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7/27/2019 Inside Cit Winter 09 10
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/inside-cit-winter-09-10 1/3
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stimates project that within the next
fve years, the U.. must invest 2.2
trillion ollars into its inrastructure to
keep it sae an efcient. In act, the
American ociety o Civil ngineers’
2009 Report Car or America gives
the nation’s inrastructure a cumula-
tive grae o d. The ilapiate stateo our inrastructure begs many ques-
tions, or example: What technologies
an approaches or improvement
woul provie the best use o our
time an money? This quanary an
relate matters were the ocus o a
panel iscussion, title “mart Tech-
nologies,” that was hel at Carnegie
Mellon on eptember 9, 2009.
James H. Garrett Jr., co-irector
o the Center or ense Critical
Inrastructure Research an hea o
Civil an nvironmental ngineering
moerate the panel, which inclue:Jurij Paraszczak, irector o merging
Business Research an marter
Planet Initiative, IBM; Benson Gabler,
Corporate ustainability Manager, the
PC Financial ervices Group; Guy
Costa, ormer Public Works irector,
City o Pittsburgh; Piervincenzo
Rizzo, proessor o Civil ngineering,
University o Pittsburgh; an Carnegie
Mellon’s Burcu Akinci, proessor oCivil an nvironmental ngineering.
"By bringing together experts
rom acaemic, inustry an govern-
ment, we were able to call attention
to important issues relate to our
inrastructure, such as the nee or
more cost-eective ways to monitor,
sustainably maintain an operate
our aging inrastructure, an raise
awareness o new technologies an
approaches that can help us aress
these issues,” says Garrett.
during the 90-minute iscourse,
panel members oere perspectives
on a range o topics, incluing:
• the nee or cyber-physical
systems in inrastructure;• the application o leaing-ege
technologies in ol, urban inra-
structures;
• how companies can aopt new
technologies an policies to make
themselves greener; an
• the use o sensors to gather ata
that leas to more efcient use
o resources an smart business
ecisions.
E x p E r t s D i s c u s s H o w N E w t E c H N o l o g i E s c a N i m p r o v E N a t i o N ’ s i N f r a s t r u c t u r E
James H. Garrett
Co-director, Center for Sensed
Critical Infrastructure Research
Head, Civil and Environmental
Engineering
7/27/2019 Inside Cit Winter 09 10
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/inside-cit-winter-09-10 2/3
m a k i N g o u r p r E s E N c E k N o w N :
t H E w a s H i N g t o N s p E a k E r s E r i E s
Bringing business, government an
research leaers together to explore
issues resiing at the intersection
o policy, technology an innova-
tion – this is the purpose o Carnegie
Mellon University’s Washingtonpeaker eries.
ponsore by the College o
ngineering, the peaker eries,
which is hel in Washington, d.C., is
a public orum that enables experts to
talk about important issues that align
with the College’s research thrusts
– like innovation, cybersecurity an
energy. ince the event’s inception in
2008, hunres o alumni, corporate
an government fgures have atten-
e the biannual panel iscussions
that take place at the Cosmos Club.
The most recent gathering, whichwas hel on eptember 10, was title
“Inspiring Innovation: Reinventing
the Theory, Practice an Policy o
Transormational Change.” dean
Praeep Khosla moerate the panel
which consiste o Robert Atkinson,
ouner an presient o Inormation
Technology an Innovation Founa-
tion; rica Fuchs, assistant proessor
o ngineering an Public Policy, Carn-
egie Mellon; Robert Garner, ouner
o ew Worl Technology Partners;gils Milbergs, executive irector o
Washington conomic development
Commission; an Congressman davi
Wu, chairman o the House Com-
mittee on cience an Technology’s
ubcommittee on Technology an
Innovation. Jack Golman, the creator
o Xerox PARC an ormer Carnegie
Mellon proessor o physics, was the
guest speaker.
“The Washington peaker e-
ries helps to create new relationships,
strengthen existing ones an provie
interesting proessional experiencesor our aculty an alumni. The series
also keeps the public aware o the
College’s leaing-ege research,”
says haron Grant, the College’s
senior irector o external relations.
“By listening or asking the panel
questions, people walk away more
inorme, more sensitize to the
pressing issues at han,” explains
Grant.
In aition to proviing valu-
able networking opportunities, thepeaker eries raises Carnegie
Mellon’s profle in Washington. This
is achieve in part by the caliber o
the panel members. “We seek people
who are more than technical experts.
We want people on these panels who
are actively engage in an issue an
can make things happen. They are
inuential an have a respecte track
recor,” says Grant.
The iscourse that takes place
is “open, robust an prouctive,” she
says. he arranges an interesting mix
o panel members who at times varywiely in their opinions. The goal o
the series is not to oster controversy
but instea to bring ierent perspec-
tives to the table. Panel members are
selecte base on their eication to
fning solutions to ifcult problems
an not their political persuasions.
By presenting alternative views,
problems can be approache rom
ierent angles.
“In d.C., I have seen so many
issues that are inorme an shape
by the research that the College is
working on. What we work on is ovital interest to all. An I think people
turn to institutions like the College
o ngineering or solutions to tough
problems because we look at issues
in a comprehensive ashion. A great
example o this is our ngineering
an Public Policy department, where
we have a meling o policy an
technology,” says Grant, aing, “We
contribute to soun public policy.”
To join us for future events, visit
our Web site at www.cit.cmu.edu
and search for Washington Speaker Series. For additional information,
contact Sharon Grant, Senior Director
of External Relations at 202-478-7842
Sharon Grant
7/27/2019 Inside Cit Winter 09 10
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/inside-cit-winter-09-10 3/3
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Newsmaker
m c g a u g H E y E a r N s a i r f o r c E g r a N t
Alan J. H. McGaughey, an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering, received a grant
from the Air Force’s Young Investigator Research Program (YIP).
McGaughey was one of 38 engineers and scientists, selected from a pool of 202
applicants, who are to receive a total of $14.6 million in grants over a 3- to 5-year period.
YIP grants are awarded to researchers who have received their Ph.D. within the last ve
years and demonstrate exceptional ability and promise in their work.
For his award-winning project, McGaughey will investigate how quantum mechanics
can be used to predict the thermal conductivity of nanostructures. “I want to look at thetools used in physics, materials science and chemistry and apply them to solve engineer-
ing problems,” he says.
He explains that when new materials are created in the lab, it is often a trial-and-
error process. McGaughey’s goal is to reduce the guesswork and use theory and simula-
tions to develop nanomaterials with tailored heat transfer properties. He is concentrating
on superlattices, which are made of two semiconductor materials that are alternately
“layered like a cake.” Depending on their design, superlattices may be good conductors
of heat or be insulators. “We want to use nanomaterials and make them behave differ-
ently than what you’d expect,” say McGaughey. This research could have applications
for thermal management in light-emitting diodes and lasers and in thermoelectric energy
conversion, where waste heat can be used to generate electricity.
8
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N E w f a c u l t y m E m b E r f o c u s E s o No p t i m i z i N g E N E r g y N E t w o r k s
“Power systems
are probably the
biggest systems we
have an that’s why
it is important to
coorinate control
o these systems,”
says Gabriela
Hug, an assistant
proessor in C. Hug, who is rom
witzerlan, teaches a special course
or grauate stuents calle Optimiza-tion in nergy etworks, which is a
topic o vital public concern, perhaps
more so than most people realize.
Power systems are constructe
in a manner that allows ierent
entities responsibility or various
parts o the system. “I you want to
optimize the system, you have to get
the entities to coorinate, an oten
they aren’t willing to exchange ata,”
says Hug. Further, i a Pennsylvania
utility company oes something in
its system, say increase or ecrease
a loa, it will inuence neighboring
systems in Ohio or Virginia. Hug is
using optimization theory to ormulate
hypothetical problems or each entity
an solutions that beneft all involve
parties.
The ability to coorinate an
control ierent parts o the powergri is important with regars to
istribute generation an renewable
orms o energy. “Win generators
an solar cells are connecte all over
the power gri an this is ifcult to
coorinate,” says Hug. A ormiable
problem is that energy can only be
store to a limite egree, an win
generation is intermittent. “You nee
environmentally unrienly backup
i the win is not blowing. You on’t
want the system to go own.” Like an
orchestra, renewables an traition-
ally generate electricity must work
in sync an this comes about through
expert coorination.
Hug says that her research
elves into “two levels o coorina-
tion. You have coorination between
large power systems an then within
these systems you have to coorinate
equipment.” he explains there
are limitations as to what systems
can hanle. I a piece o equipmentalters, causing a line to overloa an
ail, the power will ow elsewhere
an overloa another line. This pat-
tern continues, creating a cascaing
power ailure.
Another area that Hug’s
research coul impact is the evelop-
ing concept o eman control. “This
means that the prices you pay or
electricity or your home will vary at
ierent times o the ay,” she says.
For example, consumers may run their
washing machines at night because it
woul be cheaper an woul reuce
the peak loa on the system uring
the ay. (Miay is when the most
electricity is use.) Again, coorinat-
ing the amount o power in the gri at
specifc times is a key task.
Because Hug’s work involves
very large systems, her research is
being teste via simulations. “This
is one o the most ifcult things in
power systems research. You can’t justtry something out. Utility companies
are arai that their systems woul
go own i something went wrong,”
she says. Yet Hug is confent her
work will come to light. Government
regulation is orcing change in the
power inustry an “ol equipment
an blackouts make utility companies
more receptive to testing new ieas.”
I I d C I T