Virginia Tech’s motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), inspires our work here, as exemplified by many ongoing projects and new initiatives at the ARI.     ~Saifur Rahman, ARI Director and Professor

A professor of electrical engineering at the Alexandria Research Institute has received a US patent for the design of a flat plate antenna.

Dr. Amir Zaghloul, professor of electrical engineering, received US Patent #6,462,711 for “Multi-Layer Flat Plate Antenna with Low-Cost material and High-Conductivity Additive Processing.”

The subject of the patent is to reduce costs by using a new circuit printing technique that uses highly conductive material.  As a result, the cost of manufacturing the flat antenna became competitive with that of the conventional dish.

The 2nd Northern Virginia Faculty Research Seminar was held at the Alexandria Research Institute (ARI) March 12, 2003.  The seminar included presentations about two ARI research projects—Digital Library Network for Engineering and Technology (DLNET) and geothermal heat pumps. The seminar also included a presentation that discussed  the opportunities in advanced transportation systems and civil infrastructure engineering.

Presenters included: Saifur Rahman, ARI director and ECE professor (DLNET); George Hagerman, ARI grants and proposals manager and researcher (geothermal heat pumps); and John Collura, professor and director of the Advanced Transportation System and Civil Infrastructure, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (civil engineering).

The first presentation discussed the purpose and the objectives of DLNET, a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project. DLNET is a partner in the NSDL federation hosting and managing an Engineering and Technology collection for use by practicing engineers and technologists.

Some of DLNET’s objectives include providing a platform to facilitate information search and retrieval, and to facilitate lifelong learning and continuing education for practicing engineers and technologists by developing a specialized collection of engineering and technology related learning resources.

The second presentation focused on the use of geothermal heat pumps (GHP) for Virginia schools. The project is funded by the Department of Energy, DoE.  Its goal is to facilitate the design and installation of GHP systems to condition an additional one million square feet of school space in Virginia. This project may include three to four large secondary schools, or ten to twelve primary schools or a combination.

The concluding presentation, given by Collura, depicted information about the Charles E. Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Advanced Transportation Systems and Civil Infrastructure Engineering Program.

The program will establish a certificate curriculum in transportation focus areas, increase the number of full time transportation faculty and adjunct professors, and enhance research opportunities and outreach activities with public and private sectors in Northern Virginia.

To view the presentations, please visit: http://www.ari.vt.edu/FR_Seminar.htm

Participants of the Faculty Research Seminar

Representatives from the Alexandria Research Institute (ARI) will participate in the Northern Virginia Research Exposition Thursday, April 17, 2003 from 3 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the Northern Virginia Graduate Center in room 214.

ARI presenters include faculty and graduate students from the electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and industrial and systems engineering departments. The expo will also include a display from a Virginia Tech special initiative, the Institute for World Disaster Risk Management (DRM).

The purpose of the exposition is to showcase the research being done in Northern Virginia by faculty, staff and special research units.

Seven categories will be represented, including:  Architecture & Urban Planning, Business Administration, Computer Science, Engineering, Human Resources and Education, Natural Resources and Science & Tech Studies.

Charles Steger, president of Virginia Tech, and Mark McNamee, university provost, have been invited to speak at the program.

The expo is jointly sponsored by the International Institute for Information Technology and the Northern Virginia Graduate Student Assembly.

For a list of projects including abstracts, please visit:  abstracts.htm 

A Multi-Layer Flat Plate Antenna created using

Zaghloul's patent