Record Number of Oregon State Engineering Faculty Receive 2009 NSF CAREER Awards

Story Posted: Wed, Sep 23, 2009

By David Stauth, 541-737-0787
Contact: Tracy Ann Robinson, 541-737-4646

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Five faculty in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University have been recognized this year with prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Awards, each of which provides funding of at least $400,000 for a new research project with an educational/outreach component. Prior to 2009, no more than three OSU engineering faculty have won CAREER Awards in the same year.

2009 award recipients include Thinh Nguyen, Ted Brekken, and Bechir Hamdaoui, assistant professors in the OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Desiree Tullos, assistant professor in the Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering; and Michael Scott, assistant professor in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering.

“I am very proud of the high quality faculty we have here at OSU Engineering,” said Ron Adams, dean of the College. “Seeing five of our newer faculty receive CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation this year just reinforces my belief in our potential, both individually and collectively, to create a better future. These awards set their recipients on a course to achieve high impact both in educating our students and in advancing knowledge to meet some of the world’s greatest challenges.”

Nguyen will develop network coding theories and practices to make the Internet and wireless networks much faster and more reliable. The goal is to enable the transmission of fast, dependable, and high resolution videos, over wireless networks and the Internet, simultaneously for millions of people – the same way people watch cable or satellite television.

Brekken is studying improved ways to deliver electricity from renewable but highly variable resources, such as wind, wave, or solar energy, to the power grid. This could ultimately help reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based power.

Hamdaoui is developing techniques and design algorithms for next-generation wireless cognitive networks. More flexible, liberal spectrum allocation methods are needed, in which bandwidth will be accessed and shared dynamically by networks and end-user devices, with little involvement of any central regulatory bodies.

Tullos is examining the potential impacts of climate change on river ecosystems and identifying opportunities to mitigate those impacts, with specific emphasis on dam reoperation as the mitigation tool.  Her work focuses on the effects of the three climate scenarios on flooding, water supply, temperature, and habitat and food resources for salmon in the Willamette Valley.

To better understand how coastal structures respond to loads generated by tsunami run-up and hurricane storm surge, Scott is developing new analytic sensitivity methods for numerical simulations of fluid–structure interactions. Study results could lead to improved design codes.

Administered by the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program and designed to foster the development of the next generation of teacher-scholars and academic leaders, CAREER grants are the most prestigious NSF award for junior faculty members. Proposals are selected based on their innovative, leading edge research and their education and outreach components. Since 1997, twenty-one College of Engineering faculty have won CAREER awards.