Shikha Nangia

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $3.6 million grant to a team of researchers from five universities in a project titled “Collaborative Research: Growing Convergence Research: Infection-Resisting Resorbable Scaffolds for Engineering Human Tissue.” Syracuse University researchers have teamed up with partners at Stevens Institute of Technology, Binghamton University, City College of New York and the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School on the project.

The project will address the development of healthy tissue and how to mitigate the risk of infection in implantable devices as new biomaterials are being developed to replace failed, damaged or defective body parts.

Dacheng Ren

The Syracuse University team is led by Shikha Nangia, associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), and Dacheng Ren, associate dean of research and Stevenson Endowed Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering in ECS.

“The novelty of this project is the cross-disciplinary convergence of microbiology, polymer science, computational biochemistry and biomaterials science,” says Nangia.

Another aspect of the project is to train the next generation in infection control. “The Ph.D. and undergraduate students in the research labs will travel to partner institutions during summer and gain immersive research experience in a new lab to broaden their expertise,” Nangia added.

“I am very excited about this opportunity. This project team includes researchers from five institutions, who have been working together over the past several years. It is a great example of how researchers from different disciplines can work together to solve challenging problems through convergence science,” says Ren.

Soundarajan has received a (NSF) CAREER Award for her research on algorithms for network analysis. The grant is a single investigator award intended to support Soundarajan’s professional development. In addition to providing funding for research, it will support a number of non-research service projects.

“Anytime I get a grant it feels great because it is validation from the larger scientific community,” says Soundarajan. “This one especially because it is tied to me as an individual and not just the project. It feels like I am being validated as a scientist. It means a lot.”

Sucheta Soundarajan

Although the award is an individual accomplishment, it is supporting research that has potential to benefit communities around the world. Increasingly, information is becoming acquired from network analysis and what scientists are finding is that despite algorithms not having access to protected attributes like age, disability, gender identification, religion and national origin, they still end up discriminating against these groups.

“What we’re seeing is that people from these minority and disadvantaged groups are being wrongfully discriminated against at a higher rate,” says Soundarajan. “We want to create algorithms that automatically find people central within a network but do it in a way that is fair.”

Soundarajan says criminal sentencing and lending are two examples of areas where algorithms are used to make crucial decisions and where scientists have detected potential wrongful discrimination. Another example of a fairness issue is the way we connect with each other on social platforms. Friendship recommendation algorithms can exacerbate a tendency for people to seek out those who are similar to themselves.

“Taken to an extreme, if people follow these recommendations, people end up in silos where they only connect to people who are like them and that is how you end up with echo chambers,” Soundarajan says.

Outside of her research, Soundarajan will have the opportunity to hire a graduate student to help develop ethics-based modules that can become part of computer science courses with the hope it will help students develop ethics-focused thinking.

“We’re going to design these labs where we will give students a data set and they will apply some algorithms to it and then they will look at the results and they will have to think about if these results are fair,” says Soundarajan.

Soundarajan will also look into developing continuing education for lawyers. She hopes to create classes that focus on explaining how algorithms can cause discriminatory issues.

Committing her time and talent to something societally meaningful is important to Soundarajan. She credits the support she has received throughout her life as a factor in choosing her research area, and she recognizes the help she has received from members of her department contributed to her latest achievement.

“There has been so much invested in me as a scientist, I feel like I have the moral obligation to do something that benefits everybody,” Soundarajan says. “I have been really fortunate to be surrounded by people who really want to see me succeed and that’s been true at Syracuse University as well. People have given me their time, spending hours reading the proposal that got me this award, and that means a lot to me.”

Steve Huang G’72, G’75

“You kind of change your life perspective,” says Huang. “I decided my focus will be trying to train and cultivate younger engineers and professionals in my company and creating the proper environment for them to grow and develop.”

Now as a management and technology consultant, Huang is scaling these core philosophies and finding new ways to serve gifted, young talent around the world. In honor of the man that once served him, Steve Huang has made a generous gift to the University’s campaign to establish the endowed Allen J. Barduhn Memorial Scholarship in Chemical Engineering.

“Professor Barduhn trained me and shaped me to become an engineer, but he also helped me on a personal basis,” says Huang. “I told him once, ‘I look at you not just as my advisor, but almost like a parent.’ I respect him to such a degree.”

Barduhn had a profound influence, but it was the caring actions of foreign student advisor Virginia Torelli that made Huang first feel welcome in Syracuse. Huang completed his undergraduate degree in Taiwan and a scholarship made it possible for him to pursue a graduate degree at Syracuse University. He arrived in the United States for the first time after 5 p.m. on the Friday before Labor Day weekend. To Huang’s surprise, Torelli waited to help him get settled.

“She stayed until everything was taken care of,” says Huang. “Even the service people at the dorm stayed to open the door and get me into my room. I could not believe that. My first impression was very warm, and it was a tremendous experience.”

Selflessness from others is at the center of Huang’s Syracuse University experience, most notably from Professor Barduhn.

“I was very, very fortunate. I had one of the best advisors I could ever have. Professor Barduhn really had patience and explained to us the purpose of research,” says Huang. “He really taught you how to work on problem solving. He wanted to train you and help you grow, and he wanted you to graduate.”

Barduhn also had experience in industry, which enabled him to prepare his students with knowledge and insight unobtainable from a textbook. The benefits and positive experiences stemming from Huang’s decision to attend Syracuse University were considerable, but it was what Barduhn did next that may have carried the most weight.

“Professor Barduhn had such good advice. He is a tremendous person,” says Huang. “Not only did he teach me how to make good engineering judgments, but he also helped me get my green card.”

Having a green card sponsor was key because it made it easy for Huang to take job interviews. Barduhn hired Huang to work in his lab and helped him gain permanent resident status.

“He told me, don’t worry, you have a Ph.D. degree, stay, work for me, and at the same time he said he would apply for a green card for me,” says Huang. “I was only his student, but he was willing to do that. So, I got my green card from Dr. Barduhn’s application. That is a favor I can never return. I will always remember him.”

Huang also credits his time at Syracuse University as a big step toward learning how to develop cross-cultural relationships and working with a variety of people—skill sets that would become invaluable as his professional career took off. Huang initially wanted to be a professor, but Barduhn urged him to first go to work as an engineer. Young and fearless, Huang accepted a research and development position with IFF in 1976. He was the first chemical engineer with a doctoral degree hired by the company, and Huang took up the challenge to pioneer his position.

In the 1980s while Huang was developing and implementing advanced control systems at IFF’s United States and European manufacturing sites, he collaborated with colleagues in legal, finance and marketing departments to lead the company’s game-changing expansion into China. Through the 1990s, business in China thrived and Huang’s global manufacturing responsibilities increased substantially. In 2001, Huang advanced to the role of vice president of global chemical manufacturing and he continued to help IFF grow by applying solid business models, including sales and operations (S&OP), and Systems Applications and Product (SAP) implementation. By the time he retired after 35 years, IFF had seen sales increase by 600 percent and become an industry leader worldwide.

It is not a coincidence Huang understands the impact of generosity and the right environment over time. The opportunities afforded to him by others prompted one good thing leading to another throughout his education and career. Ultimately putting him in a position to serve. That is a position he says he may not be in without a chance to attend Syracuse University.

“Every one of those small things adds up. I am very appreciative for the scholarship that I had. I don’t think I would have been able to come to the United States without it,” says Huang. “With this gift, I hope we can stimulate our alumni to really spend some effort and resources to help with education to build a better society. People are our foundation. I was really happy that I was able to do this.”

Vishal Shukla

The concept of luck goes against the principles of engineering. Luck happens without design. The story behind most great careers may sometimes include luck, but the truth behind it is usually years of hard work, continued learning and the application of knowledge. In many ways, that is the story behind Vishal Shukla ’89. Currently, he is a senior customer success manager in Microsoft’s business applications division, but despite all his accomplishments, he still partially attributes his outcome to another variable—chance.

“I don’t know if I would consider myself successful, but I’ve been lucky and a lot of that came from my parents,” says Shukla.

Shukla had the good fortune of growing up in a family that stressed the value of education. Understanding the importance of learning gave him a solid foundation to build upon and it led him to begin thinking about laying a similar bedrock for future students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Through a gift to the , Shukla is honoring his parents and their emphasis on education by establishing scholarships in their names to benefit future students.

“I wanted to do something with my estate that would add value,” says Shukla. “I thought back to the benefits and what I got out of being at Syracuse University for four years. Providing other people with the opportunity to do the same would be a great way to make a difference.”

Shukla’s parents immigrated to America from India and Shukla was the first member of his family born in the United States. He grew up in Westchester County, north of New York City, and the only college campus he visited was Syracuse University.

“I loved the campus. It gave you a feeling of community,” says Shukla. “What appealed to me about Syracuse University was the variety of programs. I could study anything and get a high-quality education.”

Shukla decided to study electrical engineering, but his time on campus became bigger than a single field of study. Shukla discovered an affinity for karate, which he continues to practice and teach to this day. He fondly remembers experiencing iconic moments in Syracuse sports history, like the football team’s undefeated season in 1987. He still keeps in touch with the friends he made his freshman year, and he enjoys meeting alumni from different generations that share similar memories. These are the distinctions and the spirit he talks about with West Coast students considering Syracuse University.

“You have the opportunity to go out and find whatever knowledge you want at Syracuse University because it is such a diverse and inclusive campus,” says Shukla.

After graduation, Shukla went to work as design engineer for Dynacast International. He started his job and graduate school for computer science on the same day. Upon completing his first master’s program, he was directed to look at something Dynacast International had just purchased called salesforce automation (SFA). Shukla became the project leader for the global rollout of SFA and it led him into the IT and software industries. He went on to hold positions at Oracle, Salesforce and now Microsoft. Along the way he added three more master’s degrees to his list of academic achievements:one in business administration, another in organizational psychology and one more in organizational leadership.

The values instilled in Shukla by his parents are at the core of all he has attained and his gift will ensure those principles continue to ripple through to future generations. For aspiring engineers and their families, a scholarship can be more akin to lowering a drawbridge than opening a door. Reducing barriers for brilliant young students can have a long-lasting and far-reaching impact.

“I’d like to think that one kid, that might not have been able to stay, got a scholarship and then went out and did something that changed the world,” says Shukla. “If you’re lucky enough to have a good career, you can pass those values on to your kids. It’s ongoing.”

While there is no way to measure the role chance plays in any career, it is likely the chance Shukla is giving to young talent that will have a quantifiable impact for years to come.

“It’s incredible to think what our alumni base could be over the next few decades. I’d love to help bring that opportunity to future students,” says Shukla.

About Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university that advances knowledge across disciplines to drive breakthrough discoveries and breakout leadership. Our collection of 13 schools and colleges with over 200 customizable majors close the gap between education and action, so students can take on the world. In and beyond the classroom, we connect people, perspectives and practices to solve interconnected challenges with interdisciplinary approaches. Together, we’re a powerful community that moves ideas, individuals and impact beyond what’s possible.

About Forever Orange

Orange isn’t just our color. It’s our promise to leave the world better than we found it. Forever Orange: The Campaign for Syracuse University is poised to do just that. Fueled by 150 years of fearless firsts, together we can enhance academic excellence, transform the student experience and expand unique opportunities for learning and growth. Forever Orange endeavors to raise $1.5 billion in philanthropic support, inspire 125,000 individual donors to participate in the campaign, and actively engage one in five alumni in the life of the University. Now is the time to show the world what Orange can do. Visit to learn more.

After it is cooked, the noodles look and taste like traditional pasta, but the flat redesigned noodles can be fit into more compact packaging. Smaller packages requiring less material would reduce waste and save space during transportation. Moreover, these shape-shifting carbs could lead to lower carbon emissions.

“Cooking pasta takes energy. This method can shorten the cooking time and that could also contribute to sustainability,” says Teng Zhang, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and a co-author of the study.

The project has been a long-term between Zhang and Lining Yao, director of the Morphing Matter Lab at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), other researchers at CMU and Zhejiang University. To achieve morphing, grooves are strategically pressed into the surface of smooth, flat dough. In boiling water, the modified grooved side of the dough expands less than the smooth side, thereby morphing the dough into more familiar contorted and tubular noodle shapes.

Yao’s team learned grooves in the pasta would be an effective way to control the shape morphing, but initially they could not explain why. Zhang developed a computer model to answer that question.

“The modeling and simulation of pasta morphing was very challenging. Sometimes you would run a simulation and the simulation would just stop,” says Zhang. “It took us a long time to find the right platform and the right code to set up the model to get a result.”

Zhang’s model uncovered the working mechanism of the research team’s grooved-based approach, which could be a practical solution for the food industry. The next challenge from a modeling standpoint will be to develop a more complex and accurate model that will look at how production of the pasta and cooking technique influence the material structure.

“Now we want to improve the accuracy of the model by looking at how the manufacturing process and the cooking process will modify the material property,” says Zhang. “We want to include the whole process in the modeling platform.”

Zhang’s research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

George Kirby ’92

It takes passion and drive to lead a large-scale, publically held company and keep driving creative solutions. For George Kirby ’92, the business of innovation has defined his career. He currently serves as CEO of Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) and it’s an accomplishment built on a series of transformative steps that began with a single goal.

“I was brought up in a very hands-on environment. I always worked around farms and heavy equipment, and I’ve always had an affinity for engineering. My very first achievement was getting my degree at Syracuse University,” says Kirby. “It was a very emotional time for me and for my family because it was something I wanted to do from a young age. It’s very personal to me.”

As a student, Kirby had an industrious schedule, even by engineering standards. He was taking an average of twenty credit hours while working forty hours a week at multiple jobs. He was on the varsity ski team, and nights and weekends were spent in the sub-basement of Link Hall working with classmates.

“I had originally thought the aerospace program would be very focused, but it ended up being a pretty broad education,” Kirby says. “I ended up spending much of my career in the utility-scale electric generation and transmission industries in engineering and product development. A lot of what I learned as an undergrad was directly applicable for design and engineering in that industry.”

Engineering programs are particularly specialized, but enrolling at Syracuse University granted Kirby access to a diverse group of students and a broader collection of programs, which enabled him to study useful skills in other fields.

“You’re taking classes with people from all walks of life and it really expands your mind. I took some creative writing courses and I can remember those classes really helped me to develop my written communication skills. Those skills are essential today,” says Kirby. “Overall, my Syracuse education provided a solid foundation in engineering fundamentals and problem solving, but I think just as important, and something I value today, is how I learned critical thinking.”

The first of a number of pivots in Kirby’s career came right after graduation.

“When I graduated in ’92 the bottom was falling out of the aerospace industry. I took a different route and made my career in civil engineering and learned steel structure design. Then I circled back around and started working for General Electric (GE) in nuclear steam turbine product development,” he says.

Being employed by a company the size of GE came with a key benefit. Kirby had the opportunity to venture into new areas. Outside of engineering and product development, he gained his first experience leading sales teams, transitioned to project finance and ended up developing global power projects. The timing was perfect.

“This was in the early 2000s when onshore wind energy really started to boom and wind farms were being developed all over the world. Wind energy is another field where an aerospace background is so applicable. It’s all the same concepts, but a totally different application.”

While Kirby’s experience at GE built on the foundation he established in college, it also revealed a gap in his skillset. It prompted him to get his MBA, and in combination with his engineering background, sales leadership and product development and finance experience, Kirby had the adaptability necessary to lead OPT and guide the company through a complete strategic pivot.

Initially, the role was focused on creating new markets, developing new products, and commercializing. Then, in early 2020 during the global pandemic, it immediately became apparent OPT needed to add a new focus.

“Our management team was watching what was happening globally. We had a team coming back from Milan and Rome as Italy was shutting down and we knew we needed to prepare for this,” Kirby says. “We thought we have engineers, designers, and operations people. We understand production, and supply chain. Let’s put that to work here in New Jersey.”

For months OPT teams worked 24 hours a day to produce and donate face shields to first responders and the medical community, all while simultaneously keeping the business running and continuing to work with their customers on designing the future.

Autonomous systems, decentralized electrification, connectivity and data are all areas Kirby sees as opportunities for OPT to provide solutions for global issues like climate change and maritime security. OPT has developed a smart buoy capable of monitoring the ocean to provide environmental intelligence on myriad problems.

“We can attach surveillance systems to our buoys and place them in remote locations to track illegal fishing and territory encroachment,” says Kirby. “What we have realized is subsea electrification and digitalization really drive the need to rethink equipment design and connectivity. The industry is quickly moving toward electrifying the sea floor.”

Diversifying his career with skills outside his specialization has been critical to Kirby’s success. Particularly immersing himself in the world of business and understanding data. In 2019, he participated as a judge in Invent@SU and the program’s focus on teaching students to think like entrepreneurs resonated with him.

“It was as much about innovation as it was about how they thought broadly about the applicability and marketability of that innovation. It was really a phenomenal experience to see the talent at Syracuse University,” he says.

Kirby credits similar study opportunities for helping him advance. He appreciates the ability he had as an undergraduate to engage in industry and work alongside professors on real-world projects.

“The one bit of advice I would give to a class of seniors right now is to be cognizant of everybody that helps you along the way. When you’re done with your career, it’s really a series of helping hands that gets you to where you are,” says Kirby. “I have a list a mile long of people that have helped me to get to where I am today.”

Ed Swallow

When Ed Swallow ’80 first visited the Syracuse University campus, he was not certain what engineering major he would pursue with his Air Force ROTC scholarship. Following a meeting with the electrical engineering program director, Swallow learned something he thought made electrical engineers unique and he knew what he wanted to do.

“Electrical engineers learn problem solving,” says Swallow. “There isn’t one answer. In electrical engineering there are dozens or hundreds of ways of accomplishing the same thing.”

His initial Syracuse experience had an immediate and lasting impact.

“My advisor was really good about trying to get me to broaden my horizons. It was good the University allowed me to engage in a variety of experiences. It’s the multi-disciplinary education that my advisor helped me get that was the greatest takeaway,” says Swallow. “Knowing that I was Air Force ROTC and I was going to become an officer, my advisor basically said recognize you are not going to do a lot of engineering, you’re going to lead engineers and being a generalist is going to be better for your entire career. He was incredibly right about that. More than anything else, that one conversation made a big university feel very personal to me.”

That meeting formed the foundation of what would become the theme of his career. Swallow went on active duty in August of 1980 and started in satellite operations.

“I was very interested in image processing. I focused on infrared image processing by the time I graduated and that’s what ended up having the Air Force send me out to California to fill an electrical engineering slot,” says Swallow. “Back then it was highly classified, but I worked on the Gambit and Hexagon film return reconnaissance spacecraft and I heavily used my Syracuse background.”

While on active duty, Swallow went into space operations and helped on the front-end building first of their kind space systems. He gained leadership experience as an acting commander while stationed at Thule Air Force base in Greenland. Before entering the reserves in 1985, Swallow gained his first experience with NASA working as one of the payload communicators on space shuttle STS-4. From there things moved rapidly. Swallow took a job with a company named Ultrasystems Defense and Space, which through a series of mergers and acquisitions eventually became part of Logicon.

“I went from an individual contributor, to task manager, to assistant program manager, to deputy program manager, to program manager to director of programs for the entire Silicon Valley office. A lot of that was because I understood the customers and how to solve problems for them as a generalist, which helped me grow the business. I went to work for a company called Space Applications Corporation as tech director, but quickly moved to division general manager, and in 1997 I became the vice president of business development. Not long after that, they promoted me to the equivalent of COO,” says Swallow. “By 2001 we sold the company to L3 Communications, so I went to work at Northrop Grumman.”

Following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Swallow’s work had him building relationships with the Department of Homeland Security, and he helped deploy the homeland secure data network. He would then go on to play critical roles in some of the largest IT projects in the country, including the New York City secure broadband wireless system for first responders and the first cloud deployment for the federal government. Swallow’s team even helped bring together the opening sequence of the 2008 Academy Award winning film “The Hurt Locker.”

“If you look carefully, that robot had a Northrop Grumman logo on it and I was the one that signed the deal that allowed them to use the robot for the film,” says Swallow. “They did not actually blow it up. Thank goodness.”

Like his Syracuse University advisor had told him, being a generalist had become the primary thread in his career. Following a brief retirement from Northrop in 2014, Swallow accepted his current position as senior vice president, Civil Systems Group at The Aerospace Corporation.

“It is the best job on the planet. I get to work with senior leaders in the space world, help advise them on policy and help them find solutions to deep technical problems,” says Swallow.

His current position has put him at the heart of the human exploration system. Recently, he co-chaired the program status assessment for Artemis, the mission to put the next man and first woman on the moon by 2024. He oversees a team building a next-generation space suit, and he has people managing the extravehicular activity of astronauts.

Swallow has ten simple rules for success he shares with students and young professionals. One of them is invest your time, don’t just put in the hours. This is a reminder to always think about what you are going to take away from working on a project. It’s a habit that helped him begin developing critical soft skills his last semester at Syracuse University when ROTC made him the cadet corps commander and he had to give weekly addresses.

“I sought leadership positions and it was that leadership training I received through the ROTC that I think was incredibly important,” says Swallow.

Now, as an industry leader, Swallow has some ideas about the next big growth areas for aerospace and electrical engineering.

“In aerospace engineering, where things are headed very quickly is hypersonics [pun intended]. High-speed point to point transportation. On the electrical engineering side, building trust into autonomous systems is the big thing,” says Swallow. “Building trusted AI systems that always have a predictable outcome is really a tough nut to crack and if somebody figures that out at the graduate level, they’re going to find a job just about anywhere.”

Ed Swallow’s ten simple rules for success:

10. Invest your time, don’t just put in the hours.
9. Dress for the job you want, not the one you have.
8. Trying to show how smart you are usually backfires.
7. W.A.I.T: Why Am I Talking?
6. There are no “gut courses” in business—always do your best.
5. Build a brand, internally and externally, and honor that brand.
4. Verbs matter: Take blame; accept credit.
3. Make your boss a hero, help her get promoted, never surprise them.
2. Don’t confuse activity with results.
1. Integrity, honesty and strong ethics outweigh all else.

Kevin Du

When his National Science Foundation grant expired, electrical engineering and computer science Professor Kevin Du figured his pioneering security education (SEED) cybersecurity workshop that he had run since 2015 had come to an end.

Du had always intended the workshops to be an open source resource for computer science and cybersecurity educators, and an expedited shift to virtual learning gave Du an opportunity to further evolve his project. For the previous five years the workshop occurred solely offline in conference rooms. Despite travel costs, a cramped four-day schedule and capped capacity, holding it in person was thought to be critical for participants work on labs.

“Hands-on learning is the biggest challenge with virtual learning,” says Du.

The spring 2020 semester gave Du increased comfort using online teaching tools and sparked his enthusiasm to attempt hosting the workshop online without funding.

“I’m excited about the process. I have never tried this before. For the last five years I have been polishing the offline workshop. Going online I am excited to use this opportunity to learn and grow myself. No platform is developed for this purpose. You just have to use a platform creatively to meet your needs,” says Du. “I really don’t want this project to stop.”

About 20 people volunteered to assist during these virtual workshops. Two of them are Montana State University Assistant Professor of Computer Science Travis Peters and Ammar Salman, a Ph.D. candidate in cybersecurity at Syracuse University.

This will be Peters’ first time in attendance, and he sees it as a chance to make his own students more engaged.

“My hope is to bring some of what I learn back to improve our own programs,” says Peters.

Salman has gone through the workshop three times as a paid assistant; this will be his first as a volunteer, but he continues to find meaningful value in attending.

“I am getting better experience every time we do the workshop. This is human interaction. The more you talk to people, the better opportunities you’re going to end up with. I think that is a very important thing for grad students,” says Salman.

Both Peters and Salman are eager for the experience and immediately recognized a key benefit.

“I think there is a lot of opportunity here. Conducting the SEED workshop virtually vastly increases access. That is one of the huge benefits of conducting trainings like this. Certain barriers go away,” says Peters.

“In my years here in Syracuse I have never had such an opportunity,” says Salman. “We’ve had people come from all around the world. Now, since we’re doing it virtually, even more people are going to participate.”

Previous in-person workshops were limited to 100 participants. Moving online has massively amplified the reach of the workshop. Attendance in 2020 matched the total number of participants from the last five years combined. More than 400 people from 43 countries on six continents signed up, with women making up 25 percent of all participants.

Accommodating greater inclusion was a welcomed new challenge. It meant crafting a schedule that worked for everyone across all time zones, but the flexibility gained from a virtual setting allowed participants to choose sessions based on their interests and availability.

“In the past, because of travel, the workshop could only be done in a short period of time. Now I can spread it out over two months. From a participant’s perspective it’s become much more feasible,” says Du.

A combination of platforms will be used to replicate the experience virtually. Du is presenting each lab on Zoom while volunteers like Peters and Salman respond to participant questions in parallel via Slack. The process will be an experiment, but the goal is impact.

“I’m treating this as a learning process. I’m sure we will find some way to solve it, but the best way to do that is something we are going to have to figure out,” says Du.

“All of the labs we teach during the workshop are essentially free,” says Salman. “It’s not exclusive, it’s for everybody, and that’s the purpose of the workshop section: to get all of this into everyone’s hands.”

Du determined it would have cost more than $500,000 to hold this year’s workshop in-person. Now the only real cost is time. Time everyone involved is happy to spend.

“When I started developing the SEED lab, I wanted it to be useful to others. As a professor, if you produce something and you see more and more people using it, you become happy. I spent 20 years developing those labs. Right now, there are over 1,000 universities using them, but the more the better to me. That’s how I measure my impact,” says Du.

Peters is excited about the collaboration and sees considerable value in dedicating his time to the project.

“In what other situation would Montana State University, Syracuse and all these other universities be sharing thoughts and improving how we can do these things virtually,” says Peters. “What Kevin has put together is great. I think it’s really meaningful for students who are trying to assess if cybersecurity is a space they are interested in. Hopefully from this, Kevin and the other volunteers can take what they’ve learned back to their own institutions and share it. It speeds up the movement of these ideas and techniques.”

Du says he plans to talk with participants who have attended online and offline for feedback about their experience to learn how he can optimize his workshop in the new frontier of virtual learning.

A team of Chinese students from across campus organized a humanitarian fundraiser called A Hand for Wuhan.

Xu is a first-year student from China, and he helped mobilize a team of Chinese students from across campus to organize a humanitarian fundraiser called A Hand for Wuhan. The students collaborated with Dr. Ruth Chen, professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science; Juan Tavares, director of the Slutzker Center of International Services; and Joseph Hernon, director of emergency management and business continuity.

“Students from China are concerned about friends and family,” says Xu. “We just want to do something for China. We all want to help.”

The response from the Syracuse University community was rapid. “So many students asked how they could donate,” says Xu. “Our goal was $30,000–in 24 hours we reached that goal.”

In about a week the total climbed to $53,000. Thanks to such incredible support, the student-led initiative was able to purchase and ship 934 pairs of medical goggles and 4,800 cases of food. The first round of supplies is expected to arrive at several severely impacted cities across China in the next few days. Additionally, the group has an imminent plan to purchase a shipment of 10,000 medical masks.

Having raised far more than anticipated, A Hand for Wuhan is not currently accepting donations, but the group is considering another fundraising drive in the future.

An engineering mindset enables Xu to uniquely address global and social issues, but when reflecting on the motivation to aid the people of China and the willingness of others to donate Xu says, “It is a human responsibility. People want to help.”