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Technical Seminar: Understanding the Flight of the Boomerang

Associate Dean of Research & Graduate Programs Hamid Rahai left, welcomes John Vassberg to CSULB.

Have you ever wondered how boomerangs fly? John Vassberg has. One of Boeing’s top aerodynamicists, Vassberg was at CSULB Friday to deliver one his most popular lectures—one that delves into the aerodynamic capabilities of a hunting tool developed by Aboriginal Australians thousands of years ago.

“It’s turned out to be a cult classic,” said Vassberg, who has given the talk in Paris and Brussels and at Caltech and University of Southern California. “Maybe I’ll teach you something so you’ll have something to do over the weekend,” he told faculty and students at the Spring Technical Seminar.

Now Technical Lead and Chief Aerodynamicist of Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ Advanced Concepts Design Center in Southern California, Vassberg did the research back in 2012 when he was asked to present at an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) conference. Continue reading “Technical Seminar: Understanding the Flight of the Boomerang”

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Dean Golshani Inducted into National Academy of Inventors

dean-naiCSULB College of Engineering Dean Forouzan Golshani, holder of nearly a dozen patents, was among the nearly 100 innovators inducted as National Academy of Inventors Fellows at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston this month.

Election as an NAI Fellow is an honor bestowed upon academic innovators and inventors who have demonstrated “a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions and innovations that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.” Continue reading “Dean Golshani Inducted into National Academy of Inventors”

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CECS Project Aims to Help City with ‘Tunnel Vision’

sewr_wkr_0The CSULB Computer Engineering and Computer Science Department (CECS) is working on a $62,000 pilot project to build a software application that would help the city of Long Beach improve inspection of its hundreds of miles of sewer lines.

The application being developed by CSULB engineering faculty and students would add some automation to the inspection process through a software tool that scans video images to detect problems.

The city’s aging network of sewer pipes must be regularly inspected to keep drains flowing freely—a process that takes about a decade to complete. The inspection process is currently carried out by video cameras that are pushed through tunnels to capture images that are viewed by employees visually checking for problems or needed repairs. Continue reading “CECS Project Aims to Help City with ‘Tunnel Vision’”

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CEERS Holds Summer Research Program

For summer 2007, 8 students were selected from advanced programs from Long Beach Poly, Lakewood high, Millikan high, Wilson high, and Whitney high. The students work from 9 AM to 3 PM, Monday through Thursday from June 25 through July 27. The 2007 summer program is supported by funds and grants from ASHRAE southern California chapter, LB Transit, JetBlue, Long Beach airport, and P2S Engineering.

The objective of the program is to expose high school students to the exciting and rewarding world of engineering research and education and to provide the educational foundations necessary for the development of tomorrow’s outstanding researchers, engineers and scientists.

This will be an opportunity for high-achieving high school students to participate in a five week funded research in energy and environment at the Center for Energy and Environmental Research and Services (CEERS) at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). The participants will work side-by-side with CEERS graduate students and professors on research projects related to air and water pollutions, mitigation processes, energy resources and productions, and related developments. The program involves briefing on specific aspects of the research topic, review of background materials, required tasks for the project, implementation, and a final technical report. The projects will be selected either by CEERS faculty in consultation with CEERS advisory board and sponsored agency or by the sponsored agency in consultation with CEERS faculty members.

All students will receive stipends for their contributions to the research projects. The stipend is $800 for each student. In addition, each participant will receive a certificate of participation from CEERS.