PITTSBURGH — Two Carnegie Mellon University alumni are giving smartphone users a reality check with a new book that identifies and explains the cyberthreats posed by snooping hackers and other malware communication challenges.

Anmol Misra and Abhishek Dubey, who earned master's degrees at CMU's Information Networking Institute (INI), have written a comprehensive book about security challenges facing Android, one of the leading platforms for smartphones and tablet use. In their book, "Android Security: Attacks and Defenses," the authors explain how attackers can get control of your smartphone.

"This book is a wonderful example of how our graduates apply the knowledge and experience gained from their work in our interdisciplinary master's programs," said Dena Haritos Tsamitis, director of CMU's Information Networking Institute (INI) and director of education, training and outreach for Carnegie Mellon CyLab, one of the largest university-based cybersecurity research and education centers in the U.S.

Tsamitis, who wrote the book's foreword, points out that "anyone with an interest in mobile security will be able to get up to speed on the Android platform, and will gain a strategic perspective on how to protect personal and enterprise customers from the growing threats to mobile devices."

Both Misra and Dubey report that ever since Android has emerged as a leading platform for mobile devices, it has increasingly become the target for malicious attackers as vast amounts of personal data are stored in emails, texts and other applications, and personal information is increasingly easy to find on social networks. And the trend is going to continue with the rise in popularity of Android-based devices.

"Thirty-two applications available through the official Google market (Google Play) were recently infected with BadNews malware," said Misra, who earned his master's degree in information networking in 2005 and is now a member of Cisco's Information Security team. "People need to be able to trust the source of their applications, application behavior and they need assurance that data on their mobile devices is safe. Employees are increasingly bringing their personal devices to work — in many cases Android phones and tablets. This can result in significant exposure for enterprise security," Misra added.

Dubey, who earned his master's degree in information security and technology management in 2006 and is now a member of Cisco's Security Services and Cloud Operations team, said one of the big problems is that consumers are running old software programs on their smartphones and tablets. "This makes Android appear to be a mobile malware," Dubey said.

Misra and Dubey said the other challenge with mobile devices is that more personal data is now stored on these ubiquitous devices. "People need to upgrade frequently, develop backup systems for storage of personal material and ask for help before hackers completely overwhelm systems," the authors said.

"These mobile systems are pioneering and revolutionizing the way we work, play and live, but more attention must be spent on developing novel defenses to keep data safe, secure and reliable," Misra said.

Industry leaders agree.

"Dubey and Misra have filled a critical gap in software security literature by providing a unique and holistic approach to addressing this critical and often misunderstood topic. Android has become a key platform for mobility over the last few years and this book is a valuable resource for securing the same," said James Ransome, senior director of product security at McAfee.

For additional book information, see http://www.androidinsecurity.com or subscribe to the book's Twitter feed @droidinsecurity.

Share this story:

PITTSBURGH — Carnegie Mellon University's M. Granger Morgan will moderate a distinguished panel of experts on the critical infrastructure in the United States from 7 to 8 p.m., Thursday, May 30, at the sixth installment of the CMU College of Engineering's Washington Speaker Series at the Cosmos Club at 2121 Massachusetts Ave. in Washington, D.C.

The panel discussion, titled "Natural Disasters & Terrorism: Strategies for Protecting Critical Services and Infrastructure," will feature:

• Jacobo Bielak, professor of civil and environmental engineering at CMU;
• Caitlin Durkovich, assistant secretary for Infrastructure Protection at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security;
• Tim Manning, deputy administrator for Protection and National Preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA);
• David K. Owens, executive vice president of Business Operations at Edison Electric Institute; and
• Bruno Sinopoli, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at CMU.

The panelists will discuss how modern technologies could limit the risk of power outages from natural disasters and terrorism.

"The U.S. power grid is vulnerable. Continued growth of demand, new regulations created in the 1990s to promote industry competition, and more use of highly variable sources of power such as wind have produced an increasingly fragile network," said Morgan, the Thomas Lord University Professor of Engineering, head of CMU's Department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) and director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.

"While we need to make the system more robust, there is no way to make the power system perfectly secure against large natural disasters or terrorist attacks. For that reason, we also need to be taking steps to be able to speed up the restoration of the system after an outage, and to sustain critical social services when the bulk power system is down," Morgan said.

Morgan points out that CMU's Scott Institute has just released a new policymaker guide that provides recommendations on how to safely and reliably incorporate more variable energy resources — such as the wind — into the U.S. energy grid. CMU researchers also are involved with the Pennsylvania Smarter Infrastructure Incubator (PSII), a research center aimed at creating, applying and evaluating applications of sensing, data analytics and intelligent decision support for improving the construction, management and operation of critical infrastructure systems.

Carnegie Mellon's Washington Speaker Series is a nonpartisan forum designed to enhance meaningful exchange among business, government and research leaders through an exploration of issues at the intersection of policy, technology and innovation. The series is sponsored by the university's College of Engineering, which is recognized as a top 10 engineering school by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, see http://www.cit.cmu.edu/wss.

Share this story:

PITTSBURGH — Making bits and bytes smaller creates more heat. So, manufacturers continue to seek ways of tracking heat transfer in products as diverse as a computer's silicon chips to light-emitting diodes or solar cells.

Carnegie Mellon University researchers Jonathan A. Malen, Alan J.H. McGaughey, Keith Regner and Zonghui Su have developed a new tool called broadband frequency domain thermal reflectance to measure the thermal and vibrational properties of solids. In a recent paper published in Nature Communications, the CMU team collaborated with Christina Amon and Daniel Sellan from the University of Toronto to study materials in which heat is transferred by atomic vibrations in packets called phonons.

"In an analogy to light, phonons come in a spectrum of colors, and we have developed a new tool to measure how different color phonons contribute to the thermal conductivity of solids," said Malen, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. "Our study provides the first experimental resolution to how individual phonons impact thermal conductivity."

According to the CMU researchers, the new tool will give both industry and academia a clearer picture of how an electronic device's dissipative ability shrinks with its size, and how materials can be structured at the nanoscale to change their thermal conductivity.

For example, in the initial demonstration, the CMU team showed that as silicon microprocessors continue to shrink according to Moore's Law, their operating temperatures will be further challenged by reduced thermal conductivity. But knowledge of the individual phonon contributions also will allow researchers to better design nanostructured thermoelectric materials with an increased efficiency of converting waste heat to electrical energy.

Earlier this year, Malen and McGaughey used nanocrystal arrays to explore heat flow in hybrid organic-inorganic materials. Such materials are touted as a cost-and-resource-effective alternative to conventional semiconductors in energy production.

Funding for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Share this story:

Event: Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering will host a panel discussion about career opportunities in the energy industry.

"More than ever, energy jobs are evolving to meet the sector's new demands, and we are training the next generation of leaders to fill those jobs," said M. Granger Morgan, the Lord University Professor in Engineering, director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, and head of the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at CMU.

A key mission of the Scott Institute, established last fall, is to take a systems approach to energy issues — collecting information and research results throughout CMU — to provide an up-to-date understanding of energy issues facing today's policymakers.

Morgan will discuss energy innovation at CMU prior to kicking off a panel session about energy jobs. The panelists are: Joshua Bordin, a process safety engineer at Siemens Gas and Oil Division; Gabriella Gonzalez, a social scientist at the Rand Corp.; Amul D. Tevar, a fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy; Dave Vaglia, a principal engineer at Westinghouse Electric (Nuclear); and Jay Whitacre, CTO of Aquion Energy Inc. and a professor of materials science and engineering and engineering and public policy at CMU.

The event is hosted by the College of Engineering's Energy, Science, Technology and Policy (ESTP) Master's Degree Program.

When: Noon to 3 p.m., Tuesday, May 14.

Where: 125 Scaife Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, off Frew Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213.

Share this story:

PITTSBURGH — Carnegie Mellon University's Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation released a new policymaker guide that provides recommendations for incorporating more variable energy resources — like wind — into the U.S. energy grid. The guide was released today at a Capitol Hill policy briefing.

"Today, variable energy resources produce only about 3 percent of U.S. electricity; however, CMU researchers have found that renewable energy's contribution to the grid could be 20 percent to 30 percent. As summarized in the Scott Institute guide, most of the proposed actions would not require new government subsidies, but instead call for refocusing of existing subsidies along with management, technical and operational changes," said Deborah Stine, associate director for policy outreach at CMU's Scott Institute.

Most states have a renewable portfolio standard — a policy designed to require or encourage electricity producers within a given jurisdiction to supply a certain minimum share (typically 15 to 30 percent of their electricity from designated renewable sources).

If policymakers, grid operators and independent system/regional transmission operators take actions, such as providing incentives to locate renewable facilities in the mid-Atlantic they will reduce the most pollution, establish appropriate decommissioning standards for wind power facilities as well as oil and gas wells, and encourage regulators and insurers to provide incentives to develop offshore wind facilities.

A key mission of the Scott Institute, established last fall, is to take a systems approach to energy issues – collecting information and research results throughout CMU – to provide an up-to-date understanding of energy issues facing today’s policymakers.

For more information, go to http://www.cmu.edu/energy/public-policy/renewable-energy-guide.pdf.

Share this story:

Event: Carnegie Mellon University students will showcase a smorgasbord of new foods at a final presentation for a new course dubbed "Culinary Mechanics." The innovative ideas from the course's final project, which was a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon and Notion Restaurant, may one day be found in restaurants and in store food aisles nationwide.

"We are extremely excited about this new course because the final project involves a presentation of new foods developed by our students from mechanics-based principles featured in class," said Phil Leduc, a professor of mechanical engineering with courtesy appointments in the Biomedical Engineering, Biological Sciences and Computational Biology departments.

Culinary Mechanics is a new way of thinking about food by analyzing its mechanics. For example, the toughness, texture and consistency of foods can be altered through controlled mechanics such as cutting, chopping and mixing. Furthermore, novel mechanics-based approaches can be integrated to create new food products.

Student teams with assistance from top chef and owner Dave Racicot at the East Liberty-based Notion Restaurant have helped develop new textures, flavors and luster to foods being served at this final class project. Some of the foods to be featured include: an on-the-go pancake with syrup using the mechanical properties of spherification to encapsulate syrup with pancake bites; a cheesecake with nuts used to replace the cream cheese; and a three-course, egg-like meal that creates an appetizer, meal and dessert that look like eggs.

"This class is a great way for students to learn about the mechanics of preparing modern American food," Racicot said.

LeDuc won a competitive Grand Challenge Exploration Award in 2011 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to explore nutrition for healthy growth of infants and children in third world countries.

When: 9:30 - 11 a.m., Monday, May 13.

Where: Room 348, Mellon Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213.

Share this story:

PITTSBURGH – Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) is creating a new educational experience through the launch of a technology-enhanced hybrid platform to permit students to earn a master's of science in ECE.

"The platform eliminates geographical boundaries by using state-of-the-art technology that gives students from around the world and on campus access to a first-class education in the same virtual classrooms," said Ed Schlesinger, the David Edward Schramm professor of engineering and ECE head.

The hybrid approach allows students on and off campus to study together in the same course. In addition, non-residential students will spend subsequent semesters on campus to experience the universities' leading-edge research, project activities and facilities. The hybrid approach both in courses and in the overall degree program allows students to experience the very best that technology can provide while also experiencing the very best of the bricks and mortar experience.

"We're on the cusp of a technological revolution in education. History shows us that when organizations embrace and learn to integrate new technologies and new methods with their traditional bricks-and-mortar operations, they reach new heights of success," Schlesinger said.

The hybrid approach's first semester starts students on a path to obtaining a master of science degree in ECE in the fall of 2013. The deadline to apply is Aug. 15. The experience has students selecting courses from those available including: Digital Systems Testing and Testable Design, Computer Architecture, Numerical Methods for Engineering Design and Optimization, and Wavelets and Multiresolution Techniques.

In subsequent semesters, students spend time on campus to take advantage of other courses and programs that are not yet possible to deliver via the technology platform. All students admitted to the MS program must meet all university and department standards and complete the same academic requirements CMU students in the entirely residential experience now complete for degrees.

"We see this hybrid master's program as an opportunity for students to network with others beyond their own communities and to benefit from the practical experience and shared knowledge of peers," Schlesinger said. "The hybrid approach also provides an opportunity for flexibility in the way students pursue degrees, where they pursue degrees and when they pursue degrees in their careers."

For additional program information, see http://www.ece.cmu.edu/programs-admissions/masters/kickstart.html.

Share this story:

PITTSBURGH—A great deal of attention has been paid to the environmental impact of what humans put into the oceans and what humans release into our air. But as waves crash, the ocean itself is releasing tiny particles into the air that can impact cloud formation and climate.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have developed a new method that for the first time accurately recreates sea spray aerosols — small airborne particles that are released into the atmosphere after ocean waves crash — in a laboratory setting. The method, which uses a 33-meter wave flume, allowed an international group of researchers, including Carnegie Mellon University's Ryan Sullivan, to study the chemistry of sea spray aerosols. Their findings are published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Aerosols, submicron-sized particles made up of things like fatty acids, inorganic salts and bacteria, waft up from sea spray and other sources into the atmosphere where, depending on their composition, they can seed clouds. This cloud seeding has a significant impact on climate - it can cause clouds to become "brighter," enhancing their ability to cool the earth, and it can cause clouds to produce rain or snow. The interaction between aerosols and clouds is complex, and researchers have been trying to develop new methods to help understand aerosol's impact on climate.

"Interactions involving aerosol particles and clouds are one of the largest areas of uncertainty surrounding the study of climate change," said Sullivan, an assistant professor in the departments of Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering and a member of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies. "Each water droplet in a cloud is formed around another seed particle. As we release different particles into the air through our day-to-day activities, we are changing the properties of clouds. We need to develop methods to better measure aerosols in order to better understand how they are impacting our climate and environment."

A significant global source of aerosols is sea spray. When a wave crashes, it traps air bubbles beneath the water's surface. Those bubbles slowly rise to the surface, where a microlayer of organic material, including detritus from bacteria and other microbes, lives. The bubbles pop, emitting aerosols that can contain some of that organic material. The smallest particles waft up into the atmosphere.

Until now, it was hard to generate these sea spray particles realistically. Collecting samples in the ocean was difficult and uncontrollable, and laboratory simulations were unable to produce particles that were similar in size and composition to those that were found in nature.

The research group, led by UCSD Distinguished Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry Kimberly Prather, solved this problem using a device that is basically a long, narrow wave pool. The 33-meter long flume located at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography had originally been used by physicists to study the mechanics of waves. Prather and colleagues saw its potential for studying sea spray chemistry.

The device fills a chamber with water directly from the Pacific Ocean. A hydraulic paddle then sends sinusoidal waves down the flume where they hit a board, which causes the waves to crash. In this study, the researchers added organisms to the water, like bacteria, algae, or dinoflagellates, as well as nutrients, to simulate biological fluctuations in the oceans. They then used a variety of tools and techniques to measure the resulting sea spray particles.

Carnegie Mellon's Sullivan and Paul DeMott, a senior research scientist in Colorado State University's Atmospheric Chemistry Program, were responsible for studying the ice nucleation properties of the sea spray particles.

Most rain that falls over land begins as snow from frozen clouds that melts into rain before it reaches the Earth's surface. Glaciation, when the water droplets in the cloud freeze, can accelerate the onset of precipitation. But in order for the droplets to freeze, they must reach a temperature of approximately -38 degrees Celsius, far below freezing. Special particles, called ice nuclei, act as catalysts and allow the water droplets to freeze at warmer temperatures. Normally made of mineral dust or biological particles, ice nuclei are very rare, making up only 1 to ten of every million particles in the atmosphere.

To detect if there were ice nuclei in the sea spray, Sullivan and DeMott used an ice simulation chamber called a continuous flow diffusion chamber. They introduced sea spray particles to the chamber and exposed them to conditions that would normally cause the formation of an ice cloud. They found that the spray did contain ice nuclei. When the researchers changed the conditions by adding bacteria or phytoplankton to the wave simulator's water, the number of ice nuclei either stayed the same or decreased. Other researchers in the group similarly found that when biological matter was added to the water, it led to changes in the sea spray's liquid cloud-seeding ability.

"We really just scratched the surface," Sullivan said. "But we did see that if you change the biology of the ocean it has an impact on climate-influencing particles. As we're changing the ocean's temperature and acidity by emitting more carbon dioxide, we're changing the biology of the ocean and changing the sea spray aerosols that impact our climate."

Other authors on the paper include Timothy H. Bertram, Christopher D. Cappa, Douglas B. Collins, Luis A. Cuadra-Rodriguez, Sara D. Forestieri, Timothy L. Guasco, Matthew J. Ruppel, Olivia S. Ryder, Nathan Schoepp and Defeng Zhao of UCSD; Vicki H. Grassian, Andrew P. Ault and Jonas Baltrusaitis of the University of Iowa; Grant B. Deane, M. Dale Stokes, Lihini I. Aluwihare, Brian P. Palenik, Farook Azam, Lynn M. Russell, Craig E. Corrigan, Michelle J. Kim, William Lambert, Robin L. Modini and Byron Evans Pedler of the Scripps Institution for Oceanography; John H. Seinfeld, Scott P. Hersey and Wilton Mui of the California Institute of Technology; Ryan C. Moffet of the University of the Pacific; Mario J. Molina of UCSD and the Scripps Institution for Oceanography; Franz M. Geiger and Carlena J. Ebben of Northwestern University; Gregory C. Roberts of the Scripps Institution for Oceanography and the Centre National de Recherches Métérologiques in Toulouse, France.

The study was supported by a Center for Chemical Innovation award from the National Science Foundation that created the Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and the Environment (CAICE), and grants to individual researchers. Sullivan and DeMott were supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Pictured above: The glass wave generator at the Scripps Institution for Oceanography allows atmospheric scientists to study the chemistry of sea spray particles. Images courtesy of the Center for Aerosol Impacts on Climate and the Environment.

Share this story:

Event: Students in Carnegie Mellon University's Biomedical Engineering Department will unveil new products developed to ease patient's pain and suffering from pressure ulcers to hypertension, dermatitis and Cystic Fibrosis.

"The senior design class exposes students to the needs and demands of a wide range of medical patient issues, from understanding how to help the elderly better navigate to helping parents conquer diaper dermatitis," said Conrad M. Zapanta, associate department head and teaching professor in CMU's Department of Biomedical Engineering. "The 16 innovative projects are designed by teams of students after months of research and development."

Some of the novel design prototypes include a manually powered blood pressure cuff for use in underdeveloped nations where economic medical equipment is non-existent, a bacterial resistant tracheostomy tube to reduce bacterial infections and a device called a Scotty Dock that is a cheaper mechanical and electrical system attachment for wheelchair users.

Other student-developed medical products include a video game designed to help children with Cystic Fibrosis. Children who have been diagnosed with this disease need to perform daily breathing therapies. CMU students have developed a video game that uses a child's breath as a controller to play a number of mini-games while guiding the child through an active cycle breathing therapy routine. Another team developed a product called the Wetness Warrior, which is designed to combat diaper dermatitis. More than 30 percent of U.S. infants experience diaper dermatitis each year.

"One team of biomedical engineering students developed a product that consists of a capacitor-based circuit built into the diaper as well as an independent monitoring device," Zapanta said. "The monitoring device screens a specific radio frequency and records the signal to noise ratio. When the diaper becomes wet, an alarm is sent to the computer which displays a message indicating a soiled diaper, alerting the caregiver."

When: 1 - 3 p.m., Friday, May 10.

Where: Rangos 3, University Center, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213.

Share this story:

PITTSBURGH — Warren M. Garrison Jr., a professor of materials science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, has developed a new ultra-strength steel of high fracture toughness that is significantly less expensive to manufacture than existing products.

The new steel contains no cobalt and only a relatively small amount of nickel and therefore is much less expensive than other ultra-high strength steels of high fracture toughness — all of which contain large amounts of cobalt and nickel.

Garrison said the new steel is one of the outcomes of a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program, which was funded by the U.S. Navy.

One of the objectives of the STTR program was the development of an inexpensive, ultra-strength steel with high fracture toughness that could be used in Navy aircraft applications. The company in charge of the STTR program was Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation of Warminster, Pa., which specializes in engineering and technical support for the Department of Defense, the U.S. government and private industry.

CMU's Garrison worked with Jeffrey Waldman, the scientist in charge of the program at Navmar, and William Frazier, chief scientist at the Air Vehicle Engineering Department of the Naval Air Systems Command.

The new steel developed at CMU also has excellent resistance to crack growth during stress corrosion cracking in salt water. "The rate of crack growth during stress corrosion cracking of the new steel is comparable to that of other ultra-high strength steels of high fracture toughness and is much better than that of low alloy steel 300M, which is the steel used in the landing gear of most commercial aircraft," said Garrison, who has a patent pending for the new steel.

The researchers report that the next step in the development of the new steel would be to assess its properties in commercial scale heats. While the alloy was developed with Navy aircraft applications in mind, given its low cost and high toughness, it could be used for other applications.

Pictured above: Warren M. Garrison Jr. has developed a new ultra-strength steel of high fracture toughness that is significantly less expensive to manufacture because it contains no cobalt and only a relatively small amount of nickel.

Share this story:

PITTSBURGH – Carnegie Mellon University women are poised to add more oomph to the U.S. economy as they enter a job market that remains a wild card in the recovery picture.

Erin Donnelly, Stephanie Engel, Rocio Garay, Abby Schaeffer and Mala Shah are among the growing ranks of female chemical engineers in a male-dominated field working at chemical plants and manufacturing facilities from coast-to-coast.

The 38 women in the class of 2013 will hone their CMU problem-solving skills and innovation from the plant floors of Caterpillar and Boeing to the clean rooms of Intel and PPG Industries.

"This has been a wonderful year for chemical engineering with women graduates making up more than 50 percent of our 2013 class," said Andy Gellman, head of CMU's Chemical Engineering Department and co-director of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. "I think these increases are due in part to the jobs boom built on energy, and the desire for women to compete in areas once traditionally reserved for men."

Shah, of Elmwood Park, N.J., will head to Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill., after she snares her chemical engineering diploma at CMU on May 19.

"I'll be an associate engineer in Caterpillar's leadership and technical development program where I can really put some of my classroom work to real-world use," she said. "I loved CMU because of its multicultural values, and its atmosphere of pushing me beyond my expectations."

For Donnelly, a chemical engineering senior from Long Island, N.Y., the CMU experience has been very rewarding.

"I'll be supporting the chemical and coating technologies utilized in the manufacturing of the Boeing 737, and I'm absolutely thrilled. My job search, as a soon to be CMU graduate, has shown me that our degrees are recession proof," Donnelly said. "I call it the CMU bubble." She also credits her leadership skills gained from campus organizations for advancing her career goals.

While the economy slowly chugs along, Donnelly and her classmates boast multiple job offers. Both Garay of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Engel of Erie, Pa., had three to four job offers during the fall semester. Garay will work at Braskem, a supplier for consumer product and automotive industries.

Engel, who worked at PPG last summer, turned her internship into a full-time job. She will be working at a PPG plant near Barberton, Ohio, just two hours from her family home.

"I really enjoy getting into my steel-toed shoes and diving into all the plant's process-oriented work," Engel said. "CMU did a fantastic job of preparing me for the competitive job market."

Not all female CMU grads are scaling the manufacturing ladder. Schaeffer, a senior from New York City, opted to work for giant chipmaker Intel.

"You simply can't go wrong with an engineering degree. It opens so many doors," Schaeffer said. "I also think my junior year abroad at London's Imperial College helped me mature and better understand the global economy."

This ever-improving allocation of female talent continues to lead to substantial productivity. More than 57 percent of the bachelor's degrees awarded in 2011 went to women, according to the U.S. Department of Education. And the U.S. Labor Department estimates that the engineering profession will continue to rank as one of the top U.S. job creators for the next decade.

Share this story:

Carnegie Mellon University has named David A. Dzombak to head its Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), effective Aug. 1. He succeeds James H. Garrett, Jr., who in December 2012 was named dean of CMU's top-ranked College of Engineering. CEE acting head Irving Oppenheim will continue to lead the department until Dzombak assumes his duties.

"I'm pleased and honored to be named head of such a dynamic and pioneering department, and look forward to working with CEE's talented and innovative faculty, staff and students on bringing new solutions to global infrastructure challenges through education and research," said Dzombak, the Walter J. Blenko, Sr. University Professor at CMU.

Since Nov. 1, 2012, Dzombak has been serving as interim vice provost of Sponsored Programs at CMU, and will be helping with the transition to the soon-to-be-announced permanent appointee for that position. His experience with sponsored programs and research compliance will be helpful in forging new collaborative relationships between the College of Engineering and these important administrative units.

"Professor Dzombak is an internationally recognized expert in environmental engineering, and his experience in both professional and public service will be an asset as he joins the college leadership team as the new department head of Civil and Environmental Engineering," said Garrett, the Thomas Lord Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "His reputation for high quality research, passion for teaching undergrads and graduates, commitment to professional service and collegiality make him an excellent choice for this position."

An accomplished researcher and educator, Dzombak is in his 25th year as a member of the CEE faculty, starting as an assistant professor in 1989 and advancing through the academic ranks to full professor. In 2010, Dzombak was elected a University Professor, the highest academic distinction a faculty member can achieve at CMU. He served as associate dean for Graduate and Faculty Affairs in the College of Engineering from 2006-2010. Since 2007, he also has served as faculty director of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research. He was Faculty Senate Chair for the 2006-2007 academic year and the College of Engineering Faculty Chair for the 2002-2003 school year.

He has published more than 100 articles in leading environmental engineering and science journals, book chapters, newspaper and magazine articles, op-ed pieces and three books. He is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania and a board certified environmental engineer by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. He has a wide range of consulting experience with both public and private organizations.

Dzombak currently is a member of the EPA Science Advisory Board, and chair of the board of directors of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors Foundation. He's been a member of various EPA Science Advisory Board committees since 2002, and a member or chair of several National Research Council committees since 2000. He has served on editorial boards for three journals, and as a member or chair of numerous other professional societies, state and local committees. He has served in various advisory roles for Saint Vincent College since 1990, and was elected to its board of directors in 2012.

A recipient of numerous honors and awards, Dzombak was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2008. He is a fellow of the Water Environment Federation and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Dzombak holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Saint Vincent College (1980), bachelor's (1980) and master's (1981) degrees in civil engineering from CMU, and a Ph.D. (1986) in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He is married to Carolyn Menard and they have three grown children.

Pictured above: An accomplished researcher and educator, David Dzombak is in his 25th year as a member of the CEE faculty, starting as an assistant professor in 1989 and advancing through the academic ranks to full professor. In 2010, Dzombak was elected a University Professor, the highest academic distinction a faculty member can achieve at CMU.

Share this story:

Event: Carnegie Mellon University's Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation will host a policy briefing about how to manage renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, which do not produce a consistent amount of power, so they can be better integrated into the nation's power grid.

CMU's Scott Institute will release a new policymaker guide that summarizes research by the RenewElec project at a congressional staff briefing. Most states have a renewable portfolio standard — a policy designed to require or encourage electricity producers within a given jurisdiction to supply a certain minimum share (typically 15 to 30 percent) of their electricity from designated renewable sources. The three-year RenewElec project comes to the conclusion that reaching a 20 to 30 percent renewable portfolio standard is possible, but not without changes in the management and regulation of the power system.

The expert panel includes: Jay Apt, principal investigator for the RenewElec Project and a professor of technology at the Tepper School of Business and the Department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP); Paulina Jaramillo, executive director of the RenewElec Project and an assistant research professor in EPP; Stephen Rose, an EPP Ph.D. graduate; and moderator Deborah Stine, associate director for policy outreach at the Scott Institute.

To register for the event, go to www.cmu.edu/energy.

A key mission of the Scott Institute, established last fall, is to take a systems approach to energy issues — collecting information and research results throughout CMU — to provide an up-to-date understanding of energy issues facing today's policymakers.

When: 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Friday, May 10.

Where: Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-338, Independence Avenue and South Capitol Street, Washington, D.C. 20003.

Share this story:

PITTSBURGH – Carnegie Mellon University's David A. Dzombak and the University of Pittsburgh's Radisav D. Vidic were recently recognized by the American Academy of Environmental Scientists and Engineers (AAEES) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., for helping to address the global water shortage for use in power plant cooling systems.

Dzombak and Vidic received the 2013 Grand Prize in the University Research category of the AAEES Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science competition for a project titled "Use of Treated Municipal Wastewater as Power Plant Cooling System Makeup Water."

"This is a wonderful honor for seven years of work, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, to develop an integrated approach for use of municipal wastewater for cooling systems in electric power plants," said Dzombak, the Walter J. Blenko, Sr. University Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research at CMU.

"We need a great deal of water for electric power production to condense steam in the power plant steam cycle. Air cooling is possible but is more costly and less efficient. Water will continue to be the preferred coolant for new thermoelectric power plants," said Vidic, the William Kepler Whiteford Professor and chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Swanson School of Engineering at Pitt.

The CMU-Pitt research shows that treated municipal wastewater is a common and widely available alternative source of cooling water for thermoelectric power plants across the U.S. However, the biodegradable organic matter, ammonia, carbonate and phosphates in the treated wastewater pose challenges, including fouling and corrosion issues. The researchers along with their graduate students from both CMU and Pitt investigated how to address these challenges.

Dzombak and Vidic noted that the results of their work show the need to evaluate the growing competition among the energy industry, farmers and residents for scarce water supplies. Every day, water-cooled thermoelectric power plants in the U.S. withdraw more than 200 billion gallons of fresh water from rivers, lakes, streams and aquifers. Freshwater withdrawals for cooling thermoelectric power production alone account for about 40 percent of all withdrawals, essentially the same amount taken for agricultural irrigation, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"Our research shows that alternative sources of water are needed for new power production in regions without new sources of available freshwater," Dzombak said. "Our research will not only help promote the use of properly treated municipal wastewater at cooling plants, but help contribute to economic development."

For more information about the research project and topic investigated, see http://cooling.ce.cmu.edu or http://www.waterreuse.pitt.edu/.

Share this story:

PITTSBURGH – Carnegie Mellon University's Nancy Ko has been selected to participate in the 30th annual Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX), a yearlong, federally funded fellowship for study and work in Germany.

"I'm extremely excited and honored to be part of this wonderful opportunity as I continue to pursue my career goals," said Ko, a senior in chemical engineering from Plainsboro, N.J. "My CMU studies have given me an excellent problem-solving platform for any job I will ultimately tackle."

Ko was selected as one of 75 U.S. participants from more than 600 applications for the fellowship program. While in Germany, she will attend a two-month intensive German language course, study at a German university or professional school for four months and complete a five-month internship with a German company in her career field. Participants are placed throughout Germany and have an opportunity to learn about everyday German life from a variety of perspectives.

"We're very proud of Nancy as she augments her CMU experience with a global look at how important the engineering profession is to a variety of industry sectors," said Andrew Gellman, head of CMU's Department of Chemical Engineering and co-director of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation. "Our students are leaders in developing novel solutions to a variety of pressing societal issues."

The fellowship program is designed for young adults in business, technical, engineering, vocational and agricultural fields, though candidates in all career fields are encouraged to apply.

CBYX is a reciprocal scholarship program funded by the German Bundestag and U.S. Congress. While American participants like Ko will experience life in Germany, young German professionals will live in the U.S. during the upcoming academic year.

Since 1984, approximately 1,650 Americans have been awarded the opportunity to gain cultural, theoretical and practical work experience in Germany.

For additional program information, visit www.cbyx.info.

Share this story: