Global Colloquium Singapore, Oct. 20,

2010Adding Value in addressing the grand challenge areas of health and water through an international dual degree

program with a multi-disciplinary research initiative

By

Sigrid Berka

Adding Value through international and interdisciplinary graduate

researchNational Science Board’s Science and Engineering Indicators 2010 >international collaborations steadily growing indicated by co-authorship of journal articles

Open Doors Report on Intern. Educational Exchange >Study abroad is growing but only 4% for year abroad

World Economic Forum rankings> US falling behind in global competitiveness

NSF shows increased international commitment > through its PIRE, IRES, IREE and IGERT programs

How to Educate the Global Engineerat URI? Through entrepreneurial dual degree programs on all degree levels

• By way of an integrative curriculum at home and overseas which allows students at the Bachelor’s level to pursue dual degrees in engineering (B.S.) and German, French, Spanish (B.A.) or Minors in Chinese and Asian Studies (Undergraduate IEP).

• On the Master’s and PhD level, they receive degrees from two institutions; (from TU-BS + from URI) > a multi -disciplinary, multinational model to internationalize EE.

• IEP students combine study with work abroad, and international research with hands-on, practical experience.

Dual Degree Masters Program

• First year at home institution (URI)• Second year at host institution (TU Braunschweig)• Thesis completed at host institution

– Mutually supervised and accepted– Joint defense (real or video conference)

• Supported by German government grant• Supported by NSF PIRE grant• Supported by industry scholarshipsURI students in the pipeline:

– six complete– Four in process

Dual Degree Doctoral Program

(supported by NSF-PIRE)• Open to all College Of Engineering programs• Supported/encouraged by the NSF grant• Ph.D. / Dr.-Ing.• Minimum one-year residency abroad• Common thesis• Two advisors, two committees, two defenses• All requirements met for both schools• URI students in the pipeline:

– One complete > NASA; one in process

NSF PIRE grant

• 2.4 Million grant to support educational and research initiatives with TU Braunschweig

• Research in two grand challenge areas: health and water– Design of Lab-on-a-Chip to detect early response

to pathogen infection– Use of microfluidic technology to study generation

of fluid pressures to understand tsunami triggering

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MICROFLUIDIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATION-- DETECTION OF MICROFLUIDIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATION-- DETECTION OF BIOMARKERS OF INFECTION AND OCEAN BASED APPLICATIONS IN BIOMARKERS OF INFECTION AND OCEAN BASED APPLICATIONS IN

TRIGGERING TSUNAMITRIGGERING TSUNAMI

NSF PIRE grant – Lead P.I.:M. Faghri, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI

PIRE Group (University of Rhode Island)PIRE Group (University of Rhode Island).J. Grandin Professor of German and Director Emeritus of IEP C. Anagnostopoulos Electrical EngineeringC. Baxter Ocean / Civil and Environmental EngineeringO. Gregory Chemical EngineeringS. Grilli Ocean EngineeringJ. Major Department of Chemistry T. Mather College of Environment and Life SciencesD. Meyer Mechanical EngineeringZ. Zhang Mechanical EngineeringA. Abolmaaty College of Environment and Life Sciences

PIRE Group (Technical University of BraunschweigPIRE Group (Technical University of Braunschweig))

Stephanus Buettgenbach Institute of MicrotechnologyStefan Duebel Institute of Biotechnology Manfred Krafczyk Institute of Computer Applications in Civil EngineeringStephan Scholl Institute of Chemical and Thermal Process EngineeringHocine Oumeraci Institute of Water Resources, Ocean/Coastal Engineering

Adding value through complementary areas of strength in

both locations – three examples• Synergy between biology/engineering in tick research (Brad Lefoley)

• Crossing health and biotechnology in biomarkers research (Kelly Cook)

• Synergetic approaches in tsunami research (Myriam ElBettah)

Tick research at URI/TUBSBrad Lefoley

URI Strength:Tick specialist biologist Tom MatherExpertise in Lyme BorreliosisEpidemiology

TU-BS Strength:Stefan Duebel/Michael Hust from Biotechnology department Expertise in Antibody Engineering and phage display technology

Science+Interdisciplinary/internat.

Engineering =approach for Brad’s thesis

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Dynamic Pore Pressure in Porous Media Modeled in a Micro-channel network

Flow In

Flow Out

Pressure Ports

Pressure PortsPore Space

filled w/ water

MICROFLUIDIC-BASED OCEAN APPLICATION: THE ROLE OF FLUID PRESSURES IN THE TRIGGERING OF TSUNAMOGENIC LANDSLIDES

MICRO-SCALE TESTINGExperiments using mini- and

micro-channels will provide data and insight into pore pressure

response due to dynamic loading. Dynamic pressure pulses will be

generated using a “water hammer” effect and a pneumatic

actuator. The properties of the channel will be modified such that the pore pressure response can be

compared to pore pressure generation in soils.

MICROFLUIDIC MODELINGTwo different CFD models are currently being used to model

the physical microfluidic experiments. The first one,

FLUENT, is a FEM that solves the 3-D Navier-Stokes (NS)

equations. The second one is a model developed by Prof.

Krafczyk’s team at TU-BS, which is based on the Lattice-

Boltzmann equations, that also simulate the dynamic behavior

of Newtonian fluids similar to the NS equations.

MACRO-SCALE TESTINGCyclic triaxial tests of artificial

soil made of uniform glass spheres, with local pore pressure

measurements, will provide insight into the fundamental

pore pressure generation in soils due to seismic loading. Using

uniform spheres provides control of pore diameter, leading to a clearer understanding of pore pressure response for various

particle sizes. Actual sediment will be used in a second

phase.

Cyclic Triaxial Tests on Idealized

and Real Soils

Pore Pressure vs. No. of Cycles

A

B

A ~ 0.01-0.05 mm glass beads

B ~ 1.7-2.0 mm glass beads

Modeling of a sphere falling through water using Lattice-Boltzmann Methods

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Model Prospects:Use Validated Numerical Model to Predict Complex Flow Problems

Model Validation1. Poiseuille Flow, Falling Sphere(s),…

2. Input of Lab Tests (Flow Through Idealized Sediment, Dynamic Pressure Propagation)

Creation of Numerical Model:

Project Directors: C. Baxter1, S. Grilli1 and M. Krafczyk2 Students: PhD Cand. M.El Bettah1,2, MS Cand. K.A.Bollinger1,2

1.University of Rhode Island, Department of Ocean Engineering, Narragansett, RI, USA 2.Technical University of Braunschweig, Institute for Computational Modeling in Civil Engineering, Braunschweig, Germany

Coupling Lattice-Boltzmann fluid flow model with sediment modeled as interacting rigid bodies in Physics Engine

Dynamic Pressure Pulse Propagation in Idealized Sediment Filled Mini-Channel Experiments

Soil Properties Lab Tests

Cyclic Triaxial Testing: Rate and Uniformity of Pore Pressure Build-up

h

q

q

SedimentSample

TriaxialCell

Large Scale Model Testing Relates

Directly to all Three Branches

Steady State Mini-Channel Experiments

Task 4 - MICROFLUIDIC-BASED OCEAN APPLICATION: The Role of Fluid Pressures

in the Triggering of Tsunamogenic Landslides

SeismicLoading

Pore Pressure IncreasesStrength DecreasesLiquefaction Occurs

Tsunami research at URI/TUBSMyriam ElBettah

URI Strength:Distinguished Ocean Engineering Professor Stephan GrilliExpertise in dynamical modelling of long wave propagation

TUBS Strength:Institute for Computational modeling in Civil Eng. (iRMB) directed by Manfred KrafzykWorld Expertise in Lattice Boltzman method

Modeling of idealized experiments in Ocean EGR

Infrastructure with 1000 processors for parallel simulations

Development of a Lab-on-Chip Contact

Imaging System for the Detection of

Alzheimer’s disease Biomarkers

-Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) research with regard to Beta Amyloid (Aß)

-Benefits of Biosensor Development for this Point of Care Application

-Contact Imaging and Data Manipulation as an inexpensive tool towards this Goal

-Future Development of ultimate user-friendly Point-of-Care Biosensor through use of Nanowicks

Self-detection SystemsA Lab-on-Chip device is only successful when it is - Simple in Procedure - Rapid to Respond - Relevant to Daily Life - Able to give Accurate Results

In General Lab-on-Chip Biosensors can be extremely useful for - Point-of-Care Diagnostics - Self-detection and monitoring of health - Substitution of Laboratory Equipment in Third-world Countries

With these Considerations in Mind, an Aß device would allow for - Early Stage Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease - Testing of possible agents of Disease development through pre- functionalized Chips - Analysis of Drug interactions in the Body

Accurate – Qualitative / Quantitative Results

A Light-emitting Diode (LED) can provide a very specific and small range of wavelengths to reach the sample without the need for filters

A Charged-Coupled Device (CCD) allows for intensity detection extremely inexpensively, without any optics, or laboratory equipment.

Designing micro-fluidic chips with reaction chambers at optimal size to be placed directly on top of the sensor, eliminates the need for any lenses.

Qualitative Results can than be turned into quantitative results through simple analysis with programs such as Matlab.

Alzheimers Disease Biomarkers ResearchKelly CookURI Strength:

NSF PIRE PI Mohammed Faghri, internationally known expert in computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer

TUBS Strength:Institute for Microtechnology Expertise in LEDs, CCDs and other devices

>Multi-Disciplinary training of students in PIRE project>company network for internships>German for engineers

Complementary course “Microfluidics”

Summary of Added Values gained in international dual degree grad.

programs• Transfer of knowledge gained abroad– Broadened scope of methods/skills; – Capitalizing on different strengths and “engineering cultures” to create

innovative discoveries• Raising of technical competitiveness

– Benefit through complementary offerings– Increase in Depth and Breadth of research

• Competitiveness for Global Market– Cross-cultural skills and savviness – Advanced High/superior language proficiency through one year stay abroad– Exposure to corporate world through international internships

• Personal Growth– Transformational change in attitude – Life-long skills to navigate other cultures, academic systems, corporate

cultures