Engineering and... News: January 2024

Greetings GW Engineering Community & Happy 2024!

This year, GW Engineering will celebrate an important birthday milestone. For 140 years, GW Engineering has been a hub for innovation, education, and impact, and 2024 stands to be another pioneering year for our school. Stay tuned for information about our birthday celebration plans later this year.

On Monday, January 15th, we celebrated the 38th annual MLK day of service. Here at GW Engineering, we are committed to service and to making a positive impact on the world, starting with improving access and inclusion for all members of our community. Our goal is for every student, staff, and faculty to feel welcomed and supported and to have an equitable opportunity to thrive and achieve their full potential as their most authentic self. This is especially important in engineering and computing, as we need all perspectives and voices around the table as we innovate solutions for the grand challenges we face as a society.

One of the latest examples of our commitment to provide access and inclusion for all is our new $12 million Consortium on Naval Enterprise Pathways (CoNEP), funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research. CoNEP’s core mission is to direct multidisciplinary research on challenging naval issues while training and broadening the next generation of engineers and scientists for the naval research and development enterprise. It is a multi-university effort that will bridge the gap between academic research and naval science and technology needs. Led by GW Engineering faculty member Prof. Phillipe Bardet, this project will present more pathways for our students to participate in high impact research projects, internships, and careers.

As a globally recognized institution, we continue to expand our international impact by leveraging new partnership opportunities. Our Environmental & Energy Management Institute (EEMI) was awarded a grant, in partnership with the Korean National Institute of Green Technology (NIGT), to strengthen the capacities of developing countries to address technological challenges and opportunities for climate change adaptation and mitigation. This new project will be led by Dr. Mukes Kapilashrami with support from Dr. Edward Saltzberg and Prof. Jonathan Deason.

GW Engineering is tackling other dimensions of sustainability, too, including the groundbreaking lithium extraction work being done by Prof. Xitong Liu and PhD student Lingchen Kong. Their research team, Ellexco, was one of three winners of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize. Their chemical-free extraction process will provide access to lithium, which is critical to modern batteries, without detrimental impact on the environment.

As I reflect on the evolution our school has undergone over last 140 years, I am in awe of the strides we’ve made, thanks in large part to many of you who have been a part of our community for much longer than I have. I also see the work that still needs to be done, and I am excited about doing that work with all of you in the years ahead!

Raise High Revolutionaries!
John Lach
Dean

By 2030, a fifth of the United States’ population will be over 65 and past the traditional age of retirement. That means further depletion of the aging federal and scientific workforces through which the country can respond to 21st-century challenges. But how can these sectors attract younger workers to fields they may not even know exist? And what resources do these potential workers need to be qualified?

The George Washington University’s Philippe Bardet, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, will lead the Consortium on Naval Enterprise Pathways (CoNEP), a large multi-institutional consortium funded by the U.S. D.O.D. Office of Naval Research to support the Navy’s Research and Development Enterprise. CoNEP will help create dedicated pathways into naval R&DE for students at all levels—from middle to graduate school—in the greater Washington, D.C., area.

February 2 from 7-9pm: GW Gala

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February 6, 13, 20, & 27 from 12:25-1pm: Black Heritage Month Celebration

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February 6 from 2-5pm: Funding Your Biomedical Technology through the NIH SBIR/STTR Programs

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February 7 from 1-2pm: Clearance Preparedness Program

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February 7 from 4-5:30pm: Call to Service Careers: Civil, Public Service, & Social Impact Speed Networking Event

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February 10: VCIC Competition

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February 12 from 1:30-2:30pm: Info Session: Cyber Acceleration, Translation, & Advanced Prototyping for University Linked Technology

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February 13 from 6-8pm: GW Together: Palm Beach Presidential Reception

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February 15 from 1-4pm: Spring 2024 Virtual GW Career Exploration Expo

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February 15 from 4-6pm: General Dynamics Electric Boat Information Session

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February 15 from 6-8pm: Intelligence Community Career Panel & Networking Reception

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In November 2023, the GW Engineering Environmental and Energy Management Institute (EEMI) was awarded a grant, in partnership with the Korean National Institute of Green Technology (NIGT), to undertake a project involving the development of a national digitalization readiness index (NDRI) to strengthen the

capacities of developing countries to address technological challenges and opportunities for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The $225,000 grant was awarded by the United Nations Climate Technology Center Network (CTCN), which is the implementation arm of the technology mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). EEMI and the Korean NIGT will support CTCN in developing an NDRI for the energy sector to support developing countries in promoting system transformation using digitalization as an enabler.

Improving Access to Prosthetic Devices for Pediatric Patients

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Professor Hamdar Supports D.C. in Evaluating Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

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Furthering the Discussion Around Ethics in Computer Security Through Philosophy

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Professor Dehghanian Recognized for Digitalizing Complex Power Grids

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Undercutting Public Transit? Exploring Preference for Autonomous Vehicles

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Revolutionizing Propulsion Technology

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A research team led by the George Washington University's Xitong Liu is one of three winners of the U.S. Department of Energy’s first-ever American-Made Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize. The prize funds new technologies that efficiently extract the in-demand element from geothermal wastewater. Liu’s team, Ellexco, won $500,000 for its chemical-free extraction process.

"We were really honored to be recognized by the Department of Energy, and we hope we can use this opportunity to further improve our technology,” said Liu, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Associate Director of Development Sonia Deel engages with alumni & donors to keep them up-to-date on happenings in the school, help them access benefits or connect with faculty, guide them to recruiting and/or career information, and help them stay or get connected with GW Engineering. 

Q: How long have you been working at GW and what is your position?
A: I am currently the Associate Director of Development for the School of Engineering. I have been in this position since June but have been at GW for two years.

Q: What led you to this career?
A: I have always had a strong passion for education and the ability to connect alumni with their alma mater. I also enjoy working with our incredible donors and learning about their “only at GW” stories.

Q: Why did you choose GW?
A: I have seven cousins who attended GW so I have grown up with it in my family. I have always had a passion for GW’s mission, vision, and connection to the city of DC.

GW students and other members of the GW community reflected on how to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy while working on service projects on Monday, January 15th, 2024, marking the 29th MLK Jr. Day of Service and Leadership. The day of service kicked off GW’s King Week, a university-wide observance of King’s life. After the opening program, sponsored by the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, around 350 GW volunteers moved to various schools and organizations around the D.C. community.

To reintroduce undergraduate and graduate students to the services and resources available to them throughout every step of their professional journey, the GW Engineering Career Services Center hosted an orientation event on January 25th, 2024. This hour-long orientation not only offered a brief overview of the GW Engineering Career Services Center and its services but also delved into their appointment types and the scheduling process, valuable tools on their website, and upcoming events beneficial to GW Engineering students.  

Data governance is a tool many researchers are looking at to strike a balance between mitigating the risks of large language models (LLMs) and encouraging the development of them. However, this needs to be done more effectively. The Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub and the GW co-led NIST-NSF Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS) brought experts from academia, industry, and government to the George Washington University on December 7th and 8th, 2023, to address this issue at the conference, “Data Governance in the Age of Generative AI.”

We are excited to welcome new members to the community!

- Logan Boydstun - Program Manager for GW Engineering Online

- Purav Dipesh Kumar Parekh - Programmer and Data Analyst for the Department of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering

- Aidan Furlong - Department Operations Assistant for the Department of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering

- Silvia Gomez - Academic Department Administrator for the Department of Computer Science 

- Faiq Hafeez - Department Operations Assistant for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

- Sadie Haun - Department Operations Assistant for the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

- Forogh Kohestani - Financial Analyst for GW Engineering Finance Team

- Asma Manshalin - Department Operations Lead for the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering 

- Julian O'Neill - DURIP Engineer for the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

- Rithika Dulam - NIST Research Scientist for the Department of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering

- Emanuele Francesco Marano - Research Scientist for the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

- Chandan Paul - NIST Senior Research Scientist for the Department of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering

- Sindhuja Ranganath - PREP Senior Research Associate for the Department of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering

- Mallory Smith - Director of Outreach & Strategy for the Department of Engineering Management & Systems Engineering

The GWU-PREP is a collaboration with GWU in Washington, DC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland. GWU-PREP provides research opportunities at NIST to students, faculty, research staff, and postdoctoral researchers at GW as well as researchers at SURA-affiliated universities.

We support your ambitions by offering financial support to eligible GW community members, including a monthly stipend, hourly wage, or full tuition reimbursement for qualifying undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff.