Author: College of Engineering

by Derrick Bean
COE Public Affairs Writer

His name is Viacheslav Zingerman, but you may know him as Slava. He is one of Wayne State University’s most decorated and humble warriors. With three championships under his belt, Zingerman is fighting to become the first to win four consecutive NCAA titles in men’s epee fencing.

Zingerman, a senior studying electrical engineering technology, has come a long way. The 26-year-old was born in Noyabursh, Russia and raised in Ashkelon, Israel.

His former coach, Alexei Cheremski, turned the talented Zingerman into a winner in Israel where he won the national title at 15 and the World Junior Cup at 16.

Zingerman’s journey to America, the land of immigrants, was different from others. And he is not your average immigrant. He never dreamt of living the American dream. His only goal was to follow his heart through fencing by doing what he loves. But not before serving his country where all citizens are required to serve three years in the Israel Defense Force when they turn 18.

The decision to come to the United States was influenced by friends like his former coach who moved to New York when Zingerman was a teen. He was encouraged to come to Wayne State by Anna Garina, former three-time epee NCAA champion (‘04, ‘05, and ‘07).

Zingerman won his first national men’s epee title as a freshman in 2007 with a score of 15-13. He defended his title in 2008 (15-7), and repeated again in 2009 (15-7). He is now just the second to win three consecutive NCAA titles in men’s epee history.

Zingerman sure came to the right place. Wayne State has a storied history of successful fencers. Of the twelve previous three or four-time NCAA fencing champs, four were from Wayne State (including Zingerman and Garina, as well as Men’s foil champs Greg Benko (‘74-‘76) and Ernest Simon (‘78, ‘80-‘81).

Fencing is Zingerman’s life. He practices fencing at Wayne State nearly every day. He goes to New York to work with his fencing coach from Israel almost every holiday.

Balancing practice and studies can be a difficult task for many student-athletes. Zingerman says he has to make sure he makes time for school purposes. Fortunately, professors allow athletes to turn in some schoolwork late during periods of competition.

Zingerman was named to the Coach’s Honor Roll (for students who have a term grade point average of 3.0-3.49) for the Fall 2007 and Fall 2008 semesters.

He is thankful for the opportunities that came from working hard at his craft. “I’ve been doing it for like half my life,” he says. “I just like it. I’ve been doing it since I was like 11. It just seems like I’ve been doing it forever — high school, military, college…I enjoy it. This is how I got to college. This is how I got to the U.S. basically.”

There are three categories of fencing, each with its own weapon: the foil, the sabre, and the epee. Zingerman uses the epee, which he says feels like a real sword, simply because it was his only option. “I didn’t choose it,” he says. “There was only this weapon back in Israel. I didn’t have a choice.”

Zingerman says he tries not to think about his chances of winning a fourth title (which has only been done once in men’s sabre, once in women’s foil, but never in epee). “I don’t know,” he says. “We’ll see. Hope for the best, you know. It would be nice to win all four times.”

The NCAA’s 2010 Fencing Championships will have midwest regionals on March 13-14 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. The finals are set for March 25-28 at Harvard University in Boston, Mass.

Being a three-time national champ might be enough for some people, but not Zingerman. He wants more. “Honestly, before I got here, I didn’t even know about this NCAA division,” he says. “For me, I’m more concerned with World Cup, Olympics — that kind of thing. So, I would like to get to the Olympics. That would be the goal.”

Zingerman plans to graduate next December. And he seems to be thinking about his American dream after all. “First, I want to find a job, start a life…I would like to move to New York, find a job there,” he says. “And if I could continue to work in my engineering field, it would be awesome.”

Zingerman hopes to go into engineering management, particularly product development. “I like to be around people,” he says. “I guess I just don’t want to be sitting in the office doing the same thing every single day.”

Besides the military and fencing, Zingerman says he has never worked. With no job experience, you know he will be a hard worker just by his attitude. “I will take anything,” he says. “I’ve been studying for four years, and I don’t really know what my future job is going to be about. But I hope I will like it.”

John W. Shier, 1923-2009

The college laments the loss of Hall of Famer John W. Shier, BSChE’48, who died Sept. 3, 2009 after a brief illness. He was 86.

Shier was among the first group of distinguished alumni to be inducted into Wayne State’s College of Engineering Hall of Fame in 1983.

He is survived by Louise, his wife of 65 years, six children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Prior to attending Wayne University, Shier served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II under General George Patton and upon returning home received a Bronze Star Medal for his bravery.

He worked nearly 50 years for Acheson Industries as a director and former executive vice president until his retirement in 1998. Shier expanded Acheson facilities across Michigan and organized the building of new factories all over the world during his nearly five-decade tenure.

Shier was very active in the Port Huron community. He was the longest-surviving member of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County before leaving in 2008 after 50 years. His fellow members have said he is responsible for building up the foundation and making it what it is today. He received the foundation’s Distinguished Service Award in 2003. Shier served as chairman of the board at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Port Huron, director of the Peoples Bank of Port Huron, and trustee and first vice president of the Port Huron District Foundation. He was a member of the Port Huron Golf Club, and was named president in 1971.

He was also a member of the Engineering Society of Detroit, the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Economic Club of Detroit.

Shier gave back to his community with generous donations to engineering at Wayne State. He also supported the Mid City Nutrition Program and Soup Kitchen and the People’s Clinic for Better Health in Port Huron Township, among other groups.

A celebratory mass was held Sept. 9, 2009 at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Port Huron. Shier, a devout Catholic, was a reader there on many Sundays. Burial was held at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Port Huron.

Engineering students brought back with vigor Engineers Week this year in the true spirit of a tradition that once hallowed the halls of the College of Engineering.

There were no “Egg Drop Contests” held from the top of the engineering building roof, but the new activities such as “Faculty Appreciation Day” succeeded in invoking the camaraderie between teachers and students that pervaded the college in its earlier days.

Engineers, professional and aspiring, across the country recently celebrated the engineering profession during National Engineers Week, Feb. 14 through 20. The week-long celebration recognizes the accomplishments of engineers, increases public awareness and encourages the study of science, technology, engineering and math.

Engineers Week, or E-Week, is usually held during either the week of George Washington’s birthday (Feb. 22), or the week of President’s Day (Feb. 15) to honor the first president of the United States who is also considered to be the first U.S. engineer.

At Wayne State, E-Week began on Monday with Faculty Appreciation Day. Engineering faculty members were honored with letters and emails, thank you cards and cookies, and even visits from their students. Engineering Student and Faulty Board (ESFB) President Vanda Ametlli says it wasn’t easy trying to reach so many teachers, but it was worth it.

“My favorite part of E-week was the Faculty Appreciation Day,” she says. “While we were not able to find every faculty member in their office, we had a great response and welcoming attitude from faculty. It was exciting to see how surprised faculty members were and knowing that we made them feel appreciated even if it was for a day.”

Engineering students also showed their appreciation by voting for the “Most Influential Teacher,” who was announced on Wednesday at the Meet the College Luncheon. The award went to Carol Miller, department chair, civil engineering; and Abhilash Pandya, assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering.

Miller says it feels wonderful to be acknowledged by students. “I hope that I can be influential in a very positive ways — certainly teaching, research, and university activities are very important to me – but, I hope I can be influential in ways beyond those.”

Several other events were held throughout the week, including: the painting of the “Spirit Rock” on Gullen Mall, the 2nd Annual Engineers Mardi Gras Celebration (hosted by the Society of Hispanic and Professional Engineers and the Institute of Industrial Engineers), a General Motors Career Day, an icebreaker and various workshops and games.

Mumtaz Usman, interim dean of the College of Engineering, says Engineering Week at Wayne State was a great success, which is good for everyone. “Engineering is a profession which is not known well by the general public,” he says, “The work of engineers provides a quality of life for all of us. It is important that the engineering profession is made more visible through the activities conducted by the colleges and professional societies. Thus, the profession gets to be better understood and appreciated.”

Ametlli says last year’s Mardi Gras was the only event celebrated in honor of E-Week 2009. “It was great to see we had so many activities planned this year,” she says. “The Mardi Gras was celebrated with pizza, a fun crossword puzzle, music and of course Paczkis. The event had over 100 students participating.”

It has been a long time coming for Ametlli to see Engineers Week on campus. Ametlli says she wanted to celebrate the national event when she was president of the Institute of Industrial Engineers a year ago. When she ran for ESFB president, celebrating E-Week was one of the many goals on her agenda.

“I am glad to say that goal was achieved,” says Ametlli. “While National Engineers Week has its mission and vision, my mission and vision was to bring together student organizations and collaborate on events. In addition, not many students are part of organizations, so I wanted us to make an attempt through Engineers Week to reach out to the students who are not part of organizations. I hope that this will be a yearly tradition in the College of Engineering.”

Though time and resources were limited, several engineering groups and institutions came together to support E-Week 2010. Ametlli hopes to add an outreach program to next year’s E-Week in order to promote engineering for middle school and high school-aged students.

DETROIT — Cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that appears in infancy or early childhood and permanently affects body movement and muscle coordination, affects 10,000 newborns yearly and 800,000 people overall in the U.S. It occurs as a result of injury to the developing brain that happens before birth or sometimes during the first few months or years of life. Conditions such as prematurity, maternal infections, placental abnormalities and infections such as meningitis or encephalitis that occur in the newborn period may result in brain injury producing cerebral palsy.

A team of researchers from the College of Engineering, School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health’s Perinatal Research Branch have been collaborating to discover and develop new nanodevices that will aid in the diagnosis and treatment of neuron-inflammatory diseases and infections that currently are difficult to target and treat.

The team led by Rangaramanujam Kannan, professor of chemical engineering, with collaborators Dr. Sujatha Kannan, assistant professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine and Dr. Roberto Romero, chief of the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development’s Perinatology Research Branch (PRB) at the Detroit Medical Center, is developing a therapeutic approach that will target and treat neuron-inflammation in cerebral palsy. By developing nanotechnology-based diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for prevention and treatment of maternal infections and fetal brain injury, this team’s promising approach may one day eliminate or lessen the incidences of cerebral palsy, along with other neuron-inflammatory diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, amytrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.

These dendrimer-based nanodevices will target and deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier. According to the research team, their results are the first to show that dendrimers are able to target the specific site of injury in the brain in a neuron-inflammation model. Using this nanotherapeutic approach, the targeted drugs are 10 to 100 times more effective than free drugs upon intravenous administration.

“There is an increasing body of literature, in addition to evidence from our own research relating to the disease mechanisms, that suggests that neuron-inflammation plays a key role in the pathogenesis and evolution of cerebral palsy and other diseases,” says Kannan. “We hope to develop therapeutic approaches that will target and treat neuron-inflammation resulting in significantly improved treatment outcomes.

A wide variety of neurological diseases are very difficult to treat due to lack of technology able to target the affected regions in the central nervous system. “We believe that our novel drug-carrying nanodevice will offer solutions for treatment of such conditions by delivering drugs to the specific target,” Kannan adds.

Sujatha Kannan has established an animal model of inflammation that results in a phenotype of cerebral palsy. She, in collaboration with Dr. Diane Chugani, professor of pediatrics and radiology in the School of Medicine, and the Positron Emission Tomography Center, has shown that the presence of neuron-inflammation can be detected at a very early stage using noninvasive imaging by Positron Emission Tomography. Clinical translational studies for the detection of neuron-inflammation in at-risk newborns are ongoing.

“The PRB has established a unit to develop applications of nanotechnology in perinatal medicine under the leadership of Dr. R. Kannan because we are convinced that this approach will enhance early diagnosis of inflammation in utero as well as treatment,” says Romero. “Sujatha Kannan and R. Kannan have explored potential mechanisms to prevent and treat inflammation-induced cerebral palsy. Application to humans requires new methods for diagnosis and drug delivery into the amniotic cavity. Such goals could be accomplished using nanotechnology and, hence, the partnership between Dr. Kannan and the Perinatology Research Branch,” Romero adds. The PRB nanotechnology lab now has six postdoctoral researchers and two graduate students with broad research expertise ranging from chemistry, engineering, neuroscience, pharmacology, cell biology, animal model development and imaging.

This novel and high-risk research was initially funded by the Ralph Wilson Medical Research Foundation, which provides money for cutting-edge research in the hope that a breakthrough will be made to find a cure for devastating conditions such as cerebral palsy. Rapid advancements in maternal-fetal medicine have been enabled by the support from the PRB. Through the technology being developed by the Kannan and PRB team, there soon may be a more effective and safe treatment method for treating the fetus/newborn for cerebral palsy and a variety of neurodegenerative conditions that are difficult to treat.

About Dr. Rangaramanujam Kannan: Dr. R.M. Kannan received his B.E. in chemical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. He joined Wayne State University in 1997.

About Dr. Sujatha Kannan: Dr. Sujatha Kannan received her M.B.B.S degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER, India), and completed her pediatric residency and critical care medicine fellowship at WSU/Children’s Hospital of Michigan. She joined WSU/Children’s Hospital of Michigan as faculty in 2003.

To learn more, visit: http://www.kannangroup.com

by Derrick Bean
COE Public Affairs Writer

Wayne State University’s Formula SAE team is revving up for what it hopes is another round of success in its new team offices and lab inside the Marvin I. Danto Engineering Development Center. Part of a student design competition organized by SAE International, the Formula SAE West event will be held at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., June 16 through 19.

Teams come from schools all over the world to enter their small, formula-style racing cars into competition. Last year’s WSU FSAE car scored a personal best, ranked 67 out of 119 teams overall, at the Michigan International Speedway. “I’m very proud of how the team performed last year,” says Andrew Vaitkevicius, assistant captain. “It was a good starting point for this year.”

Vaitkevicius is in charge of overseeing projects, coordinating events and keeping an “eye on the books,” he says. He is a sophomore in more ways than one. As a former business major last year, his rookie experience working with FSAE partially motivated him to change his major to engineering. And like the majority of last year’s dozen or so members, Vaitkevicius returned this year hopeful about their chances.

“We’re feeling optimistic,” he says. “It’s January, and we’re at where we were in April 2009. Testing is the key. It’s all about failures and how we adapt to them.”

Moving to the their new space last spring in the Engineering Development Center has made a big difference in getting organized and working on the car at a faster pace.

Vaitkevicius hopes the head start will go a long way. The team plans to thoroughly test their vehicle for at least two months before competition, unlike previous years when the finished product was turned out just weeks (or sometimes days) before a major event.

This year’s car is about 70 percent done. Fabrication is complete, along with the electrical system, powertrain and frame. The suspension, among other components, still needs to be put together, but Vaitkevicius says the car should be finished by the end of February.

The team hopes to place in the top 25 at the California speedway in June. To achieve this goal, they plan to reduce the car’s weight and increase power by simplifying various functions — steering, braking, the powertrain and the electrical system — down to fewer parts. The wheelbase was shortened by two inches. Vaitkevicius says they need to be “aggressive” by trying new things like a carbon fiber muffler in order to have a more competitive power-weight ratio.

Vaitkevicius says he switched his major to engineering because it was “more exciting” than studying business. “That was one of biggest factors,” he says. “The ability to work with your hands and actually gain experience that you use in a classroom is a lot more fun.”

This time around, money was an issue early on. Finding sponsors was “stagnant at the beginning,” Vaitkevicius says, but big names like Ford and General Motors came through along the way.

Michele Grimm, associate dean for academic affairs, has reprised her role as advisor to the team. “We have to answer to her if anything goes wrong, but she gives us a lot of freedom as far as design aspects,” Vaitkevicius says.

Grimm has advised different WSU FSAE teams since 2003. “All of the teams have put their hearts and souls into the cars,” she says of past teams. “This year we have a dedicated group of veterans accompanied by a good group of rookies. Building on a strong finish in 2009 and a good amount of testing this fall, I think that the team is in a good position to perform well in 2010 as long as they continue this level of effort.”

Grimm says increasing team membership is important for keeping a strong team each year. Vaitkevicius says some freshman students were scared away once they realized the long hours that members put in. At least three full-time freshman members have stayed the course, though.

Vaitkevicius says there haven’t been too many roadblocks. Class schedules are the biggest challenge to getting everyone together. Also, moving equipment to the new space and getting situated last summer was difficult with the few people that were around at the time.

In previous years, the team had a small lab in the Manufacturing Engineering Building and an office in the college. “We had no machines and the separation from our office and our lab presented problems with giving tours to our sponsors, confusion among new members and a long walk for anyone who forgot a print in the office,” says Vaitkevicius.

Team members had to fit in time at the university machine shops during normal business hours in between their own classes and the other projects being worked on in the shops.

“The ability to machine our own parts has lead to faster turnaround times on designs, which helps us keep our deadlines,” says Vaitkevicius.

Grimm says the new lab and the machine donations have gone a long way. “This has been a key aspect of the team’s ability to progress this year,” she says. “The 24/7 access to a design and manufacturing space, equipped with machine tools donated by Ford and GM, has made a tremendous difference in moving forward this year.”

The team held a booth with last year’s car at the North American International Auto Show Jan. 17 through 24 at Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit. The team rotated two students at the booth throughout the show, talking to passersby about the car and the team. “We’re making a presence,” Vaitkevicius says. “We’re representing our SAE chapter and Wayne State, and trying to get some exposure. And it’s cool to see the cars too.”

by Derrick Bean
COE Public Affairs Writer

Shawn Hunt, PhD Candidate (electrical and computer engineering), is hard at work on the sequel to last year’s Wayne State unmanned autonomous vehicle using lessons learned from last year.

The WAVE (Warriors’ Autonomous Vehicle) is returning as the WAVE 2.

In 2009, Hunt and his main partner, Sam Lee, built an unmanned robotic vehicle and entered it at the national 17th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) at Oakland University.

Prior to last year’s event, Wayne State had not competed in 10 years. The 2009 team did not qualify for the final round due to electrical malfunctions. But the WAVE did qualify as one of only 13 schools for $500 in prize money when Hunt and Lee successfully communicated various messages that were then carried out by WAVE 2.

“I felt good that we showed up and that we tried, but our goal is to qualify and do better than last year,” says Hunt, 32, who expects to complete his PhD degree this year. So this year will be his last shot.

Good thing he is resourceful. The obstacle course requires each vehicle to stay between boundaries while responding to commands during a limited time period. Hunt plans to use a new algorithm that he has been working on for his dissertation. The code can track points in a video feed, and tell the robot where to go.

Darin Ellis, associate professor (industrial and manufacturing engineering) is on board to advise the team again. The robot is being built in his lab. Abhilash Pandya, assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering, is also lending his expertise.

“We are using the same robot base — a modified wheelchair — we worked on for 2009, with only slight modifications,” says Hunt. “We plan to add two cameras that will look to each side of the vehicle to increase the overall field of view of the course. We are using a new circuit board that one of our team members built from scratch that will reduce the number of components that we need in our architecture.”

Other changes include: a sturdier mast to mount and stabilize the main overhead camera; replacing the rear wheel with a large plastic ball to increase maneuverability; and waterproofing the shell.

The Engineering Alumni Association has pledged $1,000 from its Engineering Alumni Grants for Education and Research (EAGER) Fund for the project. The money will pay for new equipment as well as this year’s $250 registration fee due at the end of February, Hunt says.

“I think I learned a lot last year,” he says. “I have trouble delegating responsibilities, and I think by breaking out into subgroups our first year, I wasn’t doing a good job leading. This year, I’ve tried to come up with the overall architecture of the system so that everyone can see how all of the pieces fit together, and I can better assign subtasks.”

This year, Hunt has assigned various tasks to his team members, who include Prem Sivakumar, Shankar Manickam, Wilfred Wheeler, Samir Al-Stouhi, Michael Jessie, Wilfred Wheeler and Vishal Lowalekar.

E-Week
February 14-20

Professor of Biomedical Engineering Cynthia Bir at the 2009 Sports Emmys.

DETROIT— ESPN has begun airing short Sport Science segments and will do so throughout the current season, including during the Winter X-Games, which are Jan. 28 to 31.

The popular series that brought together professional sports stars and scientists explaining athletic achievements completed its second season last year on Fox Sports Net. It has now morphed into these special Sport Science moments, says Wayne State University Professor of Biomedical Engineering Cynthia Bir, lead scientist in the series. Two segments were aired during the BCS bowl games earlier this month.

Bir recently participated with Base Productions to film a segment in Breckenridge, Colo. on free skiing to be aired during ESPN’s Winter X Games, an event featuring extreme sports. ESPN plans to air the shorts – about three minutes each – at different times corresponding to special sporting events. A half-hour show is being filmed to run in conjunction with the Super Bowl in Miami on Feb. 7. Additional half-hour Sport Science specials are also planned, Bir said.

Sport Science, along with Fight Science, the original concept using martial artists at the top of their game, was developed and produced by Base Productions and distributed to cable television companies including Fox Sports Net and the National Geographic Channel. Their contract with ESPN runs for one year.

Meanwhile, the National Geographic Channel will air brand new Fight Science episodes on Thursdays at 9 p.m. beginning Feb. 4. Bir will be involved in five new segments – Special Forces, Law Enforcement, Fight Like an Animal, Stealth and Human Weapons.

Sport Science has led to interest and new ideas by production companies elsewhere. One United Kingdom company has contracted with Bir to help them examine the dynamics of a staged “survivable” 727 jetliner “failed landing.” Bir will take her expertise along with three crash dummies to Mexicali, Mexico next month. Two pilots will guide the plane, flaps down, into a descent before ejecting. “It should be interesting,” said Bir.

Bir’s participation in TV shows, beginning with Fight Science, has been a great experience, she says, and interesting for her husband and four children. But it’s not a role she ever imagined. She is a hard scientist through and through, studying the effects of blast injuries caused by incendiary bombs such as those used by insurgents in Iraq.

And for Bir, the most important thing about her cable TV role has nothing to do with showbiz. “The shows are appreciated by a lot of different audiences, different age groups and backgrounds. In all the shows, we’ve applied the tools developed in the lab to record, measure and map the speed, force and range of the human body, specifically the athlete. The final product is not only entertaining, but educational.”

Click here to read ESPN’s press release on the football-themed Sport Science special that will kick off Super Bowl weekend.