College of Engineering's Torgersen Award winners announced

Left to right: Eric Williams, chairman of the Torgersen Awards Committee and a member of the College of Engineering Graduate Student Committee; Carolyn Hampton, a master's student in biomedical engineering; Don Leo, associate dean of research and graduate studies with the College of Engineering; Michael Johnson, a master's student in biological systems engineering; and Yaoshun Jia, a master's student in electrical and computer engineering.

BLACKSBURG, Va., April 21, 2009 – The College of Engineering Graduate Student Committee held the Paul E. Torgersen Graduate Student Research Excellence Awards April 4 at the Torgersen Museum in Torgersen Hall.

In its 19th year, the annual competition showcases the top research performed by graduating master’s and doctoral students from the College of Engineering. Winners were as follows.

Master of Science Oral Presentations

• First: Michael Johnson of Blacksburg, biological systems engineering, Novel Attachment System for Production of Algal Biodiesel
• Second: Carolyn Hampton of Elsinboro, N.J., biomedical engineering, Limits of Permissible Crash Damage in Strong-Post W-Beam Guardrail
• Third: Yaoshun Jia of Nanjing, China, electrical and computer engineering, Demonstration of a Single-Carbon-Nanotube-Based Fluorescent Nanoprobe

Ph.D. Oral Presentations

• First: Rajesh Sudarsan of Tamil Nadu, India, computer science, A Scheduling Framework for Resizable Parallel Applications
• Second: Anoop Varghese of Trivandrum, India, engineering science and mechanics (graduated), Strain Localization in Glassy Polymers
• Third: Sung Yeul Park of Sungnam City, South Korea, electrical and computer engineering, A Wide Range and Precise Active and Reactive Power Flow Controller Using Admittance Compensator

Master of Science Poster Presentations

• First: Michael Sano of Albany N.Y., engineering science and mechanics
• Second: Matthias Hofman, Zürich, Switzerland, electrical and computer engineering
• Third: Mohammad Zareian-Jahroni of Esfahan, Iran, electrical and computer engineering

Ph.D. Poster Presentations

• First: Lee Bryant of Oak Ridge, Tenn., civil and environmental engineering
• Second: William Miles of Gainesville, Fla., chemical engineering
• Third: Brijesh Raghavan of Mumbai, India, aerospace and ocean engineering

The awards program was named after Paul Torgersen, dean of the College of Engineering from 1970 to 1990, and president of Virginia Tech from 1993 until 2000.

• Steven D Mackay
• Communications Manager, College of Engineering
• 540-231-4787
• smackay@vt.edu