Professors Kenny Breuer and Eric Suuberg Named Associate Deans of Engineering

Brown University School of Engineering Dean Larry Larson has announced that Professor Eric Suuberg has agreed to accept an appointment as Associate Dean of Engineering for Research and Graduate Initiatives and Professor Kenny Breuer has agreed to accept an appointment as Associate Dean of Engineering for Academic Programs. Both will serve three-year terms.

“I want to thank them both for their willingness to serve the School of Engineering, and for the commitment of their time and energy in moving the School forward in the coming years. Professors Suuberg and Breuer bring decades of experience and wisdom to the School leadership.” said Larson.

The Associate Dean of Engineering for Research and Graduate Initiatives will be responsible for enhancing and expanding the research and graduate enterprise and profile of the School of Engineering, including development of an enhanced master’s program for the School of Engineering and development of a plan for improved engineering research laboratory and instructional space.

The Associate Dean of Academic Programs will be broadly responsible for the academic mission of the School of Engineering, and will work closely with the Director of Undergraduate Programs, Director of Graduate Programs and the Curriculum Committee on curriculum development, educational outreach, student career development and instructional technology.  

Professor Breuer received his Sc.B. from Brown and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from M.I.T. He spent nine years on the faculty of M.I.T. in department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, before returning to Brown in 1999. His research interests are in fluid mechanics, covering a wide range of topics, including the physics of flows at micron and nanometer scales, animal flight (bat flight in particular), and the physics and control of turbulent flows. He is author of over one hundred refereed technical publications, has edited and co-authored several books, including “Microscale Diagnostic Techniques”, “A Gallery of Fluid Motion”, and “Multimedia Fluid Mechanics”. Breuer was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2010.

Professor Suuberg has been at Brown since 1981, when he was one of the founding members of Brown's Chemical Engineering program. His research interests have been in the areas of energy and environmental engineering. He has served as Associate Dean of the Faculty (2002-2005), as Chair of the Psychology Department (2004-5) and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Division of Engineering. He is currently Co-Director of the Superfund Basic Research Program, and a co-founder of the Commerce, Organizations and Entrepreneurship concentration as well as a co-founder of the PRIME master’s program. He is a principal editor of the journal Fuel. He was elected fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 2011.

Professor Suuberg's research interests center on energy and environmental areas, involving study of fuel chemistry (coal, oil shale, biomass), activated carbons (production and properties), materials reuse (automobile tires, coal fly ash), fire safety and, most recently, the characterization and cleanup of lands and sediments contaminated with mixed pollutants with a focus on thermodynamics of mixtures of high molecular weight organic compounds and the related problem of vapor intrusion.

He received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from M.I.T., a master’s degree in management science from M.I.T., and an Sc.D. in chemical engineering from M.I.T.

A Sad End to the Era of US Space Domination

To veterans of America's adventures in space: astronauts, aerospace engineers and also the public-at-large, it was a period of inspired and unparalleled achievement: from President Kennedy's thrilling words in 1962, "man-on-the-moon-within-the-decade" as the declared goal - then its 1969 attainment; then a half-century of world domination of space - a prolonged period of great national pride. The achievement, however, was through costly expenditures in both lives and wealth (for which America was reluctantly also proud), struggling against the harsh, unforgiving realities of space. To every American save President Obama's most-ardent supporters, his recent words at Cape Canaveral were extremely sad to hear as they brought the curtain down on America's manned space ventures by ending the Space Shuttle program and drastically modifying Orion, the planned follow-on vehicle. To experienced space engineers and astronauts, Obama's attempt to emulate Kennedy's uplifting speech with talk of Mars seemed but empty chest-thumping and political posturing, even naive, as it ignored the enormous increase in distance, thus complexity, cost and human risk. With just the obvious ten-times-longer flight duration, a Mars mission would entail mind-numbing increases in hazards and complexity, such as the consequences of prolonged weightlessness. exposure to deadly cosmic radiation (without the essential protection of Planet Earth's magnetic core) and other unpredictable space perils.

Seeking to mitigate criticism of his cost-saving space policy, President Obama told NASA workers that his plans would save jobs, as well as steer a course toward manned missions to Mars. Concern at the space center had reached panic levels because of thousands of jobs at risk due to the retirement of the Space Shuttle program. Obama also declared the drastic modification of the Constellation program, designed by the prior administration to ferry American astronauts to and from the Space Station and moon. Obama reaffirmed the plan to salvage a crew capsule from the program - to be called Orion - but which would now serve only as an emergency escape pod from the International Space Station.

In addition to these significant program losses, the skeptical and disheartened - but realistic - Florida community also expects a loss of 9,000 supporting jobs with the ending of both Space Shuttle and Constellation programs. In addition, another 14,000 job losses are expected to occur in local and related travel industries, including restaurants, hotels and retail shops.

"The bottom line," said Obama, "is, nobody is more committed to manned space flight, to human exploration of space, than I am. But we've got to do it in a smart way," What was not said, however, was that America would no longer be capable of even transporting its own astronauts to Space Station, and would now have to pay Russia for such haulage. Adding financial injury to the insult to American national pride, Russia immediately doubled its previous charge per U.S. astronaut for a Soyuz ride to or from Space Station.

Pledging a "transformative agenda" for NASA, Obama sketched an ambitious vision of developing spacecraft capable of journeys into deep space by 2025, and by the mid-2030s, to send astronauts to an asteroid, then into an orbit about Mars and finally landing on its surface. "And I expect to be around to see it," he said.

Obama also promised a $6 billion increase in NASA's budget to increase Earth-based observation of climate change (seemingly more important to Obama than U.S. space dominance), and to bolster support for private space companies. To experts, the present-day, private-company offerings of an exciting "space" ride for $200,000 (providing a glimpse of space to wealthy adventurers), totally lacks the capability of orbiting Earth and reaching the Space station or moon. (To achieve orbit, a capsule must be rocketed to at least 18,000 miles per hour, not just attain high altitude.)

A critical comment was made by Karan Conklin, who oversees a Space Museum in Titusville, Fla., "It's not just the local community that will be affected, it'll be the whole nation - we won't be No. 1 in space anymore," Obama's proposed changes prompted Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, to emerge briefly from reclusion to complain that the U.S. space program was being reduced to "second-rate or even third-rate stature."

Several Republicans, including Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana and Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, assailed Obama's speech, calling his plans "job-killing". "The president's new plans for NASA are flat-out irresponsible," Vitter said. "He has evidently decided... to simply walk away from manned space."

Neil Armstrong did not attend the Obama speech and was not mentioned by Obama, however Buzz Aldrin, an Apollo 11 crew-mate, was praised by Obama and flew with the president on Air Force One to attend the speech.

A recent medical study solidifies the doubt of feasibility of Obama's vision for Mars: the news headings tell the tale: "Space Flu, Other Woes Being Probed", and "Researcher looking into links between lack of gravity, illness". The story reports that almost half of the Apollo astronauts - certainly the most physically fit of humans imaginable - came down with flu-type infections during or immediately after the Apollo flights. A mission to Mars or to an asteroid would be many-fold longer and thus much more inimical to the human body's immune system, compared to the three-day trips to the moon.

Brown Engineering Alumnus Michael Escuti wins Presidential Award for Young Scientists and Engineers

Dr. Michael Escuti ScM '99 PhD '03, who received both his master's degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Brown University and is now a North Carolina State University engineering professor has won the U.S. government's top award for early-career scientists and engineers.

Escuti, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State, will receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers later this fall, the White House announced. The awards program, established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, honors researchers for working at the frontiers of science and technology and serving the community through scientific leadership, public education or outreach.

Winners receive research grants of up to five years to support their work.

Escuti was honored for his pioneering development of liquid crystal "polarization gratings," which consist of a thin layer of liquid crystal material on a glass plate. The White House also recognized him for educating students through collaborations with international academic teams and industries, as well as for outreach work in underserved communities.

Escuti's research has shown how polarization gratings, as well as devices and applications based on them, can solve problems in optics that had been previously thought unsolvable. One result of the work is a very energy-efficient way of steering laser beams that is precise and relatively inexpensive. The research has potential applications in laser radar and free space communication, which uses lasers to transfer data between platforms – such as between satellites or between aircraft and soldiers on the battlefield. Escuti's team, consisting of NC State students along with partner Boulder Nonlinear Systems Inc., has already delivered prototypes of the technology to the U.S. Air Force and is working on other applications.

Another result is a low-loss light switch, which inherently acts on all components of light rather than just the correctly polarized half, meaning that it is very transparent when it is open and very dark when closed. Other results include high-resolution spectral/polarization cameras, which enable compact and low-cost imaging beyond what our eyes can see for platforms such as aerial vehicles, satellites and biomedical imaging.

Escuti is commercializing his research through several industrial partnerships, including his own start-up company, ImagineOptix Corp., that has already prototyped a tiny, highly efficient projection display that could revolutionize displays on hand-held and mobile devices.

His work has resulted in a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, three awarded patents and nine pending patents. He has also received $4.3 million in external research funding from NSF, and many other federal, state, and private sources.

After receiving his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Brown University in 2003, Escuti joined the NC State faculty in 2004.

Portions of this release courtesy of North Carolina State University.