6
In December, January and February, guest edi- torials by Stevens President Harold J. Raveché appeared in The New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily and The Star-Ledger, regarding America’s technology competitiveness, including a review of President Bush’s approach to the topic in January’s State of the Union address. Center for Science Writings Director John Horgan had several essays published in January, February and March in The New York Times Book Review, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He was also quoted in The Star-Ledger in an article about the scientific debate over the origins of the universe. In February, the New Jersey Technology Council’s Wireless Evolution Expo, hosted by Stevens at the Babbio Center, was covered by the New Jersey Network. The segment featured an interview with Dr. Audrey Curtis. Curtis and Acting Dean Lex McCusker were also quoted in stories about the event in The Bergen Record and NJBIZ. In February, Dean Robert Ubell and Vice President Maureen Weatherall were quoted in an article published in the The Chronicle of Higher Education regarding professional higher education programs being introduced in China by US univer- sities. In February, Professor Silvio Laccetti appeared on NY1 to discuss the implica- tions of urban sprawl along the New Jersey Gold Coast. He also had a related opinion piece, “No Exit from New Jersey,” published in The Washington Times, which also appeared variously on the web in the US and abroad. In February, CIESE Director Beth McGrath was quoted in NJBIZ regarding the New Jersey schools pilot program, Engineering Our Future-NJ, which seeks to infuse effective hands-on science, math and engineering projects into the K-12 school curriculum. In March, Professor Rebecca Wright was interviewed regarding electronic database privacy issues by CNN Radio. In March and April, Professor George Calhoun was interviewed and quoted widely regarding the Alcatel/Lucent merger. Among the outlets quoting him were USA Today, The Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press wire service, which distrib- uted a wire piece globally. In April, Professor Jan Klein was quoted by The Washington Post via Reuters commenting on eBay’s recent negotiations with Microsoft, Yahoo and Google. In April and May, a national news segment about Stevens was fea- tured by “Pulse on America,” including interviews with President Raveché, WinSeC Director Patrick E. White, Professor Vikki Hazelwood and student Ryan Stellar. The segment appeared on Discovery Channel and as a stand-alone on the CNN Headline News. All content, images and related information is the property of the Stevens News Service, Office of Development and External Affairs at Stevens Institute of Technology. Any unauthorized use or replication is strictly prohibited. Copyright 2006 Stevens Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. Stevens Institute of Technology Castle Point on Hudson Hoboken, NJ 07030 USA Executive Editor Patrick A. Berzinski Editor Stephanie Mannino Manager, Stevens News Service Meagen Henning Contributing Editors Pam Krieger, Claudia Pope-Bayne Photographer Jim Cummins Designer - Web & Print Randolph Hoppe, rycomms.com Contact information +1.201.216.5116 [email protected] Be sure to visit StevensNewsService.com/ StevensRadio.htm to hear the worlds of science, technology, engineering, business management, the humanities and education discussed in-depth. There’s more on our website! StevensNewsService.com/Views

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Page 1: StevensViews, Spring 2006

In December, January and February, guest edi-torials by Stevens President Harold J. Ravechéappeared in The New York Times, Investor’s BusinessDaily and The Star-Ledger, regarding America’stechnology competitiveness, including a review ofPresident Bush’s approach to the topic in January’sState of the Union address.

Center for ScienceWritings Director JohnHorgan had several essays published in January,February and March in The New York Times BookReview, The Philadelphia Inquirer and TheChronicle of Higher Education. He was also quotedin The Star-Ledger in an article about the scientificdebate over the origins of the universe.

In February, the NewJersey Technology Council’sWireless Evolution Expo,hosted by Stevens at theBabbio Center, was coveredby the New Jersey Network.

The segment featured an interview with Dr.Audrey Curtis. Curtis and Acting Dean LexMcCusker were also quoted in stories about theevent in The Bergen Record and NJBIZ.

In February, Dean Robert Ubell and VicePresident Maureen Weatherall were quoted in anarticle published in the The Chronicle of HigherEducation regarding professional higher educationprograms being introduced in China by US univer-sities.

In February, ProfessorSilvio Laccetti appeared onNY1 to discuss the implica-tions of urban sprawl alongthe New Jersey Gold Coast.He also had a related opinionpiece, “No Exit from New Jersey,” published in TheWashington Times, which also appeared variously onthe web in the US and abroad.

In February, CIESEDirector Beth McGrath wasquoted in NJBIZ regarding

the New Jersey schools pilot program, EngineeringOur Future-NJ, which seeks to infuse effectivehands-on science, math and engineering projectsinto the K-12 school curriculum.

In March, Professor Rebecca Wright wasinterviewed regarding electronic database privacyissues by CNN Radio.

In March andApril, ProfessorGeorge Calhoun

was interviewed and quoted widely regarding theAlcatel/Lucent merger. Among the outlets quotinghim were USA Today, The Chicago Tribune and TheAssociated Presswire service,which distrib-uted a wirepiece globally.

In April, Professor Jan Klein was quoted byThe Washington Post via Reuters commenting oneBay’s recent negotiations with Microsoft, Yahooand Google.

In April and May, anational news segmentabout Stevens was fea-tured by “Pulse on

America,” including interviews with President

Raveché, WinSeC Director Patrick E. White,Professor Vikki Hazelwood and student RyanStellar. The segment appeared on DiscoveryChannel and as a stand-alone on the CNN HeadlineNews.

All content, images and related information is theproperty of the Stevens News Service, Office ofDevelopment and External Affairs at Stevens Instituteof Technology. Any unauthorized use or replication isstrictly prohibited. Copyright 2006 Stevens Institute ofTechnology. All rights reserved.

Stevens Institute of TechnologyCastle Point on HudsonHoboken, NJ 07030 USA

Executive EditorPatrick A. Berzinski

EditorStephanie Mannino

Manager, Stevens News ServiceMeagen Henning

Contributing EditorsPam Krieger, Claudia Pope-Bayne

PhotographerJim Cummins

Designer - Web & PrintRandolph Hoppe, rycomms.com

Contact information+1.201.216.5116

[email protected]

Be sure to visitStevensNewsService.com/

StevensRadio.htmto hear the worlds of science,

technology, engineering, businessmanagement, the humanities and

education discussed in-depth.

There’s more on our website!StevensNewsService.com/Views

Page 2: StevensViews, Spring 2006

Though she’s a standout on the basketball court, sophomore DoraEnright knows the value of teamwork. She credits the Ducks’ teamdynamic with the Women’s Basketball team’s success during the Fall2005 season. “We were able to work together instead of being individ-ual stars,” she said. “That worked to our advantage. We’re all leadersand we all make each other stronger.”

Enright, who hails from Longmont, Colo., where she attendedLongmont High School, has just completed her second basketball sea-son at Stevens. She was involved in basketball for several years prior tohigh school, but her experience on her high school team sparked herlove for the game. “In my sophomore year in high school we were closeto winning the championship. Basketball just became a passion afterthat,” she said.

Basketball was a definite consideration when Enright, a Businessand Technology major with a minor in Economics, was comparing col-leges. “I knew I wanted to go to school in the New York area,” she said.“And I really liked Stevens’ location, the coaches, the basketball pro-gram and the campus.”

As a freshman starter, she helped the Ducks achieve an 18-10record. This year the Ducks finished second in the Skyline conference.The team also earned the number-one seed in this year’s EasternCollege Athletic Conference (ECAC) Metro Tournament.

Enright racked up individual honors during her second season atStevens. She was a second-team selection in the D3hoops.com AtlanticRegion and chosen for the first team in the Skyline Conference. The 5’11” forward was ranked as high as number 25 in rebounds per game(10.9) by the NCAA and was the Ducks’ leading scorer, with 14.8points per game, and rebounder, with 10.7 rebounds per game. In theSkyline Conference, she ranked second in rebounds (first in defensiveand sixth in offensive). She was also ranked fourth in the conference forscoring.

Enright was named to the Women’s Basketball Division III ECACMetro All-Star second-team. She was also honored by the ECAC as theWomen’s Basketball Metro Region Player of the Week for the first timein her career. Her talent has earned her a spot on the Division III All-Star team, which will travel to Brazil at the end of May for a 10-dayexhibition tour.

Off the court, Enright, who maintains a 3.8 G.P.A., is the socialchair of Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority, a peer mentor and the recipient ofthe “Women in Engineering” scholarship award. In addition, she servesas secretary for the Stevens Association Athletic Council and also han-dles public relations for the Biz-Tech Club.

With her sophomore basketball season now behind her, Enright iseagerly anticipating next year. “I’m looking forward to improving onour recent successes and welcoming new recruits,” she said. “Weachieved so much this year when we beat Mount St. Mary’s, but there’smuch more to achieve.”

After graduating from Stevens in 2008, Enright plans to pursue acareer in the fashion industry. “I want to get a degree in merchandis-ing at a design institute andgo into fashion merchandising,” she said.

– SM

As the online marketplace continues to grow, two Stevens studentshave entered the arena with their own company, Sell Center. More thana year ago, seniors Anthony Latona and Adam Morris saw an oppor-tunity to create something unique, after noting that many people con-tinued to turn to sites such as eBay to buy and sell products. “Wethough this company would be a way to make money and help peopleat the same time,” said Morris. The venture has been a success: SellCenter’s customer base is now worldwide and 10 percent of its ship-ments are international. It has since become the basis for Morris’ andLatona’s Senior Design Project.

The company, headquartered in Hoboken, offers a physical rela-tionship to the virtual marketplace. Sell Center is user-friendly, said theteam, because for a percentage of the sale price, Sell Center takes careof all aspects of each sale. Every item is photographed, prepared forsale, listed and marketed globally online, and packaged and shipped tothe buyer. After the sale is complete, the Sell Center customer receivesa check. Customers can consult with consignment agents who willguide them through the entire process.

Sell Center focuses mainly on excess inventory and equipment,said Latona and Morris, students in The Howe School of TechnologyManagement. “We’re helping the local community turn unneededitems back into usable cash,” said Latona. The company’s services areavailable to a range of customers, from individuals to large companies.Customers such as American Music Studio in Fords, N.J., have soldinstruments and accessories; individual sellers have used Sell Center tosell items such as inherited pottery and glassware. “On our end, one of

the best aspects is that we’ve sold some interesting merchandise,” saidMorris. The company has listed and sold a variety of items includingRussel Wright pottery, guitars, cars, car parts and even chandeliers.

In August 2005 Morris and Latona moved the company fromFords, N.J., to Hoboken in order to be within walking distance toStevens and be in closer proximity to various area businesses. “Thereare so many small- to medium-sized businesses we think we can do alot of good around here. Being closer to the area makes our service eveneasier for them to use,” Morris said.

They’ve also opened their doors to local students – many of whomattend Stevens – by offering jobs in accounts management. The SellCenter student workers get a rewarding learning experience in additionto their paychecks. “They’re learning how to use customer relationssoftware and how to follow up with clients,” said Latona. “We give [ouremployees] more responsibility than they might have elsewhere. Theymanage the entire deal and even write the check for the client and fol-low up with them.”

Sell Center offers flexible working hours that can be scheduledaround students’ classes. “Our salespeople are really good,” said Morris.“Students work part-time and are able to set their own hours, althoughthey have to work at least 10 hours a week.”

As their company grows, Latona and Morris plan to offer SellCenter’s own e-commerce management software, supported by Laris.The software is aimed at businesses that want to sell their own inven-tory online. “The software allows them to manage eBay auctions –everything from inventory, customer orders, shipping and customer

service – as well as set up their own e-commercewebsites that display their items for sale,” saidLatona.

Sell Center will also offer consulting services tohelp these businesses start selling online. “Forinstance, if someone wants an e-commerce websiteand an eBay store, we can offer them custom tem-plate design for their eBay listings, a design for theirwebsite as well as online marketing services to drivetraffic to their new website,” said Latona.

Adding to a successful year, Latona and Morrisrecently won second place in the 2006 East CoastStudent Entrepreneur Awards. They were presentedwith their award on May 3, 2006 by the RothmanInstitute of Entrepreneurial Studies during a cere-mony at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison,N.J.

For more information, please visit the SellCenter website at www.sellcenter.net. – SM

Students create novel approach to selling online with Sell Center Women’s Basketball forward Dora Enright earns individual andteam honors

Page 11

Dora Enright

Adam Morris and Anthony Latona

StevensNewsService.com/Views

Page 3: StevensViews, Spring 2006

Dr. Victor B. Lawrence has joinedStevens’ faculty as a Batchelor Chair Professorof Electrical Engineering in the SchaeferSchool of Engineering. He comes to Stevensfollowing an illustrious 30-year career withBell Labs-Lucent. On his departure, he heldthe title of Vice President, AdvancedCommunications Technology. Lawrence hasbeen a key proponent of research and devel-opment globalization and is championing theeffort to bring fiber optic connectivity toAfrica. Over the past several years at Bell Labs,he managed a worldwide R&D organization,with branches in Beijing and Shanghai,China, and in Hilversum and Twente in theNetherlands, as well as in four US states.

“We are very pleased to welcome Dr.Lawrence, a distinguished technology pioneer,to Stevens,” said George Korfiatis, Dean ofthe Schaefer School. “In addition to his aca-demic chair, Dr. Lawrence will hold the titleof Associate Dean for Special Programs; hewill also lead a school of engineering effortfocused in the area of embedded intelligentnetworks, systems and devices – investigatingapplications that will provide us with securityand improve the way we live, work and enter-tain ourselves.”

“Dr. Lawrence’s contributions to advanc-ing our curriculum program will have a signif-icant impact on our student population andtheir preparedness for the engineering chal-lenges of the future,” said Stuart Tewksbury,the Director of Department of Electrical andComputer Engineering.

Lawrence joined Bell Laboratories in1974 after receiving his doctorate fromImperial College, London University, in theUnited Kingdom. He began his career in theresearch area, making many significant contri-butions to signal processing and communica-tions.

From 1982, he held a number of mana-gerial positions in various parts of the compa-ny and made numerous contributions inaccess, optical and data networking, VoIP and

cellular technologies. His application of digi-tal signal processing to data communicationsin the late 1980s and early 1990s led to manysignificant advances in high-speed transmis-sion over copper lines (e.g., voice-bandmodems and DSL).

Lawrence was an early champion of VLSIfor ATM/IP networks and helped create twogenerations of ATM/IP silicon, including theindustry-leading ATLANTA ATM/IP chip

set. Over the years, Lawrence spun off severalventures, internal and external to Lucent, tomaximize the impact of technology developedin his team, for example: ellemedia, LucentDigital Video, and Lucent Digital Radio. Inaddition, his leadership in the strategic prod-uct services area, data automation and design engineering services positively impactedLucent at the operational level in terms of pro-ductivity and time to market.

During his term as Vice President ofAdvanced Communications Technology, all ofLucent’s R&D organizations relied on hisorganization’s technology support of comput-er-aided hardware design, physical and ther-mal-design systems compliance and certifica-tion. He was also responsible for the design of

high-performance network control, signalingand management.

In recognition of his distinguished career,Lawrence was elected to the NationalAcademy of Engineering, the highest honorthe US can bestow on an engineer. He is alsoa Fellow of both the Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) and of BellLaboratories. His technical achievementsinclude the 2004 IEEE Award in InternationalCommunication. He also was a co-recipientof the 1984 J. Harry Karp Best Paper Award,the 1981 Gullemin-Cauer Price Award, andshared the 1997 Emmy Award for HDTVGrand Alliance Standard with other BellLaboratories employees.

Lawrence taught Signal Processing andData Networking courses at the University ofPennsylvania, Rutgers University, PrincetonUniversity, Columbia University and FairleighDickinson University, and presented at theChancellor’s Distinguished Lecture Series atthe University of California at Berkeley in1986. He also taught TechnologyManagement and Technology Incubationcourses at Bell Labs to new engineers. For sev-eral years since 1996, Lawrence has lectured atthe US Industrial College of the ArmedForces. From 1997-2001, he and his staff sup-ported US Senator Bill Frist and the SenateSub-Committee on Science and Technology.

He is the co-author of five books:Introduction to Digital Filters, Tutorials onModem Communications, IntelligentBroadband Multimedia Networks, Design andEngineering of Intelligent CommunicationsSystems, and The Art of Scientific Innovation.He holds more than 20 US and internationalpatents and has had more than 45 papers inreferenced journals and conference proceed-ings, covering digital signal processing anddata communications.

One of the many charitable and educa-tional activities he is involved in is theInternational Cultural Exchange Center,which he co-founded. – PB

StevensNewsService.com/Views Page 3

Stevens alumna Virginia Ruesterholz, president of VerizonPartner Solutions, the company’s multi-billion dollar wholesale divi-sion, has been named president of Verizon Telecom, reporting toLawrence T. Babbio, vice chairman and president of Verizon. In hernew role, Ruesterholz will be responsible for all sales, service and oper-ations activities for the $37.6-billion Verizon Telecom unit. Theappointment is effective immediately.

“Virginia is a dynamic leader with a proven track record as evi-denced by her leadership of our wholesale business for the past fiveyears,” said Babbio, who is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees atStevens. “In this new role, Virginia will lead the broad-ranging salesand operations functions of Verizon Telecom. Virginia’s team will part-ner with John Killian’s Verizon Business unit to serve as the foundationof our future growth and continued success.”

Ruesterholz, co-chair of Stevens’ Edwin A. Stevens Society withher husband, Kevin, was most recently president of the company’shighly-efficient wholesale business. She will now oversee sales and mar-keting for the consumer, small business and wholesale market seg-ments. In addition, she will be responsible for Verizon’s InformationTechnology team as well as its Network Services group.

Ruesterholz, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical

engineering from Stevens anda Master of Science intelecommunications fromBrooklyn PolytechnicInstitute, began her career as amanager with New YorkTelephone in 1984. Since thenshe has held positions ofincreasing responsibility inoperations, sales and customerservice.

She is a recipient of theprestigious “40 Under 40”award from Crain’s New YorkBusiness and was the firstrecipient of the “Rising StarAward” from the New YorkWomen’s Agenda. – SM

Ruesterholz to guide Verizon Telecom’s sales, service and operations

Kevin and Virginia Ruesterholz

National Academy member Lawrence joins School of Engineering faculty

Victor B. LawrenceCristina Comaniciu, an Assistant Professor of Electrical and

Computer Engineering, was awarded an Office of Naval Research(ONR) Grant for “Cross-Layer Cooperation for Energy Efficiencyin Wireless Sensor Networks: Game Theoretic Solutions.” The$279,000 grant will be awarded to Comaniciu, the project’s prin-cipal investigator, over a three-year period.

“This project addresses the problem of efficient design forenergy-sensitive sensor networks in military applications,” saidComaniciu. “I propose a cooperative design in which distributedprotocols are implemented in the network by enforcing coopera-tion in a two-dimensional plane: horizontally among different sen-sor units, and vertically among various layers of the protocolstack.”

The proposed design solutions are based on game theoreticmodels, in which players individually act to maximize their ownutility metric, which in the context of sensor networks is a measurerelated to the energy consumption for transmitting useful infor-mation bits across the network. – SM

Comaniciu awarded Office of Naval Research grant

Cristina Comaniciu

Page 4: StevensViews, Spring 2006

The Office of Career Development this year unveiled anExternship Program for first- and second-year students. In its first year,16 alumni hosted 23 students to share their career paths, work envi-ronments and industry experiences.

“One of the greatest benefits the Office of Career Developmentstaff enjoys is that our interaction with students doesn’t end with grad-uation,” said Lynn Insley, Director of Career Development. “It is veryrewarding to work with alumni. We appreciate the wealth of expertiseand connections that they enthusiastically make available to further theeducation and careers of our students.”

Working with the Stevens Alumni Association, the Office ofCareer Development invited graduates to serve as one-day mentors tostudents over winter break. Students who wished to participate in theprogram met with the Career Development staff several times to out-line their interests and prepare for their visits. Each externship includ-ed a tour of the facility, meetings with their host and observance of atypical day in that particular setting. Most externs had the opportuni-ty to eat lunch with several staff members, which offered them a broad-er sense of the company.

Students across all disciplines experienced first-hand how theiracademic preparation translates into an industry skill set. For many, theexternship visit helped confirm a career path. Erica Mondadori, afreshman Civil Engineering major, felt better about her choice of majorafter spending the day at Turner Construction with recent graduate,Brooke Johnson. “The visit gave me the confidence to continue purs-ing a degree in civil engineering. Before this I was thinking aboutchanging majors,” said Mondadori. Dora Enright, a sophomoreBusiness and Technology major, reconfirmed her interest in fashion

merchandizing during her visit with Suzanne Woodrow ’05 at TommyBahama in New York City. “The people I met had so much knowledgeto share with me,” said Enright. “Networking is key in the fashionbusiness and I wish I had had more time on my visit to keep learning.”

For alumni, this was an opportunity to give back to Stevens. Kelly(Searson) Chladil ’03, a staff scientist at PBL Biomedical Laboratoriesin Piscataway, N.J., jumped at the opportunity to serve as an extern-ship host. “Experience is one of life’s greatest teachers,” said Chladil. “Iwanted to provide the opportunity for Stevens’ undergraduates toexplore career options early on in college, so they would have a greaterunderstanding of what career they want to pursue.” FreshmanChemical Biology major Steve Kazmierkiewicz helped Chladil set upexperiments and met with other laboratory staff and human resourcespersonnel. “It gave me a much better idea of what I might be doingwhen I graduate, and I learned that if I am dedicated I can find some-thing I really like,” said Kazmierkiewicz.

Cindy Chin ’05, an analyst with Citigroup, was similarly moti-vated to serve as an externship host. “I wanted to do this because I hada great experience with the Office of Career Development during myfour years at Stevens, and wouldn’t be where I am today without theirhelp,” said Chin. “The greatest benefit for students who participate inthe Externship Program is that they have the opportunity to becomecomfortable and confident in a corporate environment before goingon an actual job interview.”

Stevens’ alumni are highly valued by the Office of CareerDevelopment. Insley concluded, “We are very fortunate to have accessto so many talented, motivated graduates who are willing to give oftheir time and talent on behalf of our current students. They can opendoors that may otherwise present a challenge.” – PK

PlasmaSol Corporation, a Technogenesis® spin-out companyfounded at Stevens, was acquired by Stryker Corporation in a mergerthat was concluded December 30, 2005. The cost of the transactiontotals approximately $17.5 million, including an up-front cash pay-ment, plus the assumption of certain liabilities by Stryker.

PlasmaSol has developed a technology that will allow Stryker toprovide sterilization equipment for use in sterilizing certain of itsMedSurg Equipment products.

“PlasmaSol is a Technogenesis success story, written at Stevens,”said President Harold J. Raveché. “In 1999, a group of Stevens’ facul-ty members and a team of grad students joined together and foundeda company to commercialize a patented environmental technologyinvented at the Institute. Six years later, this company is recognized asa valuable technology asset by a major American corporation.Technology development from laboratory innovation to marketplaceimplementation – that’s what we call Technogenesis.”

The basic technology at the core of PlasmaSol Corporation is aninvention by Stevens scientists, known as Capillary Discharge Non-Thermal Plasma.

The work to propagate large-volume cold plasmas began in earnestat Stevens in 1996. That year, Erich Kunhardt of the Department ofPhysics and Engineering Physics, now Dean of Sciences and Arts,received a development grant from the Air Force Office of ScientificResearch. With his Stevens colleague Kurt Becker, Kunhardt went fora much sought-after goal: engineering dynamic plasma reactions in a

non-vacuum environment. Their success translating particle theory tomeasurable results in the lab opened a whole new range of applications.

In 1999, three graduate students from Stevens co-foundedPlasmaSol to commercialize the non-thermal plasma technology: KurtKovach, Seth A. Tropper, and Richard Crowe, with the later additionto the core team of Michael Epstein. Frank Shinneman joined thecompany several years later as CEO.

The PlasmaSol team conducted a marketability study of the tech-nology’s environmental applications and discovered very large marketpotential in several areas. Dr. George Korfiatis, Dean of Engineering,and Dr. Christos Christodoulatos, Director of Stevens’ Center forEnvironmental Systems, are also co-founders and technology advisors.

Following an initial grant by the New Jersey Commission onScience and Technology, PlasmaSol won major contracts for deconta-minative applications from the US Army and NASA. – SM/PB

PlasmaSol, Stevens spin-out, acquired for $17.5 million Office of Career Development introduces externship program

Page 9

Page 5: StevensViews, Spring 2006

Page 5StevensNewsService.com/Views

Professor John V. Farr, Department Director, Systems Engineering andEngineering Management, has been nominated to serve on the Air ForceStudies Board (AFSB) of the National Academies.

The AFSB was established by the National Research Council, the oper-ating arm of the National Academies, to oversee independent science andtechnology studies for the Air Force. The AFSB serves as a convening author-ity for the discussion of science and technology issues of importance to the AirForce and works with the Air Force to develop independent studies conduct-ed by ad hoc committees of the National Academies.

The Dean of Stevens’ Schaefer School of Engineering, Dr. George P.Korfiatis, remarked, “This nomination is another indication of John’s out-standing credentials as a nationally recognized expert in the fields of systemsengineering and engineering management. I join the Stevens community incongratulating him on this high professional honor.” – SM

Farr nominated to serve on AirForce Studies Board

Professor Richard Reilly, from the Wesley J. Howe Schoolof Technology Management, has been appointed to a nationaladvisory panel working with the Innovation Center of theNational Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). The panel willadvise the NBME on procedures, processes and tools for assess-ing physician behavior.

In addition to acquiring and maintaining adequate knowl-edge of the biomedical and clinical sciences and clinical skillsto interact with patients, physicians must manifest a broadrange of appropriate behaviors to fulfill their societal obligationas professionals. These behaviors span a range of categoriesincluding, for example, altruism, honesty, integrity, caring andcompassion, respect, responsibility, lifelong learning, commu-nication, team work, teaching and mentoring. Varying combi-nations of these categories (and others not included here) arecommonly framed under the umbrella term “professionalism.”Academic, certification and accrediting organizations have des-ignated professionalism as a competency and emphasized theimportance of relevant instruction and assessment. NBMEgovernance has also prioritized assessment of professionalism asa strategic initiative. In response, the Center for Innovation atthe NBME, building upon the work already completed orunder way by other researchers, initiated an investigation toexplore possible roles for the NBME in the assessment of med-ical professionalism. – SM

Reilly appointed to NationalBoard of Medical Examinersadvisory panel

IEEE conference awards ‘best student paper’ to group from Stevens

Richard Reilly and John V. Farr

Throughout his career, author and syndicated columnist RichardReeves, class of 1960, has earned accolades for his extensive work inprint, television, film and journalism. Reeves’ prolific career has takenhim many places, but the research for his forthcoming book, about theexperiments of British physicist Ernest Rutherford, brought Reevesback to campus last fall.

While working on the book, to be published as part of W.W.Norton’s Discovery series, advisors from Reeves’ publisher offered himthe opportunity to conduct the experiments at Princeton University.Reeves declined. “I preferred to do it at Stevens,” he said, citing his tiesto his alma mater.

Rutherford, who discovered the general shape and aspect of theatom early in the 20th century, was a pioneer in atomic research and in1908 won the Nobel Prize for chemistry. In November 2005, Reevesreturned to campus for one week to recreate Rutherford’s “scattering”experiment. Stevens graduate students Damien Marianucci andFrank Corvino were instrumental in assisting Reeves with the intricateprocess of mimicking Rutherford’s steps. With the assistance of GeorgeWohlrab, Head Machinist and Model Maker in Stevens’ MachineShop, Reeves, Marianucci and Corvino were able to recreate the exper-iment from start to finish. “George was extremely important in all ofthis because we had to build the equipment from scratch, which Frankmainly did with the help of George,” said Reeves.

“There were two big differences between our experiment andRutherford’s,” said Reeves. “One was that you can pull a much greatervacuum with modern equipment than Rutherford could in the earlypart of the century, which means it’s less likely of a random hit of anatom in air.”

The second difference, noted Reeves, was that he wasn’t able to useradium for the experiment, as Rutherford had. “When Rutherford, theCuries and Hans Geiger did their experiments, they didn’t know howdangerous radium was. Today it’s a complicated procedure to getradioactive material.” Reeves and his team used americium, a radioac-tive element, in place of radium. “It’s not as complicated as pure radi-um,” he said. “But the original experiment gave [Rutherford] a kind oflight: the rays or flashes were brighter in the original.” This was anotable difference, as the team spent much of the experiment “sittingthere in the dark for half an hour to an hour, looking into a vacuumchamber to watch the behavior of alpha particles firing off radioactivematerial through a bit of gold foil.”

Reeves has come a long way from his days at Stevens, where heserved as humor editor of The Stute, editor of Events, Stevens’ formerhumor magazine, and president of the dramatic society. His careeraccomplishments are numerous; his journalistic work includes servingas chief political correspondent to The New York Times and nationaleditor and columnist for Esquire and New York Magazine. Reeves alsowas a Pulitzer Prize finalist and juror. He has published hundreds ofmagazine articles on public affairs for major American magazines,including The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine. He wasrecognized for his journalistic work in 1998 when he was won theCarey McWilliams Award of the American Political ScienceAssociation.

In addition, he has appeared on television and in film. Reeves hasworked as a panelist for “We Interrupt this Week” and chief corre-spondent on “Frontline.” He has made six television films and wontelevision’s major documentary awards.

Reeves’ latest book, President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination,was hailed by reviewer Adrian Wooldridge (author and Washingtonbureau chief of The Economist) in The New York Times “Book Review”as “a compelling read, fast-paced and scrupulously fair.” Wooldridgefurther noted, “Anybody who is interested in Reagan’s extraordinary

presidency needs to reckon with Reeves.” Today, Reeves is a Visiting Professor

at the Annenberg School forCommunication at the University ofSouthern California, while continuing towrite his weekly syndicated column. – SM

Richard Reeves returns to Stevens to recreate Rutherford experiment

Richard Reeves

Ernest Rutherford

The paper, “Real-Time Secondary Spectrum Sharing withQuality of Service Provisioning,” written by a group fromStevens’ Multimedia System, Networking and Communications(MSyNC) Lab in the Electrical and Computer EngineeringDepartment, was awarded the Best Student Paper Award at theIEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference(CCNC), 2006. The paper’s contributors are Yiping Xing and ChetanN. Mathur, doctoral students; M.A. Haleem, a postdoctoral researcher;R. Chandramouli, Associate Professor; and K.P. Subbalakshmi,Assistant Professor.

The award committee included leading experts from industry andacademia who selected the paper as the best student paper from among220 accepted papers.

The paper deals with quality of service (QoS) issues in secondaryspectrum access subject to an interference temperature constraint, in a

dynamic spectrum access wireless network. This is cast as anon-linear optimization problem, and solved. When not all thesecondary links can be supported with their QoS requirement,a reduced-complexity searching algorithm is proposed to findthe optimal subset of links. The paper also considers a game-

theoretic perspective of this problem, proving that a Nash equilibriumsolution exits.

“The idea we propose addresses the FCC’s spectrum policyreform. This idea is applicable to state-of-the-art technology calledsoftware-defined radio or cognitive radio,” said Chandramouli.

“In the future, these software-defined radio/wireless devices areexpected to become prevalent and use the wireless spectrum more effi-ciently due to the spectrum policy reform. Our research proposes ideason how efficiently to use the wireless spectrum, taking an economicperspective,” said Subbalakshmi. – SM

Page 6: StevensViews, Spring 2006

The Office of Development and External Affairs had an excitingfirst quarter of 2006. The Graduates of the Last Decade (G.O.L.D.) heldtheir winter social event at the Chelsea Brewing Company at ChelseaPiers in Manhattan. The group participated in a tour of the brewery fol-lowed by a tasting of CBC signature beers. Although the event took placeon the evening of the Blizzard of 2006, no amount of snow could stopG.O.L.D. from getting together. Upcoming G.O.L.D. events include atour of the Babbio Center, a possible tour of a cyclotron at the PrincetonPlasma Physics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J., and the annual summersocial at the Jersey shore.

Through the dedicated efforts of the Major Gifts team and theFinancial Aid department, the Development Office was able to offer fiveundergraduate students the Verizon Engineering Scholarship for 2005-2006. This scholarship is in recognition of academic achievement of ris-ing seniors in Computer and Electrical Engineering.

In addition, the Development Office coordinated a reception fol-lowing a Center for ScienceWritings event. Three pre-emi-nent science journalists tookpart in the Center’s discussionof “Science’s GreatestChallenges.” The expert panelincluded Sharon Begley, sciencecolumnist, The Wall StreetJournal; John Rennie, editor-in-chief, Scientific American; andSteven Petranek, editor-in-chief, Discover magazine. JohnHorgan, Director of the StevensCenter for Science Writings,moderated the discussion.

The panel covered scientific challenges such as the origin of the uni-verse, life and human consciousness as well as immense practical prob-lems such as AIDS and other diseases, global warming and natural disas-ters. “As a cultural institution dependent on public confidence and sup-port, science must also cope with the challenge of widespread misunder-standing and distrust of scientific explanations of nature and advancessuch as stem cells and cloning,” said Horgan. The reception was held atthe home of Erich Kunhardt, Dean of the School of Sciences and Arts.The evening included select chamber music as well as a light buffet.

Other upcoming Development events include the ScholarshipBrunch, an Art Exhibit of American Modernist pieces donated to theSchool of Sciences and Arts by Dr. Arthur E. Imperatore and the annu-al EAS Faculty Reception. Rounding out the second quarter will be the4th Annual Golf Outing to benefit Stevens’ student athletes.

If you would like to learn more about any of these events, pleasecontact the Development office at (201) 216-5241. – CPB

StevensNewsService.com/Views

Developing Events: A spotlight on events of the Office ofDevelopment and External Affairs

Through the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER)Program, the National Science Foundation recently awarded Dr. WeiJiang, an Assistant Professor in the Systems Engineering &Engineering Management Department, with a four-year grant toresearch “Data Quality Management through Statistical QualityControl and Data Mining.”

“This is a great accomplishment and national recognition attestingto the excellent quality of our junior faculty,” commented George P.Korfiatis, Dean of Stevens’ Schaefer School of Engineering.

Data quality is of great importance due to the emergence of largevolumes of data. Many business and industrial applications criticallyrely on the quality of information stored in diverse databases and datawarehouses. The goal of Jiang’s research is to develop a systematic

methodology of data quality analysis and improvement to achieverobust decision making under imperfect information environments.The outcomes are expected to be generic and provide a concrete basisof data quality management which can be applied to different data-intensive applications. Ultimately, it will also have a broader impact onadvanced theory and the methodology of information quality manage-ment, enhanced decision making, and the creation of a workforce ofdata quality assurance researchers and practitioners.

The CAREER program is a foundation-wide activity that offersthe National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in supportof the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars whomost effectively integrate research and education within the context ofthe mission of their organizations.

Wei Jiang honored with NSF CAREER award

G.O.L.D. at Chelsea Brewing Company

Verizon Scholars (l to r) Gregoire St. Louis, JaamalWatkins, Randy Simat and Kenneth Kolodziej.Adam Duda (not pictured) was also a recipient ofthe scholarship

“Science’s Greatest Challenges” panel (l.-r.) Sharon Begley, TheWall Street Journal; John Rennie, Scientific American; JohnHorgan, Director of the Center for Science Writings; and StevePetranek, Discover magazine

Page 7

Adriana Compagnoni, an Associate Professor in the Departmentof Computer Science, will chair the International Workshop on Proof-Carrying Code in Seattle, August 11, 2006 . The workshop aims tobring together people from academia and industry and promote thecollaboration between those adapting Proof-Carrying Code (PCC)ideas to new industrial applications and experts in logic, type theory,programming languages, static analysis and compilers.

The meeting, affiliated with the IEEE Symposium on Logic inComputer Science (LICS 2006) and part of the Federated LogicConference (FLoC 2006), will have two keynote speakers, AndrewAppel, Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University, and IanStark, Lecturer in Computer Science at University of Edinburgh, rep-resenting ongoing research in Europe and the US. The workshop willalso feature presentations by invited speakers from academia and indus-try. Invited speakers include Amal Ahmed, a postdoctoral fellow atHarvard University ; Gilles Barthe, researcher and head of the EVER-EST team at INRIA Sophia-Antipolis; Ricardo Medel, a Ph.D. candi-date in Stevens’ Department of Computer Science; Zhong Shao,Professor of Computer Science at Yale University; and Dachuan Yu, aresearch engineer at DoCoMo Labs.

There will also be an open poster session to offer the possibility toshowcase a broader spectrum of research in the area. Although postersubmission is open to everybody actively working in areas related to themeeting, the workshop particularly encourages submissions by stu-dents.

“PCC is a technique that allows the safe execution of untrustedcode,” said Compagnoni. “In the PCC framework the code receiverdefines a safety policy that guarantees the safe behavior of programsand the code producer creates a proof that its code abides by that safe-ty policy.” Safety policies can give end users protection from a wide

range of flaws in binary executables, includ-ing type errors, memory managementerrors, violations of resource bounds, accesscontrol and information flow. PCC relieson the same formal methods as does pro-gram verification, but it has the significantadvantage that safety properties are mucheasier to prove than program correctness.The producer’s formal proof will not, ingeneral, prove that the code yields a corrector meaningful result, so this technique can-not replace other methods of programassurance, but it guarantees that executionof the code can do no harm. The proofs canbe mechanically checked by the host; theproducer need not be trusted at all, as avalid proof is incontrovertible evidence ofsafety.

PCC has sparked interest throughoutthe world, from academia to industry, and has moti-vated a large body of research in typed assembly lan-guages, types in compilation and formal verificationof safety properties, stimulating new interest in for-mal methods and programming languages technolo-gy. For more information, see the InternationalWorkshop on Proof-Carrying Code website atwww.cs.stevens.edu/~abc/PCC-Workshop.html

Adriana Compagnoni

Compagnoni to chair International Workshop on PCC