Winter 2007

Portrait of Former Dean Ilene Busch- Vishniac Unveiled Alumni & Leadership

Faculty, administrators, university trustees, alumni, staff, students, friends, and family of Professor Ilene Busch-Vishniac gathered in Maryland Hall’s Taylor Auditorium on Saturday, October 28, for the unveiling of the former Whiting School dean’s portrait. Painted by Baltimore artist Sam Robinson, the portrait is installed there alongside those of her predecessors—deans Whitehead, Kouwenhoven, Roy, VandeLinde, and…

Alumni Awards Alumni & Leadership

George S. Jenkins ’43, ’47 – Heritage Award In 1943, George S. Jenkins received his bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins and, in 1947, his master’s, both in civil engineering. Today he is a land developer of residential home sites, running Jenkins Land Company out of Charles County, Maryland. For the past four years, Jenkins has…

Giving Thanks, Giving Back Alumni & Leadership

By the time E. King Schultz ’48 earned his bachelor’s degree, he had already studied with some of the giants of the engineering world. Schultz vividly recalls working with some of the greatest minds of his time while at Hopkins. He worked on a research project with environmental engineer Abel Wolman, conducting a study of…

Re-energized National Advisory Council Moves Forward Alumni & Leadership

“I cannot overestimate the value of the guidance and support I receive from this devoted group of alumni and friends. They are leaders in their fields and the wisdom and perspective they bring to the table help us define where we are taking the Whiting School. ” Nick Jones, Dean The National Advisory Council (NAC)…

Young Faculty Honored Research & Development

Last spring, seven young members of the Whiting School’s faculty were honored for their achievements and the promise they demonstrate in research and education. Assistant professor Joel Bader (Biomedical Engineering); assistant professor Fabian Monrose (Computer Science); assistant professor Sean Sun (Mechanical Engineering); assistant professor Andreas Terzis (Computer Science); and assistant professor Jeff Wang (Mechanical Engineering)…

An Innovative Way to Bring Closure Research & Development

Last year, a team of biomedical engineering students was asked to consider a real-life problem. Is there a safer, less intrusive way to close the chest cavity after surgery than the traditional use of heavy steel wire? After nine months of work, the group’s conclusion was a resounding yes. The result was the design and…

An Engineer at the Helm of Emory Research & Development

“Engineers are immersing themselves in society’s needs and goals more than ever,” says James Wagner ’78, PhD ’84. “They are going deeper and deeper into society and I think it’s a good thing.” As president of Emory University in Atlanta, Wagner oversees the university’s nine academic divisions, which include Emory College; a graduate school of…

The Guru of Legroom Research & Development

Better airplane seating. It might be one of those things you only think about while you’re actually on an airplane. Your tiny seat, the acrobatics you do to reach your luggage, your neighbor’s trash spilling into your lap. Once off the plane, though, you’ve moved on. But Matthew Daimler, who earned his BS in computer…

A Conversation with Kate Stebe Research & Development

Last July, professor Kate Stebe became chair of the Whiting School’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, a rapidly growing department with a faculty of 13. A member of the engineering school’s faculty since 1991, Stebe has served on the university’s Academic Council and was previously director of her department’s graduate program. Her research interests…

Shuttle Bus System Goes Wireless Research & Development

Six years ago, then undergraduates Herbert Rubens ’01 and David Holmer ’01 teamed up to work on a problem that today seems simple. They wanted to connect their computers wirelessly to the Internet from any spot in Shaffer Hall. “We were trying to figure out how to extend the Internet from here to there without…

Toward a More Reliable Forecast Research & Development

In the last century, the Earth has gotten warmer … fast. Glaciers are melting in the Arctic— swallowing islands, drowning polar bears, and changing regional patterns of ocean circulation. With techniques weathermen have been using for 30 years, today’s climatologists have just begun to forecast these changing ocean currents. And, as of now, their models’…

That’s a Lot of Dirt! Research & Development

Enormous cranes, trucks, bright orange trailers, and lots of mud. That pretty much describes how the Alonzo G. and Virginia Decker Quadrangle (located just south of Garland Hall) and the southern end of the Homewood campus have looked since last spring. To the untrained eye, it was a mess. But slowly, order seems to be…

Powerful Products for Civil Engineering Research & Development

Last April, Whiting School alumnus, and Civil Engineering Visiting Committee member, Alton “Buddy” B. Cleveland Jr. sat down with the civil engineering department’s chair, Hugh Ellis, and Associate Professor Ben Schafer to find a way for his company to contribute to the success of the department. As it turned out, Cleveland found several. Cleveland is…

Conserving Art, One Nano-Inch at a Time Research & Development

For nine months in 2004 and 2005, Brigid O’Brien began each day by climbing 100 feet of stairs and scaffolding. The essential tools of her trade were a handful of Q-tips, various bottles of cleaning agents, and her own spit. It doesn’t sound like typical work for an engineer, but then, O’Brien isn’t your typical…

A Big Picture Approach at EPP Research & Development

As the newly appointed program chair for the systems engineering and technical management programs in the Whiting School’s Engineering Programs for Professionals (EPP), Kenneth Potocki sees the value of taking a big picture approach. “Systems engineering has become a widely appreciated discipline with the recognition that we need to provide effective solutions to the entire…

En-lightened Robots Put on Quite a Show Research & Development

Art has always been in the eye of the beholder. And for a handful of proud, upper-level engineering students, their hand-made robots recently put on quite a show. The robotic performances, in a darkened laboratory in the Wyman Park Building on Halloween night, were the culmination of a month-long project for Mechatronics, a course taught…

Crystal ball: How will computational medicine change the way heart disease is diagnosed and treated in the next five years? Research & Development

Rai Winslow, professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Computational Medicine: “Research in the Institute for Computational Medicine (ICM) is going to have a significant impact on reducing mortality in heart disease, particularly sudden cardiac death—the leading cause of mortality in the Western world. “Over the past decade, basic biological…

A Powerful Learning Laboratory Research & Development

Back in the 1910s and 1920s, the Power House on the Homewood campus did more than keep faculty and students warm. It also served as a learning laboratory for budding young engineers. Once a freestanding building and the tallest structure on campus, the 92-year-old smoke stack structure (today adjacent to Whitehead Hall) provided enough heat…

New Semester Brings New Faces to the Faculty Research & Development

The fall semester marked the arrival of three new faculty members at the Whiting School. Joining the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Institute for Computational Medicine (ICM) are professor Natalia Trayanova and assistant professor Rachel Karchin. Trayanova is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of computational cardiac electrophysiology. In her Computational Cardiac Electrophysiology…

Skip the Painful Pinprick Research & Development

For the 21 million Americans with diabetes, a finger prick is a part of daily life. To check their body’s level of sugar, or glucose, they have to place a drop of blood on the end of a chemically coated strip, and then place the strip in a handheld machine. And doctors say diabetics should…

A “Brilliant” Turn of Events for Melody Swartz Research & Development

By focusing on how physical environments affect tissue development and remodeling, Swartz aims to better understand tissue regeneration in disease processes—knowledge that can be applied toward improved tissue engineering. Melody Swartz ’91 swims against the current, a characteristic that has led her around the world, prompted her groundbreaking research, and landed her on Popular Science’s…

Fateful Impacts Features

Every time Professor K.T. Ramesh fires one of the guns in his laboratory, it costs $3,000. The guns are four feet long and two inches in diameter, with a target chamber that is three feet in diameter. They shoot specially designed 300-gram projectiles, made by Ramesh, at up to 300 meters per second, into targets…

What’s in the Basement? Features

Water, wind, and riverbeds! Deep in the bowels of the Whiting School’s buildings, engineering faculty have replicated real-world physical environments—oceans, skies, streams—in mammoth experimental laboratories that will (in some cases, quite literally) take your breath away. We bring you a sampling. Surf’s Up! The 20,000-gallon wave tank in the basement of the Stieff Building is…

Bot Busters Features

In the dark world OF Internet FRAUD, a sinister new foe has emerged with the potential to wreak havoc . Can it be thwarted ? At the JOHNS HOPKINS university’s Information Security Institute, an intrepid team of researchers is on the case. In a quiet office tucked off a nondescript corridor on the Homewood campus,…

From the Dean From The Dean

Like so many people today who balance challenging careers with busy family schedules, planning for the future doesn’t always make it to the top of my to-do list. Whether it’s figuring out how I’m going to watch two kids play soccer simultaneously at different locations or how the Whiting School can best position itself to…

Final Exam Final Exam

Overheard one autumn afternoon in Freshman Experiences in Mechanical Engineering: “OK, we’re supposed to disconnect… wait… no…” “Is this the spark plug?” “With the spark plug, the motor has a hard pull. Without it, it’s easy. Are we supposed to know why?” “Does anyone know where the muffler is,” “…what a gasket is,” “…what a…