| RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT AND FACILITIES
At Stevens, we are strengthening a proud
tradition of conducting high-quality research by developing ways
to ensure that laboratory breakthroughs and new technologies are
translated into successful commercially-viable products and processes.
We believe the future lies in Technogenesis and the beneficial university-industry-government
collaboration.
Stevens’ research initiatives are
interdisciplinary; they have a strong connection to our undergraduate
course offerings. From the process of investigation and discovery
through applications in the marketplace, regardless of the particular
discipline under which they are created, our projects are interconnected;
this prepares our students for professional work. Our research initiatives
reflect the Stevens academic philosophy of a comprehensive and unified
approach to engineering, science, technology and management.
Since research problems can no longer be
solved in classrooms and academic research laboratories alone, a
third mode has been created: the Steeples of Research Excellence
(www.steeples.org). The Steeples
— comprised of the Center for Environmental Engineering, Center
for Improved Engineering and Science Education, Davidson Laboratory,
Design & Manufacturing Institute and Highly Filled Materials
Institute — draw together technologists from academia, industry
and government to develop practical solutions to core challenges
facing business and society. Descriptions of each component, as
well as a multitude of other Stevens research facilities, follow.
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Center for Environmental Systems
(CES)
The Center for Environmental Systems is
dedicated to basic and application-motivated inter- and multi-disciplinary
research aimed at creating basic scientific knowledge, advanced
technology, and innovative management practices that lead to novel
solutions for a sustainable utilization of our environmental resources.
The Center conducts research sponsored by governmental agencies
and private industry in a variety of environmental research areas,
promotes environmental technology development, transfer and implementation,
and fosters partnerships with industry, government and environmental
service organizations for cooperative approaches to solving environmental
problems. It also develops and maintains degree, certificate and
continuing professional education programs for the Department of
Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering.
Over 25 faculty members and 40 undergraduate
and graduate students are involved in environmental research projects.
The research is multifaceted, and includes hazardous and toxic waste
engineering soil and ground-water modeling and remediation; dispersion
and monitoring studies of contaminants in inland and coastal waters;
physical, physicochemical and biological waste treatment technologies;
and residential water conservation, flushability and drinking water
safety.
The research facilities of the center
include the James C. Nicoll, Jr. Environmental Laboratory (JNEL),
the Keck Geoenvironmental Laboratory, the Vincent A. Rocco Technology
Center, and the Analytical, Plasma, and Water Conservation Laboratories.
These state-of-the-art facilities provide unique capabilities for
bench scale treatability studies on complex wastes, waste minimization
studies, consumer and non-consumer product environmental compatibility
studies, fate and transport evaluation of organic and inorganic
contaminants, and the development and transfer of environmental
technologies.
Center for Global Technology
Management (CGTM)
The Center for Global Technology Management
(CGTM) is the Howe School's focal point for research and educational
programs in global studies. In research, the center focuses on issues
related to global innovation practices and theory. The center's
educational program includes a range of courses leading to a "global
concentration" in several Howe School graduate programs. The
center also plans a series of executive courses as well as student
exchange programs at the undergraduate and graduate level with global
corporations and international business schools.
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Center for Improved Engineering
and Science Education (CIESE)
The Center for Improved Engineering and
Science Education (CIESE), www.ciese.org,
was founded in 1988 to lend Stevens' expertise in integrating computers
into its curriculum to improve science, mathematics, engineering,
and technology education. CIESE's mission is to increase the pool
and improve the capabilities of all students to pursue higher education
and careers in these disciplines. In pursuing this mission, CIESE's
work has encompassed both precollege educators, as well as post-secondary
education. The Center helps K-12 educators exploit the power of
technology to improve teaching and learning in science, mathematics
and other disciplines. These activities complement Stevens' objectives
by helping students acquire the foundations necessary to excel in
science, mathematics and other subjects. Achievement in these "gateway"
subjects enables students to go on to the advanced study required
in engineering and other technologically-rich fields.
CIESE works collaboratively with teachers,
school system administrators, as well as university faculty to provide
intensive, hands-on training, support and counsel to infuse technology,
in meaningful ways, into the curriculum. Technology is seen as both
a tool for teachers and a new mode for bringing exciting content
to students. In the past, students might have read in a textbook
about earthquakes that happened several years ago; today it is possible
for them to log onto a web site and see the location and intensity
of earthquakes that have occurred within the past 24 hours. Bringing
these real-world phenomena into the classroom both motivates and
engages students to learn in ways not possible with more traditional
tools.
Through partnerships with school districts,
as well as colleges, universities and other organizations in New
Jersey and four other states, the CIESE program is in the process
of training 10,000 teachers and reaching more than a quarter-million
children. CIESE is currently implementing: a five-year, $9.28 million
U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant;
a three-year, $750,000 AT&T Foundation grant; a three-year,
$600,000 New Jersey Department of Education grant; a three-year,
$1 million program to strengthen science education for New Jersey's
neediest schools; as well as several specific teacher-training programs
with New Jersey and New York schools and districts.
Central to CIESE activities are unique
and compelling Internet-based curriculum materials for K-12 science
and mathematics education. The Savvy Cyber Teacher (SCT) workshop
series is a 10-part, 30-hour teacher-training program providing
educators with hands-on experience using e-mail, web browser software
and search engines. It uses original Internet-based curriculum material
that features "real time" data on scientific and natural
phenomena and opportunities for global collaboration with scientists,
experts and school children around the world. Teachers create their
own web pages to organize their lessons and post student work. SCT
materials and other training programs are available to schools and
teachers through grant-funded programs or fee-for-services arrangements
with CIESE.
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Center for Mass Spectrometry
Mass spectrometry, a rapidly advancing scientific
discipline with tremendous employment potential, has far-reaching
qualitative and quantitative applications in environmental, biological,
biochemical, pharmacological, forensic, and geochemical fields.
As one of the best equipped academic facilities
in the United States, the Center welcomes collaborative research
projects from the Stevens community and from outside sources. Frontier-level
research programs incorporate the efforts of those who would like
to gain experience with mass spectrometry as well as advanced-level
researchers involved with the latest developments in the field.
Our instruments are amenable to a wide variety of organic compounds
including proteins, peptides, amino acids, alkaloids, steroids,
flavanoides, saccharides, lipids, nucleic acids, polymers, petroleum
products, and organo-metallics. Our mass analyzers are based on
time-of-flight and quadrupolar techniques. One of the new instruments
featured in this center is a Q-TOF API-US mass spectrometer. This
hybrid instrument incorporates two mass analyzers in tandem: a high
performance quadrupole filter as the first stage and a orthogonal-acceleration
time-of-flight analyzer with a mass resolving power of 17,500 as
the second.
Center for Product Lifecycle
Management (CPLM)
Another research facility is the Center
for Product Lifecycle Management (CPLM), a focal point for both
information and technology on plastic products over their life-cycle:
design, manufacture, use and disposal. Working with industry and
government, CPLM emphasizes the development of products and fabrication
processes that reduce the potential for significant environmental
problems and risk, and promote sustainable growth. CPLM’s
activities include contract product and process research, engineering
studies, educational and training programs and technology transfer
industrial extension services. The center uses two other facilities:
- The Blandford Water Quality Laboratory is
equipped for all standard chemical and microbiological determinations
used in the water and wastewater field. These include atomic absorption
spectroscopy, gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography.
- The Waterfront Tower Facility, a ten-story,
3,000-square-foot tower, is used to conduct pilot scale waste
treatment and destruction technology development and testing.
This unique facility can accommodate construction of very high
treatment setups. Several pilot-scale setups are in operation,
including a 40-foot-high steam-stripping parked column.
- The Research Vessel, Phoenix,
is used for conducting pollution studies in estuarine and coastal
waters. This 25-foot-long vessel has been equipped to perform
dye tracer experiments, collect water quality samples and obtain
observations of water velocity, salinity and temperature. The
Phoenix is named after an early 19th-century steamboat constructed
by the Stevens family.
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Center for Technology Management
Research (CTMR)
CTMR conducts research on issues related
to innovation and the management of technologies in a global context.
Our mission is to develop concepts and frameworks to help executives
address the challenges of a rapidly changing technology-based world.
Research results are disseminated through publications, books, working
papers, an annual conference, and sponsor forums.
CTMR supports the Stevens Institute of
Technology theme of Technogenesis — the educational frontier
wherein faculty, students and colleagues in industry jointly nurture
the process of conception, design, and marketplace realization of
new technologies.
Computer Vision Laboratory
The primary objective of the research performed
in the Computer Vision Laboratory is to apply rigorous physical
and mathematical principles towards image interpretation. The work
performed in the lab is multidisciplinary, combining diverse academic
disciplines, including physics, mathematics, engineering and, above
all, computer science. Some of the major thrusts in the lab include
photometry, 3D shape reconstruction, shape analysis, object recognition
and multispectral imaging.
The Laboratory offers students a hands-on
experience with image capturing and processing equipment. A dedicated
workstation is used mainly for the capture of still images and movies.
The laboratory's electronically tunable filter capable of fast,
dense, multispectral imaging is unique among computer vision laboratories
in academic institutions. The environmental conditions in the lab
are strictly controlled. If needed, the lab can become a dark room.
An optic table allows for the precise positioning of equipment.
A collection of optical components allows for experimentation with
enhanced image capture. The lab has its own server and multiple
Unix workstations for storing, processing and analyzing images.
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The Consortium for Corporate
Entrepreneurship
The Consortium for Corporate Entrepreneurship
(http://www.ceconsortium.org)
continues to focus its research in three areas: optimizing the front
end of innovation, approaches and organizational structures for
getting to breakthroughs and knowledge creation, and knowledge flow
in the front end.
Through its mission statement - to better
understand the Front End of Innovation in order to increase the
number, speed and success probability of highly profitable products
entering development - the Consortium offers a collaborative environment,
where academia and industry are dedicated to the discovery portion
of the front-end leading to breakthrough innovation.
Although these are topics of growing interest
within the corporate creative community, little has previously been
established. In a world of rapidly evolving technologies, the success
of interdependent relationships spawned between creator-innovators
and their corporate environments is based on an increasingly synchronized
set of events. The Consortium and its industry sponsors seek to
recognize behaviors and activities that can be applied as powerful
tools in enhancing creativity, productivity and profitability. Industry
sponsors include: ExxonMobil; Ethicon, a J&J Franchise; and
Aventis.
Davidson Laboratory
The Davidson Laboratory, founded in 1935,
is one of the largest and most renowned hydrodynamic and ocean engineering
research facilities in the nation. The Laboratory is part of The
Center for Maritime Systems which has as its focus: marine hydrodynamics,
environment modeling, observing systems and sensors, port security
and commerce and acoustic detection and surveillance (www.dl.stevens-tech.edu).
The Laboratory was featured in the February 1996 issue of Sea
Technology.
Pioneering marine hydrodynamic studies
in both physical modeling and computer simulation of marine craft
designs (ranging from high-speed planning boats to submarines) conducted
over 70 years have contributed to the Laboratory’s international
reputation. Contributions to the field of ocean engineering include
wave tank simulations of various sea states and the analysis of
forces on offshore structures.
The Laboratory’s interest and expertise
extends to research on observing systems and sensor design developing
instruments to measure specific water properties or processes and
developing arrays of sensors to monitor a region of the marine environment.
The State of New Jersey funds the Laboratory to administer the New
Jersey State Coastal Protection Technical Assistance Service (CPTAS)
(www.dl.stevens-tech.edu/cptas/cptas.html),
a unique resource created to both inform and counsel New Jersey
citizens and government officials regarding coastal protection technology.
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Computational hydrodynamics at the Davidson
Laboratory encompasses both environmental hydrodynamics and naval
architecture. The approaches to these disciplines are designed to
take advantage of the rapidly evolving high performance computational
and communications technologies. The basis of the environment modeling
systems is POM, The Princeton Ocean Model. POM is a state of the
art, sigma coordinate, free surface, primitive equation coastal
ocean model. POM is the central modeling component of the Laboratory’s
New York Harbor Observing and Prediction System (NYHOPS).
The primary research facilities within
the Laboratory are two unique wave tanks. The first is a high-speed
towing tank with a length of 313 feet, width of 12 feet and a variable
water depth to 6 feet. A monorail-supported cable-driven carriage
is capable of speeds up to 100 ft/sec. The tank also contains a
programmable wave maker capable of generating monochromatic and
random wave fields, as well as several types of wave spectra. Shallow
water conditions can be simulated in the tank with the installation
of an adjustable slope false bottom. Nearshore beach conditions
are studied by placing 40 tons of quartz sand on a 65-foot-long,
1-on-20 sloping false bottom. The second tank is a rotating arm
and oblique-sea basin, with dimensions of 75-feet-long by 75-feet-wide
and a variable water depth to five feet. The facility has been designated
an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark and is
one of only two of its kind in the nation.
Estuarine and coastal field research is
accomplished through the use of the Laboratory’s two research
vessels, equipped with advanced global positioning systems, radar
and 1-ton deployment winches. Research instrumentation includes
topographic and bathymetric surveying equipment, a CODAR high frequency
radar system, Acoustic Doppler Current Meters, PUV meters, laser-based
Suspended Sediment Particle-size Distribution Meters and a Turner-design
fluorometry system. In addition to the mobile research instrumentation,
the Laboratory maintains a host of in-situ instrument platforms
that automatically monitor weather and water conditions along the
New Jersey Coast (sql.dl.stevens-tech.edu) and in New York/New Jersey
Harbor as part of the New York Harbor Observing System (NYHOS).
The research efforts of the Laboratory
are supported by the Instrumentation and Design Group that designs
and manufactures the specialized equipment needed to support research
activities. Computational resources center around the Laboratory’s
cluster: 6 dual 2.8Ghz Xeon processors, scheduled to be expanded
to 12 nodes over the next 6 months. Each processor has 140Gb and
10,000 RPM RAID drives. A wide range of processing tools, including
visualization and animation routines, is available for use.
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Design & Manufacturing Institute
(DMI)
The Design & Manufacturing Institute
(DMI) (www.dmi.stevens-tech.edu)
is an interdisciplinary center integrating materials processing,
product design and manufacturing expertise with simulation and modeling
utilizing state-of-the-art computer software technology. Located
in the historic Carnegie Laboratory, DMI bridges the gap between
academic- and application-oriented research and development. DMI
partners with industry and government to create practical solutions
to product-design challenges that address cost, performance and
productibility across the product life cycle. DMI’s expertise
spans processing studies and modeling, competitive product development,
multi-component, multi-process system design and optimization, life
cycle analysis, material characterization and testing, and rapid
prototyping and manufacturing.
Building on more than a decade of experience
in cutting-edge product design solutions, the Design & Manufacturing
Institute continues to lead in developing "next generation"
solutions to today’s challenges to product development. DMI’s
expertise in manufacturing processes and knowledge-based software
is epitomized in its Automated Concurrent Engineering Software (ACES)
system and methodology development. The ACES system offers product
designers performance and process modeling and life-cycle optimization
for multi-component, multi-process systems. In its continuous refinement
of "next generation" product development methodologies
and tools, such as ACES, DMI is engineering the future of polymer
and metals-based products.
DMI has particular expertise with polymers
and composites, and maintains extensive modeling capabilities and
databases on materials, processing, tooling and machinery. The Learning
Factory at DMI, a 6,000-square-foot facility, provides a computer-controlled,
state-of-the-art manufacturing environment. It offers industry representatives
and students the research, testing and training for product design
and testing, materials characterization, rapid prototyping and production.
Part of DMI is the Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory, which contains
industrial scale NC machines with CAD/CAM software.
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Electrical and Computer Engineering
Laboratories
Laboratory facilities in the Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering are used for course-related
teaching and special problems, design projects and research. Students
are exposed to a range of practical problems in laboratory assignments.
Research laboratories are also heavily involved in both undergraduate
and graduate education with special projects and dissertation projects.
All research laboratories serve this dual-use function.
- Image Processing & Multimedia Laboratory
The high-computing power and large data
storage capabilities of contemporary computer systems, along with
the high data rates of today's data networks, have made practical
many sophisticated techniques used for two- and three-dimensional
images and video. The Image Processing & Multimedia Laboratory
highlights advances in the underlying image processing and computer
vision algorithms that serve as foundations for a wide range of
applications. Related to these visual environments is the general
area of multimedia, combining visual, audio and other sensory
information within an integrated framework.
- Physical Electronics Laboratory
Miniaturized devices used in today’s
electronic and optoelectronic components (and their packaging)
dominate the underlying physical components of contemporary systems.
The Physical Electronics Laboratory provides an interdisciplinary
facility highlighting design/realization of miniaturized components,
test/evaluation of such components and the demonstration of advanced
systems concepts.
- Secure Network Design Laboratory
Today’s extensive use of electronic
information systems (including data networks, data storage systems,
digital computers, etc.) has revolutionized both commercial and
personal access to information and exchange of information. However,
serious issues appear in the security of information, assurance
of the end user’s identity, protection of the information
system, etc. The Secure Network Design Laboratory provides both
physical testbeds and computer systems/resources for exploration
of this broad issue.
- Signal Processing in Communications Laboratory
Communication systems rely on extensive
signal processing, in preparation for their transmission, to correct
for distortions of the signal during transmission and to extract
the original signal from the received signal. Digital signal processing
is an important enabler of contemporary communication systems,
providing the flexibility and reliability of computational algorithms
to enable a wide variety of operations on signals. The Signal
Processing in Communications Laboratory focuses on advances in
the underlying principles of signal processing and on the application
of signal processing to contemporary communication systems.
- Wireless Information Systems Engineering Laboratory
The Wireless Information Systems Engineering
Laboratory highlights the design and engineering of advanced wireless
systems, including cellular and PCS telephony, wireless LANs,
satellite communications and application-specific wireless links.
Research includes the application of advanced signal processing
algorithms and technologies to wireless communication systems.
A major motivation of wireless communications is the elimination
of a physical wire connected to the user’s system. In the
case of computer communications (e.g., LAN and modem capabilities),
the transition to wireless connections allows the realization
of true "any place" connectivity to data communications
services.
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Engineered Materials Laboratory
The Engineered Materials Laboratory focuses
on the design and manufacturing aspects of high-performance composite
materials. Current project thrusts include development and validation
of a multi-physics composite manufacturing simulation system, studies
on process-induced residual stresses and composites behavior in
thermally-aggressive environments. The laboratory features a two-axis
filament winder, an instrumented resin transfer mold and a robotic
lamination system.
Highly Filled Materials Institute
(HFMI)
The Highly Filled Materials Institute (HFMI)
(www.hfmi.stevens-tech.edu)
was established at Stevens Institute of Technology in 1989 to investigate,
both experimentally and theoretically, the rheological behavior,
microstructure, processability and ultimate properties of highly
filled materials, including suspensions and dispersions.
Highly filled materials, loading levels
of which are typically very close to their maximum packing fraction
of the solid phase, are encountered in various industries, including
solid rocket fuels and explosives, personal care products, intermediary
and final food products, batteries, polymeric master-batches and
compounds, construction products, composites, magnetics and ceramics.
HFMI stays in contact with these industries in order to better define
its research goals and to help focus efforts on some of the immediate
and long-term concerns. An industrial advisory board guides HFMI
in carrying out short- and long-term contract research for government
agencies and corporations.
The facilities of HFMI are furnished with
state-of-the-art equipment, including a mini-supercomputer and graphic
workstations for numerical simulation, industrial-size continuous
and batch processors including co-rotating and counter-rotating
twin screw extruders, shear and extensional rheometers, computerized
data acquisition and process control systems, differential scanning
calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis and equipment for characterization
of microstructural distributions, magnetic and electrical properties,
wettability and image analysis. The proprietary technologies of
HFMI include magnetic shielding methods, on-line rheometry, disposal
methods for chemical munitions, X-ray based quantitative degree
of mixedness and particle-size distribution analysis techniques,
and three-dimensional FEM-based source codes for simulation of EMF
mitigation, extrusion, molding and die flows.
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Information Technology
Information Technology (www.stevens.edu/it)
supports academic and administrative computing systems, campus networking
and telecommunication facilities, web servers and many computing
and networking resources located throughout the campus. Infrastructure
services are based on a multivendor UNIX platform and Windows2000.
An extensive network supports communications
from all academic and administrative buildings and residence halls
to all major systems. Over 6,500 nodes are supported in the campus
network with access speeds of up to 100Mbps and core network speeds
of 1Gbps. Off-campus connectivity to the Internet is provided by
fractional T3 service. High speed (OC3) connectivity to the vBNS
(Internet 2) research network provides high-bandwidth connections
to other vBNS- and Internet 2- connected education and research
institutions. A wireless network provides access to the campus network
and the Internet from locations around the campus. Remote access
to the campus network is supported by a dial-in modem pool as well
as VPNs. With a high level of connectivity and advanced functionality
accessible from on- and off-campus locations, our network has been
recognized as an award-winning model environment for other academic
institutions and commercial organizations.
In addition to the notebooks and personal
computers owned by all undergraduate students, a PC laboratory operated
by Information Technology is available to support access for members
of the campus community 7 days a week except holidays. It includes
a large cluster of personal computers, printers, a scanner, and
network jacks and wireless access for general use by members of
the Stevens community. Additional computer labs are maintained by
some academic departments to meet their needs.
Information Technology provides a variety
of services. The User Services staff assists users by providing
a staffed help desk, training seminars and workshops, web-based
and hardcopy versions of documentation, timely news updates, and
advice on systems access and usage. The staff coordinates a seminar
series intended to aid in the use of networked resources. Users
may request individual or departmental assistance in planning, implementing
and using information resources, as well as help with general system
information, connecting to and interacting with the network, using
workstations and accessing the Internet resources.
Information Technology assists members
of the community in evaluating, acquiring and supporting networked
resources. This includes help in planning new facilities, implementing
new technologies and establishing support programs. The Networking
Staff assists users and departments in designing and implementing
local area networks, network expansion plans and network applications.
User assistance can be obtained by calling (201) 216-5500. Help
in purchasing computers can be obtained by calling (201) 216-5108.
The staff of Information Technology has
a long-standing tradition of close cooperation with students. Undergraduate
and graduate students are employed as part-time user (help desk)
consultants, residence hall technical assistants, personal computer
lab assistants, and network support technicians. All of these students
work closely with the Information Technology staff, gaining valuable
practical experience while pursing their degrees.
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W. M. Keck Geoenvironmental
Laboratory
The W. M. Keck Geoenvironmental Engineering
Laboratory is a fully-equipped facility for state-of-the-art computer
automated geotechnical, as well as environmental, testing of soil
and water media. Some of the major equipment available includes:
optical and polarizing microscope capabilities for geological sample
analysis, X-ray diffraction capabilities for mineralogical characterizations;
scanning electron microscope for surface morphological studies;
zeta potentiometer for solid surface charge analyses; integrated
wet chemistry facilities to accommodate any type of physicochemical
and environmental soil testing, such as particle and pore size distribution,
surface area, cation exchange capacity, batch and sequential extraction,
oxide content, consolidation, triaxial and direct shear strength
testing, flexible and rigid wall permeameters, and CBRs; durability
chambers for simulating environmental stresses, such as freeze and
thaw, wetting and drying, salt fog and acid rain exposure, as well
as other accelerated weathering field conditions; and full sample
collection and specimen preparation set-ups.
Some of the current studies involve geoenvironmental
characterization of heavy metal contaminated firing range soils
from different installations across the US; fly ash, incinerator
ash and other industrial waste-by-product materials to evaluate
their use in construction applications; evaluating the properties
of dredged materials for reuse in transportation projects, treatment
and management of hazardous wastes; focusing on heavy metal and
petroleum hydrocarbon immobilization in geoenvironments; study of
the fate and transport of contaminants in the subsurface; surface
enhancement of currently used industrial wastewater filtration media;
and development of leaching protocols. To view brief project descriptions,
journal, engineering reports and other pertinent publications you
may visit Professor Dermatas, the Laboratory director’s homepage
(http://personal.stevens.edu/~ddermata/).
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Laboratory for Secure Systems
The Laboratory's mission is to pioneer new
technologies for high-assurance and secure systems and prototype
tools that can provide guarantees that a system will not exhibit
unpredictable behavior in a hostile environment. The objective is
to consolidate and organize research and tool-building efforts already
underway at Stevens. The Lab is funded by grants from the New Jersey
Commission on Science and Technology, the National Science Foundation
and the Stevens Institute of Technology Technogenesis Fund. The
facilities of the Lab include several desktop machines, PDAs with
wireless Ethernet, and Bluetooth devices for experimentation. The
Lab is affiliated with the New Jersey Institute for Trustworthy
Enterprise Software.
Part of the research work is focused on
building better trust models for components. Some of this work is
using static analysis techniques to check access control and information
flow properties for untrusted components. There is also work on
pushing type safety from high-level languages down to the assembly
language level and, in the process, checking properties of heap
space usage. Other work has been on type systems for dynamic linking
and "hot" updates of program libraries at run-time.
Another thrust of the work in the Lab has
been in network security, particularly for wireless networks. Work
continues on attacks that can be mounted on ad-hoc wireless networks
and in the design of new authentication and key establishment protocols
that can be used to improve the security of wireless communication
in general. Recent work has also looked at type-based approaches
to cryptography, to specify and ensure trustworthiness guarantees
for communication channels.
A new area of research at the Lab is the
study of secure electronic transactions, such as banking operations
or voting. The work consists of using secure patterns of communication
described using type-systems to detect unauthorized modification
of data between trusted communicating parties.
The Lab has a seminar series where guests
from industry and academia as well as members of the Stevens community
present recent advances in all areas of computer security. For more
information about the Lab, visit out web site at http://www.cs.stevens-tech.edu/Lab/SecureSystems_Lab
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Lawrence Schacht Management
Laboratory
Today, educating engineers, scientists and
managers requires more than traditional laboratory facilities. The
Lawrence Schacht Management Laboratory provides facilities to learn
and practice business skills in realistic environments: to learn
the art and science of making effective presentations, to understand
and improve interpersonal and organizational skills, to develop
the computational skills needed in today’s competitive world,
and to conduct research in management and technology management.
The laboratory is composed of a seminar
room and five conference rooms, a computation laboratory and a networking
and video control center. Video cameras and screens in each of the
conference rooms can be operated and controlled remotely from the
control center. Network and video connections are installed throughout
the laboratory, enabling laboratory activities to combine the use
of audio, video and computing techniques, with facilities that equal
and often exceed the typical commercial facility.
These facilities are well suited for use
in many academic programs. For example, students practice presentation
skills in the seminar room, and undergraduate and graduate students
simulate a variety of managerial situations in the conference rooms
as they learn the dynamics of small groups. Exercises can be monitored
and videotaped by an experienced manager who may both intervene
in the process and guide it, or offer criticism and feedback immediately
after its conclusion.
In addition to providing students with
valuable educational experiences, the laboratory is used in management
and other small-group research. The laboratory is designed to accommodate
controlled experimentation on managerial functions and processes.
Our ultimate goal in management research is to understand the managing
mechanism as it relates to individuals involved, their organization
and the community at large.
The computing center portion of the laboratory
includes several dozen advanced personal computers, all connected
to the campus-wide network. The equipment supplements the training
of management students by allowing them access to, and training
them in the use of, fully-supported analytical tools in accounting,
statistics and simulations. From the Schacht Lab computers, the
student can access and use the worldwide capabilities available
through the Internet on their projects and assignments.
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Materials/Structures Laboratory
The Materials/Structures Laboratory is equipped
for state-of-the-art materials testing. Equipment includes a universal
400,000 lb. compression/200,000 lb. tension testing machine; a computerized
data acquisition system; beam loading frame, freeze-thaw testing
apparatus; Versa test compression machine; high-pressure flexible
wall permeameters and environmental testing chambers. Current studies
include high-strength concrete, fiber-reinforced concrete, use of
by-products in concrete production and durability of materials in
construction.
Mechanical Engineering Labs
- Alfred W. Fielding Computer-Aided Design Laboratory
This laboratory contains a number of high-speed
workstations and peripherals serviced via local area networks.
The installed software includes the general purpose CAD/CAM package
Pro-Engineer and Solid Works, as well as finite element codes
ABAQUS, ALGOR, ANSYS and Pro-Mechanica. Also installed are several
special purpose design, analysis and educational packages.
- Clean Air Vehicle Facility
The Clean Air Vehicle Facility focuses
on methods to reduce automotive pollutant emissions. The laboratory
houses a 50-hp single-axle chassis dynamometer and a 1000-hp engine
dynamometer with fully-computerized instrumentation. The emission
sampling and analysis systems permit accurate determination of
CO, CO2, Ox, NOx, total hydrocarbons, methane and non-methane
hydrocarbons in raw or constant-volume sampled exhaust.
- Engineered Structural Materials Laboratory
This laboratory focuses on the design,
modeling and analysis and characterization of modern micro/nano
structurally engineered materials. The laboratory has filament
Winding, Resin Transfer Molding and Robotic Lamination equipment
for prototyping tailored composite materials. The laboratory is
capable of characterizing physical and mechanical properties,
long-term durability and failure behavior of composite structures.
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- Fluid Mechanics Laboratory
This laboratory includes a low-noise subsonic
wind tunnel with several custom-fabricated test sections, a pump
performance test-rig, a blower and internal-flow test-rig, a hydraulic
bench and experimental set-ups for flow metering, force of a jet,
and dimensional-analysis/similitude. The laboratory is fully networked
and includes space to support undergraduate and graduate design
and research projects in aerodynamics and hydraulics with modern
flow instrumentation and computer-aided data acquisition systems.
- Kenneth A. Roe Senior Design Laboratory
This facility provides work space and
support (instrumentation, tools, etc.) for the design, construction,
and testing of capstone-design projects in Mechanical Engineering.
The laboratory serves as a base for all the senior design teams.
It has workbenches for at least ten design teams to build and
assemble prototypes.
- Mechanical Systems Laboratory
This laboratory houses 10 experimental
set-ups in mechanisms, machine systems, and robotics including
apparatus for experiments on vibrations of machine systems (natural
response, step response, frequency response, resonance, etc.),
gear mechanisms (train value, rigid vs. flexible machine, etc.)
and balancing of rotors as well as the experiments with various
displacement sensors to measure beam deflection and calculate
beam stiffness; to measure backlash existed in mechanical joints
and motion system; to measure motion errors in mechanical systems
of various components. Several educational robot manipulators
and Lego-based mobile platforms are included.
- Metal Forming Laboratory (MFL)
This Laboratory focuses on advancing the
state of the art in computer modeling of thermo-mechanical processing
of metals. The results of the computer simulations are verified
using experimental techniques. The manufacturing processes investigated
include forging, rolling, extrusion and stamping. Recent projects
explored the microstructure changes in metals during the hot forging
of aerospace components, whereby the resulting grain size is predicted
as a function of the processing parameters using heuristic models
and numerical approaches on multiple lengths scales.
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- Noise and Vibration Control Laboratory
Research activities in the areas of engineering
acoustics, vibrations and noise control are conducted in this
Laboratory. The Laboratory has an anechoic chamber with internal
dimensions of 4.52m x 5.44m x 2.45m high. In addition, the Laboratory
houses sophisticated instrumentation such as multi-channel signal
analyzer and sound and vibration transducers, transducers with
adapters for mounting to a robot end effector and a number of
grippers designed and constructed by students.
- Precision Engineering Laboratory
The facility focuses on advancing the
state of the art in the areas of precision machine design, precision
robot design and precision manufacturing. Nano-precision sensors
and actuators, as well as precision coordinate measuring machines
provide powerful tools for research, development and education.
Current experimental studies include the development of an innovative
diamond wheel sharpening process at high-speed; a six degree-of-freedom
robotic measuring system; precision industrial robot design and
performance evaluation techniques; service robots; and ultra-precision
fine-position systems for industrial robots.
- Robotics and Control Laboratory (RCL)
The Robotics and Control Laboratory (RCL)
provides experimental research support in advanced intelligent
control of robotic systems with emphasis on nonlinear systems
adaptive control, intelligent control, neural networks and optimization-based
design and control. Projects include investigations on man-machine
systems, telerobotics, haptics, robotic deburring and robust and
adaptive motion, force and vision-based control. The major facilities
consist of one PA-10 robot, a Phantom haptic device with GHOST
development software, two PUMA 500s and several robotic arms.
The PA-10 is equipped with a JR3 wrist and an ATI base force sensor
and a Sony eye-in-hand camera system.
- Thermal Engineering Laboratory
The principal equipment in this Laboratory
includes: a single cylinder CFR engine with dynamometer and data
acquisition systems, a fully-instrumented oil-fired hot water
furnace and a heat pump experiment and reciprocating air compressor
setup. Modern emissions testing equipment and computer-aided data
acquisition systems are available for student use.
- Thermodynamics Laboratory
This laboratory includes a CFR engine
set-up equipped with a custom made power controller and a fully
computerized data-acquisition system, a two-stage, 10-hp, air
compressor with inter-cooling instrumented with a computer-assisted
data acquisition system, a hot water furnace experimental set-up
and an educational version of a vapor-compression refrigeration/heat
pump cycle. Modern emissions testing equipment and computer-aided
data acquisition systems are available for use.
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New Jersey Center for MicroChemical
Systems (NJCMCS)
The New Jersey Center for MicroChemical
Systems was recently established under the auspices of the New Jersey
Commission on Science and Technology and with grants from several
major federal government agencies such as the US Department of Energy
and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). NJCMCS
exemplifies the Stevens approach to doctoral education - students,
faculty, and industrial partners work closely together, sharing
ideas and nurturing technology from innovation to implementation.
NJCMCS uses a systems approach to design,
manipulate, and control chemical reaction and separation processes
that occur in micro-volume environments. This research area includes
a broad range of new technologies such as microfluidic biochips
for drug discovery, combinatorial catalyst evaluation, micro-reactor
systems for on-demand chemical production and micro-power systems.
The center’s vision is to become a global leader in developing
innovative micro-kinetic test and design methodologies for rapid
microchemical systems development, demonstration and commercialization.
In partnership with industry and government, the Center develops
microchemical systems that can be used in miniature power devices,
in on-demand chemical production facilities and in biomedical devices.
New Jersey Center for Software
Engineering (NJCSE)
Members of the Computer Science Department
hold a large grant from the New Jersey Commission on Science and
Technology (NJCS&T), focused on research in software engineering
aspects of networks and distributed programming. This grant is held
jointly with New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and Rutgers
University, New Brunswick.
The New Jersey Center for Software Engineering
(NJCSE) was founded in mid-2000 as the corporate outreach (technology
transfer) arm of this research activity. NJCSE is based at Stevens.
Academic institutions affiliated with NJCSE
are Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology,
Rutgers University in New Brunswick, and Monmouth University.
NJCSE activities include regular technical
meetings with Stevens, Rutgers and NJIT researchers, and industry
representatives. Other activities include a Student Project Showcase
and a Career Opportunities Program. As of January 1, 2001, Industry
Affiliates included Avaya, Telcordia, Rational and IBM. NJCSE offers
companies state-of-the-art technical programs and early access to
some of the best CS graduates in New Jersey.
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New Jersey Institute for
Trustworthy Enterprise Software
The New Jersey Institute for Trustworthy
Enterprise Software was established by a grant from the New Jersey
Commission on Science and Technology. The focus of the Institute
is on improving the trustworthiness, reliability and security of
enterprise software, particularly for distributed and Internet applications.
The Institute comprises partners at Stevens, Rutgers University
and New Jersey Institute of Technology. It is based at Stevens and
is involved in the following research: secure electronic business,
reliable Internet programming, saft components and componential
programming, document processing, software design process and web
engineering. The Institute is affiliated with the Laboratory for
Secure Systems and the Software Engineering Laboratory, and has
sponsored several research symposia in Trustworthy Software and
CyberSecurity, held at Stevens. Further information is available
at http://www.njites.org.
New Jersey Marine Sciences
Consortium
Stevens is a member of the consortium which
was established to provide resources for the conduct of marine science
and engineering research in New Jersey coastal waters. The consortium
maintains three research vessels, ranging from 25 to 60 feet in
length, together with an extensive suite of oceanographic instrumentation,
which is available for use by Stevens faculty and students. In addition,
the consortium operates field stations at Sandy Hook and Seaville,
NJ. Finally, the consortium serves as a focal point for bringing
together diverse specialists to attack substantial interdisciplinary
problems in the marine environment. Our faculty and students have
participated in several large studies undertaken by the consortium.
Optical Communications Laboratory
Research is conducted in this Laboratory
on optical communication systems and components with computer-assisted
electronic and optical instrumentation. The properties of single-mode
optical fibers, Er-doped optical fiber amplifiers, wideband optical
transmitters and receivers, external cavity tunable semiconductor
lasers, single-frequency laser diodes and fiber optic sensors are
studied and tested using fast-pulsed lasers, signal synthesizers,
spectrum analyzers, spectrometers and a wide variety of optical
instruments. The effects of cabling and temperature on the propagation
of optical signals are investigated. Ultra-high frequency fiber
optic communication systems are being designed and tested for use
in telecommunications and video leaks.
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Physics and Engineering
Physics Research Laboratories
The Physics and Engineering Physics facilities
include the following:
- Laboratory for the Study of Electron-Driven Processes
- Prof. K. H. Becker
Electron collisions with atoms, molecules
and free radicals; experimental and theoretical studies of excitation,
dissociation and ionization processes; measurement of electron
attachment and detachment cross sections and rates; collision
induced emission spectroscopy; laser-induced fluorescence experiments;
collision processes in low-temperature plasmas; atomic processes
in atmospheric pressure plasmas; application of collisional and
spectroscopic data to plasma diagnostic techniques; atomic, molecular,
and plasma processes in environmental systems; internal collaborations
with the Center for Environmental Systems (CES) and the John Vossen
Laboratory for Thin Film and Vacuum Technology; external collaborations
with the Universität Greifswald and the Institut für
Niedertemperaturplasmaphysik (Institute for Low-Temperature Plasma
Physics), Greifswald, Germany and the Universität Innsbruck,
Austria.
- John Vossen Laboratory for Thin Film and Vacuum Technology
- Prof. A. Belkind
Basic and applied research in the field
of plasma generation at low and atmospheric pressure, plasma diagnostics,
and plasma implementation with particular emphasis on plasma-assisted
deposition, surface cleaning, and environmental processes; special
efforts are being devoted to the development of novel pulsed power
plasma sources. Collaborations exist with industry (power supply
and vacuum deposition system manufacturers) and, internally, with
the Laboratory for the Study of Electron-Driven Processes and
the Center for Environmental Systems.
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- Solid State Electronics and Nanodevices - Prof. H.
L. Cui
Theoretical research on quantum electron
transport, resonant tunneling devices and optical devices; modeling
and simulation of semiconductor devices and acoustic wave devices
and networks; large-scale, massively-parallel simulations of MM-wave
spectroscopes and fiber optical communication devices.
- Quantum Electron Physics and Technology - Prof. N. H.
Horing
Quantum field theory of many-body systems;
nonequilibrium and thermal Green's function methods in solid state
and semiconductor physics and response properties; open quantum
systems; nonequilibrium fluctuations; surface interactions; quantum
plasma; high magnetic field phenomena; low dimensional systems;
dynamic, nonlocal dielectric properties and collective modes in
quantum wells, wires, dots, superlattices; nanostructure electrodynamics
and optical properties; nonlinear quantum transport theory; magnetotransport,
miniband transport, hot electrons and hot phonons in submicron
devices; mesoscopic systems; spintronics; relaxation and decoherence
in semiconductor nanostructures; nanoelectrical mechanical systems
(NEMS); device analysis for quantum computations.
- Light and Life Laboratory - Prof. K. Stamnes
Atmospheric/Space Research including satellite
remote sensing of the environment. Measurements of broadband and
spectral radiation including solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Inference of cloud and stratospheric ozone effects on UV exposure.
Numerical modeling of geophysical phenomena and comparison with
measurements. Study of radiation transport in turbid media such
as the atmosphere-ocean system and biological tissue.
- Photonics Science and Technology Lab - Prof. E. A. Whittaker
The theme of this laboratory is the development
and application of laser-based methods for remote sensing, chemical
analysis and optical communications. Techniques used include frequency
modulation spectroscopy, laser vibrometry and free space optical
communications. The laboratory is equipped with a wide range of
laser sources and detectors, high frequency electronic test equipment,
computer controlled measurement systems and a Fourier transform
infrared spectrometer.
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- Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy and Communication Lab -
Prof. R. Martini
The realization of ultrahigh-speed communication
networks at and above Terahertz bandwidth is one of today's most
challenging problems, as the limiting factors are given by fundamental
physical properties and laws. To overcome the restrictions, new
concepts and materials have to be invented and utilized. In this
laboratory we investigate the high-speed response of new lasers
and materials, as well as passive and active optical systems using
ultrashort laser pulses (<100fs) to develop towards higher
speed networks.
In addition to this, the ultrashort laser
techniques in this laboratory enable us to apply many different
measurement techniques accessing the world of the "ultrafast."
Time-resolved Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy setup, for example, gives
us the unique ability to measure optical as well as electrical properties
in this ultrahigh-speed frequency region and use it also for new
and fascinating applications in this new "frequency world."
Samuel C. Williams Library
Service Philosophy
The S.C. Williams Library (http://www.lib.stevens-tech.edu)
offers just-in-time service tailored to the needs of Stevens faculty,
students and staff. This model maximizes use of Library materials
and serves individual information needs.
Using networked computers, students, faculty
and staff can access bibliographic and full-text databases to locate
references to millions of books, articles, patents, theses, conference
proceedings, technical reports and statistics. The databases are
available 24 hours a day.
Information Services
Information Specialists are available to
members of the Stevens community to do the following:
- assist in library research,
- visit departments for one-on-one or group instruction,
- teach students the effective use of library resources, and
- provide customized database searching by appointment.
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Document Delivery Services
Through the Library’s just-in-time
service model, the Stevens community benefits from 24-hour on-campus
and remote web-based access to subscription databases in diverse
subject areas, including science and engineering, management and
business, and the humanities. The Interlibrary Loan and Document
Delivery department, conveniently located on the main floor of the
Library, supports research needs by determining the most prompt
method of retrieving documents and materials requested by faculty,
students and staff.
Also, located directly across the Hudson
River from Stevens is New York City, where important publishers,
bookstores and major research libraries provide additional resources.
Cultural Services
The Library functions as a cultural campus
center offering a wealth of artworks, mechanical models, special
collections and musical recitals. The Library’s art collection
includes two works by Alexander Calder, a 1919 Stevens graduate:
the "Stevens Mobile," created and presented by Calder,
who developed this art form, is exhibited in the three-story Great
Hall; a jagged black metal stabile, "Hard to Swallow,"
stands on the second floor.
"Safari," a mural by Pierre Bourdelle,
an internationally renowned craftsman and teacher, is exhibited
above the Information Services area. His cast aluminum "American
Spread Wing Eagle" adorns a south-facing exterior wall. A stunning
three-part gilded bronze work designed by American sculptress Mary
Callery, called "Moon and Stars," hangs over the entrance
portico. On the great lawn is Anna Hyatt Huntington’s magnificent
sculpture, "The Torch Bearer."
Special Collections
A collection pertaining to Leonardo da Vinci
is one of the finest accumulations of manuscripts, notebooks and
drawings in facsimile available for the use of scholars, media professionals
and humanities students.
The Library also houses manuscripts, drawings,
artifacts and monographs by and about Frederick Winslow Taylor,
Class of 1883, who originated Scientific Management. Furniture from
Taylor’s home is also included in the collection. Additional
holdings of the Library include the Stevens archives, the original
construction drawings for the Civil War ironclad U.S.S. Monitor,
and treasures from the Stevens family 1854 "Castle." The
four-story Library building, a showplace in library architecture,
was designed by Perkins & Will. It is dedicated in memory of
Samuel C. Williams, Class of 1915.
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Software Engineering Laboratory
The Laboratory for Quantitative Software
Engineering, supported by a grant from the New Jersey Commission
on Science and Technology and by affiliates of the New Jersey Center
for Software Engineering, has several Windows and Linux workstations
connected by Ethernet and wireless LANs. The Lab is affiliated with
the New Jersey Institute for Trustworthy Enterprise Software.
The Lab's use is two-fold:
First, it is used by students in the
required two-semester Senior Design sequence. Their projects are
more profitably implemented on networked workstations than on
personal laptops, with which all Stevens students are equipped.
A special feature of the Senior Design course is that it uses
a novel pedagogic methodology entitled "Live-Thru Case Histories."
Further development of, and the study of, the efficacy of the
Live-Through Case History Method, are being studied under grants
from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology and the
National Science Foundation, in part with the aid of custom software
being developed in the Lab.
Second, as affiliates of both Prof. Barry
Boehm's University of Southern California Center for Software
Engineering and of the DOD-sponsored CEBASE (Center for Experimentally-based
Software Engineering) led by Prof. Boehm and Prof. Victor Basili
of the University of Maryland, the Software Engineering Lab's
faculty are using the lab for experimentation in software engineering
technologies and methodologies. Subjects of these studies include
high-reliability software, methods for avoiding the need to perform
full-scale defect detection and elimination, and modern agile
software development practices pair programming, refactoring,
etc.
Stevens Alliance for Technology
Management
The Alliance is an industry-university partnership
under the auspices of the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management
at Stevens Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1991 to identify,
disseminate and facilitate the deployment of more effective practices
for the development and utilization of technology. Current Alliance
Sponsors, in addition to Stevens Institute, are AT&T, Bestfoods,
ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, ISO, Lucent Technologies, Pershing,
Teknor Apex and the US Army Research, Development, and Engineering
Center. Past Sponsors have included AlliedSignal, Bellcore, Engelhard
Industries, GTech, IBM, Merck, and SIAC.
Visualization Laboratory (VLAB)
Research in the VLab falls under the general
areas of visualization, computer graphics and computer vision with
applications in medical imaging and diagnostics, cell biology, scientific
computing, robotics and computational finance. Current research
projects include the development of new geometric methods and efficient
computational algorithms for representation, recognition and visualization
of surface shapes and shape deformations, and for pre-compression
data reduction in visual data communications.
The VLab is part of the mV2 (multimedia vision
and visualization) group, and has close ties with the Vision Lab
at Stevens.
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