Tennessee Engineer Newsletter Fall 2017
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TENNESSEE FALL 2017 ENGINEERTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE • TICKLE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING ServiceA Life of One student takes the Volunteer Spirit to new depths. Page 18 2 Dean’s Message 8 14 Features Departments Engineering is in a constant state of improvement. programs as well as other disciplines at UT—with We often hear it said that engineering is a profession design coursework. in which one of our primary objectives is to make a 2 Global Challenge; UT Answer 18 A Life of Service 1 Dean’s Message better world. That theme is ever-present in the stories It’s not that we haven’t had these design experiences in the past, but we will soon have someone whose Global Initiatives: Ecuador Engineering Better of our students, faculty, and staff as well as our friends 4 22 31 Faculty & Staff Notes daily focus is to help plan and facilitate them. We will Health Care and alumni across the globe. This issue of Tennessee be looking to our alumni and corporate and industry 5 Two New Programs Launch Engineer is filled with examples of how we are 32 Alumni News & Spotlights partners to help provide design challenges on which 24 Best of Both Worlds accomplishing this objective—from former Navy diver- our students can focus, including the grand challenges 6 A Better Box 33 Student News turned electrical engineering student Alex Weber, to 26 Boots on the Ground the multidisciplinary group of students that designed identified by the National Academy of Engineering. 8 Spinning Biomass into Gold and in the Classroom 34 Note from a Proud Parent a better donation box for the Great Smoky Mountains You may have already heard about several others National Park, and many other stories in between—we changes coming in 2018. The university is conducting 12 Data, Take the Wheel 29 Building Bridges 35 In Memoriam are making a difference! national searches for the positions of provost; vice chancellor for research, engagement, and economic UT Icon Burdette Honored As you read through the magazine, you will note 14 Up, Up, and Away 30 36 Facilities Update development; and dean of engineering. Yes, after with Dougherty Award new things happening within the college and the university. For example, we recently named our being at UT for some 46 years I will be retiring at the honors program for alumnus Joe Cook and his wife, end of this academic year. Serving as dean has been the best and most fulfilling position of my career; Issue No. 2 Dorothy Barkley Bryson Randall Brown On the cover: Judy. Their support is ensuring our students can focus Tennessee Engineer is Executive Director, David Goddard Electrical engineering senior on conducting solution-driven research to solve the the college is on a wonderful trajectory. I could not published in the spring and Engineering Development David Brill Alex Weber training to world’s critical issues. be more proud of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, fall by the University of Whitney Hines recover shuttles for the Orion and friends who are all part of the Tickle College of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tickle Christie Kennedy Writers Space Project at NASA’s We have also announced a national search for the Engineering team. College of Engineering Editor Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Edwards Assistant Dean and Director of Integrated Director of Communications Printer Houston, Texas. Engineering Design, a newly endowed position Bennett Croswell University Print Chair, Board of Advisors Mitchell Williamson and Mail created through the support of alumnus Tom Edwards Designer and his wife, Elaine. The position will focus on Wayne T. Davis providing synergistic programming and experiences Dean; Wayne T. Davis that are integrated vertically—from pre-college and Endowed Dean’s Chair freshman up through graduate-level students—and Wayne T. Davis in Engineering horizontally—across the spectrum of our 12 degree Wayne T. Davis Endowed Dean’s Chair in Engineering engr.utk.edu 1 Global Challenge; UT Answer Meet some honors students who call Tennessee home By David Goddard Some of UT’s top engineering students gained a helping Austin Ngo hand this year in their quest to shape the world, all thanks to someone who was once in their position. Hometown & Major: Chattanooga, Tennessee; Senior, MSE. Through the support of Joe Cook (’65 ISE) and his wife, Judy, the Joseph C. and Judith E. Cook Grand Challenge Grand Challenge: Engineering the Honors Program was created to help bring new Tools of Scientific Discovery. perspectives, opportunities, and practical experiences for those select students. Notable Research: Working on the corrosion of superalloys at ORNL. Sarah Davis, a senior majoring in nuclear engineering, is a shining example. “The program has allowed me to see how new alloys and materials Davis, who came to UT from Memphis, is honing her would actually be put to real use— talents in confronting the grand challenges of Preventing particularly in space—rather than Nuclear Terror and Engineering Better Medicine. just looking at how to make them. She spent this most recent summer at ORNL It makes me consider various working in the Fusion Materials and Technology points and counterpoints of my Applications department, where she tested the research and ideas, which helps in performance and reliability of nuclear power projects and classes beyond just plant electrical cables. Understanding that component engineering. By challenging my helps reduce costs, extends the lifetime of parts, and mindset and encouraging travel and provides better security for the entire process. entrepreneurship, it really makes me a different person.” “Once I got involved with this program I noticed I was pushing myself to do better and learn more, so that I What’s Next? Taking knowledge of could actually make an impact with my research,” Davis materials into development of new said. “I have taken interdisciplinary classes that I wouldn’t rocket engines and parts for NASA. Photo: Shawn Poynter have normally chosen to, including presenting at an international conference in Washington, DC.” Davis must soon decide what to focus on next, with nuclear instruction, nuclear security, and proton therapy Christopher Neal for cancer research as possibilities. Hometown & Major: Lebanon, For now, she’s sharing her experiences with the next Tennessee; Senior, CBE. generation of engineers this fall, fulfilling the service- learning component of the honors program by Grand Challenge: Make Solar volunteering at Pond Gap Elementary in Knoxville. There, Engineering Economical. she will help teachers explain the possibilities and impact Photo: Shawn Poynter of engineering on students’ everyday lives. Notable Research: Solving issues relating to scalability of solar batteries. “The most important hurdle to Cooks’ Gift Targets Practical Impact implementing the technology at this point is the ability to store energy for The focus of the Cook Grand Challenge Honors Program components include research experiences, times of no sun in the form of large program on “practical” engineering is an service-learning, and coursework in business, ethics, batteries. The program has helped me outgrowth of efforts of the National Academy of and public policy; participants aren’t solely focused realize that tackling large challenges is Engineering and engineering colleges around the on engineering a product or service at hand, but not a trial for engineers alone, and that country to tackle the world’s most pressing issues also consider what impact that can have around the each of the Grand Challenges requires of the 21st century. world and in the future. assistance from businesspersons, “Solution-driven education and research will be With a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration, from global leaders, and more vital to adapt, confront, and conquer some of these global experience, and travel, it’s easy to see how broadly skilled professionals from challenges,” Cook said. “By refining our honors the program can shape students for both their— numerous backgrounds.” program in such a way to deal with issues that and humanity’s—benefit. What’s Next? Pursuing a master’s in impact lives on a global basis, students will get The college has graduated 16 NAE Grand Challenge computer science and a doctorate in to participate in and observe the effects of their Scholars. Support from the Cooks is helping Dean Photo: Jack Parker nuclear engineering. research and studies on the real world.” Wayne Davis’s effort to increase this number. 2 Tennessee Engineer engr.utk.edu 3 Global Initiatives: Ecuador Two New Programs Launch Five students traveled to Ecuador this May for the 2017 Alternative Summer Big Data Doctorate Break. The following article was written by Hannah Landau, a senior majoring in Key Facts chemical engineering. UT and ORNL have created the first-of-its kind Data Science and Engineering doctoral program, the The program hopes to enroll 15 PhD only one in the US to pair a university and national “But what about all the bugs?!” This was usually the laboratory and one of just three such big data candidates this fall, with the eventual first response I got when I told my friends and doctoral programs in the nation overall. goal of having 100 students at any family I would be volunteering on the edge of given time. the Amazon rainforest. A bottle of bug spray “This program will help industry, research, and and an experience of a lifetime later, I am academia alike,” said John Kobza, head of the Students and faculty from business, happy to report a total of two bug bites Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. throughout the entire trip. “Being able to understand and react to large engineering, arts and sciences, and amounts of data is something that will only continue communications and information could Our time in Puyo was spent to grow in importance.” all take part in the new effort, along volunteering at Yana Cocha, an animal and wildlife conservation Students will graduate ready to help address key with the College of Engineering at UT center.