Northeastern University College of Engineering

Library Webinar: Getting Started with Zotero
2024-02-20 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | MA
Learn how to use Zotero to increase your efficiency. Zotero is a free, open-source tool that lets you quickly create bibliographies and in-text citations in your chosen reference style. This online session will cover: how to install Zotero, how to export references from a database to Zotero, how to create groups to organize your research information, how to create an online account, and how to use Zotero with Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
Registration is required. Register here.
All the times of the webinars are in EST.
You will receive the Zoom link for this webinar via email one hour before the event.
Related LibGuide: Zotero

National Engineers Week: Graduate School of Engineering - Women in Engineering Webinar
2024-02-20 09:30 - 10:30 | MA
Join the Director of Women in Engineering, Sarah Ostadabbas on a panel of women in engineering. Hear from female faculty members and female students about their experiences in engineering. Registration is required. Webinar details are below.
Webinar Details:
Topic: Women in Engineering Webinar
Date: February 20, 2024
Time: 9:30 AM EST
Register Now
Engineers Week

National Engineers Week: Puzzles and Cookies with the Dean
2024-02-20 09:00 - 15:00 | Robinson Quad Tents, 360 Huntington Ave, outside Mugar, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Drop by throughout the day with your fellow COE friends to put together custom puzzles for each engineering department, while enjoying free cookies, snacks, and swag! Meet and talk to Dean Gregory Abowd who will join the fun starting at 1:30 p.m.! How far can you get on the puzzles?
When: Tuesday, February 20, 9:00 am -3:00 pm, ET
Where: Robinson Quad Bamboo & Industry Tents (near Mugar Life Sciences Building – 330 Huntington Ave)
Who: NU COE students
Engineers Week

CommLab Writing Hours
2024-02-19 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-12 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-05 11:00 - 13:00 | 335 CSC, 360 Huntington Ave, CSC, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Graduate students, are you looking for a place for focused research writing time? Join the CommLab for writing hours on Mondays from 11 am-1 pm ET. Drop in any Monday and stay for a short time or the whole two hours. CommLab Fellows will be available to provide feedback on your writing. We will be meeting in 335 Curry Student Center.

Chemical Engineering Spring Seminar Series: Adam Caparco
2024-02-16 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Protein-based materials for sustainable bioprocesses
Protein materials, whose function can be programmed by their amino acid sequence, possess the potential to address many societal challenges by providing a sustainable and biocompatible alternative to many traditional materials. As an example, the enhancement of enzymes for biocatalysis serves as a gateway for more sustainable chemical manufacturing. I will demonstrate that by designing an enzyme to fuse to a solid support material, we can vastly improve its stability and recover the material between reactions for multiple uses. Protein materials also serve as a platform for targeted delivery in medicine and agriculture. I will show that by transforming inactivated plant viruses into spherical nanoparticles for encapsulation, hydrophobic agrochemicals can be delivered through the soil and paralyze roundworms for pest management with high efficacy.

Adam Caparco, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, San Diego in the Department of NanoEngineering. His research under Prof. Nicole Steinmetz is funded by a USDA NIFA fellowship and is focused on using plant virus nanoparticles as agricultural delivery systems for pest management and genetic engineering of plants. Prior to this position, Dr. Caparco completed his doctoral work in Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology under Profs. Julie Champion and Andreas Bommarius, where he focused on using self-assembled protein materials for sustainable biocatalysis. During his doctoral studies, he was awarded a STEM Chateaubriand fellowship and worked with bioinformaticians and biochemists at Genoscope in France. As an undergraduate, Dr. Caparco studied Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Mock Interview: A CommLab Workshop Series
2024-02-15 14:00 - 15:00, 2024-02-08 14:00 - 15:00, 2024-02-01 14:00 - 15:00 | 206 Egan, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Join the CommLab every Thursday from 2-3pm ET, we’ll delve into the intricacies of interviews, unveiling effective tricks and preparation strategies for any interview scenario. Engage in an interactive setting as we dissect the overall interview experience, discuss common interview scenarios, and share insights on what to do during critical moments. Join this hybrid workshop series either in person in room 206 Egan or through Zoom.

Library Webinar: 10 Advanced EndNote Features
2024-02-15 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Learn how you can use EndNote’s advanced features to make the most of this high-level citation tool.
Note: use of Northeastern’s institutional EndNote subscription requires a Northeastern or NCH London username and password. This webinar is not open to non-Northeastern users.
Registration is required. Register here.
All the times of the webinars are in EST.
You will receive the Zoom link for this webinar one hour before the event.
Related LibGuide: EndNote

LinkedIn, CV, Resume: A CommLab Workshop Series
2024-02-14 14:00 - 15:00, 2024-02-07 14:00 - 15:00, 2024-01-31 14:00 - 15:00 | 206 Egan, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Join our empowering LinkedIn, CV, and Resume Workshop series any Wednesday from 2 pm to 3 pm ET. This collaborative space offers valuable tips and peer feedback to enhance your online profile and professional presence. This is a community learning initiative, and together, we strive to make our profiles better. Join this hybrid workshop series either in person in room 206 Egan or through Zoom.

Library Webinar: Getting Started with RefWorks
2024-02-14 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Are you tired of losing track of your research sources? Need help adding citations to your research papers? Attend this webinar to learn how to get started with RefWorks, an online citation management program that will allow you to collect and organize references and help you cite them in your papers. This session will cover:

how to create a RefWorks account
how to add references to your RefWorks library
how to organize and edit your library of references
how to add RefWorks citations to Word documents and Google Docs

Registration is required. Register here.
All the times of the webinars are in EST.
You will receive the Zoom link for this webinar via email one hour before the event.
Related LibGuide: RefWorks

Chemical Engineering Spring Seminar Series: Angela Chen
2024-02-14 12:00 - 13:00 | 103 Churchill, 103 Churchill Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Engineering Microbial Communication for Sustainable Agriculture
Agriculture and the global food system accounts for ~30% of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, developing sustainable agricultural technologies is essential for combating and mitigating the effects of climate change. Microbes like bacteria and fungi play pivotal roles in agriculture and food security through complex interactions with plant hosts, other microorganisms, and their surroundings. Consequently, my research aims to investigate how these inter-species and cross-kingdom relationships could be ideal engineering targets for addressing current agricultural challenges. In this seminar, I will present my work showcasing the power of RNA and nanotechnology in manipulating microbial interactions with the environment and plant hosts. In the first part of my talk, I will examine how microbes respond to environmental stresses and the use of regulatory RNAs as a genetic platform to manipulate bacterial metal reduction capabilities for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles with unique and enhanced functionality. Following this, I will then discuss host-microbe interactions and how exploiting RNA-based communication between fungal pathogens and plant hosts can inform next-generation, nanoparticle-based strategies for plant disease control. Together, these studies illustrate how understanding and controlling microbial communication will pave the way for new sustainable strategies for reducing agricultural chemical dependence, improving plant health, and enabling bioremediation technologies.

Angela Chen is a USDA-NIFA AFRI Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology at UC Riverside. Under Prof. Hailing Jin, she investigates the mechanisms of cross-kingdom RNA trafficking between plants and fungal pathogens to develop nanomaterials for RNAi-based disease control. Prior to UC Riverside, she received her B.S. in chemical engineering from the Ohio State University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. As an NSF Graduate Research Fellow with Profs. Lydia Contreras and Benjamin Keitz, she focused on engineering regulatory RNAs in extremophilic bacteria to control bacterial stress response for materials science applications. Outside of research, Angela is passionate about educating and empowering the next generation of engineers, having earned a Graduate Certification in Engineering Education. She is also the President of the Riverside Postdoctoral Association, where she leads initiatives focused on supporting postdocs and broadening STEM access through the creation of diverse and inclusive academic environments.

BioE Faculty Search Seminar
2024-02-14 12:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-07 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Join the Department of Bioengineering for weekly faculty seminars in 458 Richards Hall (unless otherwise stated).
1/17: Justin Randall, PhD
1/24: Jean-Baptiste Lugagne, PhD
1/31: Tianqi Song, PhD
2/7: Katheryn Rothenberg, PhD
2/14: Jae-Won Shin, PhD
2/21: Heidi Klumpe, PhD
Friday, 3/1, in International Village 019: Kolade Adebowale, PhD

Movie Screening of Hidden Figures
2024-02-13 17:00 - 20:00 | 333 CSC, 360 Huntington Ave, 333 CSC, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Join us to watch Hidden Figures & discuss intersectionality, science, misogynoir, and resistance. Please RSVP so we can plan for seating & refreshments!
Tuesday, February 13th from 5pm-8pm
Curry Student Center 333
This event is a collaboration between COS, Bouvé, COE, and Khoury College.
Register

Library Webinar: Getting Started with EndNote
2024-02-13 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Learn how you can use EndNote to save and organize references from databases, web sources and the library catalog, and to quickly create citations and bibliographies while you write.
Note: use of Northeastern’s institutional EndNote subscription requires a Northeastern or NCH London username and password. This workshop is not open to non-Northeastern users.
Registration is required. Register here.
All the times of the webinars are in EST.
You will receive the Zoom link for this webinar one hour before the event.
Related LibGuide: Citations and Bibliographies

Chemical Engineering Spring Seminar Series: Leslie Shor
2024-02-09 12:00 - 13:00 | 102 ISEC, 360 Huntington Ave, 102 ISEC, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
The “Root” of the Nexus: Soil-Based Biotechnology for a Sustainable Future
The function of any biological system depends on local environmental conditions. For bacterial systems, micro-scale structures including the chemical properties and physical topography of surfaces, micro-scale chemical gradients, and patterns of biological distribution impact the diversity, abundance, and activity of microbial communities. However, conventional microbial culture systems do not faithfully emulate microbial habitats; thus, also cannot reflect realistic functionality of microbial systems. The Shor lab designs, builds, and operates emulated microbial habitats to better understand microbial system function. Recent applications include soil-emulating micromodels to accelerate the development of agriculture biotechnology. Emulated soil micromodels (ESMs) systematically replicate physical, chemical, and biological features while at the same time enabling direct, real-time observation of biological responses. ESMs enable systematic hypothesis-driven research of rhizosphere processes and make the development of agriculture biotechnology less time-consuming, expensive, and difficult. Our work has shown that the microbe-extracellular matrix system in porous media can double evaporative resistance and dramatically improve system resiliency, but this functionality is only realized in realistic pore-scale geometries. We have also used ESMs to screen microbes for sustainable agriculture applications and shown viable performance in subsequent full-scale testing. With the loom of climate change and its increasing demands on our water and food systems, there will be rapidly-increasing demand for more productive and cost-effective sustainable agriculture technology, including food production technology that also provides reliable and safe terrestrial carbon sequestration. This talk will illustrate how fundamental chemical engineering concepts and methods applied to soils can make important contributions towards a more sustainable future.

Leslie Shor mentors an interdisciplinary team working at the intersection of chemical engineering, microbiology, and advanced manufacturing. The focus of her research work is developing biotechnology based on soil microbes to enhance sustainable food production.
She is the PI of an EFRI project on separation and elimination of microplastics from treated wastewater effluent. She is active in education, mentoring, and outreach initiatives aimed at increasing diversity in STEM and enhancing human welfare through high-tech innovation. Shor earned her BA in Environmental Sciences and Chemistry (double-major) from the University of Virginia, and her PhD in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University. Prior to coming to UConn, she was a research assistant professor at Vanderbilt University. In 2018 she spent six months at the University of Adelaide in South Australia as a visiting faculty member in the School of Chemical Engineering.

Spring 2024 Benedict College Annual Career & Graduate School Fair
2024-02-09 10:00 - 13:00 | MA
COE Graduate Admissions will be attending the Career & Graduate School Fair at Benedict Morehouse College in Columbia, SC! We will be meeting Morehouse students and helping answer questions about our graduate engineering programs across the U.S. and Canada from 10 AM to 1:00 PM on Friday, February 9th. We look forward to meeting you there!

Library Webinar: Getting Started with Mendeley
2024-02-08 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Are you interested in learning how to better organize your PDFs and research sources? Using Mendeley can help you become more organized and efficient throughout the research process: from when you first begin to explore your topic to when you are adding citations to your paper. In this online session, you will learn how to download Mendeley and set up an account, organize your research sources and PDFs, annotate PDFs, and create in-text citations and bibliographies.
This workshop is at 12:00pm Eastern Time.
Register at bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops.
You will receive the Zoom link for this webinar via email one hour before the event.

Library Webinar: Introduction to Citation Managers
2024-02-07 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Learn how to manage your references, organize your research and quickly create citations and bibliographies using a citation management program. The session will cover: an introduction to EndNote, Refworks, Zotero and Mendeley; similarities and differences between different citation management programs; how to choose the right citation manager for you; and how to install and use a citation manager.
This workshop is at 12:00pm Eastern Time.
Register at bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops.
You will receive the Zoom link for this webinar via email one hour before the event.

Chemical Engineering Spring Seminar Series: Benjamin Decardi-Nelson
2024-02-07 12:00 - 13:00 | 103 Churchill, 103 Churchill Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Optimal Control as a Catalyst for Smart and Sustainable Systems
Sustainability is crucial in modern engineering, particularly in chemical and biological systems. It involves the use of sustainable resources and the development of environmentally friendly, smart, and efficient systems that minimize waste and optimize resource use. Central to engineering smart, sustainable systems is optimal control. However, integrating optimal control technologies into these systems is challenging due to the complexity of managing large-scale, constrained, nonlinear, and interconnected subsystems, particularly under uncertain conditions. In this talk, I will introduce a series of optimal control technologies that contribute to smarter and more efficient systems, enhancing their sustainability. Specifically, I will discuss the development and application of (1) model predictive control and (2) reinforcement learning, which are instrumental in engineering systems that use minimal resources and generate less waste. I will also demonstrate how optimal control is pivotal in advancing sustainable food production in urban areas through the integration of renewable energy and efficient resource management. These advances in optimal control are critical in developing smart, sustainable systems and are essential for a sustainable future.

Benjamin Decardi-Nelson is an Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow in Systems Engineering at Cornell University. Benjamin’s research interest in Process Systems Engineering centers around developing novel computational tools to improve the analysis, design and control of complex processes and systems, with the overarching goal of sustainability. Prior to joining Cornell, he earned his PhD in Process Control from the University of Alberta, where he developed efficient algorithms and large-scale optimization models for integrated real-time economic optimization and advanced process control of nonlinear process systems. At Cornell, Benjamin integrates biology-informed AI with optimization to decarbonize future food systems through implicit learning of plant-environment interactions, and renewable energy integration. His work has been recognized by the Schmidt AI in Science postdoctoral fellowship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) postdoctoral fellowship, among others.

2024 Morehouse College Career & Graduate School Fair
2024-02-06 13:00 - 18:00 | MA
COE Graduate Admissions will be attending the Career & Graduate School Fair at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia! We will be meeting Morehouse students and helping answer questions about our graduate engineering programs across the U.S. and Canada from 1pm-6pm on February 6th. We look forward to meeting you there!

Library Webinar: Introduction to Citation Managers
2024-02-06 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Learn how to manage your references, organize your research and quickly create citations and bibliographies using a citation management program. The session will cover: an introduction to EndNote, Refworks, Zotero and Mendeley; similarities and differences between different citation management programs; how to choose the right citation manager for you; and how to install and use a citation manager.
This workshop is at 12:00pm Eastern Time.
Register at bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops.
You will receive the Zoom link for this webinar via email one hour before the event.
Related LibGuide: Citations and Bibliographies

ChemE Department Town Hall
2024-02-06 12:00 - 13:00 | MA
Join Chair and Professor Rebecca Willits of the Chemical Engineering Department as she provides updates and information about classes and the Department of Chemical Engineering.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Building up Quantum Science and Technology
2024-02-02 11:00 - 12:00 | MA
The College of Science, College of Engineering, and Quantum Materials and Sensing Institute (QMSI) invite you to a joint special colloquium.
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Building up Quantum Science and Technology
Friday, 2nd Feb, 2024; 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Hosts: Arun Bansil and Matteo Rinaldi
Zoom meeting
Quantum science and technology hold the promise to deepen our understanding of the universe and deliver groundbreaking technical innovations. The opportunity also poses a grand challenge to today’s scientists and engineers because initializing, controlling, manipulating, and measuring the quantum information while maintaining the coherence and entanglement can be very difficult. Therefore, successfully achieving breakthroughs would require an interdisciplinary approach that leverages resources from various disciplines to forge new pathways which cannot be defined by a singular field of study.
In this talk, I will share my interdisciplinary adventure through quantum material and quantum device landscapes. We will start from the study of fundamental characteristics of Dirac and topological materials, and then focus on the material physics that we can exploit to invent single-photon detectors. We will further explore how to utilize the novel properties of the two-dimensional van der Waals materials to miniaturize qubits and develop quantum-noise-limited amplifiers. And finally, we will turn around to apply what we learn from quantum sensing to study the pairing symmetry of novel superconductivities, including the topological Weyl superconductors. We will end by elucidating how to harness the kinetic inductance of these novel superconductors for future flight-missions to explore planetary science and the origins of life.

Dr. Kin Chung Fong is a Senior Scientist at RTX BBN (Cambridge, MA) and a Research Associate at Physics Department, Harvard University. His interdisciplinary research focuses on quantum materials and their applications. KC also studies how to exploit these quantum sensors to investigate the hydrodynamic physics in the nearly perfect fluid, reveal the pairing symmetry of novel superconductors, search for the dark matter axion, and explore the origins of life from the early universe. In addition to his substantial publications in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, he is also a prolific inventor with >10 granted patents. His innovation has been recognized with the Raytheon Intelligence & Space Innovators Award in 2020 and 2022. KC received his PhD from Ohio State University and served his postdocs at Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and Caltech.

Poster Design and Content: A CommLab Workshop Series
2024-01-31 17:00 - 18:00 | MA
The CommLab will host a three-part workshop series for poster design to focus on crafting the best visual communication of your research! With the upcoming PhD Research Expo, we will discuss techniques and implement communication strategies to successfully showcase your work. Join us for the first installment on Wednesday, January 24th from 5:00-6:00 PM in Curry Student Center 336 and on Zoom. Also join us on Wednesday, January 31 to polish your poster and on February 21 to practice your poster pitch. See you there!
