Engineering Advantage, Spring 2006

ENGINEERINGAdvantage College of Engineering, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California, Spring 2006 A commitment to change the world Cal Poly and CENG incorporate sustainability in theory, in practice and in the classroom n Earth Day 2004, Cal Poly President Warren Baker Osigned the Talloires Declaration, an action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations and outreach at colleges and universities. Today, the university and the College of Engineering (CENG) have made sustainability a top priority. CENG Dean Mohammad Noori comments, “We are serious about sustainability, and not just because we believe in the need for environmental literacy, which is vital, but also because resource limitations are a reality in our rapidly changing global landscape. Engineering that is practical and economical requires consideration of societal, ethical, political, environmental, and sustainability issues. I believe the College of Engineering can once again emerge as the national leader of this new engineering paradigm.” This article explores CENG’s wide-ranging sustainability efforts, including projects, clubs, coursework, and the establishment of the Center for Sustainability in Engineer- Alex Tsuji (ENVE) received a $10,000 grant for his proposal to establish a ing (CSinE). recyclability index for automobiles. An index “would empower consumers to make environmentally responsible decisions,” Tsuji says. Recyclability Index for Automobiles hen Alex Tsuji looks at a pile of junked old cars, he Good times continue for Cal Poly SWE sees enormous possibilities for parts and resource W ■ Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers continue its reign as the best recycling. “New cars are graded on fuel efficiency; why student chapter in the country ̶ Page 7 not also post a grade for recyclability? That would em- ■ SWE honors Outstanding Women in Engineering & Technology ̶ Page 16 Please see SUSTAINABILITY, Page 6 Features College News Dept./Faculty Project Based Student News Alumni Notes • Cal Poly and CENG make • Grant M. Brown Engineering • Heating, Ventilating, Learning • CENG athletes excel • Ron Smith receives Black sustainability a top priority Building dedicated Air Conditioning and • CENG robot project • PolyClubs website Engineer of the Year award • Recyclability Index for autos • SHPE students win again Refrigerating (HVAC&R) displayed in South Korea • Imagining an Open House • Jacquelin Buratovich works • New sustainability courses • SWE Evening With Industry program makes a comeback • EE Department receives with “Zero Waste” on Afghanistan water project • Cal Poly EWB works on • National Engineers Week • IME professors develop award from Hitachi • Outstanding Women in • Adrian Mummey takes on water project in Thailand • Poly Canyon Village a better bicycle rack • PBL website goes live Engineering & Technology website for Mongolia Maintaining the Momentum Cal Poly’s Engineering Plaza is located in the triangle formed by Engineering IV, the Bonderson Student Projects Center and the Advanced Technical Laboratory. At left: Workers stroll past the center of the plaza with its signature Fibonacci curve. Engineering plaza Engineering IV set to break ground hile Engineering IV and the Bonderson WStudent Project Center are taking shape dramatically around it, Phase I of the Engineer- ing Plaza is scheduled to break ground this spring. Designed by award-winning landscape architect Jeffrey Gordon Smith to honor the past, celebrate the present and impact the future, Engineering Plaza allows CENG students, alumni and boosters to purchase and inscribe tiles to express their thoughts, appreciation and thank-you’s. Three hundred and twenty-two friends of the college became Plaza Members in Phase Bonderson I, contributing more than a quarter-million Student dollars to get this remarkable project off the Projects ground. For those interested in Phase II who Center missed the initial paving stone offering, an interest list is now forming. To place your name Advanced in the queue, contact Michelle Jenkins at Technical [email protected] or visit ceng.calpoly.edu. Laboratory Below: Concrete workers smooth the concrete foundation of Engineering IV, a three-story, 104,000 square foot building that will include classrooms and labs for the CE/ENVE, ME and IME departments. ENGINEERINGAdvantage Frequency: Published biannually Publisher: Cal Poly College of Engineering 1 Grand Avenue San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ENGINEERINGAdvantage 3 2 Issue Number: Vol. 2, issue 2 Maintaining the Momentum Maintaining the Momentum Dean Noori outlines college funding priorities State-of-the-art equipment for the Bonderson Student Project Center and Engineering IV are currently on top of the list ean Mohammad Noori is exhilarated by the ■ Graduate student fellowships and schol- Dsounds of construction resounding through- arships to strengthen CENG’s master’s degree out the College of Engineering. To his ears, programs; and pneumatic drills and hammering not only mark ■ Endowed professorships and faculty the rise of the Bonderson Projects Center and En- research support grants to nurture outstanding gineering IV, but they also signal a new level of faculty. prominence̶and new funding needs̶for the “State funding allows us to turn on the lights College of Engineering. and hire teachers, but it does not cover those ar- “To fully equip our new learning centers and eas that mark us as an institution of distinction,” to meet our goals as a preeminent engineering explains Noori. “I know, however, that the col- college, we have outlined a set of immediate lege can realize its potential as a national leader funding priorities for our annual, $10-million, in engineering education with the support of our Maintain the Momentum campaign.” says Noori. loyal alumni, and generous friends and industry According to the dean, the following priori- partners.” ties have been identified in consultation with the university, faculty, and key industry leaders and alumni who serve on the Dean’s Advisory Council and Maintain the Momentum campaign Published biannually Frequency: committee: Publisher: Cal Poly ■ State-of-the-art equipment and technology Clockwise from upper left: painters work on the frame of the Bonderson College of Engineering for the Bonderson Projects Center and Engineer- Student projects center; ironworkers erect the Bonderson Building’s 1 Grand Avenue ing IV; skeleton; Paul Bonderson (EE, ’75) and his wife Sandra check out the San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 ■ Student scholarships, especially merit- construction; a large elm tree was incorporated into the site; a view of based freshmen grants to help CENG attract the construction from the roof of the ENGINEERINGAdvantage 3 2 Issue Number: Vol. 2, issue 2 top-notch students; Kennedy Library. College News College News Members of the Brown family, including Andy and five-year-old Grant helped unveil the plaque at the building’s dedication ceremony. Below: Ross Brown and mentor James L. Bartlett stand before the dedication plaque on the building’s ground floor. New engineering building named for refrigeration pioneer Left: The hills in the evening sunset glow red in the Grant M. Brown Building’s northern glass wall. gift provides Recently completed Engineering III is now $2 million to endow the “Grant M. Brown Engineering Building” the James L. Bartlett Jr. ast fall, young Brown family children skipped and façade, became the Professorship Lsquirmed in the halls of Cal Poly’s newly opened “Grant M. Brown Engi- to promote engineering building, but they seemed impressed when neering Building” in honor of the generous donations of multidisciplinary project-based learning. Over 60 family a veil was pulled to reveal a plaque memorializing their the Brown Family Foundation. members and university representatives were on hand family predecessor, Grant M. Brown. The Brown gift includes $200,000 to fund student for the dedication. Engineering III, distinguished by its curved glass scholarships and $300,000 in equipment. In addition, the The Grant M. Brown Engineering Building contains 4 ENGINEERINGAdvantage ENGINEERINGAdvantage 5 College News College News Poly Canyon Village to double approximately 32,480 square feet. Departments housed in the building include Aerospace Engineering, on-campus student housing Industrial & Manufacturing Engi- mpressive for its historical size and cost, low us to assure every sopho- neering, and Materials Engineering. Poly Canyon Village will usher in a new more and freshman will have It also houses high-tech laboratories I era of student housing at Cal Poly when housing on campus.” for advanced manufacturing, mate- the first half of the project opens in the fall Poly Canyon Village, which rials removal, electronic fabrication and other programs. of 2008. was initially proposed in 2003 With an estimated cost of $239 million, and was approved by the CSU Grant M. Brown founded two the 2,670-bed dormitory project is the trustees in 2005, will be built refrigeration companies largest ever approved in the 23-campus on 30 acres north of Brizzolara five-, and six-person apartments. California State University system. Creek at the southwestern edge of Caballo ■ An Olympic-sized swimming pool A 1960 Cal Poly air conditioning “This is a very exciting project for the Peak. Among the project’s highlights : and a Recreation Center. and refrigeration alumnus, Grant future of the university, as it will double ■ Nine separate buildings with 822,000 ■ Retail space for a market, student M. Brown

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