty are recruited to work in USC’s special nanotechnology niche. zero,we have a scheme to store data,” he says. “The bit density is 10 giga- “Beyond gains in basic scientific understanding,” Nikias says, “our

Dapkus and Requicha photos by Michelle A. Michelle by photos Dapkus and Requicha H. Smith bytes per square centimeter, which means we have data storage that is research is aimed at creating devices and making advances that can 100 times better than today’s compact disks. And it could be even greater fulfill longstanding needs in medicine and information technology.”

of atomized liquid jets. Another He succeeded in packing 1,000 or more application the researchers envision is of the devices into a square millimeter that the membrane cantilevers could and has used newer technology to shrink precisely position microscale mirrors or them still further. Working with Dapkus capacitors, which would be tuned to the as part of the MicroPhonic Devices group exact capacitance desired. is another electrical engineer, John D. USC Engineering’s strong photonics O’Brien, who has designed some of the program, centered on the large smallest lasers ever made. O’Brien and cleanroom in the Keck Photonics the group have produced a variation of Laboratory, has steadily been making the VCSEL, called a photonic crystal smaller and smaller photonics devices. defect laser, which at 0.5 microns in P. Daniel Dapkus, whose work with diameter grazes into the nanotechnology “quantum dots” is described in the realm in a new field termed nanotechnology story, has scored other “nanophotonics.” breakthroughs as well. In 1998, he Artist’s rendering of created arrays of Vertical Cavity Surface interior of the new Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) that were Ronald Tutor Hall unprecedented in their small dimensions.

USC ENGINEER 23   ⁄

The Brightest the Best by Dan Gordon

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fter admitting the brightest freshman class in its history — with the highest average SAT score on campus at 1366 — the USC School of Engineering is reinvigorating its undergraduate Acurriculum. The School is considering measures that will give students greater flexibility to take minors outside of engineering, more hands-on instruction and a better sense from the start of what it means to be an engineer, among other goals. Among the changes being considered:

“These are very talented kids,” says Reducing the number of required courses so that students can make Yannis Yortsos, senior associate dean for more choices in their programs, including being able to complete a academic affairs. “The challenge is to keep minor outside of engineering; them engaged.” Adding a new biology course for engineers; The Undergraduate Curriculum ∑ Radically restructuring introductory courses to give freshmen more Revision Task Force, consisting of senior hands-on experience; administrators, faculty representatives from each department and student representatives, Enhancing instructional laboratories and developing methods of met throughout the 2001-02 academic year instruction that depart from the traditional lecture format; before submitting recommendations to Working with the math and physics departments in the College Dean C. L. Max Nikias last summer. of Letters, Arts and Sciences to develop curricula that are more Jerry Mendel, professor of electrical relevant to engineering students; engineering and director of the School’s Developing freshman “academies” – cohorts of students who would Academic Program Revision chaired the task take required courses together and meet regularly for one-unit force. The school and its departments are seminars, led by each academy’s faculty mentor, on topics such as currently setting priorities and determining ethics, contemporary engineering and technology. how best to implement these Freshman Aaron Pipkin, a Presidential Scholarship awardee majoring in recommendations. electrical engineering, loves music; he was drawn to USC, in part, by the opportunity to combine electrical engineering with courses in music recording. His freshman colleague, Pamela Fox, has been programming computers since the sixth grade, but hasn’t neglected other interests. The Trustee Scholar and Merit Research Award recipient chose to enroll at the School not only because she was attracted to computer science, but also for the wide array of opportunities across the campus. “Sometimes I don’t even consider myself an engineer because I have so many other interests,” says Fox, who is weighing Left: Entering class of 2002/2003 minors in fine arts and Spanish. at the new student barbecue One of the major purposes in revising the curriculum is to free up units this past fall. so that students such as Fox and Pipkin can pursue any of USC’s more than 100 minors as a way to enrich their education, add value to their degree and gain

USC ENGINEER 25 “These kids enter the university with the sense that engineering is about getting together, designing something, building it, tearing it apart,” says Yates. “They come in and it’s mostly lectures for the first two years. We need to capture their attention early so that they don’t begin to question whether they’re in the right place.”

experience from the interdisciplinary collaborations that introductory courses so that they are more appealing and are increasingly important in the engineering profession. convey a clearer concept of what it means to be an engineer. “The way our curriculum is currently structured, students “These kids enter the university with the sense that have very little room for anything other than engineering engineering is about getting together, designing something, coursework,” says Louise Yates, associate dean for student building it, tearing it apart,” says Yates. “They come in and affairs and admissions, and a member of the task force. it’s mostly lectures for the first two years. We need to “Our brightest students tend to be the ones who want more capture their attention early so that they don’t begin to Yannis Yortsos, senior associate dean – they want to learn a foreign language or do a minor in question whether they’re in the right place.” for academic affairs international relations to understand world affairs, for “Students today are very sophisticated,” adds Yortsos. example. So our departments are looking at which courses “They want to see real-world applications – how what are absolutely necessary and which can be offered as they’re learning fits into the big picture.” electives rather than requirements.” Sam Bagwell chose USC over other engineering The School is also reviewing its own offerings of schools because of its strength and flexibility. “I didn’t minors in an effort to replace those not attracting students want to become a number, another face in a crowd,” he with more appealing new ones. Only three of the eight says. As a freshman, he has already enjoyed personal existing engineering minors have consistently drawn well: attention through his participation in the MERIT research Interactive Multimedia, Multimedia and Creative program, working in a signal-processing laboratory Technologies, and Web Technology and Applications. with Antonio Ortega, associate professor of electrical New minors have been proposed in bioinformatics, engineering. Nick Danziger enrolled with the intent of artificial intelligence, bioengineering, engineering majoring in engineering and minoring in business. In his Louise Yates, management, technology for non-engineers and computer first year, he has already built an autonomous LEGO robot associate dean science for non-computer scientists. and served as drumline cymbal player in the USC Trojan for student affairs While departments are looking to reduce requirements Marching Band; he is also interested in speaking to visiting and admissions to give students more flexibility, they are also making room high school seniors and helping with recruitment as a for a new required course in engineering biology. “In the member of the Engineering Student Council. future, more and more industrial activity will be in the area Their interests and pursuits illustrate the niche that has of bioengineering,” says task force member Yortsos, who is helped USC’s engineering school attract such a high-caliber developing the course. “The departments agree on the need freshman class: the ability to offer a broader, more well- for a course that addresses modern biology in the context of rounded education than a more specialized campus such as engineering applications.” Caltech, while providing more personal attention than can Additional efforts are focused on revising the sequence be afforded at larger campuses such as those in the and content of required courses in math and physics, which University of California system. are taught in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “Our students want to learn about more than just “We need to work with the math and physics departments engineering,” says Yates. “They’re very service-oriented.” to establish a better connection between what our students Yates also believes that, while today’s students are Jerry Mendel, are learning there and the engineering coursework better prepared academically than ever before, many have professor of electrical they’re taking here,” says Yortsos, who has initiated such little notion of what engineering is about. “They don’t engineering and discussions. realize that engineering gives you a skill set, a way to think director of the But the School is also intent on revising its own about problems and look at things analytically that can School’s Academic introductory courses, mindful that today’s students respond open up so many career possibilities,” she says. “They have Program Revision better to action-oriented, hands-on experiences than to this sense that all engineers sit around in cubicles, never the traditional lecture format. Departments are being talking to anybody else other than engineers.”With that in encouraged to stress laboratory experience, information mind, the school is piloting a program this spring to bring technology, interaction and problem-solving modalities, in working engineers to discuss their careers. “This will as well as to use “out-of-the-box” thinking to restructure help our students gain exposure to how fun and exciting tsos and Yates photos by John Livzey and freshman photos by Michelle A. Michelle by photos Livzey and freshman John by photos Yates H.tsos and Smith

continued on page 28 r Yo 26 USC ENGINEER Freshman Profiles

Sarah Williams Sarah Williams, computer science major with a 1450 SAT score, left the Bahamas and her family to face the double challenge of adjusting to collegiate life and to foreign customs. “I didn’t want to do the typical thing Caribbean people do. I think they’re scared of the West Coast. There are so many things you don’t know about—housing, roommates, classes, professors, classmates. I was always wondering, ‘Am I doing this right?’ My first semester was really hard.” Originally from Guyana in South America, Williams has learned about more than just American culture. At Parkside International Residential College, she lives with students from around the world. “My roommate and I are such a good match. She’s Kellen Sick from Hong Kong, which opened the door for Chinese culture. Neither of us could pop home for a weekend. We were both pining for home.” Williams’ “At the end of junior year, I wanted to stay on multicultural explorations led her to a French course. “The French class was the East Coast—but the more I thought about it, USC Swimming is a top-five program in the great—I had so much fun.” country, Engineering is the Adjusting to culture and academics was hard, but Computer second biggest school here and Science 101 proved an adventure. “You start off loving CS and all fired they specifically had aerospace up about programming. Then you get the assignments. After all the engineering. Ever since I’ve debugging you wonder if this is really what you want to do.” She has been little, I’ve wanted to be a decided that it is. “There are so many options with my degree, and I’m fighter pilot; past that, I can still discovering new interests within computer science.” Attracted to probably use my aerospace the School’s multimedia program, she currently works in a network degree to design aircraft. My research lab through the Merit Research Program. “I really like my (high school) GPA was over a adviser, Farnoush Banaeia-Kashani, at the lab. He has a unique gift to 4.0. I talk to my parents every now and then break things down to a level a freshman can understand. Any time I have and hear how the weather’s been for them—it’s a question, he answers it perfectly.” been snowing, and here it’s 65 degrees and Though homesick, Williams describes the difference between her first sunny. I can’t argue with that; it’s just another and second semesters as “stark.” She feels more at home at USC now, and day in paradise, I guess. touts the diversity. “When USC says it’s multicultural, they’re not joking. “I swim the 100 butterfly and the 50 or 100 I’m just so grateful that I’ve gotten a chance to get out and meet people freestyle, mainly sprint stuff, and occasionally from all over the world.” the 200 freestyle or 200 butterfly. Practice is usually twice a day, six days a week—it adds up to about 25 hours of practice (a week) or so. In terms of people in the dorms, when they hear ‘aerospace engineer,’ they think, ‘Oh wow, Some of this year’s freshman class. that’s rocket scientist stuff.’ Any kind of degree that has ‘engineer’ attached to it, they think, Pictured left to right: (bottom row) ‘Oh man, you must be smart.’ It doesn’t necessarily take someone overly smart; it takes Sarah Williams, Sumati Bavisettey, someone dedicated to putting the time in. Fima Macheret; (middle row) “The feeling I got here is that professors are concerned about whether students are Nick Danziger, Sam Bagwell; (top row) Aaron Pipkin, Kellen Sick learning—‘not am I just doing my job to get by, but am I actually teaching these students’. and Pamela Fox. I’ve met with (Dean) Louise (Yates) quite a bit, for counseling and advice; whenever I have a question, even a really small one, I was never brushed off; someone can address it.” Kellen Sick is from Virginia Beach, Va.

USC ENGINEER 27 Fima Macheret Freshman Profiles In high school in Cincinnati, Fima Macheret, a 19-year-old chemical engineering major with an emphasis in biochemical engineering, grew Aaron Pipkin to love science and math, especially calculus. Aaron Pipkin was awarded the Presidential “I wanted to combine the two in a mathematical Scholarship upon entering USC to study electrical approach to science, which is engineering,” he says. engineering. “My junior year, I got a brochure from USC, and I saw “Ever since I was young, I’ve been surrounded that they had a biochemical engineering emphasis. by engineering. My father is an electrical engineer I didn’t want to do straight BME or chemical engineering. and my mother, civil. I’ve always been interested in So that’s the first thing I found out about USC. You don’t computers; I took a number of computer courses really hear that much about USC in the Midwest, which when I was in high school, but wanted to know is a shame. about what was inside them and “When you come to college, there’s nobody making how they really worked.” you do work. You don’t turn in homework on a daily basis, like in high “My dad was steering me to school. The kids here want to help each other; the department wants to help attend UCLA. But the more we you. My professors were really supportive. I’ve gone to a lot of teachers’ visited USC together, the more office hours, especially my physics teacher, Professor Bickers. The workload my mind changed. I came to the is tough, but it’s well worth it. conclusion that USC really was “The social life here is absolutely amazing. I work really hard. I study the place for me. I’m very when I need to, I do my problem sets, but at the same time, I play hard. interested in music; one of the I see LA. I went on the Weekender. I try to do as much social stuff as I reasons I ended up at USC was the opportunity to possibly can, because I’m from Ohio, and this is California! take the minor in music recording, closely coupled “The Greek life here is awesome. I ended up joining a fraternity (ZBT), to electrical engineering. I’m looking forward to and it taught me to manage my work a lot more. You have fun with beginning those courses; currently I’m taking your fraternity brothers, but you also study with them, and it’s a great the core engineering and general education experience. requirements. My first semester has been pretty “One of the things that makes the engineering school stand out is challenging: I took 19 units. It keeps me very busy, how much the engineering affairs office helps you. I can go in and get but I enjoy it. I’ve really enjoyed and gained from advisement, and they’re so willing to help me—Dean Yates, Paul Ledesma, conversations with upperclassmen. They can offer a Monica de los Santos, Julie Phaneuf, Matt O’Pray, all of them. They hook fresh perspective on professors and coursework that you up with all the internships you ever need, and put you right on track.” can help you make informed decisions.” Aaron particularly enjoys the opportunity for close faculty-student interactions. “I’ve got friends who ended up at Brown Freshman profiles by the staff of Illumin, College, Berkeley, and UCLA. They say they’re getting shuffled around in huge a student website produced by the classes, taking mostly GEs, and becoming largely bored, seldom able to talk Engineering Writing Program under the to their professors. I’ve gotten a lot of help from the offices in Olin Hall, too, direction of Steve Bucher.” in getting things accomplished and planning out my curriculum.”

The Brightest the Best continued from page 26 engineering can be,”Yates explains. at which you present the material,” he says. “It means we can have The school also hopes that the creation of eight freshman important discussions and bring research and more advanced concepts academies, each with approximately 50 students, will improve retention. into the classroom.” The first academy will be implemented on a pilot basis beginning this Yo r tsos believes the curricular changes will both capture the interest fall. “One of the things we felt was missing was the human equation,” of the new students and give them the well-rounded education that says Mendel. “This will help to develop a sense of community within the will prepare them for a wide variety of careers, including leadership student cohorts.” positions. “If you read the literature about engineering education and The bottom line in all of the curricular changes, Mendel contends, hear comments from employers, you know that there is a need to change is to live up to the expectations of a high-quality group of students. things,” he says. “We are confident that when we make the necessary “If you have bright students as we do, it means you can raise the level changes, it will serve our students well.”

28 USC ENGINEER hott opics BuildingBuilding Custom–DesignedCustom–Designed HousesHouses inin 2424 HoursHours

USC School of Engineering researchers are at programming and controls, Khoshnevis work on a fundamentally new construction recently began working on the project at technology for building houses and other the School’s Information Sciences structures, funded by a grant from the National Institute (ISI), a nationally recognized Professor Berokh Khoshnevis Science Foundation. facility specializing in computer research. “The goal is to be able to completely Contour crafting is derived from an on freestanding, wheeled robotic units, construct a one-story, 2,000-square-foot home established technology called rapid Khoshnevis believes contour crafting can erect on site in one day, without using human prototyping. Rapid prototyping systems have building-sized structures, layer by layer. The hands,” says Berokh Khoshnevis, co-principal similar computer-controlled head mechanisms NSF grant will give him the resources needed investigator on the project and a professor in that build up successive thin layers, usually of to test this theory. the School’s Daniel J. Epstein Department of specialized or exotic materials, to create 3-D In the first construction design he plans, Industrial and Systems Engineering. models, or prototypes. The prototypes then are the nozzle begins by creating a hollow wall out- The process, called “contour crafting,” has used to make molds for casting or die-casting line about a foot wide, with each layer perhaps 6 already won two patents, attracted the interest metal or plastic manufactured products. inches high, through the entire footprint of the of an internationally known architect and won building, including external and internal walls. a best paper award at an important recent Contour crafting builds On the next pass, the machine raises the robotics conference. hollow outline by another layer—while filling The NSF grant will support the scale-up of up shapes in layers by the hollow left after the first pass with more a system Khoshnevis has been working on for controlling the flow of material. Repetition of the process creates a the past five years, since the idea came to him solid cement wall. The gantry system—an over- while smoothing plaster on his house. Contour liquid building materials head beam mounted on two uprights, running crafting builds up shapes in layers by on parallel rails—could create a succession of controlling the flow of liquid building materials with two movable, houses in a row, each programmed to have its with two movable, programmable, trowel-like programmable, own design. Speed is limited mainly by how tools deployed around a nozzle. fast each layer dries sufficiently to allow Khoshnevis has developed contour trowel-like tools deployed another to be put on top. crafting machines to create smaller three- around a nozzle. The system is flexible enough to handle dimensional items in different shapes such as additions to the basic scheme. For example, cubes and boxes, bowls or domes, cylinders, The goal of contour crafting, by contrast, is a robot arm can continually insert coils of steel cones, cones coming out of boxes and rings or not to make a prototype, but to create a finished rebar to make the wall stronger. Inserting disks, which can be either geometrically regular product. The unique double trowels precisely hollow conduits, either vertical or horizontal, or free-form. He has used materials including control a flow of material from the nozzle and for wiring and plumbing will be easy, plaster, concrete, adobe, plastic and a paste of allow much cheaper and more durable materials Khoshnevis claims. wood particles mixed with epoxy. Guided by to be applied in thicker layers. Khoshnevis says the Pasadena-based computer programming based on CAD-CAM Khoshnevis’ contour crafting system has California Institute of Earth Art and representations, the contour crafting nozzle- already made larger objects than other rapid Architecture has offered a building site for a and-trowel system molds these materials into prototyping systems. By making the nozzle still contour crafted adobe structure. shape while they are still semi-liquid. bigger and mounting it on a overhead gantry He acknowledges the scale-up of his In order to perfect contour crafting system, a six-cable “Robocrane” system or even continued on page 30 Khoshnevis photo by Irene Fertik Khoshnevis Irene by photo USC ENGINEER 29 hott opics

Building Custom–Designed Houses in 24 Hours continued from page 29 system will be a challenge. “We are talking the World Trade Center, called the possibilities and freer for architects, but also opened new about much larger machines, much greater vol- of the process “extraordinary for anyone in the artistic vistas. umes of material and working outdoors in less design field. It offers a direct link between “Architects are now exploring a whole controllable environments.” Still, while the prac- computer visualization and the real world.” new family of shapes and forms. It’s very tical problems are formidable, he says, “We have Lynn, who drew international attention difficult to realize these using conventional a working smaller-scale system, and there is no with his computer design architectural ideas at construction techniques. Aesthetically, there’s theoretical reason why a larger one won’t work.” the 2000 Venice (Italy) Biennale of a great potential to make things that have never Houses or other buildings are not the only Architecture, has been developing a vision of been seen before,” Lynn says. objects a contour crafting unit could construct. what he calls “custom-designed, mass-pro- Khoshnevis recently won a best paper He believes it could just as easily build a road in duced houses, based on computer design tools” prize for his paper setting forth the principles a prepared bed, and more quickly than current for years. Khoshnevis, after reading one of of house-scale contour crafting at the 19th road-building technology. And he believes it Lynn’s articles on the subject, introduced International Symposium on Automation and will work anywhere. In a recent paper, himself and showed a video of the contour Robotics in Construction, held in September Khoshnevis proposed to use contour crafting to crafting process to Lynn’s architectural group. 2002 in Washington, D.C. create structures on the moon. “Our response was, ‘Here it is,’“ Lynn Khoshnevis’ co-investigator on the NSF Contour crafting already has attracted recalls. “We knew it was inevitable that grant is veteran robotics expert and National wide interest in the world of industrial design, something like this was going to develop. Academy of Engineering member George A. construction and architecture. Venice, We had been waiting for someone to take the Bekey of the School’s department of computer California-based architect Greg Lynn, who is initiative and do it.” science. Another of ISI’s internationally known part of United Architects, one of the six design The architect says the process not only robotics expert, Engleberger Prize winner Peter teams that submitted proposals for rebuilding held the potential of making building faster Will, also is collaborating with Khoshnevis.

day, and each should cost less than $25,000. MASTERS OF GOING FASTER Competing student teams attempt to design In a shed on the first floor of Parking Structure and fabricate a prototype that best meets A, across from Olin Hall of Engineering at USC, these goals. sit a trio of dwarfish racecars painted in USC In slalom racing, cars race around orange livery. Two are complete and still wear scars traffic cones, usually set up in a parking lot or from campaigns of the past decade. The third on a closed airfield. Speeds are relatively low racer is coming together as this issue of USC and turns are extremely tight, with the Engineer goes to press. emphasis on agility, balance and acceleration Thanks to generous funding provided by out of corners. the late Dwight C. “Bill” Baum and his son, Entries are judged not only for on-track Dwight J. “Jim” Baum II, USC developed its performance (many team members get a turn first Formula SAE teams in the 1990s. The two at the wheel), but also for the clarity of the The Team: Nathan Theiss (Engine Team Leader), Lawrence Lee, (Suspension Team Leader), Kevin decided to fund the racecar team when third- team’s business plan. The future engineers must manage an entire product development program Carney (Chassis Team Leader), Louis Flinn generation Trojan Dwight J. “Jim” Baum III (Drivetrain Team Leader), Marc Bonifacio, Mike (BSME ’99) was an undergraduate. with the same financial, quality, manufacturing, Boros, Chris Cheung, GarLun Chew, Robert “Programs like Formula SAE show there is performance and design elements found in prod- Chung, Jim Danella, Chris Hutchinson, Vashte light at the end of the tunnel for engineering uct development programs at car companies. Johnson, Michael Losordo, Mike Mueller, Keith students. It shows that being an engineer can be Winning Formula SAE team members are Nogueira, Gary Norris, Toufan Rahimpour, Kyle fun, not just solving problems every day in highly prized candidates for fast-track engineer- Sherk, Brad Tallon, Derek Thomas, Peter class,” says the elder Jim Baum, who is business ing and engineering management positions in Zimmerman. Mechanical engineers Professor Paul Ronney, Associate Professor Dan Erwin and manager of Dwight C. Baum Investments in the automotive industry. “In the business of automobiles, the innovators of the future are Materials Science Lab Manager Warren Haby Pasadena. provided support for the team. The Society of Automotive Engineers spon- going to be the people who understand what sors the Formula SAE automotive engineering it takes to build a vehicle and have experience Formula SAE laurels usually takes a multiyear competition. Schools from around the world in developing something unique,” says Bob Lutz, effort, just like taking a Grand Prix racing team field single-seat “race cars” built to an exacting General Motors vice chairman of product from midpack to the front of the grid, or formula. Students are told to assume a manu- development and chairman of GM North revitalizing a car company. But don’t be too facturing firm has engaged them to produce a America, in an interview with USC Engineer. surprised if, 30 years from now, one of our prototype car for the non-professional weekend Will the USC team be successful at the School’s 2003 Formula SAE competitors is CEO autocross market, also known as slalom racing. competition in Detroit this May? USC is just or VP of advanced technology or head of Student Highlight The firm is planning to produce four cars per returning to Formula SAE, and winning the motorsports at Ford, GM or DaimlerChrysler. car team photo by Irene Fertik Irene by photo car team Race departmentalf eature Aircraft Accident Investigation LITTLE-KNOWN USC PROGRAM FINDS SUCCESS FOR HALF A CENTURY

Michael Barr is 5 foot 5_ inches tall, and that turned out to be train Air Force accident investigators. Civilian courses began in important. By U.S. Navy standards, he is half an inch too short to 1956, while the Air Force courses at USC ceased in 1993. Barr fly, which is why Barr, a 1962 graduate of the Naval Academy in went through the program in 1968 while he was still in the Annapolis, Md., opted to become a fighter pilot for the Air Force, Air Force. When he retired from the military in 1985, he began where pilots are only required to be 5 foot 4 inches. In the working for USC, training Air Force accident investigators. He took Air Force, he flew F-100s and F-4s, and the F-4 is basically a over leadership of the program in 1993. Navy aircraft. “Safety is always an issue in the aviation industry, so our courses are always full,” says Barr, who in addition to directing the program is the lead instructor for the air safety management courses. “All of the major airlines and all of Barr, one of the regionals send people. We get students from the major the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers. They come from most respected government agencies like the Bureau of Land Management, aircraft NASA, Customs, the FBI, police departments, the Coast Guard—and we get tons of people from corporate flight accident departments.” investigation All of the students are working professionals with experts, is the several years of experience. Courses range in length from two to 10 days, and a student completing 200 hours of director of the training receives a certificate in aviation safety. There are no Aviation Safety plans to develop an aviation safety degree program, and Program in the courses are not offered to USC undergraduates. USC School of “A student could complete all of the coursework, but with no real aviation experience he wouldn’t be Engineering. employable,” Barr explains. Aviation safety also goes on the road. “This year we have been to Hong Kong, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Mike Barr is director of the School's “It makes no sense at Saab in Sweden, Mexico City and Trinidad,” he says. Aviation Safety Program and a former Air Force fighter pilot. all,” laughs Barr, who spent Barr finds instructors from the same set of people as the 23 “tall” years flying jet students, except they are more experienced and are actively fighters for the Air Force and flew 137 combat missions in working in the areas they teach. Vietnam. In the Air Force, he developed a reverence for safety, a “The two main accident investigation instructors are former knack for teaching and an almost mystical instinct for seeing why NTSB (National Traffic Safety Board) accident investigators. My a multimillion-dollar aircraft had been accidentally turned into a engine teacher is one of the lead investigators for General Electric heap of smoldering junk. engines. The human factors instructor is active with the Airline Barr, one of the world’s most respected aircraft accident Pilots Association and he’s also a pilot, a captain for U.S. investigation experts, is the director of the Aviation Safety Airways,” Barr says. Program in the USC School of Engineering. This year he will These instructors, like Barr, continue to be active in accident retire from leading one of USC’s most successful, least known investigations by working as consultants, usually for lawyers and longest-running educational programs. representing one of the many parties who have an interest in the The classes are short, expensive and full. Almost none of the investigation of an airplane crash. It would not be practical to teachers have academic credentials, but the program sets the use current NTSB investigators as instructors because those international standard by which other aviation programs are investigators can be called to accident scenes at any time. judged. Roughly 80 percent of all aircraft accident investigators in The lone USC faculty member who teaches in the program the United States, and about half of them in the world, have is Najmedin Meshkati, associate professor of civil engineering, taken courses in this continuing-education program at the School director of the School’s continuing education programs and a of Engineering. safety expert. He teaches the human factors course covering the It began in 1952 after USC successfully bid on a contract to man-machine interface. continued on page 32 Barr photo by Irene Fertik Barr Irene by photo USC ENGINEER 31 departmentalf eature

Program where students learn how to handle the media with- A typical class looks out hurting their own company. like a mini-United “The second reason I do Nations. These are interviews is that it really helps key people at an our program. I always insist that they put USC under my name. operational level Once you appear on quality who can make a real shows and newspapers, people difference about put you in their Rolodex. It’s good marketing.” safety in their airlines Barr describes the and in civil aviation.” TWA 800 accident as the most challenging aircraft disaster in his experience. The plane Meshkati, who teaches both undergraduates and graduates, mysteriously exploded high over the ocean, 40 miles east of says students in aviation safety are the toughest to teach because Long Island Sound. All ocean crashes pose the added burden of they are so professional and demanding. recovering wreckage from underwater. The investigators found as “You must develop credibility with them, and they can be very much of the plane as they could and re-assembled it. They found critical in their evaluations,” he says. “A typical class looks like a that the support beams around the center fuel tank were all bent mini-United Nations. These are key people at an operational level outward, pointing to an explosion in the tank. who can make a real difference about safety in their airlines and in “If it had been a missile, some of those beams would have civil aviation.” bent inward,” Barr explains. “We don’t know specifically what Every day, Barr spends at least an hour on the Internet wire sparked the explosion, but it was in the fuel tank.” reviewing current accident investigations and exploring new The lead NTSB accident prevention programs. He has become one of the media’s investigator on that most widely quoted aviation experts after airplane accidents, and accident was Albert he often works as an adviser for news organizations. Dickinson, who will When the Concorde crashed in Paris in July 2000, Barr was be replacing Barr as the first to come up with the theory that the crash had been director of the USC caused by a penetration of the fuel tank. He was advising a TV program. Dickinson network at the time and called them just as they were about to go will go through the on the air with what Barr knew would be an inaccurate story. certificate program What really happened? “A plane in front of the Concorde himself before taking shed a piece of metal, which blew the tire on the Concorde,” he over as director on says. “A piece of the tire hit the fuel tank with such force that it August 1. Barr will caused a shock wave that ruptured the tank. Then the hot parts of reduce his workload the tire ignited the fuel.” in the program to Barr is able to speak in soundbites for the media, using vivid half-time, continuing metaphors to describe the challenge of an aircraft accident to teach all air safety investigation: “It’s like tossing a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle off the management courses top of a 10-story building and then trying to find enough pieces and doing his own to show you the picture.” unique brand of The media began quoting him often following the TWA 800 marketing for the Top and above: The School's Aviation accident in July 1996. All airplane crashes have high media visibility, program. Safety Program, which has trained a reality that all involved in the subsequent investigation must face. And the Aviation aviation safety and crash investigators for “If good people don’t give the media good information, Safety Program, a more than a half century, has produced they’ll get bad information, or make it up. The media has a job to mainstay at USC for many if not most of the world's aviation do and it is best to work with them. There are a certain group of more than half a crash investigators. In the past year, the people who appear after accidents on TV who are emotional and century, will continue. program held seminars in Hong Kong, judgmental and who try to solve the accident in the first couple of Sweden, Mexico, and Trinidad, in hours,” he says. There is a media course in the Aviation Safety addition to its courses at USC. Student photos by Irene Fertik Irene by Student photos 32 USC ENGINEER research f eature Sleepy Joe Michael Khoo Applies Engineering Tools to Sleep Apnea

In The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, and various forms of published more than 150 years ago, Charles cardiovascular disease, including Dickens created a character named Joe, hypertension, stroke, coronary “a fat and red-faced boy, [often] in a state of heart disease and congestive somnolency,” and constantly snoring. Dickens heart failure. The relationship provided one of the earliest accurate between sleep apnea and cardio- descriptions of someone with severe vascular disease is the primary obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). focus of Khoo’s research. Some of the most recent findings about this “During an apnea, blood life-threatening condition come from Michael oxygen concentrations can Professor Michael Khoo is a leader in Khoo, professor of biomedical engineering at plunge to alarmingly low levels,” says Khoo. sleep apnea research. the USC School of Engineering. Activity surges in the sympathetic nervous sys- “Imagine if throughout the night someone tem, the network of nerves that mediate the sleep. This study, the first of its kind, was were to block your nose and mouth for 10 “fight or flight” reflexes. Arousal from sleep fur- done at L.A. County/USC Medical Center in to 60 seconds every couple of minutes,” ther increases nerve activity, and blood pressure collaboration with physicians Ricardo Juarez Khoo says. and heart rate rise as well. “We believe that and Ahmet Baydur. In a person with sleep apnea, he explains, long-term exposure to these repetitive surges In a previous study, conducted with that airflow blockage occurs when the pharynx leads the sympathetic nervous system to operate physician Richard Berry of the Long Beach V.A. (throat) collapses from the negative pressure in a mode of permanent overdrive, which Medical Center, Khoo applied similar tech- caused by breathing in. Blood oxygen levels wreaks havoc on the cardiovascular system.” niques to a group of sleep apnea patients receiv- decrease, carbon dioxide levels increase and the Physicians treat hypertensive sleep apnea ing home CPAP therapy. “We found a substan- individual makes greater efforts to draw a patients with a mask-like medical device that tial treatment-related improvement,” Khoo says, breath. But the stronger negative airway administers continuous positive airway pres- “but only in those patients who, on average, pressures heighten the collapse of the pharynx. sure (CPAP). The treatment lowers blood pres- used CPAP for at least three hours per night.” It is like trying to breathe through a collapsed sure, suggesting sleep apnea is the cause and In another study, published in the straw. The brain keeps signaling respiratory not the consequence of high blood pressure. February 2003 issue of Sleep, Khoo analyzed muscles to work harder, but no air gets into Sleep apnea involves the dynamic data recorded while the subjects were the lungs. Then the struggling subject briefly interaction of three major physiological control breathing spontaneously, without any external awakens and breathes. When sleep resumes, the systems—respiratory, cardiovascular and sleep interventions. All were assessed using apnea cycle repeats. regulation. Khoo is using mathematical conventional noninvasive methods of An estimated 18 million Americans suffer modeling and control engineering to better cardiovascular function testing. from sleep apnea. It is twice as common in understand that interaction. Khoo believes he has shown that a short, African-Americans as in whites; oddly, the “We developed a computer-controlled simple and noninvasive test can detect the incidence in professional football players may ventilator system that delivers a sequence of harmful cardiovascular effects of sleep apnea be as high as 34 percent. breaths with randomly modulated volumes. and assess how well these effects are reduced It should surprise no one that people with We then subjected normal and OSAS volun- during long-term treatment. Currently the sleep apnea experience excessive daytime teers to this test protocol during wakefulness severity of a patient’s sleep apnea is assessed fatigue, frequently falling asleep. “Joe! Damn and different sleep states, at the same time through a sleep study, allowing a physician to that boy. He's gone to sleep again,” reads a line recording measurements of respiration, heart choose a suitable individual therapy. Usually, in Dickens’ Pickwick Club. You would not want rate and blood pressure,” Khoo explains. there is no follow-up to determine the someone like Joe to be a long-distance truck In the January 2003 issue of the American treatment’s effectiveness on cardiovascular driver or an airline pilot. Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care function. “It is our hope,” says Khoo, “that Other characters called Joe “young Medicine, Khoo catalogued the dynamic the future availability of a convenient and dropsy,” a 19th-century term for people with characteristics of the major components economical means of testing can fill this gap swelling in the legs, a common symptom of responsible for regulating heart rate and blood in the treatment of sleep apnea.” congestive heart failure. Dickens was right on pressure in sleep apnea patients and in a And poor creatures like sleepy Joe might the mark. There is a link between sleep apnea control group, during both wakefulness and see an end to their suffering. Khoo photo by Irene Fertik Irene by Khoo photo USC ENGINEER 33 alumnip rofile

Thomas O. Gephart, BSME ’62 The Horatio Alger myth of the paperboy with His First Company gumption who builds an empire is exemplified “I was in a hurry to do things. A firm in by the life of Tom Gephart. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, thought I could help “I wanted a bike when I was a kid, bought them develop new products. That firm, AMP, is with my own money—you know, independent now the single largest company in the Tyco Gephart’s flawless 1940 Ford Woodie, was created money,” laughs Gephart. “So I earned the cash group, doing something like $5 billion a year. I by Boyd Coddington, one of the world’s leading with paper routes. When I was 16, I bought my brought them an idea that they didn’t want builders of hot rods. to pursue. I asked if I could take it, and that’s when I really started to do things on my own. and vintage Packard and Roll-Royces can be I formed Interlink, built it up, then sold it.” found. Most of his hot rods were built or at That success led to the first iteration of least partially built by Boyd Coddington, the Ventana, which began in 1974. The 1970s was Michelangelo of the hot rod world. Coddington a time when venture capital was scarce. cars meld the highest order of chopped, chan- Gephart’s “angel group” began helping three neled, Frenched and slammed bodywork. They or four companies a year get started. look like old-fashioned hot rods, but under- “In the early days, we did things like neath they have the brakes, power steering, sus- wind farms with equipment from Denmark. pensions and sophisticated engines of the most We did a bit of everything, from defense- modern performance and luxury cars. related industries to fairings for racing Gephart has a flawless 1941 Ford Woodie motorcycles,” he says. wagon with a chop top, a 1941 Cadillac coupe, In the beginning, he did it mostly with a 1929 Packard opera coupe, a 1949 Ford that Margie and Tom Gephart beside their 1929 Packard his own money. By 1982, he knew he had to any rebel with or without a cause would love, a Opera Coupe, in the carriage house facility where change if Ventana was going to compete in perfect 1957 Chevy Bel Air and a 1961 Rolls- the couple often hosts charity events. the high-stakes venture capital game. The Royce Silver Cloud II. More than just a big own first car, a 1947 Pontiac convertible.” Ventana Group mutated into Ventana Capital garage, the carriage house also serves as a venue That same drive and energy gets Gephart Management, which today works with investor for the many charity events Gephart and his out of bed at five a.m. to call investors in and capital groups from across Europe, the wife Margie host. Europe. It keeps him running through the late Nordic Region, Asia and the U.S. It is Gephart’s “All my cars have taken trophies, either afternoon and into the night, when he connects ability to work between start-ups and estab- at concours d'elegance competitions or at with investors in Asia. In between, he’s staying lished firms that brings success. The start-ups roadster shows. The black ’34 Ford won the in touch with managers at the more than 70 have inventions, which he sees as the source of prestigious AMBR (America’s Most Beautiful companies his venture capital firm, Ventana growth and wealth. Roadster) and has turned heads for years. The Capital Management LLC, has helped to build. “We have a position with the big players ’29 Packard opera coupe is a beautiful, eye- “Our main emphases are in bio-pharmaceutical so we can bring our small companies together catching show piece. There is only a handful in and very advanced high-tech communications with their money and their know-how. We’re this type of condition that still exist,” he says. and semiconductors, including wireless and really involved as business builders and in the “The cars are all licensed. I drive them regular- detection technologies. We’re also moving whole corporate structuring, not just providing ly. We took the dean to dinner in the ’97 Rolls into MEMS and nanotech, and hope to see finance. We see ourselves as integrators of Silver Spur, which was a record-setting car at commercial realization within the near future.” capital with know-who and know-how.” the largest gathering of Rolls Royces, and is Upon graduating from USC, Gephart His energy never seems to flag and he is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.” worked at Hughes Aircraft just as the space always looking for opportunities. This spring, Success also allows him to indulge other program and defense were ramping up. He he plans to travel to New Delhi and Bangalore passions, such as collecting wines. He and his completed assignments quickly and well, where Ventana has invested in a firm wife find time to roam the wine country in but he wanted more. He had a knack for developing software for interactive television France, Spain and California’s Napa Valley. spotting clever ideas with commercial and broadband. He wants to see their facilities. Between them they have six children and nine potential. Hughes sent the entrepreneurial At times Gephart has linked a personal grandchildren. You would think there would be dynamo back to USC for an MBA, but with passion for high-performance cars with his no time left for the USC School of Engineering. only a few more courses to complete his business. His Orange County, California estate But Gephart sees his role with the Board of degree, the ambitious Gephart left both features a 15,000-square-foot carriage house Councilors as more than another passion and Hughes and USC behind and branched out and entertainment center where his collection more than just love for his alma mater. He takes on his own. of high-end finely crafted hot rods, and classic it seriously. continued on next page Gephart Peterson Robert by photos 34 USC ENGINEER alumnip rofile

Elaine Masako Iba, MSEE ’88 In her journey from science to softball to engineering. Active in extracurricular activities, skeleton sleds, Elaine Masako Iba (MSEE ’88) including Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Mortar decided early on that “Carpe diem!” would be Board and Golden Key, Iba also was selected her lifelong motto. Now in her early 40s, Iba for the women’s intercollegiate softball team, complements her cerebral engineering skills but stopped playing after she damaged her with competitive knee during a sorority football scrimmage. athletic talents that Iba worked part-time as a student might make engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company, and was Annika Sorenstam offered a full-time position when she graduated (the Swedish golfer from CSULB with a BSEE in 1983. She eagerly who will become seized the opportunity to apply for a Hughes the first woman in fellowship that allowed her time off from work 45 years to play in a to attend USC engineering courses via a PGA tour event) satellite link to the Hughes site in Fullerton. Elaine Iba with the tiny skeleton sled that blush. She holds “I drove to USC to register and take tests, but carries her at speeds of up to 80 mph two American the bulk of the courses were completed via track and field satellite,” she says. “This enabled me to get a Once again, Iba decided to “seize the day.” records, and was recently selected as a member quality education from a top-notch engineer- She flew to the Olympic Training Center at Lake of the USA Skeleton National Team. ing university—while avoiding the commute Placid, New York even though she didn’t know Iba is a third-generation Japanese- from Orange County to Los Angeles.” what a skeleton sled looked like. “I thought I’d American who grew up in Downey, California. Always looking for new challenges, Iba regret it if I didn’t go,” she admits. After a brief “Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a Trojan eventually left Hughes in 1996 to work for training period, Iba placed fourteenth—not fan,” she says. “My father, Shozo Iba, received Silicon Systems Inc., which was purchased by quite good enough to make the team, but his BS in Biology and his MS in Microbiology Texas Instruments that same year. She also, at enough to encourage her to keep trying. in 1940 and 1941 from USC . He and his the age of 34, began competing in Masters Since those exhilarating days, Iba has parents lived in a house on 36th Place near track and field meets. “Participating in Masters suffered two serious blows: First, she lost her job Normandie. When I was growing up and we’d track and field really opened doors for me,” she when Texas Instruments closed its Tustin facility drive into Los Angeles to see my grandmother, says. “The pinnacle of my Masters experience in 2001, and her father recently passed away I’d always ask Dad if we could swing by USC to was when I was invited to run an exhibition after an unexpected illness, just as Iba was flying see the Tommy Trojan statue.” race at the 2000 U.S. Track & Field Olympic to Germany to compete in the Europa Cup. In the 1970s, the family held season tickets Trials. What an experience, to race in front of But life must go on, and so Iba continues to USC football games, so Iba went to see Pat 20,000 spectators!” to look for work, while training and competing Haden, Anthony Davis and other Trojan greats While she was at the Olympic Trials, Iba whenever she can. She placed eighth in the play. Two of Iba’s older sisters decided to attend noticed a flyer publicizing tryouts for a bobsled USA Skeleton National Team selection races USC: Nadine Iba received her bachelors and brakeman for the former USA Luge Olympian, last November, and 13th in the U.S. masters degrees in physical therapy, and Lynn Bonnie Warner. “I decided to go,” Iba says, Championships this March. “My husband, Iba graduated from the School of Law. “because how many times do you get the Randy Messenger, has been wonderful in Elaine Iba’s route to a USC degree was opportunity to try out for a bobsled team?” supporting all my activities,” she says. “Now, more circuitous. She enrolled at California Warner suggested that Iba’s size made her more I’d love to find an employer who’d allow me State University, Long Beach, where she suitable for skeleton—a sport where athletes a flexible work schedule in the winter, and enjoyed her classes in mathematics, physics race face-first downhill at 80 miles an hour, on perhaps even help sponsor me!” and chemistry. A friend majoring in civil a three-foot-long sled, with their faces and toes Who knows – with Elaine Iba’s engineering steered her toward electrical mere inches above the ice. enthusiasm and talents, perhaps she will.

change the world,” Gephart says. He believes Tom Gephart has already had a very positive Gephart continued from page 34 there are technologies gestating in engineering impact on the School of Engineering,” says “Our company, Ventana, has successfully labs at USC that are nearly ready for the great Dean C. L. Max Nikias. “Together, I hope we transferred highly advanced and experimental leap into the private sector, and he wants to can soon develop a program to move promis- technologies out of universities and into help them make that leap. ing technologies out of USC and into the commercial enterprises. University labs can be “By generously sharing his wealth of commercial sector.” The dean knows if that excellent incubators for technologies that can knowledge about technology and commerce, anyone can help him do that, it’s Tom Gephart.

USC ENGINEER 35 alumnip rofile

Farzad Naeim, MSCE ’80, PhD CE ’82 Farzad Naeim is vice president of John A. UCLA’s Royce Hall, the Los Angeles Martin & Associates of Los Angeles, one of the Convention Center expansion, the largest structural engineering firms in the California State University, Long Beach, country, and has served as technical director University Events Center, and the Staples for analysis and design of numerous award- Center in Los Angeles—each of which winning structures during the past decade. received the SEAOC Superior Award of Excellence for structural engineering. Naeim currently is technical director for the dramatic design of the new Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, alongside fellow School of Engineering alumnus Vernon Gong Farzad at the base of Los Angeles City Hall after it (BSCE ’84), who is the project’s manager. was retrofitted with a complex base isolation system While working on the retrofit of to enhance its earthquake safety. One of the Royce Hall, he proudly told his colleagues isolators is apparent behind him. Farzad was the at UCLA, “See, you guys don’t know what chair of the peer review committee for the project. you’re doing. It takes a USC engineer to fix your building!” Naeim credits the training he received Alumni Relations Advisory Board at USC Engineering for setting him on the The Alumni Relations Advisory Board (formerly One of his most colorful projects involved path to success. His graduate adviser was replicating the Eiffel Tower, at half-scale, for the Jim Anderson, professor of civil and called the Dean’s Circle Leadership Committee) Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. environmental engineering, who became a is made up of alumni, friends and supporters Eiffel Tower II, as the project is known, father figure to Naeim. “I worked with of the School of Engineering. They have been received the Structural Engineering Association Anderson on my dissertation, which dealt with instrumental over the past several months in of California’s (SEAOC) highest Award of modifying a computer program for creating helping to spearhead and create new activities Excellence in 1999, and the American Institute complex structures,” he says. “On my first day and programs for alumni, including the future of Steel Constructors’ (AISC) Engineering at Martin & Associates, they asked me to help return of the Engineering Alumni Association. Award of Excellence in 2001. with a computer program that had been giving The School is grateful to them for their council, The design and construction process them trouble for some time. In two days, I had involved complex technical and environmental it up and running.” advice and commitment. issues, including the desert’s extreme Since then, Naeim has developed more Walter Babchuk, BSCE ’51 temperature changes, thermal stresses and the than 45 software systems for earthquake Jack K. Bryant,MSCE ’60 possibility of arson or terrorist attacks. engineering applications, and is a nationally T. Page Eskridge, BSEE ’57 The 50-story re-creation of Gustav Eiffel’s recognized authority on the evaluation of Charles P. Flanagan, BSCE ’45 masterpiece utilized innovative welding and design ground motion issues as they relate Samuel H. Giesy, BSISE ’50 manufacturing technologies, creating an to the design of structural systems. He has Paul E. Iacono, BSCE ’44 interior structure camouflaged with performed seismic static and dynamic Roy Johnston, BSCE ’35 non-structural laces and more than 300,000 nonlinear analyses for such landmark Anthony D. Lazzaro, BSISE ’49 “fake” rivets, to mimic the tower’s unique structures as the Los Angeles City Hall and Gerald J. Lopopolo, BSEE ’89 appearance. Plans for the 540-foot-high UCLA’s Royce Hall and Knudsen Hall. He John D. McConaghy (Chair), BSME ’66 structure had to ensure that the elevator shaft conducted investigations of the 1994 Gary D. McCormick, BSCE ‘64 was never more than one inch out of plumb, Northridge earthquake and the 1999 Taiwan C. Larry McMillan, BSME ‘60 and that the tower would remain stable should earthquake, and edited the first and second Daniel R. Nelson,MSEMT ‘89 one of its four legs be destroyed by fire. “One of editions of “The Seismic Design Handbook,” Loren C. Phillips,BAPHIL ‘85 the nicest things about the project was that I used in all major U.S. universities. Dena M. Scaffidi, BSBMME-99 had the opportunity to visit the real tower in Naeim calls his wife, Fariba, “the best Marvin S. Stone,BSEE ‘62 Paris a couple of times,” says Naeim. thing that ever happened to me!” They have Timur Taluy,BSEE ‘98 Naeim has directed other award-winning two children, daughter Mana, 12, and son Glenn R. Tanner, BSME ‘77 projects, including the seismic retrofitting of Mahan, 7. William C. Taylor, BSISE ‘73

36 USC ENGINEER USC School of Engineering Dean’s Circle signs that you are a usc engineer… You can type 70 words per minute but can’t read your own handwriting. You sit backwards on the Disneyland rides to see how they do the special effects. You can calculate how many seconds the USC Fight Song is played per football game. The salespeople at Radio Shack can’t answer any of your questions. You know what http:// stands for. You can predict Traveler’s lap-time around the Coliseum based on his trajectory from the tunnel. You are at an air show and know how fast the skydivers are falling. You still own a slide rule, and you know how to use it. Your spouse hasn’t the foggiest idea of what you do at work. You’ve calculated the average number of USC license plate frames you see on your daily commute. You see a good design and still have to change it. You actually understand the BCS statistics and formulas.

And the number one sign that you are a USC Engineer…

You are a member of the USC School of Engineering Dean’s Circle!

Help shape the future of USC Engineering as a part of the Dean’s Circle, the School’s premier academic support group. Concurrent membership in the USC Associates, the University-wide academic support group, is automatic for annual Dean’s Circle members. Matching corporate gifts count toward membership.

Please take a moment to send your support in the attached postage-paid reply envelope. If you have questions or need further information or assistance, please contact Lisa Van Ingen Pope at [email protected] or 213/740-4879. snaps hots

snapshots,, USC School of Engineering Events Winter 2002 & Spring 2003

Dean Nikias and the event’s co-host Oliver Muoto Bea McMillan, grandson Mark McMillan and son Niki Nikias, Charles B. Evans (BSEE ’48) and (BSISE ’92) in San Francisco. Bill McMillan (BSME ’83) at the 2002 Homecoming Rose Marie Evans at the holiday dinner at Shutters celebration. in Santa Monica. San Francisco 2002 Homecoming Holidays with the Dean Weekender Reception The School of Engineering 2002 Homecoming Dean Nikias, his wife Niki, and other School Over 70 alumni, parents, corporate and Reunion Celebration was held on of Engineering officers, toasted the 2002 holi- representatives, and friends of the USC School Saturday, November 16. Dean Nikias joined day season with alumni and friends at dinner of Engineering gathered at the Hyatt Regency nearly 200 engineering alumni, family and parties in Newport Beach and Santa Monica. San Francisco to celebrate the USC Weekender friends for a home-style barbecue picnic on and to hear of the latest engineering the south lawn of Doheny Library. A benefit achievements from Dean Nikias. Held on drawing was held to support the Engineering Friday, November 8, 2002, the event was Scholarship Fund that included a variety of co-hosted by local alumnus and entrepreneur, USC Trojan prizes including School of Oliver Muoto (BSISE ’92), co-founder of Engineering hats, alumni license plates, Epicentric Inc. Immediately following the t-shirts and stadium blankets, which came in reception, the group joined hundreds of fellow handy on the brisk, fall day. The festivities Trojans in Union Square for the Spirit of Troy continued at the Los Angeles Coliseum as the pep rally. The USC Trojans went on to trounce USC Trojans defeated the Arizona State Sun the Stanford Cardinals, 49-17, in Palo Alto, Devils 34-13. California.

Ann Stone (BSEDUC ’63), Marvin S. Stone (BSEE ’62, MSEE ’65, PhD ’69), William N. Rowley (BSME ’55, MSME ’64), Ruth Ann Rowley and Lisa Van Ingen Pope at the Santa Monica dinner.

38 USC ENGINEER snaps hots

Celebrating a continuing partnership, IMSC and Dean Nikias, Coach Pete Carroll and Ron Barnes Dean Nikias, Robert Keady and Seoung-Yong Hong at Lockheed Martin. (BS ACCT ’76) at Papadakis Tavern. the first board meeting of the Pratt & Whitney Institute for Collaborative Engineering. Lockheed Martin Papadakis Tavern: Alumni Pratt & Whitney Institute Winter Visit meet Coach Carroll for Collaborative On December 19, 2002, representatives from On Saturday, January 11, 2003, Dean Nikias Engineering Board Lockheed Martin presented IMSC Director hosted a small group of School of Engineering Meeting Ulrich Neumann with a check to support alumni at head coach Pete Carroll’s football Representatives from Pratt & Whitney, Inha the research of the center and extend their recruiting dinner at the Papadakis Tavern University, Korean Air and the USC School of membership in the IMSC Industry Affiliates in San Pedro. John Papadakis, former USC Engineering met at the School for the first Program. Pictured left to right are Cindy football player (1968-72) offered his annual board meeting for the Pratt & Whitney Campos, campus relations manager-west restaurant for Carroll, current team players Institute for Collaborative Engineering region, Lockheed Martin; IMSC Director and about thirty recruits and their families. (PWICE) on January 29. The new institute Ulrich Neumann; and Gary L. Hafen, This evening was one of a handful of will work on research and teaching missions, manager, Software Engineering Technology, recruiting events that lead to the Trojan’s including distance education, for the benefit Advanced Development Programs, No.1 collegiate recruiting class for the of all of the partners. Chaired by Robert Lockheed Martin. 2003-2004 season. Keady, vice president, Asia/Pacific, Large Commercial Engines at Pratt & Whitney, the David M. Wilson board funded the Associates institute’s first Holiday Party research project, which will focus The David M. Wilson on technologies to Associates, USC’s civil/ enhance aircraft environmental engineering maintenance. support group, gathered on December 22, 2002 for its annual holiday party. For the second consecutive year, the event was hosted by Ted (BSCE ‘43) and Ruth McConville at their home on Balboa Island in Members of the David M. Wilson Associates celebrate the holiday season together. Newport Beach, California. The yearly Christmas Boat & Light Parade around the bay draws thousands every year and was enjoyed by the over 50 alumni, friends and their families who were in attendance.

USC ENGINEER 39 snaps hots

Timur Taluy (BSEE ’98) right, and Stephen Mosker During his trip to San Diego, Dean Nikias met with Randolph Hall, senior associate dean for research, spoke (BAPOSC ’97) at the Ventura alumni reception, Harold L. Potter (BEME ‘57) and his granddaughter about the National Science Foundation budget at the “A Taste of USC”. Bridget Bristow for a lunch meeting. School of Engineering Research Retreat held March 7. A Taste of USC San Diego Alumni Research Summit On February 7, the School of Engineering Reception Randolph Hall, senior associate dean for and the USC Alumni Association co-hosted President of the USC Club of San Diego research, lead the School’s annual research “A Taste of USC,” an alumni reception in and engineering alumnus Carl Sarrazolla retreat held on March 7 at the Omni Hotel Ventura, California featuring remarks by Dean (BSEE ’84) helped to organize and co-host in Los Angeles. This year’s retreat, “Extending Nikias and a wine tasting of the first portfolio a successful alumni reception in San Diego the Boundaries of Engineering,” was highly USC wine collection. The event was held at on February 27. The event was held at the interdisciplinary, with many scientists from Top of the Harbor at the Holiday Inn in San Diego Historical Society Museum in industry, the Keck School of Medicine and the Ventura, which provided a stunning sunset- conjunction with its exhibit “Filming College of Letters, Arts and Sciences joining view over the Pacific. President of the USC San Diego: Hollywood’s Backlot,” which engineers from the Al Mann Institute, the Club of Ventura, Russ Doyle (BSBUAD ’78) detailed the history of San Diego and the Information Sciences Institute and other introduced Dean Nikias, who spoke about movies. To complement the exhibit, Dean School departments. The summit featured the School’s recent accomplishments and Nikias presented remarks entitled “Time for panels focusing on bioengineering, information collaborative research with other USC a New Hollywood,” which outlined the future technology and security and homeland defense. departments. Over 80 guests attended the of Hollywood in a digital era. President-Elect Steve Laderman, research and development event, which in addition to engineering of the USC Alumni Association and USC manager of Agilent’s Molecular Diagnostics alumni included USC alumni from several Trustee Ann Hill introduced Dean Nikias and Department, was the luncheon speaker. other schools. welcomed the 90 guests in attendance.

Orange County Executive Briefing Series As part of the 20th Annual Orange County Executive Briefing Series, the USC School of Engineering presented Dean C. L. Max Nikias and a panel of academic and corporate experts speaking on “Technologies Driving Economic Recovery: Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech.” Over 80 guests gathered at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach, California on the evening of Wednesday, March 12. Panelists included Dr. Priya Vashishta, professor of materials science at the USC School of Engineering; Dr. Brian M. Pierce, executive director of electronics for Rockwell Scientific Company; Dr. Ulrich Neumann, director of the Integrated Media Systems Center at the USC School of Engineering; Scott Shoults (BSEE ’88), director of engineering, MRRBU, at Cisco Systems Inc.; Dr. David Z. D’Argenio, professor and Dwight C. and Hildegarde E. Baum Chair of biomedical engineering at the USC School of Engineering; and David W. Chonette (MSME ’60, ENGME ’64), general partner with Brentwood Venture Capital and adviser with Versant Ventures. The event was sponsored in part by Raining Data Corporation of Irvine, California.

40 USC ENGINEER snaps hots mark your calendar! Scheduled Events for Spring and Summer 2003

Please call External Relations at the School of Engineering at 213/740-2502 for more information about these and additional future events. This list does not include all events scheduled.

Society of Hispanic W.V.T. Rusch Engineering School of Engineering Board Engineers-Mentoring Day Honors Program Senior of Councilors Retreat April 18, 2003 Luncheon June 8, 2003 Time and Location TBA Honors program 5:00 pm for graduating seniors Private Home 25th Annual Engineering May 15, 2003 Awards Luncheon 11:00 am to 12:30 pm Dean’s Circle Annual Dinner Honoring distinguished alumni Garden Court, Upstairs Commons May 2003 and featuring special guest USC Campus Date and time TBA speaker, Steve Forbes April 25, 2003 USC Baccalaureate Ceremony Dean’s Circle Hollywood 11:00 am Reception May 15, 2003 Bowl Night 12:00 pm Luncheon and Program 5:00 pm July 2003 Millennium Biltmore Hotel Bovard Auditorium Date and time TBA Downtown Los Angeles USC Campus

Trojan Founders Circle 2003 Commencement If you would like to work with Luncheon May 16, 2003 April 29, 2003 9:00 am University Ceremony the Alumni Relations office at the 11:00 am Alumni Memorial Park Town and Gown USC Campus School of Engineering to help USC Campus organize an alumni reception in 2003 School of Engineering Staff Recognition Luncheon Commencement Ceremony your area, please contact our April 30, 2003 May 16, 2003 office at 213/740-2502. 12:00 pm 10:30 am Undergraduate Ceremony Town and Gown 2:30 pm Graduate Ceremony USC Campus Archimedes Plaza USC Campus Ronald Tutor Hall Receptions will immediately Ground Breaking Celebration follow the ceremonies May 5, 2003 11:00 am Reception 6th Annual Conference 11:30 am Groundbreaking on Teaching, Learning, South of Olin Hall (future building site) & Technology USC Campus “Transforming the Curricula for Today’s Students” Student Recognition May 19 - 20, 2003 Program 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Acknowledging student leaders Davidson Executive Conference Center and graduating seniors USC Campus May 5, 2003 For more info go to Time TBA www.usc.edu/tlt2003 or call Upstairs Commons 213/821 1336 USC Campus

USC ENGINEER 41 snaps hots Y. H. Cho A Celebration of Life and Engineering On January 29 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, the School of Engineering honored Yang Ho “Y.H.” Cho for his role in creating the new Pratt & Whitney Institute for Collaborative Engineering. Approximately 300 guests, including corporate executives from Pratt Cho and his wife Myong Hee enjoy the Cho’s children, Heather, Emily and Walter & Whitney and Korean Air, members of the local evening’s program. help to honor their father. Korean community, the Cho family and senior said Leduc. “Creative as always, Y.H. has managed to tie all of these administration, faculty and students from USC and Korea’s Inha interests together. This will pay big dividends, not just for the companies University attended the event. and universities involved, but for the American and Korean peoples.” “Y.H. is a great bridge builder and he is the person most responsible In addition to the remarks, the audience was treated to a video for the creation of this new institute,” said Dean C. L. Max Nikias. about the new institute and the activities surrounding the signing of the “The institute is a bold partnership between Pratt & Whitney, Korean memo of understanding in Korea on June 10, 2002. Air, Inha University and the USC School of Engineering. It will help us Accompanying Cho to the dinner were his wife Myong Hee, and build an engine of discovery and supply new ideas that will enable each three children, Emily (Hyun-Ah), Heather (Hyun-Min) and Walter of us in the partnership to leapfrog our competitors.” (Won-Tae). Another video was presented for the Cho family, this one Cho is the chairman of Korean Air, and a member of the USC a short emotional tribute to Choong Hoon Cho, father of Y.H., and a Board of Trustees and of the School of Engineering’s Board of legendary Korean transportation pioneer who died last November. Councilors. He also chairs “As you can tell, I’m a big fan of USC’s School of Engineering,” said Inha University’s Board of Y.H. Cho. “Engineering sets us up with basic disciplines. It teaches linear, Trustees. logical thinking. That’s a big advantage in the business world. USC President “I am also a big fan of our new Pratt & Whitney Institute and what Steven B. Sample said the it can do for our schools, businesses and countries. The sharing of institute, which exemplifies educational talents and resources can make this a better world and can USC’s strong commitment form the basis of successful alliances.” to international research and teaching, would forge another bridge between Southern California — the Board of Councilors News American gateway to the School of Engineering BoC Pacific Rim — and Inha member Alexis Livanos joined University. Northrop Grumman as vice “Y.H. Cho exemplifies president of program operations the very essence of what on February 17, 2003. Mr. Livanos it means to be an will report to the president of Y.H. Cho receives an honorary gift from engineer and a leader for Electronic Systems. Livanos will USC President Steven B. Sample. engineering education in also be assigned to oversee all the 21st century,” said development programs at the Sample, adding, “What a great alliance of academe and industry!” Navigation Systems Division. He Bob Leduc, executive vice president and chief operating officer will serve as a member of the Sector Policy, Leadership and of Pratt & Whitney, said the institute was a mutually beneficial Executive Councils. Before joining Northrop Grumman. collaboration for international research and teaching that would develop Livanos served as the executive vice president for Boeing new technology, particularly information technology, and would foster Satellite Systems, where he provided strategic direction closer ties between Pratt & Whitney and one of its long time customers, for Boeing’s research and development efforts. He also Korean Air. supervised all technology-related activities within Boeing “This is a tremendous example of synergy among leading Satellite Systems. institutions in industry and education and I’m thrilled to be part of it,”

42 USC ENGINEER classn otes

Alumni news notes Winter and Spring 2003

1957 1978 Building Appeals for the City of Manhattan Richard K. Smyth (MSEE, PhD EE ’63) Kenneth W. Mei (BSCH) is the Beach, California. In August 2002, he recently returned to California after spending measurement consultant for refining, supply, received a certificate of recognition from the sixteen years in Malaga, Spain, where he and distribution with Saudi Aramco in city council of Manhattan Beach. Cyrous’ wrote books and software on options trading. Damman, Saudi Arabia. Before joining third son, Sean Amir, was born in May 2002. 1969 Saudi Aramco, Kenneth provided technical 1980 Claude Harding McMillin (MSISE, consultation to clients within the Chevron Paul L. Livio (MSEE) has decided to ENGIE ’72) retired from Hughes Aircraft Corporation and its subsidiaries worldwide. pursue teaching and is currently studying Company Missile Division in 1981, and 1979 toward a teaching credential. then returned for a time to do consulting Cyrous Adami (MSCE, PhD ’82), Morad Madjlessikupai (BSME) is engineering work on computer cost models. professional engineer, was recently appointed chairman of Kerman Motor Company in Claude now lives on the island of Kauai the building commissioner for the Board of Tehran, Iran. in Hawaii. 1972 Harvey Gobas (BSCE, MSENV ’75) Hiram Willis (BSEE ’77) is Smart Chip Technologies' is currently serving as president of the new president and chief executive officer. Smart Chip Los Angeles Section of the American Society Technologies is a pioneer in the high-growth smart of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This is ASCE’s card and smart device market. largest section, serving over 7,000 assigned Willis is an internationally respected technology members in nine California cities. Harvey executive, who is both an INC 500 President (#401) was also recently elected vice president of the and New York Fortune 50 president (#13), and Southern California Chapter of the American brings 23 years of successful business, financial, Public Works Association. Harvey organized and marketing expertise to SCTN. the “Summit on Los Angeles County Infrastructure” which was held on March 12 Smart Chip Technologies (www.sctn.com) is a software at the USC campus. Over 200 people technology company with a “gateway” patent and attended the Summit. smart card loyalty system for banks, credit card issuers, retailers, and OEMs. Willis has joined SCTN to spearhead financial and market growth opportunities. E.P. Hamilton III (BSEE, MSEE ’74), professional engineer, lives in Pflugerville, “As the new CEO, I look forward to implementing SCTN’s compelling financial Texas, and is president of E.P. Hamilton and and marketing strategies targeted at building the share price and value,” he says. Associates, Incorporated. Willis holds an AMBA and MBA in finance from the P.F. Drucker Graduate 1977 School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. When at USC, in addi- Michael Alderete (BSME) is currently tion to his busy schedule as an engineering student, Willis was the editor of this a mechanical packaging engineer at DRS magazine’s predecessor from 1975-77, the popular USC Engineering newsletter. Technologies, Sensors and Targeting in Willis lives in California’s Silicon Valley with his wife Carol and his three children, Anaheim, California. twins Kyle and Kellan, 18, and daughter Ariel-Tyler, 13.

USC ENGINEER 43 classn otes 2000 Alumni in the News Brianne Gibson (BSENE) lives in Redondo Beach, California and is an Mortgage Originator magazine selected Joe Siau assistant engineer for Waterstone (BSISE ’86) to represent the U.S. lending industry as the Environmental. most successful loan officer in September 2002. Candidates Sangram Jadhav (MSCSCI) lives in Jersey had to personally close at least 120 loans and $10 million in City,New Jersey, and is a consultant for volume over a twelve-month period. Joe Siau closed 148 loans Deloitte Consulting in New York City. with a dollar volume exceeding $25 million from June 2001 to 2001 June 2002. Trina Henry (BSCSCI) lives in Encino, Siau paid his way through engineering school at USC by California and is a business and selling books and bibles door-to-door. He made 30 sales presentations per day, six development assistant for the Center for days a week. “As I look back, that was one of several pivotal moments toward my Early Education. career success,” says Siau. “It taught me to be 100 percent service-minded and to Staff News focus on the customer.” Annette Blain (BFATHAC ’94), director After graduating with a degree in industrial and systems engineering, Siau worked of alumni relations in the engineering in his family’s importing business. Before becoming an originator, he worked for office of External Relations and editor of the Department of Defense, served on a credit union mergers and acquisitions USC Engineer, along with her husband team, sold real estate, prepared taxes, and was an engineer and manager for IBM Marc Blain and daughters Margaux and Ella, and Hewlett-Packard. celebrate the birth of their son Joseph Philip on March 22, 2003.

1982 1992 This edition of class notes includes Marco A. Papa (MS, PhD CSCI ’88) Chrisann Travlos (MSEE) married updates received between October 2002 is the deputy director at the Superior Court Michael Torrelli on December 8, 2002. and March 2003. of California and manager of the Case Keno Wai-Ki Yeung (BSEE) is the senior Our Apologies: From November ’02 Management Systems Application Group. staff design engineer at Broadcom to March ’03 there was a technical error He is responsible for management, systems Corporation in Sunnyvale, California. His with our on-line update form. If you tried development and maintenance of all case daughter Emily was born on April 10, 2002. to update your contact information or management systems (such as criminal, civil, send a class note during that period, we 1995 juvenile, traffic, etc.) for the Los Angeles apologize for the inconvenience and hope Shamus Russell Carr (BSBME) and Superior Court. you will visit our site again and re-submit Elisabeth Montgomery Dial were married on your information. 1985 March 1, 2003 at St. David’s Episcopal David C. Miller (MSSM) recently joined Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Please keep us informed of your NCI Information Systems Inc. as the director Phit Simahawong (MSEMT) lives in of Air Force business development. NCI personal and professional progress, Bangkok, Thailand, and is a department Information Systems Inc. is one of the as well as changes in your contact manager for Merck Limited. fastest growing information technology information by visiting organizations in the U.S. Alex Soriano (BSBME) will be graduating www.usc.edu/engineering and clicking this spring from the MBA program at the Dean Tateyama (BSEE) lives in on Alumni. Or by writing to the University of Michigan. After graduation, Escondido, California and is an infrastructure Alumni Relations Office at the USC he will be a product manager for Guidant technologist for San Diego Gas and Electric. Corporation’s Cardiac Rhythm School of Engineering, Olin Hall 300, 1989 Management Division. Los Angeles, California 90089-1454 Eric L. Tanezaki (BSME) is a patent 1996 attorney and was recently named a principal Joe A. Tellez (BSISE, MSSAE ’99) was of Stetina, Brunda, Garred & Brucker, P.C., promoted to software project manager of which is an intellectual property law firm in Sempra Energy in August 2002. He has been Aliso Viejo, California. an adjunct professor for the University of 1990 Phoenix since March 2002. Joe married Mark Harold Russell (MSEE) is a senior Danielle Ybarra in December 2002. management specialist for the Boeing Company in Anaheim, California.

44 USC ENGINEER classn otes Alumni Recognition

Joseph President George W. Bush recently honored Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Upon W. Niesen Robert M. Gray (PhD EE ’69) with a 2002 receiving his PhD, Gray accepted a position at (PhD EE ’96) Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Stanford University, where he is currently has recently been Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. professor and vice chair of the department of named a Boeing This award recognizes organizations and electrical engineering. Associate “individuals who have demonstrated a On January 22, DataLogic International Inc. Technical Fellow commitment to mentoring students and announced that it had appointed Moe Z. in recognition of exciting America’s youth about science, Win (MSEE ’89, PhD EE ’98) to its board of his “technical contributions and his capability mathematics and engi- advisers. He will act as a consultant for to expand those contributions to the greater neering” by providing the company in the medical/healthcare and Boeing community.”An indicator of the encouragement and technologies-related areas. DataLogic is a significance of being a Boeing Fellow is that guidance to tradition- professional service company dedicated to for Niesen’s Southwest Region, Fellows ally underrepresented solving its clients’ business problems with constitute less than 3% of the entire technical students. The annual technology-based solutions. community. Niesen’s reclassification as an award is administered Associate Technical Fellow took place by the National Science Win received his MS degree from USC in in January and he was honored with a Foundation. Gray was electrical engineering and as a Presidential recognition award in March. one of ten outstanding individuals who Fellow, he received both an MS degree in applied mathematics and a PhD degree in Niesen attended USC from 1991 to 1996 received a $10,000 grant and a Presidential electrical engineering. on a TRW Doctoral Fellowship. His course commemorative certificate during a ceremony work was focused in communication systems, in Washington, D.C. on March 18. In 1987, Win performed research on digital and he performed his doctoral work under In April, the USC School of Engineering will communications and optical systems for Dr. Irving Reed in the Communication honor Gray with its Distinguished Alumnus NASA space exploration missions at the Jet Science Institute in the electrical engineering Award in Academia, at the School’s 25th Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California systems area at USC. annual awards luncheon. He has received Institute of Technology. From 1994 to 1997, he was a research assistant with the As an Associate Technical Fellow, his numerous awards throughout his career, Communication Sciences Institute at USC, technical specialty is wireless communication including a Centennial Medal and Third where he played a key role in the successful systems. “This award was enabled by Millennium Medal from the IEEE. He has creation of the Ultra-Wideband Radio the strong theoretical foundations in also served on the Board of Governors of the Laboratory. Since 2002, he has been with the communication systems given to me by the IEEE’s Information Theory Society and its Laboratory for Information and Decision distinguished faculty in EE Systems CSI and Signal Processing Society. Systems (LIDS), Massachusetts Institute of SIPI at USC,” says Niesen. At USC, Gray worked with Professor Robert Technology, where he holds the Charles Stark Scholtz in the area of Shannon information Draper Chair. theory, and spent two summers working at

In Memoriam officer in the Navy during World War II survived by his wife Anne Rogers, two sons, and earned thirteen Battle Stars. He is Jeffrey and Alan, and three grandchildren. Richard Douglas Chamorro (BSPHYS survived by his wife Harriett Powers Davis, Donald Hess (MSCHE ’56) passed away ’51) recently passed away. Richard taught at two sons, Shelley and Primrose, and four on March 5, 2003 at age 71. He is survived by the School of Engineering for many years. grandchildren. his wife Elizabeth, six children, and nine He is survived by his wife Teresa, three Harvey Duncan (BSEE ’48, MSEE ’57) of grandchildren. children, Douglas, Cydney, and Adam, and Minden, Nevada passed away on January 26, two grandchildren. Byron G. Johnson (MSSM ’84) passed 2003. He is survived by his wife Sophie, four away on October 17, 2002 at his home in Milton Wickers Davis Jr., 79, of Sea children, and eleven grandchildren. Gainesville, Virginia at age 55. Byron was Pines passed away on Monday, March 3, at Jerauld Richard Gentry (MAOM ’70) a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and Hilton Head Regional Medical Center in passed away on March 3, 2003 at Inova former civilian Pentagon consultant. He is Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Milton Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia at survived by his wife Gail, two children, Matt was a distinguished professor emeritus of age 67. Jerauld was a retired Air Force colonel Johnson and Jennifer Higginbotham, and chemical engineering at USC, when he retired and decorated Vietnam War veteran. He is five siblings. in 1988. He served as a chief engineering

USC ENGINEER 45 classn otes James Eric Maass (BSCH ’66) passed detective, and specialist duties. He rose to the during the Battle of the Bulge in Germany. away on March 14, 2003 at Rex Hospital in rank of Captain and was in command of a He spent his career in the aerospace Raleigh, North Carolina at age 60. He is specialist reserve company. He was preceded industry, largely working on space shuttle survived by his wife Barbara, three children, in death by his wife Rosalyn, and is survived ground support. He is survived by his wife Jeffrey Maass, Julie Solovavy, and Elana by two daughters, Karen Mitchell and Jody Myra Joan. Mesmer, and two grandchildren. Winslow, sons-in-law Ken Mitchell and George Bernard Tuck (BSME ’57) passed Donald Lee Matson (BSCHE ’54, Robert Winslow, and grandchildren Rachel away on March 4, 2003. He worked with the MSCHE ’58) passed away on October 22, and Andrew. Army Corps of Engineers to preserve the 2002, in Boston, Massachusetts. Don worked James Ray Stevens (MSAE ’59), a beachfront and helped save many Orange for Mobil Oil for 34 years, retiring in 1988. 45-year resident of Palos Verdes, California County, California homes. He is survived by Don is survived by his wife Iona. passed away on January 4, 2003. He was a his brother Edward Tuck and sisters-in-law James L. McMillen (BSISE ’48) passed nationally respected aeronautical engineer Pamela, Jennifer Tuck and Stephanie Tuck. away on August 28, 2002. He is survived by who made major contributions to the T-38, Greg Woods (BSME ’65) passed away at his wife Jodelle. F-5 and F/A-18 fighters, and the B-2 bomber. age 59 on November 21, 2002 at Silbey He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Donald E. Nagy (MSCE ’59) passed away Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. Greg Lovena, three sons Tobin, Malcolm and was a retired chief operating officer for the on February 28, 2003. He is survived by his Donald, daughter-in-law Bharti and three wife Loraine. Education Department’s Office of Federal grandchildren. Student Aid. He is survived by his wife Lee, Herman Siegel (BSISE ’61) passed away William Hollingdale Taylor (BSME ’49) three children, Brian Woods, Denise Schultz on January 15, 2003 at age 76. He was a recently passed away at age 79. He served and Kristen Martinez, and six grandchildren. Reserve with the Los Angeles County Sheriff during World War II, becoming a POW Department for 33 years, performing patrol,

In Memoriam Frank J. Lockhart,professor emeritus of chemical engineering and former chair of the chemical engineering department at USC, passed away on December 12 from complications of hearth disease and diabetes. He was 86. A resident of Harbor City, California, Lockhart was a member of the USC faculty from 1946 until his retirement in 1987, and he chaired the department of chemical engineering from 1956 to 1969. Between 1965 and1972, Lockhart was responsible for the engineering and technology training of the nation's first air pollution control officers at the USC Air Pollution Control Institute. This program was triggered by the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1963, and Lockhart worked with the schools of Public Administration, Engineering and USC's Allan Hancock Foundation to create the institute. “Frank Lockhart had a long and very distinguished academic career at USC, but through his efforts in air pollution control, he made life better for all of us,” says Yannis Yortsos, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the School of Engineering, and a professor of chemical engineering. From 1954 to 1973, Lockhart was a member of the Southern California Advisory Committee to Selective Service System on Scientific, Engineering and Specialized Personnel. In 1968, he received the Distinguished Faculty Award from the School of Engineering and the Engineering Alumni Association for his pollution control activities, his embrace of the cooperative efforts among various schools and his work with the selective service advisory committee. He was also cited for his “deep personal concern for undergraduate and graduate students alike.” Lockhart's family has informed USC that in his will he made a gift to start an emergency loan fund for engineering students. The School’s office of financial aid will establish an endowment in his name. He was named a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineering in 1978, and in 1980 he received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the USC Associates. Before coming to USC, Lockhart worked as a chemical engineer at Humble Oil and Refining Co., Union Oil Co. and Fluor Corp. He received a bachelor's and master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan. He was a registered professional engineer in California and he served as a consultant to a number of oil companies and engineering contractors. Lockhart is survived by his daughter, Sandra McGrath of Long Beach, California; five grandchildren, Erin Bernau, Karen Heavin, Steven Heavin, Pamela Richards and Cheryl Zavatsky; and nine great-grandchildren.

46 USC ENGINEER developmentf ocus Ronald Tutor Hall Construction Begins New Donors Can Lend Their Names

On May 5, the School of Engineering will program, as well as space hold groundbreaking ceremonies for the for student organizations, new Ronald Tutor Hall. This eagerly meetings and anticipated building is a central component undergraduate advising. of the School’s plan to become one of Much of the School’s the nation’s elite engineering schools. success depends on the Tutor Hall has been designed to foster quality of its research and collaborative, leading-edge research and to the ability of its faculty to provide a rich educational environment for attract research funding in a competitive For information about making a gift undergraduate students, two goals that are environment, explains Dean C. L. Max to support Tutor Hall programs or research, critical for ensuring the School’s academic Nikias. “Academic excellence starts and please contact the Office of External excellence and success. ends with scholarly faculty and research. Relations at 213/821-2400. The 103,000 square-foot, six-floor Outstanding faculty leads to cutting-edge building will be located in the heart of the research, which attracts more research School of Engineering, just south of Olin funding, which in turn attracts high-quality Supporting the School of Hall. Construction is scheduled to be students. This leads to preferential Engineering: Gift Annuities complete by December 2004, with recruitment of our graduates in the Many people have Certificates of Deposit that occupancy in time for spring semester marketplace, augmenting the School’s are earning disappointing returns at the bank, 2005, according to Associate Dean, reputation and encouraging stakeholders or money that used to be invested, and is now idling in the money market. And, if you Sue Lewis, project manager for the hall. to increase their support for the School. plan to someday leave a remembrance to the The new building will house research This, of course, is what enables us to School of Engineering in your Will, consider laboratories in three rapidly evolving fields improve our facilities and infrastructure, guaranteeing the gift today and at the same that the School has identified as key thus enticing first-rank faculty to USC.” time improving your returns. Its possible with a Gift Annuity from USC. Consider the research initiatives for the coming decade: Ronald N. Tutor, who is a USC Trustee following example: biomedical technology, information and president and CEO of Tutor-Saliba Linda, age 75, plans to donate a maturing technology and nanotechnology (see story Corp., pledged $10 million to name the $10,000 Certificate of Deposit. Since she needs on nanotechnology on page 18) Dramatic new building. In addition, the late San continuing income, Linda decides to use the cash for a one-life Charitable Gift Annuity that advances in these fields are expected to Marino investment banker Dwight C. “Bill” the university will issue at the suggested rate significantly improve human health and Baum gave $2.5 million to name the of 6.7 percent. welfare, and the School is committed to student lounge and café. Funding for the Although Linda’s annuity rate is 6.7 percent, her actual earnings will be higher increasing faculty representation and building’s construction has been finalized, for several reasons. First, because Linda research in each of them. Because these and donors now have an opportunity to itemizes income tax deductions, she earns a technologies will not evolve in isolation support the programs and research that federal income tax charitable gift deduction from each other, but will overlap and will be housed in the new building. of $4,414. With a marginal income tax rate of 30 percent, the tax savings of $1,324 will interact, often in unanticipated ways, Tutor This phase of the Tutor Hall project reduce the net cost of the gift to $8,675. Hall will bring faculty from many disciplines is extremely important to the School’s Her annual annuity income of $670 will mean together in one location, encouraging future success. For this reason, the School an effective rate of return of 7.7 percent. maximum synergy and creativity. of Engineering plans to recognize gifts in The second advantage she will enjoy is that for the next 12.4 years, more than half The new building will also feature a support of student programs, research of every dollar she receives will be considered student lounge and courtyard café, where conducted in the hall, undergraduate a return of her investment on her annuity students and faculty can congregate to scholarships or endowments in these areas. contract and will not be subject to tax. To exchange ideas, study and socialize. Tutor “We are very excited to be starting earn as much after-tax, in a fully taxable investment, Linda would have to earn better Hall is envisioned as a home for construction on Ronald Tutor Hall,” says than 8.9 percent. Engineering’s undergraduate students. It Christopher Stoy, CEO of External Third, when Linda passes on, the money will provide three instructional laboratories, Relations. “This new building sets the stage will go to create student scholarships at the School of Engineering, and that is a return a student lounge, centralized offices for for significant advances in the School’s that cannot be measured. the Undergraduate Student Affairs, the ability to recruit and retain high-quality If you are considering a planned gift to Engineering Mentoring Program, the faculty and students. We hope that the the USC School of Engineering, please contact Center for Engineering Diversity, Women School’s alumni and friends will want to Sam Martinuzzi, director of planned giving, at 213/740-1214. in Engineering and the student tutoring support this exciting endeavor.”

USC ENGINEER 47 notebook

Comments on the loss of Columbia, February 1, 2003

by Paul Ronney gotten a lot of phone calls and emails today Even the other three crew members (Rick I’ve from friends and colleagues around the Husband, William McCool, Laurel Clark) played an world offering their condolences on my loss. At first important role in SOFBALL because it required a this struck me as being odd, since what I lost is trivial special Shuttle flight mode called “free drift” in order to and meaningless compared to what others have lost minimize gravity disturbances. That mode had to be today. When such tragedies occur, people not directly set up by these crew members in coordination with the involved feel helpless do to anything substantive, so crew members actually performing the experiment. they want to at least offer condolences to someone. For I think the crew liked the SOFBALL experiment in many people, I am more closely linked to the tragedy part because the flame balls have “personalities.” In than anyone else they know, so I suppose it makes fact, after a few tests Dave Brown started naming the sense that I would be a target for condolences. flame balls. Ilan Ramon even named one “Paul I found out about the Columbia tragedy early this Ronney”.It turned out to be a weak and wimpy flame morning, about half an hour after it happened. One of ball that lasted only a few minutes. Through a bizarre my associates had been monitoring the landing set of circumstances that occurred during a test Mike and called my home. was conducting, “Kelly” turned out to be the longest- When I first heard about the loss of burning flame at 81 minutes. Columbia, I wanted to know, could anyone The SOFBALL experiment had flown in 1997 on have survived? Where were they in the descent? two shuttle missions, which also used the Columbia I quickly turned on the TV and learned that orbiter. I was the backup astronaut for those missions. contact was lost at about 200,000 feet and Mach I spent over a year going through all of the space flight 17. I knew from my astronaut training that there training (in case either of the two scientists on the are no escape options at those conditions — flight got sick or injured), but I didn't fly. At some you have to ride the vehicle no matter what its point during the mission it occurred to me, “What if condition is. the mission doesn't come back? The press will ask me I had met all of the crew. Four of the seven a lot of questions since I'm the nearest thing to a sur- Researcher Paul (Mike Anderson, Dave Brown, Kalpana Chawla “KC” vivor.”I figured one question would be, “You wanted to Ronney, was and Ilan Ramon) conducted at least one test run on be on this mission, do you still want to go into space?” backup astronaut my experiment, called “Structure Of Flame Balls At I would have answered, “If space flight is your passion, for two previous Low Lewis-number,” or “SOFBALL.” I had met these it's like auto racing or mountain climbing. There are Columbia flights involving his four many times during the course of training. Even risks, but you know that going in and you accept them. experiments. though KC was the only one of the four with a Ph.D. Yes, I want to go on the next flight to finish the job my scientific background, all of them seemed really excited friends started.”While I wasn't a backup astronaut for about my experiment. They asked me lots of questions this flight (the one that just crashed), I had really about the science behind SOFBALL. They didn't just wanted to be on it, and if I had an opportunity to fly learn how to do the experiment, they worked very hard on the next shuttle flight, I'd want to accept. on the development of the crew procedures to mini- When I look at the notebook of graphs and the mize the chance of mistakes and extract every possible stack of CD-ROMs we produced from the downlinked bit of data. I was especially pleased to see how Ilan, an data, I really start to feel guilty about what happened. Israeli military pilot with no scientific background, After all, SOFBALL was one of the most crew-intensive attacked the training with a vengeance. He was deter- experiments on the flight. They were flying largely mined to be an active and valued crewmember, even to do my experiment. That notebook and those though he was on the flight largely because President CD-ROMs are their legacy. Clinton had promised Israel that NASA would fly an I feel privileged to have known the crew and I will Israeli astronaut. Mike Anderson was one of the nicest miss them very much. Actually, the fact that they're people I ever met. Even if you're a confident, self- gone hasn't sunken in yet. I'm still looking forward to assured person, after five minutes of talking to Mike talking with Mike after the mission about “Kelly.” you walked away feeling better about yourself.

See story on Ronney’s SOFBALL research on page 15. Go to http://carambola.usc.edu/research/SOFBALL2quickie.html if you'd like to find out more about “Kelly” and the rest of the SOFBALL experiments. nney photo by NASA nney by photo Ro 48 USC ENGINEER

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