August 2010

Banner photo: Brian Fairchild and his father Elliot participate in the recent "Engineering is a Family Affair" summer academy. See article below.

Time lapse video of construction

Want to watch five months of construction work in less than two minutes?  We’ve created a time lapse video from the Engineering Eye in the Sky Web cam.  See the amazing progress being made on the construction of the Discovery Learning Complex.

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Awards to biomedical engineering students

Dr. Laura Ellwein , a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded a two-year $90,772 Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association - Midwest Affiliate for her proposal titled Translating NIRS O2 saturation data for the noninvasive prediction of spatial and temporal hemodynamics during exercise.

Dr. Ellwein's collaborators on the proposal from Marquette are Dr. John LaDisa, assistant professor of biomedical engineering; Dr. Sheila Shindler-Ivens, assistant professor of physical therapy; and Dr. Stephen Merrill, professor of mathematics. Margaret Samyn M.D., associate professor of pediatrics and Michael Danduran M.S., clinical exercise physiologist, both from Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, are also collaborators for the investigation.

Hongfeng “Nick” Wang was awarded the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad by China's Scholarship Council. This award is intended to assist exceptional students who are not supported by the Chinese government. Nick is a doctoral student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering working in the laboratory of John LaDisa Ph.D.

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Marquette engineering receives Innovation Generation grant

The Office of Enrollment Management and Engineering Outreach received $48,200 as part of the Innovation Generation grant program from the Motorola Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Inc. Through the grant, Marquette will partner with the YMCA of Greater Milwaukee for a young women’s engineering program called iHEELS (Innovative Hands-On Engineering Experiences for Ladies of STEM) that will reach over 120 middle and high school underserved women.

Since 2005, the Motorola Foundation’s signature Innovation Generation program seeks to boost American students’ engagement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through funding, employee volunteers and intra-grantee collaboration. Building on President Barack Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign and federal initiatives like the Race to the Top Fund, the program provides $7.5 million to K-12 programs across the United States, including Marquette, to support hands-on, innovative after-school programs, science and math clubs, teacher training and mentoring programs.

Motorola’s support extends beyond funding alone. Marquette will receive ongoing support from a Motorola employee through the company’s “Innovators” employee volunteer program, which utilizes the expertise of Motorola’s workforce to inspire the next generation of inventors. We’re now part of the Innovation Generation network, where we can create vital connections with hundreds of other organizations with the common vision to make a greater impact on STEM education.

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Engineering students in service to others

This past spring two engineering students acted upon their commitment to service and traveled to Haiti on medical service trips.

Lauren Eno, a junior in biomedical engineering, spent her spring break working as a biomedical technician in Pignon, Haiti.  Lauren traveled as part of a Project Haiti, inc. mission to Haiti to work in Hôpital Biénfaisance, a 65 bed surgical and trauma hospital.  Specifically, Lauren put her engineering skills to the test getting a donated x-ray processor installed and operational.  Her first steps were to find a similar working processor here in Milwaukee to learn everything she possibly could about its installation and operation.  Dr. Edward Standick at Milwaukee Area Technical College has this processor in his lab and graciously helped Lauren learn about the equipment. 

Then it was off to Haiti.  Pignon is located in Haiti’s central plateau and did not suffer any damage in the recent earthquake.  However, everyday life there is filled with the challenges of hunger, malnutrition, limited infrastructure and extreme poverty.  The hospital runs on a generator which is turned off at 9 p.m., there is limited privacy – patient beds are often in hallways and there are no life support services available.  Lauren’s work to make a ground wire for the x-ray processor involved a three-hour trip outside of Pignon to find wire.  The great news is that the processor is up and running, providing another tool in the efforts to provide medical care to the people of Pignon. 

Getting to know the wonderfully friendly people of Pignon, scrubbing in and observing a Caesarean-section and spending time with children in a local orphanage were the highlights of her time in Haiti.  Perhaps the most enduring result of this trip for Lauren is that it helped her to find a direction for her career as a biomedical engineer.  Haiti and other countries in the developing world receive many donations of medical equipment that simply sit unused because of the need for skills; infrastructure, electrical service and water; and replacement parts to get the equipment installed and operating.  Lauren hopes to put her MU education to work ensuring that donated medical equipment in the developing world is able to be installed and used to provide improved medical care to local people.

Hôpital Biénfaisance - Pignon, Haiti

Tom Evans, a senior in biomedical engineering who also works as an EMS for the City of Milwaukee, traveled to Haiti with a medical mission from the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee’s Haiti Project.  The mission traveled to Miragoane, a western coastal city severely damaged by the January earthquake bringing medical supplies and their medical training and skills. 

The group found a chaotic situation at the hospital in Miragoane, with a medical staff consisting of three registered nurses. Experiences included seeing extremely ill and dying patients lay on cots in the open air;extremely limited or nonexisten medication and supplies; patients and family members begging for help; and armed guards patrolling the hospital.  The members of the mission spent the majority of their time working at the hospital in Miragoane.   Tom also put his engineering skills to work rebuilding a cistern wall at an earthquake-damaged school. 

Tom’s experience changed his life.  He was motivated to go to Haiti because he hoped to make a difference and found that the real difference was made in his life.  Life in Miragoane is very different from life in Milwaukee. The clean water, electricity and medical care we enjoy every day are often not available to the people of Miragoane, especially after the recent devastating earthquakes.  The people of Miragoane didn’t seem to ask why or how the earthquake happened to them but did what they could to cope with the situation. How did this experience change Tom’s life?  He now realizes that he always has had a choice -- a choice of what to eat, where to live, to be educated and other choices too many to number.  From now on he’ll have to think twice before he complains about something, about anything.

Tom Evans and friends - Miragoane, Haiti

MU part of consortium receiving $20 million NIH grant

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a $20 million grant to a consortium of eight Milwaukee institutions, including Marquette University, to create a Milwaukee-wide research partnership that shares a common vision, resources and staff to advance biomedical research, patient care and education.

The NIH’s National Center for Research Resources awarded a perfect score to the Milwaukee consortium’s grant proposal, as a national model for multi-institutional collaboration.  The Medical College of Wisconsin will coordinate the grant, administered through a new academic entity recognized by all partner institutions:  the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) of Southeast Wisconsin.

Biomedical engineering faculty members Dr. John LaDisa, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and Dr. Michelle Johnson, research assistant professor of biomedical engineering are among the grant recipients.  Learn more about this grant.

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Summer academies update

The College of Engineering’s summer academies started the summer of 2010 with a bang!  We are delighted to report that all classes reached enrollment capacity well before the start of summer. 

Units from “Engineering is Elementary” are part of a new program added this summer. This program was developed at the Museum of Science in Boston to foster engineering and technology literacy among children. Through hands-on engineering design challenges, students planned, created and tested everything from mortar to machines and even explored different methods to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.  Families came together for “Engineering is a Family Affair.”  Pairing parents, grandparents, or older siblings working with students aged 6 to 12 to building bridges and air rockets, explore robotics and examine electric circuit kits.  High school students had “Fun with 3D Computer–Aided Design.”  Students constructed three-dimensional computer models and objects such as airplanes and cars.

Other activities included members the Greater Milwaukee YMCA One on One Mentoring program attending a two-day robotics session.  Mentors with their mentees spent two days designing, building and programming LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots. We look forward to expanding our relationship with the YMCA in the future.

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Nowalis receives ESM scholarship

Dean Nowalis, a senior in electrical and computer engineering, received a $1000 scholarship from Engineers & Scientists of Milwaukee (ESM).  ESM works to support STEM education by annually awarding scholarships to students in STEM-related programs at local universities and at Milwaukee Area Technical College. In addition to his work in the classroom, Dean is an engineering co-op student at Harley-Davidson.

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New program focuses on health care in North America

The Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Office of International Education recently received funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) North American Mobility Program.  This North American Consortium on Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology for the Individual is a collaborative initiative involving biomedical engineering faculty and students at six institutions.  Those institutions include the University of Calgary and the University of Toronto in Canada; the University of Guadalajara and the Technologico De Monterrey (ITESM) Chihuahua in Mexico; and Marquette University and the University of Illinois at Chicago in the United States.  The focus of this four-year project is to increase awareness among biomedical engineers of the differing individual, family and community rehabilitative healthcare needs in North America. The project goals are two-fold: (1) to pave the way for the development of accessible innovations that meet individual needs; and (2) to enhance the potential for technology/knowledge transfer leading to innovative approaches to healthcare delivery within North America.

This innovative program focuses on the impact of biomedical engineering on the person – the patient, the patient’s support network, and the respective clinicians. Too often technical knowledge is removed from the context of direct delivery of healthcare, which can lead to negative and costly outcomes. This program was specifically designed to address that gap and extend study abroad options for upper class biomedical engineering students. All exchange participants will have contact with physicians, patients or applied researchers through a variety of academic opportunities.  Depending on the interests of the students, these opportunities may include engineering technical elective courses; an engineering project or senior design experience; an independent study (engineering research or service project); clinical rotation or industrial internship; or cultural and language courses.

MU faculty members involved in securing the funding for this program are Dr. Barbara Silver-Thorn, associate professor of biomedical engineering; Dr. Jerry Harris, professor of biomedical engineering; and Mr. Terry Miller, director of the Office of International Education.  All biomedical engineering senior students can apply to study in Canada or Mexico.  The program provides funds to support travel and other expenses for four students per year.  The program is funded through August, 2014.

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Alumni Reunion Weekend Celebration

This year's Alumni Reunion Weekend, July 22 to 25, was a celebration to remember, filled with fun events like class parties, tours of attractions both on and off campus, college open houses, the annual block party and more.

Photos and more details will follow in the September issue of AHOYA.

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Marquette Engineer magazine wins award

Marquette received six of the 15 awards presented by the Jesuit Advancement Administrators (JAA) conference, including a bronze medal in the “publications” category for the 2009 issue of the Marquette Engineer magazine.  JAA is a subset of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities for those who work in development; alumni relations; donor relations; donor operations; marketing and communications; and public affairs at the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. Marquette placed first, second and third in the “publications” category, as well as first in “special events.”

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