*List of Announcements (details below):*
* Jeff Offutt Wins George Mason Teaching Excellence Award
* 2013 VSE Award Winners
* C4I Seminar: Friday, Apr 12, 1:30 pm, room 4705
* Presentation: Tesla Motors, Monday, Apr 15, 12-3pm, Research Hall,
Rm. 163
* VSE Lecture: Monday, Apr 22, 2pm, Research Hall, Rm. 163
* Open Forum on Audit of NSF/NIH Awards: Apr 17, 1pm, University Hall 3300
* Jacqueline Hughes-Oliver Receives Funding from NCSU and NIH
* NY Times: "New Test for Computers: Grading Essays at College Level"
*Jeff Offutt Wins George Mason Teaching Excellence Award*
Professor Jeff Offutt of the Computer Science Department is a recipient
of a 2013 George Mason University Teaching Excellence Award. This honor
acknowledges his commitment to providing students with meaningful,
significant learning experiences, as well as his success in achieving
this ambitious goal.
He will be honored at the 2013 Celebration of Teaching Excellence, to be
held on Monday, April 15th, from 3:30pm-5:00pm at the Center for the Arts.
For more information on Professor Offutt's work, see
http://cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/ <http://cs.gmu.edu/%7Eoffutt/>.
*2013 VSE Award Winners*
The Volgenau School of Engineering has selected this year's winners of
faculty, student, alumni, and corporate awards.They are:
/Outstanding Research Faculty:/Bijan Jabbari (ECE)
/Outstanding Teaching Faculty:/Huzefa Rangwala (CS)
/Outstanding Adjunct Faculty:/Rebecca J. Tenally (AIT)
/Outstanding Graduate Students: /Geetha Aluri Ph.D. (ECE) and Brian
Olson (CS)
/Outstanding Undergraduate Students:/Sean Lindenmuth (CEIE), John F.
Mooney (CS), Danielle N. Sova (ECE)
/Outstanding Alumnus:/Ron Ritchie, Ph.D.(CS -- BS 1998, MS 1999, PhD 2007)
/Dean's Corporate Recognition Award:/Harris Corporation
The awards will be presented at the Annual Gala on May 4.
*C4I Seminar: Friday, Apr 12, 1:30 pm, room 4705*
Speaker: Dr. Don Ferguson, George Mason University
/Application of Geospatial Analysis For Modeling Lost Person Behavior
and Optimization of Resource Allocation in Wilderness Search and Rescue///
Abstract:
As a fundamentally geospatial problem, the search for missing subject in
a wilderness environment can greatly benefit from the application of
spatial analysis. These analyses can be divided into two broad
categories: hypothesizing on where to search and management of the
search effort. Typical wilderness search and rescue (WiSAR) operations
cover a large geographical area and often have a limited number of
available resources (searchers). The development of hypotheses through
geospatial analysis on the most probable locations of the missing
subject provides a mechanism for prioritizing the search area.
Management of WiSAR operations dictates the need to maximize the
Probability of Detection, likelihood of locating the missing subject, as
well as the Probable Success Rate (PSR). Given differences in resource
(human searchers, canine searchers, aircraft, etc.) capability and
availability this is often times challenging. Operations Research (OR)
provides a quantitative decision-making framework that when coupled with
spatial analysis and the influence of the environment on both searcher
and subject can significantly benefit extended search operations.
Speaker information:*
*Dr. Don Ferguson has over 13 years of experience in search and rescue,
SAR management, teaching and course development for SAR. Over the past
seven years, Don has worked to help pioneer the use of Geographic
Information System software for search and rescue. He is currently the
Technology Officer for the Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference and
the Mountaineer Area Rescue Group, and is the one of the lead developers
on the Integrated Tools for Search and Rescue and MapSAR projects. Dr.
Ferguson is certified as a Search Manager with the Appalachian Search
and Rescue Conference and NASAR SARTECH I. When not participating in SAR
activities, Dr.Ferguson works as a combustion scientist focused on
innovative energy concepts for the US Department of Energy at the
National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, WV.
For further information contact Deb Schenaker, 993-3682, email:
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>, or visit our website
http://c4i.gmu.edu/.
*Presentation: Tesla Motors, Monday, Apr 15, 12-3pm, Research Hall, Rm. 163*
Tesla Motors will visit the university on Monday, April 15, from noon to
3pm, to give a Tech Talk in Research 1, Room 163. They will be
discussing their electric sedan -- the Model S -- and will be bringing a
car for display.
The visit is sponsored by ISM, IEEE, and INCOSE.
*VSE Lecture: Monday, Apr 22, 2pm, Research Hall, Rm. 163*
Speaker:Kyle J. Bunch, IEEE Engineering & Diplomacy Fellow, U.S. Dept.
of State
/Changing the World Through Science and Technology:Engineering Diplomacy
as an Alternative Career/
RSVP by April 19: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Kyle Bunch, PhD, DEE, PE, has more than 25 years of professional
experience in science and technology spanning the range from industry,
academics, and national laboratories to startup company development. He
is currently an IEEE Engineering and Diplomacy Fellow with the U.S.
Department of State in the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and
Compliance, Office of Verification and Transparency Technologies. For
the last eight years, he has worked within the Department of Energy's
Office of Science laboratory complex, starting in 2004 with Sandia
National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2006, he moved to
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he currently holds the title
of Senior Research and Development Scientist. His primary focus during
this time has been using applied physical research toward solving
problems relating to national security. Prior to his national laboratory
experience, Bunch served as a Senior Fulbright scholar at the Technical
University of Lodz, Poland, where he held the title of "Professor
Extraordinarius." During his Fulbright tenure, he was invited to lecture
across Poland and in Russia, as well as to participate in a
student/professor exchange program between the Technical University at
Lodz and the Novgorod State University in Russia. Bunch has been a
member of IEEE for 27 years and a senior member for 14 years. He served
as the IEEE Utah Section chair in 1996-97, as a corresponding member for
the IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee, and as publication chair for the
IEEE 2008 International Nanotechnology Conference. He holds a PhD, a
DEE, and a ME, all in electrical engineering, from the University of
Utah and a BS in electrical engineering and computer science from the
University of Colorado at Boulder.
*Open Forum on Audit of NSF/HHS Awards: Apr 17, 1pm, University Hall 3300*
In the next few weeks a labor audit will be conducted of NSF/HHS awards
to George Mason University.Below are extracts from a message that I
received from Mike Laskofski at the GMU Office of Sponsored Programs.
"Good morning - As a follow-up to prior discussions on the upcoming
NSF/HHS labor audit, I wanted to provide a brief update. Later today I
will reach out to the lead auditor to ask if he has a timeline for their
onsite field work. Originally they indicated the work would start in
early April, but we do not have firm dates yet.
"We have communicated with faculty via email and through administrative
staff in your units, so there should be some level of awareness that the
audit is coming and it's likely individual PIs will be asked to meet
with auditors. I also know many of you have been in communication with
your faculty, which is great.
"Beth Brock and I will hold an open meeting on Wednesday, 4/17 at 1:00 -
2:00 to provide an update on the audit, review what should be expected
and answer any questions you or your faculty might have. We can make
ourselves available for additional sessions or more targeted outreach to
individuals or smaller groups if there is interest. Please feel free to
give me a call to discuss if you think something more targeted would be
helpful for your units or if you have questions."
You can contact Mike Laskofski at 703-993-4573, [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.
*Jacqueline Hughes-Oliver Receives Funding from NCSU and NIH*
Jacqueline Hughes-Oliver of the Statistics Department received $22K from
North Carolina State University and the National Institutes of Health
for her project "QSAR Modeling for Diffusion and Permeability of Solutes".
*NY Times: "New Test for Computers: Grading Essays at College Level"*
URL: http://nyti.ms/ZaKj5h
"Imagine taking a college exam, and, instead of handing in a blue book
and getting a grade from a professor a few weeks later, clicking the
"send" button when you are done and receiving a grade back instantly,
your essay scored by a software program.
"And then, instead of being done with that exam, imagine that the system
would immediately let you rewrite the test to try to improve your grade.
"Edx, the nonprofit enterprise founded by Harvard and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology to offer courses on the Internet, has just
introduced such a system and will make its automated software available
free on the Web to any institution that wants to use it. The software
uses artificial intelligence to grade student essays and short written
answers, freeing professors for other tasks. ..."
--
===============================================================
Stephen G. Nash
Senior Associate Dean
Volgenau School of Engineering
George Mason University
Nguyen Engineering Building, Room 2500
Mailstop 5C8
Fairfax, VA 22030
[log in to unmask]
Phone: (703) 993-1505
Fax: (703) 993-1633
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/seor/faculty/nash.html