School of. Engineering. Magazine BROWN. Winter 2015

Transcription

1 BROWN School of Engineering Magazine Winter 2015

2 inside this issue message from the dean Message from the Dean... 1 Wireless Brain Sensor Could Unchain Neuroscience from Cables A Clear Choice for Clearing 3-D Cell Cultures Microchip Reveals How Tumor Cells Transition to Invasion Copper Foam Turns CO 2 into Useful Chemicals Encapsulating Brown In a Day Re-engineering ENGN Brown Forms Partnership with Lincoln School Meet The New Faculty Natural Inspirations - Shreyas Mandre Honors/News A Unique Blend Brown hosts National Society of Black Engineers Conference A True Student Athlete Building The Future Engineering Advisory Council (EAC)/Engineering Development Committee (EDC).. 24 Donor Honor Roll Alumni Perspective - Scott Friend ' Campaign for Engineering School of Engineering Magazine Editorial Gordon Morton 93 Manager of Communications School of Engineering Design Amy Simmons Photography Cathi Beattie, Chris Bull, Mike Cohea, Jacob Goldman, Gordon Morton 93, Amy Simmons Connect with Brown Engineering facebook.com/brownengineering twitter.com/brownengin youtube.com/user/brownengin linkedin.com/groups?gid= instagram.com/brownengineering Send us your comments, suggestions and address changes: Brown School of Engineering Box D Tel: Hope Street Fax: USA brownengin@gmail.com Learn more about Brown Engineering at On the cover: Arto Nurmikko and David Borton working on their ground-breaking wireless brain sensor. Innovation and Inspiration We recently took our oldest daughter to see the popular movie, Big Hero 6. After the movie, she came home and said, Dad I want to build a robot! It is great when young girls are inspired by STEM subjects, and we will certainly do everything we can to continue to foster her interest in these subjects. The School of Engineering is doing its part to engage and inspire young women in engineering. Recently, Brown announced a partnership with Lincoln School, a local school for girls (page 13). Lincoln will offer the course, Introduction to Engineering, to its students. The course will be taught at the School of Engineering and take advantage of the Brown Design Workshop. It will also allow Brown engineering professors to pioneer new methods of teaching engineering to high school students. The program is another example of the ways that Brown continues to innovate. Over the summer faculty members, Clyde Briant and Chris Bull worked to incorporate more experiential learning into the engineering curriculum, starting with the first-year course, ENGN0030: Introduction to Engineering (page 12). With help from a grant, the School was able to hire and train 30 student mentors for the Brown Design Workshop. Their role as mentors to the first-year students was vital to the success of the course this semester. Brown and the School of Engineering are ever-evolving and ever changing. Whether it is physical growth in the form of new buildings, or the addition of human capital with new faculty, advancement and innovation helps keep things vibrant and fresh with new ideas (research and discoveries, curriculum enhancements, etc.). This innovative spirit is one of the reasons why faculty and students want to come to Brown. It is an inspiring place to be every day. Ever True, Gordon Morton 93 Editor Make a Gift For all School of Engineering gifts and contributions, please call Rick Marshall at or him at Richard_Marshall@Brown.edu Larry Larson One of the most wonderful features of the undergraduate Brown experience is the "Open Curriculum," a liberal academic approach that includes no core requirements aside from those of the concentration the student pursues. Revolutionary at the time of its introduction in the late 1960's, it inaugurated a national movement for studentdirected learning at the University level that is even more relevant today across the entire landscape of higher education. At the same time, a rigorous and deep engineering curriculum requires many courses in science and math, the ultimate goal being to build comprehensive knowledge in the student's discipline. These disciplines (mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, etc.) each constitute a body of knowledge that has been constantly refined and expanded over many decades. Each student of engineering is committed to achieving excellence in one of these disciplines over the course of his or her study at Brown. Brown School of Engineering Mission Our engineering program here at Brown is famously adept at integrating the goals of the open curriculum and liberal learning in the context of a deep and rigorous engineering education. The result is an engineering graduate fully prepared to be a leader in the modern world - adept at communication to a broad range of constituencies, well versed in social and historical trends and values, and comfortable in applying their strong analytical and scientific skills to any problem. One way that we externally validate the strength of our engineering program is through the every-six-year accreditation process known as ABET ( The national ABET accreditation process is an extremely thorough review of all aspects of our undergraduate program, and the ABET "stamp-of-approval" is a validation of the high quality of our undergraduate approach. The ABET reviewers worked with our faculty intensively for a year, culminating in a Brown University s School of Engineering educates future leaders in the fundamentals of engineering in an environment of world-class research. We stress an interdisciplinary approach and a broad understanding of underlying global issues. Collaborations across the campus and beyond strengthen our development of technological advances that address challenges of vital importance to us all. Larry Larson Dean of Engineering three-day campus visit in September. They met with faculty, staff and students. They reviewed our undergraduate laboratories, textbooks, exams, pedagogical approaches, feedback mechanisms and mentoring approaches. The team was experienced and dedicated to their efforts - with a goal of ensuring that each student gets the best possible education. Though the official ABET results will not be available until much later this year, the unofficial feedback that we received on our program at the end of the three-day visit was extraordinarily positive. One of the aspects of our culture here that most impressed the reviewers was the extremely close ties that the faculty form with our student, and the care and attention each faculty member puts into student advising and mentoring. It is this personal commitment to the students and the community that has made the Brown engineering experience so extraordinary for the last 150 years, and will continue to do so for the future as well. BROWN School of Engineering 4 1 winter 2015

3 FRom The LAB Arto Nurmikko FROm THE LAB Wireless Brain Sensor Could Unchain Neuroscience From Cables Neuroscience research has been constrained by the cables required to connect brain sensors to computers for analysis. In the journal Neuron, scientists in a collaboration led by Brown University describe a wireless brainsensing system to acquire high-fidelity neural data during animal behavior experiments. In a study in the journal Neuron, scientists describe a new high data-rate, low-power wireless brain sensor. The technology is designed to enable neuroscience research that cannot be accomplished with current sensors that tether subjects with cabled connections. Experiments in the paper confirm that new capability. The results show that the technology transmitted rich, neuroscientifically meaningful signals from animal models as they slept and woke or exercised. We view this as a platform device for tapping into the richness of electrical signals from the brain among animal models where their neural circuit activity reflects entirely volitional and naturalistic behavior, not constrained to particular space, said Arto Nurmikko, professor of engineering and physics affiliated with the Brown Institute for Brain Science and the paper s senior and corresponding author. This enables new types of neuroscience experiments with vast amounts of brain data wirelessly and continuously streamed from brain microcircuits. The custom-engineered neuroelectronic platform is composed of two elements: a 100-channel transmitter only 5 centimeters in its largest dimension and weighing only 46.1 grams, and a four-antenna receiver that looks like a home Wi-Fi router but employs sophisticated signal processing to maximize the transmitter s signal while the subject is moving around. Via a small port embedded in a subject s skull, the transmitter connects to a tiny implanted electrode array that detects the activity of scores of neurons in the cortex. The wireless transmitter is compatible with multiple types and classes of brain sensors, Nurmikko said, with a view toward future sensor development Among the unique features of our technology is that we developed this compact lightweight neurosensor with a customdesigned low-power high-efficiency transmitter, said paper lead author Ming Yin, a research engineer in Nurmikko s lab at Brown at the time of the work. It dissipates two magnitudes less power than commercial n transceivers to broadcast a comparable rate of high-speed data up to 200 megabits per second within a few meters distance. The low power and small size, along with built-in electrostatic discharge protection features, make our device safer and more practical for mobile subjects. In the study the team demonstrated that the transmitter can run continuously for more than 48 hours on a single rechargeable AA battery as it relays a high rate of data directly from the brain. The brain sensor is opening unprecedented opportunities for the development of neuroprosthetic treatments in natural and unconstrained environments, said study co-author Grégoire Courtine, a professor at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), who collaborated with Nurmikko s group on the research. Behavioral demonstrations Courtine and co-lead author David Borton helped to lead experiments testing whether the system could match the performance of the common wired systems. They, with colleagues at Brown and the Bordeaux Institute of Neuroscience, also applied it in two behavioral tasks to ensure that it relayed scientifically interesting neural patterns. The experiments employed a platform developed by the European Project NeuWalk, which is supported by a 9-million investment from European Union. In one experiment, three rhesus macaques took walks on a treadmill while the researchers used the wireless system to measure neural signals associated with the brain s motion commands. Meanwhile they used other sensors to measure the activity of leg muscles. The data from the brain showed clear patterns of activity related to the movements of the muscles, demonstrating that the sensor allows for studies of how the brain controls the legs. In this study, we were able to observe motor cortical dynamics during locomotion, yielding insight into how the brain computes output commands sent to the legs to control walking, said Borton, now assistant professor of engineering at Brown. In another experiment, the Brown and EPFL researchers used the technology to observe brain signals for hours on end as the animal subjects went through sleep/wake cycles, unencumbered by cables or wires. Again the data showed distinct patterns related to the different stages of consciousness and the transitions between them. We hope that the wireless neurosensor will change the canonical paradigm of neuroscience research, enabling scientists to explore the nervous system within its natural context and without the use of tethering cables, Borton said. Subjects are free to roam, forage, sleep, etc., all while the researchers are observing the brain activity. We are very excited to see how the neuroscience community leverages this platform. In 2013, Yin, Borton, and Nurmikko unveiled a related, implantable wireless brain sensor with a different design. Whereas the new head-mounted sensor is intended for research use by the wider brain science community, Nurmikko said, the researchers hope that wireless brain sensor technology will be useful in clinical research as well in the coming years. Blackrock Microsystems LLC of Utah, where Yin is now an engineer, has licensed a portion of the technology described in the new Neuron study from Brown University for commercial development. Unprecedented opportunities Arto Nurmikko, left, David Borton, and colleagues have developed a neural transmitter that can stream data from the brain to researchers while subjects sleep, wake, move about, and accomplish tasks. The transmitter can send data continuously for more than 48 hours on a single rechargeable AA battery. A look inside: The head-mounted, 100-channel transmitter is only 5 centimeters in its largest dimension and weighs only 46.1 grams, but can transmit data up to 200 megabits a second. (Nurmikko Lab/Brown University). In addition to Yin, Borton, Nurmikko, and Courtine, the paper s other authors are Jacob Komar, Naubahar Agha, and Yao Lu of Brown; Christopher Bull, senior lecturer and senior research engineer at Brown, and Lawrence Larson, dean of engineering at Brown; David Rosler of Brown and the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Jean Laurens of EPFL; Hao Li of Marvell Semiconductor; Yiran Liang and Erwan Bezard of the Bordeaux Institute of Neuroscience; and Qin Li of Motac Neuroscience. Bezard and Li are also affiliated with the China Academy of Medical Sciences. The U.S. National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the EU funded the research. - by David Orenstein BROWN School of Engineering 2 3 winter 2015

4 FRom The LAB Diane Hoffman-Kim FROm THE LAB A Clear Choice for Clearing 3-D Cell Cultures Scientists have hailed recent demonstrations of chemical technologies for making animal tissues see-through, but a new study is the first to evaluate three such technologies side-by-side for use with engineered 3-D tissue cultures. Because biomedical engineering graduate student Molly Boutin needed to study how neural tissues grow from stem cells, she wanted to grow not just a cell culture, but a sphere-shaped one. Cells grow and interact more naturally in 3-D cultures than when they are confined to thin slides or dishes. But the very advantage of a culture having thickness also poses a challenge: How to see all the cells and their connections all the way through the culture. It s a problem that confronts many biologists, physicians, bioengineers, drug developers - and others who also see 3-D cultures as a useful stage before moving to animal models. As I was imaging these tissues I was only able to get the outer layer or two of cells and that wasn t a very good representation of what was going on inside of the sphere, Boutin said. There are inelegant ways to slice up an engineered 3-D tissue for imaging and then to reconstruct it, but a more tantalizing solution seemed likely to come from one of the chemical treatments invented in just the last few years to make tissues see-through. But which one, if any, would work with her scaffold-free engineered neural tissues? To find out, Boutin and adviser, Diane Hoffman-Kim, associate professor of medical science in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biotechnology, decided to test the three simplest methods: ClearT2, SeeDB and Scale. Their results which read like a Consumer Reports article for the lab bench set now appear online in the journal Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods. For Boutin s critieria, the ClearT2 method turned out to be clear winner. For her little balls of neural tissue 100 millionths of a meter in diameter ClearT2 allowed her to see fluorescing cells at all depths of focus and, importantly, it did not change the size of the tissue. Scale made her neural spheres substantially larger, while SeeDB made them smaller and didn t improve clarity as much. Boutin feeds neural stem cell spheres in lab. Maintaining the tissue culture size is important because Boutin wants to know the physical dimensions of growth in the culture, such as the axons that one neuron might extend to another. While ClearT2 worked within 1.5 hours, Scale and SeeDB took three days, Boutin said. She ran several further tests with ClearT2, including with other types of healthy and cancerous neural cells, and ClearT2 continued to perform well, even allowing her to image extracellular matrix. In the paper Boutin and Hoffman-Kim acknowledge that the results with different methods may vary with different samples, but they expect that for many scaffoldfree engineered 3-D neural tissues tissues that grow without added matrix supports ClearT2 should work well. Knowing that could clear the way for many research projects with 3-D tissues. The National Science Foundation, The National Institutes of Health, and the Brown Institute for Brain Science supported the research. Imaging occurred in Brown s Leduc Bioimaging Facility. Boutin created her 3-D cultures with technology from Microtissues Inc., a company founded by Jeffrey Morgan, professor of medical science in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biotechnology at Brown. - by David Orenstein Biomedical Engineering Grad Student Molly Boutin A Clear solution Without a clearing treatment, a 3-D tissue culture, left, does not allow researchers to see deep inside. ClearT2, one of three new chemical treatments evaluated in recent tests, makes tissues see-through, right, so that researchers can study cell interactions beneath the surface. Neural stem cells are colored red and cell nuclei are blue. (above) Image: Hoffman-Kim Lab/Brown University A confocal microscope, in Brown's Leduc Bioimaging Facility, is used to see deep inside 3D tissues. (below) BROWN School of Engineering 4 5 winter 2015

5 FRom The LAB Ian Wong FROm THE LAB Microchip Reveals How Tumor Cells Transition to Invasion A microscopic obstacle course of carefully spaced pillars enables researchers to observe cancer cells directly as they break away from a tumor mass and move more rapidly across the microchip. The device could be useful for testing cancer drugs and further research on the mechanics of metastasis. Using a microengineered device that acts as an obstacle course for cells, researchers have shed new light on a cellular metamorphosis thought to play a role in tumor cell invasion throughout the body. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process in which epithelial cells, which tend to stick together within a tissue, change into mesenchymal cells, which can disperse and migrate individually. EMT is a beneficial process in developing embryos, allowing cells to travel throughout the embryo and establish specialized tissues. But recently it has been suggested that EMT might also play a role in cancer metastasis, allowing cancer cells to escape from tumor masses and colonize distant organs. For this study, published in the journal Nature Materials, the researchers were able to image cancer cells that had undergone EMT as they migrated across a device that mimics the tissue surrounding a tumor. People are really interested in how EMT works and how it might be associated with tumor spread, but nobody has been able to see how it happens, said lead author Ian Y. Wong, assistant professor in the Brown School of Engineering and the Center for Biomedical Engineering, who performed the research as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. We ve been able to image these cells in a biomimetic system and carefully measure how they move. The experiments showed that the cells displayed two modes of motion. A majority plod along together in a collectively advancing group, while a few cells break off from the front, covering larger distances more quickly. In the context of cell migration, EMT upgrades cancer cells from an economy model to a fast sports car, Wong said. Our technology enabled us to track the motion of thousands of cars simultaneously, revealing that many sports cars get stuck in traffic jams with the economy cars, but that some sports cars break out of traffic and make their way aggressively to distant locations. Armed with an understanding of how EMT cancer cells migrate, the researchers hope they can use this same device for preliminary testing of drugs aimed at inhibiting that migration. The work is part of a larger effort to understand the underpinnings of cancer metastasis, which is responsible for nine out of 10 cancer-related deaths. Obstacle course for cells To get this new view of how cancer cells move, the researchers borrowed microelectronics processing techniques to pattern miniaturized features on silicon wafers, which were then replicated in a rubber-like plastic called PDMS. The device consists of a small plate, about a half-millimeter square, covered in an array of microscopic pillars. The pillars, each about 10 micrometers in diameter and spaced about 10 micrometers apart, leave just enough space for the cells to weave their way through. Using microscopes and time-lapse photography, the researchers can watch cells as they travel across the plate. It s basically an obstacle course for cells, Wong said. We can track individual cells, and because the size and spacing of these pillars is highly controlled, we can start to do statistical analysis and categorize these cells based on how they move. For their experiments, the researchers started with a line of benign cancer cells that were epithelial, as identified by specific proteins they express. They then applied a chemical that induced the cells to become malignant and mesenchymal. The transition was confirmed by looking for proteins associated with the mesenchymal cell type. Once all the cells had converted, they were set free on the obstacle course. The study showed that about 84 percent of the cells stayed together and slowly advanced across the plate. The other 16 percent sped off the front and quickly made it all the way across the device. To the researchers surprise, they found that the cells that stayed with the group started to once again express the epithelial proteins, indicating that they had reverted back to the epithelial cell type. That was a remarkable result, Wong said. Based on these results, an interesting therapeutic strategy might be to develop drugs that downgrade mesenchymal sports cars A cellular obstacle course Benign cancer cells that had been induced to become malignant made their way slowly around microscopic obstacles. About 16 percent of the cells moved much more rapidly across the microchip. Credit: Ian Y. Wong/Brown University back to epithelial economy models in order to keep them stuck in traffic, rather than aggressively invading surrounding tissues. As for the technology that made these findings possible, the researchers are hopeful that it can be used for further research and drug testing. We envision that this technology will be widely applicable for preclinical testing of antimigration drugs against many different cancer cell lines or patient samples, Wong said. Other authors on the paper are Elisabeth A. Wong (no relation), now a medical student at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, as well as Sarah Javaid, Sinem Perk, Daniel A. Haber, Mehmet Toner, and Daniel Irimia of Massachusetts General Hospital. The work was supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (DRG ), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institute of Health under (CA129933, EB002503, CA135601, GM092804). BROWN School of Engineering 6 7 winter by Kevin Stacey Cells invaded an enclosed array of fibronectin-coated PDMS micropillars

6 FRom The LAB Tayhas Palmore FROm THE LAB Copper Foam Turns CO 2 into Useful Chemicals Scientists at Brown University s Center for Capture and Conversion of CO 2 have discovered that copper foam could provide a new way of converting excess CO 2 into useful industrial chemicals, including formic acid. A catalyst made from a foamy form of copper has vastly different electrochemical properties from catalysts made with smooth copper in reactions involving carbon dioxide, a new study shows. The research, by scientists in Brown University s Center for the Capture and Conversion of CO 2, suggests that copper foams could provide a new way of converting excess CO 2 into useful industrial chemicals. The research is published in the journal ACS Catalysis. As levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continue to rise, researchers are looking for ways to make use of it. One approach is to capture CO 2 emitted from power plants and other facilities and use it as a carbon source to make industrial chemicals, most of which are currently made from fossil fuels. The problem is that CO 2 is extremely stable, and reducing it to a reactive and useful form isn t easy. Copper has been studied for a long time as an electrocatalyst for CO 2 reduction, and it s the only metal shown to be able to reduce CO 2 to useful hydrocarbons, said Tayhas Palmore, professor of engineering and senior author of the new research. There was some indication that if you roughen the surface of planar copper, it would create more active sites for reactions with CO 2. Copper foam, which has been developed only in the last few years, provided the surface roughness that Palmore and her colleagues were looking for. The foams are made by depositing copper on a surface in the presence of hydrogen and a strong electric current. Hydrogen bubbles cause the copper to be deposited in an arrangement of sponge-like pores and channels of varying sizes. After depositing copper foams on an electrode, the researchers set up experiments to see what kinds of products would be produced in an electrochemical reaction with CO 2 in water. The experiments were performed by Sujat Sen and Dan Liu, graduate students in chemistry working in Palmore s lab at Brown s School of Engineering. The experiments showed that the copper foam converted CO 2 into formic acid a compound often used as a feedstock for microbes that produce biofuels at a much greater efficiency than planar copper. The reaction also produced small amounts of propylene, a useful hydrocarbon that s never been reported before in reactions involving copper. The product distribution was unique and very different from what had been reported with planar electrodes, which was a surprise, Palmore said. We ve identified another parameter to consider in the electroreduction of CO 2. It s not just the kind of metal that s responsible for the direction this chemistry goes, but also the architecture of the catalyst. Now that it is clear that architecture matters, Palmore and her colleagues are working to see what happens when that architecture is tweaked. It is likely, she says, that pores of different depths or diameters will produce different compounds from a CO 2 feedstock. Ultimately, it might be possible to tune the copper foam toward a specific desired compound. Palmore said she is amazed by the fact that there's still more to be learned about copper. People have studied electrocatalysis with copper for a couple decades now, she said. It s remarkable that we can still make alterations to it that affect what s produced. The work in the study is part of a larger effort by Brown s Center for the Capture and Conversion of CO 2. The Center, funded by the National Science Foundation, is exploring a variety of catalysts that can convert CO 2 into usable forms of carbon. The goal is to find ways to produce some of the world's largest-volume chemicals from a sustainable carbon source that the Earth not only has in excess but urgently needs to reduce, said Palmore, who leads the center. This is a way for us as scientists to begin thinking of how we produce industrial chemicals in more sustainable ways and control costs at the same time. The cost of commodity chemicals is going nowhere but up as long as production is dependent on fossil fuels. The Center for Capture and Conversion of CO 2 is a Center for Chemical Innovation funded by the National Science Foundation (CHE ). - by Kevin Stacey BROWN School of Engineering 8 9 winter 2015 E(V) SEM images of electrodeposited copper foams on a copper substrate. Inset of (a) is a photo of a copper electrode immediately after electrodeposition of the copper foam.

7 students in the news students in the news Encapsulating Brown In a Day As part of Brown University s 250th Celebration, the School of Engineering hosted an all-day design workshop in the Brown Design Workshop in Prince Lab. As part of Brown University s 250th Celebration, students came together on Saturday, September 27, in the Brown Design Workshop in Prince Lab for an allday Design Workshop. The theme of the design challenge was, Brown Encapsulated, and students were tasked with re-imagining a time capsule. What could be created to capture small representations of Brown culture and society now to revisit in the future? This workshop focused on design concepts and hands-on design, showcasing teambased, experiential learning. After receiving an overview of the challenge, students began discussing the design process. They formed teams, but members continued to shift between groups as they generated ideas, shared feedback, and began sketching models. Throughout the workshop, students continued to iterate, design new prototypes, and share feedback with each other to refine their ideas. Later in the day, each group presented its work to a group of alumni and President Christina Paxson. After designing further iterations, more feedback, and critique sessions, each group gave a final presentation and discussed their work. One of the three groups worked on a pixelated wall concept and consisted of Rebecca Barron 15.5 (engineering and architectural studies), Coleen Chan (RISD 17/ Apparel Design), Victoria Chavez 18 (Applied Math/Computer Science), Stewart Lynch 16 (Computer Engineering), Maggie Mathieu 17 (Mechanical Engineering), Eric Shine 15 (Mechanical Engineering and Visual Arts), Haily Tran 16 (Environmental Science and Engineering), Kassie Wang 17 (Mechanical Engineering), and Victoria Wu 15 (Materials Science and Visual Arts). Their idea was to create a wall consisting of grid-like shelves with approximately 6000 square cells, and each cell would contain a 1.5 inch translucent acrylic cube created by a student/individual at Brown. Each cube could be removed from the shelf and would contain either a token, written anecdote, and/or sound bite from one individual at Brown, some kind of personal artifact to remember them. Also embedded in every cube is an LED, which shines into the plastic cube and can illuminate it. The leads of the LED would connect to a metal contact on the back of the cube, and together all the cubes complete a circuit running along the shelf behind every row and column. The group planned to collect data from the current student body using polls, with questions like, What would you consider the next big thing in technology? or What is your favorite song? and display these graphs or quotes on the screen created by the LEDs. In this way, the group hoped to capture both the general trends in Brown s culture in as well as personal stories from each of its individuals, and get people in the future to interact with the wall. Another one of the three groups consisted of Leanne Block 17 (Mechanical Engineering), Adam Gosselin 16 (Computer Engineering), and Hayley McClintock 16 (Biomedical Engineering). They designed a series of trapezoidal blocks (50cm X 20 cm each) that fit together in various configurations. Some of the blocks are made of wood and have images that represent important events in Brown s 250 years, such as the founding of the Open Curriculum and the merger with Pembroke. The other blocks are made from a whiteboard material, so that students can add their own events that are either pertinent to the whole University or maybe just a group of friends. The idea is to make a growing and moving timeline. The final design of this would include many more blocks of both types, the wood blocks would be colorful and more cohesive visually, and all of the boards would be fitted with velcro backings and attached to an indoor velcro wall so that students can move them around and create new shapes as well as writing and drawing on the boards, creating new connections between events by their placement, as well as new shapes on the wall. A third group consisted of Tommy Jung 15 (Computer Engineering) and Zainab Soetan 18 (Engineering), who worked on an 8x8 LED matrix controlled by Arduino. It uses a 3-to-8 decoder to select rows and 8 pull-down pins to control columns of LED matrix. Only one of the rows can be controlled at a time, but the fast switching in row selection gives an illusion that all the LEDs could be controlled simultaneously. A number of possible ideas were suggested on uses for this. In addition, consideration was given to integrating this concept with the first group's concept of LED cubes. Two of the prototypes will be chosen for further development and later buried to mark Brown's 250th Anniversary celebration. Ideation and Sketch Modeling Students are involving in jump-start ideation and sketch modeling at the start of the 'Encapsulating Brown' Design Workshop. Above left: an example of one of the block configurations. Above right a 9 x 9 prototype of the LED cube concept. Below: Tommy Jung 15 demonstrates 8x8 LED matrix BROWN School of Engineering winter 2015

8 students in the news students in the news Re-engineering ENGN0030 Brown Forms Partnership with Lincoln School With help from an AAU grant, Brown faculty members Clyde Briant and Chris Bull have been working to incorporate more experiential learning into the engineering curriculum. Lincoln School is partnering with Brown s School of Engineering and the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning to offer the course, Introduction to Engineering, to Lincoln students. With help from a prestigious grant from the the Association of American Universities (AAU), Brown faculty members Clyde Briant and Chris Bull have been working to incorporate more experiential learning into the engineering curriculum, starting with the first-year ENGN0030: Introduction to Engineering. The Association of American Universities (AAU) has chosen Brown University as a project site for an initiative to improve undergraduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Brown is one of eight AAU member institutions chosen to implement the initiative, which is designed to encourage STEM departments to adopt proven, evidencebased teaching practices and to provide faculty with the encouragement, training, and support to do so. Brown s three-year plan began with a rethinking of STEM classes for first- and second-year students, starting with seven classes in physics, engineering and neuroscience, including ENGN0030. These classes represent crucial gateways to further study in the STEM disciplines for more than 800 Brown students who take them each year, including approximately 300 students in ENGN0030. Ensuring student engagement in these classes and an effective learning environment is a key to recruiting and retaining students in STEM fields. In the plan s second and third years, practices developed in these classes will be expanded to other classes and disciplines. Faculty and graduate students have been working with Brown s Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning and the Brown Science Center to develop new curricula that emphasizes hands-on learning, group problem solving, and opportunities for original research. The hands-on learning will be conducted in the new Brown Design Workshop. The grant also allowed the School to hire and train 30 student mentors for the Brown Design Workshop to expand access and hours. Prior to the semester, these engineering students received a week of training across many areas including designing with various materials, electronics design, 3D printing, CAD, and MATLAB. Their role as mentors to the first-year students has been vital to the success of the course. Mentor Week Student mentors received a week of training prior to the semester. ENGN0030: Final project presentations. Credit: Christopher Bull Lincoln School is partnering with Brown s School of Engineering and the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning to offer the course, Introduction to Engineering, to Lincoln students. The course will be taught in the School of Engineering at Brown and will take advantage of the newly established Brown Design Workshop. The Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning will work with both Lincoln School and the School of Engineering to aid in the course design and student-centered pedagogy. Lincoln School is very excited to be partnering with Brown s School of Engineering and the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, said Suzanne Fogarty, Lincoln School s Head of School. Lincoln is a school devoted to promoting STEM initiatives for girls and young women and this collaboration allows our students to take advantage of Brown s excellent facilities and teaching resources while exploring engineering as an option for future study. Our shared mission is closing the gender gap in engineering. It is especially exciting for the School of Engineering to partner with Lincoln, an independent school that is dedicated to the education of young women. Nationwide, there have been efforts to increase the number of women who choose to enter the engineering profession. By engaging young women at Lincoln there is an opportunity to introduce them to the excitement of engineering earlier than is often possible for most high school students. Professors Iris Bahar and Clyde Briant will lead the effort for the School of Engineering, and Dr. Kathy Takayama, Executive Director of the Sheridan Center, will lead the effort for the Sheridan Center. We are very excited to work with Lincoln School on this program. It offers an opportunity to engage young women in engineering while they are at the high school level and to pioneer pedagogical methods of teaching engineering to students in high school, said Briant. The course will include both laboratory and analytical components and introduce students to the engineering profession, engineering design, CAD, analysis of static structures, 3D printing, engineering materials, and electronics. The students will also gain practice in applying math concepts to engineering problems. The course will meet once a week for three hours and students will receive credit at Lincoln School for the course. The Lincoln students projects and experiences will be showcased through e-portfolios. A major goal will be to help the students explore their own interests in this field and also appreciate the contributions that engineering makes to society. BROWN School of Engineering winter 2015

9 MEET THE NEW FACULTY MEET THE FACULTY David Borton Natural Inspirations - Shreyas Mandre Understanding the neurological basis of movement could lead to implantable sensors that can relay the brain s instructions to nerves and muscles across damaged spinal cords. David Borton is working toward such implantable bridge devices. The capacity of the human body to make incredibly precise and powerful movements was on full display last summer during the World Cup soccer tournament. David Borton, assistant professor of engineering, knows all about the moves needed to be a successful soccer player. For two years in his late teens, he played professionally for Santos FC in Brazil - a squad whose all-time leading scorer is the great Pelé. But after coming to the realization that there was more to his life than soccer, Borton decided to go back to school to become an engineer. Now, in his neuroengineering lab at Brown, Borton is developing technologies to better understand the neurological underpinnings of human movement. Ultimately, he hopes to help develop neural prosthetic systems to restore movement for those who have lost it to injury or disease. In part, Borton says, it is his experience playing soccer that motivates his work to help people with motor difficulties. It touches a little bit closer to home when you see people who are paralyzed and they can t do the kind of things that made such a big impact in your own life, he said. You want to help restore that for them, and help them get back to interacting with the world fully again. The key advance of this device is that it s wireless. It enables researchers to collect brain signals in high fidelity while animals are moving around freely. All of the current understanding of how our brain controls movement is learned from animal studies in constrained conditions, Borton said. That s because we didn t have the wireless technology available to us to have these animals freely moving in their natural environment. Getting data from natural movement is a big thing. It gets rid of some of the traditional restraints on neuroscience research. Borton plans to continue to develop technologies that push the boundaries in neuroscience and decode the mysteries of movement. The focus of our lab, he said, is building technologies that can answer old questions in neuroscience and help ask new ones. Borton already has lined up collaborations toward those ends. He plans to work with Gabriel Taubin, associate professor of computer science and engineering, who is an expert in computer vision. With Taubin, Borton would like to develop new ways of using computer imaging to monitor and quantify the movements of animals in the lab. Borton will also work with assistant professor Jacob Rosenstein to develop kinematic sensors that can be implanted directly into joints as another means of capturing fine detail in movement. Those detailed movement data can then be combined with data from brain sensors to shed new light on the neural basis of movement. the nervous system. During a postdoctoral appointment at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, Borton worked on new techniques to do just that. During my postdoc, I worked on systems - not just devices, but systems of devices - that can talk to each other and find ways to read from one part of the nervous system and write into another part, Borton said. That means understanding the information coming from the brain and building a useful signal to bring it back into the nervous system. The effect is a cortico-spinal bridge that reconnects regions of the nervous system that have been separated by injury or disease. And while he is building those technological bridges, Borton would also like to build a research bridge across the Atlantic to EPFL. John Donoghue, director of the Brown Institute for Brain Science, is on leave this year to help set up a new neuroengineering center at EPFL. As Borton settles in here at Brown, he envisions a steady stream of researchers and students moving back and forth between the two institutions. When asked about his teaching philosophy, Assistant Professor of Engineering Shreyas Mandre leans back in his office chair and thinks for a moment. He then pops up and procures an envelope. Inside are several paper models of maple seeds, designed by undergraduates in his fluid dynamics course. The idea was to understand the design of the seeds, and how it might be useful in other applications. He excitedly tosses a few into the air. They flitter toward the floor in neat spirals. I like to be inspired by nature, he says. That s my philosophy, roughly to use phenomena in nature to build a fascination for the subject. Assistant Professor Shreyas Mandre (right) advising grad student Michael Miller. Photo: Cathie Beattie That spirit is also what fuels Professor Mandre s research. Whether it s studying the way cereal moves in a bowl of milk or how the gentle, synchronous waving of seagrass helps sustain marine life, his work begins with a certain wide-eyed wonder. But, it s more than just that: It s driven on one hand by curiosity and on the other by application. There has to be an unanswered question whose answer might be useful. One project that fulfills that dual aim is his collaborative study on the mechanics of the human foot. Backed by a grant from the Human Frontier Science Program, Professor Mandre and two colleagues in Japan and India are in the midst of a three-year endeavor examining the form, function, and evolution of the human foot. The hope is that the study s discoveries can be applied to fields like evolutionary biology and robotics. There are robots that do some kind of running but none actually run like humans do, says Professor Mandre. We think one of the critical pieces is that none have the right kind of foot. And what could a running robot do? For one, it could aid search-and-rescue missions in dangerous situations where the terrain is too unwieldy for humans or motorized vehicles. Professor Mandre is also working with engineering faculty members Kenneth Breuer and Jen Franck on an energy-harvesting study backed by ARPA-E, an agency under the purview of the United States Department of Energy. Dubbed the water wing, the project aims to harness the power and reliability of oceanic tides and convert them into a highly efficient renewable energy source. Support for the path-breaking work of projects like these and the forthcoming new engineering building will allow the School of Engineering to continue its rise as a world-leader in research and training. The appointment to the Brown faculty is a homecoming for Borton. He earned his Ph.D. here, working with Arto Nurmikko in the School I want to help students from both EPFL and of Engineering. In Nurmikko s lab, Borton Brown to have the experience that I had in seeing Professor Mandre can hardly wait: Getting a new building will helped to develop the first fully implantable a whole different set of labs, Borton said. allow us to hire new faculty and bring in interesting and new wireless brain sensor. The device, which has EPFL is one of the top universities in Europe, so ideas. It s going to help us grow. operated successfully in the brains of animal it s great to have that connection. research subjects, records and transmits neural In the meantime, he ll continue to let the natural world inspire But the ultimate goal of restoring movement The good thing about Brown is even when signals generated as the animals move. A better him, finding ways to turn seemingly small observations into something much bigger. for people who have had a neural insult will you are a grad student most professors treat understanding of those neural signals will aid require more than collecting neural data on you as a colleague anyway, he said. That s one in making new brain-computer interfaces that movement. Borton would like to find new of the more powerful attributes of the Brown -by Jacob Goldman can restore people s ability to move. ways of reinstalling that information back into community. How tidal energy could take flight: Mounted on the sea floor, the device s wings - by Kevin Stacey move up and down the stationary pole, generating power. More wings can be added, BROWN School of Engineering 14 and 15 the device can fold flat to allow large ships or loaded barges to pass winter safely. 2015

10 Faculty/student Honors/NEWS student Honors/News Professor Huajian Gao to Receive Prager Medal Brown University Professor of Engineering Huajian Gao has been selected to receive the William Prager Medal from the Society of Engineering Science (SES) made in recognition of his outstanding research contributions in theoretical solid mechanics. The award will be presented at the 52nd Annual Technical Meeting of the Society of Engineering Science to be held at Texas A&M University, October 26-28, The medal is named for former Brown professor William Prager, who helped to establish the Division of Applied Mathematics at Brown in the 1940s. Of the 22 times the Prager Medal has been awarded, a current or former Brown solid mechanics faculty member or alumnus, has won it ten times. Previous Brown recipients include: Daniel C. Drucker (1983), Rodney J. Clifton (1986), James R. Rice (1988), George J. Dvorak Ph.D. 69 (1994), L. Ben Freund (2000), Alan Needleman (2006), Richard James 74 (2008), Alan Wineman Ph.D. 64 (2009), Robert M. McMeeking Sc.M. 74 Ph.D. 77 (2014) and Huajian Gao (2015). Eight of the ten winners, including Huajian Gao, are also members of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Doctoral Student Megan Creighton Awarded EPA STAR Fellowship Megan Creighton, a fifth year doctoral student in the chemical and biochemcial engineering group at the Brown University School of Engineering, has been awarded an EPA STAR graduate fellowship. EPA s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program funds graduate fellowships in numerous environmental science and engineering disciplines through a competitive solicitation process and independent peer review. The program engages the nation s best scientists and engineers in targeted research that complements EPA s intramural research program and those of our partners in other federal agencies. Creighton is working with Professor Robert Hurt and her research will focus on potential applications for graphene-family nanomaterials (GFNs). Increased use and production of such materials consequently suggests an increased likelihood of unintended occupational, consumer, and environmental exposures. This project focuses on the relation between the risks of such exposures and specific material properties so that these properties can be intelligently exploited for both function and safety. This will eventually lead to more accurate information for environmental decision-making, allowing for the safe and sustainable development and incorporation of GFN technology into society. Sara Kadkhodaei Wins Materials Research Society Graduate Student Award Sara Kadkhodaei, a fifth year doctoral student in the mechanics of solids group at the Brown University School of Engineering, has won the Materials Research Society (MRS) Graduate Student Award for a presentation on Mathematical and Computational Aspects of Materials Science at the MRS 2014 Fall Meeting in Boston. The MRS Graduate Student Awards are intended to honor and encourage graduate students whose academic achievements and current materials research display a high order of excellence and distinction. MRS seeks to recognize students of exceptional ability who show promise for future substantial achievement in materials research. Emphasis is placed on the quality of the student and his/her research ability. At Brown, Kadkhodaei is advised by associate professor Axel van de Walle of the materials group. Her research involves devising and developing computational tools toward automated calculation of thermodynamic properties of alloys. 20 Students Inducted into Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, inducted 20 new members into the Rhode Island Alpha chapter at Brown University on Friday, December 5. Thirteen juniors were inducted along with seven seniors. Among the thirteen juniors elected were: Paolo Emil Burkley 16, Kyle Erf 16, Ian Knapp 16, Thanin Kovitchindachai 16, Stewart Lynch 16, Jad Nasrallah 16, Carlos Reyes 16, Rohan Sanspeur 16, Min Yee Teh 16, Jacques Van Anh 16, James Violet 16, Jack Wilson 16, and Haeri Yoon 16. The seven seniors elected included: Jennifer Cardona 15, Theresa Cloutier 15, Pawel Golyski 15, Ethan Madigan 15, Guarav Nakhare 15, Jenna Norton 15, and Emily Toomey 15. Tau Beta Pi, founded in 1885, is the second oldest Greek-letter honor society in America; the oldest is Phi Beta Kappa. While Phi Beta Kappa is restricted to students in the liberal arts, Tau Beta Pi is designed to offer appropriate recognition for superior scholarship and exemplary character to students in engineering. In order to be inducted into the prestigious honor society, juniors must rank in the top eighth of their class and seniors must rank in the top fifth of their class. Graduate students who have completed at least 50% of their degree requirements and who rank in the top fifth of their class are also eligible to become candidates for membership. Brown Engineers Win Seven Awards at AIChE National Meeting Several Brown University engineering students attended the 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting in November in Atlanta. During the meeting, the Nanoscale Science and Engineering forum hosted an award session to honor graduate students whose research achievements, in the broad area of carbon nanomaterials, demonstrate a high level of excellence. Finalists were selected based on their abstract submissions and then presented their work in the award session to a panel of judges. Brown chemical and biochemical engineering fifth year doctoral student Megan Creighton was awarded the first place prize for her research on Molecular Barrier Functions of Graphene Oxide in Liquid-Liquid Systems. She is advised by Professor Robert Hurt. Nine undergraduates attended the national meeting and competed in the national poster competition, including Helen Bergstrom 15, Anna Brown 16, Theresa Cloutier 15, Jenna Ditto 15, Collin Felton 15, Naser Mahfouz 15, Danna Nozik 16, Rebecca Pinals 16, and Finn van Kreiken 15. More than 200 posters were presented, and the competition was divided into ten topic areas, and the topic areas were broken down further into subgroups. Nozik presented in the materials engineering and sciences VII subgroup and won first place. She presented a poster entitled, Biohybrid Fibro-porous Vascular Scaffolds: Effect of Crosslinking on Properties. Bergstrom presented in the sustainability category, and won second place. She presented a poster titled, Rethinking the Traditional Wall- Textile Wall Assembly Systems for Healthier, Energy-Efficient Structures. Brown presented her poster titled, Multiple Wavelength Interferometry for the Characterization of Material Properties, and won second place in the materials engineering and sciences VI subgroup. Mahfouz presented his poster titled, Graphene Oxide-based Materials for Environmental and Selective Barriers, and won third place in the separations category. Cloutier competed in the Food, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology category and won third place for her poster entitled, Towards Inducing hmsc Chondrogenesis in Hydrogels through Treatment with Kartogenin. Pinals won third place in the Materials Engineering and Sciences V subgroup. She presented a poster entitled, Band-Gap Tuning of Colloidal Silicon-Based Quantum Dots by Surface Functionalization Using Conjugated Organic Ligands. BROWN School of Engineering winter 2015

11 students in the news students in the news A Unique Blend Mehrdad Kiani 15, a materials engineering concentrator, considers his academic interests a little unorthodox. That is one way of putting it. One might also call them fascinating and exciting. Specifically, Mehrdad is applying his engineering know-how to two seemingly disparate areas: archaeology and cancer research. In some ways, the two categories could not be further apart, but to Mehrdad, it just makes sense: Materials engineering, the study of finding, designing and implementing new materials really is all-encompassing. When you look at many other scientific fields, there is a lot of materials-based work going on. There is an interesting arc, too, in working across these fields: investigating and creating 3D models of ancient artifacts helps tell stories of the past, while enhancing the components of cancer research is a nod toward the future. As a first-year, Mehrdad aided Associate Professor Gabriel Taubin and Kevin Smith, chief curator of the Haffenreffer Museum, in implementing a new kind of archaeological archiving software called REVEAL, across three active dig-sites. This meant a whirlwind summer of travel: Mehrdad headed to central Turkey, the Peruvian Andes, and a cave in Iceland. The trip, he says, was unforgettable: These were really secluded, unique areas. In Iceland, we worked inside a massive lava cave with artifacts and animal bones from the Viking age. In Peru, there were these tiny crawlspaces that connected old buildings. I ve never experienced anything like it. Last year, Mehrdad began working out of the lab of Ian Wong, assistant professor of engineering. Through the competitive DiMase Internship, Mehrdad spent the past summer tracking how different cells move both physically and through computerized simulations. He will continue this work throughout his final year on College Hill, collaborating with his fellow undergraduates and a few doctoral students. Photo credit: Cathie Beattie There s very relevant and significant work going on here, he says. The appeal of what I do is that it s not purely biological, but it s not purely materials engineering either it s at that intersection. It s exciting. In case all of that was not enough to satisfy Mehrdad s intellectual curiosities, he also took on the presidency of Brown s Tau Beta Pi chapter, the national engineering honor society. Yet, he shrugs off the suggestion that his academic efforts are prodigious: I m still a regular college student. I go out with my friends and try to keep that part of my life intact. In fact, Mehrdad says, one of his favorite things about the University is how its open curriculum and focus on interdisciplinarity encourages a wide array of both academic and social interactions: I didn t want to go a big school where all of my friends would have been engineering students. Here I have good friends in economics, neuroscience, computer science and public health. If you re looking for a school that gives you extra perspective, I don t think it gets any better than Brown. - by Jacob Goldman Brown hosts National Society of Black Engineers Conference Brown University s School of Engineering hosted the New England zone conference of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) on Saturday, Oct. 18, The daylong conference featured activities and workshops aimed at helping students from under-represented groups succeed in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. About 60 students from universities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island attended. Students from several Providence area high schools, including Juanita Sanchez Education Complex, Central High School, and Times Squared Academy, attended as well. The theme of the conference is academic and professional excellence, said Johnathan Davis, a junior at Brown and chair of the planning committee for the conference. We want students to leave the conference feeling better about themselves and ready to get the most from their academic work. The effort to bring the conference to Brown was spearheaded by the University s NSBE chapter, which reformed last year and now includes about 30 active members. We restarted the organization because we felt there was a need, said Davis, who serves as secretary for the chapter. We want to create a community where minority students can work together and help each other succeed in the STEM fields. When the Brown NSBE chapter was offered the opportunity to host the conference, the group jumped at the chance. Oscar Groomes '82 P'15 delivered the keynote address We have a lot of energy, Davis said. Why not take on this challenge? The conference schedule included workshops on advanced study skills, careers in engineering and resume writing. Workshop topics for high school students included choosing and paying for college. Several members of the Brown engineering and computer science faculty took part, and the keynote address was delivered by Oscar Groomes, a graduate of Brown and Tougaloo College and former president and CEO of GE Rail Services. BROWN School of Engineering winter by Kevin Stacey

12 A True Student Athlete Jessica Claflin '13 Sc.M.'14 graduated from Brown with a Sc.B. in mechanical engineering as well as an Sc.M. in fluid & thermal science. She is training to represent the USA at the 2016 Olympics in the Nacra 17, a two-person catamaran. You could say to be an engineer you need something in your soul. In my case, it was in my blood. My great-grandfather, grandfather, three uncles, my mother, and my father were, or are engineers. Growing up, I was always dragged out to the garage by my parents to watch them solder, fix an engine, or use a drill press, all while learning the theory and rationale behind what they were doing. At the dinner table my parents would ask my sister and I for ideas when they were having trouble solving something at work. Most times we could barely understand the problem, much less figure out how to help them, but on the occasions that we could help it was magical. We had helped our parents, which for me was like aiding Superman spin the world in the other direction. Fast forward to college. My freshman year I decided to go into engineering because I was interested in math and science. Day one Prof. Janet Blume opened up the ENGN 3 class, and I knew I was a goner. From day one at Brown I was an engineer. Unlike my experience with engineering, it took some time for me to find my sport. When I was 10 years old, we moved to Rhode Island. Being a transplant, I couldn t join the summer soccer team - we had missed the sign up period. So my parents put me in sailing summer camp. A few weeks later, I was hooked. Years later, looking at colleges, I wouldn t even consider a school without a sailing team. I sailed for Brown for three years, while studying engineering and maintaining my international racing status. Unfortunately, this was a bit ambitious so my senior year I left the Brown sailing team and only sailed internationally - a much easier schedule to balance with the demands of my engineering classwork. Being a good athlete is about dedication to the sport. That doesn t mean simply being the strongest or the fastest, but knowing the details, studying various situations, analyzing each movement for perfection, not to mention strategy. When someone asks me to describe a sailboat race, I tell them to imagine a 3D chess match where each piece doesn t just have different moves, but is a different team. Then throw waves, wind, current, and weather into the mix and you have the mental picture. Meanwhile, there is the physical aspect of the sport - eight hours each day exposed to the elements, battling loads on lines you need to pull, leveraging your body weight to keep the boat itself from capsizing, all while trying to steer it gracefully through the waves. Now you have a beginner s comprehension of the stresses in a sail boat race. Being a good engineer is about dedication to problem solving. What most people don t grasp is engineering is being creative on a deadline. That means you cannot just know the equations, you have to be able to apply them, to see a problem and see five different possible ways to reach the solution and then analyze which is the best to pursue. Engineering is where the details and the big picture collide. Therefore I would argue, to be a good athlete, you have to be a technician of your sport. But to be a good sailor, you actually have to be a mechanical engineer. Sailing is all about vectors. If the wind is coming at this angle, what angle of sail will get you to the finish line? What about your velocity made good, the velocity to the desired destination versus the velocity that in the direction of travel? How will the current on one portion of the course effect your speed and heading as opposed to the current on the other side? Sailing is all about fluid dynamics. How much heel should you allow the boat given the waves depth and spacing? Traditionally, a flat boat is a fast boat, but in choppy waves you need heel to slice through the waves, in rolling waves you need to cant and steer the boat up the front of a wave and down the back. All of this to maximize the lift that the boat s boards experience from the water. At what point of sail should you be at? How tight should the sail s control lines be to maximize the power of the sail generated by the wind? In light air, you typically ease the controls a bit, or you will choke off the flow, killing your speed. In medium air, you must balance between speed and sailing with the closest angle to the wind. In heavy air, you strap on all the controls to flatten the sail, making the boat more manageable. Sailing is all about solid mechanics. How do you position your body in each maneuver? Your body behaves as a weighted lever to balance out the motion of the boat, how you position it directly effects the lift on the boards and sails changing the boats speed and direction. How do you set up the boat? The Nacra 17, the boat I am currently racing, has both stays and diamonds. Stays keep the mast in a vertical position on the boat. However, you can choose to tilt the mast slightly off vertical. In heavy air you would rake it back, this helps to depower the sails making the boat controllable. In light air you would have a perfectly vertical mast or rake the mast forward a bit to open up the slots between the sails to keep the turbulence developed on the trailing edge of one sail to affect the next sail, you let the sails breathe. Diamonds compress the carbon fiber mast, making it more or less rigid. In heavy air, you want more compression to keep the mast straighter. This takes depth out of the sails, taking power out of the sail and allowing a closer angle of travel to the wind. In light air you want less compression, permitting the mast to belly out in the middle giving the sails more volume hence more power. Look at the Nacra 17. It is a two person, double trapeze (wires that we hook into and hang out of the boat on), foiling (the boats hulls come out of the water completely, resulting in just the boards touching the water), catamaran (two hulls, double the water line, double the speed - 20mph average speed). Think of the engineering it took to design that thing. But not everyone that sails goes to the Olympics. With two Brown engineering degrees, I am frequently asked why am I giving that up to train. I am still pursuing engineering, not just by way of sailing, but also in the academic sense. I am collaborating with Prof. Joseph Liu from Brown University on several papers while I am training. After the Olympics I plan on designing medical devices, ranging anywhere from IV drips to artificial hearts. I want my engineering expertise to make a direct difference in people s lives. I am also thinking of going to medical school to aid in my endeavors. The Olympics is the most competitive athletic event. As such, you would expect the training, the qualification, and the competition to be the greatest challenge. For many countries, the hard part is getting on the team. After all, only one team from each country gets to go. Once on the team the country supports the athletes financial needs. However, for an American sailor this is not the case. The greatest challenge is raising enough money to train, qualify, and compete in the Olympics. To run an Olympic campaign costs several hundred thousand dollars a year due to the travel, coaching, equipment, and regatta fees, not to mention basic living expenses. In the U.S., the sailing team s costs are subsidized and the athletes get a jacket and a handshake. All additional funding must come from out of pocket or from private sponsorship and/ or donations. That is a huge strain on the athlete. Not only is fundraising difficult and stressful, but it also takes valuable training time away. However, you cannot train if you cannot afford to train. It is the Olympic catch-22. To try to encourage donations, I have created a non-for-profit called Sailstrong. Its purpose is not to simply raise tax-free money for my Olympic dreams. I wanted to create a foundation that would encourage the next generation to become true student-athletes, to show that you really can be a brain and a jock. The money donated to this foundation allows me to go to schools and give speeches to primarily elementary and middle school students about the physics behind various sports. For example, we discuss how momentum conservation applies to hitting a baseball, going through the equations, then we go out and play baseball. The idea is to show the kids the simplicity and magic of science while taking advantage of their inherent athleticism. Kids need a tangible role model. It is easy to point to Albert Einstein as the genius or Larry Bird as the athlete or Martin Luther King as the activist. But, all of them have a singular talent. So instead, you point to Leonardo Da Vinci, the man that excelled at art, politics, and science, the man that did it all. But he is deceased and children need a living role model. Children need someone they can identify with, not a legend but a real person. That s what I am trying to do. I am alive, I am real, I am trying to do it all. As the foundation grows, I am going to get other spokespeople with varying backgrounds but all multitalented and approachable. In the meantime, it is just me visiting schools and struggling to support my Olympic sailing dream. If you want to get involved or learn more about my story please visit Sailstrong2016. org or Followmetorio.com. - by Jessica Claflin

13 building the future building the future KieranTimberlake to Design New Engineering Building The renowned architecture firm KieranTimberlake was selected over the summer by the Facilities and Campus Planning Committee of the Corporation of Brown University to design a new building for Brown s School of Engineering. The new building is part of an effort to expand facilities, faculty, and programs of the School of Engineering. The building will be located to the west of the Barus and Holley Building, the existing engineering facility, along Manning Walk, opposite Prince Engineering Lab, east of Brook Street. It will provide state of the art laboratory space for the School s growing faculty and expanding research efforts. Key areas of growth anticipated in the School of Engineering include micro- and nano-technology, biomedical engineering, energy and the environment, information technology, and entrepreneurial innovation. Reflecting Brown s spirit of collaborative and cross disciplinary inquiry, research facilities will be complimented by open spaces that encourage active gatherings of students, faculty and other members of the community. "We're excited that Brown University and KieranTimberlake are joining together on the design for the next phase of the School of Engineering," said Lawrence Larson, dean of the School. "KieranTimberlake brings a unique and original perspective to each of its projects combining a culture of deep investigation into the needs of the client and the space, the highest quality services, and leading research into improved building practices and methods. This new building will embody the aspirations of our School to create a space that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, breakthrough science and technology, and a spirit of learning and scholarship that will enliven our campus for many decades to come." Construction is tentatively slated to begin in November 2015, with final completion expected in February Community Planning Dean Larry Larson (left) reviews site plans with Brown University Assistant Vice President for Planning, Design & Construction, Michael McCormick. Lab Strategy and Design As a central part of the new Engineering building planning effort, Dean Larson has called for a Laboratory Strategy and Design Committee to develop concepts for the adaptable and configurable research space that is the major part of the programming for the new building. This committee of faculty and administrators is being chaired by Prof. Nitin Padture and has been meeting during this semester to review both the current labs and facilities needs of the Engineering faculty and projections about future research capabilities that will be critical for the School of Engineering in the coming years. The committee is engaging in regular workshop sessions with the design team, led by architects from KieranTimberlake, on the lab typologies needed in different areas of research as well as the organization of the supporting spaces, shared equipment rooms, and student write up and conferencing areas that together contribute to the kind of highly collaborative and productive research communities that will help the School attract the best young and established faculty in its coming growth phases. Access to adequate research space currently is a challenge for the school. "Engineering research labs are now arrayed across multiple campus locations," notes Prof. Rod Beresford, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs, "in some cases occupying spaces that were not intended for the intensity of uses we demand." The new building is expected to provide research space for up to groups, including both existing and new investigators. "We are seeing a convergence of infrastructure needs in the different disciplines," points out Prof. Rashid Zia, who also serves as Director of Microelectronics, a major shared-use facility that is expected to relocate from Barus and Holley to the new building. Whereas Barus and Holley was completed just before the surge in materials driven innovation that ushered in the growth of the world semiconductor industry, this new building will be arriving at a time when engineers in all disciplines are manipulating matter at the micro and nano scales, requiring access to synthesis tools and instruments that often were not even known a few decades ago. "Planning for a future research landscape of more convergence, more and bigger data sets, and more diverse collaborations is where we think this project should head," says Beresford. With the prospect of close connections to all of Barus and Holley, Giancarlo, and Prince, the new building is likely to become a nexus of activity integrating many different aspects of the School s programs, with cutting edge research being the major focus. To ensure that all of the faculty research needs are represented in the planning process, the committee members worked closely with the architects to design a survey probing issues of technical needs, space configurations and sharing, and usage patterns. Over 85% of the faculty has completed the survey, providing a trove of data that the team is dipping into as needed as it evolves a strategy for the new lab modules and their context in the existing campus. "This will be a world-class research facility," says Dean Larson, "and our process for getting there is very Brown very inclusive, creative, and full of the excitement of discovery." "We are going to provide the best possible infrastructure and work environments for doing ground-breaking research in areas like biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, and energy and environmental sciences," said Larry Larson, Dean of Engineering. As an important element of the new Engineering building planning effort, a Community and Program Committee has been formed with members of the Brown Engineering faculty and administration, with important opportunities planned for student input. This committee, chaired by Professor Iris Bahar, has been meeting for over a month now, and has gathered and discussed topics of community importance which will become some of the foundations for the building plan. Specifically, this committee is has been established to work closely with the architects, Kieran Timberlake on the overall design of the building, its relationship to the engineering community, and the Brown community as a whole. An important topic which has emerged early on is the importance of physical connectivity to Barus and Holley, which is the current nerve center to the School of Engineering and to the Department of Physics. A seamless connectivity will be important to merge together an integrated faculty and student population working in one building or the other, but also to facilitate flow of students, staff, and visitors, and ensure that there is no isolation or segmenting of communities. The importance of promoting interactions across the Engineering community as well as connecting with other departments such as Physics, Applied Math and Computer Science, have been discussed throughout these first planning weeks as well. The Barus and Holley lobby is currently home to a wide variety of events, including study groups, career networking sessions, art shows, and student presentations and competitions. It is also a popular gathering place for undergraduate and graduate students. Therefore, the committee has been putting careful thought into how to maintain and enhance the lobby since it has served as such an important component over the years. In particular, the committee is considering how to improve connectivity between Barus and Holley, Prince Lab, and the Giancarlo building by extending the existing lobby space into the new building. This extended lobby may also include a new café, as well as multi-functional seating and gathering spaces. The committee will continue to discuss other topics including the creation of good collaborative spaces, and how this new building can be a part of our goal to foster a sense of community and commitment, with the idea that this new building can be a part of something that excites and inspires engineering and the whole campus for the next 50 years. Engineering Building to Utilize Integrated Project Delivery For the new School of Engineering building, Brown decided to engage with a new and innovative design, planning, and building process known as "Integrated Project Delivery." Integrated Project Delivery is a relatively new contracting method where the owner (Brown University), architect, contractor, and subcontractors sign a multi party agreement that fundamentally shifts both the risk and reward away from the individual parties onto the project as a whole. The project profits and contingencies are pooled together, so the entire team is motivated to truly collaborate throughout the delivery process. For complex projects like the School of Engineering new research building, incentivizing strong collaboration is the key to driving the best value solutions. In our first experience, with a smaller renovation project at Brown, we were able to save over 15% on the cost of the original project estimate and add value that would have otherwise been lost back into the project to increase scope, ultimately getting more with the same planned funds. We have built a team together with KieranTimberlake as our architect, and Shawmut as our construction firm, aligned around creating the best possible building for the smartest use of our funding, and with all parties committed to working seamlessly end to end throughout this project to share information, decision making and execution. We look forward to seeing the output of this process and hope to utilize it in future Brown University projects as well. BROWN School of Engineering Winter 2015

14 Corporate AffIliates Board Advisory council/development Committee The October meeting of the School of Engineering s Corporate Affiliates Board (CAB) was led by Jennifer Casasanto, Associate Dean for Programs and Planning, and Ryan Ross, CAB chair, and focused on themes around career development and industrial collaborations. Members discussed what elements have made for successful collaborations, and how engaging with Brown University is unique since it is a smaller research program, there is greater access and engagement with faculty, and great diversity of research populations and diversity of ideas. They also discussed increasing industrial collaborations with Brown Engineering, and the value of having multiple levels and avenues of engagement available to interact with industry. These included engaging with students in courses, hiring students, sponsoring student competitions and groups, funding research, sponsoring specific research projects around R&D interests, donating equipment for testing, licensing patents, and others. A career panel discussion was led by CAB members who described in detail their own personal career paths, choices they made, and how they arrived at the leadership positions they hold today. Students in attendance were highly engaged and asked advice on career aspects of future industries, and strategies for their own career searches. The CAB also received an overview and discussed applications for an innovative new research area of bio-informed smart lighting by Jimmy Xu, the Charles C. Tillinghast Jr. University Professor of Engineering and Professor of Physics. Corporate Affiliates Board Mission The School of Engineering CAB was developed to ensure that the growth and evolution of the School accords with industry needs, and that the School will be guided and supported by robust industry involvement. A main purpose of the CAB is to mutually benefit industry partners and the School. This is accomplished by developing relationships that enhance both student internship and employment opportunities, and exploring ways for faculty to partner with industry in performing high-impact research. The CAB will provide the Dean with guidance on the School s educational program including its quality and relevance to state-of-the-art engineering challenges, together with the preparedness of its graduates. Corporate Affiliates Board members with Brown University School of Engineering Dean Larry Larson at the October meeting. Corporate Affiliates Board Members Dan Leibholz 86 Sc.M. 88 VP, Embedded Systems Products and Tech Group Analog Devices, Inc. Norwood, MA Ryan Ross (CAB Chair) Director of Software Engineering Arista Networks Boston, MA Tom Shannon 85 Partner Bain & Company Chicago, IL Jeff Trauberman, JD 76 VP, Space, Intelligence and Missile Defense for Government Ops Boeing Arlington, VA Axel zur Loye, Ph.D. 81 Chief Engineer (dual fuel engines) Cummins Columbus, IN Joyce Mullen 84 P 13 P 13 VP/GM, OEM Sales Solutions Dell Round Rock, TX Stephan Kolitz, Ph.D. Director of Education Draper Laboratory Cambridge, MA Paul Bechta 87 Sc.M. 88 Senior Director, Global Services EMC Hopkinton, MA Lou Hector, Jr., Ph.D. Technical Fellow, Research and Development General Motors Warren, MI H. B. Siegel 83 Chief Technology Officer IMDb Seattle, WA David Linde Principal Firmware Engineer, Neuro System Technology Medtronic Minneapolis, MN Lou DiPalma Sc.M. 89 P 08 Engineering Director Raytheon Portsmouth, RI Colin Mercer, Ph.D. VP Research & Development Simulia Josh Brumberger Business Development Executive Utilidata Michael Pereira Senior Vice President, Technology & Operations ximedica Advisory Council Members The EAC meets twice a year in October and February and provides critical support and advice on the School and provides important feedback to the Provost and the President. Sangeeta N. Bhatia 90 Professor, Investigator, Director: Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies MIT Cambridge, MA Seth Coe-Sullivan 99 Chief Technology Officer QD Vision Lexington, MA Rick Fleeter 76 Ph.D. 81 Author/Adjunct Professor Brown University La Sapienza /University of Rome Rome, Italy D. Oscar Groomes 82 P 15 Metallurgical Engineer, Physicist and Materials Scientist Groomes Business Solutions Charlotte, NC Deirdre Hanford 83 - Chair Senior Vice President, Global Technical Services Synopsys, Inc. Mountain View, CA David Hibbitt Ph.D. 72 PMAT 96 Co-Founder Hibbitt, Karlsson and Sorensen Inc. Fazle Husain 87 Managing Director Metalmark Capital New York, NY Mary Lou Jepsen 87 Ph.D. 97 Head of Display Division Google X Lab Mountain View, CA Alejandro Knoepffler 82 P 16 Principal Cipher Investment Management Co. Coral Gables, FL Peter Lauro 78 P 11 Partner Saul Ewing, LLP Boston, MA John Lawrence, M.D. 79 Vice President, Cardiovascular Global Clinical Research Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Princeton, NJ Andrew Marcuvitz 71 P 06 Founder, Chairman Alpond Capital, LLC Lincoln, MA Deb Mills-Scofield 82 Partner Glengary LLC Beachwood, OH James R. Moody 58 Sc.M. 65 P 97 Co-Founder Co-Planar, Inc. Denville, NJ Venkatesh Venky Narayanamurti Director Science Technology /Public Policy Program Harvard Kennedy School Cambridge, MA James B. Roberto Associate Laboratory Director Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, TN John Sinnott 80 P 16 Vice President Gilbane Building Company Paul Sorensen 71 Sc.M. 75 Ph.D. 77 P 06 P 06 Co-Founder Hibbitt, Karlsson and Sorensen Inc. Ted Tracy 81 P 14 Vice President of Engineering BlueJeans Mountain View, CA James E. Warne, III 78 President WTI, Inc. Phoenix, AZ Development Committee Charlie Giancarlo 79 P 08 P 11 Managing Director Silver Lake Partners Menlo Park, CA Theresia Gouw 90 Co-Founder Aspect Ventures Palo Alto, CA Steven Price 84 Chairman and CEO Townsquare Media Greenwich, CT Joan Wernig Sorensen 72 P 06 P 06 Paul Sorensen 71 Sc.M. 75 Ph.D. 77 P 06 P 06 Co-Founder Hibbitt, Karlsson and Sorensen Inc. Engineering Advisory Council Mission Provide support and advice in the development, execution, and attainment of the School of Engineering s strategic goals. Ensure the School of Engineering is providing the highest quality educational experience for its students, and is embarking on the highest impact, highest quality, research program. Coordinate with the Engineering Development Committee to ensure that our strategic and financial initiatives are achieved. Work with campus leadership to ensure their continued support of the School of Engineering, and recognition of the key role Engineering plays in the vitality of the entire Brown community. Executive Advisory Council members with Brown University Provost Vicki Leigh Colvin (center) at the October meeting. BROWN School of Engineering winter 2015

15 Donor Honor Roll Alumni Honor Roll Perspective The School of Engineering is grateful for the support of all of its donors during the 2014 fiscal year (July 1, June 30, 2014). The Honor Roll is in appreciation and recognition of those individuals, corporations, foundations, and organizations whose support makes the continued commitment to excellence in teaching and research at the Brown School of Engineering possible. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, please notify us immediately if there are any errors or omissions. $500,000+ Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Dianne Giannetto Giancarlo and Charles H. Giancarlo '79, P'08, P'11 Hugh W. Pearson '58 Joan Wernig Sorensen '72 and E. Paul Sorensen '71 ScM'75 PhD'77, P'06, P'06 $100,000 - $499,000 Anonymous Anonymous Anonymous Son C. Yi and Wook Hyun Kwon PhD'76 Neal B. Mitchell Jr. '58 The late John Paulson Jr. '49 Howard M. Reisman '76, P'09 Lisa and Lance West P'16 $50,000 - $99,999 Scott C. Friend '87 Conrad B. Herrmann '82, P'16 M. Fazle Husain '87 Nancy J. Freeman and Jeffrey A. Weiss P'12 MD'16* $10,000-$49,999 Alexander J. Cox '51 Karen and Theodore Dourdeville P'15 Deirdre Ryan Hanford '83 Eric S. Lee '89 Alexander G. Weindling '84 $5,000-$9,999 Désirée B. Caldwell '78 and William F. Armitage Jr. '72 ScM'74, P'15 Dwight K. Bann '94 Vivian Bergquist Clarke '49 and Edward N. Clarke '46 PhD'51 David O. Groomes '82, P'15 Robert W. Reinhold '83 Judith Sockut Silverman '67 ScM'69 ScM'85 and Harvey F. Silverman ScM'68 PhD'71, P'94, P'00* Michael E. Strem '58, P'97 $2,500-$4,999 Arthur Corvese Jr. '73 Ronald P. Grelsamer '75 Merrit A. Heminway '83 Sandra Nusinoff Lehrman '69 MD'76 and Stephen A. Lehrman '73* Caryn G. Melrose and Michael A. Moser '81, P'13 $1,000-$2,499 Thomas P. Dimeo '52, P'83 Diane Zion Douglass '84 Benjamin N. Eldridge P'14 Sabine M. von Preyss-Friedman and Michael K. Friedman P'15 Elinor Y. Fung '11 Mary Lou Jepsen '87 PhD'97 ScD'14 John H. Lawrence III '79 Erin F. MacDonald '98 Stefan I. McDonough '90 Susan M. Miller ScM'85 PhD'88* Deborah J. Mills-Scofield '82 Carol and Steven Miranda P'14 Rachel L. Murai '17 Rany Ng '98 Joanne and Jeffrey Shorter P'17 Gary H. Sockut '72* John S. Thorne '75 Gregory D. Thorson '83 Patricia Watson James C. Atkins and John J. Weltman P'16 $500-$999 Luke N. Angelini '10 ScM'11 Caitlin E. Ashley-Rollman '09 ScM'10 Wendy L. Bernero and Richard H. Bernero '89 David S. Brown '11 John T. Burgess Jr. '74 Beth and Ronald Cooper P'16 Alan V. Feibelman '79 Daniel A. Felder '11 James P. Hanley '88 Hector A. Inirio '10 Dana and William Keeth P'16 Joseph Kenney Jr. '50 H. Ezzat Khalifa PhD'76 Lawrence E. Larson Carol Lanuza and Eddy P. Lui '95 Nicholas A. Marcantonio '02 Peter C. Mayer '63 Yoon Y. Choo '92 and Ellis Mishulovich E. Toki and Owen Oakley P'03 Elizabeth J. Phalen ScM'94 Guruswami Ravichandran ScM'83 PhD'87 Ray D. Risner '67 Jeremy E. Rothfleisch '92 Robert J. Rothstein '69 Matthew Stein '01 Sheila and Mark Toomey P'15 Sabine M. Vonpreyss-Friedman $250-$499 Anonymous Paul C. Anagnostopoulos '74 Sangeeta N. Bhatia '90 BROWN School of Engineering 26 Timothy P. Burns Katharine Gardner Cipolla '66 and John W. Cipolla ScM'67 PhD'70 Elizabeth Lind Crane '82, P'11 Theodore Doucakis '96 ScM'00 Gary W. Dulaney '97 ScM'98 Richard B. Edgar '47, P'87 Jeffrey G. Freudberg '78 Christopher P. Gallo '99 Brendan J. Hargreaves '06 ScM'07 Stuart E. Kirtman PhD'98* Leo Marcoux '56 ScM'64, P'82 Irina Meyer and Eric P. Meyer ScM'89 James L. Nolan '71 Betina E. Pavri ScM'92 James B. Roberto Josephine Scarpulla Daniel G. Schweikert ScM'62 PhD'66 John D. Sinnott '80, P'16 Bonni and William Stanley P'15 Judith and Marinos Stylianou P'15 Kena K. Yokoyama '96 Cheung-min and Eric Young P'14 $100-$249 N. Todd Becker '79 Lalita Kaligotla and Ravi V. Bellamkonda PhD'95 Paul P. Brown '57 Wendell S. Brown III '65 ScM'67, P'03 Dennis S. Buchheim '92 Karl C. Buckenmaier '89 Brady S. Caspar '13 Stanley G. Chamberlain PhD'69 Sye-Min Chan '05 Emily A. Coe-Sullivan '99 and Seth Coe-Sullivan '99 Thomas A. Collard '97 Katherine H. Cornog '82 Jenna G. Dancewicz '11 John B. DeGrazia '70 Alison L. Errico '06 and Andrew M. DelDonno '06 Ronald C. Delo '71 Franklin Dexter '85 Clyde K. Fisk '40, P'69, P'72 ScM'73, GP'98 ScM'00, GP'99, GP'02 Richard D. Fleeter '76 PhD'81 Matthew S. Forkin '07 Nicole and Steve Frankel Dean K. Frederick ScM'61 Rachel M. VanSickle-Ward and Neil A. Fromer '96 Frank P. Fuerst '79, P'13 Julie S. Greenberg and Joseph Greenberg '92 Michael W. Harrison '95 PhD'07 Peter J. Hendricks '66 Charles J. Hinckley '73 Leigh R. Hochberg '90 Ronald H. Hoffeld ScM'87 Katherine Cheng Huang '99 and Eric K. Huang '94 PhD'01 Brian L. Hunt ScM'65 PhD'67 Robert H. Hux '03 Adrian M. Kaplan '02 Saul J. Kaplan '75 Steven B. Kaufman '87 Jennifer Kaufmann and Ari J. Kaufmann '02 Katayoun Shafiee '00 and Amer M. Khayyat '99 Keisuke Kuida P'16 Dmitri K. Lemmerman '02 ScM'06 Harvey B. Lemon '66 Kerry I. Lenahan '95 Paul H. Maysek '76, P'17 Andrew Mirsky '99 ScM'00 Cynthia and Arthur Morris III P'13 Lauren R. Moser '13 Bryant K. Ng '03 ScM'04 Carl E. Nielsen Jr. '56 Stephen A. Osada '99 Madoka Etoh and Thomas J. Owens P'14 James M. Perkins '00 Ann K. Pokora '93 Thomas D. Pucci '46 He Qi ScM'10 Erin Kendrick Rebholz '98 Jay A. Reichman '83 Donald G. Rich '51 Debra Thomason Roelke '83 and Marc Roelke '83, P'12, P'14, P'15 Sidney A. Rosenzweig '93 Arthur C. Schoeller '76 The late Judith J. Schweikert Ruth Nagel Shelley '79 Eliahu N. Shichor ScM'68 PhD'70 Kara and Andrew Siegel Robert W. Singleton '70 Christopher G. Street '93 Michael S. Strickland '80, P'12 ScM'13 Joy Sutro Truman '70 and Dale Truman '68, P'02 Melissa A. Uppgren and John R. Uppgren '80 Ross N. Weene '98 Elliot F. Whipple ScM'74 Teng-Fong Wong '73 Eileen F. Wang '07 ScMIME'08 and Charlie Yongpravat '07 ScM'08 Tony K. Yue '83, P'16 $50-$99 Daniela M. Amores '05 Sara R. Berglund '09 ScM'10 Peter K. Bertsch ScM'62 Gail Shina Browne '94 and Michael A. Browne '94 Rebecca Weinstein Charous '87 Mary Alice Conlon Allison M. Conta and Jonathan A. Conta '97 John R. Coombs '79 Amy E. Flynn '94 Matthew A. Foran '93 Brock B. Groth ScM'94 Audra and Matthew Gurin P'16 Robert Guroff Arlene M. Hsu and Alex C. Hsu '01 ScM'03 Jill U. Javier '07 Sriram R. Jayakumar '13 Nancy Keegan and Mark J. Keegan '93 Michael T. Kezirian '89 Justin S. King '96 Ariel B. Klein '97 Kyam Krieger '08 Kristina J. Leung '12 Richard J. Marshall '71, P'10 Linda Mills Marie L. Miranda Ryan M. Mott '09 Eugene B. Nelson '11 Marilyn B. Nourse '00 Ellen O'Hagan Katter Michelle Lazaro-Payumo and Francis C. Payumo '95 ScM'97 Tonya Pezzutti and David A. Pezzutti '69 ScM'70 Brock E. Pytlik '03 Neil Rajan '07 ScMIME'08 Nicholas G. Ringstad '04 Lawrence P. Sanford '78 Yannis Sarantis '09 Mikhail G. Shapiro '03 Ruben H. Spitz '09 ScM'10 Eileen P. Tooman P'10 Tina M. Trahan Megan A. Wachs '05 William F. Weiss IV '03 Xiuhua Zhang and Yongting Yang P'14 Mun Ju Kim ScM'00 PhD'04 Dulcy Lecour P'06 Daniel R. Ludwig '09 Miriam R. Englund and Paul N. Mathieu P'17 James F. Mc Ginn Jr. '52 Emily G. Kunen '08 and Cash L. McCracken '08 Simon C. McEntire '06 James C. McLaughlin '11 Susan C. Merriam '77 Paula E. Miller '08 Loraine and Christopher Miranda Elizabeth Brisbin Mullard '81 Eleni Aggelis Nakou and Athanasios Nakos P'12, P'16 Emir V. Okan '12 Shirin L. Oskooi '05 Melvin A. Parker '08 Vishal Patel '05 Andrew M. Paulsen '01 Patipan Prasertsom '13 William B. Rozell '65 Kyle D. Schutter '10 Sepehr Sekhavat '92 Robert M. Senger '00 Maswazi Sihlabela '11 Rachel M. Spaulding '00 Rukshana and Suleman Sukhyani Michael E. Sunshine '11 ScM'11 Adrienne L. Trudeau '07 Debbie Choi Tsang '99 and David Tsang '99 Brendan J. Warner '09 Reid T. Westwood '12 John W. Zox '02 Corporations, Foundations, and Institutions $1-$49 Analog Devices* ArcelorMittal Edward E. Backlund '13 Cabot Corporation Beth Wasserman Badik '01 Cognex Linnea B. Blaurock '13 DPR Construction Inc. John F. Carrere III '06 Harvest Management, LLC Lisha Stewart Cole '83 and Leroy Cole Jr. '83 Macrogen, Inc. Erin M. Donohue '07 Medtronic, Inc. Aditi Dubey '08 University of Pennsylvania Nancy S. Eichenlaub '97 ScM'98 Sidney E. Frank Foundation Eli J. Fine '10 The Procter and Gamble Fund Dana J. Frankel '08 Lindsey Fujita '04 ScM'05 Elizabeth A. Giannuzzi '13 * These donors have given in each of the past four Emily A. Gilbert '14 fiscal years since the formation of the School Eric C. Greenstein '13 of Engineering on July 1, Eugenia Gurvich '13 Chioke B. Harris '08 Garvin A. Heath '94 Emily K. Hsieh '12 Andrea L. Jones '10 Jovan Julien '10 Make a Gift Nancy B. Julius P'16 Iphigenia-Danae Kapoulea '13 27 winter 2015

16 alumni perspective Scott Friend 87 reflects on. beliefs of entrepreneurs I started my post-brown career at a big company - IBM - where I learned about sales and account management and how to make your customer successful. But I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Fortunately, I had the chance to join a start-up company after business school and then co-found my own business. I m now a venture investor supporting young, talented entrepreneurs with great new ideas that have a chance to really make an impact. Being a venture capitalist is a fantastic opportunity because, while it sounds clichéd, I get to see the future every day in the entrepreneurs I work with and meet every week. Since I do very earlystage investing, I hear about ideas that have no business existing and products that no one has thought of before and for which there is no market. These young engineers, designers, and business people have a belief often an irrational belief that what they are passionate about can come true. But it s exactly this type of irrational enthusiasm and passion that leads to the greatest successes! Having built a company from the ground up as an entrepreneur and helped others do the same as an investor, it s obvious to me that teaching students about entrepreneurship and giving them opportunities to think through and perhaps start their own businesses is great training for whatever they do in life. Entrepreneurship is an aggregation of all sorts of important skills from innovation to salesmanship to general management: it all comes together when you think about building a product and building a business. different but complementary skills The nature of Brown s curriculum is such that students who are excited about entrepreneurship can capitalize on that passion and build those skills. Every one of my courses taught me to peel back the onion and see what was going on underneath: how to think about the world in ways that were different than I had in the past. I remember taking an entry-level engineering course on mechanics and walking around for days looking at bridges and buildings through an entirely new lens. Similarly, I had an amazing professor, Skillman, who taught what could have been a pretty dry course on labor economics. Yet his approach brought the material to life in a way that influenced how I thought at the time about markets and businesses and human resources and those perspectives and learnings are with me still. And now I have the chance to go back to campus every semester when Adjunct Lecturer in Engineering Danny Warshay teaches a Harvard Business School-type case on my former business, ProfitLogic. It s amazing to listen to students from so many disciplines and concentrations at Brown weigh in on the challenges we faced at the time of the case and share insights that are far more nuanced and thoughtful than I think I had at the time! Entrepreneurship is part of the fabric of our society in a different way than it was when I was at Brown. Starting a company, building an app, designing a product these things are far more on students radar screens. And so to create an environment such as the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation at Brown that lets you collaborate with like-minded folk and with people with different but complementary skills is really an amazing opportunity. It s an incredible Friend, a member of the Brown Design Workshop Advisory Board, recently resource to have at the school. attended the first annual meeting of the group. a unique environment I have unbelievably positive feelings about the University. The most important relationships in my life were established there relationships with individuals who have become lifelong contributors to my success and happiness. It is, for the right kind of student, just an incredibly unique environment. I love that Brown continues to innovate and find new ways to be even better. Scott Friend 87 - former head of ProfitLogic and present managing director of Bain Capital - has given to several University priorities, including the Brown Annual Fund and current-use and endowed scholarships. Currently, Friend has also pledged to support the forthcoming Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation. - by Catharine Beattie CAMPAIGN FOR ENGINEERING This plan is ambitious, but Brown has implemented equally ambitious plans in the last several years. Aiming for excellence invigorates and inspires us all. Larry Larson, Dean, School of Engineering Brown s School of Engineering is poised for a bold step forward. New teaching and research facilities are to be built on College Hill adjacent to Barus & Holley. Expanded faculty will ensure that engineering continues to play its key role in multi-disciplinary education. Students will have opportunities to assimilate diverse disciplines required to address today s global challenges as well as contribute to fundamental scientific understanding. Please join us in support of the Campaign for Engineering. Help us make sure that Brown students have the resources needed for in-depth scientific inquiry and the education that will prepare them for addressing key challenges facing people across the globe. Joan Wernig Sorensen 72, P 06, P 06 E. Paul Sorensen 71 Sc.M. 75 Ph.D. 77, P 06, P 06 Engineering Development Committee For more than 160 years, Brown University s engineering program has sustained an exciting and unique environment for learning, teaching, and research. What began in 1847 has grown into a distinguished School of Engineering characterized by global impact, innovation, multi-disciplinary pursuits, and outstanding faculty and students. These characteristics provide a unique opportunity to help transform the School of Engineering into a force for global technological and entrepreneurial innovation by: BROWN School of Engineering winter 2015 þþ þþ Hiring and supporting transformational faculty in key areas of explosive technological growth and profound societal impact Transforming undergraduate engineering education The time to begin these initiatives is now. Philanthropic, visionary individuals are encouraged to seize this unique opportunity to make a difference in our community and in the world. Giving Opportunities New Engineering Facility School of Engineering Building Fund starting at $100,000 New and renovated space on College Hill for education, collaboration and research including classrooms, research labs, cleanrooms, etc. Brown Design Workshop in Prince Lab $10-15 million The focus of collaborative making and experiential learning for the campus Faculty Support Endowed Professorships Providing faculty support plus start-up funds for research and infrastructure needs Endowed Visiting Professorships Bringing new perspectives and real-world experience Endowed Post-Doctoral Scholars Training the next generation of leading faculty $5 million $2 million $1.5 million Graduate Student Support Endowed Graduate Fellowships in Engineering $750,000 Support for transformative research Transforming Undergraduate Education Endowed First-Year Seminar Fund $500,000 Provides funding for one first-year seminar each year First-Year Seminar Fund $50,000 Provides funding for one first-year seminar Endowed Department/Program Fund $250,000 Used broadly to help build the profile of School of Engineering programs Endowed Technology Investment Fund $250,000 Support for enhanced classroom technology and new and upgraded state-of-the-art instructional equipment for labs Dean s Fund for Engineering Excellence All amounts Support investment in novel research and curriculum innovations, and the creation of new educational ventures

17 School of Engineering Box D 184 Hope Street EnGIN 0030 design projects 2014