2010 RENSSELAER ENGINEERING

Going Back to Basics…and Out to the Cutting Edge: Chemical and Biological Engineering

175 Years of Civil Engineering

Design Lab Students Push Wind Turbine Technology Forward

eng.rpi.edu | 1 2010 RENSSELAER ENGINEERING

“ Our engineering graduates are among the most highly recruited in the country and are recognized as being leadership bound. Our faculty and students are working together in our labs and research centers to solve some of the most pressing challenges our nation faces today. Advances in materials, energy, computational modeling, bioengineering, transportation, water, and disaster resiliency are just some of the areas in which our students and faculty are making significant contributions.”

David V. Rosowsky, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE Dean of Engineering

CONTENTS

News Briefs

Letter from the Dean :: pg 3 (Cover) Going Back to 175 Years of Civil Design Lab Students Push News Briefs :: pg 22 Basics…and Out to the Engineering :: pg 12 Wind Turbine Technology Cutting Edge: Chemical and Forward :: pg 18 Biological Engineering :: pg 4

School of Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 8th Street Troy, NY 12180-3590 USA (518) 276-6203 Opinions expressed in these eng.rpi.edu pages do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the David V. Rosowsky, policies of the Institute. Ph.D., P.E., F. ASCE Dean of Engineering ©2010 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Letter from the Dean

This is a tremendously exciting time for Engineering at Rensselaer. This RENSSELAER ENGINEERING Fall, we welcomed more than 650 first-year engineering students to campus and one of the largest and most highly qualified groups of new graduate students in our School’s history. Selected from increasingly large and talented pools of applicants, the quality of our newest engineering students is proof-positive of the high value placed on an engineering degree from Rensselaer.

Fall 2010 also marks an historic occasion at the Institute, the 175th anni- versary of the awarding of the first civil engineering degree in the United States. The history of civil engineering at Rensselaer is simply extraordinary. We can count iconic civil engineers and pioneers such as Washington Roe- bling (Class of 1857, engineer of Brooklyn Bridge), George Ferris (Class of 1881, inventor of the Ferris wheel), Ralph Peck (Class of 1934, considered by many to be the founder of the field of soil mechanics) and Admiral Lewis B. Combs (Class of 1916, co-founder of the U.S. Navy Seabees) among our many outstanding civil engineering graduates—and our future is just as impressive. This year we welcomed three new faculty in the Depart- ment of Civil and Environmental Engineering: incoming Department Head Dr. Chris Letchford, an internationally recognized expert in wind engineer- ing; Dr. Philippe Baveye, a renowned environmental engineer with expertise in hydrologic and soil sciences, appointed to the Kodak Chair in Environ- mental Engineering; and Dr. Cara Wang, an Assistant Professor working in the area of transportation systems. David V. Rosowsky, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE These are exciting times both for the School of Engineering and for the Dean of Engineering Institute, despite the significant fiscal challenges facing higher education today. As has always been the case, Rensselaer stands firmly committed to ensuring an exceptional educational environment, hiring and retaining a world-class faculty, and building an infrastructure befitting a world-class research university. If you have been on campus in the last couple of years, you have witnessed the physical transformation that has taken place at “ This fall we celebrate 175 years Rensselaer—a re-envisioned campus community for the next century. of civil engineering at Rensselaer,

The next chapter at Rensselaer promises to be a bright one and the welcome 12 new faculty and News Briefs entire campus leadership is committed to placing Rensselaer among an elite one of the largest and best cadre of national research universities. We are well on our way, but like qualified groups of new all great universities, we must rely on the generous support of our alumni and friends to realize our ambitious goals. No one realizes the value of the students in our history.” Rensselaer engineering degree more than our loyal and dedicated alumni. I call on all of our alumni to seek ways to partner with the School of Engi- neering and help ensure we can provide a world-class education to genera- tions of engineering students to come.

Thank you for your continued support for Engineering at Rensselaer.

David Rosowsky, Dean of Engineering

eng.rpi.edu | 3 Going Back to Basics…and Out to the Cutting Edge

Here and there, you’ll find an engineer focusing on one very specific, fundamental phenomenon that could change the face of many fields. It’s especially true in chemical and biological engineering— and even more so at Rensselaer.

4 | Rensselaer Engineering From microbial communities to

misfolding prions, thin films to

complex fluids, the researchers

in Rensselaer’s Department

of Chemical and Biological

Engineering routinely zero in on

watershed phenomena. This is just

Going Back to Basics…and Out to the Cutting Edge as true of the newer professors— even graduate students—as it is

of senior faculty. Here is just a

sampling of what’s happening now.

eng.rpi.edu | 5 Karande, Tessier, and Collins with their respective research teams

When Peptides Cross Barriers Keeping Proteins Apart tessier karande Natural peptides have their limitations. The Protein aggregation can cause devastating building blocks of proteins don’t travel diseases: mad cow, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, well across biological borders: the skin, for and Alzheimer’s, among others. If instance, or the blood-brain barrier. researchers knew how aggregation worked, they might be able to cure If they did, vaccines would be much easier the results. to deliver, and the lives of people with schizophrenia much better. That explains Assistant Professor Peter Tessier’s research. Tessier That’s why Assistant Professor Pankaj Karande is making synthetic is investigating the fundamentals of aggregation and misfolding peptides. In one project, he researches pathogenic peptides to solve a whole range of thorny problems in medicine, from that could help transport vaccines across the skin barrier. “The Alzheimer’s to infections that cross species. Ultimately, his work peptides on the outer wall of pathogens have distinct signature in engineering proteins that resist aggregation could generate patterns,” explained the assistant professor, whose work as breakthroughs in treating such diseases. a graduate assistant—developing an insulin skin patch for diabetics—led him to this effort. “We are looking to synthesize a Many of the problems come to us courtesy of prions—highly peptide with an opening for attaching vaccines. Then, if we place infectious protein particles made famous by mad cow disease. this peptide on the skin, it triggers a response in the immune cells While some prions play a positive role, subtle differences in the just beneath the surface.” structure of others enable them to carry virulent infections. By observing natural prions in yeast, Tessier and his lab are close to Other synthetic peptides, meanwhile, could help deliver drugs understanding their most basic mechanics, including how they where few drugs have gone before. “For many neurodegenerative assemble and cross species barriers. diseases, current drugs do not produce good outcomes because they don’t make it into the brain,” Karande said. “Natural amino On another front, Tessier examines the dynamics that make acids cannot cross the blood-brain barrier. With the right amino some aggregations toxic and others harmless. “Sometimes cells acids, these synthetic peptides could pass the barrier and deliver promote aggregation as a storage mechanism for important the drugs—or serve as pharmaceuticals themselves.” hormones, which are released when needed,” he observed. “The challenge is to encourage toxic aggregations to rearrange People with skin cancer have a vested interest in another into non-toxic forms.” aspect of Karande’s research: the design of personalized medicines for melanoma. If his vision comes to pass, doctors In this context, his team has studied the effects of resveratrol, an would take a melanoma biopsy from a patient and send it to a antioxidant in red wine that may have beneficial properties for lab for high-throughput drug screening. From this, the lab would humans but (judging from the current research) only at extremely identify the precise drug formulation for fighting the cancer in high doses. They are close to developing what Tessier calls that particular patient. “exciting alternative molecules that do what resveratrol does but would be far more attractive as therapeutic candidates.”

Tessier’s latest project seeks to explain how the behavior of antibodies may be better controlled and used for treating human disease. He will investigate how antibody self-association and behavior can be modulated systematically by exposing loops on the antibody surface to various solvents.

6 | Rensselaer Engineering Recent Awards and Distinctions in Chemical and Biological Engineering

Junior faculty: Cynthia Collins • The National Academies Keck Future Initiative Seed Award in Planned Communities, Bacteria-Style Synthetic Biology to develop a novel platform for engineering synthetic interkingdom communication collins No microbe is an island. • Micro-2 experiment led by Collins in orbit on NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis, with the goal of studying bacterial and biofilm “More complex processes need more than one organism to make them work,” said growth in microgravity Assistant Professor Cynthia Collins. “As Pankaj Karande a research community, we’re very good at • 2010 Award from the Goldhirsh Foundation for Cancer culturing microbes individually, but not at Research to study peptide mediated drug transport across engineering them to coexist.” the blood-brain barrier for treatment of tumors • 2010 Award from Alzheimer’s Association to study tight Collins aims to change that with her research into microbial junction binding peptides for drug delivery across the communities. Her lab is engineering bacteria to communicate more blood-brain barrier effectively with one another (and filter their communication) on such issues as their population density. Peter M. Tessier • 2010 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to “We want to create a division of labor in a biochemical framework study and control aggregation and phase behavior of proteins to fine-tune the functions of a community of bacteria for a via loop engineering specific application,” Collins explained. To that end, she is trying to • 2010 PEW Scholar in Biomedical Sciences by PEW add control mechanisms to her microbial communities. “We have Charitable Trust for his research in misfolding and to ask the question ‘What’s the best way to generate the response aggregation of proteins we want?’” • 2008 Award from Alzheimer’s Association to study protein aggregation and associated diseases The Collins’ group is also studying the community behavior of Patrick T. Underhill bacteria to reduce the potential for infections and biofouling. As part of that effort, a Collins experiment (in collaboration with • 2010 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to Professors Joel Plawsky and Jonathan Dordick) took flight on the perform multiscale modeling of collective behavior of bacteria NASA space shuttle this past May. Bacteria may be more virulent Senior faculty: in a low-shear environment, which exists both in space and in Ravi Kane the human body; to understand the dynamics behind this, the • 2009 ACS Young Investigator Award from the Biotechnology experiment is quantifying the structure and properties of ground- Division for his research on nanobiotechnology vs. space-based biofilms. • 2008 AIChE Young Nano Investigator Award for his work in the area of nanobiotechnology (specifically for the design of Those applications are legion. By using engineered communities polyvalent nanoscale therapeutics) in chemical processes, engineers might be able to control hospital- acquired infections, accelerate the production of biofuels, improve Georges Belfort wastewater treatment, and do many other things besides. • Honored as one of the top 100 Modern-era Chemical Engineers by AIChE

Jonathan Dordick and Ravi Kane • 2009 Defense Threat Reduction Agency Creative Research Award

B. Wayne Bequette, Joel Plawsky, and Howard Littman • Elected Fellows of AIChE

eng.rpi.edu | 7 Young Researchers Explore Separation

cramer As piano has its Van Cliburn medals and poetry its Yale Younger Poets prize, so biotechnology has its Peterson Award, given each year by the Biotechnology Division of the American Chemical Society to graduate students with the single best presentations in the United States.

Four of the past nine poster winners have come from one lab: that of Steven Cramer, Rensselaer’s William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering.

holstein His last two winners—Melissa Holstein in 2009 and Christopher Morrison in 2007— have already made major contributions to the lab’s ongoing work in novel bioseparations. The stakes are extremely high: more efficient separation techniques can dramatically reduce the cost and delivery time of high-purity pharmaceuticals to treat disease.

morrison Holstein and Morrison approach the overall objective from two different but complementary angles. Holstein’s fundamental research into multimodal chromatography has shed new light on the binding mechanisms between proteins and ligands; the multiple options for binding the two (hence the term multimodal) enable the binding process to proceed more efficiently. Bioengineers will use Holstein’s findings to optimize the design of the ligands to, in turn, optimize their binding efficiency, a key to the separation process.

Professor Cramer and his research team Morrison, in his research, has used high-throughput screening to identify and evaluate the most effective selective displacers for protein purification in ion exchange systems. These displacers can be used to bind onto either the protein or the impurities attached to the protein, thus pulling one away from the other and rendering the protein purer. “This proof of concept study demonstrates selective displacement as a viable and effective separation technique which has the ability to dramatically increase the selectivity of ion exchange

systems,” Morrison wrote in his award-winning poster.

8 | Rensselaer Engineering The RPI/NASA CVB team controlling Transfer Across Industries operations of the CVB from NASA’s Glenn Research Center. Back Row (l-r) plawsky If you had to choose the poster child for the “one idea, many applications,” you could not do better Ron Sicker, Arya Chatterjee, David than Joel Plawsky. Chao. Front Row (l-r) Mike Johansson, Joel Plawsky, Brian Motil. Plawsky studies essentially one phenomenon— transport processes, particularly in thin films—but the ripple effects may one day reach all manner of fields: microelectronics, biofilms, LEDs, and sensors, to name a few.

Since he began his research, his lab has developed new nanostructured thin films, new ideas about dielectric breakdown in semiconductors, new methods for examining heat transfer, and a new model to predict the stability of evaporating thin films.

All this and more in a well-established field. “Thin film research for heat transfer had already made great strides,” Plawsky said, “but we are just now entering into an age where we have control of surfaces on the nanoscale. That will allow us to tailor those surfaces and probe the fundamental relationships between surface science, interfacial phenomena, and engineering.”

Plawsky recently placed an experiment aboard the international space station. A constrained vapor bubble (CVB) in a miniature wickless heat pipe is enabling Plawsky to study those “fundamental relationships” occurring at the three-phase (solid, liquid, gas) contact line in microgravity. NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer installing the CVB Module (in his hand) on the “We will continue to push the fundamental limits of these phenomena,” LMM (background). Plawsky said. “Biological applications beckon, but there are still many Professor Cramer and his research team physical and chemical applications that would be very useful. That’s part of the appeal of my work: each new potential application inspires me to ask

‘why not?’ and just try it.”

eng.rpi.edu | 9 The Solids in Fluids

underhill Patrick Underhill often zigs when others zag. He investigates phe- nomena at all levels—especially the broad area between micro and macro. Put this kind of thinking at the service of fluid dynamics, and you can generate some serious advances.

Complex fluids are Underhill’s stock in trade: he studies the microstructures within these fluids to understand their macroscop- ic effects. And while many colleagues in complex fluids focus on paints and polymers and such, Underhill focuses more on biologi- cal systems.

Sometimes, though, that’s not where he starts. In his work on biopolymers, Underhill uses models of synthetic polymers (like polystyrene) to understand DNA—the exact reverse of the process many researchers employ. “We can use this approach to understand how to manipulate biopolymers using microfluidic devices,” he said. “For instance, if we could design devices to conduct rapid separations of DNA, it would enhance the precision and effectiveness of diagnostic tests.” His use of multiscale modeling complements the work of others at the macro and micro scales.

How do swarming communities of microorganisms use fluid dynamics to coordinate their behavior, and what effects might they have on humankind?

Left, a simplified model of an organism in the center, with lines Applications for a second avenue of Underhill’s research—swimming microorganisms— representing the flow generated by the organism as it swims. cross the spectrum from labs-on-a-chip to nanorobots. Microbes have such small mass that they cannot use inertia (as humans do) to propel themselves in fluids. And yet some- Right, results of a simulation with a large number of organisms interacting with one another. The swirling flow illustrates how how, in high concentrations, they find a way to interact in vigorous swarming patterns. organisms work together as a group, which has important How do these swarming communities use fluid dynamics to coordinate their behavior, and implications for how the group behaves. what effects might they have on humankind?

The answers to the second question are wide-ranging indeed. Swarming microbes might, for instance, accelerate the spread of infection. Understanding this behavior will help researchers interrupt it or use it for an alternative, positive purpose. When placed on a chip, the microbes might be able to mix or pump fluids where building nanoequipment to do so is extremely difficult. Their activity could serve as a model for engineering nanoro- bots. There may even be a climate change dimension: by swarming in nature, organisms may have a profound effect on the way ocean currents move.

Here, too, multiscale is key. “Researchers have looked at similar group dynamics in birds and locusts,” Underhill said. “How do they communicate to organize the entire group? We can see that a large number of single organisms can generate complicated—and substantial—results.”

10 | Rensselaer Engineering An Aversion to Water

garde Water droplets bead up on the surface of a lotus leaf or nonstick skillet. Hydrophobicity of such macroscale surfaces can be mea- sured via the angle of contact between the surface and the droplet. The more hydrophobic the surface, the more the water droplet beads up and the larger the angle.

Far more difficult is the measurement of hydrophobicity when the surface is nanoscopic.

“At the nanoscale, we can’t really put a water droplet on a protein surface or on a nanopar- ticle—which can be as small as one-billionth of a meter in length—and measure contact angles,” said Shekhar Garde, the Elaine S. and Jack S. Parker Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, who oversaw the project.

jamadagni Fortunately, graduate students in the Garde lab, Sumanth Jamadagni and Rahul Godawat, have discovered a way to make the measure- ment through an understanding of water at the molecular scale. The result could make a huge impact on a wide range of applications: the design of nanoscale patterns on surfaces, the design of drugs to treat diseases, the understanding of how proteins talk to each other in complex biomolecular networks.

godawat With the measurement quandary before them, Jamadagni and Godawat performed molecular simulations of water next to nano- scale interfaces of various chemistries, focusing specifically on the behavior of water at the interfaces. The findings turned up a sur- prise: an excellent correlation between the surface’s hydrophobicity and fluctuations in the density of the adjacent water.

This correlation—and the method it produced—could lead to a more robust approach for characterizing the hydrophobicity of proteins, biomolecules, and other complex and het- erogeneous surfaces. Those characterizations, in turn, may generate a deeper understand- ing of protein interaction and binding, two keys to pharmaceutical design.

This and related research projects were featured on the covers of two top ACS journals, Langmuir and Journal of Physical Chemistry. The theoretical aspects also appeared in two very prestigious journals: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Physical Review Letters. Jamadagni received a number of awards, including the Karen and Lester Gerhardt Best Ph.D. thesis prize at Rensselaer.

Researchers at Rensselaer have discovered a new, more precise method for measuring the hydrophobicity of nano- scale interfaces, which could have important applications for the future of drug discovery. Left, a snapshot from a molecular dynamics simulation shows a protein (center) embedded in water.

eng.rpi.edu | 11 Since the early 19th century, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has built a storied past with innovations that improved humankind’s lot. Now, as the department turns 175, faculty members are confronting the most urgent problems of the age—from climate change to terrorism—and finding ways to both understand and address them.

12 | Rensselaer Engineering Delivering needed supplies to Haiti. Designing safer levees for New Orleans. Creating a worldwide system to detect the next disaster. Discovering what the world’s smallest creatures can tell us about climate change. There’s more to civil and environmental engineering at Rensselaer than the Brooklyn Bridge.

eng.rpi.edu | 13 Building on a substantial legacy. Professor Tom Zimmie (right) with Les Harder from the California Department of In 1835, Rensselaer became the first Water Resources at the site school in the United States to issue of a key levee breach in New a civil engineering degree. Some 50 Orlean’s devasted 9th Ward years later, Washington Roebling, Class of 1857, realized his father’s vision of a span across the East River Seeking Answers for Katrina. Then came the 21st century—and by becoming chief engineer of the one of the most devastating storms ever. In the wake of Hurricane Brooklyn Bridge—then the longest Katrina, Rensselaer’s civil engineers took up investigations from suspension bridge in the world. a multitude of angles. Professor Thomas Zimmie and other experts examined the levee damage firsthand, noting the impact of Other famous graduates soon followed. overtopping, the effectiveness of emergency patches, and the decision George Ferris, Class of 1881, invented process behind the levee configuration. That led to testimony before the carnival wheel that bears his one U.S. Senate committee and an extensive report to another. name. Ralph Peck ’34 became a world leader in geotechnical engineering, Building on that investigation, Professor Tarek Abdoun used the consulting on projects from the Trans- might of Rensselaer’s 150 g-ton centrifuge—one of four in the Alaska Pipeline and urban rapid transit United States at the time—to test a carefully constructed model of systems to dikes for the Dead Sea. the 17th Street Canal levee. The test yielded insights into the possible causes of the levee failure, among them a layer of weak clay beneath Taking On the Biggest Challenges. the levee that may have caused the entire structure to slide. Many of these projects, like the Brooklyn Bridge, seek to change the Still other researchers focused on the emergency response. Professor face of a region. In that tradition, William “Al” Wallace won a National Science Foundation Small Grant for Exploratory Research to investigate the FEMA and Coast Guard today’s faculty look to change the responses to Katrina. And Professor José Holguín-Veras explored face of the world—by making it safer, the logistical challenges that take place when a massive flow of cleaner, and more sustainable—read information, donations, and people descends on the event site. among the many projects that aim toward this goal.

Edwin Bryant Crocker Hiram F. Mills Theodore Judah William B. Cogswell Washington Roebling Emily Roebling Class of 1833 Class of 1856 Student in 1837 Class of 1852 Class of 1857

Edwin Crocker, a lawyer One of the foremost A transcontinental Credited as the founder An engineer, bridge When husband Wash- who relocated to Sacra- hydraulic engineers of railroad visionary, Judah of the alkali industry builder, and industrialist, ington became ill, Emily mento from the Midwest his time, Hiram Mills constructed the first rail- in America, Cogswell Roebling prepared the oversaw construction and was named associate was a pioneer in the road in California, helped focused on the industrial detailed plans and speci- of the Brooklyn Bridge. justice of the California development of sanitary organize the Central production of sodium fications for the Brooklyn Among the first women State Supreme Court in engineering in America. Pacific Railroad Co., sur- carbonate. In 1881, his Bridge in New York City. leaders in the manage- 1863, became the legal veyed routes across the company became the ment of technology, Emily counsel for the Central Sierra Nevada, and served largest manufacturer in earned a law degree and Pacific Railroad Co. as the railroad’s agent in the U.S. of soda ash and championed women’s Washington, D.C. its derivatives. suffrage.

14 | Rensselaer Engineering Just weeks after the Haiti earthquake, Professor Holguín- Veras traveled to the Dominican Republic to find ways of expediting relief efforts—not only for this, but for future Associate Professor Zeghal is leading a multi-million dollar project to develop a system for monitoring and assessing the condition of aging levees and dams. events as well.

Sensing tomorrow’s flood. What if researchers could designs for more sustainable levees. But not every disaster is detect the next trouble spot for a dam or levee break? a natural disaster. For the past four years, the Department of The traditional visual inspection is like “a medical Homeland Security has asked the two researchers to investigate the doctor conducting an annual checkup based solely on impact of human-made dynamic loading—such as terrorist acts— the external appearance of a patient,” said Associate on tunnels and levees. The findings, according to Abdoun, should Professor Mourad Zeghal. go a long way toward making society safer in the future.

So Zeghal is leading an effort to sense trouble on every level. The best way to help Haiti. Everyone wanted to help Under his integrated system, satellite-based radar would capture in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. But how do images—accurate to the millimeter scale—to measure the shift or you get all this help to the people who need it, when sinkage of levees. On the intermediate scale, a network of high- they need it? That was the question before Professor resolution GPS sensors would track the movement of structures. José Holguín-Veras, one of the world’s foremost And underground arrays of sensors around each levee will pick up experts in humanitarian logistics. Just weeks after the quake, the real-time data at critical points of the flood-control system. Rensselaer professor traveled to the Dominican Republic to find ways of expediting relief efforts—not only for this, but for future How important is this research? Important enough for the U.S. events as well. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to award Zeghal $7 million for the four-year project. During his time in his native country, Holguín-Veras took a careful inventory of the relief policies, procedures, preparations, and Bolstering today’s structures. In the infrastructure in place, identifying both efficient operations and wake of the Katrina research, Professor areas for improvement. The data will help him refine mathematical Tarek Abdoun (left) and colleague formulations of the logistics process, develop short-term Professor Ricardo Dobry (right) have forecasting tools to assess future needs, and create mechanisms to been conceptualizing and testing new control the flows of non-critical supplies.

Alexander J. Cassatt Leffert L. Buck George Ferris Garnet Baltimore Frank Osborn Class of 1859 Class of 1868 Class of 1881 Class of 1881 Class of 1880 Kenneth Osborn (pic- As president of Pennsyl- Buck designed and built He conceived the Ferris Baltimore, a civil engineer tured) vania Railroad, Cassatt’s the Williamsburg Bridge wheel for the World’s and landscape designer, Class of 1908 crowning achievement in New York City in 1903, Columbian Exposition. participated in the design was the construction of the longest bridge in the It rose 250 feet and and building of bridges, The Osborn’s led the the Pennsylvania Terminal world at the time. In the carried 36 cars, each railroads, canals, and design of more than 100 in Manhattan, which 1870s, he erected the with a capacity for 40 waterways around New stadiums in America, William Gurley (1839) and required tunneling under Verrugas Viaduct in Peru, passengers, revolving York state, including including such icons as Lewis E. Gurley (1845), the Hudson River. a remarkable bridge, at under perfect control, supervising the extension Fenway Park (1912), Tiger partners in W&LE Gurley, its time the highest in and stable against the of the notoriously dif- Stadium (1912), and the Troy, N.Y., one of the first the world. strongest winds from ficult “mud lock” on the original Yankee Stadium manufacturers of precision Lake Michigan. Oswego Canal. (1923). surveying instruments.

eng.rpi.edu | 15 Professor Symans is working on making wood strucures taller— a critical step in a world where wood is the predominant and most sustainable building material.

Photo: Colorado State University

Predicting concrete Building wood taller. Wood In search of Antarctic failure. With so many U.S. structures can’t rise more than microorganisms. Glacial ice bridges and structures two or three stories without contains significant amounts in a state of disrepair, a being vulnerable to collapse of dissolved organic matter deeper understanding of in a disaster. Associate (DOM). What happens concrete—specifically, how it fails—could Professor Michael Symans aims to change to it when the ice melts? That question help avert catastrophe. In the pursuit of that, investigating technologies that would sent Associate Professor James (Chip) that understanding, Assistant Professor allow building much higher—a critical step Kilduff to Antarctica recently as part of a Gianluca Cusatis and his team seek to toward safe, sustainable construction in team to study microbial communities. develop computational technologies for a world where wood is the predominant the simulation of concrete mechanical building material. “It is not well known how DOM and carbon behavior, including its performance in the locked in glacial ice will respond to climate face of blasts and other disasters. Symans’s research involves the design change,” Kilduff explained. “Since frozen of seismic damper walls, which use air- environments comprise 25 percent of The results could be far-reaching. With resistance systems to absorb the impact the Earth’s surface, large-scale melting new models, numerical methods, and of an earthquake or similar event. In the could potentially release a great deal of algorithms, engineers could not only better process, he has achieved several firsts, carbon into the atmosphere as global prevent failure in a catastrophic event, including the world’s first seven-story temperatures rise.” but also design safer, more reliable, more wood structure, which resides on a massive durable structures for the future. Cusatis’s shaking table in Japan. The test of a smaller The key is to learn how DOM forms and work could also apply to polymers, building, on a table in Buffalo, New York, changes over time—and there’s no better biomaterials, nanomaterials, and even sea appeared live via webcast on CNN. place for observing that than the pristine ice, all of which share patterns of behavior Antarctic environment. Kilduff ’s major with concrete. role was to use his own reverse osmosis technology to isolate the DOM from glacial streams for further study.

Amos Eaton surveyed the district along the Erie Canal in 1824 the same year he cofounded the Rensselaer School with the support and patronage of Stephen Van Rensselaer.

In 2000, the United States Congress designated the Erie Canal- way a National Heritage Corridor, recognizing the national signifi- cance of the canal system as the most successful and influential human-built waterway and one of the most important works of civil engineering and construction in North America.

Emil H. Praeger Clay P. Bedford William H. Wiley Mordecai T. Endicott Class of 1915 Class of 1924 Class of 1866 Class of 1868

Rensselaer’s most prolific As president of Kaiser In 1876 Wiley entered Known as the “Father civil engineer of the 20th Aerospace & Electronics the publishing business of the Civil Engineering century, Praeger put his Corp., Bedford managed with his family, under the Corps,” Mordecai Endi- stamp on projects from projects, including: chief firm name of John Wiley cott was the first of many the New York City parks engineer for the Central & Sons. Once in charge, distinguished Rensselaer system to the White Highway in Cuba; trans- Wiley established the graduates to lead the House. portation superintendent firm as America’s premier Navy’s civil engineering for the Boulder Dam; and publisher of scientific and efforts. general superintendent technical books. for the Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams.

16 | Rensselaer Engineering Associate Professor Professor José Holguín- Kilduff joins an Veras is working to alleviate interdisciplinary research downtown New York City’s team collecting water and infamous congestion ice cores to study the and boost its economic microbial communities performance. found in Antarctica.

Rerouting traffic—and cutting emissions. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Earthquake What would happen if big-city businesses accepted deliveries during the night? In Engineering Simulation maintains a 150g-ton centrifuge with Manhattan, it could mean major relief from a 3.0 meter arm radius and maximum payload of 1.5 ton traffic congestion, lower emissions levels, spinning at 100g and maximum acceleration of 150g. and higher economic performance.

That’s why Professor José Holguín-Veras is leading a $1.9 million pilot project, funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Transportation, that involves 20 receivers taking night deliveries from about 25 carriers. His team will poll businesses on the types of incentives, including tax breaks, that would get them to shift more deliveries to off-peak hours over the long haul.

“You don’t have to move every single truck to nighttime delivery,” Holguín-Veras said. “If you move only 10 percent or 20 percent, the congestion savings will be significant.”

John Alexander Low Waddell William Pitt Mason Milton Brumer Admiral Lewis B. Combs Ralph B. Peck Alan M. Voorhees Class of 1875 Class of 1874 Class of 1923 Class of 1916 Class of 1934 Class of 1947

John A.L. Waddell built a A pioneer in sanitation Brumer was chief engineer Admiral Combs was a An acclaimed international Alan Voorhees began his ca- reputation as one of the chemistry, Mason was an in charge of the Verrazano- co-founder of the U.S. Navy expert in the field of soil reer as a planning engineer 20th century’s best known unusual combination of Narrows Bridge, the longest Seabees in 1942, and later mechanics, Ralph Peck has for Colorado Springs and and highly respected bridge chemist, engineer, and suspension bridge in the returned to Rensselaer as helped to change the face of became one of the world’s builders. He has more than medical expert. Through his world in 1965.He also built Head of the Civil Engineering the Earth through his discov- leading city planners and a thousand structures to studies of water analysis and the Throgs Neck Bridge and Department, retiring in 1962 eries of the way soils behave. traffic forecasters. He was his credit in the U.S. and supply, he became a major the George Washington as an emeritus professor. President Ford awarded the planner of most of the Canada, as well as Mexico, contributor to the world’s Bridge in New York, and was Peck the National Medal of metro systems built in the Russia, China, Japan, and knowledge and understand- chief engineer of the suspen- Science in 1974. free world in the 1960s New Zealand. ing of the need for pure sion for the Walt Whitman and 1970s municipal water supplies. Bridge in Philadelphia.

eng.rpi.edu | 17 Larger, Higher, Stronger…and Workable Design Lab students push wind turbine technology forward to the delight of GE Renewables

The machine head alone is the size of a small bus. Each blade spans more than half a football field. The latest towers stand 50 stories high.

The dimensions of wind turbines present extraordinary challenges on several levels. So when leaders at GE Renewables set out to resolve them, why would they turn to undergraduate students?

It makes sense when those students are part of Rensselaer’s Design Lab.

18 | Rensselaer Engineering Larger, Higher, Stronger…and Workable Design Lab students push wind turbine technology forward to the delight of GE Renewables

The machine head alone is the size of a small bus. Each blade spans more than half a football field. The latest towers stand 50 stories high.

The dimensions of wind turbines present extraordinary challenges on several levels. So when leaders at GE Renewables set out to resolve them, why would they turn to undergraduate students?

It makes sense when those students are part of Rensselaer’s Design Lab.

photo: Mark Anderson ‘79

eng.rpi.edu | 19 The Case for Students Tales From the Real World For wind turbines to gain wide acceptance Given the long history of GE Energy/ Divided into three teams by background and viability, they need to make progress Power Systems with the Design Lab—26 and interest, the students set to writing a on a laundry list of criteria: energy capture, projects totaling more than $1 million in statement of work—and quickly picked up manufacturability, strength, stiffness, and funding—it made sense to get the cur- a lesson from the real world. “The state- above all, cost. Driving each blade through rent crop of students involved. With that ment of work was continually revised as a tiny town is the stuff of trucking night- in mind, Bagepalli approached the lab for the project evolved,” said Evan Frank, mares, so transportability presents a fresh thinking on three design challenges: a senior on the Tower Concepts Team. major issue. “Working with a set of evolving sponsor 1. A two-piece blade for easier expectations was a great learning experi- transport—with all the superior Putting students on these issues makes ence. We came to view the statement as aerodynamics of the one-piece blade more sense than you might think. a working document, and in the end this “Industries want to explore out-of-the-box 2. A tower with the same height philosophy led to the satisfaction of the solutions, but are equally concerned about but less weight sponsor, professors, and students.” the expense in engineering time and the uncertainty of the outcome,” said Bharat 3. A nacelle that serves as both a machine That wasn’t the only lesson. Early on, Bagepalli, principal technologist at GE head cover and a structure on which Frank and his student colleagues had to Renewables–Wind Energy, who served components can be mounted revise their whole concept of team. “At the as key stakeholder for the Design Lab start, we all envisioned a classical workflow projects. “Sponsored design projects in aca- with a team leader and other positions that demia allow us to cost-effectively explore stayed relatively constant,” he explained. The projects being worked on by ideas that fresh minds can come up with; “We found, however, that the classical these might otherwise be overlooked.” Rensselaer engineering students model was not conducive to the project. By the end of the first few weeks, we would are directly related to solving elect subteams to handle various tasks; fol- the equation of developing cost lowing the completion of these tasks, the whole team would reconvene to redistrib- competitive clean energy. ute new tasks to new subteams.” designlab.rpi.edu

fresh thinking on three design challenges j Creating a two-piece blade for easier transport

Challenge 1: Students created multiple blade designs that were modeled and thoroughly tested, shown here is the angled dovetail design.

20 | Rensselaer Engineering All in all, the students brainstormed dozens The results were very good indeed. “The “The skills I learned through the of concepts for each turbine component, GM at Greenville was pleased with our Design Lab experience cannot be involving everything from I-beam lattice efforts and reiterated the proposed valid- towers to honeycomb nacelle frames. ity of the distinguished designs,” Frank taught from a textbook.” Every concept was compared with GE recalled. “Our impression was that GE requirements, plus and minuses sorted is happy to have a series of new — Evan Frank, Design Lab student out, and ideas refined or rejected. Eventu- concepts as they move forward with ally team members decided on a handful their design process.” Everybody Wins of ideas that, in their opinion, deserved The students’ performance delighted further inquiry. “To our delight,” Frank Mercer was certainly pleased with the everyone on the GE side. “Overall, I found recalled, “we generated designs that GE result. “The economics of clean energy them to be very talented and creative,” was interested in.” (renewable energy) and therefore wind Bagepalli said. “They were often self- turbine design are challenged as compared organized, understood key strengths of Bagepalli echoed this. “I have been pleas- to more traditional forms of power genera- the individuals on their team, and made antly surprised by some of the design ideas tion,” he said. “Engineering innovation best use of their available talent. Honestly, generated by the students,” he said, “and is playing a big role in reducing cost by several students appeared to be well ahead the creativity and thought process that went increasing power density and reliability. of many engineers in industry today.” into them—especially the careful consider- The projects being worked on by Rensse- ation the students gave to cost.” laer engineering students are directly related As for the students, they saw industrial to solving the equation of developing cost- engineering up close—a priceless lesson competitive clean energy. It is the engineer- Talking to the Boss for the world after graduation. “The skills I ing profession that is going to play the lead The results were enough for Bagepalli to learned through the Design Lab experience role in creating a cleaner future. Energy arrange a meeting between the students and cannot be taught from a textbook,” Frank challenges are huge and complex and I feel Gary Mercer, GE Wind Energy’s senior observed. “It provided in-depth interaction a renewed sense of excitement when I see executive general manager in Greenville, with GE engineers and executives as we RPI’s talented students preparing to meet South Carolina. In an early morning video- worked together toward a common goal. the needs of tomorrow.” conference, each team had 10 minutes to In essence, it was as close to an industrial present its top three concepts to Mercer. engineering experience as I could get with- out actually being an employee.” designlab.rpi.edu fresh thinking on three design challenges k l A tower with the same A multi-use nacelle height but less weight Challenge 3: Shown here is a rear view of the nacelle showing Challenge 2: Among the many . the load mounting brackets and designs students created and tested how they connect to the network was this module tower design. It not skin. One inspiration for this only met the challenge, but offered design came from analyzing more flexibility and transportation NASCAR® options over traditional desgins. roll cages.

eng.rpi.edu | 21 News Briefs

National Science Foundation Faculty Early CAREER Development Award Recipients

The CAREER Award is given to faculty members at the beginning of their academic careers and is one of NSF’s most competitive awards, placing Anak Agung Julius, Assistant Peter Tessier, Assistant David T. Corr, Assistant Patrick Underhill, Assistant Diana-Andra Borca-Tasciuc, Professor of Electrical, Professor of Chemical and Professor of Biomedical Professor of Chemical and Assistant Professor of emphasis on high- Computer, and Systems Biological Engineering. Engineering. CAREER Biological Engineering. Mechanical, Aerospace, quality research Engineering. CAREER CAREER research: Protein research: Engineering, CAREER research: How and Nuclear Engineering. and novel education research: Computational thermodynamics and evaluation, and theoretical transport phenomena CAREER research: using initiatives. analysis of hybrid systems aggregation modeling of biological affect biological processes nanoparticles heated by an soft tissues alternative magnetic field to fight cancer

New Faculty Department of Biomedical Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Ryan Gilbert, Assistant Shiva Kotha, Associate Hiroki Yokota, Professor, Chris Letchford, Philippe Baveye, Kodak Cara Wang, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Professor, Biomedical Biomedical Engineering. Department Head, Civil Chair in Environmental Professor, Civil and Engineering. Research: Engineering. Research: Research Areas: Mecha- and Environmental Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering. Development of novel Cell and tissue mechanics, notransduction of bone Engineering. Research: Environmental Engineering. Research: Transportation biomaterial scaffolds for mechanobiology, multi- and joint cells, molecular Wind engineering Research: Hydrologic and systems. the treatment of spinal functional materials, and imaging, bone adaptation, soil sciences cord injury development of minimally computational genomics invasive modalities for and proteomics imaging and treatment

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering Davies Medal

The Davies Medal is awarded for distinguished engineering achievement by Rensselaer alumni.

David Mendonça, Associate Sandipan Mishra, Assistant Riccardo Bevilacqua, Johnson Samuel, Assistant 2010 Rensselaer Davies Medal Recipient: Professor, Industrial, Professor, Mechanical, Assistant Professor, Professor, Mechanical, James K. Mitchell ’51, University Distinguished Systems and Management Aerospace, and Nuclear Mechanical, Aerospace, Aerospace, and Nuclear Professor, Emeritus, Department of Civil and Engineering. Research Engineering. Research and Nuclear Engineering. Engineering. Research Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech. Areas: Cognitive processes Areas: Dynamic Systems Research Areas: Guidance, Areas: Micro/nano-scale underlying human decisions and Control, Modeling and navigation, and control of Manufacturing, Design of in managing critical Control of Micro/Nano-scale space systems Advanced Materials for infrastructure systems Manufacturing Processes, Manufacturing, Biomedical Data-driven Control Manufacturing and Green System Design Manufacturing

22 | Rensselaer Engineering The outstanding faculty of the School of Engineering is a community of scholars working together to create an environ- ment that engenders respect for all and build a culture that is conducive to learning and discovery.

The 2010 Excellence Awards for the School of Engineering recognize and celebrate exceptional achievement in teaching and in research, individually and in teams, by junior and senior faculty.

Outstanding Professor Award Research Excellence Award Education Excellence Awards Mark S. Shephard, Mechanical, Senior Faculty Classroom Excellence Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering Pawel J. Keblinski Ravi S. Kane, Chemical and Materials Science & Engineering Biological Engineering

Outstanding Team Award Research Excellence Award Daniel J. Lewis, Materials Science pictured above (l to r) with Dean Rosowsky (2nd from l) Junior Faculty and Engineering Matthew A. Oehlschlaeger, “Thermal Management in Microelectronics” Mechanical, Aerospace, and John Wen, Electrical, Computer, Nuclear Engineering and Systems Engineering Education Excellence Awards Education Innovation Michael K. Jensen, Mechanical, Aerospace, Leila Parsa, Electrical, Computer, Mark W. Steiner, and Nuclear Engineering and Systems Engineering Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering Yoav P. Peles, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering Deanna M. Thompson, Biomedical Engineering

$30,000 Lemelson-MIT Collegiate Student Prizes Awarded

Helping Hydrogen: Student Inventor Tackles Challenge of Hydrogen Storage

Determined to play a key role in solving global dependency on fossil fuels, Javad Rafiee, a doctoral student in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has developed a new method for storing hydrogen at room temperature.

Rafiee has created a novel form of engineered graphene that exhibits hydrogen storing capacity far exceeding any other known material. For this innovation, which brings the world a step closer to realizing the widespread adoption of clean, abundant hydrogen as a fuel for transportation vehicles, Rafiee is the winner of the 2010 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize.

eng.rpi.edu | 23 Non-Profit Org. School of Engineering U.S. Postage Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute PAID 110 8th Street Rensselaer Troy, NY USA 12180 Polytechnic Institute

This Fall, we welcomed more than 650 first-year engineering students to campus, and one of the largest and most highly qualified groups of new graduate students in Rensselaer’s history.