Volume 4, Number 3, December, 2007

Welcome to Ahoya! Engineers–Welcome to Ahoya! Engineers. - Marquette University's College of Engineering
e-Newsletter for alumae, alumni, students and their families, faculty, staff, and MU friends. We want you to know what’s happening in your College of Engineering. This newsletter will be published periodically to share our accomplishments, milestones and activities.

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Be sure to visit the College Web site at http://www.marquette.edu/engineering for complete information on your College.

 

Ropella Receives Prestigious Award. Dr. Kris Ropella, Chair and Professor in your Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been named the Wisconsin Professor of the Year as part of the U.S. Professors of the Year program. Sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and administered by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the awards recognize professors for their influence on teaching and their outstanding commitment to teaching undergraduate students.  Kris and her husband Paul traveled to Washington, D.C. where she received her award at a special luncheon on November 15th. 

Dr. Ropella has been a faculty member in Engineering for 17 years and Chair since 2004.  While she works with students of all levels, she feels a special sense of duty to her undergraduate students. “Even as department chair, I continue to teach freshman and sophomore courses so that I am able to welcome and engage every one of the 75-85 students annually entering our learning system,” she said.  She estimates that in her time at Marquette, she has taught nearly 1,000 students. 

Drawing from her industry experience prior to higher education, Kris has forged many partnerships between industry and undergraduate students, something she feels is critical to undergraduate education.  She feels that the industry partners have recognized the difference they have made in students’ preparation for life beyond the classroom and today 23 companies partner with Marquette’s biomedical engineering educational programs. 

In addition to her roles as chair and professor, Dr. Ropella is part of a number of research teams. Her research focuses are signal processing, bio computing, electrophysiology and functional imaging.  She has produced 120 refereed publications and received over $3 million in external funding for her research and educational initiatives.  Kris also directs the joint Ph.D. program in functional imaging for Marquette and the Medical College of Wisconsin. 

Dr. Ropella has been honored three times by Marquette for teaching excellence – the Marquette Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in 1996 and two College of Engineering Outstanding Teacher awards.  She graduated summa cum laude from Marquette in 1985 and earned her masters and doctoral degrees at Northwestern University. 

The U.S. Professors of the Year program salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country - those who excel as teachers and influence the lives and careers of their students. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious awards honoring professors.  This year, there are winners in 40 states and the District of Columbia, chosen from more than 300 top professors throughout the country.  

“I am ecstatic to receive this honor,” Dr. Ropella shared in an interview.  “I am grateful to have touched the lives of many students who have gone forward to lead companies, treat patients, innovate new medical technologies, influence government funding, communicate discoveries to the public, teach the next generation of engineers and serve their communities.” 

Congratulations, Kris, on receiving this well-deserved award!

 Lead picture:  Dr. Ropella in her lab.

Business Press Features COE's Initiatives. Your College was very proud to read an article featured in the Milwaukee Business Journal highlighting our initiatives in building a world-class engineering center, overhauling curriculum and expanding recruitment to meet future demand for engineers.  To read the article, click here.

NSBE Honored at Regional Conference. Your Marquette chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) was recently awarded the highest honor that could be received at its Region IV conference.  As "Most Distinguished Chapter for Fall 2007," it was honored for the members’ exemplary work in “increasing the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” The award, presented at the annual Fall Region IV Conference banquet on November 17th in Madison, WI, was given in recognition of chapter performance throughout the year and progress toward their mission. Marquette’s chapter was selected from 66 other colleges throughout Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Indiana. The Chapter will compete for awards on a national level, with chapters from all 6 regions of NSBE, at their national convention next March in Orlando, FL. 

NSBE Presidents Jamon Lewis and Tiffany Fisher tell us that this award was truly an honor and a total surprise for the chapter. At last year’s regional conference, only 7 Marquette students participated. This year they increased their membership over 400%, with 35 active members, 22 of which were able to attend the conference. They competed academically and professionally with other regional chapters, some of which have over 100 members.  Based on their substantial growth and dedication, however, Marquette’s chapter was given this highest award. 

NSBE, with more than 15,000 members, is the largest student-managed organization in the country. It is comprised of more than 270 chapters on college and university campuses, 75 Alumni Extension chapters nationwide and 75 Pre-College chapters. These chapters are geographically divided into six regions. NSBE had its genesis at a national conference planned and hosted by black engineers from the United States and Canada at Purdue University in April 1975. 

NSBE members, your College is very proud of your accomplishments!



NSBE members celebrate their award at the Region IV Conference

Remember the Annual Auction and Basketball Game. Looking for the perfect holiday gift?  Have you considered tickets to the Marquette University vs. Georgetown men’s basketball game on March 1, 2008?   

Your College of Engineering Alumni Association invites you to its National Marquette Day Silent Auction & Basketball Game next March 1st – auction proceeds will benefit the College of Engineering Endowed Scholarship Fund.  

Tickets for this premier game will sell fast and are limited!  Call (800) 344-7544 to purchase tickets, or order online today.

Connecting With Your Alumni Out West. Dr. Stan Jaskolski, your OPUS Dean of Engineering, and his wife Cindy recently traveled to California to visit engineering alumni in the Silicon Valley.  At a November 13th reception for them at Don Giovanni’s restaurant in Mountain View, Stan provided an update on your College’s planned threefold transformation of students, faculty and curriculum and the planned Discovery Learning Complex.  He showed renderings of the DLC, spoke about the upcoming 100th anniversary celebration and shared other planned initiatives in your College. 

Dean Jaskolski also thanked the guests for their assistance with recruiting students and everyone received a COE hat – which they proudly wore for the group picture.

Standing, left to right:  Farook Afsari, Stephen Volm, James Sheridan, Christopher Rittler,
  Stan Jaskolski, Patrick Hanley, John Luke, David Druml, Michael Laport and Ronald Reak
Seated:  Anthony Del Balso, Donald Kinney, Barbara Barone, Frank Barone and Cindy Jaskolski

Freshmen Design and Build to Develop Skills. Approximately 60 Mechanical Engineering freshman students in the Engineering:  The Art of Creating Change class, taught by Dr. Joseph Schimmels, Professor in the department, have completed training in the Discovery Learning Center shop where they focused on safety, drill press, lathe and milling machine techniques.  These students are now using their training to design and build group projects for the “Energy Conservation Experience.”

In these projects, the student teams must conceptualize, design and build an apparatus that can be used to demonstrate principals of energy conservation to high school classes.  Time, money and design constraints are specified for the project. This activity provides practical experience in group dynamics, planning, design and shop methods. The end result is that the students now have a better understanding of the complexities of completing a project and the processes involved in doing so. 

Your DLC staff has been impressed by the scope and quality of this year’s projects and how quickly the students are learning the foundational skills and characteristics of an engineer.

Machinist Ray Hamilton trains the students in shop skills
Background:  Machinist Dave Gibas assists a student with a project

Seniors Demonstrate Their Creativity. You all know that engineers can be pretty creative people and your seniors certainly haven’t disappointed their faculty.  As part of the capstone Principles of Design class this fall semester, student design teams were challenged to take ownership of their projects by designing a team logo.  Many unique and imaginative logos were submitted.  The winning logos and names of the design team members are shown below.

Bicycle Powered AC Supply:  Brian Jacobs (EECE), Cameron Leliaert (MEEN),
  Matthew Millin (BIEN), Jordan Paul (BIEN) and Ryan Schmid (EECE)


Remote Power Control System:  Diane Dechene (EECE), Brandon Hahn (EECE),
  Paul Hinze (MATH), Zachary Lund (COEN) and Paul Wolffersforff (EECE)



Design of a Forced Lubrication System for a Supercharger/Blower:
Robert Blankenheim (MEEN), Jaime Carrasco (MEEN), Stephen Pierce (MEEN),
Leonard Tribuani (MEEN), Ross Weyers (COEN) and Alexander Zierl (EECE)

Also, one of the faculty members teaching the Senior Design class, Dr. Jay Goldberg, Associate Professor/Director of Health Care Technologies Management in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, recently had his book published:  Capstone Design Courses:  Producing Industry Ready Biomedical Engineers, Morgan and Claypool Publishers, 2007.

And Finally...... To our students, we wish you much success with your final exams and a safe journey back home to your families.

To our faculty, we wish you happy grading of those finals.

But Most Importantly……To our students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends and all of your families, take some time out for yourselves, kick back and relax, and spend some quality time with your loved ones.  We wish you a Blessed and Merry Christmas, a Happy and Healthy New Year and a wonderful holiday season! 

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