Comings & goings

With the large new parking garage in the Stata Center finished, the East Garage bit the dust at the end of June. The MIT Facilities Dept. Estimated that virtually the entire structure‹600 tons of scrap iron and 6,500 tons of concrete‹would be recycled and saved from landfills. (Photo: Donna Coveney/MIT)

 

Five points for knowing each name carved inn stone on the MIT facade, plus another five points for having read each person's major work in the original or in translation. Ten points if you learned about it on your own initiative, rather than through assigned classwork.

More awards: students
          Christina Keenan '03 and Lina Liang '03, both in environmental engineering, won prestigious National Science Foundation scholarships for three years of support in their future graduate work. Winners of NSF graduate student Fellowships are Michael Fisher and Alex Apotsos.
         
          Arthur Fitzmaurice, whose name has frequently appeared in the CEE newsletter in connection with multiple activities, received a William I. Stewart Jr. Award at the 2003 MIT Awards Convocation on May 13. The prize recognizes students who have made outstanding contributions to extracurricular activities and events.

          Grad student Anand Rajagopal (Information Technology) received the Vinod Lal Memorial Honour (Presidential award 2002-2003) from the senate at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-Bombay) for exceptional academic performance during his undergraduate studies. The Presidential awards at IIT-Bombay are given to the top 15 students in the institute, comprising all the engineering departments and a usual graduating class of around 450 students. Anand also received the Institute Academic Scholarship during his stay at IIT-Bombay.

IDEAS Competition
          Two of the three MEng teams advised by Susan Murcott, lecturer at Parsons Lab, won second and third prize in the annual MIT IDEAS competition on May 1. The competition supports innovations in the early stages of implementation, and facilitates further financial support from other organizations.
          All three CEE entries concerned water treatment for developing countries. The teams consisted of students from the MEng program, along with two Sloan School students, Bobbie Wilson and Steve Perreault, and Lily Cheung, whose Mechanical Engineering senior thesis Murcott supervised. Bobbie, Steve, and Lily, along with Rob Dies 03 (MEng) were all members of the CERAMIT water filter team that designed a novel household water containment system.
          "Last year, Tommy Ngai's and Rebeca Hwang's respective projects took both first places in the contest. Because most of the panel of judges, including former MIT president Paul Gray and his wife, were the same, I wasn't sure they would give prizes to the same theme- water project in developing countries- twice in two years. But we took the second and third prizes this year, for a total of $5,000 prize money!" exults Murcott.
          The money allows Xanat Flores and Sarah Brownell (UC/Berkeley) to travel to Haiti to develop and field test a simple, low-cost ultraviolet (UV) water disinfection system constructed from ferro cement. The UV-Tube Project at UC/Berkeley has been working on a similar system made from PVC and stainless steel since 1998. "We are partnering with the Berkeley UV-Tube Project team to explore using ferro cement instead of PVC with the goal of eliminating byproducts, taste and odor. We also expect the ferro cement design to be less expensive and easier to maintain than the PVC design," says Xanat.
          Melanie Pincus '02 has used her prize money to return to Japan to continue her study of the BioSand Pitcher Filter, a new household water filter that costs less than $1. She wrote, "Developed specifically for use by poor people in developing countries, this technology has much to offer as a purveyor of safe household drinking water. System strengths include simplicity, effectiveness, economic sustainability, social acceptability, and reliance on local resources."
          These projects are on display at the Boston Museum of Science in their Med-Tech exhibit in the current Science and Technology section.

Presentations
          As part of the special Mothers' Day program at the Boston Museum of Science on May 11, CEE lecturer Susan Murcott gave a talk on "Low Tech Med Tech: Saving Lives in Developing Countries." The Museum provided a summary: "In most cultures, it's the women who tote the water, prepare the food, look after hygiene and care for the children. Waterborne diseases are the biggest threats to health in developing countries because of the lack of water treatment facilities. Civil engineer Susan Murcott and her team from MIT are researching creative ways to provide affordable, culturally-compatible engineering solutions for clean water in India, Nepal, and other developing areas."

          Although the Charles River is only steps from Morse Middle School in Cambridge, a busy thoroughfare (Memorial Drive) puts it effectively out of reach and more likely out of mind, too. A partnership between MIT and the Cambridge Schools brings the river closer to the students, and provides dramatic hands-on examples of how routine activities can affect water quality.
          "The River is our Backyard: Water Quality in the Charles River" includes fellowships, classroom activities, and fieldwork on environmental issues. MIT's Lab for Energy and the Environment coordinates the program, and many MIT groups are involved, including the Environmental Programs Office and the Environment, Health and Safety Office. Participants in the presentation for around 100 middle school students in February included Eric Adams of CEE, James Wilcox of the Cambridge Public Works Sewer Division, and state and Federal environmental officials.
          During the hands-on sessions, students built their own watersheds and watched how colored water flowed through it; observed how many small pollutant spills added up to a big mess; and tried cleaning it up with homemade water filters.

Karen (Jones) '96 (MEng) and Shannon Pappas admire their newborn son Samuel Blake Pappas.

Prof. Trish Culligan and Wade McGillis are the proud parents of Anna Seeley who was born on July 16. Big sister Claire, age 2, is expressing opinions about the new arrival. The baby made her debut visit to MIT a week later, looking around alertly while Mom worked. (Photo: Alice Kalemkiarian)

          Everyone has seen the flocks of white and Canada geese waddling along the banks of the Charles. CEE lecturer Daniele Lantagne '96 (SB) & '01 (MEng) introduced students to macroinvertebrates which also live in the ecosystem, such as the larvae of flies, damselflies, and dragonflies. She told the Environment, Health and Safety Office newsletter, "We are trying to get the kids to teach themselves. They can understand what they are seeing, how the river can be hospitable or not to these living thing,s and we can give them the right tools to learn." Passing around sample jars with preserved larvae, Daniele reports that the student reaction ranged from "Cool!" to "Euw, gross!" Students learned how the intensity of flow, and cleanliness of the water, would influence what grows in which part of the river.

Births
          Karen (Jones) Pappas '96 (MEng, Environmental Engineering) and Shannon Pappas announce the birth of Samuel Blake Papas on April 11. The proud father writes, "We could not be more awestruck, thrilled, overwhelmed, and grateful first to witness his arrival and now to be at home with him as he sleeps, eats, coos, sleeps, eats, cries, sleeps, eats, and goes through A LOT of diapers!" Karen specializes in water and wastewater treatment plants and has worked for Malcolm Pirnie Inc. since graduation, first in the San Diego office and now in San Antonio.

          June brought a bumper harvest of grandchildren for Henri-Ann and Prof. Joe Sussman: Ryan Leonard Sussman, son of Joanna and Craig Sussman and sister of Taylor Rachel (age 4); and Hailey Brianna Sussman, daughter of Kristina and Andy Sussman and sister of Leda Kail (age 2).

Deaths
          Garrett Sloan '40 (old Course 11, Sanitary Engineering), died on Sept. 9, 2000.
          Dimitry Poutiatine '46 died on Nov. 28, 2000.

          A substantial obituary for Igor Popov '34 appeared in the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California News, written by James Malley and sent here by Stephen Johnston '48. Born in Russia, Prof. Popov escaped with his family four years later to Manchuria in 1917 during the Russian Revolution. After spending much of his youth in Harbin, China, he immigrated to San Francisco, and received a SB from UC/Berkeley. He completed graduate work at Cal Tech, MIT, and Stanford, then returned to Berkeley where he remained a faculty member for almost 55 years. He died on April 19, 2001.
          Prof. Popov conducted research on a variety of topics including structural mechanics, the theory of plates and shells, seismic design of structural steel, reinforced concrete systems and composite systems. For many years he focused on the seismic performance of structural steel. Widely recognized for his development of the Eccentrically Braced Frame system, his research led to many of the advances in the seismic design of numerous structural steel frame systems and connections.
          In addition to his writing and research, Prof. Popov was an acclaimed teacher and received the Berkeley Citation, the highest award for teaching on campus. He was the author or co-author of over 300 technical papers, and wrote two textbooks (Mechanics of Materials and Mechanics of Solids), which are among the world's most widely used texts on the elementary mechanics of materials.
          Stephen Johnston adds, "I, among the hundreds, if not thousands, of engineers who knew and worked with him, regard him as one of the most easy going, practically oriented, delightfully good humored, yet technically proficient teaching professors of my career."

          Arnold Conti '29 (old Course 4A, Architectural Engineering) died on March 1, 2003 at age 94. According to the obituary in Technology Review, he and fellow alumnus Paul Donahue opened a firm in Lynn, MA to develop property and complete light commercial construction projects. During World War II, Mr. Conti managed construction of naval port facilities with the SeaBees. Throughout his career and retirement, he donated design and construction management services to libraries, churches, and retirement communities with which he was associated.

          Raymond McGrath '36 (SM) died on March 26, 2003. His 40-year career with Chicago Bridge and Iron Industries included worldwide travel to construction projects, chairmanship of the American Petroleum Institute's tanks committee, and Institute consultant after his 1976 retirement. He and his widow, Stella, raised three children in a "home he designed and supervised, built like Gibraltar," according to Technology Review.

 

Who is doing what in this slide, cryptically labeled "outflow gage, June '81"?

          Frank J. Heger '48 & '49 (old Course 17, Building Construction and Engineering); '62 (ScD), died on June 23, 2003 at age 75. He was one of the founding partners in the national consulting engineering firm of Simpson Gumpertz Heger (SGH), and had previously taught structural engineering at MIT for eight years in the 1950s.
          An obituary in the Boston Globe notes that he was "chief structural engineer for the world's largest spherical construction, Spaceship Earth in the Epcot Center at Disney World in Orlando, FL. ...Mr. Heger earned wide recognition for his accomplishments from industry and professional organizations." He also designed the 250-ft-diameter, 3/4 geodesic sphere for the US Pavilion in Montreal's Expo '67.
          The Globe wrote, "A man of discipline and commitment, Mr. Heger believed his vocation was a public-safety calling. Throughout his career, Mr. Heger served as chairman of national committees and state boards, and was frequently called in to aid in handling building collapses, as well as to determine the safety of new building technologies."
          "'Frank was someone who did everything with gusto,' said Joe Zona ['76 (SM)], who has worked at SGH for 27 years. 'He was like a father to everyone at the firm. He worked hard all the time and gave so many people the opportunity to succeed.'"
          Dr. Heger is survived by his wife of 53 years, Anne M. (Mulholland) Heger; three sons and a daughter, and nine grandchildren.

Publicity
          A few years ago, the national news media and local columnists gleefully focused on the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Lab's new traffic modeling simulation, which mimicked erratic Boston driving habits rather than treating all drivers as idealized blobs. Mac Daniel reported on July 7 in the Boston Globe that the ITS lab, led by Prof. Moshe Ben-Akiva, "operates on a simple if daunting principle: Someday soon, there will be no more room for more roads." Since even new roads created by the infinitely expensive and disruptive Big Dig will become jammed, "Researchers at the lab are using DynaMIT, a real-time traffic management system to help predict traffic congestion in a specific area up to an hour into the future.
          "The core of DynaMIT's ability to predict future snarls is the traffic simulation, one of the first in the world to view traffic as a strange, unpredictable flow....By using algorithms and the second-by-second study of live traffic, Ben-Akiva and other ITS researchers developed a simulator that fit digital vehicles with individual personalities and destinations, as many as 8000 at a time..." As in real life traffic, "there are digital drivers who ignore signs, change lanes behind slow drivers, or tailgate." However, they cannot cause accidents unless the programmer allows it.
          Taking highway data and feeding it into the simulator, the new DynaMIT is able to forecast what is going to happen on a particular road. They can add a scheduled Red Sox game, with its thousands of cars jockeying for nonexistent parking spots at rush hour, into the simulator's equations to better predict backups. Besides predicting traffic flow, "DynaMIT has the potential to also reroute traffic to less congested roadways." The system has been tested in Irvine, CA, and is about to be tested in Los Angeles, Westchester County, NY, and Hampton Roads, VA.
         

Parsons Lab people always know how to have fun. Who are these high spirited Hydro team members resting at the 1991 Johnson Games?

          Aside from its ubiquitous image around New Hampshire on license plates, highway signs, the NH quarter, and a million tacky souvenirs, the Old Man of the Mountains' profile was actually quite difficult to distinguish in real life. Tourists had to stop at a designated parking lot in Franconia and follow the helpful signs to peer a great distance at exactly the proper angle to piece out the craggy hillside profile, aided liberally by imagination. Steel rods and cables added in the 20th century helped secure essential parts of the protruding rocks as they gradually weakened due to the annual cycles of freezing and thawing, plus erosion. Nevertheless, thousands mourned its disappearance after a rock slide in early May removed the chin, followed soon by the nose. Among the people quoted in the Boston Globe on May 5 about its possible reconstruction was Prof. Herbert Einstein, "a well-known environmental engineer at MIT [who] said it's impossible for any engineer to know what can be done until intense examinations of the area are completed."

          Federal investigators studying the collapse of the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, say they now believe that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey never performed fundamental tests needed to determine how their innovative structures would perform in a fire, according to a New York Times story on May 8 by James Glanz.
          "'At this point, we don't know why the tests were not done,' said Dr. S. Shyam Sunder ['79, SM; '81, ScD], who is leading the eight-month-old investigation at the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology....
          "In the briefing, Dr. Sunder described a variety of other findings in what has become a wide-ranging investigation. He highlighted new evidence appearing to support the theory that the lightweight trusses played some role in the collapse. Dr. Sunder showed a high-resolution photograph of the east face of the south tower, 12 minutes before it collapsed. The picture revealed what appeared to be a floor truss sagging deeply, like a clothesline overloaded with wet clothing."...
          "Dr. Sunder said today that 'we are unable to determine the technical basis' for choosing half an inch of fireproofing. He said no records had turned up to indicate that the trusses were subjected to any standard furnace tests at all with the fireproofing in place."