RCEAS researchers maintain strong media presence

Researchers in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science were featured in key media outlets in January and February.

• KWQC-TV, an NBC affiliate serving Illinois and Iowa, was one of a dozen TV stations around the U.S. to air a story about Himanshu Jain, Diamond chair professor of materials science and engineering, and his research into the microstructure of glass and the cloudy wineglass rims caused by certain types of dishwashing detergents.
• WLVT-TV, the PBS affiliate serving the Lehigh Valley, featured Lehigh's ATLSS (Advanced Technology for Large Structural Systems) Research Center in February in a segment on its Tempo program. The segment discussed ATLSS's highway and bridge research, with a particular emphasis on the new truss bridge spanning the Lehigh River along Route 33, where ATLSS faculty and students installed a unique strain-gage monitoring system. Researchers monitor stresses imposed on the bridge through a wireless CDPD modem that transmits data from the bridge to a cellular phone tower and eventually to the Internet.
• Civil Engineering Magazine, a monthly publication of the American Society of Civil Engineers, ran an article in its December 2003 issue about the research being done by Sibel Pamukcu, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, into the use of polymer-laced optical fibers to detect the presence of water and contaminants in subsoil environments.
• John Fisher, professor emeritus of civil engineering, was quoted in three articles in the St. Petersburg Times about construction mishaps and structural problems, including cracks on concrete columns, that have delayed the opening of the new Memorial Causeway Bridge in Clearwater, Fla.
• Lightreading.com, an online journal devoted to "Networking the Telecom Industry," ran a feature story in February about Alastair McAulay, professor of electrical and computer engineering, who uses Optiwave's OptiBPM and OptiFDTD simulation-software tools for teaching the course "Introduction to Integrated Optics."

McAulay, whose students use Optiwave software tools for theoretical illustration and class assignments, said simulation software was "a very cost effective way of learning about integrated optics and networking." Optiwave is a Canadian-based photonic-design automation software company.

The article in lightreading.com described Lehigh's Center for Optical Technologies, as a "fully developed program [that] includes optical communications, optics, photonics, and optoelectronics."