Engineer visits homeland to decipher tsunami's secrets

H.J. Fernando traveled home to Sri Lanka recently, but it wasn’t a heart-warming trip spent only with family. Fernando, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering in the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, visited his homeland with a team of researchers in January to map out the effects of the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami.

The team gathered physical evidence of the aftermath of the disaster, interviewed survivors to obtain direct information on the tsunami, including the arrival time of the leading wave, gathered geological evidence such as scour and sediment deposits, and studied the structural damage that resulted from the disaster.

The goal for Fernando, who does wave research and operates a wave simulator at ASU, was to work back from that information to try to better understand exactly what happened when the tsunami hit. That information, in turn, will allow Fernando and his colleagues to gain a better scientific understanding of these waves and to improve the predictive capabilities of future tsunami warning systems.

“We want to know what the size and distribution of the wave impact was during the tsunami,” Fernando said. “By knowing that, we can see if currently available wave models are correct. If the model works, then the science behind it is correct, and if the wave model is correct, then we will have a good idea of how to develop a tsunami warning system for the region.”

Fernando’s group was one of two sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute sent to the region. The other team did similar work in assessing the tsunami’s impact in India.

For Fernando, who was born and raised in Sri Lanka and whose entire family still lives there, the journey back to his native land was more than a chance to do research. It included some time for him to be with family after one of the greatest natural disasters of our time. And it gave him the opportunity to leave something behind for his homeland in the years ahead — his research may lead to the development of a warning system that could be deployed to guard against future disasters.

Prestigious Scientific Society admits three from ASU

Three ASU faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an international scientific society. The three faculty members among an incoming class of 308 AAAS Fellows are: Jonathan Fink, vice president for research and economic affairs and a professor of geological sciences; Robert Blankenship, professor and chairman of ASU’s chemistry and biochemistry department; and Dale Baker, professor of curriculum and instruction.

Yzaguirre tapped to head community development center

Raul Yzaguirre, former president and chief executive officer of the National Council of La Raza, is pledging to strengthen ASU’s voice with his recent appointment as Presidential Professor of Practice in Community Development and Civil Rights at ASU.

Yzaguirre, considered one of the most widely recognized national leaders in the Hispanic community, will help create a center to be located at ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus that will focus on community development, education for practitioners, and academic scholarship in the form of dissertations, lectures and seminars at the university.

He will work with many of ASU’s programs that focus on the diverse community, including the Chicano/a Studies department, the College of Law, the psychology department, the Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management, and the College of Public Programs. Yzaguirre also plans to engage faculty members from the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict and schools under development by focusing on family and social dynamics, and community resources and development.

ASU, Army open Flexible Display Center

In a major effort to revolutionize its on-field command and information exchange, the United States Army has teamed up with ASU and opened the Flexible Display Center.

Flexible displays essentially are extremely thin computer screens. The systems will be integrated with computation, communications and global positioning subsystems to significantly enhance a soldier’s survival capability and effectiveness in battle.

The Flexible Display Center is the result of a $43.7 million, five-year cooperative agreement between the Army Research Laboratory and ASU. Although the Army provides core funding for the center, the center’s focus is on developing commercial applications. The 250,000-square-foot facility is located at the ASU Research Park in southern Tempe.

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Photos: Dave Tevis

Above photos: H. J. Fernando measures the impact of the tsunami on a Sri Lankan beach and at the site of a popular resort.

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