Volume 4, Number 8, May, 2008

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.

Be sure to visit the College Web site for complete information on your College.

Recognizing Achievement. On the evening of April 25th, your students, faculty and alumni were recognized for their career, academic, teaching and research achievements at the annual Engineering Honors Convocation.  With guests filling the seats in the Weasler auditorium, these groups were collectively honored on one stage – the only campus awards program that brings all three together.  As a result, your alumni were highly impressed with your students’ academic achievements, your students now have new role models, and your faculty has a better insight into how to prepare students for the 21st century.

The Convocation began with nearly 90 undergraduate students receiving awards for academic achievement and service outreach, half of which were given to graduating seniors.  Two faculty members were then recognized for their excellence in teaching and research.  Selected by senior standing students, Dr. Christopher Foley, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, received the 2008 Outstanding Teacher Award for his “passion and dedication to teach others to think.”  This is the third time Chris has received this prestigious award.  Dr. Charles (Steve) Melching, an Associate Professor in the same department, then received the 2008 Outstanding Researcher Award to acknowledge his “international research and scholarship in evaluating uncertainty in water resources.”

Dr. Chris Foley

Dr. Steve Melching

The Convocation concluded with six outstanding College alumni being recognized with awards.  Andrew Williams, Associate Professor of Computer and Information Sciences and Director of the Artificial Intelligence, Informatics and Robotics Lab at Spelman College, received the Young Engineer Award for career achievements by an alumnus under the age of 40.  A Service Award was presented to Thomas Miotke, Chairman of the Board for The Jansen Group, Inc., for embodying the vision and mission of Marquette in his service to your College, the university, the construction industry and the community.  Ashok Rao received the Entrepreneurial Award for his many financially successful enterprises in telecommunications and now, as CEO of Excalibur Pictures.  The Professional Achievement Award was presented to James Krause for his leadership in technology at Honeywell and Eaton Corporation and currently as Director of Technology for Lockheed Martin Tactical Systems.  F. William Gutzwiller was recognized with the Dean’s Award for being an integral part of the GE team that introduced the Silicon-Controlled Rectifier fifty years ago, which made possible the speed control of all motors and revolutionized the power electronics and controls industry.  Michael Wallace received the Distinguished Alumnus Award to acknowledge his more than three decades of nuclear utility experience and now as Vice Chairman of Constellation Energy, his leadership in building new nuclear plants.
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For additional information on these alumni and other university alumni award recipients, please visit the Celebrate Excellence Alumni Awards Web page. 

Lead Picture:  Engineering Alumni Award Recipients (left to right):
Jim Krause, Ashok Rao, Bill Gutzwiller, Opus Dean Stan Jaskolski,
Mike Wallace, Tom Miotke and Andrew Williams

Service to Others. On April 18-20, a dedicated group of your hard-working Engineering students volunteered their time to help construct a new playground at Divine Mercy School in South Milwaukee.  Student groups including ASCE, Chi Epsilon, Knights of Columbus and Tau Beta Pi were represented by Alyssa Foley, Steve Graziano, Matthias Kohler, Andrew Ledger, Annika Liem, David Lutz, Amy Mikus, Dan Mostyn, Andrew Mulligan, Steve Pales, Justin Schueler, Scott Stroud, John Tadelski, Kevin Weighner and Paul Wolffersdorff.  Dr. Jim Crovetti, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, was also a participant.  The construction project was supervised by Terry Browne (Eng ’92, Grad ’94) of Collins Engineers and Wendy Schley of Graef, Anhalt, Schloemer & Associates.

Some of the volunteers take a breather on their completed project

Designs for the Future. Your seniors are breathing a sigh of relief now that the poster competition and oral presentations for their design projects are completed.  To receive their undergraduate degrees, all Marquette students must participate in a capstone design team project during the fall and spring semesters of their senior year.  In addition to making formal presentations to faculty members they also participated in a poster competition.

From an improved IV fluid infiltration detector to a goose-scaring robot to enhanced cooling for motherboards, the diverse projects were judged by faculty and alumni at the annual Senior Design Poster Competition on Sunday, April 13th.  The judging was held in conjunction with Marquette’s Open House recruiting event, which allowed approximately 250 prospective students and their parents to view the projects.

As always, competition was stiff and judges’ decisions were difficult.  The following projects ranked slightly above the rest.

First place in Biomedical Engineering was awarded to Lacy Maiman, Kim Todd, Kaitlyn Darcy, Mariel Ponseti, and Chris Estes for their design of an “Accessible Weight Scale for Seated Users.”  This also took first place in the All College contest.

 In Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering the “Sanitary Sewerage System Design – Summit, WI ” took first place for the department and second place in the College and was awarded to Matt Mullarkey, Brandon Stenglein, and Kyle Welte.

“Locate Diners at the Blue Spoon Café” was chosen as the first place winner in Electrical and Computer Engineering.  Design team members were Alexandria Brtis, Jamon Lewis, Joe Platek, Albert Teng, Matt Ucci and Art Beneditz.

First place for Mechanical Engineering was awarded to Jay Belanski, Devin Dobie, Mike Zahner, Zach Savage and Alan Suva for “Electricity Generation Systems for Developing Countries.” 

“LoJack for Pets” was chosen as third place for the All College competition.  Design team members were Laura Tuszynski, John Leinau, Matt Hannan, Michael Forecki, Cindy Armstrong and Laura Stevens. 

Congratulations, seniors, and thanks to all of you for staying after the competition to explain your projects to our guests during Marquette’s Open House.  These prospective students and their parents now have a much better understanding about how engineers transform our daily lives!

Faculty Awards. Your students aren’t the only ones getting awards this spring – numerous Engineering faculty members have also been honored for their research, teaching and advising activities.

Dr. Brian Schmit, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was awarded the Way-Klingler Science Fellowship, which is one of Marquette University’s highest awards intended to advance research and scholarship of faculty.  Given to full-time, regular faculty members of senior rank with significant scholarship and higher potential, Dr. Schmit is engaging in a new avenue of research, diffusion tensor imaging of the spinal cord and functional imaging of sensorimotor function.  This is an area of biomedical research that holds promise for noninvasively measuring body function in a number of medical applications.  Brian was recognized for his award at the University’s annual Pere Marquette dinner.

For his paper “Effect of Iron Addition on Thermophilic-Mesophilic Anaerobic Digestion,” Dr. Daniel Zitomer is the recipient of the 2008 Central States Water Environment Association Radebaugh Award.  Dan, who is Associate Professor and Director of the Water Quality Center in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, will receive this award at the Association’s 81st annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN later this month.

Dr. Mark Nagurka, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was presented the Outstanding Teacher Award at the department’s Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) meeting last month.  Selected by the IAB, the award is recognition of a faculty member’s teaching activities and performance during the previous academic year.

Marquette’s St. Joan of Arc Chapter of the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH) presented two awards to Dr. Baolin Wan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, at a reception on April 10th.  He received the Faculty hALL-STAR Award for participation in residence hall programs that make an impact on the lives of students and the NRHH Faculty Excellence Award, the highest honor bestowed upon a professor by the student residents to recognize outstanding performance in the classroom and the positive and lasting effect upon students’ lives.  With chapters at over 180 colleges and universities, the NRHH is an organization which promotes activities to enhance leadership qualities in student residents and to recognize Residence Life programs.

The Association of Marquette University Women (AMUW) recognized Dr. Kristina Ropella, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, as the recipient of its 2008 AMUW Nora Finnigan Werra Faculty Achievement Award at its awards ceremony on April 26th.  Formed in the 1930’s, the AMUW recognizes Marquette women students, faculty and alumnae through programs and scholarship support.

Scoring a Hat Trick. In a clean sweep, three of your Biomedical Engineering students won the poster competition's top three awards at the 2008 Great Lakes Biomedical Conference held on Friday, April 18 in the Golden Rondelle Theater at the SC Johnson Company campus in Racine, WI.  There were 16 poster entries by students from Marquette, Milwaukee School of Engineering, and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, with eight of the posters submitted by MU students.

The top three award recipients (and mentors) are:
1st Place:   Megan O. Conrad, (Drs. Robert Scheidt and Brian Schmit), "Effects of Tendon Vibration on Targeted Arm Movements"
2nd Place:  Jay Mehta, (Drs. Brian Schmit and Sheila Schindler-Ivens, Physical Therapy), "Cortical Function During Locomotion - an fMRI Study"
3rd Place:  Tushar A. Dharampal, (Dr. Scott Beardsley), "Adaptive Real-Time Decoding of Non-Stationary Signals at the Neuronal-Electrode Interface for Long-Term Control of Cortical Neuroprostheses"

Congratulations to these graduate students and to their faculty mentors!

Going Green and Then Some. During the last weekend of April, your College’s Human Powered Vehicle senior design team rode their vehicle 82 miles from Milwaukee to Madison, WI to compete in the ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge.  There are two of these competitions each year, one on the west coast and one on the east coast, and this was the east coast competition.  Team members are happy to report that they won 3rd place overall out of 40 teams that registered!

On the first day, the team took 6th place in the design competition where they showcased their engineering skills.  The second day was the sprint competition where their top speed was 36.36 mph - with a 30 mph crosswind trying to blow them over.  They then placed 4th in the men's sprint and 5th in the women's sprint.  The final day consisted of a 40 mile endurance race where the team placed 3rd.  This is the best that Marquette has ever done in this competition and everybody on the team is incredibly excited.  Congratulations, students, on a job well done!

Back Row: Dr. S. Scott Goldsborough, Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Faculty Advisor,
Emily Mullen, Brandon Vogt, Jack Eaves, Kevin Duggan, Kevin Dwyer, and Matt Kaminecki. 
Seated: Amanda Tijerina and Emily Seiler

Obligation of the Engineer.This year’s annual Order of the Engineer ceremony was held on April 28th with 26 students and two faculty members being inducted. 

The ceremony is a solemn obligation to oneself “to uphold devotion to the standards and the dignity of (the engineering) profession.”  It is also an obligation “to turn to practical use, the principles of science and the means of technology…to serve humanity by making the best use of earth’s precious wealth.”  Engineering students about to enter the profession and practicing engineers who have met the high standards of professional engineering training or experience are invited to accept the Obligation, which is voluntarily received for life.

The program was coordinated and emceed by Dr. Dean Jeutter, Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.  Several other faculty members explained the history of the Order and the significance of the steel ring, which is worn on the fifth finger of the working hand.  After receiving their rings and certificates of obligation to the principles of the Order, the candidates stood as a group and recited the creed of the Order of the Engineer.

Congratulations to the 2008 Initiates of Link #111 (Marquette’s chapter):

Highlighting Research. In conjunction with its Industrial Advisory Board meeting, the Department of Mechanical Engineering held its annual graduate student poster competition last month.  Highlighting the research of all of its students pursuing graduate degrees, 22 posters were presented.  Congratulations to the following students who received the top three awards:

1st Place Award:  Jeroen Valensa (faculty advisor Dr. Goldsborough)
2nd Place Award:  Robert Copsey (faculty advisor Dr. Nagurka)
3rd Place Award:  Michael Morrissey (faculty advisor Dr. Borg)  

Getting Involved. Marquette’s student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has been “grindin’,” reports President Jamon Lewis and this spring semester has been an especially busy one for them.

Last March, 29 of the chapter’s members and OPUS Dean Stan Jaskolski attended the 2008 NSBE National Conference “Igniting the Torch:  Engineering in Action” in Orlando, FL.  Joining 10,000 other participants, the students had opportunities to attend workshops with topics such as academic and technical excellence, competing globally, leadership and financial vitality.

On Saturday, April 12, chapter members Oppong Agyemang, Navarro Bowe, Ashton Douglas,  Adeola Giwa and Alyssa Gayle-Guerro exercised their entrepreneurial skills in the “Innovation Chase” at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). Marquette’s team placed fourth; out of the eight teams that competed.  But even more importantly, Dr. George Corliss, Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the team’s “driver,” reports that the team “functioned so far out of the box that you couldn't see their box with a telescope! Their ability to stand and present topics of which they knew little was truly impressive.”

Later in April, Marquette’s Division of Student Affairs presented one of three Spirit of Marquette Awards to the student chapter to recognize excellence in supporting the mission of the university through their activities.

On April 26th, NSBE organized “A Walk for Education,” the goal of which was to increase awareness of the opportunities available through education, particularly in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.  Over 100 volunteers participated by walking door-to-door in predominantly underrepresented minority  communities distributing information about area college admissions and vocational schools, GED, SAT/ACT, NSBE resources and financial aid.  Andrew Williams, recipient of your College’s Young Engineer Award, kicked off the event as the keynote speaker for the group at the Parklawn Assembly of God church.

""Walk for Education" participants

Student Awards. Brooke Slavens, a recent Ph.D. graduate in Biomedical Engineering, was presented an award at the 14th annual meeting of the Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society in Richmond, VA.  For research conducted as a student, she received the Best Student Presentation Award for “Shoulder Kinetics During Lofstrand Crutch-Assisted Gait in Children with Myelomeningocele.”  Her faculty advisors were Dr. Gerald Harris, Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Peter Sturm, M.D.

Anthony Gawel, a sophomore in Electrical Engineering, is one of 20 recipients, selected from a competitive field of over 200 applicants from across the United States, of a $15,000 NASA Aeronautics Scholarship.  NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is sponsoring this new scholarship program to help advance the nation’s aeronautics enterprise by investing in the educational development of its future workforce and providing opportunities to attract highly motivated students to aeronautics and related fields.

Appointment to Advisory Council. Dr. Jon Jensen, Associate Dean for Enrollment Management, has been appointed to the State Superintendent’s Technology and Engineering Education Advisory Council.  The 27 member council of industry representatives and educators was formed by State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster to provide recommendations for strengthening and growing Wisconsin’s technology and engineering education programs. 

Update on the eLIMO Project. Since the last report about the eLIMO project, the team has been working hard on the vehicle!  How hard you ask?  Check out the video link and attached pictures.      

The pictures show the motor mounted in its location, with the controller mount housing it, as well as the team’s test setup.  The wheels should be spinning soon, and an updated video will be produced once this is complete.

Also, the eLIMO project may turn into 3 separate Senior Design teams next year, consisting of the following groups:  1) Battery installation / testing of the eLIMO, 2) Charging station for the eLIMO in the 16th street parking structure, and 3) Dashboard User Interface for the eLIMO (possibly digital).  All of these projects are very exciting, and the team hopes to drum up enough interest to get participants on ALL of these teams.

See you in August!. Well, students, it’s been a great academic year.  Most of you will be working this summer – either as interns or Co-ops – and as you’re gaining work experience and saving your earnings for next year, remember to take some time out for yourselves and enjoy your break from classes.

As for the Co-ops scheduled to be in school this summer – we look forward to seeing you back on campus in a couple days – we missed you!

Your College wishes all students and faculty a fantastic summer break – you’ll be back for  fall semester before you know it!

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