Newly invented polymer water filter. Courtesy Dowling University

Working in collaboration with researchers from Dowling College and Cornell University, Dr. Jose Pinto, Associate Professor, Othmer-Jacobs Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, helped develop a water treatment system using specialized resins, copper and hydrogen peroxide to purify tainted water. The research, funded by the NSF in response to Hurricane Katrina, builds upon a century-old chemical mechanism called the Fenton reaction—a process wherein metal catalysts cause hydrogen peroxide to produce large numbers of free radicals. 

Free radicals are atoms or molecules that have an extra electron in dire need of a partner.  They obtain the partner by stripping it from a nearby atom, damaging the "victim" in the process. In large quantities, the radicals can destroy toxic chemicals and even bombard bacteria to death or irreparably damage a microorganism's cell membrane. In addition to killing bacteria, such as E. coli, the system removes heavy metals, deteriorates aromatic compounds, and has the capability of degrading complex organic compounds, such as Poly-aromatic hydrocarbons, textile dyes, pesticides, and phenols.

"It is imperative to decontaminate affected water…before it comes in contact with humans or is pumped into natural reservoirs," Dr. Vishal Shah, Assistant Professor of Biology at Dowling College, explained. "Our method has no major limitations which would prevent it from being deployed on a large scale." The success of laboratory experimentation has prompted continued support from the National Science Foundation, and the researchers envision deployment of the system for emergency field use to be possible within five to seven years. 

For more information, visit: Polytechnic Institute of NYU's Website; the National Science Foundation; and, Dowling College.

With the rise and fall of markets and changing family circumstances, ones financial goals and investment philosophy needs to keep in step. As part of Human Resources ongoing efforts to provide for employees’ retirement, financial advisors from VALIC and TIAA-CREF routinely visit NYU-Poly to discuss member services and options available to Polytechnic employees enrolled in University benefits plans.

To take advantage of these customized financial services, employees should periodically reassess their long-term investment plan and make sure it’s on track to meet their goals. By contacting your financial representative, you can manage your portfolio's options and leverage tools that, for instance, automatically monitor and select investments based on your personally selected criteria.

On February 22 and March 15 , Poly’s TIAA-CREF Individual Consultant, Sandra Madrid, will be conducting one-on-one counseling sessions on campus to provide personalized planning and guidance. These individual counseling sessions are available to all Polytechnic Institute of NYU Faculty and Staff. The Department of Human Resources is pleased to provide this service to enhance your understanding of this important part of your personal investment portfolio.  The financial decisions you make now are important to help ensure the secure and reliable income you deserve during your retirement.

To schedule an appointment, between 9:00am and 4:00pm, sign up online at www.tiaa-cref.org/moc, or call Marta Thomas at (800) 842-2733, extension 3129. Appointments are approximately 45 minutes. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Human Resources Department at extension 3840.

In December, 2006, President Hultin provided a year-end quarterly update on a wide range of key activities throughout the University. Topics included both academic initiatives and administrative activities, as well as other relevant items, including: 

President Jerry Hultin

A 2-Day, Off-site Senior Administrators Round Table to review the University’s progress, develop the key components of a proposed new strategic plan, and chart the actions needed to in the coming months. The University’s mission and vision was discussed in relation to Poly’s core capabilities, and the Round Table findings are being incorporated into the University’s strategic plan. Discussions and review, with all stakeholders, will continue throughout the Spring semester with Provost Erich Kunhardt working with academic department heads, the FEC, and the entire faculty to thoroughly vet, modify and endorse the plan. The preliminary Strategic Plan is available via my.poly.edu; and, as we finalize the plan, we urge all to forward their comments to Richard Thorsen (rthorsen@poly.edu), Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Planning and  Assessment.  

The purpose of the Strategic Plan is to establish a set of actions which, when successfully executed, will initiate a transformation of Polytechnic Institute of NYU into a leading 21^st century research university engaged in education, research and creation with social and economic impact. We will achieve this by innovatively focusing our energy, skills and resources on activities that will achieve three goals: 

• excellence in our core disciplines
• preeminence in a limited number of distinctive multi-disciplinary focus areas
• generate revenue streams to create a future that allows investment to improve in all that we do.

A preliminary draft of the University’s Mission arose from the Round Table discussions, as follows:

University Mission (Working Draft as of December 18, 2006)

We educate, discover, and invent for students seeking opportunity, faculty seeking consequence, and organizations seeking answers and solutions. Using PolyThinking, we creatively bring intellectual rigor, technological innovation, and a passion for science to the communities where we work and live and to the citizens of the world.

In doing this, we will extend the benefits of science, engineering, management, liberal studies and innovation to critical, real-world opportunities and challenges, especially those linked to urban systems, health and wellness, and the global information economy.

The university’s core capabilities include not only the traditional pillars of education and research, but a third pillar based on creativity, innovation, and invention. Our goal is to assure that we are highly regarded for how we use technology and innovation to meet the key challenges of today’s global society and highly competitive marketplace. 

Under this rubric, the three areas of emphasis that arose from the President’s Workshops—Urban Systems, Health and Wellness, and the Global Information Economy—can be viewed as “lenses” through which we focus the our efforts to generate greater recognition and appreciation for NYU-Poly throughout the professional, industrial and educational technology sectors. 

Entrepreneurial Support for Innovation and Invention Ideas and Initiatives

In support of Poly’s strategic vision, the BEST Center is providing assistance in developing ideas with market potential. Current efforts include assessing the potential social/economic impact of an idea or business concept, and providing support for entrepreneurial activities, such as: business plan development; license agreements; commercial partnerships; bringing early-stage and venture financing to the table, and creating new companies. 

Retention Blitz

In an effort to reverse past trends in attrition, all faculty and middle managers were asked to participate in a new Spring 2007 student enrollment initiative, by personally contacting all current students to ensure a smooth registrations process. Through e-mail blasts and phone calls, students received referrals to the right office to remove registrations holds, course selection advising, and/or financial assistance. As a result of this and other efforts, Spring ‘07 registration is up by nearly 6% over Spring ‘06. These efforts demonstrate how faculty and staff engagement with all Poly’s students can significantly improve our retention rate, and enhance Poly’s graduation rate in the coming years.

Angel Fund Investments - Three Foci

Continued discussions are being held with the three focus teams—Urban Systems, Health and Wellness, and the Global Information Economy – to select high-return projects for NYU-Poly to invest its finite resources. Although the availability of $1.5 million in angel funds has taken somewhat longer than anticipated, our goal remains the same—our team efforts must assure our angel-funders that Poly’s investments have the clear potential of generating high returns. To that end, we will be selecting proposals to be funded from those submitted and discussed by the three teams for review by our angel-funders.  

Angel Funds for Recruiting, Retention and Marketing

Approximately $1.8 million has been earmarked for disbursement this year to increase:  the branding of Polytechnic Institute of NYU, to develop stronger marketing of graduate, e-Poly, and professional education programs; expand recruitment of undergraduate students; and, augment faculty and staff to serve this expanded student body. 

Economic Development Proposal for NYC and Brooklyn

A proposal has been drafted for Polytechnic to serve as a lead institution in defining Brooklyn as a new center of innovation and technology in New York. Based on the encouragement of influential NYC leaders we have circulated the proposal to Brooklyn governmental, corporate, and civic leaders to garner their support. This proposal will be presented to incoming Governor Elliott Spitzer in early 2007. 

This unique NYU-Poly package proposes substantial state support for a new Center of Innovation and Device Technology, and formal alliances with key organizations in Brooklyn such as the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Pratt Institute, City Tech, SUNY Downstate, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The NYU-Poly package requires strong political support from the Brooklyn delegation in Albany. To date, preliminary discussions with key local leaders have been very positive.

Many of you have special relationships with local community, business and political leaders that can increase the depth of their support for Poly.  Please contact Kate Smith (ksmith@poly.edu) and let her know the names of these leaders, and your relationship or affiliation to them, so we can leverage Poly's networking capacity.

Capital and Real Estate Update

Negotiations for selling the development rights related to our real estate holdings in MetroTech are proceeding well. The terms of a Letter of Intent are completed. While a Letter of Intent is a major step forward, the value of the “development rights” will be based on the Brooklyn real estate market as the project comes to fruition. As the design and permitting issues ensue, the University will make major decisions about its space needs for the next twenty to thirty years, including potential improvements to Rogers Hall, the advisability of adding facilities on top of the Dibner-CATT building, and recommendations for the replacement for the very old Jacobs Administration Building.  Please feel free to forward your observations and concerns to the President’s Office as this initiative unfolds.

A New Faculty Lounge

Dr. Rudy Marcus

In conversation with faculty and the administration, Poly’s Nobel laureate, Rudy Marcus, observed that the faculty lounge at CalTech serves as a primary catalyst to spur intellectual creativity. Thus, opening a new faculty lounge here at NYU-Poly has become priority, and discussion on the best location for such a lounge is underway with the Faculty Executive Committee. Please forward your ideas regarding the lounge’s location and facilities (from white boards to water coolers) to Bob Flynn, Speaker of the Faculty, at rflynn@poly.edu.

Communities of Practice

In an effort to systematically network Poly’s various constituencies, Alumni Relations is establishing Communities of Practice (COP) to provide on-going value and benefits to all the members of the Polytechnic community. Scheduled begin to operation in early 2007, the COPs will be announced to alumni and the NYU-Poly community at large in the winter issue of Cable.

Using on-line forums based on similar interests or professions, Communities of Practice breech the geographic distance between people through the use of discussion forums, blogs, document sharing and other tools. Each community will have a moderator who will serve as a professional discussion leader for the area of focus, answer queries and help shape the community.  Alumni and other members of the NYU-Poly community, including faculty, staff and eventually students will set its own membership criteria to facilitate professional development opportunities, job leads, and networking opportunities to create a vigorous network of smart and well-connected people. 

Lunar surface photographed by NYU-Poly Students and faculty in Dec. 2006.

Poly’s Physics department hosted three seminars on topics of current interest during the fall semester.  On September 11^th, Dr. Lev Deych from Queens College, CUNY, discussed “Laser Radiation in Non-Uniform Media.”  On October 30^th, Prof. Vladimir Tsifrinovich described recent developments in “Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy,” and on November 29^th, Roman Kezerashvili, of New York City Technical College, discussed the properties of “Nuclear Exotics.”

In the wee hours of the morning on December 10^th, a group of students and faculty took in the stars from the roof of the Marriott Hotel.  An unusual conjunction of Jupiter, Mars and Mercury was visible, but clouds, atmospheric conditions and closeness to the Sun limited the views.  The Moon and nearby Saturn however did not disappoint and a collection of photos from the observations are viewable on the department’s website.  http://www.poly.edu/physics/.

History buffs interested in Poly’s past observations of the celestial bodies may enjoy reading an excerpt reprinted from the 1888 Polywog, which describes the installation of Brooklyn Collegiate & Polytechnic Institute’s first astronomical observatory:

HONORABLE SIRS:

Brooklyn Collegiate & Polytechnic Institute’s original building at 99 Livingston Street with observatory installed in 1888.

     I TAKE great pleasure in complying with your request to furnish you with a complete account of the new telescope, which has excited so much comment, and created such a furor, in the astronomical and sporting world.

     The telescope is a magnificent refractor, but it possesses all the good qualities of a reflector, and reflects great credit upon the enterprise of the Faculty….

     When the subject of locating the telescope came before the Faculty, there was considerable discussion and, if I may say it, disagreement.  Each Professor wanted to have it mounted in his own room, and advanced many reasons for having it so placed.

     Prof. Foster wanted it placed near his desk, saying it would assist him greatly in the calling of roll, and that he absolutely needed it for watching the Seventh Graders, and the Post Graduates…. Professor Sheldon wanted it placed in his room, so that he could look far off over to the Jersey Hills, where everything is so quiet and restful. …Dr. Cochran said that if some arrangement could be made whereby the boys, who were sent down to him, could look in at the large end, and see themselves at the other, and thereby get some idea of their own smallness and unimportance, he would certainly request the faculty to allow him to set up the instrument in his office…[and]…Prof. Plympton…didn’t care a trilobite where they put it…[however]…he said that if a tower was to be built, he saw no reason why it should not be built high enough to see the Polo Grounds.

    Finally it was decided to build the observatory.  The observatory is on the roof as all familiar with NYU-Poly know. Anything so magnificent as the full Moon, seen through the telescope, I do not know of…the moon appears as a vast glowing wind-bun [sic], hot from the mold.  The telescope has revealed many facts hitherto unknown, regarding these appendages…

     Did time and space admit, I would take great pleasure in laying before your readers many other interesting facts regarding the great telescope, but they do not so permit.  I have the honor to remain,

     Your very obedient servant,

     RUFUS PLYMBALL
     To the Board of Editors, Polywog 1888

Thus, today’s NYU-Poly students continue to observe Earth’s moon, and the constellations, in much the same state as Mr. Plymball and his students did nearly 130 years ago.

Polytechnic Institute of NYU ’s Department of Technology Management announced the launch of an Accelerated Management of Technology (AMOT) program, a sophisticated Master’s degree designed for recent college graduates and individuals with limited work experience. AMOT is a part-time evening program, which takes place primarily at Polytechnic’s Manhattan location at 55 Broad Street. The program can be completed in 3 semesters, with the option to begin in either the Fall or Spring.

Serving managers and professionals in a continually evolving, technology-rich business environment, AMOT explores the various factors which go into creating an innovative organization. By combining the latest thinking with best practices, AMOT gives its students an edge in becoming leaders in their fields. “With our superior faculty and our well designed courses and curricular materials, the AMOT program provides students with an outstanding educational experience [by drawing] on the resources of New York City’s burgeoning technology community to enrich the curriculum and introduce students to leading edge concepts and ideas,” says Professor Nina Ziv, Director of AMOT.

For more information, Contact: Paul Sunda, Administrative Director, AMOT Program at 718 260-4014, or by email psunda@poly.edu, or visit www.amot.poly.edu.

Robert Metcalfe an American technology pioneer who co-invented the Ethernet, founded 3Com and formulated Metcalfe's Law, presented Polytechnic Institute of NYU’s 9^th Annual Ninth Annual Lynford Lecture on December 7, 2006, entitled “Ethernet is the Answer; What is the Question?”

Left to right: University Trustee Jeffrey Lynford, President Jerry M. Hultin, Dr. Robert Metcalfe, and Distinguished Industry Professors, David and Gregory Chudnovsky.

In response to a question Provost Erich Kunhardt asked, “How many of your companies are university spin offs?,” Mr. Metcalf replied, “All of them. What little we know about technological innovation is that it generally occurs at universities, and that’s why I always hang out at them as a VC.”  Speaking to a full house, Mr. Metcalfe went on to say, “Where should research be conducted?…by government laboratories?…NO. …government laboratories are very inefficient, they’re jobs programs, they don’t work…and then there’s corporations…but it’s a sad fact that the only corporations that can support research are monopolies…Bell Labs…Xerox…IBM…[and the question is] are the monopolies worth it? That is, is the research they support worth the damage they do to our economy, and I have concluded NO. …So where should research be done if not in government laboratories or corporate laboratories, and the answer is at research laboratories like this one right here! So this is the principle function of government, aside from protecting us, …scrounging as much money as possible and sending it right here so that future ideas can be generated, technological innovation can proceed, and we can all enjoy increasing freedom and prosperity.”

The Lynford Lecture Series (LLS) is presented yearly by Polytechnic's Insitute for Mathematics and Advanced Supercomputing.  Sponsored by Polytechnic Trustee, Jeffrey H. Lynford, and his wife, Tondra, LLS highlights the work of outstanding mathematicians, scientists and technological visionaries. IMAS is led by the internationally renowned mathematicians, Drs. David and Gregory Chudnovsky, who serve as co-sponsors LLS.

Polytechnic’s Center for Drug Delivery Research (CDDR), in association with SUNY/Downstate Medical Center, presented a 2-day Drug Delivery and Translational Research Symposium on December 4-5, 2006 at Poly's Brooklyn campus. Surrounded by the largest medical science and care centers in the world, CDDR is the first center in the region to focus on multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary translational research for medical applications.  Academics, pharmaceutical researchers, physicians, clinicians, professors, and students attended the symposium which discussed: oncology treatments and therapy; Brain/Neurologic Imaging; and, Cardio imaging and treatment.

Go here to download the Symposium Brochure (PDF).

Information Systems & Internet Security (ISIS) Lab held its third annual Cyber Security Awareness Week.

The Department of Computer and Information Science and the Information Systems & Internet Security (ISIS) Lab held its third annual Cyber Security Awareness Week (CSAW), November 6^th through 9^th, 2006, to promote awareness of cyber security issues among students and professionals.  The keynote speaker, Neal Ziring, a Defense Intelligence Senior Level Computer Scientist in Vulnerability Analysis and Operations at the National Security Administration (NSA), presented a talk entitled "Emerging trends in cyber-security attacks and defense."

Students from universities nationwide are invited to participate in a variety of “Capture the Flag” competitions in the areas of network authentication, exploit development, digital forensics, and more.  Prizes, including iPods, Xboxes and PocketPC’s, were presented to students who competed in quiz competitions and essay and research poster contests that promote cyber security awareness. The event was sponsored by Avaya Labs, BAE Systems, Hewlett-Packard, ISSA, KPMG, Lucent Technologies, Microsoft, NIKSUN, Pitney Bowes and Polytechnic Institute of NYU.

The exponential increase of multimedia and metadata being transferred over the Internet in the 21^st century is analogous to the 19^th century metaphor that speaks of “threading a rope through the eye of a needle.”  But there the analogy stops.  With the recent flourishing of embedded media applications (such as MPEG-2, H.264 and VC-1 encoders/decoders) and wireless broadband communication infrastructures (such as 3G, WiMax and Wi-Fi) real-time multimedia computing and communications on embedded systems becomes an increasingly important area of focus for both software and hardware designers.

On November 3, 2006, Prof. C.C. Jay Kuo of the University of Southern California, discussed the tradeoffs between several design choices, including the RISC processor (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), the SIMD processor (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) and the dedicated ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). After expounded on these platform choices, Prof. Kuo discussed three emerging R&D efforts in:

1. Designing a multi-format video codec to strike a balance between flexibility and performance that will support multiple audio/video compression formats currently being adopted;
2. the design of low-complexity integrated encryption and compression speech/video coding algorithms, which can significantly lower the power consumption of mobile terminals for digital rights management (DRM); and,
3. "Decoding-friendly encoder design” where computational heavy operations can be saved at the decoder end and still preserve high visual quality through the use of rate-distortion-complexity (RDC) optimized video coding techniques.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor David Goodman, on assignment at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Computer and Network Systems Division, presented the NFS’s GENI Initiative and discussed issues arising in 21^st century computer networking. Dr. Goodman provided an overview of the NSF’s campaign to replace the Internet with technology that meets the needs of the 21^st century. The GENI initiative will create an experimental facility for moving ideas toward practical solutions.

For the initiative to succeed, the research community needs to come up with new ideas that can be verified or disproved by experiments on a large-scale network. ECE’s  principal contribution to 20^th century networks was guidance on the transport of ones and zeros from source to destination. Layered protocols isolate the ones and zeros from other properties of the information conveyed. In describing GENI, Dr. Goodman questioned bits and packets as the universal currency of information, and challenged the research community to take a top down look at information networks to establish the foundation of future information systems.

Civil Engineering

Dr. Magued Iskander, associate professor, Civil Engineering, chaired the Second International Conference on Engineering Education, Instructional Technological, Assessment and E-learning.  The conference proceedings, Advances in Computer, Information, and Systems Sciences, and Engineering, published by Springer (9-25-2006), were co-edited by Dr. Iskander with: Khaled Elleithy, Tarek Sobh, Ausif Mahmood, and Mohammad Karim.  The proceedings cover IETA 2005, TeNe 2005 and EIAE 2005 (International Conference on Industrial Electronics, Technology & Automation (IETA 05), International Conference on Telecommunications and Networking (TeNe 05) and International Conference on Engineering Education, Instructional Technology, Assessment, and E-learning (EIAE 05)) and include a set of rigorously reviewed world-class manuscripts addressing and detailing state-of-the-art research projects in the areas of: Industrial Electronics, Technology and Automation, Telecommunications, Networking, Engineering Education, Instructional Technology and e-Learning.

Physics

Enhancing Sensitivity of a Whispering Gallery Mode Biosensor by Subwavelength Confinement,
Applied Physics Letters, 89, 223901 (2006)
Microparticle Photophysics Lab, www.poly.edu/microparticle,
Polytechnic Univ., Brooklyn, New York 11201.

Go here for more information about Poly's Microparticle Photophysics Research Lab. or visit the Microparticle Photophysics Lab Website.

Janet Hui and Donglin (Lynn) Yi at the Siemens Competition.

Janet Hui and Donglin (Lynn) Yi, two high school students participating in Polytechnic’s Summer Research program conducted by the Center for Youth in Engineering and Science (YES Center) were named regional finalists at the Middle States Regional Finals held November 17 -18, 2006 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Working with Professor Jose Pinto, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, the students designed a new mathematical model to simulate Hepatitis C infection to improve drug therapy treatment by helping predict, personalize and improve HepC-interferon treatment.

The Siemens Competition was launched in 1998 to recognize America’s best and brightest math and science students. About 1,600 high school students from around the country entered the competition this year. Up to thirty individual students and thirty teams of 2 or 3 students are chosen to compete at six regional competitions where they are judged by esteemed scientists at leading research universities.

For more information on Janet Hui and Donglin Yi’s project visit the Siemens Competition web site.

Manfred Tacker (General Manager, Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry & Technology), Karl Wizany (Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor), the two H.F. Mark medallists Alwin Lehner and Eli M. Pearce, and Hans J. Kaluza (President of the Institute)

Dr. Eli M. Pearce ‘58, research professor of polymer chemistry and chemical engineering and the former director of Polytechnic's Polymer Research Institute (PRI), received the H.F. Mark-Medal from the Österreichisches Forschungsinstitut für Chemie & Technik (Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry & Technology, ARICT) in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the area of polymer science at the Institute’s 60th anniversary commemorative event in Vienna on November 9, 2006.  Former president of the American Chemical Society, Dr. Pearce’s research in polyamides and polymer flammability has lead to his world-wide recognition as a leading authority and inventor of fire resistant polymers.  Pearce shared the honor with Alwin Lehner, who received a medal for his work in the plastics industry.

Founded in 1946, ARICT is Austria’s largest co-operative research institute. For more information on the Institute, visit the Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry & Technology website.

Three exceptional NYU-Poly students in the Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences recently distinguished themselves by receiving financial support in pursuit of their research interests.

From top, Mandy Lee and Young Woo Lee, both a juniors in Biomolecular Science, and Jennifer Haghpanah, a first year Materials Chemistry Ph.D. candidate.

Two undergraduates, Mandy Lee, working with Dr. Jin Montclare, and Young Woo Lee, working with Drs. Bruce Garetz and Janice Aber, were awarded Poly's Lombardino Summer Internships, which are made possible by the generous support of NYU-Poly alumnus, Dr. Joseph Lombardino.  Ms. Lee, a junior Biomolecular Science major, is engineering a highly stable fluorinated protein and is investigating new methods synthesizing non-natural amino acids into proteins.  Young Woo Lee, also a junior Biomolecular Science major, is conducting research for a paper entitled, “Preliminary Study and Preparation for Non-Photochemical Laser-Induced Nucleation on Supercooled Phenyl Salicylate.” Mr. Lee is also a recipient of a Society of Plastics Engineers Scholarship

Jennifer Haghpanah, a first year Materials Chemistry Ph.D. candidate, was honored in with a 2006-07 scholarship from the Society of Plastics Engineers for research in Polymer Modifiers & Additives.  As an undergraduate, Ms. Haghpanah's concentrated on the physical chemistry and applications of polymers, with an emphasis on bio-based and biodegradable polymers. Having received her undergraduate degree from Quinnipac University with a double major in chemistry and math, she completed her senior research project at Yale University on the fractionations that occur during the biosynthesis of lipids from microalgal-lipids.

NSF awardees, Dr. Masoud Ghandehari, Civil Engineering, and Dr. Konstantinos Kostarelos, Environmental Engineering.

Exploring new areas of research in applied engineering is critical to developing innovative applications that enhance performance in the field. In an effort to exploit such areas of promise, Drs. Konstantinos Kostarelos (Principle Investigator) and Masoud Ghandehari (Co-Principle Investigator) have been awarded a $40,000 National Science Foundation award (SGER, BES-0627312) from the NFS Environmental Technology program on October 19, 2006. This exploratory research is intended to develop and deploy in-situ monitoring of geo-environmental material using functional optical probes. The NSF grant provides funding to develop cladding materials that interact with light radiating from fiber optical fibers and the outside environment to transduce the presence and concentration of target species in the environment (e.g., chlorinated hydrocarbons, heavy metals, PAHs, etc.). The ultimate objective is to introduce chemo-optical spectroscopy as a tool for real-time, remote monitoring of transport processes within the subsurface environment. The researchers foresee additional geo-environmental applications in the areas of waste containment and site remediation.

For more information, please see the NSF SGER website.

Virginia P. Ruesterholz ’83, MS in Telecommunications Management, presented an Alumni Leadership Lecture on “The Evolving Telecom Landscape” based on over 20 years experience working in the telecommunications industry.  As president of Verizon Telecom, Ruesterholz is responsible for sales, customer service, operations and IT for the consumer, general business and domestic wholesale markets. She also oversees the transforming of Verizon’s infrastructure through deployment of the fiber network that delivers integrated voice, data and video services.  Ruesterholz’s presentation drew upon her wide experience in Verizon’s wholesale business, including marketing, sales, provisioning and maintenance.

Virginia P. Ruesterholz

Ruesterholz is a recipient of Crain’s New York Business prestigious “40 Under 40” award and the New York Women’s Agenda inaugural “Rising Star Award.” She is a member of the Business and Technology Board at Stevens Institute of Technology and chairs the Edwin A. Stevens Society. Most recently, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the Manhattan Theater Club.

For more information about the Alumni Leadership Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs and the Department of University Development, contact Christine Myers, Associate Director, Donor Relations, at 718/260-3342, or by email at cmyers@poly.edu.

Since October, 2006, the following positions have been filled at Poly:

Please go to Human Resourses for job openings at NYU-Poly.