Advanced Transportation Systems
Ph.D. students in civil engineering at the Virginia Tech Northern Virginia Center are researching advanced transportation technologies.
James Chang is assessing the costs and benefits of the advanced traveler information system being tested in Seattle as part of a national intelligent transportation system (ITS) initiative. This system uses computer and communication technology to provide real-time traffic congestion information to automobile, transit, and ferry boat travelers in the Puget Sound Region. Valerie Plotnikov is evaluating the costs, merits, and limitations of electronic payment systems (EPS) on public transit and toll road facilities. EPS technologies include magnetic stripe and chip card applications in conjunction with wire and wireless communication systems.
Agricultural and Applied Economics
Mark Fina, a doctoral student, is examining the relationship between< transportation systems and suburban development patterns. Research results will be used in policy recommendations to reduce the conversion of agricultural and forest lands to suburban development.
Civil Engineering
David Carradine, a master s student in structural engineering, created and tested several scale models of inflatable structures. Snow-load and wind-load tests were conducted in an effort to advance understanding of how inflatable structures behave under various weather conditions. Joseph Howard, a doctoral student in structural engineering, is using magnetorheological (MR) dampers to mitigate bothersome building floor vibrations. The MR dampers are similar to shock absorbers with the ability to use a magnetic field to change the viscosity of the fluid from oil to something similar to cold peanut butter almost instantly.
John Haramis, a doctoral student, is studying the effects of freeze/thaw cycling on polymer composite materials used in infrastructure applications. Polymer composites are much lighter than steel or concrete components of similar strength and are not subject to the ill affects of corrosion. One example of the research is the Toms Creek Bridge project.
Center for Transportation Research
Julie Barker, a recent master’s degree recipient, conducted research to develop new design recommendations for incident management traffic control signs. She investigated use of signs featuring light blue, purple, coral, and yellow-green backgrounds. This research, sponsored by the Virginia Transportation Research Council, demonstrated that signs other than traditional orange and black may be more effective for traffic control during incident management situations.
Chemical Engineering
Anil Prabhu, a Ph.D. student, developed a method to convert methane and carbon dioxide to syngas, which is a starting material for the synthesis of such products as ethylene, diesel fuel, and methanol. He is testing a method that uses a membrane that removes hydrogen and results in higher yield than current technology.
Computer Science
James Begole, a Ph.D. student, adapted computer software designed for single users to software that can be used by groups for collaboration. Begole’s research can be viewed at simon.cs.vt.edu/jamm/e
Environmental Design and Planning
William George Paul, a Ph.D. student, incorporated online and traditional planning
tools and processes to develop “A Grassroots Community Master Plan for Jackson
Ward and Richmond, Virginia.”
Geoenvironmental Engineering
Phytoremediation uses plants, trees, and other vegetation to extract, remediate, or contain contaminants of concern in groundwater and soil. Ed Corack, a master’s student, is modeling the effects that poplar trees have on the migration of a contaminant plume in groundwater.
Management Science and Information Technology
Information overload? That’s what happens in aluminum can production when computers collect thousands of quality measurements an hour for workers to analyze. By the time a worker understands what the data is saying, the opportunity to act has passed. Jay Marshall Teets, a Ph.D. candidate, is using visualization to facilitate the design, collection, display, and analysis of quality control data in high volume manufacturing systems.
Psychology
Rebecca F. Columbus studies how sensory and social stimulation affects normal sensory
system development, using a bobwhite quail chick animal model. This research
has facilitated an understanding of how the sensory systems are linked
together and become organized throughout early development, an area of
research that has been applied to making life better for premature infants.
Bobby Carlsen, Ph.D. student, researched how increased movement of bobwhite quail eggs influences the development of the chicks. The research is done by placing the eggs in a special incubator during the last week of prenatal development. The incubator turns the eggs somewhat more than a mother hen would turn them. Carlsen found that the extra movement seems to influence the development of both the auditory and visual systems. He says, “This has wide-ranging implications for intersensory development,” including how premature infants should be treated.
Julien Guillaumot is examining the relationship between self-esteem and alcohol consumption in college students. He assessed the self-esteem of 44 students, then measured their blood alcohol concentrations as they left a party. He found that those with lower self-esteem exited the party with higher blood-alcohol concentrations than those with higher self-esteem. Ph.D. student Jamie Cooper did research on infants preferences for rates of auditory stimulation. He found that “infants prefer the rate of speech encountered in the normal care-taking environment.”
Urban Affairs and Planning
Zhou Yu, Ph.D. student, has determined the environmental impacts of the Three Gorges Project, a large dam being built in China.
Veterinary Medicine
Dorinda Smith did her master’s degree research on replacing mice with fish as assays for environmental contaminants. Currently, the sensitive immune systems of mice are used to detect problems in the environment, Smith says. The National Institutes of Health want to stop using mammals, so Smith and her research colleagues used the same mice tests on the immune system of Tilapia, the number-one food fish produced worldwide. Smith says, “If we can detect a problem early enough, we can address it in the environment, keep the fish safe, and keep people safe.” Smith’s research determined that the tests used on mice immune systems do also work on Tilapia.
Arati Kamath, a Ph.D. student in biomedical sciences and pathobiology, did her thesis research on the mechanisms by which dioxin causes immunotoxicity. She explains that “Dioxin is a highly toxic environmental pollutant and has many adverse effects on the immune system. Our lab has focused on the cellular mechanisms by which it causes atrophy of the thymus, an important organ for the maturation of T cells of the immune system.” Kamath and her advisor, Mitzi Nagarkatti, as well as Iris Camacho and Prakash S. Nagarkatti, have published papers providing evidence that dioxin causes programmed cell death (apoptosis) in thymocytes and alters the expression of several cell surface markers.
Wood Science and Forest Products
Ph.D. student Ulrike Becker is exploring the ability of macro-molecules in cellulosic materials to organize themselves into large hierarchical structures on the nano-scale. Cellulose-based fibers and films with teflon-type surfaces might be an outcome of this research. The separation of target molecules in the fermentation fluids of biotechnological processes, and from other solutions, such as blood or milk, require separation materials that are abundantly available at modest cost. Polysaccharides isolated from both hardwood- and seafood-harvesting residues meet this requirement.
Jason Todd’s Ph.D. research helped a private company to develop prototype separation materials that are selective and cost-effective. Using steam-exploded wood fibers, master’s student Razaina Taib developed low-cost, light-weight thermoplastic composites that have potential use in the automotive industry.
Master’s student Indrajit Ghosh defined conditions for the use of lignin as an additive in biodegradable plastics. Lignin may contribute to strength and biodegradability when exposed to light.