Seminars

Here's a sampling of the seminars that the College and its Departments have hosted over the past few months:

LTE standard for Mobile Communication
Ali Khayrallah, director of Ericsson Research in Research Triangle Park, N.C., provided an overview of Long Term Evolution (LTE) focusing on the key technical features of the uplink and the downlink, in particular their physical layers. He also covered key features of the next generation technology, called LTE-advanced. Standards are crucial to the mobile business, since they enable terminals and infrastructure from various vendors to interact properly across operators and locations.

The Role of Industrial Engineering in Improved Air Safety
Anand Gramopadhye, chair of Clemson University's Department of Industrial Engineering, discussed the role that industrial engineers play in making air travel safer.  This includes product inspection in manufacturing, aircraft inspection in aviation and baggage inspection in security, and other travel areas.

Stanford's Technology Transfer Program 
Katharine Ku, director of the Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) at Stanford University, highlighted the truths and myths of Stanford's technology transfer and licensing program and the great challenge of creating a successful program. In 2008, Stanford received $62.5 million in gross royalty revenue from more than 600 technologies, with royalties ranging from $16 million to $37 million.

Medical Uses for Bioabsorbable Polymers
J. Jack Zhou, engineering fellow of research and development with Ethicon, Inc. a Johnson & Johnson Company, discussed  fibrous forms of bioabsorbable polymers and their applications in medical products, such as bone screws and anchors, tissue scaffolds, sutures, surgical meshes, drug delivery devices and more.

Clemson Professor Discusses Interactive Polymer Substrates
Igor Luzinov, associate professor in Clemson University's School of Materials Science and Engineering discussed advances in modern materials science and requirements for surface properties.  The focus was on a universal approach for the modification of a wide range of substrates with grafted layers that can be applied to the surface modification of various objects leading to generations of hydrophobic, hydrophilic, switchable, optically active and sensing materials.

Optimizing Simulations
Heping Liu, doctoral student in Auburn University's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering discussed integrating Taylor Kriging with evolutionary algorithms developed for simulation models with high computational expenses. Taylor Kriging is an enhanced model used to improve the interpolation accuracy of kriging, a group of geostatistical techniques to introduce the value of a random field at an observed location based on observations of its value at nearby locations.

Green Welding
Sakthivael Kandaswaamy, doctoral student in Auburn University's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, presented a seminar on a solid state "green" welding method developed by The Welding Institute in the United Kingdom. Friction stir welding uses classic metal cutting theory to predict observed thermal fields. A friction stir welding tool passes through the material being welded by using an internal thermal mapping instrument that allows for symmetrical mapping of the thermal fields while optimizing the mechanical properties of the weld.

Using the Cournot Model to Represent Evolving Power Markets
Pavee Siriruk, a doctoral student in Auburn's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, reviewed the use of the Cournot model to represent the evolving electricity market, and presented an enhanced model that better addresses marketplace uncertainties.

Biorefinery Support System for Alabama
Sujith Sukumaran, a master's student in biosystems engineering highlighted how logistics hinder the use of forest biomass as a source of fuels or chemicals, as well as the economic success of bioenergy. To combat this challenge, a decision support system (DSS) has been created to identify biorefinery locations in Alabama.  A DSS could assist decision makers in analyzing biomass supply, estimating profitability and evaluating investments.

Characterization of Structured Surfaces
John McBride, professor and chair of the electro-mechanical engineering research group in the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton, United Kingdom, presented a seminar on the characterization of structured surfaces -- those having a repeated structure or pattern. There are many applications for these surfaces, including reducing drag in fluid flow applications or to increase adhesion to bio-implant surfaces.

The Lean Engineer
Professor emeritus J T. Black discussed the history of industrial engineering and factory design, beginning with a time when skilled craftsmen made tools by hand. He followed the industry's evolution through water-powered factories, job shops, the Ford production system and flow shops, as well as the first emergence of industrial engineers in 1913.  He closed with an overview of the factory design developed by Taiichi Ohno and the Toyota Motor Company, a lean production system that produces goods in small volumes with superior quality and low unit cost.