Ssoe Annual Report 2011

1Annual Report 2011

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

Swanson School of Engineering

ANNUAL REPORT 2011

2 University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering

The intersection of engineering education, research, and service

Cover image: Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation

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Dean’s Welcome

Energy Research at the Swanson School

Department of Bioengineering

Department of Chemical and Petroleum EngineeringDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department of Industrial Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Engineering Office of Diversity

Engineering International Programs

Our Students

Alumni and Development

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Annual Report 2011


Gerald D. Holder

U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering in the new Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, part of the $100 million in renovations to Benedum Hall.

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A Message from Our Dean

This year brought exciting opportunities to further develop our collaborations with other departments, other universities, and organizations committed to energy and sustainability research.

Our strategic plan for the Swanson School of Engineering places energy and sustainability research among our highest priorities. Over 50 percent of our faculty does research in energy and/or sustainability. We have established a formal relationship with the National Energy Technology Lab and have partnered with over 15 companies who support our research and hire our graduating students. These partnerships enable us to push the boundaries of knowledge and to stimulate the local and national economy. Here in Pittsburgh we work with Westinghouse, Eaton, Consol, and many other energy/sustainability companies.

Our creative faculty members have developed a plethora of funding opportunities. This year, for example, Professor Steven Little received a Coulter Translational Research Award to support translational research in his work with the School of Dental Medicine and McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The Department of Bioengineering also received a Coulter Translational Partnership Award which will fund more than $3.5 million in collaborative research among bioengineers and clinical practitioners to address unmet clinical needs. The bioengineering department’s three NIH-sponsored T-32 training grants were all renewed for additional funding for 18 graduate students—the future leaders in the bioengineering field. To be awarded three such grants is a remarkable achievement for our University.

We’ve set record levels of research activity in the past year, publishing 771 papers, graduating 57 PhDs and spending over $80 million for research-related costs. These accomplishments are done while maintaining a dedication to student education as evidenced by the outstanding teaching evaluations that students give to our faculty and the educational research. These inspired educators help us attract outstanding students at both the graduate and undergraduate level. For 2011, the average SAT score for incoming freshmen was over 1360.

Our students create fish farms in developing countries, travel abroad to build water delivery systems, or partner with Engineers Without Borders and Engineers for a Sustainable World, traveling everywhere from China to Israel to Australia to pursue a cultural and technical education. Through their initiatives and our commitment to exemplary education, the Swanson School of Engineering continues to produce innovative, talented students who contribute on a global scale.


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We’ve set record levels of research activity in the past year, publishing 771 papers and spending over $80 million for research expenditures, all the while maintaining a dedication to student education.

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Research Productivity in the Swanson SchoolMeasured in millions of dollars

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Interdisciplinary

School


The Center for Energy within the Swanson School of Engineering is a vast and multi-disciplinary endeavor working to secure energy independence, environmental sustainability, improved efficiency of energy delivery, and economic opportunity for our region, our

nation, and ultimately our planet.

Executive Director of the Center for Energy Brian Gleeson says energy will be the defining technical, social, and political issue of the next century. Drawing on the expertise of over 40 faculty members from fields as varied as geology, chemistry, bioengineering, materials science, and physics, the Center for Energy aims to position itself as a leader in both energy research and education.

Given the current popular status of alternative and renewable fuels, many are surprised to learn of the strong emphasis the Center for Energy places on fossil fuels, but Gleeson asserts that fossil fuel research is essential. “We’ll be using fossil fuels for the next 50 years at least, even as we transition to other options,” he says. “Many technical advancements are still possible to more efficiently extract these resources and better utilize them.”

According to Gleeson, nearly 60 percent of energy currently produced is wasted—lost as heat or other inefficiencies along the path from production to power switch and operation. One of the Center for Energy’s primary focal points, then, is improving this statistic. Energy efficiency can be a fuel in and of itself. It can offset the need for other fuels, drive down consumption, and cut costs, so even small adjustments to current processes become very impactful.

One person working on this type of efficiency is Götz Veser, associate professor and Consolidated Natural Gas Faculty Fellow of the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. Veser and his team have discovered a new way to blend particles within metal catalysts that makes them more efficient and more resistant to high temperatures.

Center for Energy: Refining Old Methods; Discovering New Solutions

9Annual Report 2011

These metals, (platinum, for example), are not only expensive and difficult to extract, but they also become unstable and inefficient when exposed to high temperatures. Veser’s team experimented with combining platinum and rhodium (which has better stability at high temperatures). They expected improved stability, but found much more than that.

At the nano-particle level, Veser found the particles began to selectively bleed out the metal with the lower melting point. After the reaction, the original nano-particle is enriched with the higher-melting-point metal, surrounded by newly-formed clusters of the lower-melting-point metal. A very stable catalyst results—one that can self-adjust to the high temperatures. Less platinum can then do the same work at a higher temperature.

This research has huge potential to impact industry because catalytic reactions are, according to Veser, “the backbone of any process that converts oil to anything else.” Any process from the manufacturing of nylon stockings to polymer coatings on desktops to even the conversion of biomass into fuels will incorporate the nanomaterials being studied here at Pitt.

Brian GleesonDirector of the Center for Energy, Harry S. Tack Chair in Materials Science, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science


GötzVeser Consolidated Natural Gas Faculty Fellow, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering

Center for Energy

11Annual Report 2011

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“ Veser and his team have discovered a new way to blend particles within metal catalysts that makes them more efficient and more resistant to high temperatures.


In another facet of Center for Energy fossil fuel research, Howard Kuhn, adjunct professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, is fine-tuning additive manufacturing techniques. Kuhn’s work with specialized materials will enable big strides in the efficiency of the drilling industry.

In this additive manufacturing process, Kuhn and his students build objects layer upon layer, as opposed to chiseling down a piece of metal to the desired shape. In this manner, Kuhn says, engineers are unlimited in the shapes and crevices they can create on the surface (or within) the object being manufactured.

For something like dental crowns, which are unique to each tooth, additive manufacturing can save resources and create a tailor-made product. With regard to drill bits, Kuhn’s research is the perfect fit. He says, “Every rock or surface you intend to drill requires different configurations, different ways the cutters are placed, and different ways fluids are directed into the drilling area.” Since drill bits are not mass-produced, each currently needs to be formed from a type of specially made tool. The cost of that mold must be spread across each bit and each part sold, unless a company utilizes additive manufacturing.

This manufacturing process is also suited to the manufacture of molds for mass-produced items. Kuhn says his technologies can incorporate channels to help cool the molded metal or plastic more rapidly, making even the manufacturing process more efficient. He says, “Reducing the cycle time for injection molding by more quickly removing heat is an ongoing objective. With additive manufacturing, you can produce internal cooling channels that conform to the shape of the part, cutting down on distortion. The quality of the part improves as well.”

Kuhn’s work with specialized materials will enable big strides in the efficiency of the drilling industry.

Center for Energy


The Center for Energy is also making its mark in sustainable and new technologies, perhaps the things people immediately think of when discussing energy research. Laura Schaefer, associate director of the Center for Energy and deputy director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, has focused her efforts on energy-efficient buildings.

In addition to her work with the Life Cycle Analysis project (see story on page 31), Schaefer was selected to lead Pitt’s work with the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC).

GPIC, funded by the Department of Energy, provides a showplace for companies, families, and commercial businesses to learn about small or large changes they could make to increase the efficiency of their buildings inexpensively. GPIC aims to develop products or systems with a payback period of under five years.

Schaefer has been working with insulation. She’s developing a material that can switch from insulator to conductor depending on the air temperature. Her mechanical-based system would mimic, for instance, opening all the doors and windows of a home at night to let the cool air in (which is not usually feasible) to keep a building cool during the daytime.

Laura Schaefer Bicentennial Board of Visitors Faculty Fellow Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science


According to Schaeffer, Pitt’s commitment to research and education in sustainability secured this invitation to join GPIC. “Other schools have had sustainability research as a side project,” says Schaefer, “but it’s part of our strategic focus. Collaboration with GPIC’s $122-million hub, on top of work with the Department of Commerce and the National Institute of Standards and Technology and companies looking to develop the products we’re researching to bring them to market…it’s very exciting.”

Her work with GPIC encourages collaborations with colleagues in different disciplines, from public health to mechanical engineering. These meetings of the minds not only tap into a greater perspective on each project, but also help to reinforce her motivation to do this research. She says, “We are all motivated to make the world a better place. We want it to be nicer for our kids, something more hopeful and more sustainable. That’s why we’re doing this.”

Collaborations between various fields benefit the students within the School of Engineering as well. Brian Gleeson, director, says the Center for Energy helps to fight the “stove-pipe” approach to engineering education. He says, “Students need to dabble [into other projects] in addition to their core competencies in mechanical engineering or materials sciences, etc. From a graduate education standpoint, a multi-disciplinary approach helps students look at their projects in a new light.”

A fantastic example of the benefits of combined disciplines comes from Prashant Kumta, Edward R. Weidlein Chair and Professor of the Departments of Bioengineering, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Kumta works with metals and batteries, applying his research to pediatric heart implants (among many other potential uses).

He didn’t begin his career interested in bioengineering. Kumta used to focus on energy storage in automotive applications. Then, he began to see a connection between these engines and the human body. A fuel cell, after all, is just another type of cell.

Kumta says the human body depends upon burning energy (via sugars and carbohydrates) and recharging through sleep or additional food intake. He sees a correlation between this process and a synthetic battery.

So, with this in mind, he works to develop new materials to help batteries

Center for Energy


perform more efficiently, more like the human body. He wants to find materials that will let the battery reclaim the energy that was spent and use it again.

Currently, he’s exploring new structures of silicone to be interwoven onto carbon nanotubes. Kumta says the integrated substance has a capacity four times that of traditional carbon. He is also working to replace traditional materials for anodes and cathodes in lithium ion batteries (the most common type of battery in use). His team is developing magnesium batteries. “The performance here can potentially match that of lithium,” says Kumta. “A novel catalyst material could bring down the cost and use of noble metals in most catalysts by 70 percent.”

Prashant Kumta Edward R. Weidlein Chair Department of Bioengineering; Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering; Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science


The current research from the Center for Energy—a delicate blend of new, sustainable choices and improved efficiencies in existing technologies—could potentially make an immense impact. Gleeson cites a McKinsey study that found a global effort to increase efficiency with existing technologies could satisfy more than 20 percent of the world’s energy demands by 2020.

A strong emphasis on fossil-related research helps the University maintain its status as a good neighbor in southwestern Pennsylvania, home to abundant natural resources and a concentration of companies engaged in the energy field at all levels—from extraction to power generation to utilization.

The Center for Energy’s combined efforts in research and multi-disciplinary education help to produce well-rounded graduates ready to take the lead in enacting change in the field of energy. For example, says Gleeson, Anthony Cugini, the director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (with whom the Center for Energy collaborates) is a graduate of the Swanson School of Engineering.

Don Shields Executive Director of the Center for Energy; Executive Director of the Swanson Institute for Technical Excellence; Director of Corporate Relations

Center for Energy


After beginning at the University of Pittsburgh in 2005, Don Shields has taken on a number of positions within the Swanson School of Engineering including co-director of the University’s Swanson Institute for Technical Excellence, director of corporate relations and most recently executive director of the Center for Energy.

As company interactions in the energy field increased, the Center for Energy was in need of further organization of its external activities.

“An increasing number of our industry interactions were in the energy space and as the center grew there was a need for dedicated focus on external constituencies, including industry, government agencies, and foundations,” said Shields, who became the executive director for the Center for Energy this past January. In this role, he works to ensure resources as well as monitor the operation of the center.

Shields holds a master’s degree in public management from Carnegie Mellon University and is a registered professional geologist.

The scholarly direction for the center comes from Brian Gleeson, PhD, Harry S. Tack Chair in Materials Science. A distinct strength of the center is its ability to collaborate with industry in developing educational and research programs that address pressing workforce and technology development needs.

“We have been working with our regional and national corporate partners to develop new academic programs in electric power engineering, mining engineering, and nuclear engineering, “said Shields. The purpose is to “help the industry address the work force challenges that they have been having.”

Shields explains that the University of Pittsburgh is part of the Energy Alliance of Greater Pittsburgh, which focuses on seven energy-

related industries in the Pittsburgh region.

The Pittsburgh region is rapidly moving forward in the “generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization of energy,” said Shields. With all of the resources and entities in the area, the Center for Energy finds itself in the right position with the right partners to play a leadership role in this area.

Graduates of the Swanson School of Engineering who have worked with the Center for Energy can span a number of different disciplines including the engineering departments, geology, chemistry, physics, and computer science.

“Graduates are prepared for successful careers,” said Shields, “They have a leg up on other schools.”

Strategic planning with outside evaluators and leadership recently identified specific areas of focus where the faculty of the Center for Energy can consider themselves amongst in the very best in the country.

Throughout the wide range of topics covered at the University, these were identified as the areas where Center for Energy faculty can provide national leadership. One of these involves advanced materials for energy related applications including experimental and computational approaches to structural and functional materials for use in harsh environments. The management and utilization of carbon is another area.

Two more areas of focus include energy delivery and reliability as well as direct energy conversion and recovery. This includes energy efficiency in production and utilization systems and also the reliability of power and energy systems.

The fifth specific area of research is unconventional gas resources, working with the safe procurement of natural gas.

Strategic Partner in Energy


The Pitt team of Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) produces a new race-ready car each year. Following a set of pre-determined rules, engineering students combine their classroom knowledge and their interests to create a small Formula-style race car. Their work is then put to the ultimate test at the Formula SAE race. This year’s race is at the Michigan International Speedway.


Department of Bioengineering

The Department of Bioengineering has forged distinctive collaborations with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and Carnegie Mellon University’s faculty. These partnerships, combined with outstanding faculty leadership, marked the department’s approach to education as innovative, earning the Swanson School of Engineering three National Institute of Health Training Grants (called T-32s), totaling $4 million. The University is currently the only school to earn three such awards, which have been renewed for an additional $4 million.

These prestigious grants provide two years of funding and mentorship for graduate students, enabling them to experience clinical research first hand and collaborate with a number of departments—a multi-disciplinary approach that prepares students to be future leaders in the field.

The first two training programs focus largely on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, so students might study pathology, bioengineering, or biomechanics in conjunction with clinical rotations, laboratory work, and coursework above and beyond the PhD requirements. The third T-32 program requires students to design and optimize artificial devices (for example, pediatric pacemakers or engineered tissue scaffolding) over the course of their clinical research and graduate study.

Students gain opportunities to present their work at international conferences and interface with the larger scientific community as budding researchers. When they leave the University of Pittsburgh, T-32 graduates have honed experimental and mathematical modeling techniques that combine engineering, science, and medicine in ways that transcend traditional program and university boundaries.

Leaders in Training


Alan RusselUniversity Distinguished Professor of Surgery, Department of Bioengineering, and Department of Chemical Engineering

Sanjeev ShroffGerald E. McGinnis Chair Department of Bioengineering


Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering

Joe McCarthy

Particle Innovations

William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering


Particle-based functional materials are extremely versatile. According to Joe McCarthy, William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, particles can mimic cells or catalysts and convince the human body to self-heal. They can also form non-freeze coatings to improve windshield performance on airplanes. The limitless opportunities of this research have thus inspired two multi-disciplinary opportunities in the department.

At the graduate level, the department has earned a $395,000 U.S. Department of Education-sponsored graduate assistantship in areas of national need (GAANN) to fund five students’ graduate particle-based research. McCarthy says that GAANN wants to “change the paradigm in graduate education by eliminating boundaries.” Whereas most graduate students research problems that are developed by their faculty members, McCarthy says GAANN students learn about the broad landscape of particles and their impact, then find their own projects.

The department has also developed a $330,000 program called Research Experience for Undergraduates, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. This summer internship invites students to study all aspects of particle-based chemical engineering, along with exposure to civil, mechanical, and bioengineering. Students do not focus intently on just one project for 10 weeks, but rather on the broad scope of particle research, perhaps working with a GAANN student on nano-particle production and then later on simulating model cell mechanics.

The collaborations encouraged by these programs are critical. McCarthy says, “the cross-pollination of ideas that emerges from these research programs highlights perfectly how truly interconnected this apparently disparate set of fields can be.”


Currently, new buildings constructed to LEED standards only forecast the sustainable features of the building’s materials and its systems in theory. Melissa Bilec, assistant professor and assistant director of education and outreach in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation (MCSI), in partnership with professors Alex Jones and Laura Schaefer, aims to develop a tool which will not only evaluate the performance of buildings from cradle to grave, but also optimize the buildings’ existing systems day to day.

Bilec explains that past life cycle assessments were static and based on long-term predictions about building performance. Her project gathers instantaneous, dynamic data about the performance of buildings in real time.

The team is using their own MCSI building as a test bed for their sensor networks developed by Jones and data collection methods honed by Bilec. The team is working to optimize the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system to learn how people interact with the building and its indoor environmental quality.

A thorough exploration of relative humidity, computer keystrokes, and temperature will illustrate what happens in a building and what effects each adjustment to the environment will have. Schaefer says, “We want to know not only how much money you could save by turning up your air conditioner by two degrees, but also how much less carbon you’ll use and how this will affect productivity in your workplace.”

The $2 million research project, funded by the National Science Foundation, eventually aims to revamp the model for sustainable construction. Bilec says, “We spend 90 percent of our time indoors and we know very little about the real quality of indoor air. The interaction between people and the indoor environment needs to be considered if we want to understand overall sustainability.”

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Real-Time Life Cycle Analysis of Green Buildings


Melissa Bilec Assistant Professor Director, Mascaro Center for Sustainable InnovationDirector, Construction Management Program


Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Traffic Control for Computer ChipsAlex Jones, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, compares computer chip performance to traffic flow on urban streets. He is currently studying ways to optimize the networks connecting processors inside computer chips. Jones’ team won an $800,000 National Science Foundation grant to explore the ways processors communicate data in multi-core processors.

Jones notes that heavy automobile traffic at rush hour causes backups in the street grid. The same can be true for computer programs—some require more data to be transferred between processor cores while some programs perform calculations independently. Jones and his team are investigating the architecture of the computer chips running the programs.

He studies how the networks are organized and thinks about which “roads” could be expanded or re-routed for better data flow and increased chip performance. The project explores network solutions that are flexible and customizable, meaning the chips could change which network wires are used depending on data flow. Jones also examines cases in which “roads” could remain idle to reduce the power required by the computer chip. These re-routes keep data traffic flowing while maintaining full processor function.

Jones says, “Data is the lifeblood of an application program. If its information pipeline is clogged, nobody benefits. We’re working to build a more efficient architecture for these networks to run to the best of their ability.”


Alex Jones Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering


Industrial engineers examine problems in productivity or quality and figure out how to optimize both. Pitt’s Department of Industrial Engineering’s expertise spans industry sectors from shipping to chocolate production to, most recently, health care.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country have two very challenging problems at the moment. First, there are patient-flow issues with intensive care units. Patients who might not require this level of care are often unable to move to other wards because beds are unavailable. The veterans’ hospitals sometimes must transfer patients to civilian hospitals, incurring huge expense.

The second major problem these hospitals experience is operating room scheduling. Frequently, unexpected or emergency surgeries disrupt the schedule. In addition, scheduled surgeries sometimes develop complications, delaying staff members and other resources while forcing patients to wait longer than expected for procedures like cataract surgery.

Associate Professor Andrew Schaefer is hoping to change that. His team is working on a project called Veterans Engineering Resource Center, a $3.6 million endeavor that will streamline managerial approaches toward a solution to both these problems. Schaefer strives to better allocate resources and ultimately provide improved care to veterans.

To do this, the team will develop simulation models guiding decisions for various scenarios: What order should surgeries be scheduled on a given day, offering unexpected additions? What strategies should the hospital employ given a large influx of patients?

Schaefer says, “It seems to us that there are lots of opportunities to improve efficiency without compromising care. We want to help patients receive the precise level of care they need at the time they need it.”


1. Andrew SchaeferWellington C. Carl

Faculty Fellow Department of Industrial

Engineering

2. Jayant RajgopalAssociate Professor


3. Oleg ProkopyevAssistant Professor


4. Bryan NormanAssociate Professor


5. Lisa MaillartAssociate Professor


6. Bopaya BidandaErnest E. Roth Professor

and Chairman Department of Industrial

Engineering

7. Larry ShumanSenior Associate Dean

for Academic Affairs and Professor Department of

Industrial Engineering

Streamlining Care for Our Veterans


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Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Awards, Research, Outreach

Lisa Wieland (center)

Assistant Professor Lisa Wieland has a knack for exploring seemingly unrelated problems and then linking the work together. She also readily dives across the gray area that lies between disciplines, whether she’s studying microscopic movements of plants, creating ionic polymer sensors, or building devices to float on the water’s surface and harness the power of rivers ill-suited for turbines.

It is no wonder, then, that the American Society for Mechanical Engineering selected Wieland as this year’s Gary Anderson Early Achievement Award recipient. The award recognizes her strong impact on smart materials research, leadership, and collaborations with other disciplines.

Anne Robertson (left)

Associate Professor Anne Robertson’s work with cerebral embolism draws invitations from around the globe. Fresh from the International Conference on Mathematical Fluid Mechanics and Biomedical Applications in Azores, Portugal, Robertson prepared for another presentation in Berlin, then another at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and gave a plenary talk in Brussels.

Robertson was invited to speak at over 15 events or conferences in the past year. These presentations have led to collaborations with the Mayo Clinic and visiting graduate research students from the University of Navarra in Spain, among other partnerships. Meanwhile, Robertson helped organize the 2011 Forum on Women in Medicine and Science and visits local high schools to speak with young girls about engineering careers.


Laura Schaefer (right)

“You cannot see energy efficiency,” says Associate Professor Laura Schaefer. She explains that results of her research on insulation and air quality might seem invisible, but can greatly reduce our carbon footprint. Schaefer is the University of Pittsburgh team leader with the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC), a revolutionary research center focused on energy efficient buildings.

The GPIC, funded by a $122 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, partners with businesses to stimulate efficiency research at the University. For instance, Schaefer works with Bayer Materials Science as part of Wieland’s team, exploring turbine alternatives in nearby rivers.


The Swanson School of Engineering has set diversity as a priority and embedded it into the strategic plan of the school. Sylvanus Wosu, director of diversity, sees the University of Pittsburgh’s unique approach to diversity as

essential to its success in a global engineering community.

To make sure the school attracts the most qualified candidates for graduate education, the Office of Diversity has developed a program called the “Pipeline for Diversity.” Targeting elite students from every stage of engineering education, this pipeline helps to identify under-represented students early in their careers and increase their access to graduate education, eventually resulting in engineering faculty placements.

In partnership with the Educational Advancement Alliance, the University of Pittsburgh works with the network of historically Black colleges and universities as well as the North Carolina A&T Engineering Research Center to identify potential master’s degree candidates for the Swanson School of Engineering.

The Office of Diversity hosts events such as Discovery Graduate Engineering weekends to bring in potential PhD candidates and introduce them to faculty or graduate researchers in their fields of interest. Summer programs (called “Pre PhD Scholar” programs) for rising juniors and graduating seniors provide mentorship and challenging research internships.

Wosu says, “These connections are so important to potential students. They like to see somebody who looks like them—the impact of seeing a minority or a female graduate student or professor cannot be overestimated.” He wants to ensure that these students pursue continued education rather than enter into industry work.

“The bottom line of our program is to really make sure excellence is inclusive,” he says. “The way to do this is to make sure from the beginning that we bring in students with the potential to maintain excellence, graduate, and go on to do great things.”

Engineering Office of Diversity

Building a Pipeline for Diversity


Brittany Givens Milwaukee, WI

Michael Paine Cranberry Township, PA

Keith Payne Oxon Hill, MD

Colin Kennedy Quartz Hill, CA

Zachery Scott West Chester, PA

Riccardo Rivera and Katrina KnightCurrent students recruited through the Discovery Graduate Engineering Day

Winners of our Diversity Awards


Preparing Students for a Global Economy

Engineering International Programs

The Swanson School of Engineering degree is universal. Students at the University of Pittsburgh gain opportunities to earn a technical and cultural education through the Engineering International Program, a study

abroad program challenging students to develop global solutions to real engineering problems.

Senior Bradley Harken is one such student who collaborated with faculty at the University of Campinas in São Paulo, Brazil. Led by Professor Lisa Weiland, the undergraduate spent time in Pittsburgh investigating potential energy savings by including solar water heaters in the design of public housing projects in Brazil’s largest state. The Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation also paired with the Company of Housing and Urban Development organization to discuss problems specific to the Brazilian neighborhoods, politics, and culture.

Harken explains that homes do not have hot water heaters since hot water is primarily used for cooking. Brazilians are using inefficient electrical heaters for showers, and peak usage (such as right after the work day) causes brownouts or power surges.

The undergraduates researched weather data and usage patterns to determine how effective incorporation of solar heaters could be. While Harken was in São Paulo, the city emphasized such concerns as they prepared for both the FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympics. Harken forged contacts with civil engineers and learned about construction and infrastructure challenges to public transportation, roads, and drainage systems.

Harken went on to visit South America four times in his undergraduate career, where he fostered relationships for future collaborations and felt part of a truly global engineering exploration.


Bradley Harken


Paints, canvas, circuit boards, and LED lights are just some of the materials Ingrid Avendaño works with every day.

While pursuing a degree in art at the University of Minnesota, she expanded to a double major in computer science and unintentionally found herself in an engineering course.

Now a junior electrical engineering and studio art double major, Avendaño, originally from Venezuela, has found an interdisciplinary home and school at the University of Pittsburgh, where she creates electrically enhanced art in her free time.

“Pitt is a really good research university in a good city for me,” she said, “Pittsburgh, in general, is a good tech city.”

Avendaño attended an arts high school in Minnesota and continued to study art into her college career. She discovered painting upon transferring to Pitt, where she was required to take a number of art courses in a variety of media.

“[Digital Lab] was the first engineering course that I really had fun applying design and planning,” she said, “It was more art-related.” It was here that she found a passion in circuit schematics and interactive circuits.

Combining the two things she loves, Avendaño creates paintings complete with algorithms and circuits. It is art that lights up and is constantly changing as she develops ways to make it even more interactive.

“It’s a time saver between the arts and engineering. It bridges the things I’m learning and I can actually apply the concepts,” she said.

Avendaño had some friends who attended school in Pittsburgh, and when filling out the application, she remembered the engineering course in Minnesota and decided to try out engineering as a major.

She transferred to Pitt in the fall of 2009. Upon beginning classes she found herself drawn to circuit boards and data visualizations. In one of her classes, Avendaño created a breadboard (or protoboard), used for building electronic circuits without soldering. She found herself impressed and pleased with the final product.

Our Students

Engineering Student Combines Art and Technology


Avendaño keeps an exceptionally busy schedule between her two majors, painting, and research under Professor Steven P. Levitan, the John A. Jurenko Professor of Computer Engineering, but she also enjoys eating at Razzy Fresh near campus and spending time at the Frick Art & Historical Center looking at artwork.

She is planning on looking at graduate programs in the area, and may spend some more time in Pittsburgh after finishing up her undergraduate degree.

Avendaño’s art work has been on display at Carnegie Mellon University and on campus in the Swanson School of Engineering.

“It’s more than worth it in the end because I enjoy it,” she said, “I never get bored because there is so much I want to do.”

Ingrid Avendaño The art of science, and vice versa.


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Our Students


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Alumni & Development

Francis Kramer


A native of Cohocton, just south of Rochester, N.Y., Engineering Alumni Francis Kramer had plenty of time to work on curiosity-quenching projects that nurtured his natural love of problem solving.

“Certainly in a town like that, you get to repair a lot of things as a kid, whether it’s a lawn mower, or a bike, or your own little transistor radio,” Kramer recalls.

Even in his earliest years, Kramer had a knack for marrying business and engineering principles. This trait has helped him to grow II-VI Incorporated, a crystal growth technology company in Saxonburg, Pa., from a tiny company employing fewer than 100 people into a firm, which as of July 2011 has about 6,600 employees worldwide, including about 500 in Pennsylvania.

Kramer graduated from the Swanson School of Engineering in 1971 with a degree in industrial engineering. After graduation, he found himself working for Rockwell International, first as an engineer, then moving into business development.

During his 12 years with Rockwell, he met the founder of II-VI and eventually decided it was time for a career change.

“You can teach an engineer to be an accountant or to be a salesman. But it’s tough to take someone without that background and teach them to be an engineer,” he said. “If you’re an engineer, you think of how to break down the problem and then move forward.”

Sales at II-VI grow at a pace of about 15–20 percent every year, as does profit. Already well positioned in Japan and Germany, II-VI is now looking to move into China and other parts of Asia.

Kramer, still bringing expansions to II-VI, also serves on the Swanson School of Engineering Board of Visitors, hoping to bring worldwide business thinking into the school’s curriculum.

He is the recipient of the 2010 Swanson School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award and has arranged for Pitt engineering students to visit his factories in Asia. He also urges engineering students to think of the world, not just the United States, as their job market.

Francis Kramer


Mr. Eric A. Chen

Gerald D. Holder

Major General John P. Schoeppner, Jr. (Ret)

Mr. Robert K. Henry

The Swanson School of Engineering has been honoring its top graduates through the Distinguished Alumni Awards since 1964.

Alumni & Development

Bioengineering ’02, Director, Humanitarian Use Devices Designation Program, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Electrical and Computer Engineering, BS ’69, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (retired), Harris Corporation

Mechanical Engineering BS ’60, Major General U.S. Air Force (retired)

U.S. Steel Dean of Swanson School of Engineering


Ms. Roberta Ann Luxbacher

Mr. Anthony M. Parasida

Anthony Vincent Cugini

Mr. Nishan G. Vartabedian

Chemical Engineering, BS ’81, MS’86 PhD’93, Director, Office of Research and Development, National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy

Civil and Environmental Engineering, BS ’78, President, Global Services and Support, The Boeing Company

Industrial Engineering, BS ’67, Executive Vice President, (retired), Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company

Chemical Engineering, BS ’78, Vice President, Global Industrial Wholesale ExxonMobil Fuels Marketing Company


Engineering Endowment: Book & Market Value IncreasesMeasured in millions of dollars

125

100

75

50

25

0

2002 2004 2006 2007 2009 2010 2011

Market Value

Book Value


Campaign Progress to $200 MillionMeasured in millions of dollars

$200

$180

$160

$140

$120

$100

$80

$60

$40

$20

$0

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011


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Documents

Transcript of Ssoe Annual Report 2011