Stevens Institute of Technology is happy to announce the launching of their new Inventiveness, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE) Blog! As a part of the Research Enterprise website, ICE blog will highlight innovative research and educational opportunities within the University.

The goal of ICE blog is to provide an in-depth look at some of the unique research being done by our faculty, complete with media, professor and student insights. Many of the research projects that our faculty study are on the leading edge of technology innovation; our students are surrounded by incredible learning opportunities and gain critical experience for a successful career.

The first submission in the ICE blog will focus on Tissue Engineering. Led by Professors Xiaojun Yu and Hongjun Wang, the application of nanotechnology to improve upon biomedical implants (scaffolds) that function as a bridge upon which new cells can grow in the case of trauma, skin grafting, bone and nerve regeneration, will dramatically reduce patient recovery times. With global reach that includes the potential to reduce health care costs while improving care, Tissue Engineering is a hot topic, and Stevens researchers are on the forefront of development.

We will be featuring a new research topic periodically, so be sure to visit us, and check back soon for the next installment of ICE blog!

For more information please contact:

Doug Fabrizio
Web Content Manager
Edwin A. Stevens Hall
Room 413
Phone: 201.216.8910
Fax: 201.216.8909

dfabrizi@stevens.edu

On Saturday August 8th, 2009, a small plane collided with a sightseeing helicopter carrying Italian tourists above the Hudson River, scattering debris into the water. The plane was carrying a pilot and two passengers, while the helicopter was part of ‘Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours’ and carried the pilot, and 5 passengers.

Immediately following notification of the collision, authorities from various agencies began the search for survivors, wreckage and clues as to what had occurred minutes before. Within an hour of the accident the Stevens Institute Chief of Police, Tim Griffin, contacted the Center for Maritime Systems (CMS) at Stevens Institute of Technology for assistance. Dr. Michael Bruno, Dean of the School of Engineering and Science, was called to the scene for analysis of currents and the proposed search area. “Our models indicated that the currents were incoming for the first hour after impact and then strongly outgoing. This helped the NYPD, NJ State Police, FBI Dive teams and the USCG aerial search teams to plan the search.”

This information proved invaluable to the search and recovery over this initial two day period. In fact, the US Army Corp lifted the helicopter from the Hudson at the precise window of opportunity (zero currents) that they predicted; enabling the wreckage to be removed without breaking apart and losing is contents during the lift.

The joint efforts of Stevens Institute of Technology, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and various other organizations were made possible through the volunteering of resources, technical expertise and genuine desire to assist in alleviating the situation.

Deborah A. P. Hersman, the Chairman of the NTSB had this to say regarding the assistance provided by Stevens during this tragedy:

“I am writing on behalf of the NTSB investigative team to express our gratitude for the assistance offered to us by the Stevens Institute of Technology during the on-scene portion of the investigation of the mid-air collision over the Hudson River that occurred on August 8. The contribution and professionalism of the men and women of the Stevens Institute that assisted our team during the initial hours and days after the accident was crucial to our ability to conduct a thorough and timely accident investigation.

I would particularly like to commend Mr. Timothy Griffin, Dr. Michael Bruno, Mr. Nickitas Georgas, Dr. Thomas Herrington, Mr. Jeremy Turner, Dr. Peter Rogowski, Mr. Michael Raftery, and Dr. Alan Blumberg. These men assisted us for the on-scene portion of our investigation, and have volunteered to help should we need any future assistance. Our work would have been much more difficult if it were not for the assistance offered by the Stevens Institute.”

Three days after the collision, the search continued for the plane wings, the helicopter rotor assembly and other critically-important pieces of the wreckage. Mr. Nickitas Georgas, Senior Research Engineer in the Center for Maritime systems was enlisted to provide simulations highlighting the extent of the possible search area. This search revolved around a prediction forecasting system known as the New York Harbor Observing and Prediction System (NYHOPS), which is a Stevens project led by Dr. Alan Blumberg and Dr. Bruno that has remained uninterrupted thanks to the ongoing support of the Stevens field crew and IT team, collaboration with industry and federal agencies, as well as long term funding from the NJ DOT and several other sources. Upon notification, Mr. Georgas ran special “drogue simulations based on the new 10-minute NYHOPS current fields and NOAA HAZMAT software.” Two scenarios were tested: A surface drift report showed a wide search and recovery area extending from Monmouth County, NJ to Orange County, NY, while a sink-and-drift report highlighted a much smaller area a few miles radius around the impact location. Three weeks after the incident, daily NYHOPS environmental forecasts have continued being requested by active NTSB recovery coordinators.

The National Transportation Safety board, who was in charge of the salvage effort, enlisted the Center for Maritime Systems’ boat, the ‘R/V Savitsky’, captained by Howard Goheen, as a staging platform for dive operations to locate, indentify and recover wreckage. Contributions also came in the underwater search for wreckage. Jeremy Turner, head of the marine operations group was called upon by the NTSB for assistance. Jeremy and his field group consisting of dive safety officer Michael Raftery, and backup safety diver Dr. Pete Rogowski, successfully recovered a windshield frame, a portion of the fuselage and inspected various location targets as advised by the NJ State Police. They continue the search for wreckage to this day.

Although the Hudson Mid-Air collision was a tragedy; the incredible teamwork, analysis, and efforts of the multi-agency recovery effort hope to provide answers as to what occurred, relief to families and those involved, and ultimately provide information on how accidents like this can be avoided in the future. The Stevens faculty is proud to have offered their services and continue to volunteer their efforts in the ongoing investigation.

The Center for Maritime Systems works to preserve and secure our nation’s maritime resources and assets through collaborative knowledge development, innovation and invention, and education and training. This Center has become the world’s leader in delivering new knowledge, advanced technology, and education in support of the maritime community. It uniquely integrates the fields of naval architecture, coastal and ocean engineering, physical oceanography, marine hydrodynamics and maritime security to create a trans-disciplinary enterprise that can address both the highly-specialized issues confronting each discipline, as well as the more complex, integrated issues facing natural and man-made maritime systems.

For more information please contact:

Dr. Michael Bruno
Feiler Chair Professor & Dean, School of Engineering & Science
Edwin A. Stevens
Room E-216
Phone: 201.216.5338
Fax: 201.216.8214

mbruno@stevens.edu

PhD student Alicia Mahon has received the Educational award from the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) for her research project involving Stevens Institute of Technology, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on the development and monitoring of a feeder beach in Long Branch, NJ.

Alicia’s research is focused on a beach renourishment project in Long Branch, NJ which was completed in February 2009, and which is “a part of the largest beach replenishment project in the world." Dr. Thomas Herrington, Associate Professor of Ocean Engineering in the Institute's Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering and Assistant Director of the Center for Maritime Systems.

The feeder beach project attempts to meet several objectives, not the least of which is to inspire tourism and activity along the shoreline which is a $15 to $20 billion a year revenue source for the State of NJ. Many local surfers have stated that previous renourishment projects have had an adverse affect on surfing conditions. The straight-line shape and steeper drop-off of these projects prevented waves from breaking in a manner conducive to surfing. These complaints led the State Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop an experimental sand placement design for the replenishment project.  The result was a feeder beach design, which protrudes over 700 feet offshore.  The hope was that the proposed shape of the beach would allow waves to begin breaking at the outermost point of the feeder beach, then roll along the sides until they reached the main beach.  The result would be improved surfing conditions and the prevention of rapid erosion of the main beach from a direct assault of waves.

To track whether the project is meeting these objectives, researchers at the Center for Maritime Systems, including Alicia, developed the Stevens Dynamic Underwater Coastal Kinematic Surveying (DUCKS) system, which enables them to record changes to the coast as the project evolves.  For a detailed description of beach replenishment, click here.

Alicia Mahon has been an integral part of the Stevens research team since the project’s inception, and continues to monitor monthly changes in the beach conditions. Working alongside Dr. Thomas Herrington, Dr. Jon Miller, several other Stevens graduate and undergraduate research students – Alicia contributes much of the projects success to her professors “encouraging push towards student initiatives and research opportunities.” Alicia is currently studying the effects of Hurricane Bill as it relates to the feeder beach coastline.  

Alicia submitted an abstract of the research project for the ASBPA 2009 National Coastal Conference, and was and was chosen for the Educational Award winner of 2009. She will present her findings at the 2009 National Coastal Conference being held in St. Pete Beach, Florida in October. Among several distinctions, her research will be submitted to Shore & Beach, ASBPA’s technical journal, for consideration in a future issue. 

For more information please contact:

Dr. Thomas Herrington
Associate Professor
Davidson Labs
Room D-204
Phone: 201.216.5320
Fax: 201.216.8214

Thomas.Herrington@stevens.edu

Alicia Mahon, a student in the masters program in ocean engineering, has received the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association 2009 Education Award. This is the third student paper award received by the ocean engineering group in the last four years.

For more information please contact:

Dr. David Vaccari
Associate Professor and Department Director
Rocco
Room 301
Phone: 201.216.5570
Fax: 201.216.8739

dvaccari@stevens.edu

Dr. Alan F. Blumberg and Dr. Thomas O. Herrington at Stevens Institute of Technology have developed an integrated system of oceanographic, meteorological, and vessel surveillance sensors and hydrodynamic forecasting models to allow for the real-time assessment of ocean, weather, environmental, and marine transportation conditions throughout the waters of New York and New Jersey, and the forecast of conditions in the near and long-term.

This integrated system, called The New York Harbor Observation and Prediction System (NYHOPS), will be significantly enhanced to create an operational NAvigation and Vessel SAFEty Support System (NAVSAFE) for the New York – New Jersey Harbor – defined as the region encompassing the estuarine part of the Hudson River and extending to the Sandy Hook - Rockaway Transect, and including the entire lower Harbor (Raritan Bay), Newark Bay, the Kill van Kull and Arthur Kill, and for the first time, the NJ Coastal/Back Bay Regions and NJ parts of Delaware Bay. 

The large multi-year research project funded by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) will increase marine transportation safety by improving our ability for risk identification and mitigation. And will be achieved by providing a real-time knowledge of currents and water properties with the proper data/model visualization graphics necessary for safe navigation and vessel operation within the NY/NJ Harbor region.

Specifically, the project will:

1. Assess liability issues associated with publically available data-/model-based navigation-support systems;
2. Create seminars and associated materials geared toward the training of vessel captains on the use of NAVSAFE;
3. Develop web-based outreach-and-education products to disseminate NY-NJ Harbor safe navigation and safety information to recreational boaters;
4. Assess risk and liability associated with missing or bad data/model forecasts to develop “graphics so useful that mariners use it regularly”;
5. Develop a path planning algorithm that provides ocean and weather conditions along a transportation route chosen by the pilots;
6. Provide in one web site real-time (nowcast) information regarding current, wave, temperature, salinity, and weather conditions in the NAVSAFE region;
7. Provide continuously-updated forecasts regarding future (out to 48-hours) conditions - current, wave, temperature, salinity, and weather;
8. Provide one new current measurement platforms mounted on Coast Guard Buoys that provide real-time observations of current vectors over depth;
9. Provide new water property information at 2 shore-based locations and from 6 mobile sensors for the purpose of supporting vessel navigation, speed and transportation route assessment;
10. Improve data assimilation and accuracy of the forecasts.

For more information please contact:

Dr. Alan Blumberg
George Meade Bond Professor & Director of Center for Maritime Systems
Davidson Laboratory
Room Room 200
Phone: 201.216.5289
Fax: 201.216.8214

ablumber@stevens.edu