Mechanical Engineering

MomentumMomentumSpring 2018

Women in engineering A Women's History Month salute On the cover: Professor Corina Sandu at 6 years old, ready for her first day of school ever in her school uniform and with a leather briefcase. Connect on social

News notes 6 M.E. athletes winning big 10 Undergrads take ethics competition 11 HEVT alumna Sara Lepley 39 About Alumni - Alicia Williams 41 DONATE

Contents Vol 3.1 Spring 2018

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Alumnus creates ME Chair A life of service Alumnus Nicholas Des Champs ('62 Ever since entering their wedding and '67) and his wife, Rebecca, have reception to the strains of "Enter endowed the Nicholas and Rebecca Sandman" Damien and Krystal Mc- Des Champs Chair in Mechanical Cants have kept in touch and in- Engineering. volved with Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants on the basis of age, color, disabil- ity, gender, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. Anyone having questions concerning discrimination or accessibility should contact the Office of Equity and Acess.

Professor Azim Eskandarian - ME Department Head RosaireMOME BusheyNTUM - CommunicationsSPRING 2018 PAGE Manager 2 Contact us: 540-231-2965 email [email protected] 16 Cover Story Tamara Guimaraes Bucalo, a graduate student from Brazil, will receive her PhD in Spring 2018 and take a post-doctoral position in Germany. "Engineering is already hard," Tamara says, without the additional difficulties of people who say women can't do things, or aren't smart, or good enough. Finding the right role models, she said, was essential for her suc- cess.

Women are leading the way in the department with '62 alumna Mary "Prim" Jones (left, a retired executive director of engineering at Aerojet) and '00 and '03 Hokie Angela Scribben (right, a research engineer with the USAF Research Lab- oratory at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio) taking an active role in the department's Ad- visory Board, and by being mentors and role models to MOaspiringMENTUM femaleSPRING engineers.2018 PAGE 3 From the Dept Head Azim Eskandarian Alum drives success forward with departmental chair

We can never say enough thanks to our about their experiences in being a suc- supportive Alumni. I am very pleased cessful woman in mechanical engineering. and honored to report a new $2 million They share their stories of engineering endowed professorship entitled, the education and life in industry and aca- Nicholas and Rebecca Des Champs Chair demia. While the good news is we are in Mechanical Engineering. In 1962 doing better in inclusivity, there is so much Nicholas Des Champs earned a bachelor's work yet to be done, and our department is degree in mechanical engineering from taking every step to create an all inclusive Virginia Tech. In 1967 he was one of two and collegial environment for all. members of the first class of PhD students Finally, there is some very sad news I in ME. This year he and his wife, Rebecca have to report. In January we received the have continued their legacy of support to news no one wants to hear. George Munn, the university by endowing the department who recently joined our ME Advisory with this chair position. Board, passed away Jan. 21, 2018. In his To Nick and Becky and all the members time with the board, George became a of the Des Champs family, I want to vocal member and advocate for the depart- express my immense appreciation. Their ment and its students. In addition to his gift will ensure future generations of career in engineering, George served 11 students continue to have access to the years in the U.S. Army Reserves as a Civil highest quality training and education and Affairs Specialist. He most recently worked create new and exciting opportunities for as vice president for the Georgia-Pacific research and discovery. Corporation's Dixie Manufacturing Oper- ations. I hope you will join me in sending In this issue we also talk to some of our your thoughts and prayers to the Munn female faculty and students to learn more family.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 4 briefly

Six Assistant Professor Zhiting Tian has recently received both the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, and an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award. Her NSF project deals with thermal modeling of hierarchical structures spanning the nano-, meso-, and macro-scales. Her ONR research will help enable the design of ultralow thermal interface resistance for efficient cooling of electronics. Read more at VTNews.

Assistant Professor Xiaoyu “Rayne” Zheng, has been awarded an early-career award Assistant Professor Diana Bairaktarova of from the U.S. Air Force Office engineering education (PI) and Associate Pro- of Scientific Research for his fessor Scott Huxtable of mechanical engineer- work developing ultralight, ing (co-PI) were recently awarded $338,798 to super-elastic and flexible inor- examine the impact of mechanical objects in ganic metamaterials for future students' learning of thermodynamics-related flight structures. engineering problems. Read more at VTNews.

George R. Goodson Profes- Performance in Power Plants, sor Ranga Pitchumani has been will enhance heat transfer awarded more than $900,000 and could lead to new, indus- by the Department of Energy trially scalable and low-cost and other sources to improve fabrication. thermoelectric power plant Major gains in system ef- performance through novel ficiency, plant performance, surface designs. energy savings, and reduced The proposed work, emissions could result from Novel PatternedMOMENTUM SurfacesSPRING 2018 the durable PAGE 5 super-hydrophobic for Improved Condenser surfaces proposed in the plan. In Memoriam: George Munn Jr. George Munn Jr., a member of the Mechanical Engineering Advisory Board, died Jan. 21. George received his BSME from Virginia Tech. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves for 11 years, and was the vice president of Georgia-Pacific Corpora- tion Dixie Manufacturing Operations. George was a supporter of the United Way of Greater Atlanta, and the National Society of Black Engineers, as well as an avid traveler. George's full obituary can be found here.

in mechanical engineering, spent two weeks in India as a Fulbright Specialist to Amrita University. news Batra receives grants, publications Romesh Batra received two grants recently, totaling more than $900,000. notes "Modeling Impact Performance of Compos- Behkam, Nain in Pennsylvania, Toronto ite Laminates with Ceramic Back Plates" is a Associate Professor Bahareh US Army grant worth more than $781,000; Behkam gave invited seminars and "Material Models for Fiber-Reinforced to the mechanical engineering Structures" is a private company grant of department of Carnegie Mellon $134,000. University in December, and she provided the Mechanical and Behkam Batra was listed as an author on the follow- Industrial Engineering Distin- ing publications in 2018: guished Seminar at the University of Toronto "An immersed boundary formulation for in January. simulating high-speed compressible viscous flows with moving solids" Journal of Compu- Batra in India tational Physics 354 (2018). Romesh Batra, the Clifton C. "Analytical solution for cylindrical bending Garvin Professor of two-layered corrugated and webcore in Biomedical sandwich panels" Thin-Walled Structures 123 Engineering and (2018). Mechanics and an "Characterizing fracture performance and affiliate professor the interaction of propagating cracks with MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 6 locally weakened interfaces in adhesive joints" Tian in Nano Letters International Journal of Adhesion and Adhe- Assistant Professor Zhiting Tian sives 82 (2018). was published in Nano Letters in December. "Significantly High Ben-Tzvi talks, service Thermal Rectification in an Associate Professor Pinhas Asymmetric Polymer Molecule Tian Ben-Tzvi will give a research Driven by Diffusive versus Ballis- presentation at the Jet Propulsion tic Transport" is available by clicking the link. Laboratory at the California Insti- tute of Technology in March. His Ben-Tzvi Williams webinar, publications talk will be on "Novel Field Robots Associate Professor Chris Wil- and Robotic Exoskeletons: Design, Integration liams, John R. Jones III Faculty and Applications." Fellow, hosted a TA Instruments Ben-Tzvi also provided the keynote lecture webinar with Tim Long, director at the 2018 International Conference on of the Virginia Tech Macromole- Williams Mechatronics Systems and Control Engineer- cules Interfaces Institute, "Design- ing in February. His address was on "Recent ing New Materials for Additive Trends on Modeling and Integration of Novel Manufacturing: Vat Photopolymerization." Field Robots and Robotic Exoskeletons and Williams was also an author on: "Insights Their Applications." into the mechanical properties of several triply Ben-Tzvi was recently selected as Associate periodic minimal surface lattice structures Editor of the IEEE Robotics and Automation made by polymer additive manufacturing" Magazine; and associate editor for the IEEE Polymer; and "Model analysis of feedstock be- Robotics and Automation Society's conference havior in fused filament fabrication: Enabling editorial board for the 2018 International rapid materials screening" Polymer. Conference on Robotics and Automation. Acar in Florida and AIAA Journal Along with doctoral students Anil Kumar, Assistant Professor Pinar Acar Wael Saab, and Hailin Ren, Ben-Tzvi pre- has two journal papers in AIAA sented three papers at ASME 2017 Dynamic Journal: "Multi-Scale Optimi- Systems and Control Conference as well as zation of Nanocomposites with serving as session co-chair, and chair for Probabilistic Feature Descriptors" workshops, tutorials, and special sessions at and "Data Sampling Schemes Acar the conference. for Microstructure Design with The presented papers included: Obstacle Vibrational Tuning Constraints." Identification for Vision Assisted Control Acar presented two papers at AIAA SciTech Architecture of a Hybrid Mechanism Mobile Conference in Florida in January: "Replacing Robot; Maneuverability and Heading Control Microstructural Experiments with Recon- of a Quadruped Robot Utilizing Tail Dynam- struction Algorithms: Do Epistemic Uncer- ics; and An Inertial Sensor to Measure Wind tainties Allow?" and "Multi-Scale Optimiza- Turbulence with RC Helicopters. tion of Nanocomposites with Probabilistic Feature Descriptors."

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 7 Haghighat patent, talks Professor Alireza Haghighat filed a provisional U.S. patent for RAPID Particle Transport Meth- odology for Real-time Simulation of Nuclear Systems. Haghighat Haghighat gave a talk, "Creation of a Collaborative Virtual Reality System" at the Web3D Consortium, Users Group Meeting. He also gave a talk in conjunction with the Tarazaga at Rutgers, with students at Department of Physics as part of a site visit to IMAC the North Anna Generating Station, Virginia Associate Professor Pablo to discuss the project to develop the CHAN- Tarazaga, John R. Jones III Faculty DLER Reactor Neutrino Detector Technology Fellow, took a dozen students to for a Sterile Neutrino Search. Florida in February for the Soci- ety of Experimental Mechanics, Tarazaga Cheng proposal approved IMAC XXXVI Conference. A proposal by Associate Pro- fessor Jiangtao Cheng, titled Tarazaga gave a presentation at the Rut- "Investigation of Droplet Impact gers University as part of the Mechanical & on Soft Materials and Engineered Aerospace Engineering Colloquium Series in Surfaces," has been accepted by the Cheng January. His talk was: "Have You Talked to Center for Nanophase Materials Your Building Lately? A Few Ideas of What Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Can be Leveraged From an Instrumented The proposal period begins Feb. 1 and will Building." allow Cheng to use cleanroom facilities to do Sandu in Romania advanced fabrication. Professor Corina Sandu gave a Students earn fellowships keynote lecture on Highlights of Doctoral students the Higher Education System in Fatemeh Yazdan- the U.S. at the 2017 International doost and Mohamad Congress of Automotive and Sandu Ghodrati, received Transport Engineering, Mobility Engineering the Davenport and Environment in Pitesti, Romania. She Fellowship, and Pratt Yazdandoost Ghodrati contributed two presentations: "Real-Time Fellowship, respec- Parameter Estimation for Vehicle Systems;" tively. The pair work as part of the MultiScale and "Robust Design Optimization and Mechanics of Advanced Materials Laboratory Optimal Uncertainty Apportionment for and are advised by Assistant Professor Reza Nonlinear Vehicle Systems." She also chaired Mirzaeifar. two sessions at the conference organized by SIAR, the Society of Automotive Engineers of Romania, of which she is a member.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 8 Mirzaeifar in PRM Student talks Assistant Professor Reza Mir- Three zaeifar, along with post doc Ayoub mechani- Yari Boroujeni and doctoral cal engi- student Fatemeh Yazdandoost neering were recently published in Phys- Mirzaeifar doctoral ical Review Materials. Their paper is "Nano- students Mukherjee Jana Padhi crystalline Nickel-graphene Nanoplatelets presented Composite: Superior Mechanical Properties posters or talks at the following events. and Mechanics of Properties Enhancement at Abinash Padhi, talk: "Nanonet Force Mi- the Atomistic Level." croscopy: Measuring Forces in Anisotropic Yelton receives certification Single Cell Migration." BMES conference. Lance Yelton, program manager, Aniket Jana, poster: "Plasticity in Cell Mi- recently received his Research gratory Modes on Orthotropic Fiber Architec- Administrator Level II Certificate tures." Annual ASCB conference. after taking a total of 15 classes Apratim Mukherjee, talk and poster: "Nano- and workshops to complete both fiber Curvature Enables Quantitating Single the Level 1 and Level 2 programs. Yelton Protrusions." Annual ASCB conference. Williams diversity advocate The students are advised by Associate Melissa Williams, operations Professor Amrinder Nain. Mukherjee is manager, completed the required co-advised by Associate Professor Bahareh training to become a Diversity Ad- Behkam. Jana and Mukherjee were awarded vocate in November. People can Worthington Biochemical Association Travel sign up for the training through and VT GSA travel fund program awards. the university organizational and Williams professional development office. Lei Zuo receives grant Professor Lei Zuo, John R. Jones ME alum gets Innovation Award III Faculty Fellow, and Muham- Brian Goode mad Hajj, director of the Center (Ph.D. '11), a for Energy Harvesting Materials research scientist and Systems, have received a grant at Virginia Tech's from the National Academies of Zuo Discovery Analytics Sciences, through the U.S.-Egypt Center in the Na- Science and Technology Joint Fund, titled: tional Capital Re- "Evaluation of Combinations of Energy gion, received one of two Innovation Awards Harvesting and Desalination Technologies." for his work in predictive modeling. You The pair will collaborate with Professor Aly can read the entire story about his work and Elzahaby of Tanta University, Egypt. The award on VTNews. Virginia Tech portion of the grant is $148,129 over three years.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 9 Service recognition for seven in ME Mechanical engineering will have seven members of faculty and staff recognized for university service in 2018. The following indi- viduals will receive years of service awards: Brian Vick, associate professor, 35 years Cathy Hill, graduate program coordinator, 25 years Warren Hardy, associate professor, 10 years Alexander Leonessa, associate professor, 10 Correction years In the winter 2017 issue of Momentum, Jo- seph Schetz, center, an affiliate faculty mem- Brandy McCoy, executive assistant, 10 years ber of mechanical engineering and a pro- Saied Taheri, professor, director Tire fessor of aerospace and ocean engineering, Research Center, 10 years was incorrectly identified as being a retired member of AOE. He is pictured receiving the Christopher Williams, associate professor, AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology John R. Jones III Faculty Fellow, 10 years Award. .

Mechanical engineers making athletic headlines As of the Feb. 20 NCAA Division I rank- ings, mechanical engineering senior Jared Haught is the top-ranked wrestler in the 197 pound class. See the entire rankings on the InterMat site. senior placed first in the At the ACC Swim Championships, senior Neil Gourley 800m with 1:47.04 (a record for the Clemson broke a 10-year old Virginia Tech Ian Ho indoor track facility); and he was a member record with a 50 free time of 19:34. of the distance medley relay team which At the ACC indoor track championships, defended their title from last year.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 10 STORY BY LINDA HAZELWOOD ENGINEERING EDUCATION ME undergraduates win first Lockheed Martin Ethics Competition Two undergraduate students took first place in the first 2018 Lockheed Martin Ethics in Engineering Case Competition Feb. 16-17. Neddie Byron, a senior from Fairfax, Virginia and Alexandra Ringer, a junior from Mechan- icsville, Virginia, both of mechanical engineer- ing, were advised by Wm. Michael Butler, associate professor of io ahead of time and had taking second and third place practice in the department of to respond to a case with respectively. In addition to engineering education which engineering, ethical, and the competition, participating sponsored the team. business implications. In the students toured the F-35 Joint “Alexandra and Neddie first round teams prepared a Strike Fighter production were great representatives of 90-second ‘elevator pitch’ for line and learned about Lock- Virginia Tech and the College the judges summarizing their heed Martin and its efforts of Engineering,” said Butler. solution. The second round, to maintain and promote “Throughout the process they in which all teams partici- an ethics culture across the exhibited great enthusiasm, pated, featured a 20-minute corporation. presentation followed by technical prowess and interest The competition, which five minutes of judges ques- in learning about the subject aims to prepare undergrad- tions. The top three teams matter of the case. Their uate students in technical proceeded to round three hard work made them well disciplines to face the ethical where teams presented for 25 prepared for the competition challenges of the 21st century, minutes to the judges and all and the team received a was organized by Lockheed participants, amidst interrup- number of compliments on Martin in partnership with tions for questions during the their preparation during the the Center for Professional presentation. competition.” Responsibility in Business The contest was completed Twelve schools participated and Society in the Gies in three rounds and teams in the competition with the College of Business at the were given the case scenar- University of Arizona and the University of Illinois. Virginia Military Institute MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 11 STORY & VIDEO BY ERICA CORDER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Almunus donations creates Nicholas and Rebecca Des Champs Chair in Mechanical Engineering Alumnus Nick Des Champs of Las Vegas, "I am humbled, honored, and thankful to Nevada recently donated $2 million to have received this professorship as the de- establish a faculty chair in the Department partment head of mechanical engineering at of Mechanical Engineering within Virginia Virginia Tech. On behalf of the Department Tech’s College of Engineering. of Mechanical Engineering and myself, I would like to express our deepest appreciation Des Champs' gift creates a generous fund to Nick Des Champs, Becky Des Champs, under the direction of Azim Eskandarian, who and their family for this generous gift and the now holds the designation of Nicholas and opportunities it creates for our department Rebecca Des Champs Chair in Mechanical and students,” Eskandarian said. “This is Engineering. setting a new legacy under their name for new

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 12 discovery and findings and training students Des Champs' gift will also help Eskandarian in our department.” advance numerous departmental priorities, such as promoting graduate student success, The gift comes at a time of substantial mo- funding scholarships, and increasing depart- mentum for the department, which has con- mental rankings. tinued to see the largest enrollment growth of any of the departments in the Virginia Tech “Our mechanical engineering department College of Engineering over the past 10 years. has always been up near the top in the coun- try, and I’d like to see it stay that way,” Des “We are extremely grateful for the generos- Champs said. ity of Nick and Becky Des Champs,” said Julia M. Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Des Champs enjoyed a distinguished career Dean of Engineering. “The gift will certainly in the heating, ventilation, and air condi- enhance the nationally ranked department as tioning, or HVAC, industry after earning his it pursues cutting-edge student and faculty bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. from Virginia research in focus areas like energy engineer- Tech in mechanical engineering in 1962 and ing and science, robotics and autonomous 1967, respectively. systems, additive manufacturing research, and Des Champs has a long history of generous nuclear engineering.” support for Virginia Tech and is a member of With more than 1,100 undergraduates en- the university's Ut Prosim, 1872, and Pylon rolled in mechanical engineering, the depart- giving societies. He also serves on the Depart- ment is the largest specialized undergraduate ment of Mechanical Engineering Advisory program within the college. The undergradu- Board and is a member of the College of Engi- ate mechanical engineering program is ranked neering’s elite Committee of 100 and Academy 14th nationally, according to U.S. News & of Engineering Excellence. Des Champs also World Report’s 2017 list. The undergraduate served a term on the College of Engineering’s experience is buoyed by the department’s Advisory Board. two-semester senior design capstone projects, His path to education — and the confidence about a quarter of which are sponsored by he gained as a result of it — is what inspires corporate entities. him to give to Virginia Tech. In 2017, the department saw nearly $18 As the son of a brick mason based in Hen- million in research expenditures. Over the rico County, Virginia, Des Champs went past five years, the department’s more than 60 to work for his dad after high school, and faculty have netted 546 research awards from watched as most of his friends left to attend a wide array of federal and non-federal sourc- college. The following year, he decided he’d es, including the Department of Defense, the enroll at Virginia Tech’s extended campus in National Science Foundation, the Department Richmond, opting for mechanical engineer- of Energy, and NASA. ing because he was good with his hands and “Des Champs' gift will give us opportunities working on cars. and resources which we did not have before to “Boy, I had to work my you-know-what off start research in very exciting and new areas,” in the first year to try to get up with every- Eskandarian said. body else,” Des Champs said.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 13 After his first year, Des Champs had a New York, before he started his first company, co-op position at Ford Motor Company in Des Champs Laboratories, in 1974. Dearborn, Michigan, as part of his studies. The company produced air-to-air heat He’d return for six more academic quarters exchangers, just as an oil embargo forced throughout his undergraduate career. the U.S. into an energy crisis. The company When Des Champs earned his bachelor's, he went from bringing in hundreds of thousands became the first in his family to earn a college of dollars in revenue in 1974 to bringing in degree. Later, he’d also make Virginia Tech nearly $5 million in 1981. The company later moved to Rockbridge County, Virginia, where it grew sales revenue to $37 million a year. Des Champs never listed his company for sale, but when Munters Corporation approached him asking to purchase Des Champs Laboratories, he agreed and remained executive vice president, then later became a consultant. Today, the compa- ny is bringing in around $100 million a year and is focused on building cooling systems for cloud datacenters. Des Champs, meanwhile, started up another company, Des Champs history by becoming one of the first graduates Technologies LLC, in 2015. The company has of the mechanical engineering department’s developed a new type of HVAC product. His Ph.D. program — the same program that biggest client? Munters Corporation. ranked 22nd nationally in U.S. News & World Throughout all of it, he’s never forgotten Report’s 2017 list. Virginia Tech. Capping nearly a lifetime of “Once I got out into industry, no matter giving to the university is this most recent, $2 where I went, I felt like I could compete with million donation, going right to the depart- anyone,” Des Champs said. “Tech has an edu- ment he says gave him the foundation for his cational system that prepares you to actually confidence and career success. graduate from college and start producing, be “Tech gave me self-esteem, hands-on expe- productive, and earn your company money on rience, and a good education,” Des Champs day one. It’s amazing.” said. “It feels good in this case to know that for Des Champs' career took him to Atlantic perpetuity the mechanical engineering depart- Research Corp. in Washington, D.C.; Sanders ment head will always, even with inflation, Associates in Nashua, New Hampshire; and have a couple hundred thousand dollars a year Donbar Development Corp. in New York, to use to better the department.”

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 14 STORY & VIDEO BY ERICA CORDER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Alumni couple live life of service in support of alma mater When Damien and Krystal McCants entered professionals living their wedding reception to "Enter Sandman," and working in the other Hokies in the chapel knew what to Northern Virginia, do: they just started jumping. the pair are still committed to At the May 2008 reception, the newly living in service to married couple cut a cake embellished with a the university they sugary Virginia Tech athletic logo, drank from call home by do- embossed Virginia Tech champagne flutes, nating and joining and danced in a room filled with maroon and advisory boards. white decor. “For me, Virginia Their wedding was in many ways homage to Tech is a huge part the place where they met, fell in love, got en- of who I am,” Krystal said. “It’s such a huge gaged (specifically, in the gazebo by the Duck part of my life that I can't just forget because, Pond), and, they say, the place they became you know, without Virginia Tech, obviously I the people they are today. wouldn’t have gotten, I don’t think, the same Now, 15 years since their undergraduate caliber of education.” years at Virginia Tech, it’s a place they return Read the entire story at VTNews to visit every year without fail. As young

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 15 In the fall of 2017 more than 56 percent of students on campuses across the United States were women. Within engineering, however, and in mechanical engineering in particular, the national trend doesn't hold. At Virginia Tech, less than 17 percent of sophomores enrolled in mechanical engineering are female, while women make up more than 42 percent of the un- dergraduate population, and just over 22 percent for all engineering disciplines. We spoke to female faculty members and asked them about their experiences in the field and what advice they'd give to young women considering a degree in mechanical engineering.

Assistant Professor Zhiting Tian leading a dragon boat team at Tsinghua University, China

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 16 Tenacity, belief keys to success for female engineers

MOMENTUM STORIESSPRING 2018 BY ROSAIRE PAGE 17 BUSHEY MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Tian’s opportunity of pursuing graduate education in Mechanical Engineering (ME) arrived when she learned a female ME faculty Dr. Ying Sun at Binghamton University, who is also a Tsinghua alumnae, was recruiting graduate students. “I talked to her over the phone, and she offered me research and teaching assis- tantship for a master’s degree. She encouraged me to try this new field to see if I liked it. She said if I liked, she would fully support Tian grew up in a my Ph.D. application to top universities. So rural area of China I went to Binghamton in 2009 and started with her parents, both middle school teachers. working on nanoscale heat transfer. I very much appreciate the opportunity Dr. Sun of- Growing up in a fered me to enter this new field. It was neither rural, underdeveloped my undergraduate major nor my advisor’s area of China, Tian key research was faced with the dual area, so I had threat of a not-very-good to learn a lot educational from scratch.” "My par- environment and Tian taught ents told discrimination herself about against girls. phonons and me, "girls Zhiting Tian Unlike many, molecular China however, she had dynamics, could an out – parents, and started achieve Yuzhong Tian reading the and Tingrong literature what boys Liao, who were and found both middle school teachers and encouraged phonons could, if her love of learning. unexpectedly not more." “They bought me books that featured interesting. famous female scientists like Marie Curie, Tian read a lot and told me girls could achieve what boys of papers from could if not more,” Tian said from her office big names in nanoscale heat transfer field, in Goodwin Hall. Tian’s parents brought her among them is Dr. Gang Chen at MIT. to Beijing after she graduated from middle “When I start reading papers in this field, I school and showed her Tsinghua University, didn’t quite understand. I sent emails to the the top university in China, where she would authors and asked questions and they were eventually earn her bachelor’s degree in very responsive,” Tian explained. “I learned Engineering Physics in 2007. a tremendous amount and even made good

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 18 friends with some of them. Then I met a Tian’s married her husband in 2011. They faculty member in physics and now also the met while she was completing her masters in department chair of physics at Binghamton, Binghamton and when she went to MIT, he Dr. Bruce White, who helped me a lot with found a software engineering job in Boston. solid state physics. In fact, my first journal When Tian accepted her current position, the paper was co-authored with him in Applied family moved again. Physics Letters.” “He has been so supportive,” Tian said. “I After earning a master’s degree, Tian applied hesitated to accept the position here because to doctoral programs and was accepted by I was concerned the job opportunity for him several top schools. “I went to MIT because would be limited in a small town, but he was I wanted to work with Dr. Gang Chen and the person who convinced me to accept the continue the adventure with phonons.” Dr. offer.” Chen is a member of the National Academy of Despite all the positive role models and Engineering and the Department Head of ME mentors Tian has had along the way, she at MIT. credits her mother as her biggest influence. “I began my doctoral degree in 2009, and “My mom taught me to be persistent no it was until 2011 when I made up my mind matter what happens,” she said. “She said ‘If to pursue a career in academia. I attended you want to achieve your dream, you have to an NSF summer workshop at Northwestern be persistent.’ I had some obstacles, but be- University where I met Dr. Jian Cao.” cause of her influence, I was able to get here. Dr. Cao, an MIT ME alumnae, is an ME When I started my undergraduate program, professor and now associate vice president she told me that she wanted me to be happy for research at Northwestern. She took Tian to lunch and talked about her life as a female faculty member and completely changed the younger woman’s view. “My major concern at that time was the family/life balance of a female tenure-track faculty. I learned from her that a female faculty member could have a family life while enjoying research, interacting with students, working at the forefront of research challenges, and meeting scholars around the world that are working on interesting problems. Her personal expe- rience convinced me that this would be a great career path. After the workshop, I told my husband and my advisor that I wanted to become a faculty member and they were both very, very supportive,” she said.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 19 instead of only worrying about GPAs. So I The calm public speaker, though, isn’t with- spent a lot of time on student activities that I out her miscues, having once made it a point was passionate about.” to seek out the guest speaker at an event, only to find out the person wasn’t the speaker at all. One of the initiatives Tian launched at Tsinghua was starting a volunteer teaching “I approached a woman who I thought was program where college students went to the speaker and started talking to her and it nearby elementary schools in poor communi- became clear that we both realized she wasn’t ties every week to inspire the children’s thirst who I thought she was,” Tian explained. for knowledge and encourage them to achieve “That’s how I met Dr. Sally Morton [Dean their potential. of the College of Science at Virginia Tech]. “Now we become good friends. I cannot agree “I’m very proud of that program,” she said. more with her that family matters most and I “After more than ten years the program is still was very impressed with her positive energy, running.” every time I meet her she is full of positive Because of her involvement in outside ac- energy. It’s very inspiring and encouraging.” tivities, Tian said she learned to speak to large For young women who are considering groups, sometimes 1,000 or more, and that an education and/or career in engineering, has helped her as she continues her career. Tian offers two pieces of advice; one she has “I’m not afraid of presentations now,” she learned on her own with her two lovely sons, said. “Whenever I get in front of people and and one she learned from her parents. “No start talking, I’m not nervous because of the matter what your profession, family is always activities outside of engineering I did in my the most important in life; and girls can undergraduate.” achieve what boys can, if not more.”

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 20 Robin Ott Florida

Being non-traditional isn’t always the goal, but sometimes it provides the best results. Robin Ott is non-traditional in that she spent more than 20 years in industry as an engineer before coming to Virginia Tech as a professor of practice and she is the driving force behind the department's senior design capstone experience. It's a break from tradition that has its advantages. “I liked to argue a lot growing up and my parents thought I should be a lawyer,” Ott said. “I joined debate in 8th or 9th grade and would be given a topic and had to prepare both sides of the argument. I was really excited and researched my topic, pored over the microfiche to get all this data, and got my butt kicked by kids I don’t think tried as hard as I did. What I learned was that you can work really, really hard at something and still not win. I hated that. It was then I knew I wanted to do something where I can prove that I’m right. That meant math and science.” One of three daughters, Ott’s father was al- In a class of 250, Ott was one of 11 women. ways doing hands-on projects like refinishing “There were so few of us that all the guys old cars, building furniture, and working on knew us but we didn’t know all of them. model trains. That experience is partially what There were teachers then, in the college, who led her to mechanical engineering. “I realized were not in agreement that there should be ME was by far the most practical choice.” women in engineering. Some of the older Her school of choice was Virginia Tech. “We professors carried some of that attitude over, came out here on one of those March days not so much in mechanical, but in the funda- when everyone was on the drill field and the mentals classes. We stood out, there was no weather was beautiful and everyone was so doubt about it.” friendly and I just fell in love with it. Oh, and Despite graduating in 1995, there was still it didn’t hurt that I could be a ski instructor on blatant gender discrimination in the work- the weekends.” place, and Ott was confronted with all of it.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 21 “When you’re 24 you’re not sure how to stand up to that kind of discrimination,” Ott said. “It’s something that if you don’t have role-models or mentors, you have to take it upon yourself to speak up, because it’s not fair; and life’s not fair, but specifically gender discrimination is not fair.” In one of the several companies Ott worked for in her career, travel would take her to manufacturing facilities where it was com- mon for shop walls to be covered with posters or calendars of partially or almost nude wom- en. And that was only part of the problem. “In one of my first jobs as an engineer I was told I had to wear a skirt every day,” Ott said. “I eventually came back to the New River Valley and worked for Kollmorgen for nearly a decade and that’s where I really learned how to be an engineer. While there I did every- thing an engineer can do. I got a nice range of experience from design engineer, project

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 22 ment. “The students I teach, once they realize what my experience is, ask for resume advice, and interview advice, and they ask me all sorts of questions that I’m happy to answer. I think my extensive background in industry is very valuable.” For those who come to Ott looking for advice on getting ready to join the workforce, she has some ideas on that as well. “I would offer students a ‘prepare yourself’ conversation,” Ott said. “For female students, the conversation might be even a little more pointed. I would offer examples of what I faced so that if, by chance, they faced the same thing, they’d be a bit better prepared to deal with it, or know how to respond, or who to report it to. You shouldn’t have to figure that out on your own.” For the students she now sees on a daily basis, Ott is careful to recognize manager, quality engineer, supplier quality that the environment for women has gotten engineer – it was really fun and steel toes and better, but is still not where it needs to be. safety glasses were the attire.” “I can’t reach the parents of every student, Ott’s manager with Kollmorgen gave her but I can try to reach the students. The only advice she continues to share with students way I can impact them is by being the best today. “He told me that you can’t manage ev- female role model and the best engineer I can eryone the same way; you have to know who be. Ultimately, I can’t change anyone else’s you’re talking to, and if they’re not going to behavior, but I can model what I think is the deal well with you being very direct, you need right behavior, because gender discrimination to change your leadership style.” The message isn’t gone – it’s better, but not gone. When I of situational leadership, she believes, helps graduated I hoped that by the time my daugh- people deal with coworkers as well as subordi- ter was 20 gender discrimination would be nates or superiors. “Not everyone realizes you a thing of the past, but she’s 15 now, and it’s have to change your approach – at least they not gone. So for female engineers I would say generally don’t know it when they’re 20.” that there will likely be someone who won’t That type of experiential feedback is what believe in you, and the only way to combat sets Ott apart from many within the depart- that is to believe in yourself.”

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 23 Growing up in communist Romania under the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu, Corina Sandu was an only child who excelled in math, earning her place into the best high school and univer- sity in Bucharest. But math for its own sake didn’t ap- peal to her, so she turned to the one thing that helped make math useful to her – mechanical engineering.

“I could see a mech- I chose precision mechanics and had to anism, I could visu- take the exam for that specialization," alize a system and try Sandu explained. Students were selected to understand how it Corina Sandu to programs based on their score. works – I could model Romania The Romanian college system at the these things and time featured cohorts who would all design them. I was attend a series of classes together and much more attracted have labs in smaller groups. to things I could have my hands on than say, going into other areas of “We really didn’t have homework, except engineering,” Sandu said. for projects in the later years. Everything was pretty much the end-of-year exam. One day, With a lawyer/journalist father and a com- one exam, one grade. If you passed,” Sandu said, puter programmer mother, Sandu would go “you would carry on to the next year, but if you to work with her mother and learn how to use failed a subject in the first year, you had to take punch cards, and how to look at listings in the the entrance exam again. And if you failed in program code. She saw the enormous comput- a subsequent year, you would have to do the ers of the 1970s, and started to pick up on how whole year’s course of study over again with the things were done, so that by the time she took a next cohort.” test for high school placement, she was among the best in her class in most subjects, helping Of the 250 students in Sandu’s cohort, all but pave her way to university. 30 were female. And gender didn’t figure into job placement. “I went to the polytechniqueMOMENTUM instituteSPRING where 2018 PAGE 24 “Before the revolution (of December 1989 had a strong math/physics background,” Sandu that overthrew Ceausescu), people would be said. “Until then it didn’t even cross my mind assigned jobs. When students were ready to that a PhD was something you could do while graduate, companies prepared a list of available you were young. All the people I knew with positions. All the universities were connected PhDs were close to retirement because you and they would call each person by name based needed approval of the communist party or on their final rankings in college. When you Ceausescu’s wife to get a PhD so it wasn’t easy were called you picked the job you wanted to think about doing that in the late 1980s.” from the list and as they went down the list of With the opportunity now available, Sandu rankings, you had to pick from whatever was applied to graduate school in the United States left, and you had to go. To not work was illegal and arrived in Iowa a semester after her hus- and you would go to jail.” band had arrived. (Adrian Sandu is a professor Earning her engineer diploma degree in of computer science at Virginia Tech). 1991, Sandu worked for a power components “I didn’t want to apply somewhere else so I company as a design engineer by day and in the waited until Adrian was accepted and applied to evenings she worked as a laboratory instructor the same school,” Sandu explained. “So, on Dec. with a former professor at the university. 18, 1992, I boarded a plane for the first time “So a couple years after the revolution people ever and flew to Chicago. It was beautiful, just started hearing about programs where you before Christmas. This was the America we had could do graduate degrees in different countries seen on TV. and a lot of big universities were interested in "Going to Iowa was very different. It was recruiting students from Romania becauseMO heME NTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 25 a part of America I didn’t know much about, but I never felt homesick. Maybe because what to do because I couldn’t work full time Adrian and I were together, or maybe because that semester, but I also couldn’t interrupt my the people in Iowa were so welcoming and courses because I would lose my F1 visa status. friendly. It was good and we felt safe in Iowa It was a very challenging situation to be in.” and once we got there, that was our life.” Sandu received a graduate fellowship and Studying in a graduate program in Iowa was allowed some flexibility that semester was different for through independent study. “My advisor also Sandu for reasons was very understanding and I’m very appre- beyond the new ciative of him for that. After that, it was all location. Where about being flexible.” her undergraduate In the summer of 1997 Sandu’s husband experience featured a received a post-doctoral fellowship in New female to male ratio York. While he moved east, she stayed in of more than 7:1, she Iowa, and he traveled across the country once was now one of two a month to spend time with his new family. women alongside a dozen men. “After a semester I told my advisor I intend- ed to continue working on my dissertation “I didn’t question from New York. In December 1997 my it because it didn’t daughter and I moved east and next year my cross my mind,” husband got an offer from Michigan Tech. Sandu said. “You But he had to wait for a new fiscal year to get know, some people an H1 visa, so he drove me and our daughter go to school here and back to Iowa before heading back to Romania others there, it didn’t to wait on the new visa. When he got it he feel any different.” came back to go to work in Michigan and in As a first-year December 1998, we all moved there.” graduate student The Sandus stayed in Michigan until moving Sandu worked on de- to Virginia Tech in 2003. veloping software for an advanced training Throughout all of the moves and challenges, simulator. “My Sandu said she believes she has found the portion of the project piece of advice most beneficial to young was to model the powertrain for manual and women entering the engineering profession. automatic transmissions – the clutch, gearbox, "We live our personal lives and our profes- torque converter – pretty much everything sional lives simultaneously, and both can be that leads Scannedto the pedals,” by CamScanner she said. fulfilling by making conscientious decisions to By the time she defended her master’s thesis maintain a good balance between them," San- in 1995 Sandu was pregnant with her first du said. "Women must trust that they bring daughter, and she began her doctoral studies a unique set of skills and perspectives that are in the fall. “My daughter was due in January vital to the profession and that they will make 1996, and I remember we were wondering a difference in our society."

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 26 when she had to do a career project and didn’t like the career she chose. “Whenever you’re good at math and science, people always say things like, ‘you should be an engineer’ so Linda Vick there was always encouragement.” New Jersey By her senior year of high school Vick had earned an internship in a materials science In a picture featuring group which her parents, her husband, set her course. her sister, and one of her “It was an daughters, Linda Vick is internship for not an anomaly. Five of females and mi- the six in the photo are norities and it mechanical engineers. made me think “I wasn’t the kid who took things apart,” said that, yeah, this Vick, now an associate professor of practice is cool,” she and academic and career advisor for under- said. “Once graduate students. “My dad was an engineer, I got to that and he would let us hang out at his workbench point, there when we were kids and watch him fix and was a family of design things. He was always excited about engineers to sharing what he did.” egg me on. My father was an Vick’s first realization that engineering engineer, my might be in her future was in middle school older brother was an engi- neer, and my "(my father's) younger sister is as well.” hobbies in- Receiving volved fixing her bachelor’s degree in 1985 things and he and master’s Linda Vick with children Everett and Alison, 10 months old when their mother received her in 1987, Vick doctoral diploma. was excited made the jump to industry and worked in several jobs before about sharing coming back to earn her doctoral degree. what he knew." In 1993, as a married 30-year old with two kids, pursuing a doctoral degree in engineer- ing made Vick something of a non-traditional student.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 27 “I was older than the others in my group, you flush the toilet, but I can fix the toilet.” but I received a lot of support from my family During her time in industry and getting her and friends,” Vick said. “Toward the end of doctorate, Vick said she never personally ran the program, I found out I was pregnant with into anyone who asked her why she was pur- twins. Since twin pregnancies are high risk, suing engineering. But she did see it happen. the doctors made me stay home for three months before my due date. I knew my dis- “A friend of mine was asked why she was in sertation would be about two hundred pages, engineering and was told she had no business so I finished about three pages a day and got being here. I got me really mad,” Vick said. it done “My response was to try even harder to get the before top score in the class.” they were As one of three advisors to more than 1200 born. The students, Vick sees very different attitudes be- home rest tween male and female engineering students worked in how they respond to criticism. to my advantage, “When given external criticism I often find but it was female students take it more personally,” Vick my advi- explained. For instance, we put students on sor who I academic probation all the time and the guys remember will get annoyed and ask, ‘What’s wrong with being you? Why’d you put me on probation?’ The really sup- women are much more likely to think that portive. they’re not worthy of being in the major, so He always we need to keep encouraging and letting them was know they can do it.” Front: Al and Sylvia Wag- friendly, necz, Linda Vick's parents. During conversations with her female Back: Daughter Kristen, encouraging, and up-beat – even about the students, Vick tells them to take the attitude Linda, and husband Brian pregnancy. He just had faith in his students.” Vick, and sister Laura of their male counterparts. “I give them the Wagnecz. Earning her PhD in 1996, Vick began to example that many women who may meet embrace the engineering side of her she never nine of ten qualifications on a job posting may had as a child. think they aren’t qualified; where some men who meet one of the ten qualifications think “I didn’t really like to take things apart until they’re good to go. It’s a whole different atti- I had to teach ME 2024 – that’s when I got tude. The female students are always a little brave,” Vick admitted. “While developing surprised at some of the stories I tell them and hands-on labs, I was forced to learn how tend to leave a little more confident.” things worked. It got easier and easier. Now, at home, I’m the one who always fixes things. While teaching mechanical design, Vick’s Our family joke is that Brian (Vick, associate office doubles as a place where students can professor of mechanical engineering) can tell get help with their schedules and a place you why the water spins a certain way when where they can get encouragement.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 28 “Sometimes we have to be cheerleaders for those students, male and female, who come in and want to quit,” Vick said. “Toward the end of the semester, we’re doing a lot more cheerleading, pumping them up and telling them they can do it. I keep a box of tissues nearby for the students, because it’s easy to get discouraged.” “People who succeed at engineering, or anything, need to be willing to take risks and be wrong,” Vick said. “You can’t be afraid of failing and you have to build up your self-es- teem enough where you don’t care about being wrong. Those are qualities we see more often in our male students. We try to encour- age our females not to internalize criticism or failure.” For the young women who enter the de- partment today, Vick points to options that didn’t always exist as ways for women to become involved and interact with peers. “One of the best things my daughter did was join CEED (Center for Enhancement of Engi- neering Diversity) programs,” Vick said. She lived in Hypatia (a living-learning community for women in engineering) with other female engineering students. When you feel like you’re not alone, when you’re not the only one struggling, it’s a lot easier. When you can live in a community and make friends in your major who are also female – they are the best support system ever. If you hear them talking badly about themselves, you understand how you might be doing the same thing and think, no, that’s not right.” encouragement while another female faulty member gave her the tough love she needed. Through the years, Vick has seen thousands She came back to thank us, because she so of students pass through Blacksburg and some often wanted to quit and we kept pushing her. come back and seek her out. She ended up doing very well at her job and “I’ve heard from former students who come had just been promoted. That’s very satisfying back and they thank us for supporting them,” as a professor, an advisor, an engineer, and a Vick said. “One female came to me often for woman.”

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 29 Born at Wright-Patterson As a youngster the family would sometimes Air Force Base, Ohio to a eat lunch at the local Woolworths where former World War II navi- large windows overlooked a train yard. There gator and a mother who was Kasarda loved spending her time watching the Mary Kasarda an Air Force nurse, Kasarda’s trains. earliest memories involve the Ohio “I remember being fascinated by the wheels New York World’s Fair and a and mechanisms and linkages,” she said. brand new car produced by the “As I got a little older I also realized that if I Ford Motor Company – the wanted to do math and support myself, then Mustang. engineering was the way to go and I liked the “I was two years old and was idea of solving problems, improving systems, taken to the World’s Fair by and making things more efficient. It was the relatives because my sister was application of math and science that appealed being born and they wanted me out of the to me.” way,” Kasarda recalled. “I remember the 1964 With a cousin who had started in engineer- Mustang spinning around on a turntable and ing but moved to sociology, Kasarda heard I thought it was beautiful. I loved the idea of horror stories about how difficult engineering motion and the freedom vehicles could give programs were, so she decided that she would you – be they cars or trains.”

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 30 attend the University of Virginia, then known complete a master’s degree and then formed a for its English program, with the thought that consulting company with a previous doctoral if she washed out of engineering, she could fall student there. She helped develop and run back on a strong degree in English and then the company for two years before selling out move on to law school. and taking a job with DuPont. She worked there for a few years before Dupont created “My parents agreed that if after two years a program to offer cash incentives for people I wanted to switch schools to a more engi- to leave the company as they reorganized, neering-based university, they would support and that inspired her to look for new that, but UVA was where I wanted to be. I had opportunities. made close friends there, the fraternity parties in the 1980s were great, and I got involved in “I called Paul [Allaire] and asked if he knew undergraduate research in engineering.” of anyone who needed a rotor dynamicist and he suggested I come back to UVA for my PhD. With a senior thesis project to complete I kind of laughed but I did the math to see if I Kasarda realized she didn’t want an esoteric could support both myself and my horse and project. She wanted to do something import- realized I could do it, so in my 30s I started a ant and useful and so by knocking on a door, doctoral program.” she made a contact who would become an important part of her professional life. At 36 Kasarda received her PhD and took a job teaching at Virginia Tech where she has “I knocked on the door of Professor Paul finally achieved the dream Allaire and told him I was looking for a thesis of connecting two life-long project, and he walked with me down to the passions. lab,” Kasarda said. “He was very respectful and he explained things to me, and while he was “Most of my career has been "Women have doing that I could immediately understand working with high-speed an extra layer how the research he was doing improved high rotating machinery, magnetic speed rotating machinery like compressors bearings, and later Smart of social and steam turbines. Allaire mentored me Buildings. Now, I’m currently through the project and when I graduated I doing image processing work navigation to took a position with Ingersoll-Rand for about with the school of veterinary manage..." a year where I was one of maybe two women medicine where we are trying out of 100 engineers. But the group I worked to take facial recognition in, rotor dynamics, was much smaller and approaches developed for they were really good about mentoring and humans and modify those algorithms to work encouraging me, so it was a really good expe- with animals, and horses, in particular. We rience and a nice environment. I knew that in want to look at automatically detecting pain or the shops there were some people who didn’t stress in horses using video or camera feeds. immediately take me seriously, but I didn’t We’re at the very beginning of the research,” care about their attitude. The people I worked Kasarda said, “but we’ll be contributing to with daily were really nice to me.” animal welfare and making a contribution to the scientific field in image processing; and After spending about a year in industry, I finally found a way to work with horses as Kasarda went back to Charlottesville to part of my day job.”

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 31 For young women who are making their to work, because it’s challenging and it should way into mechanical engineering, Kasarda has be challenging, but it’s doable. several pearls of wisdom, including one from a “Women are also too hard on themselves sandwich shop. and tend to blame themselves when things “I’ve done some research with a member of don’t go well. Things are different for women the VT School of Education about this, and and that’s not going to change overnight. No one of the reasons I think women aren’t as matter how hard you work and how much well represented in engineering, is because of you accomplish, there will always be people a social perception,” problems to deal with Kasarda explained. that seem personal. Be “Women have an honest with yourself, but extra layer of social don’t always just blame navigation to man- yourself. If someone age, that depends is a jerk, they’re a jerk, on personality to that’s not your problem. some extent, where Just deal with it as best when they walk into you can and absolutely a class and there are look for options for only two women, working with better they feel, ‘should I be people – it just may take here? Am I part of a while to change your this community?’ I’m circumstances. not saying it doesn’t “Finally, I’d say find happen to men by an advisor/mentor any means, but that and don’t just choose ‘do I belong?’ ques- someone randomly,” tion is almost always Kasarda said. “You want there with women a personality match with and other students them not just an interest from underrepre- in the same topic or sented groups. engineering discipline. “Based on my If you are going to do professional de- research or go to gradu- velopment work with public school teachers ate school, talk to other students and find out to help them understand and incorporate an advisor’s style, and how they do things. I engineering in their classrooms, I learned that saw a sign once in a sandwich shop that said, there is also a perception that you need to be ‘it’s not how your date treats you, it’s how a math superstar in school to even consider they treat the wait staff’ and this holds true in engineering, and that’s not really true. You professional relationships also. This is critical absolutely need to be able to do the math, but because at the end of the day, how people treat if you got a B in high school calculus, you can those who may not be at their same station in apply for an engineering program. You’ll have life, that shows who that person really is.”

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 32 – it sounded very exciting to me – dealing Acar upon receiving her bachelor's in aeronauti- with the unknown. That’s why I started in cal engineering Pinar Acar engineering.” Istanbul, Turkey Enrolling in the Istanbul Technical Univer- sity, Acar earned her undergraduate degree in astronautical engineering and moved As the youngest of two girls, Pinar Acar was from there to a master’s degree in aerospace always interested in math and knew early on engineering. that her future lay in engineering. Growing up in Istanbul, Acar’s parents were Acar, (pronounced ah-jhar) an assistant both bank accountants who encouraged her professor in mechanical engineering, now interests and were supportive of her decisions. works in a computational world, designing “There is a perception in Turkey that if you materials at the micro and nano scales that are successful in high school, then people will help create better materials for larger expect you to be enrolled in science, or medi- scale structures, such as aircraft wings. But it cine, or engineering,” Acar said. “If you choose wasn’t so long ago that she was beginning her another area, people think you might be academic journey. wasting your potential, and that you should be “I loved solving math problems and knew going into science. This perception is proba- I wanted to apply that knowledge to the bly why my parents were ok with my decision real world. I was also interested in space even though astronautics sound a bit extreme

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 33 – because I was involved in engineering and percentage of females in graduate programs doing well in school.” increased in Turkey as men were more likely to take jobs in industry. The choice of university for Acar wasn’t difficult. Istanbul Technical University opened “I know female friends who went to work in its doors in 1773 – the same year British industry and unfortunately that sounds more subjects in North America were tossing tea problematic for women compared to the ac- into Boston Harbor - to, “provide engineering ademic environment,” she said. “The women education in [the] western sense for the first have to compete with male candidates for jobs time in the Ottoman empire,” according to the and promotions under unequal conditions, university’s web page. since I know in some companies women are asked questions they are not supposed to As one of the oldest and most respected en- be asked and that affects the decision of the gineering schools in the country, Acar excelled company. Questions like, ‘are you thinking in college and joined the ranks of women who of having a child at some point?’ or, ‘are you moved on from undergraduate to graduate married?’ Those questions are unfortunately studies there. used to eliminate them from a potential “As a female researcher competition with male candidates.” I didn’t experience any After earning her master’s degree in aero- difficulty in Turkey when space engineering, Acar stayed in Istanbul for "Everyone has growing up because a year of doctoral work before looking outside of my gender. This is the borders of her home country. the ability to because we used to have think of some- a different perception at “At some point I decided in my graduate the college level,” Acar studies that I should be going somewhere else thing that said. “Since the academic for my PhD to accomplish more,” she ex- faculty don’t earn as plained. “Even though we had good potential others cannot much as those in the in- in terms of quality, there were limitations on even dream dustrial sector, those who what you could do during your PhD in Tur- stay in academia are the key, so I decided to broaden my horizons and of." people who really want apply to a university in the United States.” to do it. Unfortunately Choosing the University of Michigan, Acar these things have been moved to America to work in the area of changing in a negative sense in Turkey so far multi-scale materials design with her advisor, but when we were growing up the perception Veera Sundararaghavan. was that female students were usually more hardworking and more likely to continue in “The first reason I applied at Michigan was graduate studies, especially in engineering, that it was one of the most prestigious univer- and thus they were highly encouraged to stay sities in the world and I was sure I would be in academia. I was also encouraged by my provided the best opportunities to accomplish MSc advisor, Melike Nikbay, to continue my a high-quality work.” graduate studies.” “I had a very productive PhD with Veera Another difference Acar noted was that the because we had a similar way of mathematical

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 34 thinking to solve engineering problems and ahead. I believe everyone has some amazing we made a good team,” Acar said. “Choosing capability, and everyone has the ability to an advisor is the most important decision for think of something that others cannot even your PhD and this is true for all students. The dream of. This is so important and women advisor should be understanding if you’re need to believe this and believe in themselves. coming from a different background with “Unfortunately there will be a lot of issues, different experiences, and you need time to biases –and it’s not realistic to say that they get used to a new environment. I was lucky shouldn’t care. But they should be confident in that sense since Veera was very supportive. and believe that they can accomplish great Everyone who is accepted to a PhD program things – because they can really do. Believe in has amazing capabilities but needs some time yourself. Every day, in every stage of life, there and encouragement to be able to show their capacity. Being an advisor shouldn’t be like managing a compa- ny, it should be approached in a more humane way. An advisor should understand all these and be careful about what they are saying, doing, and suggesting. The advisor should be sup- portive, and should always acknowledge the student’s accomplishments. Maybe this is more important for women candidates, because I think they suffer the most from both conscious and unconscious biases.” Since earning her PhD in 2017 and arriving at Virginia Tech, Acar has paid close attention to her Acar, after a successful PhD students and sees some important cultural are things that are going on in a way that I dissertation defense at the differences between female students in Turkey wouldn’t prefer experiencing as a woman University of Michigan, and the United States. researcher – but this doesn’t demoralize me 2017. because I know I can accomplish more. And “Encouragement is very important,” she our female students need to know this. De- said. “Because we believed in female students’ spite all the difficulties they have to encounter, capacity in Turkey, women were more they can always accomplish more.” confident to pursue their ideas. Here I see conditions make some women hesitate to go

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 35 STORY BY RONALD MANIECE II HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE TEAM

Sara Lepley, third from right, with the HEVT team at an annual competition for EcoCAR3. Q&A with HEVT alumna Sara Lepley We recently spoke with HEVT alum Sara mentor from HEVT? Lepley who is currently in Detroit pursuing Kimberly DeClark, the communications and a career in automotive communications with logistics manager of EcoCAR3, has been the Weber Shandwick, PR Weeks' Global Agency most important mentor in my career. of the Year. Kimberly leads by example and always sets How did you find out about HEVT/EcoCAR3 her mentees up for success. For example, I was I joined on a whim! I didn’t know much asked if she needed any help for an EcoCAR about automotive so it seemed like a fun event. I figured she would have me and anoth- challenge. er comm manager move chairs for her, maybe staple some documents, that sort of thing. What got you interested in HEVT? Instead, she asked us to help lead journalists I had signed up randomly. Dr. (John) around for the media day. It was so typical of Tedesco, (Professor, Department of Commu- Kimberly, because she always made sure we nication) the team’s communications faculty got great, hands-on experience. advisor, noticed my name of the sign-up list She also has a pretty impressive career and and convinced me to do it. I loved his classes doesn’t mind sharing what she has learned. I and mentor sessions, so I knew I could trust can’t name all the times where I’ve gone to her him. I haven’t looked back since. for advice and she had a great story. Who has been your most important influence/

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 36 To current team members – on the com- of my life. My job, the city where I live, my munication side or not – I highly recommend group of friends – all have been influenced by spending time with Kimberly and asking EcoCAR3. More broadly, EcoCAR3 helped about her storied career. It’s well worth your me realize how much I am capable of. I’m time. more confident because of it. Are you still close with any one from HEVT? If What do you miss most about HEVT? so, who? I loved the brainstorming meetings. We It’s funny you ask. I shouldn’t have known kept running into the challenge that our target anyone when I moved to Detroit. I don’t have audience wanted nothing to do with a hippy family or connections to the area. But through dippy version of the Camaro. By working EcoCAR3, I found a roommate, who was the together, we came up with creative, strategic communications manager for Mississippi and ultimately fun ideas. State. She’s now one of my closest friends. I Did HEVT help you acquire your position now? also reconnected with members of my team If so, how? who moved to Detroit, and reached out to students from other teams who are now close Absolutely. Through EcoCAR3 I built my friends. network, which helped me get the What was your favorite event from HEVT/ interview, and I EcoCAR3? built my skills and Are you familiar with the show Chopped? confidence, which We did something similar, but instead of helped me get the ingredients we gave kids Legos. They could job. build anything they wanted, but they could Looking back, what only use the resources available. We earned advice would you give media coverage, got to teach kids engineering yourself? through playing with them and the pictures were adorable! I wish I had spent more time in Can you think of a time/memory that was the garage asking considerably challenging? How did you overcome questions. Once this challenge? I started hanging We hosted a luncheon for the Girls Scouts of around the engineers working on the car, my Virginia Skyline. Unfortunately, they arrived learning skyrocketed. I also made some great an hour early and were starving. Fortunately, we friends. had some STEM-oriented tools for after the event. Is there anything you'd like to add? We broke those out early and were able to distract them until the food arrived. The rest of the event The beauty of EcoCAR3 is you get to work went off without a hitch! with students from different departments and from different states. Surrounding yourself What did HEVT mean to you? with a diversity of ideas, approaches and EcoCAR3 completely changed the course backgrounds is smart no matter your career.

MOMENTUM SPRING 2018 PAGE 37 about alumni I was avidly involved Alicia Williams '05, '07, '08 in the Virginia Tech Tae What was your first recollection of coming to Kwon Do club my sopho- Virginia Tech and the campus? more through senior years, I grew up in northern Virginia, which, at which is still an active club the time I was applying to colleges, was in the at Virginia Tech. process of growing explosively from the place What is your proudest I had experienced as a child. I distinctly recall academic or professional arriving at the campus for a tour and seeing achievement? how beautiful and impressive the campus was, and how pleasant everyone I met was. The I would have to answer campus truly had a community feel to it and I getting to work at Lawrence could see right away how I would fit right in. Livermore National Labora- tory. I am humbled to work Was there a single professor or other mentor among such smart, capable who helped guide you or shape your time at VT, people on technical projects or who had a great influence on your career after in support of our national graduation? security. Professor Wing Ng had a significant impact What do you think has been the single greatest on me as an undergraduate. I came into his change to the university since you graduated? fluids course as a junior with a lot of interest in pursuing the thermofluids field for my My family lives in the Christiansburg area career, and as a result, not anticipating the nowadays, so I am back for a visit periodically. level of challenge in the class. Doctor Ng was I have mostly noticed that Blacksburg has one of the toughest professors I had as an become more modernized and grown up since undergraduate, though he was always very fair the time that I was a student. For example, and made the class a fun environment with his the apartments that I lived in on Meadow jokes. His high expectations had a significant Drive as an undergraduate and graduate have influence on helping me internalize those been knocked down and replaced with new expectations on myself, independent on what buildings. was expected in a course. That has not only What advice would you give to undergraduate served me well in subsequent graduate school, mechanical engineers? but in my career as well. Take on challenges, both inside and out- As a student, what activities did you enjoy the side the classroom. Don’t be afraid to try most and does that activity still exist at the univer- something that looks too difficult, you might sity today? surprise yourself.

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