StevensViews, Spring 2008

SPRING 2008
StevensNewsService.com/Views

The National Science
Foundation (NSF) has
awarded an interdisciplinary
team of five Stevens Institute
of Technology researchers
a four-year, $1 million grant to develop
“smart,” self-assembling nano-biomaterials
that can control whether bacteria will adhere
to synthetic surfaces, allowing for carefully
targeted control over microscopic processes
that occur within the human body.
“Technically speaking, this project centers on
the design and self-assembly of nanohydrogels
that will either be adhesive to cells or repul-
sive to cells,” said Professor Matthew Libera,
Principal Investigator on the project, which
was funded under the umbrella of the NSF’s
Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams
(NIRT) initiative. “We are making families of
different polymer nanoparticles and develop-
ing new ways to coat these onto surfaces.”
“The real challenge is to create so-called dif-
ferentially adhesive surfaces, ones that will be
adhesive to certain types of cells in the body
but which will simultaneously repel bacteria,”
said Libera. “Practically speaking, successful
development of these materials will enable us
to create biomedical implants that are more
resistant to infection and, hence, more able to
do the job for which they were designed.”
Joining Libera as Co-Investigators in the
NIRT project are Professor Woo Lee, who
directs the New Jersey Center for MicroChem-
ical Systems at Stevens; Professor Svetlana
Sukhishvili of Stevens’ Department of Chem-
istry & Chemical Biology; Professor Hongjun
Wang of Stevens’ Department of Chemical,
Biomedical & Materials Engineering; and
Mercedes McKay of Stevens’ Center for In-
novation in Engineering & Science Education,
a highly respected K-12 outreach organization,
which will bring ideas and activities related
to infection control and biomaterials into
high-school chemistry and biology curricula
as part of the NIRT project. “This is a great
group of people with impressive abilities,” said
Libera, “and they bring to the NIRT project
a substantial portfolio of research related to
developing infection-resistant biomaterials and
new ways to study how infection occurs on
synthetic surfaces.”
The Stevens NIRT team held a kick-off meet-
ing and presentation about the research project
in November. They were joined by Stevens’
Dean of Engineering & Science Michael Bru-
no, as well as Stryker Orthopaedics representa-
tives Joseph Zitelli and Marc Long. Stryker
has partnered with Stevens to provide support
through board participation and internship
opportunities for students at its manufacturing
and corporate facility in Mahwah, N.J.
NSF awards Stevens team $1 million for research
on smart, bacteria-repellent nanohydrogels
Successful development of these materials will
enable us to create biomedical implants that are
more resistant to infection and, hence, more
able to do the job for which they were designed.”
— Professor Matthew Libera
Stevens held its inaugural Founder’s Day event on February 13, to
celebrate the university’s founding on February 15, 1870. Hosted by
Provost and University Vice President, George P. Korfiatis, and the
Stevens Community, the event centered around a panel discussion on
two focus questions:
• What makes Stevens a“hot”school?
• How can everyone in the Stevens community contribute
to making Stevens a better, or“hotter”school?
The panel of undergraduates, graduate students, alumni, faculty and
administration explored what makes the university desirable to poten-
tial students, what makes alumni proud, how the school may create
future partnerships and what will create buzz about Stevens. It also
examined the school’s current direction in the context of its history
and development.
Stevens celebrates Founder’s Day
Contents
3 TECHNOGENESIS TODAY
4 LATEST NEWS
6 FEATURE STORY
Stevens Institute of Technology to lead
national research effort in Port Security
8 STEVENS PEOPLE
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SPECIAL EVENTS TECHNOGENESIS TODAY
“
www.StevensNewsService.com/views 3

T
he first buoy of the New York Harbor
Observing and Prediction System
(NYHOPS) was deployed in December.
The buoy is located at an offshore location, on the
west bank of the Hudson River in a water depth of
approximately 25 feet off of Castle Point.
“The present observation system, although one
of the most extensive and robust of its kind in
the world, does not provide surface current mea-
surements necessary to
rigorously validate the
surface current nowcast/
forecasts provided by
the forecast model
that is operational in
the region. In order to
address this deficiency,
the existing NYHOPS
observation system
is being expanded by
funds provided by
DARPA and ONR by
adding three buoy-
based comprehensive
monitoring systems,” said Alan Blumberg,
George Meade Bond Professor and Director of
the Center for Maritime Systems.
NYHOPS is a real-time, web-based estuarine and
coastal ocean observing and modeling system for
the waters of the New York Harbor region. It is
designed to monitor and forecast the current state
of the estuarine environment. Its website imports
and serves all available real-time data and produces
48-hour forecasts of water levels, waves, tempera-
tures, salinities and currents for the Hudson River,
the East River, New York Harbor, Raritan Bay,
Long Island Sound and the offshore waters of the
New York Bight. NYHOPS
observations consist of shore-
based and mobile platforms at
strategic locations inside the
harbor and at three sites along
the coast of New Jersey, each
with in-situ ocean and air-sea
interaction measurements.
The near-shore sensors are
sampled every 15 minutes
and data are transmitted
on a half hourly basis via a
467.8 MHz and 900 MHz
series radio link. The mobile,
vessel-mounted, sensors sample continuously
and transmit data every 30 seconds via a
cellular connection. Once the data have passed
quality assurance tests they are entered in the
Stevens Oceanographic and Meteorological
Data Repository (OMDR). The observation
network provides very large spatial coverage
of the region of interest at sufficiently high
resolution to provide a real-time “mosaic” of the
oceanographic conditions.
“It is moored near the gazebo, just north of the
river lot. The buoy is configured to have a full
complement of ocean and weather sensors and
will form the basis of our vision of overwater
instruments deployed throughout the harbor.
This type of buoy and the data will take our
technologies into 2008 with much strength.
We have worked for two years to get this buoy
in place. Credit goes to Michael Bruno for help
with grant writing and to the outstanding field
group here at the Center for Maritime Systems,”
said Blumberg.
Another buoy will be deployed in early spring.
It will be mounted on a US Coast Guard Aid-
to-Navigation (ATON) buoy located in the
main shipping channel just south of the island
of Manhattan. The third buoy to be deployed
in the summer of 2008 will be located in the
Lower Harbor, just south of the Narrows.
Stevens’Castle Point buoy deployed
Green Engineering
minor approved
A new Green Engineering minor has been
approved in Stevens’Charles V. Schaefer
Jr. School of Engineering & Science, and is
open to engineering undergraduates from
all majors. The new minor’s first core course,
EN 301 Sustainable Engineering, was offered
in the spring 2008 semester. This course can
also be taken for general elective credit by
students not planning to complete the Green
Engineering minor.
Issues of environmental sustainability are
of increasing concern for both developed
and developing nations of the world. In the
design, implementation and use of products,
processes and systems that impact all facets
of our lives, fundamental decisions are made
by engineers. The application of the principles
by which engineers can have a positive impact
on sustainability is known as sustainable
engineering, or more colloquially as green
engineering. While elements of sustainable
engineering are permeating the broad-based
Stevens undergraduate engineering pro-
grams, the new minor helps students explore
sustainable approaches to engineering more
in-depth.
The Green Engineering minor consists of six
courses and provides a two-course technical
core–sustainable engineering and sustainable
energy. These courses are followed by two
technical electives which can also provide
a sustainable engineering focus area. Two
additional courses are intended to allow
students to explore ethical, social, economic
and political contextual issues associated with
sustainability.
A
hand-held biomedical device by SPOC
(Stevens Proof of Concept), developed
jointly by students at Stevens and pain-
management expert Dr. Norman Marcus, has
just received FDA 510K clearance for manufac-
ture and marketing as a clinical device.
The SPOC device itself, which began life as
a Stevens undergraduate Senior Design Team
project in 2004, has also spawned a start-up
company, SPOC, Inc., which is headquartered
in Stamford, Connecticut. Several young
alumni from Stevens are employed by the
company, whose tagline reads, “A Revolution in
Pain Management.”
“This is a huge step forward for SPOC’s
device, SPOC the Technogenesis® Company
and Stevens Institute of Technology as a
wellspring of great ideas, especially in the area
of products that emerge from our Biomedical
Engineering program,” said Dr. Helena S.
Wisniewski, Stevens’ VP for University
Research & Enterprise Development,
who is the presiding chair of the
SPOC board. “This is a testament
to the entrepreneurial education
environment at Stevens that we
call Technogenesis, where ideas are
taken the full cycle, from laboratory
innovation to marketplace
realization, all the while
promoting undergraduate
student collaboration
in research and
development.”
SPOC, Inc. was
formed in July 2005
at Stevens by its University
Research & Enterprise Develop-
ment office along with Dr. Marcus, and
three Stevens undergraduate students in the
Biomedical Engineering program. SPOC’s
mission is to develop a proprietary point-of-
care medical diagnostic system, consisting
of a medical device and methodology that
pinpoint the specific myofascial (muscle) trigger
points causing pain. SPOC’s diagnostic system
will benefit patients by helping to eliminate
treatments that prove to be ineffective, such as
surgical procedures, and by allowing physicians
to locate more effectively and to treat muscles
that generate pain.
Since approximately 100 million people in the
United States suffer from chronic pain and
approximately 80 percent of Americans suffer
from some form of pain in their lifetime, the
potential market for such a system is enormous.
“Connecticut Innovations is proud to be the
lead investor in SPOC. This important technol-
ogy was spun out of the Stevens Institute of
Technology by a team of young undergradu-
ate students. Connecticut Innovations took
a risk when it provided start-up financing to
the team,” said Peter Longo, president and
executive director of Connecticut Innovations,
Inc. “This technological milestone is significant
in that it contributes greatly to the company’s
ability to raise additional capital and ensure
continued growth.”
“This is an important milestone,” Dr. Vikki
Hazelwood, chief executive officer of SPOC,
commented. “We are pleased that SPOC has
been given a 501(k) clearance by the FDA, and
we look forward to the next goals in our plan.
Dr. Marcus, Dr. Wisniewski, Stevens and the
alum team of Jeckin Shah, founding
student, and Rebecca Apruzzese –
a recent Stevens graduate in
Biomedical Engineering
who joined the SPOC
team in 2007 – all deserve
the highest praise for their
continuing efforts to bring
such a needed disruptive-
technology product to the
American market.”
Dr. Hazelwood also served as
faculty advisor to the original
undergraduate design team of
Jeckin Shah, Ryan Stellar and
Daniel Silva.
SPOC has received consistent national
media attention during its development and
testing phases, most recently on the March
20, 2008, edition of NBC’s “Today,” where Dr.
Marcus displayed and discussed the potential of
the device.
“What we have today is further confirmation of
the success of Stevens’ educational environment
of Technogenesis, where creativity and inventive-
ness are emphasized in finding solutions to critical
problems of industrial and national significance,”
said Stevens’ Provost & University Vice President
George P. Korfiatis. “We are especially proud
today of our young Biomedical Engineering
program, whose students have given the world
this powerful biomedical tool that will ultimately
make its mark in the clinical marketplace.”
SPOC pain-locator device, featured
on“Today,”receives FDA 510(k)
StevensViews SPRING 2008 www.StevensNewsService.com/views4 5
LATEST NEWS LATEST NEWS
The buoy is configured
to have a full complement
of ocean and weather
sensors and will form the
basis of our vision of
overwater instruments
deployed throughout
the harbor.”
— Alan Blumberg
“
The new Stevens buoy, located on the west bank
of the Hudson River in a water depth of approximately
25 feet off of Castle Point.
www.iStockphoto.com

The five new Centers of Excellence, located
across the country, will study border security
and immigration; explosives detection, miti-
gation, and response; maritime, island and
port security; natural disasters, coastal infra-
structure and emergency management; and
transportation security.
Stevens and The Universi-
ty of Hawaii in Honolulu ,
Hawaii, will co-lead a new
Center of Excellence for
Maritime, Island and Port
Security, responsible for
conducting research and
developing new ways to
strengthen maritime domain awareness and
safeguard populations and properties unique
to US islands, and remote and extreme
environments. Stevens will lead research and
education in port security and the University
of Hawaii will lead research and education
for maritime and island security.
“Congratulations to the Dean of
Engineering & Science Michael S. Bruno
and the entire team at Stevens who have
achieved this recognition, and who will
make significant contributions to research
that will benefit the nation’s maritime and
port security infrastructure,” said Stevens’
Provost & University Vice President,
George P. Korfiatis. “This recognition is the
result of a highly selective
national competition
among research
universities. Stevens’ long
history of maritime
engineering and pre-
eminence in the realm of
port and harbor security
will guarantee for years to
come a steady flow of
technology advances of national significance
as part of the DHS program.”
“Investments in long-term, basic research
are vital for the future of homeland secu-
rity,” said Jay M. Cohen, Under Secretary
for Science and Technology. “These colleges
and universities are leaders in their fields of
study. They will provide scientific expertise,
high-quality resources, and independent
thought – all valuable to securing America.”
The winning proposal led by Stevens in-
volves other universities including Rutgers
University, the University of Miami, MIT,
the University of Alaska, and the University
of Puerto Rico.
“We look forward to initiating a range of
leading-edge research projects to address the
complex security issues facing our nation’s
ports and Marine Transportation System
(MTS),” said Dr. Bruno. “Together with
our partners, we will break new ground in
the integrated use of multi-scale sensors
and computer simulation and forecasting
models to equip our port security and
first-responder communities with the
technologies and processes needed to ensure
the safe and efficient operation of the MTS,
which is responsible for the vast majority of
the nation’s international commerce. True
to the Stevens tradition, we will weave these
research activities into our education and
professional training programs, to ensure
that our students are equipped to contribute
immediately to the solutions to these very
complex problems.”
US Department of Homeland Security selects
Stevens Institute of Technology to lead national
research effort in Port Security
T
he US Department of Homeland Security has
announced the selection of Stevens Institute of Technology
as one of 11 universities to serve as important partners
for conducting multi-disciplinary research and creating innovative
learning environments for critical homeland security missions.
These universities will partner to lead one of five new Centers of
Excellence and each will receive a multi-year grant of up to
$2-million per year, over a period of four to six years.
This recognition is
the result of a highly
selective national
competition among
research universities.
FEATURE STORY FEATURE STORY
www.StevensNewsService.com/views6 7StevensViews SPRING 2008

McClellan elected full-member
of the Académie Internationale
d’Histoire des Sciences
James E. McClellan III, Professor of History of
Science and Dean of the College of Arts & Letters,
has been elected a full-member (membre
effectif) of the Académie Internationale
d’Histoire des Sciences. McClellan had been a
corresponding member of the Académie
Internationale since June of 2002.
The Académie Internationale d’Histoire des
Sciences is honorary organization that recognizes
distinguished achievement in the scholarly field
of the history of science. It was founded in Oslo
and Paris in 1928. It is legally headquartered at
the Sorbonne in Paris with a secretariat at the
Centre d’Histoire des Sciences et Techniques at
the University of Liège in Belgium.
The Académie is composed of approximately
350 members and correspondents worldwide.
The Académie is an organ of the International
Union for the History and Philosophy of Science.
It holds quadrennial general meetings and
biennially awards a prize for younger scholars
and the Alexandre Koyré medal for lifetime
achievement in the history of science. The
Académie publishes the distinguished review,
the Archives Internationales d’Histoire des
Sciences, in six official languages, and a series of
scholarly works, De Diversis Artibus.
A paper co-authored by David Naumann,
Associate Professor of Computer Science,
was recently named the “Best Student Paper”
at the ACM International Conference on
Object-Oriented Programming, Systems,
Languages and Applications (OOPSLA). The
paper, “Modular Verification of Higher-Order
Methods with Mandatory Calls Specified
by Model Programs,” was co-authored by
Professor Gary Leavens of Florida Central
University, and graduate student Steve
Shaner of Iowa State University. The paper
introduces a precise and modular technique
for specifying and verifying so-called callbacks,
which are a critical feature of most object-
oriented software frameworks such as web and
networking middleware for Java and C#.
The 22nd annual OOPSLA Conference was
held from October 20-25, 2007 in Montreal,
Canada. It is billed as the premier conference
for innovative and thought-provoking ideas,
where industry experts and their academic
peers gather to improve programming
languages and refine the practice of software
development. This year’s keynote speakers
included two Turing Award winners, Frederick
Brooks and John McCarthy. Professor Leavens
is an academic grandchild of McCarthy.
A total of 33 research papers were accepted out
of 156 submissions. Besides the Best Student
Paper there was also a 10-year anniversary
award for most influential paper from 1997.
Naumann wins best paper award at
ACM International Conference
P
rofessor David Vaccari, the Director
of Stevens’ Department of Civil,
Environmental and Ocean Engineering,
has been appointed Chair of the American
Academy of Environmental Engineers (AAEE)
Education Committee for a three-year term.
The committee develops educational policy for
the Academy and recommends representatives
to the commissions of the Accreditation Board
for Engineering & Technology (ABET). The
AAEE is also the lead society for environmental
education program accreditation, in partnership
with ABET, Inc.
“Congratulations to Dr. Vaccari,” said Michael
Bruno, Dean of the Schaefer School of
Engineering and Science.
“The AAEE Education
Committee will certainly
profit from David’s
vast and distinguished
expertise as an engineer,
researcher and educator,
and Stevens and the
Schaefer School are proud to count him among
our most distinguished faculty members.”
Vaccari’s areas of research interest and expertise
in Environmental Engineering include Biologi-
cal Processes, Physicochemical Processes, and
System Modeling. He has taught numerous
courses at both the undergraduate and gradu-
ate levels. He is also the author or co-author
of many papers for refereed journals, and
co-authored a book with Jim Alleman of Iowa
State University and Peter Strom of Rutgers
University, titled, “Environmental Biology for
Engineers and Scientists.”
A licensed Professional
Engineer in the State
of New Jersey, Vaccari
also holds four degrees
from Rutgers University,
including a doctorate
in Environmental Science (1984), a Master of
Science degree in Chemical Engineering (1983),
a Master of Science degree in Environmental
Science (1979), and a Bachelor of Science
degree in Environmental Science (1974).
Dimitri Donskoy elected Fellow
of the Acoustical Society of America
Dimitri Donskoy, Associate Professor of Civil,
Environmental and Ocean Engineering, and
Associate Director of the Davidson Laboratory,
was elected a Fellow of the Acoustical Society
of America at the November 2007 meeting in
New Orleans. Donskoy received the honor for
his contributions to physical, structural and
underwater acoustics.
Donskoy has accumulated a great deal of
theoretical and experimental experiences in
nonlinear and structural acoustics, sensing and
diagnostics, and instrumentation develop-
ment. Since his arrival to the United States in
1990, he has been a principal investigator for
numerous multi-disciplinary projects, such as
mine detection, non-destructive testing and
characterization of materials and structures,
medical diagnostics, noise and vibration miti-
gation, sensor design, and others. Donskoy’s
research programs have been supported by
US government agencies (US Army and
Navy, NOAA and NASA) as well as various
industrial enterprises. He has more than 50
publications in the field and holds 11 US and
international patents.
Donskoy holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree
from Gorky State University in Russia, and a
doctorate from the Institute of Applied Physics
USSR Academy of Sciences in Russia.
The Acoustical Society of America (ASA),
organized in 1929, has about 7,000 members
who work in acoustics throughout the US and
abroad. This diversity, along with the opportu-
nities provided for the exchange of knowledge
and points of view, has become one of the
Society’s unique and strongest assets. From the
beginning, the Acoustical Society has sought to
serve the widespread interests of its members
and the acoustics community in all branches of
acoustics, both theoretical and applied.
Vaccari appointed Chair of the American
Academy of Environmental Engineers
Education Committee
STEVENS PEOPLE STEVENS PEOPLE
www.StevensNewsService.com/views8 9
Professor James E. McClellan III
Associate Professor David Naumann
Associate Professor Dimitri Donskoy
StevensViews SPRING 2008

Sukhishvili elected
Fellow of the American
Physical Society
Svetlana Sukhishvili, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical
Biology and Co-Director of the Nanotechnology Graduate Program,
has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS).
Sukhishvili was elected a Fellow for her fundamental contributions
to the science of polymer monolayers and multilayers adsorbed
at water/solid interface, and for understanding the correlations of
polymeric self-assembly in solutions and at surfaces.
Sukhishvili holds a bachelor’s degree in Polymer Science and a doctor-
ate in Polymer Chemistry from Moscow State University in Russia.
The APS was founded in 1899 and has more than 40,000 members.
The APS Fellowship Program was created to recognize members
who have made advances in knowledge through original research
and publication, made significant innovative contributions in the
application of physics to science and technology or made significant
contributions to the teaching of physics or service and participation
in the activities of the Society. Each year, less than one percent of the
Society membership is recognized by their peers for election to the
status of Fellow.
Stefan Strauf, Assistant
Professor in the Depart-
ment of Physics & En-
gineering Physics, along
with colleagues from the
University of California,
Santa Barbara and Le-
iden University (Nether-
lands), has authored the
article, “High-frequency
single-photon source with polarization con-
trol,” the cover article of the December 2007
issue of Nature Photonics.
The article reports on important advances in
high-performance single-photon sources that
bring such possibilities closer to reality. In
particular, single photons can be used to imple-
ment absolutely secure optical communication,
also known as Quantum Cryptography. With
this new source, recording a single-photon
signature that took eight hours five years back
can now be achieved on a millisecond time
scale. This remarkable progress was achieved
by developing a novel type of microcavity
structure which strongly enhances the light
extraction from the optically active material.
Moreover, with the help of embedded electrical
gates, the researchers demonstrated suppres-
sion of unwanted dead-times in the emission
process itself resulting in a net single photon
generation rate of 100 MHz
into an optical fiber.
As described in the News &
Views section of the issue,
“More futuristic applications
of single photon states include
photonic networks designed
to achieve scalable quantum
computation, which one day
will hopefully solve problems
exponentially faster than classi-
cal computers.”
Strauf also was interviewed
by the publication regarding his work on the
project.“ The traditional approach to generating
single photons is to use weak laser pulses. In
order to reach the single-photon level, you have
to attenuate the light very strongly, limiting
the efficiency of the device. Also, the photons
emitted are governed by statistics. What we
need is a high-efficiency source where we can
generate photons one by one. Luckily, nature
provides a solution in the form of the two-level
system, just like the one we use: self-assembled
quantum dots,” said Strauf.
Strauf’s coauthors on the paper are Nick G.
Stoltz (Materials Department, University of
California, Santa Barbara);
Matthew T. Rakher (Depart-
ment of Physics, University
of California, Santa Barbara);
Larry A. Coldren (Materi-
als Department and the ECE
department, University of Cali-
fornia, Santa Barbara); Pierre
M. Petroff (Materials Depart-
ment and the ECE department,
University of California, Santa
Barbara); and Dirk Bouw-
meester (Department of Phys-
ics, University of California,
Santa Barbara and Huygens Laboratory, Leiden
University, the Netherlands).
www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v1/n12/abs/
nphoton.2007.227.html
Professor Strauf’s research is
Nature Photonics’ cover article
Luftman’s research published
in MIS Quarterly Executive
P
rofessor Jerry Luftman has published the
article, “An Update on Business-IT Align-
ment: ‘A Line’ Has Been Drawn,” in MIS
Quarterly Executive’s September 2007 issue.
Luftman serves as a Distinguished Professor
and Associate Dean for the Master of Science
in Information Systems in Stevens’ Wesley J.
Howe School of Technology Management.
Luftman’s article presents positive correla-
tions between the maturity of the information
technology (IT)-business alignment and IT’s
organizational structure, the CIO’s reporting
structure and firm performance. With the
assistance of Rajkumar Kempaiah, a Ste-
vens graduate student, Luftman focused his
research on understanding the persistent prob-
lem of attaining alignment between IT and
business and found there is no single cause for
this problem. He proposes that the alignment
is best understood by measuring six different
components—communications, value, gover-
nance, partnership, scope and architecture and
skills—and then placing these components
on a five-level maturity model, where Level 5
is the highest maturity. After measuring these
six components for global organizations in
the United States, Latin America, Europe and
India, it was found that most organizations
today are at Level 3 on the five-level maturity
model. It was also found that federated IT
organizational structures are associated with
higher alignment maturity than centralized or
decentralized structures, and that companies
with CIOs reporting directly to the CEO,
president or chairman have significantly higher
alignment maturity than those where the
CIO reports to a business unit executive,
the COO, or the CFO. Furthermore,
higher alignment maturity correlates
with higher firm performance.
For more information on the IT-business
alignment, please refer to Luftman’s
article in MIS Quarterly Executive,
Vol. 6 No. 3 / Sep 2007, 165.
T
he Edwin A. Stevens Society honored
the Dean of Stevens’ School of Systems
and Enterprises, Dr. Dinesh Verma,
with the President’s Leadership Award at its
annual Gala, held at the Park Avenue Club in
Florham Park, N.J., in November. Attendance
at the black-tie event was by invitation only.
The President’s Leadership Award is presented
to a distinguished individual who has rendered
exceptional service to Stevens and for his or
her significant achievements and dedication to
his or her field. The recipient will have dem-
onstrated eminent commitment to advancing
the students at the Institute through his/her
engineering or scientific expertise and achieve-
ments. The award is given to an individual
who demonstrates, by example, a commitment
to advancing Stevens’ global standing in the
educational and research community and has
personally reached beyond campus to build
alliances that raise the public’s appreciation for
the resources needed to enhance the mission
at Stevens.
In 2007, Stevens
launched the new
School of Systems and
Enterprises to focus
on interdisciplinary
and trans-disciplinary
academics and research,
rooted in systems think-
ing. The founding of the
school was the result of
the tremendous success
of the Department of
Systems Engineering &
Engineering Manage-
ment, founded in 2000,
which grew rapidly to be
the largest program of its
kind in America. Verma served as Founding
Director of the System Design & Operational
Effectiveness program within the depart-
ment, which has achieved a constituency of
partners throughout the world in academia,
industry and government, helping to advance
the Stevens brand as the outstanding provider
of high-level training in enterprise systems for
aerospace, defense and other major areas of
endeavor. Verma also served as an Associate
Dean of the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of
Engineering from 2002-2007.
Currently, Verma also serves as the Scientific
Advisory to the Director of the Embedded
Systems Institute in Eindhoven, Holland.
Dinesh Verma honored with President’s Leadership
Award at EAS Society Gala
www.StevensNewsService.com/views10 11
Svetlana Sukhishvili, Associate Professor
of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Professor
Jerry Luftman
Stefan Strauf
Stevens President Hal Raveché presents Dr. Dinesh Verma with the President’s
Leadership Award at the Park Avenue Club in November.
StevensViews SPRING 2008
STEVENS PEOPLE STEVENS PEOPLE

U
ndergraduate Katherine Freed won first
place at the International ISPE Under-
graduate Poster Contest in Las Vegas in
November 2007. Freed was the first competitor
from New Jersey to win this ISPE award. Her
winning poster, “Impedance Mammography,”
was based on a project she created with her
Senior Design team at Stevens.
Freed’s winning poster illustrated an imaging
system that was designed to create three-
dimensional images of biological tissue
according to electrical impedance properties.
The system takes advantage of the differences
in electrical conductivity between healthy
and abnormal cells. In addition, the design is
aimed at improving mammographic screening
in women under the age of forty, who are not
regularly screened.
In April 2007, the New Jersey Regional ISPE
Poster Contest was hosted by the Stevens ISPE
Student Chapter, and Freed was one of two first
place winners at the contest. Her team members
included Megan Caldeira, Rachel Ostroff, and
Esther Rodriguez. The team’s faculty advisors
were Dr. Vikki Hazelwood, Industry Professor
in the Chemical, Biomedical and Materials
Engineering Department, and Dr. Rainer
Martini, Assistant Professor of Physics and
Engineering Physics.
The New Jersey Regional contest was hosted
by Dr. Richard S. Berkof, Professor of
Mechanical Engineering at Stevens, Director
of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
Engineering Program, and Faculty Advisor
for the Stevens Student Chapter of ISPE. The
contest was attended by students and faculty
from New Jersey Institute of Technology (Dr.
Piero Armenante, Faculty Advisor), Rutgers
University (Dr. Henrik Pedersen, Faculty
Advisor) and Stevens, as well as pharmaceutical
industry executives, some of whom served as
judges for the posters and presentations. The
ISPE New Jersey Chapter’s Tom Malone, Joe
Manfredi, Leonid Shnayder, and Lorraine Gallo
helped make the April event a success.
Twenty posters were submitted at that com-
petition, of which six were chosen to go on to
compete in Las Vegas in November. The other
finalists included the “Automatic Pill Bottle
Opener” by Jorge DaSilva (Stevens), “Effect of
Dry Particle Coating on Packing Density” by
Lauren Beach (NJIT), “Physics Based Modeling
of Tablet Dissolution” by Dan Braido (Rutgers),
“Experimental and Computational Determina-
tion of the Hydrodynamics in a Stirred Tank
Reactor Provided with a Retreat Blade Impeller”
by Giuseppe DiBenedetto (NJIT), and “Examin-
ing Feeding Systems for Continuous Mixing” by
Warren Schmidt (Rutgers).
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Katherine Freed wins first place at the
International ISPE Undergraduate Poster Contest
Check out more news on our website:
www.StevensNewsService.com/Views
Katherine Freed next to her winning poster.
STEVENS PEOPLE

StevensViews, Spring 2008

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