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The University of Toledo has been part of Pete Roccos life for quite a while.

Now a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering, Pete Rocco began his Rocket journey as a student at Toledo Early College High School and then went on to earn his bachelors degree in bioengineering.

A first-generation college student, Rocco initially planned to pursue a career as a medical doctor. Then he discovered engineering, specifically mechanical engineering.

Pete Rocco spent spring semester at NASA Glenn Research Center as a safety mission and assurance intern.

Toward the last part of my bachelors degree, I realized my true passion was geared more toward mechanical engineering fatigue of materials, shape memory alloys to be specific after doing a co-op under my advisor, Dr. Mohammad Elahinia, Rocco said. I decided to stay on for my masters degree and focus on mechanical engineering.

My passion for fatigue of materials comes from the real-life fatigue failures that have happened aerospace, airplanes, buildings, bridges and other mechanical components that have failed and have caused tragic situations, including the loss of human life, he added. If we can understand the fatigue of materials and the mechanisms that lead to eventual failure, we can then create better materials for the future in real-world applications, in the best effort to prevent or correct serious failures from occurring.

Rocco spent the spring semester at NASA Glenn Research Center as a safety mission and assurance intern.

This NASA experience is thanks to the invaluable training I received at UT in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, he said. The academic and research programs at The University of Toledo are top-notch and truly set up students for a bright future. Without the guidance I received in academia and research at UT, my achievements would not be possible.

Rocco is scheduled to graduate with his Ph.D. in spring 2025.

Scheduled to graduate with his Ph.D. in spring 2025, Rocco said his career plans are flexible.

He may seek out an industrial research-based position, but he is also open to post-doctoral positions or teaching positions.

UToledo, including the College of Engineering, truly prepares students for success in the world, he said. The lessons you learn and the guidance you receive from your mentors are paramount, and UToledo and the College of Engineering are among the best regarding this.

Elahinia, Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, has been Roccos mentor.

I admire Pete for his kind heart, dedication and eagerness to learn and collaborate, he said. He is always ready to take on a new challenge. He is equally ready to cooperate with others and to mentor. He has been a very successful instructor for both the Mechanical Engineering as well as Engineering Technology Department.

As an example of his passion for community engagement and mentoring, Pete recently participated in Manufacturing Day at the Toledo Technology Academy of Engineering, where he advised students on the possibilities and benefits of studying engineering at UToledo.

As a longtime Rocket, Rocco offered this advice for students who are thinking about their own journey in UToledos College of Engineering: Engineering is such a broad field that the options and possibilities are truly endless he said. One must identify what they are passionate about, and then go for it. The best part is that at The University of Toledo College of Engineering, this is truly possible.

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Ph.D. Student Realized His Zeal for Mechanical Engineering as ... - University of Toledo

Traditional wireless communications have relied on long-wave electromagnetic microwave and radio frequencies, but the growing need for faster data transfer rates has presented performance challenges. Shorter wavelengths, such as the ultraviolet and infrared, provide much wider bandwidths than radio waves or microwaves, but they still require a clear line of sight to transmit information and fail to perform when nontransparent obstruction blocks the light path.

A UCLA research team led by Aydogan Ozcan, the Volgenau Chair for Engineering Innovation and an electrical and computer engineering professor at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has developed a new process to address this problem. The researchers leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to encode messages that can be received by a material-based optical decoder without needing a line of sight, opening new frontiers for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging and communication.

Published in Nature Communications, the UCLA study details a new framework combining active AI-based encoding and passive optical decoding that can mitigate signal degradation caused by opaque obstacles in the transmission path. The encoder makes use of a neural network that allows it to bypass obstacles when transmitting data to a paired material-based decoder. Meanwhile, the decoder material makes use of optical-diffractive decoding a process in which the received signal passes through a smart material composed of a series of spatially engineered surfaces that passively decode and assemble the information carried in the signal as it passes through at the speed of light.

By integrating AI into a combined encoding and decoding apparatus, we can expand our capacity for information transfer at optimal speed even when undesired opaque structures obstruct the direct communication channel between the transmitter and the receiver, said Aydogan Ozcan.

The wavelengths we rely on today can only accommodate so much speed and data throughput, Ozcan said. By integrating AI into a combined encoding and decoding apparatus, we can expand our capacity for information transfer at optimal speed even when undesired opaque structures obstruct the direct communication channel between the transmitter and the receiver.

Using a 3D-printed diffractive decoder that operates at the terahertz spectrum, the UCLA team demonstrated that its combination of electronic encoding and all-optical decoding method is capable of direct optical communication between the transmitter and the receiver even when the opaque hindrance blocks the transmitters field-of-view entirely. Prior NLOS systems were vulnerable to turbulence, causing data transfer to work slowly and consume significant energy. The new scheme can be configured to be misalignment-resilient and highly power-efficient, reaching diffraction efficiencies of greater than 50% at its output. Moreover, the encoder-decoder framework can be jointly trained to accommodate changes in the size and shape of the obstacles without requiring modifications to the structures of either the encoder or decoder.

The process can be scaled for operation in different wavelengths and has the capacity for high-rate data transfer in a wide range of applications, including detecting items hidden inside walls or between metal plates.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energys Office of Basic Energy Sciences and The Institution of Engineering and Technology, the study was conducted in collaboration with Mona Jarrahi, a professor of electrical and computer engineer and holder of UCLAs Northrop Grumman Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Both Jarrahi and Ozcan are members of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, where Ozcan is the associate director of entrepreneurship, industry and academic exchange. Ozcan also holds faculty appointments in the Department of Bioengineering and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Other authors of the paper are UCLA Samueli graduate students Md Sadman Sakib Rahman, Tianyi Gan, Emir Arda Deger and aatay Il, as well as undergraduate student Emir Arda Deger all members of Ozcans and Jarrahis research labs at UCLA.

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UCLA Engineers Find AI-Based Solution to Communicate ... - UCLA Samueli School of Engineering Newsroom

November 07, 2023

Matt Wilson, director of Susquehanna's Center for Environmental Education and Research and Freshwater Research Institute, constructing a beaver dam.Susquehanna University is looking to the animal kingdom for innovative solutions to stream management beaver dams.

Matt Wilson, director of Susquehannas Center for Environmental Education and Research and Freshwater Research Institute, conceived the project, which is the first of its kind in Pennsylvania.

Weve got a lot of stormwater runoff that comes in at the edge of Susquehannas property upstream, and we wanted to better capture that, Wilson said. These dams will slow flow down, and because theyre made of sticks and stones, they will let water pass through the middle during a big storm.

Students, faculty and staff from various local and statewide partners built and installed eight, three-foot dams in a stream that runs between the Freshwater Research Institute and Susquehannas solar array. Volunteers collected natural materials, including sticks, small trees and invasive plants such as Bradford pear and honeysuckle, that were woven between wooden stakes to construct the dams.

We get to be involved with something that directly benefits our ecosystem that were living in here at Susquehanna, said Bryanna Schienholz 25, an earth & environmental sciences and German studies double major from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, who also has a minor in sustainability management.

Known as beaver dam analogs, the manmade beaver dams are used to slow water flow and trap sediment. The hope is that the dams will help to prevent erosion and the flow of sediment downstream to the Susquehanna River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. A stabilized streambank, Wilson said, should also improve groundwater infiltration and lead the once perennial stream to flow year-round again.

The project is the first of its kind to be permitted by the state Department of Environmental Protection. If successful, Wilson hopes the dams will become approved restoration structures across the state, opening the door for other conservationists to employ the methods being piloted at Susquehanna.

Deanna Phillips 23, who interned with DEP this past summer in the permitting department, remarked, Actually seeing a permit come to life at my own school is really cool. Phillips is an earth & environmental sciences major from East Earl, Pennsylvania, who also minors in environmental studies and the Honors Program.

Partners on site for the work were the Chesapeake Conservancy, the Merrill W. Linn Land & Waterways Conservancy, the state Department of Environmental Protection and Fish and Boat Commission, and nearby conservation districts.

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Dam good engineering! Beaver dams the blueprint for conservation - Susquehanna University

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Zahra Ghorbani, a doctoral candidate in architectural engineering at Penn State, was selected to receive the 2023 Future Leaders Award from the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS).

The award recognizes an individual under the age of 35 whose innovative talent is driving the architecture, engineering, construction and operations industry into the future, according to NIBS. Ghorbani accepted the award in September at the NIBS Building Innovation Conference.

Ghorbani was recognized for her contributions to national building information management (BIM) and digital twin standards and real-world implementation. Supported by various tools and software, BIM and digital twins in the building industry comprise the digital representation of buildings and infrastructure used by engineers and construction experts to efficiently manage their physical and functional characteristics.

Zahra has been a strong advocate for digital transformation by leveraging digital information throughout the entire building lifecycle, especially focused on the operation phases of a facility, said John Messner, the Charles and Elinor Matts Professor of Architectural Engineering, who nominated Ghorbani for the award. She has performed an extensive review of background information on digital twins from across multiple industries and compiled a unique approach to defining and categorizing digital twin uses in the operations phase. I am excited to see how her work progresses, and Im confident that her foundational research will lead to a lasting impact in the development and adoption of digital twins in operations.

In addition to studying as a doctoral student, Ghorbani is the BIM manager for Penn States Office of the Physical Plant, where she oversees and administers the BIM requirements for construction projects on all Penn State campuses.

Ghorbani serves as the BIM execution planning workgroup secretary and a project committee member for the National BIM Standard-United States, where she develops and reviews standards content and performs test implementations of the workgroup products. She also serves as a vice chair of the digital twin integration subcommittee of the NIBS BIM Council, where she leads the effort to establish the relationship between BIM and digital twins. She is a member of the visualization and information modeling committee and data sensing and analysis committee for the computing division at the American Society of Civil Engineers. Previously, she served on the Asset Management for Hospitals workgroup for the Open BIM and FM project at buildingSMART International.

Ghorbani received a bachelor's degree in architectural engineering from Shahid Beheshti University, Iran, and a masters degree in construction management from Texas A&M University. She came to Penn State in 2020 and joined the Computer Integrated Construction research group, under the direction and supervision of Messner.

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Engineering student selected as 'future leader' by national building ... - Pennsylvania State University