Georgia Tech Students Collaborate with Shanghai University, Build Energy-Efficient House, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Introduction to Philosophy

Download Georgia Tech Students Collaborate with Shanghai University, Build Energy-Efficient House and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Introduction to Philosophy in PDF only on Docsity! TH E GE O R G I A IN S T I T U T E O F TE C H N O L O G YFA C U LT Y/STA F F NE W S PA P E R Volume 32, Number 22 • Ju ly 2 , 2007 Inside: CoC dual degree program . 2 Global options expand . . . 3 In Brief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Campus Events . . . . . . . . . 4 THEWHISTLE W W W . W H I S T L E . G A T E C H . E D U Students spend the summer building energy-efficient home Matt Nagel Institute Communications and Public Affairs The pace may slow during thesummer months on some col-lege campuses, but the compe- tition is heating up for the members of Georgia Tech’s Solar Decathlon team as they build an energy-efficient house for this fall’s national competi- tion. Tech’s team is in the construction phase of its house, and the competi- tion has brought out the best from around campus. The College of Architecture is leading the effort, but it is the collaboration between all of the colleges involved (College of Engineering, College of Management, and the College of Sciences) as well as numerous research centers that have this project pulling Georgia Tech resources together. “No matter how many cross-listed courses, joint appointments, dual- degree programs, minors and certifi- cates we have, nothing creates true interdisciplinary collaboration better than a project like this,” said College of Architecture Interim Dean Doug Allen. “No single discipline carries all the knowledge necessary to under- take and successfully complete such a project. The diverse backgrounds of the students have to work together in ways that cannot be duplicated by any other means.” Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the third Solar Decathlon competition will be held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in October. But the process of construct- ing the house and learning to work together is laying the foundation for future projects. Allen is fond of using an analogy that he tells his students. “The Renaissance did not build the Duomo in Florence, Italy. The Duomo built the Renaissance. Once you have organized yourselves to undertake such a project, the question is what you do for a second act.” “I hope and I believe that this will be true here as well,” said Allen. “For the first time in my 30 years at Tech, I have seen civil engineering, New initiatives address graduate research ethics Undergraduate architecture students Felipe Escudero and Amelia Mendez survey some of the infrastructure of Georgia Tech’s entry in the Solar Decathlon. The interna- tional competition will be in October on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.Solar continued, page 2 Coulter Foundation supports new Georgia Tech-Shanghai program Dan Treadaway Institute Communications and Public Affairs While the China of today isglobally recognized as aneconomic powerhouse, the China that Wallace Coulter, class of 1934, experienced back in the 1930s couldn’t be more different from the contemporary version. When Coulter was working as an X- ray equipment salesman based in Shanghai in the late 1930s, much of China was impoverished and the Japanese were waging a long, bitter war in the north. Despite these prob- lems, his experience in the interna- tional crossroads city of Shanghai led to a profound, lifelong interest in and fondness for Chinese art, culture and society. He realized early on that China would be not only a market of the future, but also a future center for manufacturing. Throughout his life, Coulter followed the social evolution that was taking place in China. Continuing that tradition of embracing the Chinese people and their culture, the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation has pledged $1 million to support an innovative Georgia Tech graduate program in Shanghai over the next five years. The dual master’s degree program between Georgia Tech and its partner, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), enables SJTU students to earn a non-thesis mas- ter’s degree from Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and a thesis master’s degree in a closely related discipline from SJTU. The same Georgia Tech graduate admission and degree requirements apply to students in the Georgia Tech- Shanghai Program. The Coulter grant will support Chinese students to pursue the dual master’s degree. Some of the criteria of the fellowship include being from a low-income family and being the first A preparation for real world issues With myriad types of ethicalissues that arise in theresearch environment, a new graduate course in research ethics is being offered this August. PST 8000: Responsible Conduct of Research will be an intensive two-day course open to students from any graduate depart- ment. The one-credit course graded on a pass/fail basis is the latest in a series of developments concerning research ethics training for graduate students. As the director of Graduate Research Ethics Programs, a joint appointment between the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and the School of Public Policy, Jason Borenstein develops resources and courses that help to meet the ethics educational needs of graduate students. Ethics continued, page 3 From now until July 10, more than 1,700 students and faculty from 37 countries will participate in the 11th Annual RoboCup 2007 Atlanta. Georgia Tech is the first university campus to play host to this global competition. RoboCup is an international joint project to promote artificial intelligence, robotics and related fields. Competitions will feature robots playing soccer (above), performing rescue operations and offering human assistance. To track the progress of the event, visit www.robocup-us.org. Georgia Tech hosts RoboCup 2007 Shanghai continued, page 3 W W W . W H I S T L E . G A T E C H . E D U WHISTLETHE Editor: Michael Hagearty Photos by Rob Felt, unless noted Published by Institute Communications and Public Affairs. Publication is weekly throughout the academic year and biweekly throughout the summer. Archived issues of The Whistle can be accessed electronically through the Georgia Tech Web page, or directly at www.whistle.gatech.edu. Calendar submissions e-mailed to editor@icpa.gatech.edu, or faxed to 404-894-7214 must be sent at least 10 days prior to desired publication date. Classified submis- sions are on a first come, first serve basis. For more information, call 404- 385-8336. Institute Communications and Public Affairs Wardlaw Center 177 North Avenue Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0181 Georgia Tech is a unit of the University System of Georgia. July 2, 20072 “QUOTE- UNQUOTE” “The aquarium plays an important role in bringing people into contact with marine life. We should all help strengthen these efforts instead of focusing solely on two tragic whale shark deaths while ignoring millions of other deaths in a polluted, over- harvested ocean that we are all doing too little to preserve because of our inadequate understanding, exposure, and personal connection with its animals ... The notion that sharks will prosper if they are left in peace in the wild instead of being exhibited is a fallacy.” —Biology Professors Mark Hay and Terry Snell, in a guest editorial on the education value of aquariums. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) mechanical engineering, architecture, and building construction students working together in a sustained rela- tionship. The lasting impact, however, will come from the collaborations developed among the many faculty members across all these disci- plines.” Seeking support The competition grades each house on a variety of elements in construc- tion, marketing and planning. One of Georgia Tech’s biggest challenges, however, has been the competition for dollars. “We are still looking for partners to help underwrite the project,” said Associate Professor Chris Jarrett, who is one of Tech’s project managers for the Solar Decathlon. “Our partners are truly investing in Georgia Tech when they invest in this project. By doing so, it strengthens the bond between the four colleges toward future collaboration and potentially new creative research and innova- tion.” The U.S. Department of Energy provided each Solar Decathlon team with $100,000 to get started. The actual project cost typically exceeds $600,000 per school. Each school must raise the remaining funds, with either cash or in-kind gifts. “Team sponsorship means every- thing,” said Jarrett. “It enables Georgia Tech’s team to get the job done, to be creative and competitive; it enables them to pursue state-of- the-art sustainable design and tech- nology integration.” The team’s construction phase will take on a new life this month as the house walls are erected and the shape of the house begins to become visually apparent. However, it’s the shape of the team that organizers hope will continue to heat up throughout the summer in the form of new sponsors joining the team. Solar, cont’d from page 1 Georgia Tech Solar Decathlon www.solar.gatech.edu For more information... Jane Sanders Research News The numbers tell the story: 25 Georgia counties, about 420,000 vehicles assessed for emissions each year at more than 60 monitoring sites, data gathered for at least 100 days a year in the field. Fifteen years of systematic data collection along the roadside, now with a fourth gen- eration of equipment. It’s all to see if the $80 million to $100 million Georgians pay for vehi- cle emissions inspections and repairs each year is well spent. These numbers describe the scope and impact of a long-term research study on vehicle emissions and air quality in 21 metro Atlanta counties, plus four more in Macon and Augusta. The study, conducted by Georgia Tech researchers, is meet- ing the monitoring needs of state government and offering significant insights that help direct both research and policy, says Michael Rodgers, associate director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s (GTRI) Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems Laboratory and group leader of air quality research. Rodgers and his team began moni- toring vehicle emissions in 1991 with a pilot program that began in the Georgia Tech School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. With funding from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, he and his staff designed the Continuous Atlanta Fleet Evaluation (CAFÉ) study and have systematically collected this data using remote sensing technology since the spring of 1993. The study continues to validate the effectiveness of the state’s vehi- cle emissions inspection program in 13 metro Atlanta counties that are part of a federal ozone level non- attainment area, Rodgers says. “Georgians spend a major chunk of change on inspections and repairs, so you want to make sure the inspections program is working,” Rodgers said. “We’ve found that it is indeed reducing vehicle emissions in the region. The state is investing less than 1 percent of the cost of the pro- gram to monitor it. So that’s a cost- effective solution.” CAFÉ is noted among environmen- tal monitoring programs for the length and depth of the study, Rodgers adds. “When you gather sys- tematic data over a long period of time, you can better understand how things change,” he explained. “Over time, you can gradually see how the vehicle fleet changes, how its opera- tion changes and how emissions change.” The vehicle emissions database has revealed some interesting trends, Rodgers notes. In comparison with the late 1970s, for example, total emissions have declined in the 20- county metro area CAFÉ tracks. This measure peaked in the early 1980s and has declined since then, despite a doubling of the Atlanta fleet size. Newer, cleaner-burning fuels have also had a very positive effect — comparable to the inspections pro- gram — in reducing vehicle emis- sions. The Mobile Emission Assessment System for Urban and Regional Evaluation (MEASURE) model he helped develop estimates vehicle pro- duction of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and oxides of nitrogen in space and time. MEASURE differs from previous models in that it estimates vehicle emissions as a function of vehicle operating modes — such as cruise and idle — rather than average vehicle speeds. Because it is a modal model, researchers believe MEASURE more accurately reflects on-road emissions. Emissions monitoring validates vehicle inspection program Georgia Tech researchers use remote sensing equipment to monitor emissions from vehicles in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Their long-term work has validated the effectiveness of emissions control strategies. Georgia Tech Solar Decathlon www.solar.gatech.edu For more information...