Volume 5, Number 8, May 2009
Welcome to Ahoya! Engineers - Marquette University's College of Engineering e-Newsletter for alumnae, 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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Cruising to Success. Build a concrete canoe, put it in the water and race. To a lay person it may sound crazy. To a civil engineer it makes perfect sense.
18 student members of the Marquette chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) traveled to the campus of the University of Notre Dame during the first weekend of April, to participate in the ASCE Great Lakes Conference. The centerpieces of this annual meeting are the concrete canoe races and the steel bridge building competition. Marquette’s 3rd place finish in this year’s concrete canoe competition was the most successful finish in recent memory. The MU team’s 14th and 5th place finishes in the 2007 and 2008 competitions gave them the experience they needed to achieve this year’s success. This 3rd place finish was achieved with a 13-day old canoe named “It’s Not Easy…Being Green”. The canoe truly is green; it was built from 100% recycled materials. The team’s original canoe suffered irreparable damage shortly before spring break. A dedicated team effort to build a new canoe during the month after spring break ensured that the team would have a polished product to transport to Notre Dame.
The concrete canoe races, held on a cold and wet Friday, were only one component of the overall competition. The team’s score was based on the equally weighted races, design report, final product and oral presentation. It was the more technical aspects of the yearlong project that ensured the team’s surprising success as it took 2nd in the design report and 3rd in the oral presentation.
The team spent the rest of the weekend participating in the conference’s smaller contests and observing the steel bridge competition in hopes of starting Marquette’s own bridge building team next year. They experienced additional success in the smaller events by winning the Concrete Golf competition. Concrete Golf consisted of chipping and putting contests using a concrete golf ball and a club built from structural steel. Adrianna Stanley took second in the Technical Paper Competition. This competition involves writing an essay about the possible sustainable aspects of transportation engineering and making an oral presentation.
The team’s success across the various competitions resulted in an overall conference finish of 4th place among the 16 conference schools. With this year’s incredible results, Marquette’s ASCE chapter is extremely excited to build on and exceed their success next year.
For more information please see the team’s cover profile in The Warrior or contact Tricia Fleming.
Lead Picture: Marquette ASCE Concrete Canoe Team
Back Row: Ryan Chapman, Mike Stern, Shannon Connolly, Tom Shea, Patrick Carruthers,
John Moran,
Zach Gill, Adrianna Stanley, Matt Kenney, Kalei Akaka
Front Row: Scot Slezak, Steve Graziano, Patrick Jensen, Sarah Del Ponte, Tony Jazdzyk,
Tricia Fleming, Katie Clingsmith, Nick Julia
Honoring Our Own. As spring semester classes begin to wind down the awards ceremonies begin to ramp up – and your college was no different. Our biggest event last month was the annual Engineering Honors Convocation, at which we collectively honored our students, faculty and alumni – the only college on campus to bring these three groups of award recipients together.
On the evening of April 24, the Weasler Auditorium was filled with guests as nearly 80 students walked across the stage to receive their awards for academic achievement, 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. Philip Voglewede, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received the 2009 Outstanding Teacher Award for his “passion for teaching and his enthusiastic interaction with students.” Dr. Daniel Zitomer, associate professor in civil engineering, received the 2009 Outstanding Researcher Award to acknowledge his “success at bringing his research into the classroom and to outside projects that benefit the community and give recognition to the college.”
The convocation continued with the recognition of six outstanding alumni for their achievements and contributions. Ana Stankovic, M.D., nephrology and hypertension specialist for the Hospital Corporation of America received the Young Alumna Award for career achievements by an alumna under the age of 40. A Service to Marquette Award was presented to Tom Gonring for helping the Sigma Phi Delta Eta chapter become an active part of the university community and also for serving on the Engineering Alumni Association board. Al Provenzano received the Entrepreneurial Award for founding SupplyCore, a leading global supply chain management and logistics services provider to the Department of Defense and in support of disaster relief.
The Professional Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Michael Jenkins, dean of the Lyles College of Engineering at California State University, Fresno, for his internationally recognized research in standards and codes for advanced materials and his leadership in engineering education. Don Reinbold received the Dean’s Award for directing the $810 million reconstruction of the Marquette Interchange – under budget and ahead of schedule - and for his teaching accomplishments and service outreach efforts. Frank Barone was presented the Distinguished Alumnus Award for 40 years of developing next-generation technology in the semi conductor industry and sharing his experience as an adjunct professor in the graduate school of engineering at Santa Clara University.
On April 25 the 2009 Alumni National Awards weekend culminated with a black-tie event honoring the all-university alumni award recipients. Two of six All-University Award Recipients are engineers. Robert C. Greenheck received the All University Alumni Merit Award for professional achievement and Rick McDermott received the All University Spirit of Marquette Award for achievement before age 40. Congratulations to these two outstanding alumni. View a slideshow of the alumni awards.
Alumni award recipients with OPUS Dean Stan Jaskolski
Left to right: Stan Jaskolski, Frank Barone, Dr. Michael Jenkins,
Dr. Ana Stankovic,
Don Reinbold,
Tom Gonring and Al Provenzano
Think Baseball, Alumni! Gather at Miller Park with fellow Marquette engineering alumni when the Milwaukee Brewers take on the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, June 23. Get a player’s view of the action from the AirTran Airways Landing Zone, located between the right field foul pole and the visiting team’s bullpen, on the field of play just beyond the right field fence.
The cost is $85 per ticket and includes a pre-game buffet beginning when Miller Park gates open and ending one hour after the first pitch. The buffet menu features brats, BBQ chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, burgers, baked beans, soft drinks and two beers per adult.
A limited number of tickets are available. Please register by Wednesday, June 17.
To register, please call 414/288-8440 or purchase online. (NOTE: when you get to this site, you will need to log in to MU Connect).
Designing Seniors. Our senior standing students are required to take a capstone design course, culminating in a presentation of their design team projects to classmates, faculty and advisors/mentors from business and industry. On an early Saturday morning last month, the design teams also participated in a Senior Design Poster competition that was judged by faculty and alumni. The results are in and the all-college winners of the competition are as follows:
1st place: Retrofit of the Emco 3 Axis Mill. Dr. Joseph Domblesky, associate professor of mechanical engineering, faculty advisor. Mechanical engineering student design team members: Gregory Brockway, Stacey Erdmann, Michael Greenheck, Scott Larson and Michael McConnell.
2nd place: Dental School Data Warehouse. Dr. Monica Adya, assistant professor of management in the College of Business Administration, faculty advisor. Student team members: Gregory Davis and Tsuginosuke Sakauchi in computer engineering and Josh Hart and Timothy Repka in computer science in the College of Arts and Sciences.
3rd place: Rear Wheel Compensator. Dr. Mark Nagurka, associate professor of mechanical engineering, faculty advisor. Student team members: Dillon Kondrick in electrical engineering and Andrew Eirich, Eric Matuszewski and Adam Sullivan in mechanical engineering.
Congratulations to the top winners and to all of the design teams and their advisors for their hard work and accomplishments on their projects.
Update on SAE Aero. In the April issue of Ahoya we told you about the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero team who designed and constructed a remote control airplane for its senior project. In order to enter the SAE aero design competition the plane had to be able to carry a maximum payload while meeting certain design constraints. The team worked for approximately three months to complete the project, including countless hours during their spring break manufacturing parts and building the plane. The finished product was ready to take flight.
Traveling to Alpharetta, GA, in early April, the team competed against 57 teams from around the world. The first day they gave their oral presentation to the judges who were Lockheed Martin Aerospace engineers. The next two days were the actual flying competition. After a number of flights (with some needed repairs between rounds), the Marquette team successfully completed their goal of a predicted payload of 15.15 pounds. This put them in 6th place at the end of day one. They then abandoned their attempt of a 17 pound payload when the plane didn’t take off in the 200 foot limit.
The team is proud to report that they finished the competition ranked 7th. They also won the sportsmanship award for helping another team by lending parts and supplies after its plane crashed. This is the first time Marquette has competed in the event. SAE Aero is to be congratulated for a job well done!
Marquette SAE Aero in flight
Aero Design Team
(front row): Bill Meindl and Jeff Shafer
(back row): John Fitzpatrick, Matt Lane, Dan Wojno and Kyle Reiser
Research Funded. Dr. Dan Zitomer, associate professor in civil engineering, is one of three recipients in the first round of research grants awarded by Veolia Water North America, operator of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s wastewater treatment facilities. His project will study methods for increasing the volume of methane produced by sewage sludge digesters at the South Shore treatment plant in Oak Creek. Methane will be used to generate electricity at the plant, helping to reduce the amount of natural gas that must be purchased which will help to lower the district’s utility costs.
Veolia Water North America has committed to provide $1.5 million in grants to support research during the next 10 years.
A Loss in our Family. Dr. Robert Reid, Dean Emeritus of our College of Engineering, passed away on April 16. Bob served as dean from 1987 to 1998 and was instrumental in greatly increasing the external research budget, while also continuing his own research in heat transfer and solar energy. He also founded and directed undergraduate students in the Sun Warrior solar boat project and led teams of students to race the boat in Japan and Australia.
Dr. Reid and his wife Judy retired in Knoxville, TN. We extend our sincerest condolences to Judy, his children and grandchildren.
Dr. Robert Reid
Students Receive Leadership Awards. For the past 40 years Marquette’s Division of Student Affairs has presented leadership awards to recognize student contributions to the mission and activities of the various student affairs areas. A number of our engineering students were recognized at an awards dinner last month:
Outstanding Contributions to Community Service: David Quam
Outstanding Contributions to Recreation, Health & Wellness: Marcus Kuhnert
Outstanding Contributions to Social & Arts Programming: Natalie Bruders
Outstanding Contributions to Spiritual Development & Justice Education: Wade Loofboro
Outstanding contributions to Student Governance & Organization Leadership: Kevin Muhs and Kevin Vincent
In addition, David Quam received the university’s Outstanding Junior Class Member award.
Student Projects Enhance Development. Students in the course Rehabilitation Engineering: Prosthetics, Orthotics, Seating and Positioning, taught by Dr. Barbara Silver-Thorn, associate professor in biomedical engineering, were recently featured in a news segment on WISN-TV. Throughout the semester they worked with physical therapists, nursing staff, program directors and children at the Milwaukee Center for Independence (MCI) to develop “custom designed” products to help encourage development and functioning of the children. Projects that were presented to the MCI staff included two special seating chairs that would allow children with muscular weakness to sit up and participate in activities; an activity board to encourage socialization and increase verbal and written abilities of children with autism; an activity board to encourage the development of a child who is deaf and blind; and a pedal extender for special tricycles used to encourage motor skill development. View the news segment.
Moving Forward. Student design teams have been working for the last couple years on a project to convert a Public Safety LIMO from the traditional internal combustion engine-powered vehicle to a completely electric-powered vehicle. The environmental impact of this conversion is huge. Calculations predict that a gasoline-powered engine releases more carbon dioxide into the air per vehicle hour of operation than a coal-fired power plant releases in the same amount of time. Therefore an electric-powered vehicle, even if it were powered by electricity generated by a coal-fired power plant, substantially reduces the carbon footprint of that vehicle.
An important milestone was reached by the eLIMO team last month. The electric-powered vehicle now has an operating drive train; when the electric motor is activated it spins the drive shaft which provides power to the wheels which means the wheels spin. An operating drive train is a deceptively simple statement. To achieve this result the team added an entire academic year of design, engineering, construction and testing to the work already done on this project in the 2007-2008 academic year.
Once the drive train was operational the team began testing the vehicle operation with regenerative braking, a feature of the type of electric motor being used in this vehicle. Regenerative braking recaptures the energy of motion of the vehicle as electricity when the brakes are applied instead of dissipating this energy as heat, which is what happens in a standard gasoline-powered vehicle when brakes are applied. The recaptured electricity increases the operational efficiency of the vehicle. The team will now analyze the data from these tests and conduct further testing. The eLIMO project is housed at the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) Oak Creek campus automotive facility.
Like all good engineers, the team has documented some of its work at the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkkOzz1rIqQ (Work session on March 3, 2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuorcQ3GDJ0 (Vehicle drive test)
Please note: All of the eLIMO project photos were taken by team member Russell Steinbrenner. Russell doesn't appear in any of the project photos because he's always behind the camera.
Members of the eLIMO team after the first successful run of the drive train
Left to right: Steve Schild, MATC advisor, with eLIMO team members Jason Havlovik,
Edward Speck-Kern, Ping-Shing Wong and Masahiro Tsoyoshu
Victor Urbinatti, eLIMO team member,
holds a paper mock-up of the vehicle's vacuum pump
Joseph St. Marie (left) and Matthew Webber (right), eLIMO team members,
checking installation of drive shaft support bearings
Highlighting Global Research . On April 17, Marquette faculty members and graduate students displayed their international research at the inaugural Marquette International Research Poster Session sponsored by the Office of International Education. A panel of faculty judges included Dr. Daniel Zitomer.
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Michael Johnson, associate professor of electrical engineering, received an honorable mention award for “Bilingual Phonetic Mapping for Computer Aided Language Learning.”
Scholarship Announced. The Marquette chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) reports that Betsy Asma, a freshman in biomedical engineering, has been awarded the 2009 General Electric Women’s Network, Society of Women Engineers Scholarship.
Engineering Summer Academies. Children between the ages of 6 and 18 are invited to participate in college's annual summer Engineering Academies. Seven new programs are being offered this summer, in addition to the popular programs offered last year. Here's a sneak preview of some of this summer's new programs: "The Science of Toys", "The Ultimate LEGO Experience", "Electrical Engineering - A Shocking Experience" and "The Greatest Secret on Earth".
Check out a video of the Robot Academy or Young Women in Engineering.
Have a Great Summer! Well, finals are over and we hope that it’s been a good ride this past academic year. Whatever your plans for the summer we wish you blue skies, sunny days and happy times. Take care and we’ll see you back on campus in August!
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