Volume 3, Number 13, September, 2007

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

They’re Here!  Yes, our long awaited freshmen and advanced standing class for this school year is indeed on campus and already settled in.  Coming from 29 states and 6 countries, this class of 275 freshmen and 19 “transfer” students adds additional enthusiasm, excitement, and energy to our student body, bringing our total undergraduate enrollment to 1051.  Welcome to our Engineering family – we’re glad you’re finally here!

Lead photo:  Freshmen “move in” day at McCormick Hall

New members of our Engineering family

Dr. Jon Jensen, Associate Dean for Enrollment Management,
helps install a loft on the Men’s Engineering floor of Carpenter Tower Residence Hall

Freshmen, Your Alums Want To Meet You.A traditional event each fall semester is our annual Engineering Freshmen Pizza and Bowling Party, so mark your calendars for Thursday, September 27th.  Hosted and sponsored by your Engineering Alumni Association, this fun event is scheduled from 5:00 to 7:00 PM in the Union Sports Annex (16th and Wells), giving you a break from your studies to enjoy free pizza, soda, and bowling with those engineers who have preceded you and to learn about the careers they’re pursuing.   This is the first of many pizza parties you’ll be attending throughout your years in Engineering, so you may as well get into the flow of things with this first one.  

Engineering alumni who want to participate and meet our freshmen class should contact Theresa Nemetz at 288-4768 or theresa.nemetz@marquette.edu.

Fr. Mathie’s Office Hours.Now that the school year has begun, Fr. Ed Mathie, S.J., Director of University Ministry and Chaplain of your college, once again has office hours in the COE during the week.  He’ll be in Haggerty Engineering #213 on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM.  You can also schedule an appointment with him outside of these hours by calling 288-6873.

Stop by and see him – he really likes engineering students and faculty and wants to get to know more of you!

Designing For The Future. As many of you know, one of the (many) strengths of your College of Engineering is the capstone Senior Design experience.  Students work in teams of four or more to solve practical engineering problems.  Civil Engineering students work on their projects during spring semester and the other disciplines work on their projects both fall and spring semesters.   

This year, we are joined by students from Computer Science and the College of Business Administration, adding a more cross-disciplinary flavor.  We begin this fall semester with 59 proposed projects, 32 of which have industrial sponsors, and another 15 of which come from outside of the college.  We expect to staff 35-40 of these projects. 

Project proposals range from assistive technologies, service projects, and medical devices to railway braking systems, databases, and helping wait staff to locate diners at Culver's.  If your company would like to be on the list for the fall semester of 2008, contact Drs. Seitz, Goldberg, Cariapa, or Corliss  before July 1, 2008.  We also welcome observers at design team presentations in December and May and judges for our poster competition in April.

Renewing Brotherhood Bonds.  On August 15th, 2007, twenty-seven of your college’s Sigma Phi Delta Engineering Fraternity alumni (1960 through 1965) and their spouses gathered for a week of reunion activities in Winter Park, Colorado, at the invitation of Bob & Mary Amann and Ron & Katie Fossett.  This group of 53 included 40 Marquette University graduates.  They traveled from Virginia to California, and Texas to Minnesota to join their friends and fraternity brothers, many of whom had not seen each other for more than 40 years.

Father Pat Malone, Engineering 1960, said Mass for the group on Wednesday and Saturday evenings, and included a Memoriam for their deceased brothers:  Mike Allard, Les Cooley, Bill Druml,  Len Eschweiler, Glen Gay, Al Hoover, Al Howard, Ed Jaswinski, John Jessup, John Kaufmann, Don Sitter, and Al Sobczyck.

There was a full schedule of events including:  golf, alpine slide, river rafting, wildflower hike, rodeo, spa day, Rocky Mountain Park tour and a pontoon boat ride, along with excellent meals and entertainment.  However, the most important activity was getting re-acquainted with each other and discussing their mutual interests far into the night.

Editor’s Note:  Your college has two engineering fraternities – Sigma Phi Delta and Triangle – and one engineering sorority – Alpha Omega Epsilon.  Students, check them out!.

Sigma Phi Delta Brothers of Marquette
Top row from left:  Bill Howard, Ernie Cody, Don Kresse, Ron Pierce, Tom Urban
2nd row:  Denny Shebesta, J. Art Grossman, Fr. Pat Malone, Mike Weix
3rd row:  C. Mary Walsh, Jerry Wren, Tom Lee, Pat Carey
4th row:  Bill Roche, Bob Amann, Bill Ekstrand, Bob Sapita
5th row:  Tom Grossmann, Rick Nuetzel, Mark Nagan, Ron Fossett, Phil Maresca
Bottom row:  Phil Walsh, Dick Grota, Jim Shaw
(Not pictured:  David Klunk and Denny Swann)

Research Incentive Program.  Three new research clusters were initiated in your college  with the intent of developing more interdisciplinary research among the engineering faculty as well as with faculty of other University departments.  The clusters are:  Sustainable Engineering, Neurosystems Innovation, and Public Security. 

The Sustainable Engineering Cluster’s work concentrates on sustainability and the development of application systems that meet societal environmental and economic needs. 

The Neurosystems Innovation Cluster wants to establish an innovative design and fabrication facility for creating custom instruments and equipment for use in the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients with neurological disorders. 

The mission of the Public Security Cluster is to provide solutions to:  coordinate and support scholarly efforts to gain a fuller understanding of the vulnerability of our infrastructure; stimulate basic and applied interdisciplinary research in the areas of monitoring, surveillance, forecasting, identifying, and mitigating the effects of terror attacks; and make recommendations on security vulnerabilities to national and local governmental bodies and provide help to them in detecting incipient disaster and implementing interventions.

In the fall of 2006,  OPUS Dean Stan Jaskolski announced two research grant incentive initiatives to jumpstart cluster-related research in the college.  The Dean’s OPUS Chair provided the funding for these initiatives.

The Junior Faculty (faculty with less than 4 years of service) Research Incentive Program Awards went to:  Dr. Scott Beardsley, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering – Neurosystems Cluster; Dr. Jon Koch, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering – Public Security Cluster; and Dr. Scott Goldsborough, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Baolin Wan, Assistant Professor of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering – Sustainability Cluster.  The award winners chose senior faculty members as mentors and worked closely with them to submit research grant proposals.

The Research Cluster Team Grant Awards went to:  Dr. Brian Schmit, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering – Neurosystems Cluster; Dr. Fabien Josse, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering – Public Security Cluster; Dr. John Borg, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering – Public Security Cluster; and Dr. Daniel Zitomer, Associate Professor of  Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering – Sustainability Cluster.  These award recipients assembled interdisciplinary teams and developed grant applications that included funding to support graduate and/or post-doctoral students.

Dean Jaskolski’s initiatives truly jumpstarted cluster-related research! A total of 24 grant applications were submitted.  Grant proposals were submitted to state and federal government, corporations, and other entities such as the American Chemical Society and the Multiple Sclerosis Society. These grant proposals applied for more than $8.3 million in new funding for research projects in the College of Engineering.  To date, funding of approximately $600,000 has been received with the final funding decision on many of the grants still pending.  Additional grant proposals will be submitted in the near future.

These are truly exciting times for research in your College of Engineering.

Another Successful Summer For REU Students.  Your Department of Biomedical Engineering recently completed its 2007 National Science Foundation-sponsored REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program.  Ten students engaged in nine weeks of summer research projects under close mentorship of faculty from Marquette’s departments of Biomedical Engineering, Exercise Science and Physical Therapy and the Department of Neurology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Participating students represented nine universities:  St. Louis University, North Carolina State, Marquette, University of Rochester, UW-Madison, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve, University of Miami and the University of Pittsburgh.

The theme of the program was “Imaging, Modeling and Rehabilitation of Neurosystems.” Students spent the summer conducting independent research projects and participating in seminars as well as professional development activities.  Five of the students will be presenting their research at the 2007 annual meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) this month in Los Angeles.

REU students visiting Pier Wisconsin
Left to right:  Kevin McHugh, Andrew Steward, Jonathan Hackney, Ijemma Okereke,
Megan Naber, Arin Ellingson, Rachel Hawe, Jacqueline Locke, and Dana Fuchs (Not pictured:  Kamesh Krishnamurthy)

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