Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for October
-
Student Assessment and Engineering Education
Wed, Oct 03, 2007 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:
Gisele Ragusa, Ph.D.
Associate Professor,
University of Southern California,
Rossier School of EducationAbstract:Research in engineering education has received increased attention from the National Science Foundation and other governmental agencies in the past three years. Academic rigor, powerful pedagogy and attention to outcome-based student assessment have been on the forefront of agencies and scientific research funding sources connected to engineering education. Both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) agree that student assessment must be tied to outcome-based curriculum that includes career-based application. Accordingly, the NSF has established numerous engineering education competitions for universities including Engineering Education Programs (EEP), Nanotechnology Undergraduate in Engineering programs (NUE), Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), Research Experience For Teachers, (RET) Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement programs (CCLI), and Engineering Education Centers (EEC). These funding initiatives provided opportunities for schools of engineering and schools of education to collaborate on building powerful educational programs with quantifiable outcomes in engineering education. This presentation provides a overview of relevant ways of planning and quantitatively assessing student learning in engineering education. Efforts will be made to connect educational psychology principles with engineering education in the presentation and to tie these principles to ABET accreditation. Assessment tools and planning mechanisms will be discussed. Opportunities for open dialogue about engineering education and associated NSF fundable research will be provided.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - reilian Hall 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
-
Implications of Incidental and Manufactured Nanoscale Materials during Wastewater Treatment
Fri, Oct 05, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:
Ganesh Rajagopalan, Ph.D.,
Project Manager,
Kennedy/Jenks Consultants,
Irvine, CAAbstractThe efficiency of various wastewater treatment processes is significantly influenced by particle size distribution. Most studies performed in the past decades focused on the role of micron-scale particles size distribution in treatment process optimization. A huge-knowledge gap exists in the role of nanoscale suspended particles in wastewater treatment. Due to rapid growth of nanotechnology, commercial and industrial products containing nanoscale materials are exponentially increasing in the market place. The projected market for nanomaterials containing products by year 2015 is expected to exceed $1 trillion. It is reasonable to assume that, due to the growth of nanotechnology, more and more nanoscale materials may be released into the wastewater streams in the future. Hence, it is essential to understand the role of nanoscale particles to optimize wastewater treatment processes. This presentation will summarize available data on the impacts of biogenic and manufactured nanoscale particles on various unit processes, and highlight the research needs to address the data gaps.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
-
An Integrated Approach to Site Characterization of a Fractured ....
Fri, Oct 12, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Granitic Bedrock Aquifer in Southern CaliforniaSpeaker:
Mr. Theodore R Johnson III,
Hazardous Substances Engineering Geologist,
CalEPA, Cypress, CA.Abstract:Fractured granitic aquifers are one of the most challenging geologic environments to characterize and remediate. At great expense and countless hours of site investigation, fractured granitic sites remain geologically complex with a great deal of uncertainty regarding contaminant fate and transport. As the science and technologies develop we are gaining a better understanding as to the physical, hydrological, and chemical nature of fractured granitic bedrock aquifer systems. Successful characterization of fractured bedrock sites rely on effective integration of a number of effective basic investigative tools: Lineament analysis (macro view); structural mapping of fractures (micro view); surface (resistivity and seismic) and downhole geophysical tools; evaluation of corehole data; groundwater sampling; fracture inter-connectivity tests; and evolution of the Site Conceptual Model. These data are being used to generate site-specific interpretation models relating several independent rock properties (fracture orientation, aperture, density, etc.) to hydrologic properties of the fractured granitic aquifer system (permeability, storage, and water quality). This presentation provides a case history of an ongoing site characterization at a fractured-bedrock aquifer site where investigative techniques are effectively integrated using a combination of techniques to iteratively mold the Site Conceptual Model and ultimately lead to effective and efficient remedial alternative implementation.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - reilian Hall, Room 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
-
Toward the characterization of snowpack from space-borne satellite measurements: ...
Tue, Oct 16, 2007 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
A multi-frequency multi-scale data assimilation approachSpeaker:
Prof. Steve Margulis,
Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
UCLAAbstract:
The cryosphere represents an important component of the Earth system, with 30% of the overall global land surface covered seasonally by snow (which greatly impacts surface albedo and hence surface energy partitioning) and one-sixth of the global population living in areas where streamflow is dominated by snowmelt runoff (which in some cases makes up more than 75% of the annual water supply). Hence the ability to accurately characterize the snowpack state over large regions has significant implications for weather, climate, and water resources planning. Traditionally, snow water equivalent (SWE) estimation by water agencies has been done using data from snow surveys (performed at select locations in space and periodically during the winter months) in conjunction with regressions based on the historical record. These methods can be inaccurate due to sampling problems and the fact that regression-based schemes are suspect in the context of a changing climate. In the last couple of decades researchers have begun exploring the ability to map snowpack states using space-borne remote sensing measurements. These efforts generally include techniques to either map the presence/absence of snow or retrieve the snow water equivalent. These techniques generally do not provide the desired quantity (SWE) at the necessary resolution and accuracy over large scales. Here we discuss recent work aimed at attempting to assess the feasibility of estimating snowpack characteristics in mountainous terrain by merging remote sensing data spanning the electromagnetic spectrum from the visible to the microwave with process models describing the evolution of the distributed snowpack and its associated radiative transfer. Some future implications of the work include improved lead-time water supply forecasts as well as initial conditions in seasonal climate forecasts.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, 355
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
-
Geological Perspectives of Global Climate Change – An Update
Fri, Oct 19, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Dr. Lee C. Gerhard,
Principal Geologist,
Kansas Geological SurveyAbstract:Objective evaluation of recent data suggests that review of the popular anthropogenic climate change control hypothesis is required. One response to new conflicting data has been to argue that the human component is operative only over the last thirty years, thus obviating the need to explain discrepancies between carbon dioxide buildup and temperature variations over the last century and beyond.Review will focus upon the answers to several questions. Is there any unequivocal data that support anthropogenic control of climate change? Is there any significant difference in the behavior of current climate compared to past climate? Is the range of current climate change greater than past climate change? Are sea levels and weather patterns significantly different from the recent past? Can the large-scale climate models be tested against recorded history? Are the data used accurate and are data series length adequate to form conclusions? What natural forces can explain temperature variations?Previously the anthropogenic hypothesis has not been testable. Two very recent statements have argued that future annual temperatures will exceed the 1999 (1934) maximum 50% of the time, and that sea levels will rise about one meter in the next approximately one hundred years owing to climate warming, no matter the cause. In contrast, there have been predictions of imminent cooling by 2020 owing to solar intensity decline (solar cycle 25), and one prediction of a cooling cycle that will last for decades. While neither statement tests the anthropogenic hypothesis, they are global warming statements that can be tested against global cooling or stabilityClimate continues to change as it always has. Much alarm has been raised about the impacts of climate change, without consideration of current climate in its historical context. Do we live in the ideal climate?
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
-
Locating and Quantifying Sources of Air Pollution by Nonparametric Trajectory Analysis
Tue, Oct 23, 2007 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Oral Defense by:Babak Pazokifard
Ph.D. Candidate
Environmental Engineering, USC Abstract:
In order to improve air quality, it is necessary to identify the sources of airborne pollution. Local emissions are more controllable compared to regional emissions which may not even be in the same city or state as the impacted area. By knowing and reducing local emissions, even without completely eliminating them, air quality may be greatly improved.
There are generally two types of air quality models used to evaluate the impact of emissions on air quality on a local, regional, and global scale: traditional source-oriented models and receptor models. Source-oriented models require detailed information on emission composition and rates and also meteorological data. On the other hand, receptor models use chemical fingerprints to quantify sources affecting the monitoring site. This type of model does not consider the meteorological conditions such as wind speed and direction, which reduces the accuracy of locating the sources of air pollution. Receptor models cannot be used for some simple pollutants such as SO2 due to the lack of chemical fingerprints. Therefore, these models have some shortcomings in quantifying the emission sources on smaller scales. This is especially true when there are changes in emission rate and composition of sources and also for some hard to identify sources such as windblown dust and construction activities due to lack of chemical analysis.
This study proposes a new hybrid receptor model. Unlike source-oriented models, this model uses short time average observations of pollutant concentrations. And unlike conventional receptor models, this model uses meteorological data such as wind speed and wind direction. The goal is identification and quantification of local sources of emissions.
In order to identify the location of emission sources, back trajectories are calculated by using wind speed and wind direction from one or more monitoring sites. The points on each back trajectory are associated with the pollutant concentration when the trajectory arrives at the monitor. The average value of the pollutant at the monitor, given that air has passed near a geographical point on a grid, is calculated by nonparametric regression of the pollutant concentrations over all the back trajectories passing near the point for the period of interest. Using multiple monitors increases the reliability of back trajectories by combining metrological data. This will help expanding the range of back trajectories and reduced the error if one set of data is not available or unreliable.
The method is illustrated by application to 1-minute SO2 data from Long Beach, CA and 1-minute PM10 data from Rubidoux, CA along with meteorological data from 29 sites. The results identify the location of a refinery around the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles with high emission of SO2. Using the Rubidoux data, emission sources are located at aggregate, ready mix, and asphalt factory and also at excavation and construction sites.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - reilian Hall 444
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
-
Breathing Rocks: The Role of Microbes in Iron Geochemistry
Fri, Oct 26, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Everett Salas,
Advanced Ph.D. Candidate,
Geobiology, USCIron is one of the most geochemically important elements on the Earth's surface, making up almost 5 weight percent of most sedimentary environments. Iron can exist in redox states that allow it to transform easily under conditions found in natural sedmimentary and aquatic environments. Iron (hydr)oxides are improtant sorbents of trace metals usch as Al, Cd, Co, Pb, Zn, As and U. As such, any changes in the state of iron oxides in soils can have a major impact on the mobility of these trace metals, many of which are considered to be pollutants. Microbes are known to play an important role in the redox cycling of iron. Undertanding the extent to which microbial iron reduction dissolves or produces minerals that are able to immobilize these metals can provide further insight into the impact that iron reducers may have in contaiminated subsurface environments.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes