College
of Engineering Sponsors International Conferences Many aspects of “academics” make living or working on
or near a campus unique. In addition to the special speakers and performing
arts programs that are offered, universities are places where researchers
and other professionals can gather to garner new ideas for their investigations,
as well as share their findings, in an effort to improve the overall
state of a particular field. The University of Notre Dame and College
of Engineering are proud to be part of such efforts and to serve as
host for many events, including the following most recent conferences:
International Symposium on Flow Visualization
According to Roth-Gibson
Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Thomas
J. Mueller, chairman of the 11th International Symposium
on Flow Visualization (ISFV-11), the event held
on the Notre Dame campus from August 9 through August 12, 2004 -- went
very well. “The symposium originated in 1977,” says Mueller. “In
fact, I went to the first symposium and then became a member of the international
organizing board, working on following symposia. Our goal was to foster a
global forum for communication and information exchange in the field of flow
visualization.”
Recalling the years since the first symposium, Mueller stresses that
flow visualization has undergone huge changes. The use of lasers for
illumination and the increased use of computers for data processing
and computations has led to rapid development in a number of areas. “For
example,” says Mueller, “during the first symposium, there
were no papers on the use of particle image velocimetry and only one
or two that featured numerical solutions. Our most recent gathering
featured papers on these two more techniques than all of the other
techniques combined.”
Flow visualization can be applied to a variety
of fields such as experimental and computational fluid dynamics, aerodynamics,
mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, metallurgy,
meteorology, oceanography, biomedical, and food and agricultural technology.
The
symposium was first hosted by the Institute of Space and Aeronautical
Scienceat the University of Tokyo. Over the years, it has been held
in Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Italy, England, and the United
States. “This is only the third time it has been held in the
U.S.,” says Mueller, “and the first time it’s been
at Notre Dame, even though the University has a long history in flow
visualization.”
For more information on ISFV-11, visit www.ode-web.demon.co.uk/11isfv.
For information on the history of flow visualization at Notre Dame, visit www.nd.edu/~ame.
Ethics and Changing Energy Markets:
Issues for Engineers, Managers,
and Regulators
Sponsored by the University of Notre Dame and Carnegie Mellon University,
the first conference on Ethics and Changing
Energy Markets: Issues for Engineers, Managers, and Regulators (EnergyEthics
2004) is scheduled for October 28-29, approximately 14 months after
the largest blackout in the history of North America. According to
the Michigan Public Service Commission’s Report, “The August
14th blackout was a wake-up call concerning the reliability of our
nation’s electric grid.”
But the fact is that consumer confidence was already shaky long before
approximately 50 million people -- from southeastern Michigan
through Ontario and northern Ohio, all the way east to New York City
-- found themselves without electricity. People around the country
had questions about Enron, they were worried about the California energy
crisis, and they were concerned about the future of the energy industry.
EnergyEthics
2004 is the first conference to convene energy experts and industry
leaders in order to engage them in discussions of ethical, market,
and regulatory issues as they pertain to energy generation and use.
Some of the topics to be covered at the conference include the roles
of engineers, managers, and regulators in establishing an operational
framework that is responsive to the market as well as to the needs
of consumers.
Featured speakers -- from the energy industry, regulatory agencies,
and academia -- will explore the issues arising in the shift from
regulated to competitive markets and discuss the historical applications
of energy in today’s market. They include the Honorable
Patrick Wood III, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission; Vernon
L. Smith, a Nobel Laureate in Economics and professor of economics
and law at George Mason University; Bethany
McLean, a writer for Fortune
Magazine and co-author of “The Smartest Guys in the Room”;
and Vicky Bailey, a partner with
Johnston & Associates and former
assistant secretary of energy for Policy & Intergovernmental Affairs
of the Department of Energy.
Frank P. Incropera, the McCloskey Dean
of Engineering at Notre Dame; Indira Nair, the vice provost for education
at Carnegie Mellon University; Patrick Murphy, professor of marketing
at the University and the Smith Co-director of the Institute for Ethical
Business WorldWide; and Notre Dame alum Anthony
F. Earley Jr., chief
executive officer of DTE Energy, will also be speaking.
For more information
about this conference, visit energyethics2004.nd.edu.
|