Profiles

	Fresh Water for Shilongo Thanks to some enterprising undergraduates involved in Engineers Without Borders (EWB), the village of Shilongo has a water storage tank that holds up to a full day’s supply of clean drinking water for all 800 villagers. Instead of pumping the water by hand, a pump powered by a stationary bicycle gets the work done faster—with a dash of fun for the kids who usually do the pedaling.
	The Freshman Uniform Physical training at dawn and a full roster of engineering classes define life at Tufts for ROTC undergraduate Vadim Reytblat, E15.
	Long Ball A tight end and long snapper for the Tufts football team, Pat Cassidy, E12, has another life as well: Naval ROTC candidate enrolled in its nuclear propulsion program.
	Let There Be Light In Assistant Professor Matthew Panzer's Green Energy and Nanostructured Electronics Lab, Summer Scholar Sanya Ramjattan, E12, is working on creating an organic light emitting device, or OLED, that could light up the world with new, energy-saving possibilities.
	An Engineering GEM Through participation in the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science, or GEM Consortium, Tufts grants fellowships to highly qualified students from underrepresented groups to pursue their graduate degrees. Ninrat Datiri joins Tufts University School of Engineering as the first GEM Fellow.
	Steppin' Out: Laura Dinn, chemical engineer and Irish step dancer "What drew me to Tufts was the combination of the liberal arts and engineering experience," says Dinn. "At Tufts you can join anything you want if you have the time. When I started with the Irish Dance Club, I thought I'd do a few shows here and there. It turns out we have shows all the time."
	Spanning the Distance: Engineers bridge theory and practice Structural engineers in Tufts ASCE chapter spent their senior years designing and constructing bridges—and putting their classroom knowledge to the test in the real world by participating in the annual steel bridge competition sponsored by the ASCE and the American Institute of Steel Construction. The competition challenges student teams to design bridges and build them on-site at the competition in less than 45 minutes.
	On Fire: Robotics Club Participates in Firefighting Competition With financial support from the School of Engineering Dean’s Grant Program, the Tufts Robotics Club recently competed in the Trinity Firefighting Competition held at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. on April 9-11, 2011. With their two robots, Precipitating Pachyderm v2.0 and Jumbo Shrimp v1.0, the team won first place in the written exam, and eighth in their division.
	Citizen Engineer Allison St. Vincent Models the Effects of Air Pollution Graduate student Allison St. Vincent has been researching ultrafine particles in air pollution as part of the Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health (CAFEH) initiative, led by Professor Doug Brugge at the Tufts School of Medicine and John Durant, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Currently a second year Ph.D. candidate, her work has already earned her numerous accolades, including an EPA STAR Graduate Fellowship and a PEO Scholar Award.
	Deadly Resurgence Maimuna Majumder, E12, spent the summer in Bangladesh, beginning a study of 10 years worth of cholera patient data collected by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB), which has two major clinics in the country. The goal of the research, which was supported by the Institute of Global Leadership at Tufts and the Tufts Summer Scholars program, was to see which variables seemed to play a role in protecting people from the disease.
	Innovation on the Go As companies seek to gain a foothold on your smartphone's home screen, the development of mobile applications-or "apps"-has emerged as a hot new industry. Learn how three Tufts engineers are making their marks with successful smartphones apps.
	Get Your Motor Running Friday afternoons are notoriously quiet on college campuses, but not inside a work space at Bray Laboratory. In a back room, a group of students were working on a Formula-1 style race car as they did every Friday afternoon, preparing for the fourth annual Formula Hybrid Competition.
	If you build it... Will Langford, E'12, (left) uses his passion for engineering to energize the do-it-yourself community. Langford founded the Tufts Robotics Club.
	Homegrown Talent Heads Up CEEO Starting this spring, three engineering graduates will assume leadership positions within the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO). Engineers Merredith Portsmore, Ethan Danahy, and Morgan Hynes will enhance the School of Engineering's research and educational programs at the CEEO.
	Mapping the Technological Edges Graduate student, Shahan Nercessian's research gives computers the 'vision' to make advances in medical and security imaging. The algorithms that Nercessian writes help computers determine the edges of an object, like the outline of a tumor in an MRI scan or a suspicious package in the airport security scanner.
	Monitoring Change Kofi Aninakwa (E'11) uses the Summer Scholar program to combine medicine and engineering through the creation of a wearable health monitor. Working with Sameer Sonkusale, electrical and computer engineering assistant professor, Aninakwa has spent this past summer building electrical circuits for this health sensor.
	Graduate Student Diversity Day Successful This summer, more than 140 undergraduate students from underrepresented groups visited Tufts campus to learn more about advanced degrees from Tufts' professional schools, as well as programs in Arts, Sciences and Engineering. This conference provided a window into higher education possibilities for students who, traditionally, make up a small percentage of the graduate student population in the United States.
	Solar House Teaches Tufts Students Sustainability Engineers Dante DeMeo (E'08), Matt Thoms (E'10), and Mike Sidebottom (E'10) are three of the students working on the design and construction of an affordable and energy-efficient solar house as part of the 2009 Solar Decathlon competition. Tufts University, in conjunction with Boston Architectural College, has begun building the 800-sq ft. home for display on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall.