Month: November 2020

Categories
Workshops, Seminars, & Events

Tale of Two Pandemics: Illuminating Structural Racism and COVID

Powered by Research Commons at University Libraries. Starting in 2015, the Interdisciplinary Dialogues have addressed such important issues as income inequality, immigration, social media and elections, and sex and gender in academia. Please note that all Fall 2020 events will be held virtually via Zoom. Registrants will receive an event link in their confirmation email.

As the United States faces a global COVID-19 pandemic that has killed over 200,000 and confronts longtime and systemic racism and violence against Black Americans, researchers have highlighted a clear intersection between structural racism and high risk situations for contracting COVID. By drawing from research expertise, this panel explores the concurrent pandemics of racism and COVID, causes of inequity, and ways in which our community can address them.  

Panelists include:

Dr. Rashawn Ray, Professor of Sociology, Executive Director of the Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR)
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Dr. Jennifer Roberts, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology, Director of Public Health Outcomes and Effects of the Built Environment (PHOEBE) Laboratory
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Amelia Jamison, MAA, MPH, Faculty Research Affiliate at the Maryland Center for Health Equity, PhD Candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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John P. Salerno, MPH, PhD Candidate, Behavioral and Community Health, Investigator at the University of Maryland Prevention Research Center (UMD-PRC)
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Related LibGuide: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Resources by Nedelina Tchangalova

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm

Audience:

Faculty/Staff   General Public   Graduate Students   Undergraduate Students  

Registration is required. There are 38 seats available.

Register here.

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Fellowships & Scholarships Jobs/Internships

Internship Opportunity – Seagate Technology

There is an exciting internship opportunity for the Spring of 2021 at Seagate Technology, a hard drive manufacturing company. In this internship, the intern will get a chance to work on real-world machinery data, and industry 4.0 related projects. 
Here are the preferred qualifications: 

  • Current master or PhD students in mechanical engineering.
  • Solid programming experience in Python, Keras, Tensorflow, Flask and/or Django.
  • Deep understanding and experience in machine learning/deep learning: time-series analysis, CNN and RNN, unsupervised methods.
  • Experience in design of experiment and prognostics and health management. 
  • Experience in GIT, Docker container, Kubernetes, AWS, microservices is preferred.  

Interested applicants can send their CV directly to Ramin Moradi (raminmrd@umd.edu). 

Categories
Announcements Workshops, Seminars, & Events

Virtual Technical Meeting: Exploring Data Requirements for Risk and Reliability Analysis in Hydrogen Systems

Presenters: Camila Correa Jullian & Katrina Groth

Host: University of Maryland

Date/Time: November 17, 2020. 11:00AM EDT

Risk and reliability analysis are critical to the development of safe
systems, designing maintenance strategies, and creating codes and
standards. We are exploring the suitability of modern tools for risk
assessment, such as QRA (Quantitative Risk Assessment), and reliability
analysis, such as PHM (Prognosis and Health Management), in hydrogen
systems. Both have the potential to close knowledge gaps from different
perspectives and enable H2 infrastructure deployment.
This technical meeting will address common data requirements for QRA
and PHM in hydrogen systems, with a focus on identifying data sources
with potential to enable research to close knowledge gaps.

Topical Discussion Points:

  • QRA data needs: Component failure and event frequency data on hydrogen systems and components.
  • PHM data needs: Condition-monitoring data-based methods to explore PHM-informed risk-mitigation measures.
  • Engage with researchers with hydrogen stakeholders for collaboration and data sharing.

To confirm attendance: https://bit.ly/32jnszj

For more info, please contact Kevin Hartmann Kevin.Hartmann2@nrel.gov orKatrina Groth
kgroth@umd.edu

Categories
Jobs/Internships

ORISE Research Opportunities

The ORISE Research Participation Program at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is an educational and training program designed to provide college students, recent graduates, and university faculty opportunities to connect with the unique resources of the FDA. With the support of an assigned mentor, participants have authentic research experiences using equipment not found on most college campuses. 

These research experiences compliment the educational nature of the programs and make participants aware of potential STEM employment opportunities at the sponsoring agency. Participants will have access to unique research and training opportunities, top scientists and engineers, and state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.

Drug Safety Fellowship
FDA | Silver Spring, MD | Full-Time | June 30, 2021

CDER Summer 2021 Biostatistical Research Fellowship
FDA | Silver Spring, MD | Full-Time | March 10, 2021

Transdermal/Topical and Microneedle Drug Delivery Fellowship
FDA | Silver Spring, MD | Full-Time | March 31, 2021

Food Allergens Chemistry Internship
FDA | College Park, MD | Full-Time | Dec. 29, 2020

Microbiology Methods Validation Fellowship
FDA | Bedford Park, IL | Full-Time | Dec. 16, 2020 

Biostatistics Internship
FDA | College Park, MD | Full-Time | Dec. 17, 2020

Physicochemical Characterization of Breast Implants Internship
FDA | Silver Spring, MD | Full-Time | Dec. 23, 2020

Foodborne Genomics and Bioinformatics Fellowship
FDA | College Park, MD | Full-Time | Dec. 22, 2020
VIEW ALL OF OUR CURRENT OPPORTUNITIESThe ORISE Research Participation Program at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is an educational and training program designed to provide college students, recent graduates, and university faculty opportunities to connect with the unique resources of the FDA. With the support of an assigned mentor, participants have authentic research experiences using equipment not found on most college campuses. These research experiences compliment the educational nature of the programs and make participants aware of potential STEM employment opportunities at the sponsoring agency. Participants will have access to unique research and training opportunities, top scientists and engineers, and state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.
Categories
Jobs/Internships

Faculty and Research Jobs at FacultyVacancies

FacultyVacancies.com supports advancement in higher education and research helping Universities, Academies, Colleges, Faculties, Schools, Academic Departments, Institutes and Research Centers to recruit domestic and international talents.

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Categories
Defenses

Dissertation Defense – Guanjin Wang

Title: Physics-Based and Data-Driven Modeling of Hybrid Robot Movement on Soft Terrain

Author: Guanjin Wang

Advisory Committee:

  • Professor Balakumar Balachandran, Chair & Advisor
  • Associate Professor Amir Riaz (Co-Advisor)
  • Professor Teng Li
  • Professor Amr Baz
  • Professor Peter Chung
  • Professor Derek Richardson (Dean’s Representative)

Date & Time: November 13, 2020 2pm-4pm

Abstract: Navigating the unmapped environment is one of the ten biggest challenges facing the robotics community. A vision-based navigation system embedded in the mobile robot can only help to negotiate obstacles, which are well described by geometrical features, like sharp-edged stones and rocks.  Other aspects like sand, snow, and challenging terrains, are challenges for motions that robots cannot avoid during missions. Thus, designing and selecting effective gaits to navigate over terrains that may not be well describable by geometry is crucial for robot exploration. Wheeled robots can move fast on flat surfaces but suffer from loss of traction and immobility on soft ground. However, legged machines have superior mobility over wheeled locomotion when they are in motion over flowable ground or a terrain with obstacles but can only move at relatively low speeds on flat surfaces. A question is: If legged and wheeled locomotion are combined, can the resulting hybrid leg-wheel locomotion enable fast movement in any terrain condition?

Investigations into vehicle terrain interaction fall in the area of terramechanics. Traditional terra-mechanics theory can help capture large wheel vehicle interaction with the ground. However, legged or hybrid locomotion on a granular substrate is difficult to investigate by using classical empirical terra-mechanics theory due to sharp-edge contact. Recent studies show the continuum simulation can serve as an accurate tool for simulating dynamic interactions with granular material at laboratory and field scales. Therefore, to investigate the rich physics during dynamic interactions between the robot and the granular terrain, a computational framework based on the Smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method has been developed and validated by using experimental results for single robot appendage interaction with the granular system. This framework has been extended and coupled with a multi-body simulator to model different robot configurations. Encouraging agreement is found amongst the numerical, theoretical, and experimental results, for a wide range of robot leg configurations, such as curvature and shape. The sensitive dependence of robot performance on different gaits has been investigated by parametric space exploration.

The above mentioned physics-based simulation can serve as a high-fidelity tool to uncover clues about the underlying mechanism of dynamic interactions between robots and soft terrain. However, real-time navigation in a challenging terrain requires fast prediction of the dynamic response of the robot, which is useful for terrain identification and robot gait adaption. Therefore, a data-driven modeling framework has also been developed for the fast estimation of the slippage and sinkage of robots. The data-driven model leverages the high-quality data generated from the offline physics-based simulation for the training of a deep neural network founded on long short-term memory (LSTM) cells. The results are expected to form a good basis for online robot navigation and exploration in unknown and complex terrains.

Categories
Defenses

Thesis Defense: Marcelo Arispe-Guzman

Title: Reduction of Mixture Property Variation Through Control on Initial Mixing Dynamics

Author: Marcelo Arispe-Guzman

Date/Time: November 20, 2020 9:00am-11:00am

Examining Committee:
Professor David Bigio, Chair
Professor Balakumar Balachandran
Professor Peter Chung
Professor Ryan Sochol

Zoom Link: https://umd.zoom.us/j/5898885184

Abstract: Blend homogenization of a liquid-solid mixtures is achieved through mixer agitation which disperses the liquids and breaks up the agglomerates. Creating energetic or pharmaceutical blends requires a very low degree of mixture variation in the final product. Initial solid-liquid feeding protocols into the mixer greatly affect the ability to achieve low variation at minimal energy input. Experiments in a vertically oscillating mixer using dyed silicon oil and glass beads examined the effect of feed protocols, while varying acceleration and the number of cycles. A Central Composite Design (CCD) DOE revealed that the percent homogeneity and coefficient of variation measures of mixing are linearly dependent on acceleration and number of cycles. Experimental observations lead us to redefine the model for breakup of wet agglomerates. This study offers a starting point to developing feed protocols to improve the efficiency of oscillating mixers, such as the resonant acoustic mixer (RAM), for liquid-solid mixing.

Categories
Jobs/Internships

Faculty Positions at Hongik University in Korea

Hongik University in Korea has openings for faculty positions for the Spring Semester starting from March 1, 2021. As one of the major private universities in Korea, Hongik University strives to be a link between academia and industry, and to provide service for the benefit of wider society. A list of open positions has been attached to this posting

For detailed application information, please visit: http://applicant.hongik.ac.kr and click “Foreign applicant”

Online application Deadline: November 9, 2020 

All the required documents should be submitted via E-mail by November 18, 2020

Faculty Positions at Hongik University in Korea Download
Categories
Announcements Workshops, Seminars, & Events

Imminent Events – Institute for System Research

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING EVENTS WILL BE HOSTED VIRTUALLY, AND THAT MANY OF THEM REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2020

4:00 P.M.-5:00 P.M.  Startup Guide for Faculty/Researchers at UMD

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2020

8:30 A.M.-10:00 A.M.  Winning SBIR/STTR Proposal Strategies

10:30 A.M.-12:00 P.M.  The Future of Nuclear Energy

12:30 P.M.-1:30 P.M.  HCIL Brown Bag Lunch Seminar, Ben Shneiderman, “Human-Centered AI: 15 Recommendations”

5:00 P.M.  Big 10+ Webinar Series: Mechanical Engineering Graduate School Seminar Series (MEGS3)

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2020

10:45 A.M.  CDS Invited Lecture: Philip Paré, “Epidemics Spreading on Networks”

1:00 P.M.  MSE Seminar Series: Megatrends for Materials Science and Engineering for the 21st Century

2:00 P.M.  Lockheed Martin Robotics Seminar: Socially Assistive Robotics Right Now

2:00 P.M.-2:45 P.M.  Booz Allen Hamilton Colloquium: Dennis Andrucyk, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

3:00 P.M.  PhD Dissertation Defense: Zitan Chen

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020

11:00 A.M.  ChBE Seminar: Tuning Collective Molecular Assembly to Influence Ion Transport and Electron Transfer

1:00 P.M.-2:00 A.M.  Startup Funding for UMD Faculty and Graduate Students

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

12:00 P.M.-1:30 P.M.  CCSP Seminar: Mokshay Madiman, Rényi information inequalities and their mathematical ramifications

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020

1:00 P.M.  MSE Seminar: Using Tension and Curvature to Manipulate Patterning in Phospholipid Lamellae

2:00 P.M.  Lockheed Martin Robotics Seminar: Robust Perception for Robots

3:30 P.M.-4:30 P.M.  Booz Allen Hamilton Colloquium: Reza Ghanadan, Senior Manager, Google Cloud AI

3:30 P.M.-4:30 P.M.  IEEE Leadership Seminar: Rose Faghih, Assistant Professor, University of Houston

For a full listing of ISR events, visit the ISR website at:   https://isr.umd.edu/events/index.php

Please submit upcoming events by visiting the ISR website events page or by clicking the following link:  Submit an event to the ISR calendar.   

Categories
Jobs/Internships

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Position Opening

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City has tenure-track faculty position vacancies. The department seeks exceptional candidates from all areas of mechanical engineering with the following qualities:

  • A passion for teaching undergraduate students
  • An ability to teach broadly across the mechanical engineering curriculum
  • A potential for effective and innovative teaching
  • Interest in engaging undergraduate and Master’s students in research and scholarly activities

Responsibilities:
The  successful candidate will be dedicated to teaching and mentoring undergraduate students  in a rigorous project-oriented and supportive academic environment and engaging  undergraduate and master’s students in research and scholarly activities. The ideal candidate should contribute to Cooper Union’s strategic priority of educational innovation and  leading-edge pedagogies. The candidate is expected to collaborate with faculty and staff to  develop innovative curricular models, modern pedagogical paradigms, and evidence-based  assessment techniques. 

The candidate should be able and willing to teach broadly across the undergraduate  mechanical engineering curriculum. Exceptional candidates from all areas of expertise are  encouraged to apply. Additional consideration will be given to those capable of creating  opportunities for students at the intersection of mechanical engineering and other  disciplines. Candidates interested in contributing to our K-12 STEM outreach programs  and in engaging students in competitions or service-learning in our community are also  encouraged to apply. 

Application Details: https://cooper.edu/work/employment-opportunities/mechanical-engineering-tenure-track-faculty-position

An earned doctorate in mechanical engineering or a closely related discipline is required.  Interested and qualified candidates should submit the following in one searchable PDF  document with the candidate’s last name and first name as the file name: 

• A cover letter. To assist the search committee, all cover letters should address your interest in The Cooper Union and how you envision your teaching and research interests will contribute to the department and the institution. 

• A current curriculum vitae. 

• A statement about your teaching philosophy: describe principles, practices, or experi ences that inform the way you teach (typically 1-2 pages). 

• A statement about your research interests, including potential research projects for undergraduates (typically 1-2 pages). 

• A statement about diversity and inclusion: describe your interests, experiences, and future plans for promoting diversity and inclusion in engineering (typically 1-2 pages). 

• Contact information for at least three references. At least one reference should be able to specifically address teaching. 

Nominations should be sent to hr@cooper.edu and questions may be sent to Department  Chair Melody Baglione at melody.baglione@cooper.edu. Review of applications is  ongoing and will continue until the position is filled. The Cooper Union for the  Advancement of Science and Art is an AA/EOE employer. 

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