Author: Orlando E

Morad Behandish and Prof. Horea Ilies win two consecutive Best Paper Awards at the 2014 and 2015 ASME IDETC & CIE conferences.

Posted on by

Dr. Morad Behandinsh and Professor Horea Ilies won two consecutive Best Paper Awards at the 2014 and 2015 Computers and Information in Engineering (CIE), which is part of the annual international ASME IDETC & CIE Conferences. Their papers, titled “Peg in Hole Revisited: A Generic Force Model for Haptic Assembly,” and “Haptic Assembly Using Skeletal Densities and Fourier Transforms” were selected among the 143 and 130 papers, respectively, presented at the two CIE conferences.

The state-of-the-art in haptic-assisted virtual assembly is based on a distinction between two modes of function, namely, a free motion mode implemented with collision detection engines, and an insertion mode during which the software assists the user in the precision assembly task by providing geometric virtual constraints. The identification of the switch criteria between the two modes has been one of the open problems in virtual assembly of complex objects. The two UConn researchers have developed a novel technique to automatically detect the geometric constraints for assembly guidance using a generic force model that applies to objects of arbitrary shape. They showed that their approach creates the attraction forces and torques towards the assembly configuration corresponding to proper alignment as well as the repulsion forces and torques in case of collisions. Their work, supported by National Science Foundation, is the first one to unify the free motion and insertion modes during virtual assembly into a single functional mode for shapes of arbitrary complexity.

A(n Academic) Family Business

During the 2014 conference, the organizers of the flagship international event on Design Engineering, which is the ASME IDETC & CIE Conference, honored two other awardees that are closely connected to the UConn researchers.

Picture (from right to left): Prof. Herbert Voelcker, (Cornell) Prof. Vadim Shapiro (Univ. of Wisconsin), Prof. Horea Ilies, and Dr. Morad Behandish.

Vadim Shapiro, the Bernard and Frances Weideman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin received the Design Automation award for his outstanding contributions to geometric and physical modeling. Herb Voelcker, the Charles Lake Professor of Mechanical Engineering Emeritus at Cornell University received the CIE Lifetime Achievement Award to “recognize a person who has had a significant impact on the use of computers in engineering practice and/or education.” Shapiro is Ilies’ academic PhD advisor, and Voelcker is his academic grandfather, which makes the 3 different prizes awarded concurrently to this academic family for independently conducted research an extraordinary experience.

Top UConn Interns Are Engineering Students

Posted on by

The top two UConn undergraduate interns from 2015 are both from the school of engineering, according to the Center for Career Development.

Meredith Rittman, biomedical engineering (‘16) spent her summer with NASA, and Ashley Dumaine, computer science and engineering (‘16) interned with Google. Rittman was named the top intern of the year and Dumaine the runner up.

During her internship at NASA, Rittman studied the effects of deep space radiation on the effectiveness of medication. Unlike many interns, she was starting a new project.

“A lot of interns came on board and were helping research that was already happening,” Rittman said. “[My project] was to start something new. My mentor was the one who identified that he wanted me to work with pharmaceutical efficacy in deep space radiation.”

Working with her NASA mentor and co-mentor, Rittman first did research into what information existed on the topic, since her project was a new idea.

“We’d have weekly meetings to review what I’d come up with during the week. I’d also attend all the branch presentations. It was really like I was a member of the branch. They didn’t treat me like an intern, they treated me like another member of the team,” Rittman said.

Rittman eventually presented her solution to the branch chief and deputy branch chief. She suggested creating a small satellite- about 11 inches by 4 inches by 4 inches- to send pharmaceuticals into deep space, to examine how radiation affects the drugs.

“Basically, will it work, how well will it work and how long will it last,” she said.

After her presentation and some questions, Rittman said the NASA officials agreed with the potential of her solution. As a result of her work at NASA, she is spending this semester studying how effective freeze drying pharmaceuticals can be for long term space travel, a different approach to the same problem her internship addressed.

Dumaine’s Google internship took her to New York City, but she first had to interview for the position.

“The way the internships work, you actually go through the normal interview questions, you pass the interviews and then you get host matching, where you get matched with a project,” Dumaine said. “I was working on the site reliability engineering team.”

Dumaine was eventually placed on the technical infrastructure team and  later worked on  Google’s Borg system, which deals with large scale cluster management, which is a group of linked servers and other resources used for shared tasks. Her project was to create a program that moved relatively poor performing computer tasks onto a different machine, which would allow the Borg jobs to work more effectively.

“That’s mostly what cyber reliability is about, performing stuff faster and in a more reliable manner,” she said.

Her main project in New York was at Google’s Manhattan Complex, which encompasses a city block.

In addition to her primary project, she also participated in a 2-week code sprint at Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters.

Both Dumaine and Rittman said that their internships affected their future careers, though in very different ways.

Dumaine said that she has a job lined up for after graduation at a small company in Norwalk called Datto. She said the difference in size between Datto and Google was intentional.

“I kind of want to work at a smaller company after working at such a big company,” she said. “It was a little bit overwhelming at first.

“They have around 500 employees. It’s significantly smaller but I really like the company,” Dumaine said.

Rittman was interested in orthopedic medical devices as a career path. That changed after her internship.

“My internship at NASA allowed me to see biomedical engineering applied in a way I had never seen before, and made me want to apply biomedical engineering principles to the space environment.” she said.

Published: March 14, 2016

What’s at Stake for Apple in iPhone Legal Case

Posted on by

Enter passcode screen of an iPhone running iOS 9

By Colin Poitras– UConn Communications

This story originally appeared in UConn Today.

In what some are calling the most important technology case of the decade, the FBI has obtained a court order compelling tech giant Apple to develop special software that will allow them to bypass security measures and unlock an iPhone belonging to one of the shooters in the San Bernardino mass shooting last December.

But Apple CEO Tim Cook is refusing to comply. Cook says the government’s request would force Apple to “hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers.” The case has become the focus of a national debate pitting the government’s interest in protecting national security against the fundamental rights of companies and civilians to conduct their business without government intrusion.

Apple has until Feb. 26 to file its formal objections in court.

With the case continuing to capture daily headlines, UConn Today discusses the technical issues underlying the case with associate professor of computer science and engineering Laurent Michel. Michel is co-director of the Comcast Center of Excellence for Security Innovation at UConn, an advanced cybersecurity lab.

  1. What is behind Apple’s resistance to providing the federal government with modified software – a so-called backdoor – that would allow investigators to break into one of their phones?
  2. Once you modify software to create a backdoor, it can be used not only by the government on this specific phone but it could be used on other Apple devices as well. It can also be exploited by others, including the authors of malware. The moment you create a backdoor, even if it is with good intentions, it has the potential of being exploited. The government is downplaying the risks, and their argument rests on the stipulation that the software will be developed in such a way it will work on this one iPhone only. To do that, Apple would need to digitally sign the software to make it harder to break the tie-in. Yet Apple’s signing process is highly secure. The master key used for signing an Apple operating system or iOS is a key asset for the company that is highly protected and rarely used. If those keys were leaked or compromised as the result of a request like this, that would have dramatic implications. Apple also rightly insists on signing code that only meets specific quality standards. Here, it would be signing code with a deliberate vulnerability that could be exploited. This sets a dangerous precedent.
  3. The federal government has offered to allow Apple to immediately destroy the new software once the investigation is complete. But Apple has indicated that course of action isn’t enough. Why is that?
  4. Even if they say they will destroy it, it is a digital artifact. It is a piece of software. The moment that there is a weakness that is introduced in the device, it sets a terrible precedent. It sets the stage allowing anyone to recreate the same thing. If it’s been done once, it can be done again. Once software like this is created, what is stopping the government from making more and more requests of this type to technology companies?
  5. It’s been reported that Apple has cooperated with law enforcement on numerous investigations before and helped them break into suspects’ phones. What is it about this case that has become a line in the sand?
  6. Because Apple has changed their operating system. With earlier versions of Apple’s iOS operating system, it was much easier to recover information compared to this version. Starting with iOS7, Apple has made it, even for themselves, very difficult – without creating such a backdoor – to get into a device and recover encrypted data. Apple is taking the privacy of their customers very seriously. In this case, the FBI’s request includes three things. 1. The software would allow them to bypass the phone’s security measures so they could obtain the password. 2. The backdoor would remove any limits on the number of password attempts and would eliminate the delay one experiences when entering the wrong password. 3. Finally, the software would be tied strictly to the device they are breaking into. But again, it is a software attack and software can be changed. Once you have created the opportunity, the potential for repeating it and having an open backdoor is what makes Apple so uncomfortable.
  7. All things Apple aside, you’re an expert, what can people do to protect their personal information from hackers and others trying to access their data without permission?
  8. The smart devices that started appearing on the market a few years ago, like wearable electronics and smart phones, are commodity devices. They are not PCs where you have control and can increase the security of your system. There are well-known commercial solutions for PCs to encrypt your email and the files on your hard drive. But once you move your data to a commodity device, like a smart phone or a smartwatch, you cannot tinker with it. You have surrendered the protection of your data to the manufacturer, and have to trust them to take the proper steps to keep your data secure. It’s a delegation of trust. The moment the industry feels it has no choice and is compelled to create these backdoors, you must assume that whatever is on those devices is potentially public data. These days, many people replicate their data on multiple devices and storage solutions (e.g. the cloud). Some of those domains may be secure and some may not be. It is advisable to keep track of where each piece of sensitive data is held and replicated and what protection it enjoys in each case.

Published: February 26, 2016

Alumni News: Martin Gugliotti

Posted on by

 

Martin Gugliotti (B.S. Mechanical Engineering/Materials Engineering, ‘01) was named one of 42 winners of the 2014 Hartford Business Journal 40 Under Forty award.  Given annually to Greater Hartford men and women who have achieved a great deal early in their careers and exhibit significant promise for future success, this year’s winners are entrepreneurs, executives, community leaders and up-and-comers.  Co-owner and artistic director at Gugliotti Salon and Spa and dean of students at International Institute of Cosmetology, Gugliotti also co-founded Le’Marca, a leader in innovative styling. Since its inception in 2000, Le’Marca has introduced a full haircare line, stylist tools and ECCO, a revolutionary hairdryer using half the power of typical dryers without diminishing performance.

Lee Langston Receives ASME Sawyer Award

Posted on by

By Kristi Allen

Mechanical Engineering professor emeritus Lee Langston is the 2015 recipient of the R. Tom Sawyer Award presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The Sawyer award is conferred on an individual “who has made important contributions to the toward the advancement of the gas turbine industry.” Forty-three men from all over the world have received the award, which is a major industry honor. leepic

In his 30 year career at Pratt & Whitney and UConn, Langston pioneered the measurement, understanding and prediction of secondary flow in gas turbines, or jet engines. His research in gas turbine flows is known collectively as the Langston cascade. He has also authored more than 75 scholarly journal articles and holds one patent. “I started working on the problem [of complicated flows in gas turbines] in 1974…All the work is still referred to,” said Langston. The R. Tom Sawyer award is closely tied to the history of the gas turbine engine. The award was named for Robert Thomas Sawyer, an earlier pioneer in the industry who founded the ASME’s International Gas Turbine Institute, which grants the award.

Langston has been involved with the International Gas Turbine Institute since 1974, serving as a member of the board of directors several times and as vice president between 1997 and 2000. The list of Sawyer award recipients includes English engineer Sir Frank Whittle and German physicist Hans von Ohain, the two men credited with independently developing the first jet engines in the late 1930’s. “I’m honored to be included on the list, especially with those two men,” Langston said. The award was presented to Langston this summer at the annual International Gas Turbine Institute conference, TURBO EXPO, held this year in Montreal. Langston earned his bachelor of science in mechanical engineering at UConn in 1959 and his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1964. He returned to Connecticut and worked as a research engineer at Pratt & Whitney from 1964 until 1977 when he joined the UConn engineering faculty as an associate professor.

Langston became a full professor in 1983, served as interim dean of the School of Engineering from 1997 to 1998 and was awarded the title of professor emeritus in 2003. Langston has seen the gas turbine industry transform and grow immensely over the course of his career. The efficiency and reliability of gas turbine engines has allowed both commercial and military aviation to expand to once unimaginable places. “It’s fantastic; aviation is booming,” said Langston. “For some reason, it doesn’t get the same kind of attention that other technologies get.” Gas turbine engines cost about 10 to 20 percent of what the original aviation piston engines cost to maintain and average just one in-flight failure about every 30 years. The engines themselves have improved in efficiency over the years, creating major cost savings for airlines and making air travel affordable for the masses. There are currently almost 20,000 planes in the worldwide air transport fleet, with that number projected to grow 75 percent by 2030 . In 2011, the total aviation gas turbine engine market totalled $32 billion.

Gas turbines engines are also used in a growing number of applications on land, particularly in power plants. Langston helped bring some of this technology to UConn in the form of the co-generation power plant opened in 2006. The plant uses three gas turbine engines to generate power for the campus. They’re more efficient and environmentally-friendly than the original oil-burning engines the plant used because they use cleaner natural gas and harness both electrical energy and steam energy from a single source. “Gas turbine engines reduce CO2 emissions by almost 75 percent when they replace coal-fired power plants,” said Langston. “I was really proud to be a part of updating UConn’s power plant.” In addition to his work as a researcher and professor, Langston has also had a distinguished career as a mountain climber. Two of his most notable climbs include summiting Chimborazo Volcano in Ecuador, the farthest point from Earth’s center, and the first ascent of a peak in Pakistan known as T3 led by legendary climber Willi Unsoeld. When asked what it’s like to stand at the top of a mountain, Langston said “there’s this moment of exhilaration, but then you have to go down…

Most accidents happen on the descent.” Langston said caution has been the key to avoiding disaster during a climb. He spoke about turning around just a few hundred meters from the summit of a volcano in Ecuador which had begun to spew intense sulphuric gases. Langston and his wife continue to travel frequently. He currently writes a quarterly column and an annual review of the gas turbine industry for Mechanical Engineering magazine and serves on the ASME’s Technical Committee on Publications and Communications and the History and Heritage Committee. Langston has spent his career contributing to a field that has revolutionized global transportation and energy production, a field which looks to be no less innovative in the coming decades. He looks forward to watching the growth of the industry in the future. Published: November 18, 2015

Senior Design Day Is Coming

Posted on by

Senior Design Day Is Coming

May 1 is annual Senior Design Day, when more than 160 student teams will set up their engineering projects at the Gampel Pavilion and present them from 1 pm to 4 pm.

In the one or two-semester Senior Design experience, senior students are mentored by faculty and industry engineers as they work to solve real-world engineering problems, typically for company sponsors. Students learn about the principles of design, how ethics affect engineering decisions, how professionals communicate ideas and the day-to-day implications of SeniorDesign2015intellectual property. Judges evaluate projects and cash prizes are awarded for excellence to top performers.

Exhibition guides will be available to visitors.

Students begin by researching the problem, brainstorming a range of solutions, and traveling to the sponsor company site to learn more about the company and the project. As their projects take form, student teams maintain contact with their industrial and faculty mentors, hold meetings, write formal documentation, and make presentations on their work. Across the project period, the teams synthesize design know-how, judgment, technical skills, analysis, creativity and innovation to design, optimize and manufacture a prototype model, or to perform product simulations.

The event always brings a good turnout, and is particularly popular among alumni (the engineering alumni welcome desk will be located in the southeast corner on the exhibition floor – stop by!) . Dr. Lynwood Crary (B.S, M.S., Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, ’89, ‘92, ’04) shared his personal reasons for attending the past two years.

“With at least one potential future UConn engineering student amongst my 13-year-old triplet children, we made our visit to Senior Design Day as a family affair, taking advantage of this great opportunity to expose them to the types of projects investigated by the various engineering disciplines – all under one (very large) roof,” he said.

Engineering students gain invaluable experience and insight about the types of real problems facing industry. In turn, sponsors benefit from having smart, dedicated and creative students tackling genuine design challenges. Many companies consider this process a powerful recruiting vehicle for future employees.

For more information go to the Senior Design website: http://seniordesign.engr.uconn.edu/

This year’s event has more than 50 sponsors, including US Department of Veterans Affairs, United Illuminating, GE and Covidien.

To take a look at some past Senior Design projects, watch this video!

ME Curriculum Quick Tips

Posted on by

ME Curriculum Quick Tips

General Education Requirement

All six courses for Content Areas 1, 2, and 3 must be from different academic departments/units. For Content Area 4, two courses are required. These two courses may be from the same department. One can be double counted (+) from Content Area 1 or 2. One must be an international course (I). (More information on the General Education Requirement)

Mechanical Engineering Requirement

9 credits in 2000 level or higher ME Courses which are not used to satisfy any other requirement. (More information on the Mechanical Engineering Requirement)

Professional Requirement

This requirement is met by 6 credits in 2000 level or higher courses in any Engineering department or from Mathematics, Statistics, Physical and Life Sciences as listed in the UConn Undergraduate Catalog.

W Requirement

All ME students are required to take two writing (W) courses, i.e., ME 4973W plus one other before graduation. (See the UConn Undergraduate Catalog under “Academic Regulations”).

Math or Science Requirement

6 credits in 1000 (100) or higher level Mathematics, Statistics, Physical and Life Sciences as listed in the UConn Catalog meet this requirement. Courses at the 2000 level can also be used to meet the Professional Requirement. Some restrictions apply. (More information on the Math or Science Requirement)

Language Requirement

To satisfy the language requirement, a student has to present either 3 years intermediate level of one foreign language (high school) or 2 semesters (college) of one foreign language.

Mechanical Engineering Electives

9 credits in 3000 (200) level or higher Mechanical Engineering courses which are not used to satisfy any other requirement. No more than one ME 3999 course may be used toward meeting this requirement. This course work may also be applied towards a minor.

Free Electives

Any course meets this requirement except those listed under restrictions in the UConn Undergraduate Catalog – Engineering Section.

Plan of Study

Each student must complete a Plan of Study form in the first semester of the junior year. Plan of Study forms detail how a student will meet curricular requirements.

ME Curriculum Tips continued

Bottleneck Course

Bottleneck courses are prerequisites to other courses. Students should pay extra attention to these courses when considering their curricular plan as a delayed bottleneck course can affect the graduation date. Example bottleneck courses are ME 2233, ME 3250, CE 2120, and CE 3110. The ME Curriculum Map in the ME Course can be used to identify bottleneck courses.

Undergraduate Transfer Admission

Undergraduate Admissions offers a list of UConn equivalencies of courses transferred from 35 colleges/universities in Connecticut.

ME Areas of Concentration (optional)

Students may choose to focus their 3 required ME electives (taken in the Junior/Senior years) in one Area of Concentration: 1) Aerospace, 2) Dynamic Systems and Control, 3) Energy and Power, 4) Design and Manufacturing. (More information on the ME Areas of Concentration)

Double Major (optional)

The requirements of the home department of each major will determine double major requirements. Generally, the number of credits should satisfy both majors. The student must meet the requirements of both, but will not need 128+128=256 credits because many courses can be counted for both majors. A separate Plan of Study form must be prepared and submitted for approval to each department.

Double Degree (optional)

Students may earn two separate bachelor degrees from two different schools or colleges of the University. Students must meet the requirements of both schools/colleges, and a Plan of Study form must be submitted to each department for each degree.

Minor (optional)

15 credits are needed in order to qualify for a minor. However, a minor in Materials Science & Engineering requires 16 credits due to a one-credit lab course. Math Minor (optional) In addition to the 2 Math courses (Math 1132Q and 2211) listed in ME Requirements, three additional courses (9 credits) are necessary for a math minor. Please read the UConn Undergraduate Catalog “Minors – Mathematics” for details. (Note: “Pass/Fail” is not allowed except for credits beyond 128).