June 2, 2016                                                                                              Vol. 19, No. 11
In This Issue

Engineering News  
 
Nature details a set of micro spacecrafts developed by Mason Peck, associate professor (MAE), set to launch in July.

Ross Knepper, assistant professor (CS), talks to MarketWatch about the potential for robots in the food industry.

Emin Gun Sirer, associate professor (CS), is quoted in this New York Times article on a new cyptocurrency crowdfunding project. He was also quoted in Forbes and Quartz among other publications. 
Stroock appointed director of CBE
Professor Abe Stroock will serve as the next Director of the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
 
"I am delighted that [Abe] is willing to serve in this vitally important role. With his vision and focus on excellence in both research and teaching, CBE's future is very bright," wrote Dean Lance Collins in an email to the Cornell Engineering community.
 
Stroock will serve a three-year term beginning July 1 and will succeed outgoing director Lynden Archer, who Collins expressed gratitude toward, stating: "Lynden's leadership is apparent across multiple dimensions of CBE, including the hiring of outstanding faculty, careful stewardship of space and most recently in initiating the discussion with Robert Smith that ultimately led to his transformative naming gift. CBE and the college are truly indebted to Lynden for his exceptional service over the last six-and-a-half years."
Mulrooney named associate dean of administration
Erin Mulrooney will be joining the College of Engineering as its associate dean of administration, effective Aug. 15, 2016.

Mulrooney comes to Cornell from the University of Chicago where she has served as the assistant vice president for strategic resources and chief operating officer for facilities services. Prior to the University of Chicago, she spent 16 years at the University of Pennsylvania, ultimately serving in an administrative and financial officer role.

Mulrooney holds a Master of Science degree in organizational dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Thompson appointed associate dean for undergraduate programs
Mike Thompson, professor (MSE), has been appointed as associate dean for undergraduate programs for a two-year term beginning July 1, 2016.

Thompson is currently serving as director of undergraduate programs for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering as well as chair of the Common Curriculum Governing Board. He also serves on the Faculty Advisory Board on Information Technologies. 
 
Thompson succeeds Les Trotter, professor (ORIE), who has served with distinction as the associate dean for undergraduate programs for the past two years.
Tompkins leaving Engineering Learning Initiatives
Linda Tompkins, associate director of Engineering Learning Initiatives, is leaving Cornell in mid-July to focus on new life and career endeavors.

Tompkins will be taking time to finish her Ph.D. in community and public affairs at Binghamton University, completing her dissertation, "Gender Disparity in the Completion of Engineering Ph.D.s," and will be looking for new career opportunities in Rochester, N.Y.

"Linda is an excellent educator and mentor for both students and peers, and has been a wonderful colleague in her nine-plus years with Engineering Learning Initiatives." said program director Lisa Schneider-Bentley. 
Awards and honors
Ankur Singh, assistant professor (MAE), received the 2015 Biomaterials Outstanding Paper award from Kam Leong, editor-in-chief of the Biomaterials Journal, at the 10th World Biomaterials Congress in Montreal.

The award is in recognition for the development of a B cell follicle organoid which recapitulates the anatomical microenvironment of a lymphoid tissue. The research facilitates the mechanistic understanding of the immune system and has the potential to serve as a model for immunotherapeutic studies.

Daisy Fan, professor (CS), has received a Carpenter Memorial Advising Award. The award is given to faculty for excellence in advising to undergraduates.

Several engineering and CS faculty received Discovery and Innovation Research Seed Grants from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. The initiative had the objective of identifying and supporting a limited number of top-rank projects that showed a strong possibility of being able to lead to future external funding.

Recipients include Steve Adie, assistant professor (BME), for his project "Microscopic imaging of life beyond 10 scattering lengths"; Ross Knepper, assistant professor (CS), for his project "Towards a new robotic manipulation formalism for the real world"; and Claire Cardie, professor (CS), Cristian Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, assistant professor (IS), Lillian Lee, professor (CS),
for their project "Transforming online group communication and collaboration."

MAE has announced its annual student awards. The graduate award winners are:

Jesse Miller - The Thomas J. and Joan T. Kelly Prize for excellence in aerospace engineering for the project "A Directionally Stable Robotic Sailboat: Concept and Simulations."

Sean Hidaka  - The Bart Conta Prize in energy and the environment for his project "Operating Solar PV and Ice Storage in Post-Net-Metering Hawaii."

Edward Bonnevie, Daniel Asselin - The Sibley Prize for excellence in graduate teaching assistance.

Lauren Lazarus - H.D. Block Graduate Teaching Prize for outstanding performance by Ph.D. candidates who served as a teaching assistant in math.

Two engineering staff members earned higher education degrees this year:

Tyler Anderson, M.Eng., research support specialist (BEE)

 

Tara Woodard, A.A.S., Tompkins Cortland Community College, office manager (ORIE)

Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit offering summer workshops
The Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit is offering a number of workshops this summer.

The workshops include one on data carpentry, June 13-14, that will teach developmental skills in R, SQL and OpenRifine for managing big data.

Other workshops include:

Basic Data Analysis and Research Skills
Introductory Statistical Analysis Using R
Intermediate Statistical Analysis Using R
Interpreting Linear Models: Regression and ANOVA
Introductory Statistical Analysis Using a user-friendly software
Introduction to Multilevel Modeling

Seats are limited and registration is required. For more information, visit the Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit website
Kavli Institute accepting applications for instrumentation projects, graduate fellowships
The Kavli Institute at Cornell is now accepting applications for Instrumentation Projects and Engineering Graduate Fellowships.
 
The Knight Family Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Nanoscience and Technology is open to graduate engineering students and the Watt W. Webb Graduate Fellowship is open to applied and engineering physics graduate students. Only students in the second or third year of their Ph.D. program are eligible. The deadline for all application materials is July 11, 2016.

The Instrumentation Project Program supports the purchase, development, and use of novel scientific tools and approaches for probing at the nanoscale. Projects and equipment must be designed to push the boundaries of imaging and measurement science, and typically will be leveraged by proposer contributions of money or personnel. The deadline for proposal submission is September 12, 2016.

To submit applications or for more information, visit the Kavli website
Upson Hall renovation update
Construction has been underway for over 10 months and we are starting to see the end-product shaping up. Our design team, project managers, construction managers and Pike have been working hard on this major effort. They will continue to dedicate time and energy as we approach the important completion date for Phase 1 - August 2016.

We expect be able to occupy levels 3, 4, and 5 as of August 8, 2016. Around this time we also need to turn Levels B, 1 and 2 over to the contractor. A significant move effort is being coordinated, and building occupants will hear details in the next few months.

Regarding construction, general activities and impacts projected for the next several weeks include:
  • The freight elevator will be going off-line on April 25. The passenger elevator has already been taken out of service. Both elevators will be out of service until July 2016. Elevators in Rhodes Hall or Duffield Hall can be used to reach Upson Hall levels 1 and 2. If you need assistance with elevator access, please contact the facility manager (see button on left and information below).
  • Installation of major building utility infrastructure in the basement will continue.
  • On the third, fourth and fifth floors, construction of interior spaces will ramp up as we approach the August completion date.
REMINDER - Pike's regular work hours are 5 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. They try to restrict the most disruptive noise to the hours of 5 to 8 a.m., but that is subjective. There could be construction noise at any time during their working hours.

If you experience issues that need attention, please submit a ticket using the Facilities Ticket button on the renovation website. Tickets submitted this way are reported via text message and email alert to several facilities staff. You can also contact the CoE/CIS Facilities office at 255-5668.

Check out the status of the renovation on the Engineering website

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