Many graduate students do more than earn a degree during their stay at Carolina--they also take part in projects that reach beyond the University.
For instance, each year the Department of Operations Research in the College of Arts and Sciences matches graduate students with area organizations that ask for help solving problems. The department specializes in studying the most efficient use of resources in large-scale operations.
Using mathematical models and computers, researchers gather information about an organization's operating environment, calculate the efficiencies of various management options and provide guidelines for decisions about scheduling, routing, and other operational issues.
Last semester, operations research master's student Amy Buege helped develop a more efficient pumping strategy for the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA).
Because the electricity used to pump water from reservoirs to OWASA's holding tanks can cost hundreds of dollars each day, OWASA staff asked for help figuring out how to hold down costs while ensuring the community was able to get the necessary water.
Buege realized that pumping water at a constant rate throughout the day was not very efficient since during the peak hours of use electricity costs three times as much as it does during hours of lower usage.
"Right now, they pump pretty much according to need," Buege explained. "And the hours of greatest need are often the hours when electricity is most expensive."
Buege mapped out a daily pumping strategy for OWASA to pump at a minimum level during hours of high electrical cost, then pump to capacity during the rest of the day. Her plan also allows for flexibility during times of higher or lower demand, such as when students leave for spring break or when a heat wave prompts people to use more water.
"Amy did a fantastic job," said William "Ed" Kerwin Jr., executive director of OWASA. "Her technical work as well as her interactions with our staff were excellent, all of which should allow us to work a little smarter and save our customers some money."
Another project, led by Elizabeth Bullitt, associate professor of neurosurgery, involves faculty and graduate students from computer science and radiology as well as neurosurgery.
The project aims to improve the ability to visualize blood vessels in the brain for use in planning surgeries, said Stephen Aylward, research assistant professor of radiology. Aylward worked on the project while he was a doctoral student in computer science this past spring.
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computer technology, the researchers have been developing a three-dimensional representation of the vessels in the brain. The image then can be displayed on a computer screen and viewed at different angles so surgeons can find the best way to surgically approach and correct problems such as dangerous blood vessel bulges called aneurysms, Aylward said.
Bullitt explained that the representation is better than older ones because it can be viewed on a standard personal computer and allows more control over what is seen.
MRI technology alone gives only limited information about the vessels in the brain. Now Alan Liu, a doctoral student in computer science, is working on the next step--combining information from MRIs and X-ray angiograms to create a more detailed picture of the blood vessels. An angiogram is an X-ray of blood vessels made visible by dye injected into the bloodstream.
The work of these graduate students is not unique.
Other graduate students in computer science are involved in life outside the University through fellowships at private companies such as IBM or Intel, said Stephen Weiss, chairman of the Department of Computer Science. Such a fellowship might involve working one day a week to develop software.
"The students learn what the corporate world is like," Weiss said. "It's a different world out there."
These fellowships are part of a relationship the computer science department maintains with private companies, which often can bring the University's work to a broader audience, he said.
"We may provide companies with experimental software, not as a product, but as something they can use for minimal cost in order to get our work used," Weiss said. "It's our feeling that it's important to provide valuable experience for our students and get our work into the real world."
FYI Research provided by Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Research.
Writer: Angela Spivey
Editor: Neil Caudle
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