• TABLE OF CONTENTS
HIDE
 Front Cover
 Table of Contents
 A letter from Dean Khargonekar
 CISE calculates an exciting...
 Smart information seeking...
 Unraveling the mystery of how viruses...
 Genomics algebra
 Advanced applications for medical...
 Efficient algorithms for radiation...
 Simulated patients teach real diagnosis...
 Next generation computer scien...
 CISE innovative research in Internet...
 "Smart Home" to be unveiled at...
 Landmines reveal themselves to...
 High performance computing with...
 Faculty footnotes
 Industrial & systems engineering...
 Graduate Engineering Research Center...
 Strict building codes can protect...
 The faculty challenge initiati...
 Faculty challenge initiative...
 Chemical engineering department...
 Reaching out to industry
 Friends we'll miss
 Alumni notes
 Gator engineers honored as UF distinguished...
 Commencement honors go to outstanding...
 Request for contact informatio...






Group Title: Florida engineer.
Title: Florida engineer. Fall 2004.
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Title: Florida engineer. Fall 2004.
Series Title: Florida engineer
Physical Description: Serial
Language: English
Creator: College of Engineering, University of Florida
Publisher: Engineering Publications, College of Engineering, University of Florida
Publication Date: Fall 2004
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Subject: University of Florida.   ( lcsh )
Spatial Coverage: North America -- United States of America -- Florida
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Source Institution: University of Florida
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Table of Contents
    Front Cover
        Page 1
    Table of Contents
        Page 2
    A letter from Dean Khargonekar
        Page 3
    CISE calculates an exciting future
        Page 4
        Page 5
    Smart information seeking in bio-cyberspace
        Page 6
        Page 7
    Unraveling the mystery of how viruses form with computer simulation and models
        Page 8
    Genomics algebra
        Page 9
    Advanced applications for medical imaging
        Page 10
    Efficient algorithms for radiation therapy
        Page 11
    Simulated patients teach real diagnosis skills
        Page 12
        Page 13
    Next generation computer science
        Page 14
        Page 15
    CISE innovative research in Internet security
        Page 16
    "Smart Home" to be unveiled at Oak Hammock subdivision
        Page 17
    Landmines reveal themselves to modern signal processing
        Page 18
    High performance computing with CASTOR
        Page 19
    Faculty footnotes
        Page 20
    Industrial & systems engineering creates first international course for college
        Page 21
    Graduate Engineering Research Center brushes Ivan off
        Page 21
    Strict building codes can protect homes from storms
        Page 22
        Page 23
    The faculty challenge initiative
        Page 24
    Faculty challenge initiative update
        Page 25
    Chemical engineering department receives $100,000 grant
        Page 26
    Reaching out to industry
        Page 27
    Friends we'll miss
        Page 28
    Alumni notes
        Page 29
    Gator engineers honored as UF distinguished alumni
        Page 30
    Commencement honors go to outstanding students
        Page 31
    Request for contact information
        Page 32
Full Text















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4 CISE at the Cutting Edge



20 College


24 Development



30 Commencement










Published each semester by the College of Engineering at the Universitb
of Florida. The magazine informs college alumni and friends about the
accomplishments of its faculty, alumni, and supporters. For permission
to reprint any part of this magazine, contact the Managing Editor, The
Florida Engineer, PO Box 116550, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
32611. Telephone: 352.392.0984 E-mail: rfran@eng.ufl.edu
Visit the magazine's home page: www.eng.ufl.edu/home/pubs/fe


COVER: Our cover image shows a frame
from a dynamic model of a connected
network of nodes that creates sounds
like that of a Tibetan prayer bowl. The
image was created by Joella Walz
in spring 2003 for Professor Paul
Fishwick's aesthetic computing class.
The class teaches the application of art
theory and practice to computing and
mathematics as part of the Digital Arts
and Sciences program at UF.

To see the model in action, visit
www.eng.ufl.edu/home/pubs/videos

Joella holds the MA in the Fine Arts
specialty of the Digital Arts and Science
program. Walz is now the assistant
director for production and services at
UF's Digital Worlds Institute. Learn more
about Joella and the institute at
www.digitalworlds.ufl.edu

Read more about aesthetic computing
in this issue of The Florida Engineer on
page 14.






A Letter from

Dean Khargonekar

n 1925, an amazingly intelligent and inventive
young man, John Vincent Atanasoff, received
his BS in electrical engineering from the
College of Engineering at the University of
Florida. Born in New York, his family had
moved to Florida when he was 10 years old. He went
on to earn his doctorate in theoretical physics from
the University of Wisconsin. During 1939-42, while
serving on the faculty at the Iowa State University,
he and his graduate student Clifford Berry built : ..:: .
the world's first electronic-digital computer. The
rest, as they say, is history. The engineering college's
connection to information technology thus dates
back to the very beginning of digital computers. Justifiably, we take great pride in the pioneering
work of our own Dr. Atanasoff.

"I think there is a world market maybe for five computers," predicted Thomas Watson, IBM
Chairman, in 1943. He could not have been more wrong. As it turned out, today's market for
digital computers is measured in hundreds of billions of dollars. Information technology continues
to change the world, deeply impacting business, education, arts and entertainment, defense, health
care, transportation and many other fields.

To be sure, the industry has hit some recent rocky patches, notably the dot.com bust of 2001 and the
commoditization of semiconductor technologies. Coupled with the outsourcing of IT jobs overseas,
these developments have led to some doubts about IT's future prospects.

Despite these trends, I am confident that information technology's golden age is yet to come. From
a historical perspective, our position is analogous to that of automotive technology in the 1920s.
In the coming decades, information technology will become much more ubiquitous and invisible.
Information technology will be seamlessly integrated into all aspects of our life and we will use it
without being conscious of it.

The realization of this golden age will face many hurdles. A January 15, 2004, headline in the
Economist called it "The uncertain promise of computing that is foolproof, invisible and everywhere."
The true promise and potential of information technology can only come to fruition with major
advances in computer science and electrical engineering. In this issue of The Florida Engineer, you
will read about how the exciting work of our faculty and students in the Department of Computer
& Information & Science and Engineering will contribute to this revolution. (In the spring
2003 issue, we focused on the cutting edge work in the Department of Electrical & Computer
Engineering.)

Our faculty and students are working on a number of exciting interdisciplinary problems involving
b1.:.1.:.\ i ld medicine and computer science. These range from bioinformatics to aging. UF
iii :!III are also exploring the use of computer science in arts and entertainment under the digital
r. ii1 science program. And they are working on such core computer science areas as security,
i,-[" :.k. high performance computing, distributed systems, databases, graphics, and so on. All of
r -ii i qi-iries are important to assuring the continued rapid pace of IT development.

I !':.p \ :.u will enjoy this issue of The Florida Engineer. We continuously strive to improve the
q., Il\ I:.t'our research and education programs. Our aim is to be among the very best engineering
.:. llK- i n the world. With strong support from all our stakeholders, we are confident we will reach




nr rii


GatorEngineering 3






CISE at the Cutting Edge




CISE Calculates an Exciting Future


distinguished
Professor
Sartaj Sahni
envisions an
exciting future
for Computer & Information
Science & Engineering
(CISE), the department he has
chaired since 2001.

About three years ago,
Sahni and the CISE faculty
evaluated the department's
strengths to see where they
could take a leadership role in
emerging fields in computer
and information science and
engineering. As a result of
their self examination, the
faculty determined the best
direction for CISE would
be into computer graphics,
modeling and art; computer
systems; computer vision and
intelligent systems; database
and information systems; and
high-performance computing/
applied algorithms.

"I predict that in three or
four years, CISE will be
significantly more visible in
these fields than at present,"
Sahni says.


Part of Sahni's plan has been a
dramatic expansion of faculty
numbers. CISE has hired 12
new faculty in the last three
years, giving it 36 tenure track
faculty and seven lecturers. The
additional faculty have made
it possible to offer many new
courses, especially in graduate
level special topics, leading to
a major improvement in the
CISE PhD program. During
that time, the number of PhD
students increased from 50 to
160.

"CISE will begin to be a major
producer of PhDs. I estimate
the department will be able
to graduate 25 PhDs a year,
a feat which would have been
impossible without the new
faculty," Sahni says. Sahni
says the quality of the PhD
students has also improved,
and attributes this to the
higher stipends the department
is now able to offer them, with
support from the College of
Engineering. The anticipated
dramatic increase in the
number of PhD graduates
implies a corresponding
increase in the research done
by the department.


4 TheFloridaEngineer














CISE is making changes in its
other degree programs, too.
The department plans to offer
both BS and MS degrees in
computer science through the
College of Engineering.

That probably sounds odd
to people who are not aware
of the cross-departmental
computer science degree
program that UF has had
for many years. Previously,
computer science degrees have
only been offered through
the College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences. College of
Engineering students have
received computer engineering
degrees. However, many
engineering students are
interested in having computer
science degrees with an
engineering emphasis.

The best prospect for a
strong future in CISE,
Sahni believes, is to establish
endowed professorships in
the department. He also
hopes to have some smaller
endowed chairs for younger
faculty which would aid in the
recruitment and retention of
first-class faculty.


"The new faculty we have
hired are real stars in their
fields. When they reach full
professorship, they will be
looking for the next step up
in their careers, which would
be an endowed chair. If they
cannot find them here at
UF, they are likely to leave,"
Sahni says. "The same is true
for existing first-class faculty.
At least now we can offer
competitive salaries, thanks to
support from the college. We
have made a major investment
in recruiting. To make it
worthwhile, we need to retain
these faculty. Endowed chairs
would go a long way to make
this possible."

Martha Dobson

This issue of The Florida Engineer
takes a look at CISE's three focus
areas: bioinformatics (part of the
applied algorithms area); networking
(part of the computer systems area);
and computer graphics and digital
arts. CISE has far more happening
than we can cover here. For more
information, visit www.cise.ufl.edu





CISE at the Cutting Edge Bioinformatics


Smart Information


Seeking in


Bio-Cyberspace

When thinking about genital herpes or brain injuries,
chances are your first thought isn't computers. But
Computer & Information Sciences & Engineering
Professor Su-Shing Chen is trying to change that with his
research in bioinformatics, the use of computers to handle
biological information and enhance biomedical research.

The term "bioinformatics" is often used to describe the use of
computers to store and search large databases of genes, proteins,
and their associated functions. The computers are able to search
through a large amount of information and make relations
between findings, making it easier to diagnose and treat an
illness, and also easier for a patient to understand.

"The importance of bioinformatics research is to collaborate
with biologists and medical researchers in laboratories using
computational results," Chen said.

Genital herpes is caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV). It
remains in certain nerve cells of the body for life, and can produce
symptoms off and on in some infected people. There are two
types of HSV: HSV-1 and HSV-2. HSV-1 produces the common
cold sore and HSV-2 is responsible for genital herpes. According
to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 45
million people in the United States ages 12 and older, or 1 out of
5 of the total adolescent and adult population, are infected with
HSV-2.

In a potential genital herpes treatment, short interfering RNAs
(siRNA) might suppress the herpes recurrence through a process
called RNA interference. Chen's group is designing a software
tool to quickly and effectively find potential siRNA target sites
for the inhibition of recurrences of genital herpes infections. The
software tool, siRNADesigner, is a web-based application that
automates the process of finding all the possible siRNA target
sites in both HSV-1 and HSV-2.

In another bioinformatics project, Chen has collaborated with
researchers from the McKnight Brain Institute to help speed
up the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury. Chen
has worked with medical researchers to develop data mining
strategies for detecting biomarkers in traumatic brain injury
studies.


6 TheFloridaEngineer






CISE at the Cutting Edge Bioinformatics


Neuroproteomic studies deal
with biochemical mechanisms
or pathways underlying various
psychiatric, neurological, and
neurodegenerative diseases.
Medical researchers currently
use brain imaging, which
provides only coarse resolution,
but proteomic analysis yields
much finer resolution in brain
research. Chen works with the
medical researchers at the start
of a study to help formulate a
problem that can be analyzed
computationally. Chen's
bioinformatics approach is not
only on the data analysis level,
but is an integrated scheme of
human patient records, animal
modeling, instrumentation,
and information architecture.

"We take their real-world
problems, then we formulate
an integrated information
model, and we develop
the analysis tools and the
database systems to help
people formulate biomedical
problems," Chen said. "That
way, they can formulate their
problems in a more precise way
computationally."


Chen and other researchers
hope the technology
will be useful for other
neurodegenerative diseases
like Parkinson's.

Another aspect of Chen's
bioinformatics research is
his development of a text
data mining tool that uses
both categorization and text
clustering for building concept
hierarchies. Because of the
explosion in the amount of
biomedical data, information
overload is a common problem
when searching databases
as large as MEDLINE and
PUBMED, which carry more
than 12 million documents
and 6,000 journals. Smart
information seeking the
cyberspace will help medical
students, patients and average
citizens gain necessary
biomedical information.

Chen's text data mining
tool organizes the large
databases in three steps: (1)
categorizations according to
Medical Subject Headings
(MeSH, the National Library
of Medicine's controlled
vocabulary thesaurus terms),


MeSH major topics, and
the co-occurrence of MeSH
descriptors; (2) clustering
using the results of MeSH
term categorization; and (3)
visualization of categories
and hierarchical clusters. The
hierarchies generated allow
a user multiple viewpoints of
a collection, enabling both
inexperienced and experienced
researchers to better utilize
information contained in any
document collection.

"We organize the search
based on the content of those
documents, not only on
keywords as current search
engines do," Chen said. "We
have a visualization interface
for users to select and look at
the content very easily."

The research has been
supported by the National
Science Foundation for
several years. Chen hopes his
research and collaboration
with biologists and medical
researchers will benefit the
society in a computational way.

Christine Hale


GatorEngineering 7






CISE at the Cutting Edge Bioinformatics for Biology


Unraveling

the Mystery

of How

Viruses

Form with

Computer

Simulation

and Models


Meera Sitharam is
using geometry,
computer
simulation, and modeling to
explore how biological viruses
form. "There has been much
work on the study of viruses
since the 1950s, but the issue
of how they assemble and
form is poorly understood,"
said Sitharam, an associate
professor in UF's Computer
& Information Science &
Engineering department.

She presented her findings
to the National Academy of
Sciences Futures Conference
on Nanotechnology in
November 2004.


Computationally assembled virtual virus using simulation software.


Biological viruses consist
of protein molecules that
spontaneously come together
and stop forming to make the
spherical, symmetrical entity
known as a virus. The self-
assembly process is so quick
that researchers have been
unable to arrest the process
sufficiently in order to study
it. Sitharam believes that a
focus on three-dimensional
geometric relationships will
help shed light on the mystery.

"I believe the geometry of
these entities plays a key role in
obtaining essential snapshots
of the process," said Sitharam.
"We may not get the entire
movie, but we can do a lot with
a likely sequence of snapshots."

Building on the principle of
geometric constraints, used
commonly in engineering
mechanical parts and
assemblies, Sitharam has
developed algorithms and
a software system called
FRONTIER Geometric
Constraint Solver. With
FRONTIER, data about a
particular virus can be mapped
and dumped into the system to
produce predicted pathways of
how molecules come together
to form that particular virus.
The predictions are then tested
in the wet lab setting to see
if they hold true. Preliminary
predictions are promising and
consistent with biochemical
observations, Sitharam reports.

Thus far, Sitharam and her
collaborator, Mavis Agbandje-
McKenna of UF's McKnight
Brain Institute, supported
by a grant from the National


Science Foundation, have
mapped the murine parvo
virus, found in mice, and
the maize streak virus,
which attacks the leaves of
corn. Mapping of the adeno
associated virus, common
among humans, is almost
complete.

"These particular viruses were
chosen because they are of
the simplest construction and
represent a diversity of basic
constructions to test all points
of the theory," said Sitharam.

Another collaborator,
mechanical engineering
Professor Carl Crane,
will work with Sitharam
and McKenna to produce
a physical simulation or
model of the pathways. UF
Mathematics department
Associate Professor Miklos
Bona has also recently joined
the project.

Sitharam feels that if we can
understand how viruses form
then we can successfully
encourage or discourage
formation to suit the existing
needs of society. She sees
applications for arresting
infectious diseases and for
developments in gene therapy.

Will it help with the problem
of the cold and AIDS viruses?
"Not likely," said Sitharam.
"These are extremely complex,
ever-changing, stubborn
creatures. They continue to
evade us. What we could get
are some ideas on how to
engineer or arrest nanoscale
self-assembly."

Sandra Braun


8 TheFloridaEngineer





CISE at the Cutting Edge -Bioinfo
CISE at the Cutting Edge Bioin l-on ,s


0"


Genomics Algebra

- A Structure for Future Research


The explosive growth
ofgenome research
during the past
decade has produced a
flood of information that is
accumulating in hundreds of
databases and data repositories.
To retrieve meaningful data,
scientists must do separate
searches, or queries, of each
repository for the information
they need. The data searches
are complicated by the fact
that not all of the repositories
use modern data management
technologies nor do they
agree on the terminology
that is used to describe the
related data. Queries take
considerable time and effort,
and may result in errors due
to conflicting meanings of
terms that appear identical.
In addition, most repositories
require users to become experts
in information retrieval or even
skilled programmers since
most of the user interfaces
are programmatic and the
returned results are rarely in
the desired format.

Genomics algebra, an
i ii -. i.:. .:.fUF computer
i:lii .l[ i Joachim Hammer
.,ii1 l N. k'.l s Schneider, may
P!.:.i r i j '"ay to ease access
r.:- lr I.a., and use the terms
!i ,i r:.:.,,i i rent and commonly
i.i dr li r.::.1 way. Professors
H .i i -i i nd Schneider, from
l!'i Ci .: Ip'.ter &Information
S i-:i r\: Engineering


department, devised genomics
algebra to provide a domain-
specific yet repository
independent language (access
mechanism) capable of
retrieving genomics data stored
in a unifying database.

Schneider says the first step
in using genomics algebra is
building a genomics ontology
which provides a framework
for clarifying the meanings
ofgenomic terms in order to
obtain precise descriptions
of information for use in a
database. "There is no standard
of communication in genomics.
This leads to conflicting terms,
which in turn can lead to
wrong conclusions when using
the terms in data searches or
research," Schneider says.

The second step is creating
the unifying database using
the genomics ontology. The
database would integrate as
much existing data as possible
in a unified structure. There
are two possible approaches to
integrating the data, Schneider
says. The first is a complicated
federated approach, where
repositories of information are


left as they are. Integration
is handled by building a data
management layer over them
using a new language.

The second and preferred
approach is data warehousing.
Data is loaded in from
repositories and correlated.
The mechanics of database
management remain inside
the system. The genomics
algebra overlays the database
and provides the vocabulary
and operations to use the
system. The biological
scientists do not need to know
how to do standard database
programming to benefit from
the system.

Although it probably won't
be possible to integrate all
the existing genome data
repositories within a single
unifying database, the
genomics algebra system
will have obvious benefits for
biology researchers. Biologists
will be able to rely less on
computer scientists to work
with databases, and it will
level the research playing field


National Human Genome Research Institute.
National Institutes of Health


for the biologist who works
alone or in a small group.
The overall goal is to build
an infrastructure that puts
the data management burden
on the software, leaving the
biologists free to focus on
what they can do best, namely
analyze their data.

Genomics algebra and
genomics ontology are in the
earliest stages of development.
Schneider believes that the
system can establish basic
principles for integrating
algebras (type systems) into
database systems and that
it can be used as a testbed
for similar problems. He
acknowledges that to gain
acceptance, genomics algebra
must be able to connect to
many database systems,
especially the widely used
commercial ones, and must
be able to accommodate many
different kinds of data.

Martha Dobson


GatorEngineering 9


4


ST






CISE at the Cutting Edge Bioinformatics Applied to Medicine


Advanced Applications


for Medical Imaging


Neuronal fiber tracts along the corpus callosum in
a rat brain, visualized using lit particles tracing the
pathways in 3D.


Neuronal fiber tracts in a human brain viewed
in an axial view. Colors RGB correspond to XYZ
directions with Z coming out of the paper.


New studies show
potential for
expanding the uses of
computerized medical image
analysis in disease diagnosis
and treatment planning.
Computerized tomography
(CT scans) and magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI
scans) are done routinely for
many ailments. Professor
Baba Vemuri of the Computer
& Information Science &
Engineering department has
been working for several years
to develop methods for the
computerized analysis of these
scans so as to automatically
identify changes in shapes
of cortical and sub-cortical
structures that are caused
by certain types of neural
disorders. His studies are
all funded by the National
Institutes of Health.


Vemuri and his team of
researchers are investigating
the automatic mapping of
neural fiber tracks to identify
brain areas that have been
traumatized due to injury,
stroke, epilepsy, or other
ailments. Data from diffusion
MRI scans can be used to
extract three-dimensional
structures and nerve fiber
pathways in the brain by
following how water diffuses
anisotropically in fiber rich
regions. The ability to visualize
areas where the diffusion is
anisotropic is extremely useful
in diagnosis and treatment
planning for stroke and other
ailments. Vemuri, working
with UF Neuroscience
Professor Stephen Blackband,
Biochemistry & Molecular
Biology Associate Professor
Thomas Mareci and
Mathematics Professor Yunmei
Chen, is developing image


processing tools that will
automatically identify these
regions in three dimensions
and show the shapes of these
anatomical structures along
with the nerve fibers mapped
onto them.

Vemuri, with CISE associate
professor Anand Rangarajan,
leads a team that has developed
techniques to automatically
classify MRI brain scans into
those belonging to people with
epilepsy and those to normal
people with no ailment. The
scans can differentiate between
normal and epileptic brains
with 96 to 97 percent accuracy,
based entirely on the shape of
the hippocampus, the region
in the brain that is responsible
for memory and which shows
atrophy due to epilepsy. With
these techniques, clinicians
can also identify whether the
focus of the epilepsy is in the
left or right temporal lobe,
currently with almost 87
percent accuracy. Blackband,
Neurology Assistant Professor
Stephan Eisenshenk, and
Radiology Assistant Professor
Ilona Schmalfus are members
of this team.

In another project, Vemuri is
developing image processing
tools to co-register or
superimpose and compare
- multiple scans of a surgical
patient obtained before and
during the procedure. During
surgery, internal organs move

continued page 11


10 TheFloridaEngineer






CISE at the Cutting Edge Bioinformatics Applied to Medicine


Efficient Algorithms

for Radiation Therapy


radiation therapy
sessions for cancer
patients may someday
be shorter and more effective,
thanks to new dosage planning
techniques developed by a
team of two UF computer
scientists and a radiation
physicist.

CISE Professors Sanjay Ranka
and Sartaj Sahni are working
with Jatinder Palta, a physicist
with the Radiation Oncology
department at Shands Hospital
in Gainesville, to develop
algorithms to improve delivery
of radiation doses to a patient's
cancer site. The research
is funded by the National
Institutes of Health.

The main goal of radiation
treatment is to irradiate the
tumorous tissue and make
sure the intended target gets
the prescribed radiation dose
while minimizing radiation to
healthy surrounding tissues.


In planning the treatment,
doctors need to determine how
much the radiation dosage
should be and where it should
be applied. The treatment
machines or accelerators -
can send rays from different
directions so that the cancer
is irradiated from all sides.
The radiation is directed
through an aperture that
has overlapping leaves much
like a camera lens. Opening
the leaves controls how the
dosage is delivered, and is
planned mathematically with
algorithms.

Ranka says that careful dose
computation is necessary to
avoid under- or overtreating
the patient. Too little radiation
will not destroy the cancer;
too much radiation can give
the patient serious side effects.
"Sometimes the planning is
not optimal in terms of the


amount of radiation the patient
receives. The more time on
the table, the more radiation
the patient gets," Ranka says.
"The treatment goal is that
the patient should get the
minimum amount of radiation
required. Our goal is to
minimize the amount of time
the patient has to spend on the
table."

The team has developed
new algorithms that reduce
the exposure time. The
second advantage of the new
algorithms is that the dosage
can be computed quickly. The
treatment planning time can
be reduced from one or two
days, which is common today,
to a few hours or even a few
minutes.

Martha Dobson


Advanced Applications for Medical Imaging
continued from page 10


around and sometimes swell.
Preoperative scans taken for
reference to guide the surgery
need to be corrected for
these changes. The technique
that Vemuri developed with
Neurosurgery Professor Frank
Bova is to take, for example,
a CT scan or a fluoroscopy
image during surgery and
try to relate it back to the


preoperative scan to adjust the
reference with co-registration
of the scan data. The technique
is currently undergoing
extensive testing.

Database technology is
quite useful for performing
content-based image retrieval
on medical images especially
when they include notes on
symptoms and findings. If


an ailing patient has a scan,
the clinician can query the
database and ask if there are
any images in the database
similar to this and if the image
is typical of certain symptoms.
Vemuri is doing a project in
content based image retrieval
from a medical image database
with applications to skin burn
classification and melanoma.

Martha Dobson


GatorEngineering 11












Simulated Patients


Teach Real


Diagnosis Skills


A patient complains
about a pain in his
side. The patient wants
to know what's wrong and
wants it fixed quickly. How
well the doctor questions the
patient about the problem and
listens to the answers can affect
the accuracy of the diagnosis.

Medical students traditionally
learn patient interaction skills
in role-playing situations where
they work with standardized
patients, who are actors hired
to portray certain medical
conditions. Unfortunately, the
system does not allow students
to repeat the sessions for more
practice or provide much
feedback to instructors. A new
system that uses computer
simulated patients to teach
essential communications skills
may solve the problem.


UF computer scientist
Benjamin Lok and his
students have been working
to develop the system since
early 2004. Help in developing
the simulator, which uses
characters much like those in
video games, has come from
medical doctors D. Scott Lind
of UF's College of Medicine
and Amy Stevens of the
Veterans Administration
hospital in Gainesville,
and from Richard Ferdig,
an assistant professor and
technology specialist in UF's
College of Education.

Lok, an assistant professor in
the Computer & Information
Science & Engineering
department, explains that he
and his team want to create
a learning environment that
allows medical students to
practice the patient-doctor
experience much like the
way a flight simulator enables
repeated exposure for pilots.

"We are trying to provide
a simulator that will allow
people to experience
interaction with a patient
before they meet a real one.
We try to make the interaction
between the student and
the virtual person as real as
possible," Lok says.


The simulator would be
especially valuable for first and
second year medical students,
Lok says. After that, students
need to work with real people.
"We are not trying to replace
real people, but rather augment
current training methods," Lok
says.

The simulator offers a scenario
about a character with acute
appendicitis. A medical
student can sit in a room with
DIANA, a virtual patient
projected at life-size on
the wall. The simulator has
integrated speech recognition
technology so students can
speak to DIANA, and she
will respond. The student asks
DIANA a series of 11 standard
questions designed to elicit
information about her problem.
The character answers the
questions according to a
programmed script. The
system also uses gesture
recognition, so the patient can
recognize and respond to a
student pointing, for example,
to a location on her body or
reaching out to shake her
hand.

"We plan on expanding the
characters so that they will
be able to detect if you are
looking at them and paying
attention to them. The system
will be able to tell if a student
is maintaining enough eye
contact with the patient," Lok
says.


12 TheFloridaEngineer






CISE and Computer Graphics


Simulated patient DIANA interacts with a medical student.


A second virtual character
representing a medical
educator is projected at the
same time. If the student
forgets to do something, the
virtual instructor can give a
reminder right then. With this
feedback, and the chance to
repeat the experience, students
can sharpen their skills before
seeing real patients. The virtual
encounters also reduce student
anxiety about working with
real people.

Lok believes the system
has the potential to provide
medical school instructors
with very good feedback about
a student's performance. The
system can provide information
on such items as what question
students most often forget to
ask. Educators can then tailor
classes to better prepare the
students.


The first test of the system
prototype took place during
summer 2004 with seven
students participating.

"We asked the first group of
students how valuable the
system was to them, and got
very good results. On a scale
of one to seven, the average
response was over 6.3 on how
powerful the system is as a
training and teaching tool,"
Lok says. Further, on a scale
from one to 10, DIANA
scored a 6.6 on her 'realism'
of portraying the symptom.
As a reference, the average
standardized patient score is
a 7.4. The team believes with
ongoing enhancements and
formal evaluation, they can
bring DIANA's performance
very closely in line with
traditional training methods.


Lok thinks the system could
eventually be used as a
standardized evaluation tool
to test medical students from
all over the nation for base line
competency, in a similar role
to the bar exam for law school
graduates.

The final advantage is cost.
"The equipment we are using is
very affordable. We use off the
shelf PCs, we use a standard
office data projector, we use
web cams that are very cheap.
With the software, the whole
is greater than the parts,"
Lok says. The total cost of the
prototype system is less than
$7,000.

"This system is really a tool for
both students and educators
to get better," Lok says.
"If we can help doctors to
become better communicators,
everybody wins."


Martha Dobson


GatorEngineering 13






CISE and Computer Graphics


Next Generation Computer Science
By Paul Fishwick
Professor
Computer & Information Science & Engineering


Digital Arts and
Sciences (DAS) at the
University of Florida
began when UF's former
President John Lombardi
shared a plane ride with an
expert from the special effects
industry. After they talked, it
was decided that UF should
bridge the gap between fine
arts and computer science in
an effort to nurture students
who can use both the left brain
for logical thinking and the
right brain for aesthetics and
the arts.

Six years later, UF has a
unique curricula and strong
ties between the arts and
computer science. The College
of Fine Arts and the College
of Engineering, through the
Computer & Information
Science & Engineering
(CISE) department, both offer
bachelor and master's degrees
in DAS.

We take the view that the
synergy of art and computer
science improves and extends
computer science as a
discipline.

Inexpensive graphics hardware
has amazing possibilities. We
are on a rollercoaster driven
by improving the scope of
human-computer interaction
(HCI) from graphics and
audio to sensors and actuators.
In graphics, the graphic
processing unit (GPU)
wars produce ever-faster,
consumer-targeted graphics,
rendering rates for games, and
simulations.


Fast hardware and immersive
environments will transform
basic computer science,
which consists of program
and data structures, software
engineering, machine
organization, database
methodology, and discrete
mathematical structures.
Computer science will branch
into areas that examine the
human/computer relationship.
We now have ubiquitous,
tangible, pervasive, and
human-centered computing to
add to virtual and augmented
reality. Computing needs to
be as focused on quality and
sensation as on quantity and
speed.

Human-centered experience,
presence, interaction, and
representation form the core of
the arts. Perhaps the arts can
lead computer science in new
directions. Programs that build
upon a solid mathematical
and rigorous core of computer
science within a shell of
intense arts-based practice
and knowledge could generate
future Leonardos the next -
generation computer scientists.
DAS attempts to build
such a set of programs. The
undergraduate BS-DAS degree
has core science (chemistry,
two-phase physics sequence)
and mathematics (calculus,
differential equations,
numerical analysis) in common
with the BS-CS degree.
However, DAS students
must also take arts classes,
including drawing, sculpture,


digital montage, and time-
based media. Students are
encouraged to choose classes
in theatre, architecture, new
media, electro-acoustic music,
and hypermedia narrative
composition.

The MS-DAS program
assumes that not all students
have a CS background, so
an undergraduate core-CS
equivalency is required.
The MS-DAS core consists
of modeling for geometry
(graphics) and dynamics
(simulation) and includes
both disciplinary electives
(vision, AI, visual modeling,
aesthetic computing,
virtual environments) and
interdisciplinary electives like
those for BS-DAS. Students
choose either a master's thesis
or a project/performance.

The most interesting part of
DAS is creating new types
of courses. Two years ago,
colleagues Tim Davis, Jane
Douglas and I created a course
in aesthetic computing with
funding from the National
Science Foundation. The
course allows students to create
virtual and physical models
of formal structures found in
mathematics and computing,
with the idea that by
combining artistic aesthetics
with CISE modeling and
representation, we can explore
new interface modalities for
modeling and programming.


14 TheFloridaEngineer





SES


AP O'12 -


UA V


Aesthetic computing takes
what is normally hidden in
the text or diagrammatic
languages of mathematics and
computing, allows it to be
customized, and places it in
an immersive and engaging
environment.

Fine Arts also has a substantial
DAS program. Their students
meet with ours in core classes,
in team projects created during
non-core art and CISE classes,
and in the two-semester senior
year project. The Digital
Worlds (DW) Institute at
UF provides infrastructure
equipment, space, and facilities
for students and faculty.
Several new classes support
the Fine Arts side of DAS.
Students learn the elements
of 2D and 3D modeling and
animation in a two-semester
interactive modeling and
animation sequence. A new
discrete math class with
explicit artistic products and


I-
elements is under way, and we
created courses to help students
learn complex software
programs like Blender, Maya,
and 3D Studio Max.

Our first BS-DAS degree
recipients have found they
are well prepared for human-
centered computer science, and
are working in entertainment
technology, special effects,
and digital media to pervasive
computing, augmented/virtual
reality, simulation, computer
graphics, and visualization.
We plan to offer a PhD DAS
curriculum. The existing CISE
PhD can accommodate DAS-
related dissertation topics;
however, we need to perform
research to see whether fine-
tuning is required for a PhD-
DAS program structure.

For more information:
www.cise.ufl.edu
www.arts.ufl.edu/ART/DAS/
index.htm
www.digitalworlds.ufl.edu


..........
..... .. .


An integrative dynamic
modeling demonstration,
illustrating a continuous
blending of data flow and 3D
aircraft models (by Minho Park,
in the Graphics, Modeling,
and Art Laboratory). The user
pauses the air reconnaissance
simulation, and switches to the
data flow view.


GatorEngineering 15


""C :I






CISE and Networking


The Internet is a
vital global resource.
Protecting it is the
goal of


CISE


Innovative


Research


in Internet


Security


he development
of the Internet
has dramatically
increased the productivity
in our economy. It has also
made a profound impact on
our lifestyle. People make
purchases, trade stocks, and
access bank accounts without
leaving home. Corporate
databases, digital libraries,
government services, and
computers with sensitive
information are connected
to the Internet. All of these
provide convenience not only
to legitimate users but also
to criminals with malicious
intent. Network-based
attacks have shown increasing
sophistication. Cyber-warfare
is a reality today.

Among the major threats
are distributed denial-of-
service (DoS) attacks and
Internet worms. A DoS attack
overwhelms a server with
excess data packets so that
the server cannot perform its
normal operations. Studies
have shown that tens of
thousands of DoS attacks were
carried out on the Internet
each month and even high-
profile servers from the major
Web portals were vulnerable.
An Internet worm spreads
itself automatically across the
globe to infect the computers
with security loopholes.

Worms have beaten out viruses
to become the top infectors of
the Internet. A single worm
is capable of infecting tens of
thousands of computers in a


matter of hours. It can steal
information, remove files, slow
down the network, or use the
infected computers to launch
DoS attacks.

The attacks have become
increasingly distributed.
Ironically, most defense
systems, such as firewalls and
intrusion detection systems,
(IDSs) still perform "point"
defense. A coherent distributed
defense system is required to
fight against today's Internet
threats. The system should be
able to synthesize and correlate
the events from different
sources to detect stealthy
attacks, able to coordinate
various devices to mitigate
distributed attacks, and able
to adapt itself to changes in
the network. Shigang Chen,
assistant professor in Computer
& Information Science &
Engineering, is spearheading
an innovative design and
experiment program for new
distributed defense techniques
against Internet threats,
particularly DoS attacks and
Internet worms.

Through collaborative work
with Yibei Ling from Telcordia
Technologies, and CISE
Professor Randy Chow and
Assistant Professor Ye Xia,
Chen and his research group
developed a prototype of a
global anti-DoS service, called
AID. Organizations on the
Internet may register to AID
for anti-DoS protection. The
AID system ensures that all
registered organizations can
access each other even when


one is attacked. The system
represents a departure from
the traditional router-based
defense, which is limited in
the scope of deployment due to
administrative restrictions.

Chen and CISE Professor
Sanjay Ranka recently
designed an early warning
system that detects an Internet
worm outbreak at its early
stage. An early warning system
is essential in protecting
against natural disasters such
as hurricanes, floods, wildfires,
etc. Even for less-predictable
tornados or earthquakes, a
just-in-time warning can be
invaluable in saving lives and
limiting damages. Similarly,
in the Internet world, a
worm early warning system
is extremely important due
to the worm's potential to
cause enormous harm. Chen
and Ranka demonstrated the
feasibility of such a system and
developed novel techniques to
monitor the worm activity in
the background of enormous
Internet communication
traffic.

In addition to worm detection,
an important research project
is to slow down the worm
infection and even stop it.
Chen and his group designed a
distributed anti-worm system
for an Internet service provider
(ISP) to provide anti-worm
service to its customers. The
system is capable of reducing
the worm activity to a minimal
level while causing negligible
disturbance to normal users.

Shigang Chen
Assistant Professor
Computer & Information Science
& Engineering


16 TheFloridaEngineer






Other CISE Research


"Smart Home" to be Unveiled at

Oak Hammock Subdivision


imagine a microwave that
reads your Lean Cuisine
bar code and knows how
long it needs to cook; a cell
phone that lets you know when
your bottle of heart medication
is getting low, and dials the
pharmacy to let them know
you need a refill; a washer and
dryer that are one unit, with no
need to transport clothes from
one to another.

No, these aren't inventions
from some futuristic world,
but are objects found in a
three-bedroom home in the
Oak Hammock subdivision
in Gainesville. Elderly
residents in the UF-affiliated
community are soon to test
out the "smart home" designed
by Computer & Information


U




L11





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q~


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11~1-

lli
Ir:


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B


Science & Engineering
Professor Sumi Helal, Director
of technology development
of the UF Rehabilitation
Engineering Research Center
on Technology for Successful
Aging. The focus of the
Center is communications,
home monitoring and smart
technology for older people
with disabilities.

Helal and his research group
are hoping the prototype house
will offer elderly residents
and their families peace of
mind as the seniors get older
and less capable of doing
day-to-day activities without
assistance. Motor, cognitive
and therapeutic impairments
are the focus of the research,
and with the first Baby
Boomers turning
65 in seven years,
the inventions will
become ever-more
Important.

The house's first
occupant will
be 76-year old
-. Minette Hendler, a
j d former Plantation,
S Fla., resident who
moved into the
-" Oak Hammock
community in Nov.
2004. Helal and
his research group
started turning a


house in the community into
an assisted living environment
in Sept. 2004. When the house
is complete on Jan. 28, 2005,
Hendler will be fitted with a
discreet electronic sensor that
wirelessly transmits data to the
home's computer network. The
network is able to sense things
such as the speed of her walk,
or whether she has fallen. The
computer can then notify a
caregiver or relative.

Other seniors will take turns
living in the house over its
10-year testing time, and
researchers will use the
other portion of the house to
evaluate how the technology is
working. The project is funded
by a $4.5 million federal grant,
which provided the $200,000
that the 2,500-square-foot
home cost to build and the
$80,000 worth of technology
it contains. The group is
hoping as the demand for the
technology increases, cost
will decrease and builders will
see it as a viable addition to a
home package or remodeling.
Because it will be possible to
install the technology into a
home, fewer seniors will be
forced to vacate their houses in
favor of nursing homes.

Christine Hale


GatorEngineering 17


N14
J T~


n1,
o-_LI






Other CISE Research


Landmines Reveal Themselves to


Modern Signal Processing


A Computer &
Information Science
& Engineering faculty
team is part of a national
initiative to make landmine
detection faster, more accurate,
and safer.

Professors Paul Gader, Joseph
Wilson, Gerhard Ritter,
computer scientist Mark
Schmalz, and their graduate
students have developed signal
processing algorithms for
identifying plastic landmines.
Their work began as part of a
Multidisciplinary University
Research Initiative (MURI)
started during the 1990s
with the ultimate goal of
eliminating existing landmines
deployed during war, and has
been funded by a variety of
landmine detection programs
since then. UF, along with


several other institutions,
created algorithms for a
hand-held landmine detection
system by Cyterra of Orlando,
Fla., which builds detectors
now used in Afghanistan and
Iraq by the U.S. Army, which
funds the research.

Unexploded landmines in
former war zones are a global
human health issue. The 2002
Landmine Monitor Report
notes that 90 countries are
affected by landmines and
unexploded ordinance. The
number of landmines deployed
in these countries may reach
as high as 100 million and is
constantly rising in active war
zones.

Demining efforts are often
slow because detecting modern
landmines can be difficult.
Older mines were made of
metal and could be located
with metal detectors. Modern
mines are composed primarily
of plastic, with metal present
only in very small quantities.
Metal detectors can easily
confuse these mines with the
large amount of metal debris
left after battles.

The focus of the research
is to develop a multisensor
approach to finding plastic
landmines. The system has
to be able to differentiate
between soil types, ground
water, vegetation, and buried
anomalies of all kinds, as well
as find metal and plastic mines.


The resulting system uses both
a metal detector and ground
penetrating radar.

"Ground penetrating radar can
see lots of things under the
ground, including plastic. It
can also see pockets of water,
gopher holes -just anything,"
Gader says. "In order to find
the plastic case but discard
everything else the radar sees,
you use both the radar and a
metal detector."

When the hand-held detector
receives a signal that indicates
a mine, it sends out an alarm.

The signal processor learns to
distinguish mines by analyzing
signals from ground similar
to that where the mines
may be buried. It learns to
recognize soil conditions and
underground features, but
cannot determine the size or
shape of an object. The process
still requires input from a
human operator who has to
learn a mandatory procedure to
map out the edges of the mine.

"We have research now where
we are trying to automate
that and do spatial mapping,"
Gader says. "We are working
on vehicle mounted automated
systems, but they are still in
the research stage. Most of the
vehicles are driven by remote
control and are blast resistant."

A related project for the team
is the use of near infrared
light (near IR) to detect


Near infrared light can detect
booby trap bombs.






Other CISE Research


High Performance


Computing with CASTOR


booby traps set alongside
paths or roadways. A booby
trap painted a camouflage
color might not be visible
to someone traveling along
the road. Gader's team has
discovered that scanning the
site with near IR will reveal
the trap.

In tests, the team painted
mock bombs green and hid
them at ground level in some
shrubbery. Then they took
pictures of the site using a
modified Sony digital camera.
(The Sony was selected because
it has near IR capability.)
When seen in near IR, the
booby traps appeared as
dark objects surrounded by
luminescent leaves. The team
has been able to design and
build computer programs that
can successfully differentiate
between traps and other
objects using the system; the
near IR clearly revealed the
spikes on top of the traps
which connect to the trip
wires.

Gader says the U.S. State
Department is especially
interested in humanitarian
demining and ordnance
removal because countries with
. 1-.t .:f unexploded ordnance
i .,i r ability problems. "It's
!i .i 1 ro have stability when
p,.:.p l can't safely go back to
l-iiu lobs or their farms," he
!I -\


today's scientific and
engineering research
programs depend
heavily on the availability
of data on a global, multi-
institutional scale. Researchers
require the ability to access,
process, and store very
large data sets at very high
speed. For that reason, the
University of Florida has
begun structuring a high-
performance computer
backbone for data-intensive
scientific and engineering
computing. The system is
known as CASTOR, which
stands for Communication and
Storage.

Computer & Information
Science & Engineering
Professor Sanjay Ranka is
the principal investigator
(PI) on the project. Co-PIs
are Professors Peter Sheng,
Civil & Coastal Engineering,
Alan George, Electrical
& Computer Engineering
and Paul Avery and Samuel
Trickey from the Physics
department. The National
Science Foundation (NSF) has
provided $600,000 in support
funds.

The system will be linked
in a 10 gigabit-per-second
network that will provide
24 terabytes of data storage.
Several major research groups
at UF will be linked in the
network, including ECE,


CISE, high energy physics,
chemical physics and materials
science, coastal and estuarine
modeling, medical physics, and
computational biology.

New data mining and grid
computing technologies will
be needed to make optimal
use of CASTOR. CASTOR
PI Sanjay Ranka and a team
of researchers are working on
several projects to create these
technologies.

Ranka explains that data
mining is a process of looking
for patterns in large amounts of
data. He says that the concept
has been around for the last
10 or 15 years and is used
commercially by companies
like Wal-Mart to determine
what products should be sold
together. There are obvious
scientific applications, Ranka
says, such as using data
collected from the Pacific
Ocean over the past several
years to predict future El Nino
events.

To look for patterns,
researchers need to bring large
amounts of data into one place.
However, this is not always
possible because different
institutions own the data and
there are legal and other issues
that prevent moving the data.
In cases like this, researchers
must either do the mining


without all of the data needed,
or do distributed mining on
other sites. Data site owners
prefer the latter approach, so
Ranka and researchers from
the universities of Minnesota
and Chicago are developing
distributed data mining
middleware, with funding
from the NSF.

In a related NSF project,
Ranka is working with CISE
Assistant Professor Chris
Jermaine to develop data
mining techniques to quickly
detect outbreaks of biological
pathogens. This work will
have direct applications in
homeland security efforts
against bioterrorism.

Ranka is also working
with UF physicist Paul
Avery on a grid computing
middleware program called
SPHINX. Grid computing
is a new paradigm, Ranka
says, that allows the sharing
of resources, including
data, documents, software,
and computers that belong
to multiple organizations.
The resources are shared
through virtual organizations.
SPHINX is intended to
provide an infrastructure for
resource management and
execution within the virtual
organizations.

Martha Dobson


Martha Dobson


GatorEngineering 19






Faculty


Agricultural & Biological
Engineering

Kenneth Campbell,
professor, is now a Fellow
of the American Society of
Agricultural Engineers.

Carol Lehtola, associate
professor, received the 2004
NAMIC Engineering Safety
Award for distinguished
accomplishments and
leadership in agricultural
safety and health programs
for education and extension.
The award is sponsored by
the National Association of
Mutual Insurance Companies.

Civil & Coastal
Engineering

Marc Hoit, professor, will
serve as UF's interim associate
provost overseeing campus
information technology. He
will serve in this position until
a new provost is named.

Computer & Information
Sciences & Engineering

Paul Fishwick, professor,
presented the keynote address
at the 2004 SCS Summer
Simulation MultiConference
in San Jose, July 27.


Stanley Su, distinguished
professor, received the best
paper award at the IASTED
(International Association of
Science and Technology for
Development) International
Conference on Computers
and Advanced Technology in
Education.

Electrical & Computer
Engineering

Mark Law, professor and
chairman, and Kevin Jones,
professor and chairman
of Materials Science &
Engineering, received the
Faculty Recognition Award
for Student Recruiting from
the Semiconductor Research
Corporation (SRC). The
award recognizes SRC-funded
principal investigators who
successfully recruit a high
percentage of students with
citizenship or naturalization
status in the country where the
research is performed.

Environmental
Engineering Sciences

Timothy Townsend was
selected to receive the
Jones, Edmunds, and
Associates Professorship in
Environmental Engineering
Sciences.


Industrial & Systems
Engineering

Panos Pardalos, professor,
was named a Fellow of the
American Association for the
Advancement of Science for
distinguished contributions
in the design and analysis of
algorithms for solving discrete
and global optimization
problems with applications in
the sciences and engineering.

Materials Science &
Engineering

Kevin Jones, professor and
chairman see Electrical &
Computer Engineering entry

Mechanical & Aerospace
Engineering

Bhavani Sankar and John
Ziegert, professors, were
named MAE Ebaugh
Professors. Each has a five-year
appointment starting October
1, 2004.

Bhavani Sankar, professor,
is now a Fellow of American
Society of Composites.

Greg Sawyer, assistant
professor, received the Burt
L. Newkirk Award from
the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers
(ASME). The Newkirk Award
is given to an ASME member
under 40 years of age who has
made a notable contribution
to the field of tribology in
research or development
as evidenced by important
tribology publications.


College






College


Industrial & Systems Engineering Creates
First International Course for Collepe


The Industrial & Systems
Engineering (ISE) department
has launched the first ever
College of Engineering course
given in an international
setting. The course,
"International Industrial
Energy Consulting Chile,"
was offered in Santiago, Chile
during the 2004 summer C
term through ISE's Industrial
Assessment Center (IAC).
ISE faculty member Cristidn
Cdrdenas-Laihacar, who is
the IAC technical manager,
directs the program offered in
Chile and taught the course.

Six ISE students participated,
including Michelle
Hernandez, Michelle
Wasserlauf, Nancy Wetter,
Alex Bertens, Jaime Lemus,
and Sam Sadler. The course
explored the economic and
energy environment in Chile,
the influence of climate, and
Chile's characteristics as a
NAFTA member. While in
Chile, the students did energy
audits of El Mercurio, a
newspaper roughly equivalent
to The New York Times, and
Quimetal, a copper-based
pesticides and fertilizer plant.

The group visited, but did not
audit, a plant that produces
pork feeding pellets, a pig


I Ill I.UIL UI 1 IVICIIUI U I IVVn papci El m 1l d la0 liLy, IWIL LU IyIIL. 1I1
Cirdenas-Lailhacar, Michelle Hernandez, Jaime Lemus, Nancy
Wetter, Alex Bertens, Michelle Wasserlauf and Sam Sadie.


breeding facility (136,000 pigs)
with a tremendous biodigestor,
and Vifa Ventisquero, the
biggest vineyard in Chile,
where the team was invited
to a special wine tasting. The
students also gave three talks
to students and faculty in the
College of Engineering at
Pontificia Universidad Catolica
(PUC) de Chile, one of the
most prestigious universities in
Chile and Latin America.


Besides all the hard work,
the team toured Santiago, a
city of seven million, learning
about the city by visiting a
fort built in 1612, museums,
old churches, and other sites.
They also went to the beach
and tried typical Chilean
seafood; visited a ski resort
in the Andes; and discovered
traditional country food and
Chilean arts and crafts.

Christine Hale


Graduate Engineering Research Center Brushes Ivan Off


Hurricane Ivan did little harm
to the Graduate Engineering
Research Center (GERC)
when the storm came
ashore just west of Florida's
Panhandle. GERC, which
is located at Eglin Air Force
Base, fared exceptionally well,
according to John Rogacki,
GERC's new director.


Rogacki reports, "Other than
damage to our landscaping
(trees and branches down)
and some minor damage to
lighting fixtures, we were
unscathed." GERC was closed
from Thursday, Sept. 16
through Monday, Sept. 20 and
reopened to a normal schedule
on Sept. 21.


"Our facilities expert, Richard
Runyon, did a yeoman's job
in putting the pieces back
together," Rogacki says.

The faculty and staff of GERC
also received no injuries and
only minor damage to homes
and apartments.


GatorEngineering 21






College


Industrial & Systems Engineering Creates
First International Course for Collepe


The Industrial & Systems
Engineering (ISE) department
has launched the first ever
College of Engineering course
given in an international
setting. The course,
"International Industrial
Energy Consulting Chile,"
was offered in Santiago, Chile
during the 2004 summer C
term through ISE's Industrial
Assessment Center (IAC).
ISE faculty member Cristidn
Cdrdenas-Laihacar, who is
the IAC technical manager,
directs the program offered in
Chile and taught the course.

Six ISE students participated,
including Michelle
Hernandez, Michelle
Wasserlauf, Nancy Wetter,
Alex Bertens, Jaime Lemus,
and Sam Sadler. The course
explored the economic and
energy environment in Chile,
the influence of climate, and
Chile's characteristics as a
NAFTA member. While in
Chile, the students did energy
audits of El Mercurio, a
newspaper roughly equivalent
to The New York Times, and
Quimetal, a copper-based
pesticides and fertilizer plant.

The group visited, but did not
audit, a plant that produces
pork feeding pellets, a pig


I Ill I.UIL UI 1 IVICIIUI U I IVVn papci El m 1l d la0 liLy, IWIL LU IyIIL. 1I1
Cirdenas-Lailhacar, Michelle Hernandez, Jaime Lemus, Nancy
Wetter, Alex Bertens, Michelle Wasserlauf and Sam Sadie.


breeding facility (136,000 pigs)
with a tremendous biodigestor,
and Vifa Ventisquero, the
biggest vineyard in Chile,
where the team was invited
to a special wine tasting. The
students also gave three talks
to students and faculty in the
College of Engineering at
Pontificia Universidad Catolica
(PUC) de Chile, one of the
most prestigious universities in
Chile and Latin America.


Besides all the hard work,
the team toured Santiago, a
city of seven million, learning
about the city by visiting a
fort built in 1612, museums,
old churches, and other sites.
They also went to the beach
and tried typical Chilean
seafood; visited a ski resort
in the Andes; and discovered
traditional country food and
Chilean arts and crafts.

Christine Hale


Graduate Engineering Research Center Brushes Ivan Off


Hurricane Ivan did little harm
to the Graduate Engineering
Research Center (GERC)
when the storm came
ashore just west of Florida's
Panhandle. GERC, which
is located at Eglin Air Force
Base, fared exceptionally well,
according to John Rogacki,
GERC's new director.


Rogacki reports, "Other than
damage to our landscaping
(trees and branches down)
and some minor damage to
lighting fixtures, we were
unscathed." GERC was closed
from Thursday, Sept. 16
through Monday, Sept. 20 and
reopened to a normal schedule
on Sept. 21.


"Our facilities expert, Richard
Runyon, did a yeoman's job
in putting the pieces back
together," Rogacki says.

The faculty and staff of GERC
also received no injuries and
only minor damage to homes
and apartments.


GatorEngineering 21



























UF civil engineers find that


Strict Building Codes


Can Protect Homes


from Storms


Kurt Gurley's research is part of the
Florida Coastal Monitoring Program.
Participants include UF, Clemson
University, Florida International
University, Florida Institute of
Technology, and the Institute for
Business and Home Safety. The
research is sponsored by the Florida
Department of Community Affairs, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, the National Science
Foundation, and the Florida and South
Carolina Sea Grant offices.
http://users.ce.ufl.edu/~fcmp


ough building codes
put in place after
Hurricane Andrew
seem to be working, says
Kurt Gurley, a UF Civil &
Coastal engineering associate
professor who studies the effect
of hurricane wind loading
on homes. Both mobile and
conventional homes built
recently in Florida have
weathered 2004's hurricane
barrage well, Gurley says.

For the past two years, Gurley
and his research team have
studied data from several
homes along Florida's Gulf
and southeast coasts that were
equipped with instruments to
measure wind pressure. They
also deployed portable towers
near the homes during storms
to measure wind speeds. The
measurements are used to
characterize damaging wind
behavior.

Gurley's team took wind
speed readings and conducted
detailed, post-hurricane
forensic damage surveys of
manufactured homes and
single family dwellings for
every land-falling hurricane
during the 2004 season. Now
that the season is over, Gurley
and his team have returned to


the storm-impacted areas to do
a three-month-long damage
survey to enhance data from
the earlier investigations. A
calibration of the measured
wind speed data to the
observed wind damage will
reveal the relationship between
wind speed thresholds and
the likely damage modes in
common types of residential
construction. Gurley believes
the findings will be useful for
building code committees.

"We are going to look at the
relative performance of the
building codes used in Florida
during different eras," Gurley
says. New homes between
1993 and 2001 were built
according to codes created in
the aftermath of Andrew, and
2001 saw the adoption of a
common building code across
the state that is stronger still.
Thorough damage evaluations
will be conducted on a
statistical sampling of homes in
the 2004 impacted areas. The
study will bolster the mostly
anecdotal conclusions drawn
from 'drive-by' inspections of
damaged areas with a more
quantitative and deliberate
report based on many homes
with construction dates from
1993 through 2004.


22 TheFloridaEngineer





























"We know that homes built
after 2001 did very well
in all the hurricanes with
the exception of certain
components that were fastened
to the outside of the homes,"
Gurley says. "During Ivan, the
homes that suffered significant
wind damage were very old,
poorly constructed, or suffered
damage from fallen trees.
Storm surge did the majority
of the major damage."

Gurley and his research
partners at Clemson University
in South Carolina and Florida
International University in
Miami also plan to use the
data in studies that compare
building code requirements to
real life storm events. Building
codes require that structures
be designed to resist prescribed
wind loads. "That information
all came from wind tunnel
tests that were done years ago,"
(-;. says.


One of the most important
aspects of wind tunnel tests is
to see how well they replicate
boundary layer winds which
are closest to the earth and are
the most turbulent. It is the
pushing and pulling action
from this turbulence that
usually damages structures.
Therefore, the team will build
scale models of the actual
test-subject homes wired in the
field to collect the full-scale
data during a real hurricane.
These models will be tested
in Clemson's boundary layer
wind tunnel, specifically
built to recreate turbulent
wind behavior. The team will
measure scaled down wind
pressures on the miniatures
and compare the readings to
the real pressures measured
during the storms.

"If we can compare the
new wind tunnel tests to
what happened to that same
structure in real life, we can
help fill in the missing link
between what wind loads the
codes say we should design for
and what really happens," he
says.


In the future, Gurley's team
will do research on the way
human behavior influences
how effectively engineering
design can mitigate storm
damage. "We saw lots of cases
where people had nice steel
hurricane storm shutters for
their houses and didn't bother
to put them up. The way people
behave relative to risk is a
limiting factor on how much
an engineer can do to try to
prevent them from getting hurt
or lose property," Gurley says.


Gurley says it is always scary
to see the destruction after
a storm. "Just to see how
seriously we have to take
these events always leaves an
impression, no matter how
many times we go and do this,"
he says. "We have chased 14
storms so far. Not a one of
them you could take lightly."

Martha Dobson


GatorEngineering 23






Development


The Faculty Challenge Initiative


Gator Engineering
alumni, industrial
partners, and donors
often ask, "When I make a gift
to the College of Engineering,
what is my best investment?"

The College of Engineering
has many good investment
opportunities where private
gifts make a significant
impact. Unrestricted gifts,
student support, and program
enhancement are always
important to a college with
almost 7,000 students and 300
faculty. However, if you want
to make a real impact, consider
a gift that supports the faculty.

President Bernie Machen
has announced a Faculty
Challenge Initiative to raise
$150 million for faculty
support over the next seven
years. President Machen and
Dean Pramod Khargonekar
are making this our highest
priority because recruiting and
retaining top quality faculty
are critical to our future
success. As Dr. Machen stated,
"In order for the University of
Florida to reach its potential,
we must do a better job
supporting our faculty."

It is no accident that UF is
Florida's flagship institution
and the state's only member
of the prestigious Association
of American Universities.
UF earned those rankings
the old-fashioned way, with


an outstanding faculty. Now,
as we anticipate further
recognition among the top
tier of American universities,
we understand that achieving
higher status will depend
heavily on how well we
recruit, retain and support our
professors and researchers.

How You Can Help
You can help by designating
your support for a
professorship, graduate
fellowship, or faculty research
program. To do this, you may:

* Endow a professorship
* Endow a graduate
fellowship
Endow a research fund
Create a non-endowed term
professorship

We encourage you to consider
one of the following methods
to make your gift:

* A gift of highly appreciated
securities
A gift of highly appreciated
real property
A bequest in your will or
trust
A five-year cash pledge

There are significant matching
grant programs available from
the state for gifts of $100,000
and more. Dr. Machen has
pledged an additional match
from a special discretionary
fund for gifts of $1 million or
more for the Faculty Challenge
until the fund is exhausted.


Dean Khargonekar is
dedicated to providing
increased support for our
current faculty and to
recruiting promising new
faculty. Your private gift can
make the difference in his
ability to reward our highest
performing faculty and to
attract the best new faculty
in the world to the College of
Engineering.

You can find information
online at www.uff.ufl.edu/
FacultyChallenge and you are
always welcome to contact
the College of Engineering
Development Office. We
will be glad to answer your
questions and help guide your
decision to support the College
of Engineering.

Go Gators!

Steve Beeland
Senior Director ofDevelopment
College ofEngineering

330 Weil Hall
P.O. Box 116575
Gainesville FL 32611-6575

Phone: 352.392.6795
Mobile: 352.256.6074
Fax: 352.846.0138
Email: sbeeland@eng.ufl.edu


24 TheFloridaEngineer






Development


Faculty Challenge Initiative Update


Robert M. "Gator"
Handley (BSEE 1962)
established the first
professorship in UF President
Bernard Machen's recently
announced Faculty Challenge
Initiative by designating
$600,000 from his estate to
fund an endowed professorship
in the Electrical & Computer
Engineering department.

Should the state's matching
gift program be continued
at present levels, Gator's gift
will be eligible to receive a
$420,000 match, thus creating
a $1,020,000 endowment that
will provide at least $40,000
per year in perpetuity for
faculty support.

Gator graduated from
Clearwater High School and
entered UF in 1958, majoring
in electrical engineering. Like
many students in the 1950s,
Gator worked his way through
school. He earned his board
at the student-athlete dining
room in the old Student Union
while earning his degree in the
College of Engineering.

Following his graduation
in 1962, Gator took an
engineering position with
Hughes Aircraft in California.
While working in the
aerospace industry, Gator
earned his master's degree in
electrical engineering from
the University of Southern
California.


UF President Bernie Machen and Robert M. Handley


Gator went on to several
leadership positions with
Allied-Signal (now known
as Honeywell) before retiring
to his native Clearwater in
1998. He is a member of
the Engineering Advisory
Council and also serves on
the Electrical & Computer
Engineering Advisory Board.

"Bob Handley's gift will create
an endowment that will allow
us to recruit an outstanding
faculty member to the College
of Engineering," said Dean
Pramod Khargonekar. "More
and more, our ability to
offer a professorship in the
recruitment process is the
critical factor in successfully
attracting outstanding faculty
to the University of Florida."


"I am very pleased that I was
able to make this contribution
to the College of Engineering,"
said Handley. "I am convinced
that to build lasting excellence,
the college and the Electrical
& Computer Engineering
department must build
permanently endowed support
for our faculty. I am pleased
to do my part and hope my
classmates and others will join
me in supporting the faculty
that made our careers possible."

Steve Beeland


GatorEngineering 25






Development


Chemical Engineering Department


Receives $100,000 Grant


Joyce E. Morway of Clark, NJ.
has established an endowed
graduate fellowship to honor
her father, Arnold J. "Red"
Morway. Her gift of $100,000
is eligible for a $50,000
matching grant from the state
of Florida. The Arnold J. "Red"
Morway endowed fund will
support master's level students
in Chemical Engineering.

"Red" Morway (1906-1985)
received his BS in chemical
engineering from UF in 1929.
Morway delayed coming to
UF for a year after graduating
from Duval High School
in Jacksonville, Fla., so that
he could work to raise the
$42 UF tuition. He went
on to receive his MS degree
from Columbia University
and began doctoral studies
at Brooklyn Polytechnic
Institute.


Morway became famous for his
research in industrial greases
while working for Exxon
Research and Engineering
Company, receiving 293
different US patents and
numerous foreign patents
for grease formulations.
The United States Patent
Commissioner personally
congratulated Morway upon
his 200th patent. The New
Jersey Inventors Congress
and Hall of Fame inducted
Morway after his death.

Morway's first patent in
1936 was for a discovery that
resulted in the development
of more than 50 products. In
1938, he invented some of the
first premium quality, widely
used high temperature greases
for anti-friction bearings.
Morway's other inventions
included a multi-purpose
grease for use in diesel ships
operating on residual fuels,

.. Mark Jager of the
S" Boeing Company (c)
presented a check
for $25,000 to Dean
Pramod Khargonekar
(r) and Mechanical
& Aerospace
Engineering chair
Wei Shyy (I) at the
Dean's Advisory
Board Meeting
November 18, 2004.
The donation will
support master's
degree fellowships
and undergraduate
scholarships in the
MAE department.


which decreased engine
wear by 50 percent; the first
commercially produced
lithium-based aviation greases
used during World War II;
and the first extreme-pressure
calcium acetate multi-purpose
grease for industry and
automotive use.

Morway's best known
invention was never patented.
Eisenhower grease was used
widely during World War
II to enable the waterproof
operation of landing craft,
tanks, trucks and other
vehicles carrying men and war
materiel in beach landings.

Health issues forced Morway
to retire before he reached
his goal of 300 US patents.
His patents are displayed in
six bound volumes, along
with news clippings and his
publications, at the library of
the New Jersey Institute of
Technology in Newark, N.J.

Morway was an avid gardener
and was well known for having
more than 300 bow ties, which
he made himself out of fabric
from his wife's or daughters'
dresses. Morway was the
subject of good-natured
kidding from his lab associates
for being hard of hearing.
Former research director Per
K. Frolich once commented,
"Red apparently didn't hear
very well in our meeting, so he
just went back to his laboratory
and tackled the problem his
own way, coming up with a
patentable result."


Christine Hale






Development


Reaching Out to Industry

The Industry Programs Office Update


The College of
Engineering Industry
Programs Office
continues to take on new
challenges and opportunities as
it builds greater collaborative
relationships with industrial
partners of all sizes from
Fortune 100 to start-up
companies. Erik Sander, the
program director, says, "I
look back over the last two
years with satisfaction as the
office has participated in over
$31 million of collaborative
proposals and programs with
industry."

Industry Programs has
established a blanket research
agreement with Harris
Corporation that enables
diverse research projects to be
initiated without renegotiating
the terms of the agreement
every time; a broad industrial
support base for over $20
million of nano-medical
research program proposals;
and UF research relationships
with the University of Central
Florida Photonics Center of
Excellence.

Industry Programs also
organized and chaired the
First Annual Florida
Technology Transfer
Conference on behalf of the
Florida Research Consortium,
and organized a series of
"Industry Days at UF" to bring
senior administrators and


researchers from key industrial
partners to UF for lectures
and research discussions with
faculty and students.

Industry Programs supports
the college's goal to encourage
an entrepreneurial culture
among the faculty and
students. Sander says,
"Supporting an entrepreneurial
environment on campus,
where faculty and students can
expand their boundaries is key
to their future success. Most
of our students may never start
their own companies or even
work in start-ups, but almost
all will work in entrepreneurial
teams at some point in their
careers. It's important that
we prepare them to take full
advantage of all opportunities
as well as we can."

As part of this effort,
Industry Programs in fall
2003 collaborated with the
UF Warrington College
of Business Center for
Entrepreneurship and
Innovation (CEI) to start
an Entrepreneurship for
Engineers course which has
already been taken by over
100 graduate engineering
students. The office also
works with UF's Office of
Technology Licensing and
the College of Engineering


Integrated Product and
Process Design Program
(IPPD) on the Integrated
Technology Ventures Program
(ITV). ITV is an offshoot
of IPPD that provides
engineering and business
students with a start-up
company experience working
with serial entrepreneurs to
develop UF technologies for
commercialization.

"We are never satisfied
with where we are," Sander
says. "As we look ahead to
new challenges, we'd like
to continue to leverage the
strong relationships that
the college has with great
corporate partners like Harris,
IBM, Intel, Sandia National
Laboratories, and many more
to focus on multidisciplinary
programs of value to all
parties." Sander welcomes
contacts from interested
corporations and individuals.
For those not familiar with
how the college can work with
industry, Sander can serve
as a first contact and make
the relationship as easy and
mutually beneficial as possible.

330 Weil Hall
Phone: 352.392.8049 x1005
Email: esander@eng.ufl.edu


GatorEngineering 27






Alumni


Friends We Will Miss


1925 Wayne A. Cooper, of Winter Park, Florida, died September 22, 2002.

1926 John M. Boyd, BSCHE, MS 28, of Clermont, Florida, died February 3, 1996.

1927 Charles J. McDowall, BSME, of Jacksonville, Florida, died July 12, 1996.

1928 William H. Johnson, BSEE, of Watkinsville, Georgia, died December 1, 2001.
James G. Keck, BSEE, of St. Petersburg, Florida, died July 23, 2004.
Orren L. Van Valkenberg, BSCE, of Ringgold, Georgia, died November 10,
2002.
Joe P. Windham, BSEE, of Livonia, Michigan, died January 1, 1982.

1929 R. A. Menendez, BSEE, of Tampa, Florida, died December 16, 1999.

1930 Elio Fueyo, BSEE, of Miami, Florida, died January 12, 2004.
Robert W. Hart, BS, of Murphy, North Carolina, died May 24, 2001.
Parker W. MacCarthy, BSME, of Bowie, Maryland, died May 7, 2002.
Thomas R. Meeker, BSEE, of Panama City, Florida, died October 14, 2000.

1932 George D. Freeman, BSCHE, of New York City, New York, died July 1, 1976.

1933 Robert L. Crownover, BSCHE, of Dade City, Florida, died March 8, 1998.

1934 George E. Rollins, Jr., BSCE, of Columbia, South Carolina, died August 2,
2004.

1935 Henry I. Mossbarger, Jr., BSCHE, of Maryville, Tennessee, died January 1,
1992.
John J. Tigert V, BSME, of Lake Placid, Florida, died July 12, 2004.
Note: Mr. Tigert was the son of former University of Florida
president John J. Tigert.

1936 Joseph A. Craig, BSCE, died July 2, 2004.

1945 Ewen K. Cameron, BSCE, of Vero Beach, Florida, died April 18, 2004.

1947 Robert Bawer, BSEE, of Vienna, Virginia, died June 22, 2003.
John H. Crisp, BSIE, of North Ft. Myers, Florida, died September 20, 1996.
William M. Horton, BSME, of Port Arthur, Texas, died June 5, 1995.
Arthur N. Winsor, MSIE, of Gainesville, Florida, died August 5, 1990.

1948 Oscar H. Stroh, BSIE, of Alva, Florida, died September 15, 2001.
Jack Wellhoner, Jr., BSEE, of Davenport, Florida, died November 3, 2003.

1949 Wilfred J. Curry, Jr., BSEE, of Atlanta, Georgia, died April 1, 1975.
Basil E. Ellis, BSCE, of Jacksonville, Florida, died March 14, 2001.
Robert B. Nieland, BSME, of Solon, Iowa, died September 1, 2004.
William D. Rinehart, BSME, of Spring Hill, Florida, died April 25, 2004.

1950 Henry E. Nawotka, BSEAE, MS 52, of San Pedro, California,
died September 1, 1977.
Arthur L. Sprott, BSME, of Ormond Beach, Florida, died February 8, 2000.

1952 Joseph C. Payson, BSME, of Brooksville, Florida, died May 30, 2004.
William L. Watson, BSCE, of St. Petersburg, Florida, died April 23, 2004.

1954 Harold A. Meeler, BSCE, of Cocoa Beach, Florida, died January 20, 2004.

1955 Kenneth W. Martin, BSIE, of Gainesville, Florida, died December 13, 1997.

1956 John M. Clark, BSEE, MS 58, PhD EE 66, of St. Petersburg, Florida,
died June 1, 1981.

1958 Robert L. Armor, Jr., BSEE, of La Habra, California, died July 7, 1994.


1959 Robert W. Bowman, BSME, of Merritt Island, Florida, died August 21, 2004.
William J. Larkin, BSNE, of Newport Beach, California, died July 1, 1993.
Eugene L. Sanders, BSEE, of Huntsville, Alabama, died January 1, 2004.

1960 Robert E. Sovik, BSIE, APO San Francisco, California, died January 5, 2001.
Herbert F Whitman, BSEE, of Azusa, California, died September 10, 2000.
Charles R. Williams, BSEAE, of Montgomery, Alabama, died May 6, 2004.

1961 Alex L. Gilmour III, BSCHE, of Jacksonville, Florida, died February 12, 1990.
Bruce G. Nimmo, MS, of St. Petersburg, Florida, died August 19, 2000.

1962 John T. Page, BSIE, of Longwood, Florida, died October 15, 1998.

1965 John H. Agee, BSCHE, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, died October 25, 2002.
Edward L. Root, BSCHE, of Gretna, Louisiana, died November 23, 2003.
William M. Taylor, ME, of Alpharetta, Georgia, died January 4, 2004.

1966 Earl R. Greene, Jr., BSEE, of St. Petersburg, Florida, died May 4, 2004.
Bruce B. Henriksen, MS, PhD ASE 68, of Centennial, Colorado,
died February 12, 1998.
Henry A. Luten, Jr., BSCE, of Little Switzerland, North Carolina,
died March 27, 1996.
William H. Spiller, BSEE, of Waynesboro, Tennessee,
died December 3, 1999.

1968 Raymond M. Clock, PhD ENE, of Melbourne, Florida, died February 24, 2004.
Joseph M. Horowitz, MS, of East Meadow, New York, died August 1, 1981.

1969 Edward N. Lawrence, ME, of Washington, DC, died February 15, 1993.

1970 Oneal Estenoz, BSCE, of Lauderhill, Florida, died September 1, 1979.

1972 Jose Lorenzo Martin, BSCE, of Gainesville, Florida, died November 8, 1978.

1975 Richard A. Long, BSET, of Gainesville, Florida, died August 9, 2002.

1978 Stephen J. Monagan, MS ASE, of Williamsville, New York, died March 1, 1981.
Kevin R. Mulling, BSME, of Memphis, Tennessee, died May 29, 2004.

1982 Nancy S. Austin, BSEAE, of Crystal River, Florida, died August 15, 2004.

1995 John H. Robinson, Jr., MSEE, of Ocala, Florida, died June 13, 2004.

1997 Steven J. Boyle, BSENE, of Niles, Ohio, died April 16, 2003.

2003 James R. Howell, BSCE, died January 6, 2004.



Information is provided by the University of Florida Foundation, Inc.
Academic major or hometown data may not be available.


28 TheFloridaEngineer










Alumni Notes


1988


David Gwynn, Jr., MS CCE, has joined
the HNTB engineering firm as vice
president and officer-in-charge of the
Orlando, Lake Mary, and Tallahassee
offices. Gwynn was the co-founder
of TEl Engineers & Planners, a
transportation consulting firm in
Lake Mary. Gwynn and his partner,
Andres Nunez, formed TEl in 1991.
The firm specialized in transportation
planning, traffic engineering, Intelligent
Transportation Systems, and highway
design. Under his management, TEl
was named by Civil Engineering News
as one of the Best Engineering Firms
to Work For in 2002 and 2003. HNTB
Corporation purchased the stock of TEl
in July, 2004. Gwynn is a resident of
Seminole County, Fla. He was named
Small Business Person of the Year in
2002 by the Seminole County/Lake
Mary Chamber of Commerce. His
community activities include mentoring
Seminole High School students,
the Take Stock in Children and Lake
Mary High School Success-at-Work
programs, and the Seminole County
Teach-in.


1990
Jerry Paul, NRE, is now the principal
deputy administrator at the National
Nuclear Security Administration.
He is the second highest ranked
administrator at the government
agency responsible for maintaining
and enhancing the safety and security
of U.S. nuclear weapons. Paul was
nominated for the post by President
George W. Bush and confirmed by the
U.S. Senate.

1992
James S. Marotta, MSE, PhD MSE 97,
is on the editorial board of the Journal
of Biomedical Materials Research:
Applied Biomaterials. He is the
technology manager for biologics at
Medtronic Sofamor Danek in Memphis,
Tenn.
1996
Amy Y. Lee, BSME, is the global
business manager for General Electric
(GE). She is focused on developing
and implementing strategic plans to
grow the business globally, in addition
to maintaining the business market
leadership position. She leads a
team of engineers, marketing and
commercial operations professionals,
and interns. Previously, Lee was
manager of new business development
with a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group,
where she was involved with a company
turnaround and the divestiture of a
$900 million business. This year, she
is the regional GE company leader
for Heart Walk, the American Heart
Association's #1 annual fundraiser to
fight heart disease and stroke.


rite


pubsmail@eng.ufl.eduo


Editor, The Florida Engineer


University ofFlorida
PO Box 116550
Gainesville, FL 32611-6550


www.eng.ufl.edu/home/pubs


2001
Brian J. Dlouhy, BS ChE, has completed
his third year at New York University
Medical School. He has been selected
as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Scholar and will conduct a year of
research at the National Institutes of
Health at Bethesda, Maryland, before
returning to NYU for his final year of
medical school.


I,


Lgineering 29






Commencement


Gator Engineers Honored as UF Distinguished Alumni


Gator engineers are
not only lauded at the
University of Florida, but
have made significant
contributions to
engineering technology
in the US and abroad.
Alumni Robert O. Powell
and Sachio Semmoto
were honored at the fall
2004 commencement
ceremonies as University
of Florida Distinguished
Alumni for significant
contributions in their
respective fields and
commitment to the
success of the university.


Robert O. Powell
......(BSCE 1955)

Powell, a pilot,
engineer, sportsman
and philanthropist,
has both helped to
change the landscape
of Florida and
worked to preserve
and protect its human
and natural resources.

A veteran of the US Air Force, Powell, with
his brother, Steve, also a UF alumnus, was a
partner in a family business that helped in the
development of Broward County and the Port
Everglades seaport. Powell Brothers Barge
Terminal Inc., a heavy marine equipment
company, was founded by his father and uncles
in 1932. Powell Brothers innovated many of the
techniques used today in marine engineering.

Powell Brothers built bridges for the Florida
East Coast Railroad and along the Alligator
Alley highway. The company also built the
Bahamian bridge from Nassau to Paradise
Island, as well as many of the canals and
marinas in South Florida and the Caribbean
Islands. Called upon to help at the dawn of the


Sachio Semmoto
(PhD EE 1971)

S The University
of Florida is an
international
center where many
distinguished
scholars from
S around the world
have received their
education. Sachio
Semmoto, a leader in Japan's information
technology industry, is an extraordinary example
of UF's success in providing the academic
springboard to international acclaim.

Semmoto began his career with Nippon
Telegraph &Telephone (NTT), where he
led the development ofJapan's first optical
fiber system. After 17 years at NTT, he left
to help launch DDI Corp., Japan's first fully
private telephone company that revolutionized


the Japanese telecommunications industry.
Semmoto is credited with sharply reducing
long-distance call costs, promoting free
competition in long-distance service, and
introducing innovations such as customer
service centers, detailed bill reporting, and least-
cost routing among long-distance carriers.

Linking telecommunications to home
computers, Semmoto founded eAccess Ltd. in
1999 to help bring Japan into the Internet Age
with an inexpensive, fast Internet connection
using ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber
line) technology. He serves as chairman of the
board and chief executive officer for eAccess,
which is Japan's first entrepreneurial and global
IP/telecom start-up company.

With a propensity to create new systems for
future generations, Semmoto is a founder of
Eco-Power Co. Ltd., Japan's first wind-power
generating company, and has helped lead the
movement for eco-friendly technology in Japan.


30 TheFloridaEngineer


Space Age, the company worked with NASA
laying cables for downrange tracking equipment
when the first space probes began.

Both Powell and his wife Ann have extensive
roots within the UF community. They met
while both were pursuing degrees at UF In
appreciation of their education, they have been
generous supporters of the university, providing
funds for construction of the Powell Structures
&Materials Laboratory in the College of
Engineering and for Powell Hall at the Florida
Museum of Natural History.

The Broward County Gator Club recognized
Robert Powell with its Distinguished Alumnus
Award in 1997 for his work for the UF
Foundation's Its Performance that Counts
Broward Campaign Committee. Robert and
Ann Powell are strong supporters of other
causes in Broward County, including the Cystic
Fibrosis Gold Coast Guild, Bonnet House
Alliance, Jack and Jill Children's Center,
the Alzheimer's Women's Association for
Resources and Education, and the Museum of
Discovery and Science. Robert also has served
on the board of directors for several businesses,
including SunTrust Bank of South Florida.















Semmoto's entrepreneurial
spirit inspired him to co-found
the Japan Academic Society of
Ventures and Entrepreneurs
so he could help others
commercialize their inventions.
From 1996 to 2000, he joined
the Graduate School of
Business Administration at
Keio University in Tokyo as
a professor in entrepreneurial
management and information
technology. Due to his
research in entrepreneurship
and mentoring of others, Keio
Business School's entrepreneur
school has created many new
companies, some of which are
now public.

Semmoto has served as a
visiting professor at Carnegie
Mellon University and the
University of California at
Berkeley. He has lectured
at Harvard, Stanford, and
Northwestern universities
in the US and Cambridge
University in England. He
is a Fellow of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers. In 2002, Semmoto
presented a presidential lecture
at UF. He has agreed to serve
as a visiting professor in the
College of Engineering and
is a member of the Dean's
Advisory Board.

ITl.- ULi | :i\ .:.f Florida
.Id e!.. C .:.l- I 4 of
EI 1 .-.-iirwr [ri ke pride in the
.i>:,:.:-.,,pl!! ,i l,-r [. of its alum ni
'i.1 ,,:kr.:.: d- A. their success
ini I.:. .:.t i:! pi ing future
Orad.latPs in their endeavors.

Christine Hale


Commencement


Commencement Honors Go To Outstanding Students

Flying caps and tears of joy marked a significant milestone in the lives of hundreds
of Gator Engineers on December 17, 2004. Graduates, family and friends crowded the
Stephen O'Connell Center at 2 p.m. to celebrate the awarding of 311 bachelor's, 184
master's, and more than 50 doctoral degrees.

Special student honors at the ceremony went to Yamal E. Yidios, the Gator
Engineering Two-Year Scholar, and Tyson Brown, the Gator Engineering Four-Year
Scholar.


Yamal Yidios is a
22-year-old from
Cartagena, Colombia,
who graduated cum
laude with a BS degree
in civil engineering.
Due to his outstanding
academic achievements
and leadership
involvement in high
school, he won a full
academic scholarship
to Stetson University to study physics and pre-
engineering. At Stetson, Yidios maintained a 3.9
GPA, successfully completed the pre-engineering
program, and received a minor in physics. He was
also president of the Hispanic Organization for
Latin Americans and played for the Stetson NCAA
Division I Tennis Team.

In August 2002, Yidios transferred to UF to study
civil engineering. He has been an active member
of the American Society of Civil Engineers,
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers,
Colombian Student Association, and Hispanic
Student Association. Yidios belongs to several
honor organizations including the Golden Key
International Honor Society and National Civil
Engineering Honor Society (Chi Epsilon), and
earned a place on the College of Engineering Dean's
List. He received several scholarships from the
College of Engineering and Department of Civil
Engineering.

Yidios received his bachelor's degree through
the BS/MS program in civil engineering and
after graduation will continue working toward a
master's degree in civil engineering in construction
management. He already has worked with several
engineering consulting and construction firms in
central and south Florida over the last four years,
including Kimley-Horn & Associates, Parker
Mynchenberg & Associates, Lynn Townsend &
Associates, and Yidios Brothers Constructions.


Tyson Brown
graduated
summa cum
laude with a
BS in electrical
engineering, a
BS in computer
engineering,
H and a minor
in business
administration.
Brown is a
member of the Eta Kappa Nu Electrical
and Computer Engineering Honor Society,
serving as president in 2003-2004. He is
a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering
Honor Society, serving as vice-president of
electees in 2002-2003.

Brown received the Andersen Scholar of
Highest Distinction in fall 2002 and was on
the President's Honor Roll and the College
of Engineering Dean's List multiple times.
He received a National Merit Scholarship
from the University of Florida, the 2002
Golden Key Senior Inductee Scholarship,
the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship,
the Craig Dickinson Memorial Scholarship,
and the Florida Bright Futures Academic
Scholarship.

Outside of school, Brown is active in
Baptist Collegiate Ministries and the
Westside Baptist Church, and has been to
the Dominican Republic and Brazil to do
mission work. He plays intramural sports, is
a PADI-certified scuba diver, a snowboard
and snow skier, and breeds ball pythons. He
has tutored students in calculus and physics.
After graduation, Brown plans to work in
management in a family-owned electrical
contracting company in the Tampa Bay
area.


Christine Hale


Christine Hale


GatorEngineering 31







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