Two UB Professors Participate in National Conference of "Rising Star Engineers"

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Two University at Buffalo professors in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are participating in the 14th annual National Academy of Engineering 2008 "U.S. Frontiers of Engineering" symposium to be hosted Sept. 18-20 by Sandia National Laboratories at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

The purpose of the symposium, sponsored by the NAE, is to highlight the next generation of innovators by bringing together engineers ages 30 to 45 who are performing exceptional engineering research and technical work.

Ann M. Bisantz, Ph.D., associate professor of industrial and systems engineering, is one of 15 engineers invited to address the symposium. Her talk, "Cognitive Engineering Applications in Health Care," has been selected to appear in the NAE's quarterly publication, The Bridge.

Mark T. Swihart, Ph.D., professor of chemical and biological engineering, was invited to attend the symposium, one of approximately 80 engineers selected from more than 230 applicants nominated by colleagues or organizations.

"The U.S. Frontiers of Engineering program brings some of the country's rising-star engineers, from a diverse range of disciplines, together for an exchange of ideas that will surely help contribute to keeping us at the forefront of technological advancement and may even spark a breakthrough that changes the way we live," said NAE President Charles M. Vest.

In her talk, Bisantz will talk about how cognitive engineering analyses can enhance the ways that information, tasks and training can be designed, improving the ability of health-care practitioners to respond to their diverse and unpredictable environments.

Bisantz, a UB faculty member since 1997, earned her doctorate at Georgia Institute of Technology. The recipient of a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, she conducts research on human interaction with technology by modeling dynamic decision-making and studying the use of technology in communicating uncertainty to decision-makers. She studies how the introduction of computer technology into Emergency Departments in busy, urban hospitals affects the work of health-care providers. She also is funded by defense organizations to study complex decision-making in military applications.

Bisantz has attended and organized a previous Frontiers in Engineering Symposium. She was recognized with a Young Investigator Award from UB and she serves on several editorial boards. Currently, she is program chair for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society's Cognitive Engineering and Decision-making Technical Group and co-editor of "Applications of Cognitive Work Analysis" (forthcoming, fall 2008). She lives in Buffalo.

Mark T. Swihart, Ph.D., professor of chemical and biological engineering at UB, conducts research on the synthesis and application of nanoparticles and the application of chemical engineering science to understand and improve processes by which these materials are prepared.

His lab focuses on the synthesis, surface modification and applications of nanomaterials; understanding of chemical nucleation and growth of aerosol particles; high-temperature chemical reactions; applications of luminescent silicon nanoparticles and detailed chemical kinetic, fluid dynamic and aerosol dynamic modeling of high temperature vapor phase materials processing. His research has been primarily funded by the National Science Foundation, with additional support from the Civilian Research and Development Foundation and industry.

Swihart, a UB faculty member since 1998, is director of the UB 2020 Strategic Initiative in Integrated Nanostructured Systems. He is a recipient of the J.B. Wagner Young Investigator Award from the High Temperature Materials division of the Electrochemical Society and the Kenneth Whitby Award from the American Association of Aerosol Research. He has been selected twice as "Professor of the Year" by undergraduates in his department and he has been honored by the McNair Scholars program and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. He earned his doctorate from the University of Minnesota. He is a resident of Williamsville.

Bisantz and Swihart have received past funding from the UB Office of the Vice President for Research.