Stevens Institute of Technology: Admissions Blog

Immersive Virtual Environments for Collaborative Learning Coming to Stevens

The National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education has awarded $500,000 to two professors of Mechanical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, to pursue the research in virtual environments for collaborative learning in engineering education.

An immersive virtual environment for collaborative learning will be developed, implemented and prototyped in several undergraduate mechanical engineering classes. The environment will provide engaging laboratories for a generation of students accustomed to video games and the use of IT, enable nearly unlimited student access to the collaborative virtual laboratory experiments, address different preferred learning modalities of the students, and reduce university resources required for operating certain educational laboratories. The project will lead to the creation of more engaging curriculum content that emphasizes real-world problems, and the context in which science, engineering science and humanities knowledge can be understood and in which engineering is practiced.

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Video: Dean Bruno on Port Security

President Raveché on Port Security

From Solutions for our Future:

Stevens Institute of Technology was awarded the responsibility of leading research and education in port security. This honor was the result of the impressive strength of Stevens and its university and industry partners, which include MIT, Rutgers University, the University of Miami, the University of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Monmouth University, and Lockheed Martin Corporation. The focus areas of the center's research include maritime domain awareness; space-based wide area surveillance; vessel detection, tracking, and monitoring; High Frequency Frequency radar for multiple applications; search and rescue; environmental monitoring; human and organizational factors influencing Marine Transportation System (MTS) security and coastal safety; resiliency; and MTS recovery and continuity of operations.

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Trapani is a winner at the 2008 ISPE New Jersey chapter student poster competition

Michael Trapani, a recent graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology, was one of the winners at the 2008 International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering's (ISPE) New Jersey chapter student poster competition. He was selected for his poster, "Back Up: Expandable Intervertebral Cage with Rotational Insert." Trapani was a Biomedical Engineering major and a member of Stevens' class of 2008.

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Biomedical Engineering Senior Design Takes 2nd Place at ISPE Poster Competition

On April 24th, 2008, at the Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering's (ISPE) NJ Regional Poster Competition, the Biomedical Engineering senior design team of Mike Trapani, Steve Gadol, Adrienne Quiray, and William Kowalski, presented a poster titled "Back-UP," and came in second place.

The students will receive an all-expense paid trip to the ISPE Annual Meeting in Florida in October 2008, where they will compete with teams from each state. Last year, Kate Freed was the overall winner in the undergraduate category for her poster titled "Impedance Mammography."

Congratulations to all the winners and good luck for the national competition in October.

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Engineering Management Students win Best Poster Award at 2008 USMA Capstone Conference

Stevens Engineering Management students had a victory at the recent 2008 USMA Capstone Conference at West Point, where they recently won the Best Poster Award for their work re-engineering New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Emergency Department registration. The five-member team from Stevens, also known as "Better Managed Solutions, Inc." includes two students who are completing the Four Plus One program to obtain an ME in Systems Engineering, and three undergraduate Engineering Management students.

Originally conceived as a Senior Design Project, the initiative quickly gained a professional scope as the students made connections inside the hospital, including a Six Sigma Blackbelt internal consultant, and the Chief of Emergency Medicine, who welcomed them to participate in senior management meetings, after they were fast-tracked through the hospital’s volunteer access protocol. "We were treated like consultants," says Adam Hecht, ME Systems Engineering ’08. "They are in the process of implementing bedside registration, which was one of our recommendations, and we are meeting with the hospital staff again to discuss our findings." Word has spread about the study conducted by the team, and area hospitals are contacting the group about their findings.

At the 2008 USMA Capstone Conference, hosted by the USMA Department of Systems Engineering, the team presented their work among a strong group of Systems Engineering programs, including US Air Force Academy, University of Virginia, and West Point students. Many of the research projects presented at the conference were completed with dedicated school staff, and significant budgets, as well as having a military focus.

According to BE Engineering Management ’08 student James Norberg, "It was like being a magic act at a singing contest, bringing in a civilian project to be evaluated." Apparently, the magic worked, with the poster describing an application of business process reengineering to make drastic improvements to NY Presbyterian Hospital’s current Emergency Department registration. After assessing the current process, performing a time study, comparing performance statistics against other local hospitals, and making use of simulation software to complete the final analysis, the team was able to make recommendations to simplify patient flow and make both the hospital staff and the patient experience better.

The School of Systems and Enterprises extends congratulations to Kathryn Abuan, Drew Cottrell, James Norberg, Adam Hecht, and Chris Babula, and faculty advisor Eirik Hole for excellent work promoting the value of Systems Engineering.

Podcast: Sinking Ships Create New Reefs

From WCBS, an audio clip about research at Stevens' Davidson Laboratory:

Stevens to lead national research effort in Port Security

US Department of Homeland Security selects Stevens Institute of Technology to lead national research effort in Port Security

HOBOKEN, N.J. ― The US Department of Homeland Security has announced the selection of Stevens Institute of Technology as one of 11 universities to serve as important partners for conducting multi-disciplinary research and creating innovative learning environments for critical homeland security missions. These universities will partner to lead one of five new Centers of Excellence and each will receive a multi-year grant of up to $2 million per year, over a period of four to six years.

The five new Centers of Excellence, located across the country, will study border security and immigration; explosives detection, mitigation, and response; maritime, island and port security; natural disasters, coastal infrastructure and emergency management; and transportation security.

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Student Profile: Katherine Freed, '08

By Regina Pynn, '11
Student Correspondent

Katherine Freed (Class of 2008, Rutherford NJ) already has notes on her résumé that some graduate students would be jealous of. She took her Senior Design project as an opportunity to perform groundbreaking research that has resulted in a provisional patent, publishing opportunities, and a first place finish in a prestigious contest.

Freed entered Stevens in 2003, but added a year to her program in order to receive both her B.E. in Biomedical Engineering and her B.A. in History. She completed her Senior Design project in her fourth year at Stevens. Freed and her team focused on Electrical Impedance Technology (EIT), which deals with the electric properties of healthy and malignant body tissue. Her group created a prototype of a device that would perform a non-invasive three dimensional screening for breast cancer. The device would remove much of the ambiguity present in current breast cancer screening processes and allow a diagnosis to be made swiftly and easily.

“We found the technology, and then decided on application,” Freed said.

Their prototype has received wide recognition and acclaim. The team received the Technogenesis Award, which is given by Stevens to the Senior Design team that has the greatest potential to develop new technology based on scientific concepts. The team has also received a provisional patent for their device and they are looking into applying for a full patent.

“Then last April we competed in the New Jersey level of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE) poster contest. We came in second, then were given the opportunity to compete internationally…[I] went to Las Vegas where I competed with students from all over the world.”

Freed won first place in the poster contest, which allows her to publish the team’s research in ISPE’s journal.

“For me it’s not so much the monetary gains, but that something useful can come from this technology. It should be used to save lives.”

Freed is currently deciding between several law schools and plans on studying Health Law and Bioethics and said that her experience at Stevens has prepared her for this future.

“I came in as a Mechanical Engineer and had no idea I’d pick up degrees in Biomedical Engineering and History! At Stevens I started the Stevens Political Awareness Committee…and in class I learned about ethics. I have an appreciation for the legal and ethical implications of new technology…Stevens is a small school with big resources and I am confident that Stevens has prepared me to reach my full potential and my professional goals.”

Engineers Without Borders Project Updates

In the Fall of 2007, a group of five Mechanical Engineers completed a conceptual research project for a Water Purification System as their senior design. Jonathan Da Silva, Abdul Karim Dawan, Kim Fellenz, Kevin Gonzales and Emanuel Rios have optimized the system to provide clean drinking water at the lowest possible cost.

Read more about this project here.

In the Spring of 2008, a team of Chemical Engineers consisting of Barbara Korda, Amanda Rogers, Kelsea Wilks and Natalia Malantchouk will continue research begun in Spring 2007 to find an efficient source of biomass for ethanol production.

Read more about this project here.