Endangered infrastructure is topic of Stevens symposium
"Give me your tired infrastructure, yearning to breathe free of the perils of deterioration and corrosion!" So reads the paraphrased poetry in the prospectus for the 2001 Corrosion Symposium, which will be held at Stevens Institute of Technology on April 17, 2001, at the Wesley J. Howe Center, one block east of 8th Street and Castle Point Terrace in Hoboken, N.J.
The conference will focus on the theme "Corrosion Control for the Infrastructure."
The joint sponsors of the symposium will be the Metropolitan New York Section of the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) and the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology. Dr. Keith D. Sheppard, Associate Dean, College of Engineering at Stevens, will provide opening remarks and make the initial presentation.
The cost of registration is $75 per person ($25 per student with ID and advance registration). Lunch and break refreshments are included. On-site registration will occur from 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. For further information, contact Ghodsieh Tehrani, at 212-788-1840, e-mail: gktehrani@aol.com; Paul Rothman, phone: 212-435-5790, e-mail: prothman@panynj.gov; or Steve Nikolakakos, phone: 561-294-6333.
Among the presentations:
- Keith D. Sheppard, Infrastructure R&D at Stevens Institute
- Paul S. Rothman, P.E., Principal Corrosion Engineer, The Port Authority of N.Y. & N.J., Corrosion Control for the Infrastructure
- Cliff Johnson, Public Affairs Specialist, NACE International, NACE's Government Relations Programs
- Ken Trimber, President, KTA-Tator, Inc., New Developments in Coating Systems
- Steve Nikolakakos, P.E., N.Y. Area Manager, Russell Corrosion Consultants, Stray Current Corrosion
For directions to the Wesley J. Howe Center at Stevens Institute of Technology, go to stevensnewsservice.com/contact.htm.
Waterway infrastructure is new interdisciplinary focus at Stevens
Dr. Keith Sheppard is also involved in a new initiative from Stevens' Davidson Laboratory, the "Intelligent Marine Infrastructure Project." (See the IMI website at www.biztech.stevens.edu/imi/).
Under the direction of Dr. Michael S. Bruno, Davidson Laboratory is widening its scope and its collaboration with other departments at Stevens to create a dynamic new center for the study of port and waterway infrastructure. This effort will involve experts from the academic, corporate, industrial and governmental fields.
Critical needs and challenges face waterways and ports
The ports and rivers of the United States are the arteries of national commerce. The economy's health and the nation's security are more dependent on the water transport of goods than on any other single form of commercial traffic. Annually, more than two billion tons of cargo (95 percent by weight of all U.S. overseas trade) flow into and out of the country via its waterways. This tonnage is expected to triple by the year 2020.
To sustain such rapid growth, U.S. port and river facilities will be faced with the stresses of structural expansion, involving engineering, environmental, and global-national-regional social/economic issues.
Dr. Bruno illustrates one of the approaching situations:
"Right now," he says, "some of the larger container vessels, as they enter the channels of New York Harbor, have perhaps one foot of navigation tolerance within those channels. As vessels gain in size, there will inevitably be controversies regarding dredging, followed by problems of what to do with the products of dredging. The point is, if intelligent solutions are not found, if nothing is done, economic growth will suffer. Our metropolitan harbors will become obsolete. The time to look for solutions is now."
At Davidson Lab, a multi-disciplinary team of Stevens' experts has already begun to grapple with the major implications of this future reality. Dr. Bruno and several of his colleagues at Stevens have initiated and obtained initial funding for the Intelligent Marine Infrastructure Project, an effort to develop new technologies in support of changing maritime infrastructure.
These technologies will take the form an integrated system of sensors and management tools. The system will allow the monitoring and/or control of, among other items:
- Weather and oceanographic conditions affecting marine infrastructure performance and safety
- Marine infrastructure corrosion and integrity
- Ports, terminals and waterway security
- Logistic and asset management, including cargo, containers, vessels, trucks, and railroad
- Environmental monitoring (water and sediment contaminants, including impacts to sensitive habitats)
- Ports and navigation channels siltation and dredging
Participating faculty will hail from the Departments of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Materials Science. There will also be collaboration from the areas of Technology Management, Physics and Engineering Physics, and Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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