The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is a division of the National Research Council, which serves as an independent adviser to the President, the Congress and federal agencies on scientific and technical questions of national importance. Dr. Thomas Wakeman of Stevens Institute of Technology was recently appointed Chair of the TRB’s Marine Group. In this role, Dr. Wakeman will coordinate all marine transportation-related research within the TRB organization with allied research in the National Academies. He was also recently appointed to a 7 member review panel for the US Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s Panama Canal Expansion Study and to a technical expert group for Federal Highway Administration’s Gateway and Corridors Concept Forum.

“Dr. Wakeman’s experience and expertise have been vital assets to the ongoing research in maritime systems at Stevens,” says Dr. Michael Bruno, Dean of the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science. “His appointment as Chair of the TRB Marine Group is a testament to the impact of his research and the esteem of his colleagues.”

Several current research projects of the Transportation Research Board focus on freight’s multimodal movement within the United States and thus align with the national drive to increase exports. The White House has proposed the National Export Initiative as an ambitious plan to double US exports by 2014, improving America’s economic future and generating up to two million jobs at home.

Dr. Wakeman believes that a smart maritime transportation strategy is crucial to getting American goods to overseas markets at a competitive price. However he and other maritime leaders at TRB have learned that a broader perspective connecting sea transportation with other modes of transport is necessary to catapult America’s ability to export cost-effectively while maintaining our import supply chains.

The importance of connecting ships with trains and trucks is something Dr. Wakeman learned on the job in Iraq.

Dr. Wakeman’s career started in the US Army Corps of Engineers, where his specialty was navigation infrastructure—dredging channels and ports to allow safe passage for more or bigger ships. He brought this perspective to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, spending nearly fifteen years improving the region’s busy port facilities.

This culminated in his being asked to go to Iraq in 2004 and reopen that country’s ports to accept $14 billion of cargo needed to supply troops and rebuild factories and power plants. In Iraq, improved ports are worthless unless there is also infrastructure on land to allow movement of cargo to where it ultimately needs to go.

“It wasn’t damage from the war that had to be repaired,” Dr. Wakeman says. “It was that there had to be a reliable intermodal connections established between the different modes for moving freight from the southern ports to the northern cities.”

Since his experience in Iraq, Dr. Wakeman has been focused on making transportation infrastructure improvements using designs that take into consideration interaction between different modal networks. He finds that it is a lesson that applies just as much to the United States as it does to Iraq.

It is also a lesson that he brings to the classroom at Stevens, where Dr. Wakeman is Deputy Director of the Center for Maritime Systems and a Research Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering. He uses his experience aligning complex systems to unite the University’s many disciplines conducting research related to transportation, systems, and security in the maritime domain.

“It is critical that we bring together people from different maritime disciplines to create essential synergistic solutions to problems in finance, security, the environment, transportation infrastructure, and technology,” he says. “Students working in these fields have a wonderful opportunity to play a key role in the development of the United States and world economy in the future.”

Learn more about maritime research at Stevens by visiting the Center for Maritime Systems or reading the Maritime Systems issue of Nexus, the School of Science and Engineering Research Magazine. Start your own maritime journey at Stevens by visiting the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering, or visit Undergraduate Admissions or Graduate Admissions to apply.

Naturally high levels of dissolved metals in groundwater pollute millions of private wells in Bangladesh, affecting tens of millions in what has been recognized as history's most widespread environmental contamination. Dr. Xiaoguang Meng, Professor of Environmental Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, recently returned from a month-long mission to Bangladesh where he and his associates field tested experimental filtration methods that will help UNICEF design small community water treatment systems for removal of manganese and iron in well water.

Dr. Meng specializes in water treatment technologies that blend cutting-edge research with affordable, easy-to-use techniques. Since the 1990s, he and other researchers with Stevens Center for Environmental Systems have been working in the Southeast Asian country to battle troublesome contaminants, especially highly toxic arsenic, in groundwater.

In his latest research trip, Dr. Meng focused on filtration methods targeting manganese and iron. While these are necessary nutrients in moderation, at high levels they give water an unpleasant flavor and color, leave sediment in cups and basins, and are associated with various health risks. Excessive manganese has been shown to cause neurological damage, especially in developing children. High levels of iron can support the growth of bacteria that foul drinking water and cause deadly diarrheal disease, which also disproportionately affects young children. Where arsenic is present, the toxic chemical will bond with ferric compounds, making iron removal a key ingredient in fighting arsenic contamination.

In addition to his metals filtration research, Dr. Meng is also conducting an ongoing study of a household chlorination/dechlorination water container that he developed to improve adoption of water disinfection treatments. Chlorination is an important method in developing countries like Bangladesh, as it helps prevent bacterial and viral pathogen transmission through contaminated drinking water and food, the main causes of diarrheal disease.

According to the World Health Organization, diarrheal disease is responsible for the deaths of 1.8 million people worldwide every year and is the second leading cause of death in children under five. In Bangladesh, which has the second highest under-five mortality rate in Southeast Asia, diarrhea is one of the leading causes of death in children under five, accounting for 11% of all child deaths.

Although chlorination is widely available as a water treatment, adopting this method can meet unfortunate resistance due to the undesirable taste and smell of residual chlorine. To combat the current perception of chlorinated water, Dr. Meng has introduced an activated carbon filter that effectively removes chlorine taste and smell from disinfected water. By displaying these units in targeted areas of Bangladesh, Dr. Meng is improving public acceptance of disinfected drinking water.

Dr. Meng began traveling to Bangladesh to demonstrate how his developments from the lab interact with the unique water chemistries found in some of the world's most polluted areas. During his first expedition, in 1999, he proved a coprecipitation-filtration technique for treatment of arsenic. The filtration system requires only a plastic bucket, sand, and disposable packet of chemicals. The entire unit costs a family $5 or less per year to use.

For students at Stevens, Dr. Meng's work has meant incredible mentoring opportunities through participation in research with global impact. He has seen nearly 30 of his projects funded, most of them in the pursuit of purifying water, and has co-authored four patents. After raising more than $1 million in venture funding, HydroGlobe, a company co-founded by Dr. Meng to manufacture a patented water purification system, was profitably acquired by Graver Technologies.

"Scientists and engineers play a critical role in addressing environmental issues that have impact on people's lives and especially in creating technological solutions that can be cost effective to the stakeholders if they are to be adopted," explains Dr. Keith Sheppard, Associate Dean of the Schaefer School of Engineering and Science. "Stevens actively promotes high-tech stewardship through supporting sustainability research and educational opportunities for our students."

If you want to affect real change throughout the world, visit the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering or Green@Stevens to learn about research and educational programs at Stevens, or visit Undergraduate Admissions or Graduate Admissions to apply.

For Spicer Bak at Stevens Institute of Technology, being a beach bum and a PhD candidate go hand-in-hand. That is because this Ocean Engineering graduate student studies beach erosion to better understand how we can protect America's coastlines. He's also using support from a unique National Science Foundation graduate student scholarship program to share his excitement for both science and the sea with New Jersey high school students.

Coastal protection is a major topic for government agencies, ocean scientists, and beach bums around the world. It's also a big issue among surfers, one of the most vocal and engaged groups among beach users. As an avid surfer himself, Spicer makes it a personal mission to discover new ways to preserve beaches without reducing the chance of catching a wave.

"There is a great need today for a solution that preserves beachfront without damaging recreational value, and does so in a relatively natural and more permanent way," reports Dr. Thomas Herrington, Spicer's advisor and Assistant Director of the Center for Maritime Systems.

The solution proposed by Spicer and Dr. Herrington is the installation of artificial reefs designed to advantageously influence waves to protect seaside property yet maintain surfing potential. To develop these reefs, Spicer works on computer models and scale physical demonstrations of artificial reef schemes that will one day became permanent fixtures along popular New Jersey beaches. He is also one of several doctoral students who survey New Jersey beaches to better understand current erosion processes and how they are affected by storms, tides, and human activity.

Artificial reefs are meant to assist the common response to beach erosion today, called beach replenishment or beach nourishment, which is simply the adding of sand to widen or restore a beach. This relatively straightforward approach has its advantages: it starts working immediately and causes no problems to marine life as long the sand is mostly mud-free.

Despite these benefits, "beach replenishment can ruin waves and regularly takes beaches out of commission because new sand has to be added again and again," Spicer states.

A fundamental problem in nourishing beaches is that imported sands often have a different grain size than native sand. Adding sand with smaller grains causes sand to be easily swept off the beach, creating a mellow slope that requires the appliation of more sand to appropriately widen the beach. Larger grains cause steep slopes, which make waves break too close to shore creating dangerous shore break.

"There are only so many waves out there," Spicer says, so when beach replenishment cuts waves in one part of the beach, surfers must jostle for smaller and smaller surfing spots. This isn't only a concern for surfers, but also for businesses at destinations where visiting surfers and other beachgoers are a major economic factor.

Regardless of these disadvantages, beach replenishment is the only proven method for widening beaches. Artificial reefs that change beach conditions are a relatively new concept, but have become a hot topic in the surfer community after previous projects in Australia and southern California. Spicer is building on the data from those successes to create his own reef designs.

Spicer also takes his passion for the ocean to area high schools as part of the National Science Foundation GK-12 Fellow program. As a Fellow, Spicer receives NSF support for his PhD studies and research in return for teaching tenth graders basic engineering and science principles through lessons about the sea.

"I would always start broadly by relating scientific principles to something in the ocean," Spicer recalls. Waves alone can fuel many discussions. Gravity, the electro-magnetic spectrum, light, refraction/diffraction—all are principles that can be visualized and explained through the behavior of waves at the beach.

To make chemistry more appealing, Spicer brought in scuba gear to demonstrate the importance of chemistry in scuba diving. As the kids got to kick around in his flippers and wear oxygen tanks, he went to the board to explain how divers must monitor the nitrogen concentration in their tanks to avoid the bends. He also used diving as an entry point to discuss pressure changes underwater and how deep light travels in the ocean.

Spicer also brought in a small wave tank and let the students set up their own experiments. With sand, rocks, and a little water, they could see how small changes in the orientation of an artificial reef or jetty can make big differences in how a beach erodes or builds up.

The GK-12 Fellow program is designed to enhance STEM education among American youth, but it can also be fun for the Fellows. "It was really rewarding. The kids were fun and I could see how excited they were. It was like taking them on in-class field trips."

Spicer says he is "stoked" that he gets to combine engineering and a love for ocean in a career. "It's almost like a romantic fantasy that I get to do research related to surfing."

Learn more by visiting the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering.

Dr. Sutin develops acoustical underwater monitoring for port and harbor security.

Dr. Alexander Sutin, Research Professor with the Center for Maritime Systems at Stevens Institute of Technology, has been elected a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). This recognition comes after a lifetime of research on underwater acoustics and powerful security applications that result from these acoustical techniques.

"The research that Professor Sutin undertakes is in great demand as the US government promotes rigorous security for the nation's commercial waterways," reports Dr. Michael Bruno, Dean of the Schaefer School and Engineering and Science. "Fellow status is a great honor and recognizes his important contributions to basic and applied research in the broad area of underwater acoustics."

As a research professor at the Center for Maritime Systems, Dr. Sutin advances understanding of acoustics in maritime applications and for non-destructive testing of structures. His application of acoustical measurements underwater led to the development of a system that can "fingerprint" ships through a port to track their movements without the use of overhead cameras.

Dr. Sutin has worked in many areas of acoustics. He conducted intensive research in time-reversal acoustics, which promises a wide array of applications, including in medicine for ultra-precise medical imaging, diagnostic techniques using ultrasound, incision-free surgical techniques, and land mine detection. He holds several patents in acoustic methods and devices used for non-destructive testing and the detecting of land mines and other buried objects.

In the field of maritime security, Dr. Sutin has applied time-reversal acoustics to develop a technique for passively detecting and deterring malicious divers. By isolating the sound of human breath and radiating an amplified signal of this noise back at potential intruders, this approach spares marine life from explosive charges or underwater sirens, and is also non-lethal to divers.

Dr. Sutin will receive the commendation in San Diego on November 2, at a meeting of the ASA.

Makes wind a more viable solution for America's energy needs.

Offshore wind energy promises stronger breezes, cheaper real estate, and proximity to population centers. But difficulties in studying wind speeds over the open ocean leave energy producers unable to fully capitalize on the power of offshore wind. To address this problem, the Department of Energy funded a research collaboration, led by Dr. Thomas Herrington of Stevens Institute of Technology, to evaluate a new method for measuring offshore wind speeds that promises to make assessing wind farm locations faster and cheaper using inland-based LIDAR research stations.

"This is a major collaboration that will change how wind energy potential is studied," says Dr. Michael Bruno, Dean of the School of Engineering and Science at Stevens. "It represents a major breakthrough in exploiting sustainable energy resources just as our energy needs are skyrocketing."

Before renewable utilities can turn breezes into electricity, engineers must scrutinize the three dimensional wind field at a proposed site using LIDAR. Standing for light detection and ranging, LIDAR is an optical remote sensing platform that can make precision measurements of atmospheric conditions by analyzing backscattered laser light shot from a LIDAR station.

To overcome limitations in the current standard of vertically profiling LIDAR, Dr. Herrington and his partners are pioneering the use of scanning LIDAR that measures both vertically and horizontally. Researchers can now place a LIDAR station on a building along the coast and measure the wind field in three dimensions out to twenty nautical miles offshore. This presents a radical advantage over past LIDAR schemes that suffered problems of performance and cost, requiring either the use of buoys, which complicate measurements due to their motions, or the construction of expensive offshore platforms.

The importance of studying the wind is all in the numbers, as wind energy potential is directly proportional to the cube of the wind speed. This energy equation amplifies the impact of even the smallest differences in average wind speeds. And with sticker prices in the billions of dollars, offshore wind farms demand the best breeze for their buck.

"The combined resources of the project collaborators will allow us to compare extensive data from existing inland and offshore sensors with novel measurements from the scanning LIDAR," reports Dr. Herrington, an Associate Professor of Ocean Engineering and Assistant Director of the Center for Maritime Systems. "This will allow us to validate the system's accuracy as well as investigate fundamental research questions about how ocean conditions affect offshore winds. This is very exciting research that has never been conducted at this scale or resolution before."

The DoE grant partners represent prominent members of the renewable energy industry, ocean observation leaders in academia, and government agencies working together to meet America's energy needs. This collaborative approach leverages existing at sea resources and advanced measurement systems of industry partner Fishermen's Energy; data validation and certification expertise of the world's largest renewable energy consultancy, GL Garrad Hassan; wind resource assessment capability of the nation's primary renewable energy laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory; the operational research management expertise of two of the largest coastal ocean observation and prediction centers, at Stevens and Rutgers University; and Mid-Atlantic renewable energy incentive and regulatory agencies, NJBPU, NJDEP, and NJDOT.

The end goal of their collaboration is to address the technical and commercial challenges of the offshore wind industry by certifying and assessing cost-effective wind resource characterization technologies. Although their initial focus is on Mid-Atlantic and especially New Jersey coastal wind resources, the proof-of-concept can be applied to capitalize on wind resources anywhere on Earth.

With worldwide energy consumption predicted to rise by as much as fifty percent in the next twenty years, this new technology to optimize offshore wind energy comes as a breath of fresh air.