Lu Peng
Associate Professor,
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Associate Professor,
Electrical & Computer Engineering
LSU'S Biweekly Newsletter for Faculty & Staff
November 17, 2006 |
VOL. 23, NO. 7 |
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| Lu Peng Associate Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering |
What was your previous position and where?
I was a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
What is your research interest?
Computer Architecture, Architectural Support for Computer Security, System Performance Analysis
What do you hope to accomplish at LSU?
I hope to build a strong research group in my research area.
Meanwhile, I will try to establish a solid record for my career.
What do you enjoy the most about LSU?
I enjoy the flexible atmosphere at LSU. I can work on my
research topics and offer interesting classes to students.
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| Michael Desmond |
LSU Architecture Professor Michael Desmond has received a $180,000 grant from the Getty Foundation to study and develop a comprehensive preservation plan for 19 historic structures on the LSU campus.
The Campus Heritage Grant, one of more than a dozen awarded by the Getty Foundation in 2006, will fund the two-year project. It will include an inventory and documentation of the nearly 80-year-old buildings that comprised the original LSU quadrangle, as well as a condition assessment of each one. It will culminate with the unveiling of a blueprint for maintaining and preserving the historic structures. That blueprint will be prominently displayed on campus during the 2008 football season.
“This is a unique campus and its historic importance has been obscured over the years,” said Desmond, who will conduct most of his research between semesters and during the summer. “There is a beautiful set of formal architectural relationships here that have been lost over the years.”
The original quadrangle was designed in the 1920s by the Olmsted Brothers and is renowned for its symbolism and classic Beaux-Arts style. It featured an unobstructed view from Atkinson Hall, then the Engineering School, to Foster Hall, formerly the student union, and from Hill Memorial Library, which was modeled after the Boston Public Library, to the bell tower, which was created as a World War I memorial.
“There are four divergent architectural faces, and they are all representational and symbolic,” Desmond said. “We lost it when they constructed Middleton Library.”
Desmond’s study will include an inventory and analysis of the windows and exterior doors of each of the buildings in the original quad. It will also include an inventory of all the cracks in the exteriors of the buildings, which were constructed using a stucco that lacked expansion joints.
“This will give the university a tool that they can use to help itemize and prioritize the repair of these cracks,” he said.
The final part of the project will focus on the landscaping around the quad. No original landscaping plans exist, so Desmond will have to conduct extensive archival research to determine what was planted over the years and when.
“This will give us a script to work against so if you want to choose different plant materials you have a reference, something to give you a consistent palate,” he said.
LSU was one of 13 universities to receive a Campus Heritage Grant from the Getty Foundation in 2006. The program was created in 2002 to assist colleges and universities in managing and preserving the integrity of their significant historic buildings, sites and landscapes.
Churches took on unprecedented relief roles for the tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina and Rita evacuees by providing shelter, meals, money and spiritual comfort.
A study just released by LSU’s School of Social Work provides the lessons churches learned from experience as storm shelters and aid providers and the sermon messages given. As one of the first disaster studies on churches, the results are important. The study found that churches and other nonprofit organizations successfully supplemented government shelters.
In the event of future disasters of any kind, other churches across the nation will have the benefit of learning from Baton Rouge’s experiences, said Daphne Cain, the study’s primary investigator and an LSU social work professor.
“At a time when everything was failing, the churches stepped up and did a good job,” Cain said. “I don’t think churches have ever been called upon so heavily. They did and continue to do all they can with altruism. People turn to churches because it’s working.”
Although churches were not prepared for the crisis, many churches were the first true responders and continued to provide help for months after the storm, according to the study. The investigators hope that all community leaders will use the information to develop comprehensive disaster plans that will facilitate communication with and between churches. Churches were highly productive in the critical time before and immediately after the storm’s landfall because of their abundance of volunteers and lack of red tape.
The LSU Public Policy Research Laboratory administered the social work survey, “Tangible and Spiritual Relief after the Storm: The Religious Community’s Response to Katrina,” to more than 600 churches in the area. A total of 157 churches responded. LSU’s School of Social Work provided a $1,000 grant to fund the study. The PPRL is a collaborative effort of the Manship School of Mass Communication’s Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs and the E. J. Ourso College of Business.
Juan Barthelemy, an LSU social work professor, ensured the survey obtained fair representation by obtaining a sampling from each of the many faiths’ denominations.
The results are also important in terms of disaster funding because more than 86 percent of surveyed churches provided aid. They afforded relief efforts primarily with congregation donations and by dipping into church budgets. Less than 10 percent of the churches received any federal or state relief aid, but of those that did, 91 percent reported satisfaction with the aid.
“We did not have any idea what we were getting ourselves into, but we knew that doing nothing was not an option,” said one respondent from a Baptist church in Central, La. “ I called ministers from [the larger but full] churches and told them that we could house about 100 and that we had electricity.”
Lessons Learned for Greater Good
Many churches were filled to capacity and struggled to find enough usable shelter space and to provide shower facilities, communication lines and basics not received through donations, such as socks. As the days and weeks and even months passed after the storm, many churches struggled to continue to provide for the growing needs with depleting finances and volunteers.
“We provided over 60,000 hot meals [and] supported several other shelters in our area,” said a respondent from a Full Gospel church in Baton Rouge. “We staged truckloads of provisions to New Orleans, Gulfport, Ocean Springs, Waveland and surrounding areas.”
The surveyed churches suggested a major need for leadership, communication and coordination within and between religious denominations and churches in the immediate area. Such coordination would enable each church to know what other churches can do in order to make appropriate referrals and avoid costly and ineffective duplications of services.
They suggested having a disaster plan that details how the church will handle supplies, donations and volunteer efforts. The biggest advice offered in the survey was to identify church members with technology expertise to help people reunite using database and Internet searches.
Messages of Restoration and Volunteering Blessings
Churches also provided the kind of care that no other organization could – namely, spiritual aid and comfort. The themes and messages offered by church leaders were similar across all denominations. Many churches responded that they used examples of Bible verses referencing restoration, rebuilding, rising up and repairing the foundations.
Leaders pushed congregations to do more volunteer work in surrounding communities by emphasizing how the church’s purpose is to help and to be there for the people.
Many shelter volunteers from Baton Rouge suffered stress from housing evacuees, struggling with post-disaster inconveniences and having grief over Louisiana’s devastation.
Cain wondered if the obstacles faced at her own church, a small synagogue struggling with limited space and finances, might be typical for Baton Rouge.
“I wanted to record the information so that it could be analyzed and used to help others in future disasters,” Cain said. “I got a sense that the churches felt blessed by the experience.”
The Economic Perspective
A separate study on Katrina’s economic aftermath concurred with the social work results. GulfGov Reports showed that nonprofit and faith-based organizations filled a tremendous gap left by government response. However, many nonprofits overburdened themselves and had difficulty with coordination. The report suggests integrating nonprofit disaster response plans with the state and local disaster response plans.
“Nonprofits can provide some of the things the government can provide plus some the things they can’t,” said Jim Richardson, a GulfGov adviser and LSU Public Administration Institute director. “Maybe nonprofit organizations can pick up the slack in the meantime because they did well in terms of helping people after the storms and in being the first true responders.”
Chief among the matters discussed as a recommendation to approve a $1,693,029,070 request for the 2007-08 LSU system budget. The budget figure represents a 23-percent increase from the 2006-07 budget.
The board’s flagship committee also discussed a proposal to build a new Armed Forces Reserve Center at the current site of LSU’s Fire & Emergency Training Center on Highway 30. The site appeals to the Armed Forces due to its close proximity to a major state highway, railroad line and the Mississippi River. It would also help build a closer relationship between the Armed Forces Reserve and LSU’s Reserve Officer Training Corps program. No actions were taken on the proposal, as discussions continue with the Armed Forces on the specifics.
The board also approved the reauthorization of the LSU Center for Geoinformatics. Center Director Roy Dokka addressed the board about the importance of the center’s work. “What we do is something that every citizen in Louisiana benefits from,” said Dokka, explaining how the center uses Global Positioning System data from 30 satellite stations for geological surveys of every kind within the state.
“We are the legal authority on determining positions within this state,” he said.
The center, founded in 2001 and reauthorized for another five years, also does research on highway construction, coastal erosion and the building of levees.
Other actions approved by the board include:
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| The 2006-2007 Staff Senate Executive Committee from left to right are Past President Brenda Macon, President Carolyn Landry, President Elect Tim Fields, Secretary Sharon Gonzales and Members-at-Large Judy Collins and Joanne McMullen. |
The LSU Staff Senate continues to work for every staff employee and has several projects in progress that should benefit all staff. As one immediate example, through the work of the Staff Senate, parking fees for employees paid biweekly are now split over two paychecks instead of being deducted only from the first check of the month. Also, our committees have been working on a number of issues.
The Budget and Finance and Governmental Relations Committees are working together to learn more about how we can best represent LSU personnel both within and outside the university.
The Classified Committee has been researching crisis-leave policies at peer institutions to learn about new ideas for this worthwhile employee-assistance program. It has also reviewed incentives, such as the Charles Dunbar Award, that are available to recognize outstanding achievements by Civil Service employees. And it’s also working with the Professional Committee to look for ways to update and improve the university’s employee evaluation process.
The Professional Committee is sponsoring several professional-development seminars that will be open to all staff throughout the year. The first of these seminars will focus on emotional intelligence and is scheduled to be held in late November. More information will be forthcoming on this innovative offering.
The Scholarship Committee is working toward raising money to endow the Staff Senate Education Fund that aids LSU staff who are working toward degrees. The first award from this fund was made this fall. Of course, the committee also continues to raise funds for the Staff Senate Scholarship, which is awarded each year to the children of LSU staff members.
And the Holiday on Campus Committee is hard at work planning this year’s annual event, held at the Field House from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 5, immediately after the Candlelight Celebration at the Memorial Tower. This LSU tradition provides fun, food, entertainment, prizes and more for all LSU students, employees and their families, while benefitting the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program and the Baton Rouge Food Bank. A child’s admission to the event is a wrapped toy, and adult admission is a non-perishable food item.
The Staff Senate will continue to work for all LSU staff employees, but in order to be beneficial to them, senators need imput from the employees. Committee membership is open to any staff employee, and this will allow employees to have a voice in order to better the university and themselves. Being a member on committees or volunteering at events such as the Holiday on Campus is just the beginning. Committee membership isn’t the only way to help. Both the Scholarship and Education Funds need financial support, and contributions can be made directly to the LSU Foundation in a number of ways, including by payroll deduction. The payroll deduction form is available through the Staff Senate Web site. Perhaps easiest of all, staff employees can help colleagues who have medical crises by donating annual-leave hours to the crisis-leave pool. The form for making a donation of at least four and up to 240 annual-leave hours each year is available on the LSU Human Resource Management Web page.
For more information, visit the Staff Senate Web site at www.lsu.edu/staffsenate, e-mail staffsen@lsu.edu or call the Staff Senate office at 578-8566.
Elizabeth English, associate professor at the LSU Hurricane Center who was recently featured in Flagship Faculty, has found a simple and surprisingly affordable way for people to protect their homes against the dangers of flooding in New Orleans. It’s based on a concept called buoyant foundations, an idea as simple as making a house float.
English, working with a team of senior mechanical engineering students, has devised a way to retrofit houses with a flotation system that will keep them above water in a flood. Similar devices are already in use along the banks of the Raccourci Old River right here in Louisiana and as far away as the Netherlands and southeast Asia.
But English’s “amphibious” foundation system is unique. It is designed to be used for retrofitting existing houses, such as the “shotgun” style homes that are so plentiful in New Orleans. The design will be engineered to satisfy new building codes. It avoids many of the disadvantages that come with the more traditional method of elevating a house by lifting it high above the ground.
“There are so many issues, both obvious and not so apparent, that come with permanently elevating homes,” said English. Among them are significant expense and increased risk of wind damage, and such social issues as lack of convenience and accessibility, the loss of neighborhood character and the appearance of the structure if it were to be raised on stilts.
A home equipped with a buoyant foundation will remain low to the ground unless a flood occurs, in which case the house will rise as high as necessary to stay dry. Special flexible utility lines accommodate the change in elevation. Then, the house simply floats until the water recedes, with a vertical guidance system keeping it in place. And, when there is no flooding, the house looks essentially the same as it did before being retrofitted with a buoyant foundation.
English’s team hopes to secure enough funding to develop and begin testing a prototype as early as December of this year. They’ve recently received a donation of $2,500 from Innovative Technologies Group, or ITG, from West Virginia, but they’re in need of approximately $150,000 to support the project through completion.