Currents Magazine

Currents MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYCOLLEGEOFENGINEERING VOLUME 3•NUMBER2WINTER2004

MAGAZINE from the dean

ho are our students? One requirement of a contemporary workforce is the ability to cap- They are ambi- italize on the skills and talents of people from many cultures and Wtious, intelligent, backgrounds. Our industry partners expect that we will prepare our friendly, high-caliber individuals students for this aspect of their work life and set a climate that fosters who attend classes, do research, the success of each individual. To help us address this challenge and design products, participate in promote “inclusive classrooms,” College of Engineering faculty, staff, student organizations and com- and graduate student teaching assistants from every unit—academic petitions, assist with community and non-academic—recently participated in a “diversity in the class- outreach activities, speak at MSU commencement ceremonies, and room” presentation by the CRLT Players, a theatre troupe from the move on into highly successful careers. They are also athletes, musi- University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and cians, dancers, and photographers who take their talents seriously. Teaching. While entertaining, this interactive experience skillfully The College of Engineering is the fourth largest college on the MSU highlighted the challenges before each of us. campus. As of fall 2003, we had 4,301 students enrolled—3,690 under- Even though we are a big institution, we value each student as an grads and 611 graduate students. About 19 percent are women, and individual. Sometimes students preface an appointment with a profes- about 89 percent are Michigan residents. We also have 164 students sor by saying: “I’m sorry to bother you . . . I know you’re busy . . .” The from nearly 40 countries outside the United States. faculty response is: “For the time you’re in my office asking a question, More than 10 percent of our students are in MSU’s Honors College you are my most important consideration.” and many more have grades that exceed the Honors College require- Nearly all faculty in the College of Engineering interact directly ments. Year after year, these outstanding students receive national with the students. Well over 100 of our undergrads participate with acclaim; they are selected as Rhodes Scholar nominees, Goldwater faculty members in research projects. And this past fall, Tom Wolff, Scholarship recipients, and winners of national and international associate dean of undergraduate studies, and I each taught a fresh- design competitions. man-level class. That first year is critical! Our dominance in many design competitions reflects well on MSU. Lyle C. Wilcox (Ph.D. electrical engineering ’63) recently wrote us a For the past two years, the university was ranked first among all pub- letter recalling his days as a student at MSU. He reflects on “how pow- lic institutions in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for the qual- erful the early years of the engineering student are in charting a ity of our capstone experience—thanks in large part to the College of course of career success for decades ahead.” (Read his letter on page Engineering. As of spring semester 2004, each of our departments 44 of this issue.) within the college has a senior capstone course. Our Department of We are proud of our students here in the College of Engineering. Civil and Environmental Engineering begins its capstone course this Within this issue of Currents Magazine, you will find a sampling—not spring, while our Department of Mechanical Engineering is in its an all-inclusive list—of the activities and accomplishments of our ninth year of a very successful Design Day program. exceptional students. It is impossible to include every student worthy Due to our strong capstone design courses and our excellent co-op of recognition because even as this issue went to press, we were and internship programs, our students gain real-life experience and receiving notifications about students receiving scholarships, winning learn how to solve real-world problems. Once our students graduate, awards, and achieving outstanding successes. We think our students they are ready to step into the work force. Employers don’t have to are the brightest and the best. What do you think? spend valuable time bringing our graduates up to speed—they are “go o d to go.” Currents MAGAZINE

VOLUME 3 • NUMBER 2 • WINTER 2004

Currents Magazine is published twice a year by features the Michigan State University College of Engineering for alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends. 7 Designing Women . . . and Men . . . of the College of Engineering

DEAN Janie M. Fouke 15 Engineers of the Future

EDITOR 21 Newly Renovated Library Cause Laura Luptowski Seeley for Celebration

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT 22 Who Are Our Students? Lynn Anderson 28 Engineering Arts Students Set the

PHOTOGRAPHY PACE in Virtual Competition Harley J. Seeley 30 MSU Establishes National Center COVER: Field hockey photo, lower right, provided by MSU Sports Information/John Gwillim. for Pavement Preservation

LAYOUT/DESIGN 34 International Day in Engineering Sharp Des!gns, Inc.

PRINTING Colonial Press, Inc. departments

We welcome your comments and suggestions. 2 Department News & Research Please direct all correspondence to Editor, Currents Magazine, 3412 Engineering Building, 24 Development MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824

TEL 517 432·1303; FAX 517 355·2288 32 Student Awards & Accomplishments

WEB http://www.egr.msu.edu/egr/

E-MAIL [email protected] 36 Faculty Awards & Accomplishments

POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to 38 Meet Our New Faculty Currents Magazine, 3412 Engineering Building, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824. 40 Class Notes & Obituaries

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity institution.

michigan state university college of engineering 1 DEPARTMENT NEWS&RESEARCH

or two years in a row, MSU has been ranked first among all public institutions in “ the nation by U.S. News & World Report for the quality of its capstone experience.* Whether they’re called a senior All of the departments in the College of Engineering now provide a capstone experience.F Some have been ongoing for many years, while one will be available for the first capstone or some other name, time in spring 2004. Following are summaries of the capstone courses within the college. these culminating experiences ask students nearing the end AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING/BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING build a prototype and test it. Other teams BE 487: Biosystems Design Project present documents that might be used to of their college years to create Individual or team design project selected in BE solicit bids from contractors. The projects are 485. Information expansion; development of alter- diverse, but they have a common theme: they a project of some sort that natives; and evaluation, selection, and completion all reflect “systems thinking” by requiring the of a design project. Spring semester. incorporation of all interconnected issues integrates and synthesizes what impacting the problem, including critical bio- In BE 487, the senior design capstone logical constraints. Each team has its own they’ve learned. The project might course, students work in teams on develop- technical faculty adviser(s), as well as an ment, evaluation, and selection of design industry sponsor who acts as an adviser on be a thesis, a performance, or alternatives and completion of a detailed technical matters. At the completion of the engineering design that was conceptualized work, projects are presented to a jury of an exhibit of artwork.” in the preceding course, BE 485. Some teams licensed professional engineers and engineer-

U.S. News & World Report 2003 Biosystems Showcase Senior Design Group

BACK ROW: Amanda Haleen, Lisa Lozier, Mike Laur, Jason Buhlman, Joshua Brood, Ian Radtke, Maureen Beck, Amy

Silder. MIDDLE ROW: Corin Malzahn, Julie Rochowiak, Marisa Skillman, Elizabeth

Vultaggio. FRONT ROW: *U.S. News & World Report: America’s Best Colleges, Julia Flajole, Jennifer 2003 Edition (Sept. 23, 2002), p. 113; U.S. News & World Morgan, Adam Eisele, Report: America’s Best Colleges, 2004 Edition (Sept. 1, 2003), p. 52. Nick Tipper.

2 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 Capstone Courses . . . at a Glance

Biosystems Engineering Freshmen Get a “Taste” ing faculty for evaluation. The course was of Engineering Design taught by Professor John B. Gerrish (who recently retired) and Keith Tinsey. Professor apstone design experiences in Gary Van Ee, P.E., and Hope Croskey, P.E., Csenior-level engineering courses specialist, are the current instructors. require students to apply the basic At the end of spring semester, the stu- knowledge they have acquired over the dents truly get to “showcase” what they have course of their degree programs to a learned—during the annual Biosystems large-scale, comprehensive engineering Showcase, which includes a luncheon, design project. In contrast, a unique senior student design presentations, an “cornerstone” course in the biosystems opportunity for students to meet with engineering program is exposing stu-

industry representatives, a reception, and a dents to the design process at the begin- Nancy Aitcheson Photo by dinner. The 2004 Biosystems Showcase is ning of the curriculum. This required Biosystems engineering students Janelle Clark and scheduled for April 22 at the Kellogg Center. course (BE 130), Engineering Design Shannon McGraw implement their “edible balance” Fundamentals for Biological Systems, is design in BE 130. taught by Bradley Marks, associate profes- CHEMICAL ENGINEERING & MATERIALS SCIENCE sor of biosystems engineering, and was after testing. The purpose of the assignment CHEMICAL ENGINEERING introduced four years ago in order to was for students to complete the entire CHE 433: Process Design and Optimization I improve student retention and to provide design process, including selection of design Applications of chemical engineering principles in design experiences across the entire curricu- criteria, brainstorming, design analysis and design calculations. Selection of optimum design. lum. Traditionally, engineering design expe- selection, testing, and presentation and doc- Influence of design on capital investment, operating riences have been found only in upper-level umentation of the design—all at a level that cost, product loss and quality. Mathematical pro- courses. Although first-year students are is technically appropriate for first-year engi- gramming methods for optimization. Fall semester. obviously not prepared to complete techni- neering students. Using edible materials cally complex engineering designs, they can introduced an added constraint that is uni- CHE 434: Process Design and Optimization II learn to apply the basic techniques associ- versal in the discipline of biosystems engi- Design project requiring an integrated design of ated with the engineering design process, neering—the variability and instability of chemical engineering processes. Process and proj- and this course actively engages students in biological materials. ect engineering. Instrumentation and control sys- this process. After this course, we find that our stu- tems. Flowsheet layout and optimization. Process For example, in one of the design proj- dents move through the rest of the curricu- simulation. Spring semester. ects, teams of BE 130 students were assigned lum with a greater understanding of the to design, build, and test an apparatus that importance of creativity and teamwork in Students take the principles learned in was capable of accurately weighing objects engineering design, and therefore are better CHE 433 and CHE 434 (both taught by between 1 and 100 grams in mass and motivated for the core curriculum that adds Professor Martin C. Hawley) and apply them smaller in size than a golf ball. However, as critical technical competencies to their basic to practical design projects by competing an added twist, the apparatus had to be understanding of the engineering design each spring in team and individual divisions made of materials that are commonly eaten, process. of the American Institute of Chemical ➜ and had to be entirely consumed by the team — Bradley Marks, associate professor, biosystems engineering

michigan state university college of engineering 3 department news & research

Engineers (AIChE) Student Design Compe- tition. See page 11 of this issue for more about the AIChE competition.

MATERIALS SCIENCE

MSE 465: Design and Application of Engineering Materials Fundamental principles of strengthening: toughen- ing, speciﬁc strength and stiffness. Material development based on environmental, temperature, wear, damping, fatigue, and economic considerations. Spring semester. Photo by Harley J. Seeley Photo by

Students in MSE 465, taught by Professor The ﬁrst Prism Venture Partners Prize, inaugurated by ECE alum William Seifert, was awarded spring semester K. N. Subramanian, often take ME 481 and 2003 to students in ECE 480. Pictured with the plaque, from left to right: Satish Udpa, chairperson of the participate in the Department of Mechanical Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; John Neely, electrical engineering graduate student; Engineering’s Design Day competition. See William M. Seifert, general partner, Prism Venture Partners; and Erik Goodman, professor of electrical and page 6 of this issue for more information computer engineering and of mechanical engineering. Neely and his team won third place in the senior about ME Design Day. capstone design competition with their “Autonomous Racer.” Team members not pictured: Gene Leung, Adam Moblo, Michael Morgan, and Alexander Stewart.

CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING CE 495: Senior Design—Preliminary Design Selected faculty from each technical area will engineers (members of the visiting board, Application of design concepts in civil engineering. serve as advisers to the student teams. local alumni) will advise the student teams Integrated design solutions for situations with CE 495 will focus on a large civil engineer- and be involved in the evaluation of the pro- geotechnical, hydrological, pavement, structural, ing design project. The hypothetical project posals and final reports. environmental, and transportation considerations. for the first two semesters will be the design A formal Design Day and prizes for the Planning the design process. Design specifications. of a hotel at the northwest corner of the best project may be established in subsequent Cost. Written and oral presentations. Spring and fall. Hagadorn and Jolly Road intersection. semesters. Drainage issues in the wetlands, rerouting This course, being offered for the first the streets, designing the pavement, a bridge, time spring semester 2004, is required for stu- and foundations, are parts of the COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING dents who entered the program in fall 2003 as project. Teams will be assembled so that each CSE 498: Collaborative Design juniors. While only six students are enrolled student can cover a required technical area Development of a comprehensive software and/or in the pilot course, enrollment is expected to such as structures, transportation (highway hardware solution to a problem in a team setting be about 40 to 50 by fall 2004. Course coordi- design), geotechnical engineering (founda- with emphasis on working with a client. Partici- nators/main instructors are Tom Maleck and tions), pavement engineering, hydrology, etc. pation in a design cycle including specification, Roger Wallace, both associate professors. The clients are hypothetical. Professional design, implementation, testing, maintenance, and

4 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 ECE Alum Visits MSU documentation. Issues of professionalism, ethics, and communication. Fall and spring. “Nothing happens unless ﬁrst a dream,” said Carl Sandburg, poet and author. CSE 498 is a “synthesis experience,” bring- And according to William McGowan, who ing together all the knowledge acquired from founded MCI in 1968, “Nothing happens . . .

previous CSE courses. The course, inaugurated until somebody sells something.” Harley J. Seeley Photo by in 1998 by Lionel Ni (a professor in the depart- William Seifert ment from 1981–2003), was taught in fall 2000 illiam M. Seifert, BS ’71, MS ’75 by Bill Punch, associate professor, and is now W(electrical engineering), agrees. This “I had no idea what I was doing. I just taught by Matt Mutka, associate professor. successful entrepreneur spoke to electrical wanted to learn.” Student teams work with real clients and computer engineering students in the And don’t be afraid of competition; it from industry, nonprofit organizations, or the fall semester senior capstone class, ECE 480, makes you better, he says. “If you’ve got a MSU campus to solve real-life problems. The about starting a business. good idea, guess what? Someone else has teams participate in specification, design, The essential steps in starting up a busi- had the same idea.” But concepts don’t implementation, testing, maintenance, and ness, he says, are assembling a core team, sell—products do. So focus on producing a documentation. understanding customer needs, communi- high-quality product, Seifert recommends. Unlike some of the departments, CSE does cating, and getting funded. While experi- Finally, investors are essential business not have an official Design Day. Some of the ence, skills, attitude, and a business plan are partners. Once you obtain funding, says distant clients come to East Lansing for a day important, the number one priority is the Seifert, communicate with the venture capi- during the last week of classes or finals week people. tal firm on a regular basis to keep them in to meet with the respective student groups. The focus should be on customer prob- the know about what’s going on. If the client is located on campus or in the lems and priorities. “Know who your cus- Lansing community, the student team often tomers are and what they want,” Seifert told WILLIAM SEIFERT Biography goes to the client’s facility to present the final the students. “Go talk to a dozen prospec- • Graduate of MSU, BS EE ’71, MS EE ‘75 demonstration. tive customers. Get your ideas in front of a • U.S. Army Signal Corps officer, 1971–1979 target audience.” • Los Alamos National Lab, microprocessor Fifty percent of engineering is getting systems engineer, 1975–1979 ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING the problem right, says Seifert. “It is impor- • Digital Equipment Corp., systems engineer, ECE 480: Senior Capstone Design tant to know what problem you are 1979–1981 Electrical engineering and computer engineering solving... and for whom. Understand • Interlan, Inc., founder and “utility infielder,” senior design experience involving contemporary the market—one customer at a time.” 1981–1985 design tools and practices, engineering standards, Building a work team is important too. • Wellfleet Communications, founder and chief ethics, cross-functional teaming, oral and written “Good people are essential,” he says. “If you technical officer, 1986–1991 technical communication, lifelong learning. Offered try to do it all by yourself, it will limit your • Agile Networks, founder and CEO, 1991–1997 every fall and spring. growth.” Share growth, share the risk, is (acquired by Lucent in 1996) Seifert’s philosophy. • Prism Venture Partners, general partner, 1998 For many years, the department has had Attitude also comes into play. When to present an internal design competition for ECE 480 ➜ he was founding his first company, he says, —Laura Luptowski Seeley

michigan state university college of engineering 5 department news & research

students, but corporate sponsors joined the program just recently. And in spring 2003, William Seifert, a graduate of MSU’s ECE program and a general partner in Prism Venture Partners, established the Prism Venture Partners Prize. This set of awards for the top three teams in ECE 480 provides cash prizes that are split among team members. The competition, which includes a demonstration and a formal presentation, is judged by a team of industry engineers. The fall semester competition was held December 4–5, 2003. ECE 480 instructors are Erik Goodman, professor, and Elias Strangas, associate professor.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ME 481: Mechanical Engineering Design Projects Application of design concepts in mechanical engineering. Problem deﬁnition, design speciﬁcations. Modeling and analysis methods. Design optimization, economics, reliability. Manufacturing consider- Harley J. Seeley Photo by ations in design. Capstone design projects. Fall ME 481 student team (left to right) Jeremy Carter, Adrian Caselles, Matthew Hyder, and Matt Skylis designed and spring. a bike for Brandon Cassel, a second-grader who is physically impaired. The team presented Brandon with his bike at the 18th Design Day, held December 5, 2003. Each semester, graduating seniors in ME 481 collaborate with industrial partners to solve real-world problems. Teams of gener- sor, is conference director and ME 481 course elements and mechanical systems). ally four students design, build, and test proj- coordinator. Craig Gunn, academic specialist, In addition, the conference offers activities ects; produce posters; and deliver formal is Design Day operations coordinator. to promote science and technology to the presentations to corporate representatives. Design Day also showcases projects from precollege set. About 250 local students in The 18th Design Day was held on December ME 371 (design and construction of mecha- grades 7 through 12 participate. They attend 5, 2003. Eighteen companies from mid- nisms and machinery), ME 412 (design, a session to hear MSU students talk about Michigan sponsored projects for 19 teams of fabrication, and testing of a heat transfer the engineering profession and life on the graduating seniors. The top three teams are device), ME 456 (mechatronics systems MSU campus, and they work in teams to awarded prizes in separate poster and presen- design prototypes of commercial devices), solve design challenges. e tation competitions. Brian Thompson, profes- and ME 471 (engineering design of machine —Laura Luptowski Seeley

6 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 DESIGNING WOMEN of MSU’s College of Engineering . . .AND MEN Compiled by Laura Luptowski Seeley

ur students have many opportunities to get involved in design competitions at the regional, national, and international levels. These design competitions—most of them team competitions—provide students with opportunities to develop teamwork skills while solving real-world engineering problems. Some of the contests are sponsored by professional engineering or student organizations, and others are sponsored by corporations, foundations, and the U.S. government. On the following pages, you will read about the major competitions in which our students have been O competing—and winning.

michigan state university college of engineering 7 designing women . . . and men

Formula SAE SAE Mini Baja

n this Society of Automotive Engineers Korea, Venezuela, and Finland, competed in he Society of Automotive Engineers I(SAE) competition, students design, fabri- seven categories. The MSU team also won a T(SAE) Mini Baja Collegiate Design cate, and compete with small formula-style triathlon event that was sponsored by Road & Series consists of three regional competi- race cars. Restrictions are placed on the car Track magazine following the Formula com- tions that simulate real-world engineering frame and engine so the students’ knowledge, petition; they were featured in the November design projects and their related chal- creativity, and imagination are tested. Four- 2003 issue of Road & Track. For the complete lenges. Engineering students design and cycle engines up to 610cc can be turbo- story about MSU’s 2003 team, go to http:// build an off-road vehicle that will survive charged or supercharged to add a new www.egr.msu.edu/egr/publications/today/ the severe punishment of rough terrain dimension to the challenge of engine design. articles/20030521.Formula.SAE.php and—in the East competition—water. The vehicles are judged in three different In 2002, the team placed 38th overall; in The competition provides SAE student categories: static inspection and engineering 2001, they ranked 25th. members with a challenging project that design, solo performance trials, and high MSU has been competing since the 1980s. involves the planning and manufacturing performance track endurance. Gary Cloud, professor of mechanical engi- tasks encountered when introducing a neering, is the current team adviser. new product to the consumer industrial MSU’s Formula SAE team placed third market. Teams compete against one overall in the international competition held 2004 International Competition another to have their design accepted for at the Pontiac Silverdome in May 2003. More May 19–23, Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan. manufacture by a fictitious firm. Students than 125 teams from across the United States For more about the competition, visit http://www function as a team to design, build, test, and around the world, including Australia, .sae.org/students/formula.htm promote, and race a vehicle within the lim- its of the rules; they also need to generate financial support for their project and manage their educational priorities. All vehicles are powered by a ten-horsepower Intek Model 20 engine donated by Briggs & Stratton Corporation. Use of the same engine by all the teams creates a more challenging engineering design test.

The 2003 Midwest Mini Baja competition was held at Kenworthy's Motorcross Park in Troy, Ohio, on June 5–8. Four days of events included: hill climb, sled pull, top speed, maneuverability, and a four-hour endurance race. The MSU team placed second out of 140 in the hill climb event.

Photo by Harley J. Seeley Photo by An accident during the enduro race elimi- 2003 Formula SAE Team BACK ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Professor Gary Cloud (team adviser), Andy Stewart, nated the team from competition. The Mark Brown, Jeff Sczepkowski, Dan Smith, Jon Denton, Nate Thulin, Dan Johnson, Chris Pump, Jon Lankes, team also competed in the Mini Baja West Dan Carps, Vamsi Surapaneni, Mike Zimmerman. KNEELING, LEFT TO RIGHT: Jon Boots, Nick Periat, Brenna earlier in the year. Mayer, Matt Palomaki, Jeff Bosscher (FRONT), Patrick Groleau, Brian Fuller, Sandy Schultz-Brown, Sam Spitz, The team has a history of success in Dagan Mishoulam (IN CAR), Scott Watson, Jen Wightman, Christian Hubbell, Jon Poponea, Scott Kleman. the Midwest event. In 2001 the team NOT PICTURED: Jerry Dixon, Joe Brennan, Nick Bulski. placed seventh overall and in 1998 they

8 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 ﬁnished second overall. They have also been competitive in the East competition, winning water maneuverability and ﬁnishing ninth overall in 1996. MSU has been competing since the 1980s. Current team adviser is Jun Nogami, associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science.

2004 Competitions

WEST: April 22–24, Portland, Oregon

EAST: May 6–8, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

MIDWEST: June 3–6, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

(This year, the MSU team is planning on attending 2003 Mini Baja Team CLOCKWISE FROM FAR RIGHT: Adam Zemke, Ron Senakiewch, Liz Traskal, Jim Wilde, Mike all three events.) For more about the competition, Cronk, Tom Pabst, Tim Strand, and Neal Koenig. visit http://www.sae.org/students/minibaja.htm

Institute of Food the panel of industry judges), and product Technologists Product The uniqueness of MSU’s participation is tasting. Development Contest that the students participate as an interdis- The oral presentation was attended by ciplinary, cross-functional team composed well over 200 people and included industry ponsored by the Institute of Food Tech- of biosystems engineering and food science representatives. The judges were from Snologists (IFT), an international not-for- students. The food science students formu- M&M/Mars, Frito-Lay, and General Mills. proﬁt scientiﬁc society founded in 1939, the late a novel food product, and the biosys- MSU team faculty advisers were biosys- Product Development Contest is a chance tems engineering students provide the tems engineering faculty members Bradley for students to apply their skills and knowl- process design. Marks, P.E., associate professor; Jim Steffe, edge to a real-world situation. Each partici- The MSU food product development P.E., professor; and Kirk Dolan, assistant pro- pating school's team develops a new food team (Tausha Burns and Kerri Harris) and fessor; along with biosystems engineering idea and carries the concept through mar- the biosystems engineering senior design graduate student Dean Baas. keting and production, much like a commer- team (Maryn Zengerle, Carrie Wing, Tom cial product development team. Held at the Nixon, and Shannon Sweeney) placed second 2004 Competition IFT annual conference, attended by more in the 2002 IFT Product Development July 12–16, Las Vegas, Nevada, during the 2004 than 20,000 professionals from academia, Contest. The contest consists of a written IFT Annual Meeting + FOOD EXPO®. For more government, and industry, the contest draws report, an oral presentation, a poster presen- about the competition, visit http://www.ift.org/ teams from all across the United States. tation (with rigorous questioning periods by iftsa/competitions/pdc.html

michigan state university college of engineering 9 designing women . . . and men

Quarter-Scale Tractor

he Quarter-Scale Tractor Student TDesign Competition is one of the most intense and rewarding experiences that biosystems engineering students can experience at MSU. The national competition was established in 1998 by ASAE, The Society for Engineering in Agricultural, Food, and Biological Systems. The main judging categories include: a written design report; a team presentation; safety, serviceability, and manufacturability; and maneuverability. The highlight of the event is the overall performance competition where students per- form a multi-stage tractor pull using a progressive sled. Through involvement in the competi- 2003 Quarter-Scale Tractor Design Team LEFT TO RIGHT: Nick Tipper (co-captain), Corin Malzahn, tion, students gain practical experience in Maureen Beck, Josh Brood, Brian Smith, Tyson Franks, James Bossard, Matt Lindsey, Ian Radtke the design of drive train systems, tractor (co-captain), and faculty advisers Dick Ledebuhr, Professor Gary Van Ee, P.E., and Frank Galbavi. performance, manufacturing processes, NOT PICTURED: Aaron Kaeb, Andy Lauwers, Adam Shedd, and Jeremy Sova. analysis of tractive forces, weight transfer, strength of materials, and ergonomics. It has given thousands of students hands-on, appearance, and fifth place overall out of In the 2002 competition, MSU’s quarter- real-world engineering experience that will 32 schools. scale tractor design team won first place for help them in upcoming courses and pre- Other highlights of the 2003 competition: the written design report, second place in pare them for future careers. The competi- maneuverability, eleventh place in pulling, tion also provides students an opportunity • Placed second in the ASAE Power and and ninth place overall. The competition to meet corporate sponsors such as AGCO Machinery History Quiz included 34 universities from the United Corp., Bridgestone/Firestone, Briggs • Scored a sixth place in the tractor pulling States, Canada, and Malaysia. & Stratton Corp., CLAAS, CNH, Caterpillar, competition and a third place in the MSU has competed since 1999. Current Deere & Company, The Grasshopper 2X-tractor pulling competition (highest team adviser is Gary R. Van Ee, P.E., profes- Company, Kubota, and New Holland scores ever recorded for hydraulic trans- sor of agricultural engineering. North America. mission tractors) • Competed in the “Guts Challenge” with 2004 Competition In the 2003 competition, MSU’s quarter- 1,100+ pounds ballast with no mechani- June 3–6, East Moline, Illinois. For more about scale tractor design team won the first-ever cal or structural failures the competition, visit http://www.asae.org/ perfect score in maneuverability, first place • Completed the competition with no students/tractor/asaecomp.html in technical inspection, first place for best mechanical maintenance required

10 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 Solar Car The MSU Solar Racing team was founded in the spring of 2000. Previous teams pro- he Formula Sun Grand Prix (FSGP) is an duced a half-welded frame for the car, named Tinternational, annual closed-course solar Brasidas. The current team plans to compete car “rayce” and a qualifying event for the in the 2004 Formula Sun Grand Prix and the American Solar Challenge (ASC). The FSGP 2005 American Solar Challenge. is organized by the Formula Sun Education Current status of the car: Foundation, a nonproﬁt organization. • Solar cell panels are being fabricated in The American Solar Challenge (ASC) is an Arizona international, intercollegiate competition • Body plug is being fabricated in Grand sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Rapids Student teams design, build, and race solar- • Frame, suspension, and steering are being powered vehicles across the United States in fabricated in garage space at Holt Junior a 2,300-mile race. The ASC, held every other High School in Holt, Michigan year, is the longest solar car race in the • DC/DC converter and Maximum Power world. It promotes a greater understanding Rodrigo Gomes, Carl Luyendyk, Justin Tiedt, Point Tracker are being created at MSU of solar energy technology; fosters educa- Tommy St. Louis, and Jeremy Carter. For more tional excellence in science, engineering, and The current MSU team is a group of stu- about the MSU team, visit http://www.egr.msu mathematics; and provides a "hands-on" dents in mechanical, electrical, and computer .edu/solar/ opportunity for students and engineers to engineering. Elias Strangas, associate profes- develop and demonstrate their technical and sor, electrical and computer engineering, is Formula Sun Grand Prix creative abilities. the team adviser, with Jerry Moerdyke as proj- May 2004, Heartland Park Topeka, Topeka, The 2003 American Solar Challenge was ect manager and Arthur Matteson as electri- Kansas. For more information, visit http://www run from Chicago, Illinois, to Claremont, Cali- cal captain. Team members include Jason .formulasun.org/ fornia, along old Route 66. The next American Krause, Steve Kelly, Chad Boone, Paul American Solar Challenge Solar Challenge will be held in July 2005. Podziokowsi, Maceij Skierkowski, Mike July 2005; details to be announced. For more infor- Noorman, Eric Thomas, Michelle Kimball, mation, visit http://www.americansolarchallenge.org/

AIChE National Student For more than 35 years, the MSU Depart- currently employed by Kraft Foods doing Design Competition ment of Chemical Engineering and Materials strategic research on packaging and delivery Science has had the nation’s best record for systems. Baker received her award at the ach year, chemical engineers from a placing in the team and individual divisions national AIChE meeting in San Francisco Edesignated company devise and judge a of the American Institute of Chemical in November. student contest problem that typiﬁes a real, Engineers (AIChE) National Student Design working, chemical engineering design situa- Competition. MSU has received awards in 2004 North Central Regional Competition tion. The problem's solution requires a wide the individual category 32 times, 11 of which April 1–3, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago range of skills in calculation and evaluation were ﬁrst-place honors. 2004 National Competition of both technical data and economic factors. Kathryn Baker, a May 2003 chemical November 7–12, Austin, Texas. For more about Awards are presented at the AIChE Annual engineering graduate, received an honorable the AIChE National Student Design Competition, Student Conference. mention in the 2003 competition. She is visit http://students.aiche.org/honors/

michigan state university college of engineering 11 designing women . . . and men

Jim Wilde, mechanical engineering senior, explains his team’s winning project to Barbara Wertheimer, secretary and program ofﬁcer, DENSO North America Foundation. Representatives from DENSO, a global supplier of automotive technology, systems, and components, visited the College of Engineering on September 29 to present a $75,000 check in support of the Industrial Projects Lab in the new Design/Manufacturing Learning Center.

TEAM MEMBERS NOT IN PHOTO: Chris Siler, Jessica Hollis, and Tina Isaac. Photo by Harley J. Seeley Photo by

ASME Student Design March 2003. They placed fourth in the ﬁnals, each run. Contest held during the ASME International Mecha- MSU has competed since 1993. Current nical Engineering Congress in Washington, adviser is Craig Somerton, associate chair and n this competition, sponsored by the D.C., on November 16. Thirteen teams associate professor of mechanical engineering. IAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers competed. (ASME), individuals or teams of up to four The 2003 design challenge was to trans- 2004 Region V Competition student members design, construct, and port rice to the top of a ramp using only the April 1–3, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. operate a prototype that meets the require- power generated by two liters of falling For more information, visit http://www.asme.org/ ments of a problem statement. water. The objective was to move as much students/Competitions/designcontest/ rice as possible up the ramp in the shortest 2004 National Competition For the sixth consecutive year, the MSU amount of time and dispense it into the des- November 13–19, Anaheim, California. For more team won the ASME Region V student design ignated bin. MSU’s project, named The JB information, visit http://www.asmeconferences competition, which was held in Toronto in Whomper, moves 1600 grams of rice with .org/congress04/

ASAE-AGCO National ful to agriculture and related areas and to Lawrence Morden, Erik Arbut, and Lindsey Student Design provide an arena of professionalism in Brown. In 2001, a team of three MSU stu- Competition which the student can experience peer dents placed ﬁrst with their Trim EZ recognition of a well-conceived and well- Pruner—a Christmas tree pruning machine. SAE-AGCO National Student Design executed design project. MSU did not compete in 2003. ACompetition is conducted annually by The Society for Engineering in Agricultural, MSU biosystems engineering seniors won 2004 Competition Food, and Biological Systems (ASAE) and ﬁrst place in the 2002 ASAE-AGCO National August 1–4, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. For more sponsored by the AGCO Corporation. The Student Design Competition, held July 28- about the competition, visit http://www.asae.org/ purpose of the competition is to encourage August 1, 2002, in Chicago. They designed a awards/competitions/National.html undergraduate students to participate in the pheromone applicator as a tool for biological basic design of an engineering project use- pest control. Team members included

12 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 2003 Steel Bridge Team FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Greg Heim, Kyle Phinney, Fan-Chuen Cheng, Carl Fedders, Jason Faigle, Michael Keenan, Brian Smith, Chris Derosia, Laura Wojcicki. Not pictured: Mark Koskinen, Daryl Ross, John Hart, Alan Ostrowski, Tom West, and Joseph Rodea.

Steel Bridge Regional student steel bridge competi- University, in Southfield, Michigan. The MSU tions are held in conjunction with 20 Ameri- team also came in third overall in the 2002 hen the steel bridge competition can Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) regional competition. Wbegan in 1987, it was run only in the regional conferences. Nearly 200 teams com- MSU first competed in 1988. Current civil North Central region (Michigan and northern pete. Qualifying teams from these competi- and environmental engineering faculty advis- Ohio). The first national contest was held in tions are invited to compete in the ers are Frank Hatfield, professor emeritus, 1992 and hosted by MSU. prestigious National Student Steel Bridge Amit Varma, assistant professor, and Teams of civil engineering students Competition. The regional and national com- Rigoberto Burgueño, assistant professor. design, fabricate, and erect steel bridges petitions are sponsored by both the ASCE across an imaginary river. Prizes are awarded and the American Institute of Steel 2004 North Central Regional Competition in seven areas: construction speed, lightness, Construction, Inc. (AISC). April 2, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio aesthetics, stiffness, economy, efficiency, and 2004 National Competition overall performance. The bridges are approxi- In 2003, MSU’s steel bridge building team May 28–-29, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, mately 20 feet long and are tested with over a came in third in the North Central Regional Colorado. For more about the competition, visit ton of load. Competition, held at Lawrence Technological http://www.aisc.org/steelbridge.html

michigan state university college of engineering 13 designing women . . . and men

Concrete Canoe

s early as 1848, according to the Web Asite of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Joseph Louis Lambot built concrete boats for use on his estate in France. In the 1960s, some ASCE student chapters were participating in intramural concrete canoe races. The University of Illinois– Urbana and the University of California– Berkeley both claim they held the ﬁrst ASCE regional competitions in the early 1970s. The ﬁrst national competition was held in 1988, hosted by MSU at Lake Lansing Park in Harley J. Seeley Photo by Haslett, Michigan. Eighteen teams competed. 2002 Concrete Canoe Team FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: George Stockman (professor of computer science and Today, 20 regional competitions are held engineering), Mackenzie Davis (team coach), Lavie Golenberg, Brad Pries, Aaron Davis, Kirk Wolf, Sarah every spring; the regional winners continue Rozema (team captain), Karen Ives, Dana McBane, Kalie Nye, Susan Rozema, Susan Quiring, Dana Nuffer, on to the nationals. Susan Powell, Kim Jacks, Brian Bradley, Joe Lehning, and Kevin Dubnicki.

MSU began participating in the ASCE civil and environmental engineering. 2004 North Central Regional Competition regional competition in 1972. The first-year In April 2002, MSU placed first overall April 2–3, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio canoe team adviser was Frank Hatfield, profes- in the North Central Regional Concrete 2004 National Competition sor emeritus of civil and environmental engi- Canoe Competition. In the national com- June 17–20, Washington, D.C. (in conjunction with neering; Mackenzie Davis, professor emeritus petition in June 2002, MSU finished twelfth the National Building Museum's exhibition opening of civil and environmental engineering, was overall. In 1990, MSU won the national of Liquid Stone: Architecture in Concrete) advisor from 1977 through 2002. Current team competition. The MSU team did not compete For more about the competition, visit http://www advisor is Neeraj Buch, associate professor of in 2003. .asce.org/inside/nccc2004/index.cfm

WERC Environmental college and high-school students from tant professor of biosystems engineering. Design Contest throughout the United States, as well as MSU student teams won ﬁrst place in Mexico, India, Canada, and the Middle East. the competition all three years. In the 2002 ponsored by WERC, a Consortium for The student teams design solutions for competition, the students competed under SEnvironmental Education and Tech- real-world problems while developing fully Task 21, which was to develop and demon- nology Development, the Environmental operational bench-scale solutions that are strate a novel procedure for sanitizing Design Contest is a unique event that brings presented to judges. The teams must pre- sprout seeds. The MSU team did not com- together industry, government, and acade- pare four different presentations: written, pete in 2003. mia in the search for improved environmen- oral, poster, and bench-scale model. tal solutions. Held annually since 1991 at 2004 Competition New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, MSU competed in 2000, 2001, and 2002. April 4–8, Las Cruces, New Mexico. For more New Mexico, the contest draws hundreds of Team adviser was Evangelyn Alocilja, assis- information, visit http://www.werc.net/contest/

14 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 ENGINEERS of the FUTURE by Laura Luptowski Seeley

ith this feature, we invite you to develop an evaluation form come alongside six engineering for each of the reports. I also Wstudents as they learn and grow made an Excel spreadsheet of at MSU. In each issue, for the next several all the reports and created a issues, we will give you updates on each of color-coded system to help these students as they progress through their improve them. programs. The students were first featured in Currents Magazine, Volume 2, Number 2, How has your experience at Winter 2003. This is the third installment. Grainger influenced your (Back issues are available upon request; or career goals? view previous installments at http://www.egr My experience at Grainger .msu.edu/egr/publications/archive.php) definitely had an effect on my Photo by Erin Groom Photo by career goals. I had thought about working in corporate America with a always told me how good the book was but I Bryan Cotton degree in computer science, but I didn't really had never had time to read it. SOPHOMORE (DOLTON, ILLINOIS) know what positions were out there. By work- COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING; MUSIC—JAZZ STUDIES ing with Grainger this summer, I was able to What were your highlights/challenges from fall see where computer science majors are an semester 2003? What were your highlights/challenges from invaluable resource to the company by sup- I originally was going to take 18 credits summer 2003? porting databases, Web site development, and fall semester—but I dropped a class, which I would say that the highlight of my sum- various other things. bought it down to 14. I had six music classes mer had to be working at Grainger, because I and CSE 231, Introduction to Programming got to see quite a bit of downtown Chicago What did you do in your free time over the (C++). It was challenging. I had never actually through different events that the interns went summer? programmed before. to as a group. I got to see Aretha Franklin at This summer I really didn't have much As part of Jazz Band I, I performed Duke the Ravinia (the summer home of the Chicago free time. My job was about an hour and a Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite in the Music Symphony Orchestra in suburban Highland half to two hours away from my home. I lived Auditorium. Park). It was a special team activity for in corporate housing for the summer, which Grainger interns. was about 15 to 20 minutes from my job, so I wasn't home much. With the little free time Eboni Harper What kind of work did you do at Grainger this that I did have on the weekends, I hung out JUNIOR (DETROIT, MICHIGAN) summer? with friends, went to the movies, and usually ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING; MATHEMATICS I worked in the Business Intelligence just relaxed, since I was working 40-hour Department, doing front-end reporting and weeks. What were your highlights/challenges during maintaining trouble tickets—electronic forms summer 2003? that people fill out when they have a problem Did you read any good books over the summer? I had a job at Cedar Point amusement park using the software. We would help to resolve The only book I read this summer was The in Sandusky, Ohio. I had never worked in a the problem. Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice. The book sales position before, and I wanted to do While I was there, I took the initiative to was made into a movie last year. My aunt something interesting for the summer. I was a

michigan state university college of engineering 15 engineers of the future Photo by Harley J. Seeley Photo by

games host, working at the game One In. The Did you read any good books over the summer? I also applied for a McNair/SROP* schol- object of the game is to get the ball into a milk Matters of the Heart by Juanita Bynum, arship for next year—a program that would can. It was fun learning my game and “selling” Ph.D.; Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne help me prepare for graduate school. I’m it—and then teaching people how to play. It Moody; and a computer programming book thinking about going to UCLA for grad was challenging getting to know people. to keep me up to date on my studies. school.

Has your "sales" experience at Cedar Point What were your highlights/challenges during made you rethink any of your career goals? fall semester 2003? Jacob Kirshman No, I still want to go into computer engi- I took Japanese 101. I had intended to take JUNIOR (LINDEN, MICHIGAN) neering and math, where I can do research. an Arabic language class, but I had trouble MECHANICAL ENGINEERING It has helped me to realize that the combina- with my schedule. So I signed up for Japanese tion of engineering and math is a compatible 101. I’ve always liked Japanese art and would What were your highlights/challenges during career choice for me. like to minor in Japanese or Asian studies. I summer 2003? plan to take a class in Japanese every semester. The challenges that I faced over the sum- So, how does it feel to be ofﬁcially admitted to There’s a study abroad program that mer were with my schoolwork. I was taking a the College of Engineering? would allow me to stay with a host family and full load during the summer, which means the I was admitted to the college last spring. I earn 5–10 credits in my major, and 4 credits normal class was condensed into only six and think my parents were more excited than I in art or ISS (Integrative Studies in Social, a half weeks. I was taking some difﬁcult was. Now I am getting more of a feel for what Behavioral and Economic Sciences). One of classes so the load was pretty overwhelming. computer engineering is like. my long-term goals is to become a traveling It did get better after a couple of weeks professor—to be able to go overseas and because I was able to adjust to the course What did you do in your free time over the teach in the native languages. work. First session, I took ME 221 (Statics) summer?

During my free time, I got to know the *The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program/Summer Research Opportunity Program— people who worked around me at Cedar McNair/SROP—focuses on preparing students for intensive research and the competitive graduate school admis- sions process. McNair is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and encourages ﬁrst-generation, minority, Point. I got to meet a few international peo- low-income college students to pursue doctoral study. McNair runs simultaneously with SROP, which gives minor- ple, since there are a lot of international ity students the opportunity to acquire the research skills necessary to be successful in graduate school. SROP is funded by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and Michigan State University. McNair/SROP schol- workers there. ars engage in research in the academic ﬁelds of study in which they wish to pursue graduate studies. This helps them develop the skills and student-faculty mentoring relationships critical to success at the doctoral level.

16 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 and MTH 235 (Differential Equations); second session, I took ISS 310 (People and the Environment) and ME 222 (Mechanics of Deformable Solids). I am very excited about being officially accepted into the College of Engineering. About a week after the summer session ended, I was informed by mail. I have worked very hard to keep my grades up so that I would not need to worry about getting in. (As of the end of summer, I had completed 57 credits with an overall GPA of 3.58.) Some people think that once they get admitted to the college they do not need to work as hard. I think the opposite is true. Now that I am in the college I will be Harley J. Seeley Photo by taking more courses that directly relate to my major; therefore, it is important to do even What were your highlights/challenges during Control) into the cooling fan area. better in these courses. I am really looking for- fall semester 2003? Once again, I have learned so much during ward to taking more advanced classes and I returned to DENSO during the fall semes- this work semester! continuing my education at MSU. ter, doing the second rotation of my co-op. The co-op program that I am involved in I worked again in the molding engineering is a two-year program where I switch between What did you do in your free time over the department, but for mold and die design, school and work. I will be returning to school summer? instead of processing. This allowed me to see again for spring semester; I will be back at I spent most of my time studying. I had a different aspect of it—working with the DENSO one more time summer 2004. classes three days a week, four hours each mold/die design section of molding. I have I have enjoyed working at DENSO and day. I lived in my hometown—Linden, Michi- learned so much this semester; I have been am looking forward to returning for my final gan. This meant that I had to commute an able to see the actual design of molds and how rotation this summer. hour to my classes each day. In addition to they are assembled. Combining what I had studying and classes, I spent a lot of my sum- learned last time—about the process—with mer on the lake. I own a 750 SXi Kawasaki Jet what I learned this past semester has allowed Greg Kehrier Ski. I spent most of my free time riding my Jet me to understand molding even better. SENIOR (BAY CITY, MICHIGAN) Ski or wakeboarding with my friends. I also One major highlight of fall semester was CHEMICAL ENGINEERING & MATERIALS SCIENCE helped my family build a shed and vacationed using Unigraphics software for design in Florida. changes. I was able to follow a design change What were your highlights/challenges during through the entire process—completing the summer 2003? Did you read any good books over the summer? change, sampling, testing, and getting The Pfizer internship was my biggest This summer was extremely busy for me approval. I also worked on numerous other challenge—and accomplishment. Naturally, so I did not read any books except textbooks. projects including starting up new molds, it seemed overwhelming when I started. Last spring semester, I did read some of the capability studies, and designing jigs for Looking back on it, I can safely say it was books in the Left Behind series. I read Quality Engineering. the best experience of my life. I wonder how Nicolae, Soul Harvest, and Apollyon (by Tim In addition, I returned to projects that I much what I have learned at my internship LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins). These were had been working on last spring semester. I will help me with classes. extremely good books, and I would recom- had been continually working on a project One other highlight—Wartorn (my band) mend them to everyone. that will implement SPC (Statistical Process is making some good progress, and I’m

michigan state university college of engineering 17 engineers of the future

that began happening after I was Did you read any good books over the summer? back at MSU and my mentor I didn't read anything; I’m usually too busy picked up the project where I left playing my guitar to stop and read a book! off. So I didn't get to see the end of what I started this summer; What were your highlights/challenges during but the project progressed farther fall semester 2003? than expected. My mentor was This fall semester my greatest challenge very pleased with the amount of was design—my hardest class yet. On top of progress we made. Who knows, that, taking 16 credits along with playing in maybe next summer I will be able the marching band, working my job, and to return for another internship. playing in Wartorn was overwhelming. All If so, I might get to ﬁnish what I along I have been planning to graduate in started! Whether or not that hap- either four and a half or ﬁve years. I needed

Photo by Harley J. Seeley Photo by pens, the experience was to take 16 credits to make it in four and a absolutely great. half years, but that was a bad idea! I have extremely happy about that. I can't wait to been overloaded all semester. If any younger play around East Lansing this year so we can How has your experience at Pfizer influenced engineering students out there are reading get all our college buddies at some shows! your career goals? this, learn from me; if you plan on sleeping I am now sold on the idea of working in more than three hours a night, taking your What kind of work did you do at Pfizer the pharmaceutical industry. When I started time is better than graduating fast! [formerly Pharmacia] this summer? college I was thinking I might want to go into My biggest highlight from this semester is I worked as a project engineer in KAPI polymers. That still isn't completely out of the the studio recording that Wartorn is finishing division of Pfizer (Kalamazoo active pharma- question, but I thoroughly enjoyed the engi- up right now. We are very excited that we ceutical ingredients). My engineering work neering climate at Pfizer. It's the most regu- are finally going to have a good-quality CD of supported a production building that manu- lated industry there is. Everything must our own music! I'd say another highlight was factures mostly active drug ingredients and comply with FDA standards to ensure safety my math TA job, because I was fortunate also some drug intermediates. As an intern of the drugs. To an engineer, that means every enough to have a terrific class this project engineer, I was assigned a project that change or improvement to a process must be semester. Teaching them was a lot of fun! had not yet been started—to improve and preapproved by several departments, no mat- One other thing. Since MSU finished 8-4 automate the cleaning system on seven ter how minor it is. Then once something is and 5-3 we are going to a bowl game, and it process filter tanks. When I began working, implemented it is validated to prove that it looks like it'll be either the Sun Bowl or the the first step was to identify what problems works as intended. Change happens slowly Alamo Bowl (both in Texas). I am really look- existed with the processes and which issues and coordinating everything is very challenging forward to that. Go State! should be addressed by my project. I worked ing. It demands tremendous amounts of with production engineers to determine that. teamwork, but I like that. Then I spent the remainder of the summer Tracy Kamikawa developing solutions to those problems. By What did you do in your free time over the SENIOR (HONOLULU, HAWAII) the end of July, I wrote up an initial project summer? BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING scope, which was then reviewed by the associ- There were 40 interns at Pfizer, so most ated engineering and quality departments. I of us hung out after work and on weekends, You said that you and your family would be then started work on the cost estimates, going bowling, playing beach volleyball, traveling around Ireland, France, and England which will be revised as more details are avail- golfing, partying. Most weekends, I drove to over the summer after your study abroad in able and will eventually be submitted to get Northville to practice with Wartorn, or to a Dublin, Ireland, last spring. How was that? approval for capital. Unfortunately, most of gig if we had one that weekend. This traveling experience was a lot differ-

18 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 although a little disappointing. I reached Ireland. Everything was so new and was expecting to be more daunting and this book served as a reminder awestruck. Sainte-Chapelle of home and familiar times. I also read East of Cathedral was lesser known, but Eden, another book that I first read in high beautiful with colorful paintings school. I was inspired to pick it up again by— and stained glass. While we were I am almost ashamed to say—Oprah's Book there, a choir from Atlanta was Club. inspired to break into song. It was so moving and the ambience What were your highlights/challenges during so perfect that I nearly cried. fall semester 2003? London was a huge, bustling The highlight of this fall semester 2003 city, a little overwhelming at first. has undoubtedly been receiving one of the We got well acquainted with the 100 awards from the U.S. Department of Underground because the bus Homeland Security that were distributed to system was ridiculous. The driv- undergraduate and graduate students across Photo by Brian McNea,Photo by University Relations ers never really stop and I saw a the nation. The scholarship provides a ent from my travels with my friends during girl literally fall out of the back door because monthly stipend for the 2003–04 school year last spring semester. We students had used she hadn't gotten a handhold before the as well as a summer internship opportunity the most economical means in transportation driver accelerated. Piccadilly Circus was full at one of several DHS facilities located every- and lodging and were often plagued with of great shopping. Big Ben and the Tower of where from California to D.C. to New York. I “graffitied” trains and run-down hostels. London were exciting because of their fame. am excited to be one of the recipients in the However, the family vacation was replete with The tour at the Tower of London was the best inaugural year of the award and also to have first-class train rides, comfortable hotel I've ever been on—the tour guides, or the opportunity to apply my research with rooms, and dinners in real restaurants. That Beefeaters, were entertaining and knowledge- biosensors to the protection of our country. I was the difference I noticed immediately. able, and it was interesting to see the site of recently attended a three-day orientation in Plus, I didn't have to lug around my huge so many incarcerations and executions. We Washington, D.C., with the other scholars and backpack by myself anymore. were also able to see the The Lion King musi- fellows, during which we were welcomed into We rented a car in Ireland and visited the cal. the DHS community, shared our research north and the west, namely the Giants Cause- I returned to Hawaii with my family, over goals in small discussion groups, met with way (which didn't live up to the hype), Derry, a month later than usual. For that reason, our representatives and senators, and were the Cliffs of Moher, Dingle Peninsula, and and because I wanted to recuperate before addressed by DHS Secretary Tom Ridge. It is Galway. My favorite site was the Cliffs of my senior year, I chose not to seek employ- a thrill to be a part of such a significant Moher. Although it was cold and rainy, it ment for the summer. Instead, I focused on endeavor. cleared up long enough to get a breathtaking completing an independent study with my view of the cliffs in the distance and the sea MSU professor in Mass Transfer, and trying When will you be graduating? splashing up against them. to catch up with friends whom I hadn't seen Currently, I intend to graduate in spring Paris was amazing. My mom, sister, and I for more than six months. 2004. I will have completed my requirements spent a lot of time shopping; there are so by that time. However, my scholarship many amazing stores whether you have a big Did you read any good books over the summer? extends for another semester, so I am keeping budget or not, and everything you find there Thus far I have only returned to old clas- the option open to remain enrolled at MSU is so unique, nothing like I've ever seen at sics. I once again read Great Expectations. I and spend that final semester abroad. The home. My dad entertained himself by reading first read it in high school, but loved it so deciding factors will be whether I receive any in the gardens. The Eiffel Tower and much that I often reread it. I find that it com- job offers immediately upon graduating, find Cathedral of Notre Dame were must-sees, forts me. In fact, I also read it when I first intriguing study abroad opportunities, or

michigan state university college of engineering 19 engineerseignieers of the future

decide to go to graduate school. I am keeping ence, so I have to just keep plug- an open mind and expect many more inter- ging away at it. Some of my time esting experiences. was spent doing a literature review for the project and it is amazing how many resources I Nicole Danielson found out there! Sometimes it GRADUATE STUDENT (RIVER FALLS, WISCONSIN) was a little overwhelming. ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING My role in the project was basically to help get this whole What were your highlights/challenges during thing started. I am first working summer 2003? on describing each piece of the The highlight of my summer was getting system, and what happens during engaged to my boyfriend, Mitch Bartelt (also a rain event in each of those an MSU civil engineering alum), in May! And pieces. I concentrated on the then doing a lot of planning for the wedding, "water" part of the wetland, so which will be July 24, 2004. I'm really excited, I am trying to model what hap- and I'm sure I'll have lots of details for you in pens to the water as it moves the future. through the system. Planning the wedding is also one of the Eventually, the department Photo by Harley J. Seeley Photo by challenges this summer. I didn't realize all of may look into using this site as a the planning and prep that you need to do, teaching tool—where students will be able to Gaiman, a Wisconsin native. This book is and so far in advance. Also, just trying to get set up models for other aspects of the wet- a little bit “out there,” but a great read. started on my project and get it going so I lands, such as the nutrient cycles, possibly wouldn't have as much work to do during the even leading to sampling and testing different What were your highlights/challenges during school year (when TA'ing keeps me very busy). parameters of the wetland. This could be a fall semester 2003? great class/course project in the future— One of the highlights was attending the You told us last time that you would be doing especially since the site is so close to campus! SWE (Society of Women Engineers) National research at a constructed wetland site in Conference in Birmingham, Alabama. I am Lansing during the summer. What did the What did you do in your free time over the the Region H student representative, so I got project entail? summer? to attend a lot of interesting sessions and net- The site is the Tollgate wetlands, a con- I tried to make it home a few times to see work with other SWE students and profes- structed wetland located in Lansing Town- my family and relax up at our cabin in north- sional members. ship, built to receive storm water runoff from ern Wisconsin. At the very beginning of sum- My classes have been particularly chal- the Groesbeck neighborhood. Constructed mer I visited a close friend in North Carolina, lenging this fall, so I spent a lot of time at the wetlands are a relatively new option for storm and was in the wedding of one of my closest Research Complex and in the Engineering water or other wastewater treatments, so my friends, but otherwise I stayed at MSU. Building, working with groups and studying. advising professors (Dr. Wallace and Dr. Also, I have been trying to work on my mas- Phanikumar) wanted to look into how we Did you read any good books over the summer? ter’s project, but I have to confess that it has could describe the system or learn more I read ’Tis, by Frank McCourt. This book is been difficult to work it in with classes, about it by modeling the wetland using com- the second part of Frank McCourt's memoirs, teaching, wedding planning, and job hunting. puter/mathematical modeling. the first being Angela’s Ashes. I really loved So even though that work hasn’t been moving Most of my project focuses on modeling both of these books, and I encourage anyone along too well this semester, I have a pact the hydrology, or water aspects of the wet- to read them. with myself to work diligently over the break land. I don’t have a lot of modeling experi- I also read American Gods, by Neil and make some headway. e

20 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 Newly Renovated Library Cause for Celebration

n Friday, September 19, 2003, friends and sup- paintings of former deans. According to Tom porters gathered to celebrate the completion Volkening, director of the library, the installation Oof extensive renovations in the Anibal of compact shelving increased shelving capacity Engineering Library located on the ﬁrst ﬂoor of the by 50 percent. Engineering Building. During the summer of 2003, During the renovations, the library maintained compact shelving, ergonomically correct work services to patrons to the fullest extent possible. areas, an adjustable service desk for people with “Occasionally we had to crawl under a table to disabilities, new carpeting, and a self-service copy retrieve a book for someone, but we remained center were added. Other improvements included open,” says Volkening. e —Lynn Anderson wall painting, window washing, and cleaning of the Photo provided by University Relations by Photo provided

ABOVE: The renovation project was funded by a gift to the College of Engineering by Charles Moore (chemical engineering ’35) and his wife, Loraine, of Toledo, Ohio. In September 1999, just a few months before Charles died, the Moores donated $62,000 for physical improvements to the library. Moore also established a multimillion-dollar endowment that is being used for the library.

AT LEFT (left to right): Richard Chapin, director emeritus, MSU Libraries; Cliff Haka, director, MSU Libraries; Janie Fouke, dean, College of Engi- neering; Tom Volkening, director, Engineering Library; George VanDusen, assistant dean emeritus for undergraduate studies and former interim

Photo by Harley J. Seeley Photo by dean, College of Engineering.

“Tuesdays with Nancy.” The group charged with the planning and execution of the library renovation project met every Tuesday, led by Nancy Lucas, MSU Branch Libraries coordinator. Left to right: Virginia Boone of MSU’s Biomedical & Physical Science Library was the logistics person for the moving and reshelving of books as the project moved through its phases. Shannon Cunningham of the Engineering Library was in large part responsible for maintaining day-to-day operations during the renovations and helped plan the project and move materials. Lucas was the project manager, responsible for planning, including the project calendar, and keeping things on schedule; she also dealt with outside vendors and was Engineering’s liaison to the Main Library. Tom Volkening, director of the Engineering Library, did a little bit

of everything, which included acting as library liaison to the college. FAR RIGHT: Terry Casey, engineering facilities coordinator, dealt with building issues and served as the planning group’s contact with the dean; he also coordinated much of the work done by the

MSU Physical Plant. The team always counted on Terry to bring along his tools for any “quick ﬁxes” that seemed necessary. Harley J. Seeley Photos by

michigan state university college of engineering 21 MICHIGAN STATE WHO ARE OUR STUDENTS ? UNIVERSITY

as compared to total Engineering Enrollment in the United States (2002)

INTERNATIONAL International 164 367,684 students enrolled in engineering programs in the U.S. United States 3,213 Of the 67,301 bachelors degrees in engineering awarded nationally, 21% were earned by women UNDERGRADUATE Source: American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) STUDENTS

Michigan Residency Women in Engineering by gender by class standing

Nearly 89% of our students Of engineering students enrolled in the U.S., ~19% are women Women 21 Freshmen 41 are Michigan residents Of engineering students enrolled in MSU’s College of Men 143 Sophomores 34 Juniors 48 Engineering, ~19% are women Seniors 41

24.5 25.0 Bachelor’s Degrees at MSU’s College of Engineering ACT Scores by department 20.0 U.S. 417 Computer Science & Eng. 46 Int’l. ■ 16th in the nation for number of degrees awarded Average composite scores for 292 Civil & Environmental Eng. 7 ■ 14th in the nation for degrees awarded to women fall 2002 graduating seniors 315 Chemical Eng. & Materials Science 14 ■ 13th in the nation for degrees awarded to African Americans 764 Mechanical Eng. 23 Source: American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) National MSU of Engineering College 100 Agricultural Eng. 0 503 Eng. Arts / Eng. No-Pref 13 621 Electrical & Computer Eng. 61 Enrollment Statistics, Fall 2003

Graduation College of Engineering Michigan State University by country Belarus 1 Turkey 6 Total = 4,301 Total = 44,542 ■ Of those students admitted to the College of Engineering, Greece 1 Jordan 2 Republic of Korea 21 88% graduate in engineering Ecuador 2 Belgium 1 Syria 1 Taiwan 7

3,690 Undergraduate Students 34,853 ■ At December 2003 commencement, 217 undergraduates Mexico 2 Canada 6 United Kingdom 1 Saudi Arabia 9 Hong Kong 4 Japan 5 611 Graduate Students 9,689 received their degrees Spain 1 Kuwait 4 China 5

International Connections

■ In fall semester 2003, 164 students from nearly 40 countries outside the U.S. were enrolled in the College of Engineering U.S. 3,213

■ About 13% of our graduates have studied abroad 683 Women 24,053 while at MSU. (The College of Engineering’s ﬁve-week 3,618 Men 20,489 program in Volgograd, Russia, established in 1998, has become one of MSU’s largest according to The State News [11/17/03]. MSU ofﬁcials are expecting it to become the largest this summer.)

Student Organizations

■ Nearly 50% of our juniors and seniors belong to a student 14 Native American 267 organization. (There are approximately 25 active student 353 Asian/Paciﬁc Islander 2,272 organizations.) 97 Chicano/Other Hispanic 1,247 393 African American 3,608 3,444 Caucasian/Other 37,148 Honors College

■ More than 10% of our students are in MSU’s Honors Peru 1 Brazil 3 Mali 1 India 23 Malaysia 7 College Chile 1 Argentina 1 Ghana 1 Pakistan 8 Singapore 2 Bolivia 2 Nigeria 4 United Arab Emirates 4 Indonesia 12 College of Engineering Cameroon 1 Qatar 3 Namibia 1 Ethiopia 2 ■ The College of Engineering is the 4th largest college on South Africa 1 Kenya 3 the MSU campus, with 4,301 students enrolled fall 2003 Zimbabwe 1 Undetermined 3 MICHIGAN STATE WHO ARE OUR STUDENTS ? UNIVERSITY

as compared to total Engineering Enrollment in the United States (2002)

Michigan Residency Women in Engineering by gender by class standing

International Connections

■ In fall semester 2003, 164 students from nearly 40 countries outside the U.S. were enrolled in the College of Engineering U.S. 3,213

Student Organizations

DENSO North America Foundation Sponsors Engineering Lab

t is wonderful to be associated with such design laboratory, a design resource center, a Approximately 1,000 students use the center a great teaching laboratory,” said John product design lab, and a rapid prototyping in a typical academic year, including some IVoorhorst, president of the DENSO North lab. The interconnected areas allow students 350 mechanical engineering (ME) juniors and America Foundation, at the September 29, to work efficiently on individual and team seniors, 400 ME freshmen and sophomores, 2003, dedication of the DENSO Industrial assignments to design, build, test, and pres- and 250 students from other engineering dis- Projects Laboratory in the MSU College of ent products. ciplines. Engineering. “The DENSO North America The Design/Manufacturing Learning Following the dedication of the Industrial Foundation is very proud to be a partner with Center is an effective educational center Projects Lab, Voorhorst, along with DENSO Michigan State University and the College of where students prepare for careers in a vari- Foundation Secretary and Program Officer Engineering in providing a facility where stu- ety of industries. From their introduction to Barbara Wertheimer, Tom Zahrt, manager of dents can gain practical experience that will computer-aided design as freshmen to their human resources for DENSO Manufacturing serve them in their careers.” completion of a senior design project, engi- Michigan, Inc., and Pete Marino, senior Dean Janie Fouke expressed the apprecia- neering students in the center cooperate in recruiter for DENSO International America, tion of the faculty and students in the College teams, work with advisers, consult with Inc., toured the entire Design/Manufacturing of Engineering for the generous gift from the industrial clients, and refine their communi- Learning Center and interacted with students DENSO North America Foundation. “This cation skills. Most importantly, students learn working on team projects. laboratory is a tremendous asset for our stu- how to find a creative design solution that In the Rapid Prototyping Laboratory, dents. We are very pleased to have the addresses a need and solves a problem. mechanical engineering senior Jim Wilde DENSO name connected to our design and manufacturing program.” The Industrial Projects Laboratory, supported by a $75,000 grant from the DENSO North America Foundation, is an important component of the College of Engineering’s Design/Manufacturing Learning Center. In this work area, students assemble and test their design products. Department of Mechanical Engineering Chair Manoochehr Koochesfahani noted the significance of DENSO’s generous support of this lab. “The Industrial Projects Lab made possible by DENSO is an important resource for the mechanical engineering program. With close proximity to the Student Machine Shop to facilitate construction and assembly DENSO, a global supplier of automotive technology, systems, and components, presented a $75,000 check to of parts, this lab sees heavy use by the senior the College of Engineering on September 29 in support of the Industrial Projects Lab in the new Design/ capstone design groups as well as by students Manufacturing Learning Center. LEFT TO RIGHT: Manoochehr Koochesfahani, interim chair, Department of taking 300- and 400-level courses,” says Mechanical Engineering; John Voorhorst, president of DENSO North America Foundation and vice president of Koochesfahani. external affairs for DENSO International America; Dean Janie M. Fouke; Barbara Wertheimer, secretary and In addition to the Industrial Projects Lab, program officer, DENSO North America Foundation; Pete Marino, senior recruiter, human resources, DENSO the center includes a computer-assisted International America, Inc.; and Tom Zahrt, manager, human resources, DENSO Manufacturing Michigan, Inc.

24 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 by Alisa Healy, University Development ENDOWMENTS Endowments Ensure Engineering Excellence

by Bobbi Burns

Renee Mifsud, Summer Pasqualin, and Scott

Hampton designed and built this chair using ave you ever considered how you corrugated cardboard and glue in ME 385. would like to be remembered? When Barbara Wertheimer, Hyou establish an endowment, you secretary and program become a lifelong friend and supporter of

ofﬁcer, DENSO North the College of Engineering and its future America Foundation, generations of students. sits in a cardboard chair designed and An endowment is a gift in which only a built in ME 385, portion of the annually earned interest is

Introduction to spent while the remainder reverts to princi- Product Design, pal. Endowment funds are never depleted and taught by Bob Chalou, academic specialist in are continually used to maintain and enhance mechanical engineer- engineering education, research, and service

ing. David Bruford, initiatives. April Richardson, and Endowments are critical to building and Amanda Middlekauff maintaining the College of Engineering’s

All photos by Harley J. Seeley All photos by built the chair. areas of distinction. They are critical in build-

demonstrated his team’s project, which won facturing. From concept to design, build, ing enduring strength and innovative leader- the 2003 Regional Student Design Compe- test, and modify, the students here are get- ship, in developing outstanding under- tition sponsored by the American Society of ting excellent preparation for their futures.” graduate and graduate programs, recruiting Mechanical Engineers. Additional supporters of the Design/ In addition, the DENSO group joined a Manufacturing Learning Center include faculty of the highest distinction, providing class (ME 385) in the Product Design Lab. Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and an exceptional student experience, support- The students presented team projects they Honeywell. For information on additional ing innovative basic and applied research had constructed to meet the challenge of naming opportunities still available within programs, and delivering valuable outreach designing and building a serviceable, aes- the center, please contact Kristin Bradley, thetically pleasing chair using nothing but senior director of development for the Col- and public service programs. Donors who e corrugated cardboard and glue. lege of Engineering at (517) 355-8339. establish endowments have made a commit- Wertheimer said the Design/Manu- ment to a long-range vision of preserving facturing Learning Center “replicates the This article also appeared in MSU Partners educational excellence within the discipline synergy that occurs in industries like (winter 2004), a publication of Michigan DENSO International and DENSO Manu- State University Development. of their choice. e

michigan state university college of engineering 25 development

ENDOWMENTS Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Demonstrate Commitment

Through the Establishment of Endowments by Bobbi Burns

or some of our engineering faculty, char- ity really does begin at home. Two civil Fand environmental professors recently demonstrated their philanthropic spirit by each establishing a new endowment that enhances departmental student activities. During his tenure with the College of Engineering at MSU, Mackenzie “Mack” Davis, civil and environmental engineering professor emeritus, embraced the philosophy that student activities provide educational value beyond what is found in the classroom, and that professional development begins with membership in the student chapters of professional organizations. He further believed that

these extracurricular student activities Jonathan Hill Photo by Harley J. Seeley Photo by develop the qualities of leadership, creativity, LEFT: Civil Engineering Professor Emeritus Mackenzie “Mack” Davis. RIGHT: Civil Engineering Professor Thomas Maleck. planning, commitment, and sociability that make good engineers great engineers. On the occasion of his retirement, and as highly successful Volgograd Russia Study related to civil engineering professions. a manifestation of his commitment to stu- Abroad Program, the largest study abroad Through the Maleck Endowment, it is hoped dents, Davis established the Mackenzie L. program offered at MSU, with nearly 75 that more students than ever will benefit Davis Student Activity Discretionary students scheduled to participate in 2004. from study abroad experiences, attendance at Endowment Fund. This endowment will A true Spartan, Maleck received all three national professional conferences, and partic- enhance the activities of various departmen- of his civil engineering degrees from ipation in national competitions. tal student organizations, including the Michigan State. His wife, Ellen, also received The College of Engineering encourages Concrete Canoe Team, the Steel Bridge Team, three degrees in education from MSU. As a alumni and friends who share Davis’s and American Society of Civil Engineers Student gesture of deep appreciation for what Maleck’s commitment to students to pledge Chapter, Environmental Engineering Student Michigan State has done for them, and as a their financial support to endowments such Society, Chi Epsilon, Institute of Trans- measure of further commitment to engineer- as these. For further information on how to portation Engineers Student Chapter, and ing student activities, the Malecks recently contribute to the Maleck or Davis endow- the Associated General Contractors Student created the Thomas L. and Ellen E. Maleck ments, to request a list of other endowments Chapter. Endowed Excellence Fund in Civil Engineering. for which you may provide support, or to Like Davis, Associate Professor Thomas This fund will provide deserving students— explore the possibility of creating an endow- Maleck is committed to supporting civil and those who might otherwise be unable to par- ment of your own, please contact the environmental engineering student activities. ticipate—with the resources necessary to Development Office at (517) 355-8339, or Maleck is co-director and co-founder of the become involved in co-curricular activities [email protected]. e

26 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 The Campaign for MSU COLLEGE UPDATE by Kristin Bradley

ast year, Michigan State University pub- New Endowments

licly commenced The Campaign for MSU, Campaign Update July 1, 2002–June 30, 2003 L the most ambitious capital campaign in College of Engineering • July 1, 1999–November 4, 2003 • Chemical Engineering Endowed Discretionary university history, with a goal of raising $1.2 Fund Established by Donald K. Anderson billion by 2007. As a major participant in The (Chemical Engineering & Materials Science CAMPAIGN GOAL Campaign for MSU, the College of Engineer- Professor Emeritus and former Department $209 M ing set an equally ambitious fundraising goal $200M Chair) and Gina Garrett (BA Art Hist. ’81) of $209 million. • The William J. and Mary M. Blyth Endowed Despite an uncertain economy, coupled Excellence Fund Established by William J. with the uncertainty posed by world events, $180M Blyth (BS Egr. ’38, MS ChE ’40) the college experienced growth in its fund- • The William H. and Jean G. Clement Endowed $170.2 M STATUS AS OF 11/4/03 raising efforts during fiscal year 2002/2003. Chair in Manufacturing Established by William $160M The college secured $4.8 million in new gifts H. Clement (BS ME ’50) and Jean G. Clement and pledges, representing an 11 percent (BA Bus. Admin. ’48) increase from fiscal year 2001/2002. To date, $140M • John Forsyth and Gretchen Duerr Forsyth the college has raised nearly $170 million—or Endowed Scholarship Established by John 81 percent of its overall campaign goal. This Forsyth (BS ’62, MS ’63, PhD ’71 ECE; Compu- $120M total represents gifts of cash, planned gifts, ter Science & Engineering Professor Emeritus) equipment, and other in-kind support and and Gretchen Duerr Forsyth (BA Soc. Sci. ’63) patents. • The Mackenzie L. Davis Student Activity $100M A campaign priority for the college is to Discretionary Endowment Fund Established heighten focus on the critical need for en- by Mackenzie L. Davis (Civil & Environmental dowment support. The College of Engineering $80M Engineering Professor Emeritus) is committed to dramatically increasing its • McClure Family Endowed Scholarship/ endowment from $20 million to $56 million Fellowship Fund Established by Donald and $60M by 2007. To date, more than $11 million has Patricia McClure been raised toward this goal. Ten new endow- • The Cotterman Family Endowment for ment agreements were signed during this $40M ENDOWMENT GOAL Entrepreneurship Studies Established by Brant past fiscal year, with an additional eight $36 M Cotterman (BA Business ’60; MBA Marketing endowment agreements nearing completion. ’61) and Sharon Cotterman (BA Education ’60) The college has made endowed excellence $20M • The Richard V. Pisarczyk Endowed funds—which enable the college to direct Discretionary Fund Established by Richard V. STATUS AS OF 11/4/03 $11.1 M support where the needs are greatest—a high Pisarczyk (BS ChE ’68) priority. Other priorities include endowed • G. Glenn and Marlene D. Gardner Endowment chairs and professorships, and endowed fel- in Automotive Engineering Established by G. lowships. campaign endeavors, the College of Engi- Glenn Gardner (BS ME ’58) and Marlene D. Giving within the College of Engineering neering will look to its many alumni and Gardner continues to prosper, as evidenced by the past friends to play an important philanthropic • The Keith D. and Beverly J. Salisbury Endowed fiscal year’s success. Yet we do not have an role in reaching its campaign goals, especially Fund of Excellence Established by Keith D. easy journey ahead of us. As we continue our those related to building the endowment. e Salisbury (BS ME ’58) and Beverly J. Salisbury

michigan state university college of engineering 27 Engineering Arts Students Set the PACE in Virtual Competition

osh Hall and Jim Feeney, sophomore students in ME 285, won the class com- Jpetition for their design of a remote- controlled race car, but they had nothing to show for it—not literally, anyway. But they were virtual winners. A panel of seven judges declared the team winners of the first-ever PACE Virtual Product Development Competition, held at MSU’s College of Engineering on December 3, 2003. Janie Fouke, dean of the College of Engineering, was one of the judges. She is pleased that MSU was chosen as the site of the inaugural competition. It is fitting, because MSU was selected in September 1999 as the first PACE Institution. “We’re in front Bob Chalou, ME 285 instructor, introduces the seven judges and explains the judging criteria to the class once again!” she says. prior to the competition. The PACE Program—Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Institutions, with plans to add more. team of the future. Education—provides hardware, software, General Motors, Electronic Data Systems The PACE Virtual Product Development training, automotive parts, and much more to (EDS), Sun Microsystems, and UGS PLM Competition was initiated to encourage stu- strategically selected academic institutions Solutions form this collaborative engineering dents to use computer-aided design software. worldwide. There are currently 26 PACE education effort to prepare the automotive MSU students use Unigraphics and ADAMS, virtual prototyping and motion simulation software, to produce class projects. Four teams of two students each in Computer Aided Design Tools, a course taught by Bob Chalou, academic specialist, participated in the PACE competition. The class project was to design a virtual remote- controlled race car. A virtual model was sup- plied by UGS-PLM Solutions; the teams were to redesign some or all of the parts using computer software. Hall and Feeney won the competition with their JJ Racer. After the competition, Elaine Chapman- Moore, manager of PACE Partnerships, GM, asked the students for feedback on how to Josh Hall (left) and Jim Feeney won the first-ever PACE Virtual Product Development Competition with their improve the competition in the future. PACE virtual remote-controlled race car—The JJ Racer. Program coordinators also met with the

28 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 by Laura Luptowski Seeley Engineering Co-Op Exchange

ore than 30 employers and nearly 500 students participated in the Engineering Co-Op Exchange on September 24 in the MSU Union Building. The Exchange is ME 285 Student Teams Mdesigned for employers to distribute or share information and make direct con- Team #1 “ABJB” tact with cooperative engineering education applicants. A Senior Exchange was held Aimee Brown & Jaime Pearson on September 23 to facilitate information exchange between employers and graduating Team #2 “LuBe Buggy” seniors. e Ryan Luoma & Jeff Belanger Team #3 “JJ Racer” Jim Feeney & Josh Hall Team #4 “APROG Racer” April Richardson & Roger Koenigsknecht

PACE Virtual Product Development Competiton Judges Lynn Bechtel Vehicle Engineer Cost Reduction, GM Darrell Bozeman Operations Manager, UGS PLM Solutions Ron DeBrabant Director of PACE Projects–U.S., GM Janie M. Fouke Dean, College of Engineering David Hammerstein Region Manager, UGS PLM Solutions Frank Hubert Manufacturing Engineer Advanced Applications, GM Dennis Rahn Account Representative, UGS PLM Solutions

judges and MSU faculty for recommendations for future competitions. The second competition was held Decem- ber 8, 2003, at Michigan Technological Uni- versity. The intent is to hold six competitions in 2004 at U.S. PACE Institutions and expand to the global institutions, says Tanya N. Jordan, PACE Program marketing & communications coordinator. e

michigan state university college of engineering 29 MSU Establishes National Center for Pavement Preservation

reserving and maintaining our nation’s roads and highways is the aim of the new PNational Center for Pavement Preser- vation (NCPP), established at MSU in part- nership with the Foundation for Pavement Preservation (FP2). This center is the first and only one in the world according to W. R. Ballou, president of the FP2 and one of the key partners in initiat- ing the NCPP. “The NCPP represents and supports an industry of thousands of companies engaged in the business of preserving and maintaining our nation’s roads and highways—almost four million miles of them, with a replacement cost of nearly $2 trillion,” said Ballou at the October 17 grand opening ceremony. “The NCPP Faculty center’s value was envisioned more than 10 FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Neeraj Buch, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering; Michael years ago. It is a vital first step to begin to Buckingham, NCPP advisory board member; Gilbert Baladi, professor of civil and environmental engineering; manage the $1.75 trillion investment made by Larry Galehouse, NCPP director; David L. Smiley, NCPP technical engineer; and Karim Chatti, assistant profes- American taxpayers.” sor of civil and environmental engineering. “This center is a culmination and a mile- stone in which industry, government, and national vision of pavement practitioners, of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the academia have come together to benefit the policymakers, and industry—will lead collab- center was a natural fit for us,” said Ronald taxpayer,” Larry Galehouse, director of the orative efforts among government, industry, S. Harichandran, chairperson of MSU’s NCPP, says. “Pavement preservation is just and academia in the advancement of pave- Department of Civil and Environmental good public policy, and the center stands ment preservation. The center’s purpose is to Engineering, at the October event. “Our fac- ready to lead the effort.” advance and improve pavement preservation ulty have a strong record of excellence in The NCPP—the realization of a collective practices through education, research man- pavement engineering. Their contributions agement, outreach, and technical will greatly enhance the success of the center.” hands-on assistance. Gilbert Baladi, MSU professor of civil and “With the strong activity in environmental engineering and the founding pavement research, education, director of MSU’s Pavement Research Center and outreach in the Department of Excellence sponsored by the Michigan Department of Transportation, has expertise in the material characterization, design, non- NCPP Full-Time Staff destructive testing, and management of LEFT TO RIGHT: David L. Smiley, NCPP tech- asphalt pavements. Neeraj Buch, associate nical engineer; Larry Galehouse, director; professor of civil and environmental engineer- and Patte Hahn, administrative manager. ing and current director of the MSU

30 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 NCPP Ribbon Cutting, October 17, 2003

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Jim Moulthrop, senior engineer, Fugro-BRE, Inc., and NCPP advisory board member; King W. Gee, associate administrator for infrastructure, Federal Highway Administration; Lou Anna K. Simon, MSU provost and vice president of academic affairs; David Porteous, chair, MSU Board of Trustees; Bill Ballou, president, Foundation for Pavement Preservation; Rep. Rick Johnson, Michigan Speaker of the House and NCPP advisory board member; Ronald Harichandran, chairperson of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering; and Janie Fouke, dean, College of Engineering.

Pavement Research Center of Excellence, has staff’s long history of personal experience in for Pavement Preservation, the Federal expertise in the design, performance, and managing highway systems and our faculty’s Highway Administration, Michigan State rehabilitation of concrete pavements. Karim research expertise in civil engineering prac- University, the MSU College of Engineering, Chatti, assistant professor of civil and envi- tices, I am conﬁdent that this new center will and other federal and state agencies. e ronmental engineering, has expertise in pave- usher in an era of increasingly reliable and —Laura Luptowski Seeley ment modeling, performance, and dynamics, cost-effective maintenance of our nation’s including truck/pavement interaction. roadways.” “These three faculty members, along with King W. Gee, the Federal Highway others in the College of Engineering who are Administration’s associate administrator for experts in materials and nondestructive eval- infrastructure, said at the grand opening, uation, offer strong research support to the “We anticipate a bright future for the new center,” said Harichandran. “They will also national center as it begins its journey to pro- National Center for Pavement Preservation facilitate the education of our students in the mote pavement preservation by providing MSU Engineering Research Facility methods of pavement preservation.” technical support and services to stakehold- 2857 Jolly Road, Okemos, MI 48864 “We are excited to be partnering with the ers, not just here in the state of Michigan, but (517) 432-8220 Foundation for Pavement Preservation in this in every state and locality in the country.” [email protected] national center,” says Janie M. Fouke, dean of The NCPP is located at 2857 Jolly Road, www.pavementpreservation.org the College of Engineering. “With the NCPP Okemos. It is supported by the Foundation

michigan state university college of engineering 31 STUDENT Karena Heikkila, a Zachary Kiefer, an environmental engineering mechanical engineer- graduate student, is the ﬁrst recipient of the awards ing graduate, was one Student Travel Program Award of the of two graduating sen- Michigan section of Water for People (WFP). accomplishments iors chosen to speak Kiefer traveled to Ecuador with members of during the December the WFP committee in September, giving him

Photo by KurtPhoto by Stepnitz, University Relations commencement cere- the opportunity to interact with water profes- monies at MSU. Her focus was on how diver- sionals on existing and new water projects. sity links people together at MSU. In 1999, he studied the ecosystem of Ecuador Pezhman& Akbari, a mechanical engineering Heikkila, a 1999 graduate of Calumet High while attending classes there at the Univer- graduate student, received an AIAA Foun- School, said coming to MSU has given her a sidad San Francisco de Quito. dation Potential of Wave Devices in Gas new outlook on the cultural makeup of soci- Turbines Graduate Award for the 2003–2004 ety. While attending MSU, Heikkila partici- Neal Koenig, a mechanical engineering junior, academic year for his wave rotor research. pated in National Society of Collegiate received a scholarship from Tau Beta Pi, the The AIAA Foundation is a nonprofit organ- Scholars, Habitat for Humanity, and intra- engineering honor society, for undergraduate ization formed by the American Institute of mural sports. study during the 2003–2004 academic year. Aeronautics and Astronautics to devote atten- Out of 234 applicants, 38 were selected to tion and resources to the education of current Olivia M. Hobbick, an engineering arts gradu- receive the awards on the basis of scholar- and future aerospace professionals. The AIAA ate, was one of six students honored for aca- ship, campus leadership and service, and Foundation funds scholarships on both the demic achievement by the MSU Board of promise of future contributions to the engi- undergraduate and graduate levels. Trustees at the board’s December 5 meeting. neering profession. Koenig’s scholarship was Pezhman’s research focuses on wave rotor Board of Trustees awards are granted at each sponsored by General Motors. technologies that have the potential to commencement to students having the high- increase the efficiency of aircraft engines, car est scholastic averages at the close of their Julie Schiller, a senior with a dual major in engines, and gas turbines for power genera- last semester in attendance. Hobbick’s MSU engineering arts and psychology, was nomi- tion. This technology can enhance the fuel grade point average was 3.9871. At spring nated in October for the Rhodes Scholarship. efficiency of modern propulsion and power 2003 commencement, four of the six students She is the recipient of the Distinguished generation systems significantly, making the honored by the Board of Trustees were engi- Academic Achievement Award from the United States less dependent on oil imports. neering students. College of Engineering, the Granger Scholar- ship in Engineering, and was an intern with Dina Eldin received first place in the American Tracy Kamikawa, a bio- Ford Motor Co. At MSU, Schiller has served Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) 2003 systems engineering as a residence hall mentor, an executive Student Poster Competition, Computing and senior, is the recipient board member of the MSU Society of Systems Technology division, held in San of one of the U.S. Women Engineers, and treasurer of the Francisco in November. She received her Department of Home- Council of Jewish Student Organizations. She bachelor's degree in chemical engineering land Security’s (DHS) also served as a member of the Student

from MSU in 2002, her master's in 2003, and Harley J. Seeley Photo by ﬁrst Undergraduate Literacy Corps, tutoring a student in Lansing began her Ph.D. work at MSU in January. She Scholarships. The awards are presented to through MSU’s Read to Succeed program. just completed a three-semester industrial highly talented students interested in pursu- She also plays viola in the MSU Campus co-op with Bechtel, San Francisco. Eldin ﬁrst ing basic science and technology innovations Orchestra. competed in the poster competition at AIChE that can be applied to the DHS mission. Fifty- The Rhodes Scholarships, the oldest of the in the Computing and Systems Technology one undergraduate scholarships and 51 grad- international awards, bring outstanding stu- division in 2001; she came in third. In 2002, uate fellowships were awarded; 2,500 students dents from many countries around the world she placed second in the Mixing division. across the country applied. to study at Oxford University. Schiller was

32 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 one of ﬁve MSU nominees to be considered for the prestigious scholarship. Four Engineering Students Named Academic All-Big Ten

Michael Shafer, a chem- our engineering students were named to the 2003 Fall ical engineering grad- FAcademic All-Big Ten Conference Team. To be eligible, ath- uate student, has letes must have won a letter in at least their second academic made mathematical year at their institution and carry a career grade point average of history by discovering 3.0 or better. Sixty-seven Spartans were named—the second most Photo by MSU SportsPhoto by Information/IMC the largest known of any Big Ten school. Breanna Harpstead

Photo by G. L. Kohuth,Photo by University Relations prime number—which

is 6,320,430 digits long. It took more than two NAME SPORT MAJOR YEAR GPA HOMETOWN years to find using a distributed network of Breanna Harpstead Field Hockey Chemical Engineering Sophomore 3.70 West Chester, PA 60,000 volunteers' computers around the Kyle Rasmussen Football Engineering Arts Senior 3.50 Hadley, MI world. Shafer used his office computer to Nathan Usher Cross Country Computer Engineering Junior 3.52 Gregory, MI contribute spare processing power to the Greg Yeaster Football Mechanical Engineering Senior 3.31 Montrose, MI Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS). For a complete story, go to http:// msutoday.msu.edu/research/index.php3? article=03Dec2003-1 Three Engineering Students On Homecoming Court Janelle Shane, an electrical engineering junior, won third place in the student division of the hree out of the nine sen- 2003 MSU Global Focus international photo- Tiors selected to represent graphy contest. Her photo, entitled “In the the student body in the 2003 Cathedral Courtyard,” was taken in France Homecoming Court were in 2003 (see below). engineering students. Named The photo competition, sponsored by the to the court were Hammad MSU Office of International Studies and Ahmed Shaikh, a computer Programs (ISP) and the MSU Alumni Asso- engineering senior from ciation, is open to MSU students, faculty/ Karachi, Pakistan; Dagan R.

staff, and alumni. This year’s competition Mishoulam, a mechanical KurtPhoto by Stepnitz, University Relations drew 385 entries from 136 individuals. A engineering senior from Engineering students named to Homecoming Court. FROM total of 30 awards were given. Arlington Heights, Illinois.; LEFT TO RIGHT: Hammad Ahmed Shaikh, computer engineer- To view the winning photos, go to http:// and Justen Bond, a mechani- ing; Dagan R. Mishoulam, mechanical engineering; and www.isp.msu.edu/photocontest/ e cal engineering senior from Justen Bond, mechanical engineering. Flint, Michigan. Students are nominated for the honor by MSU organizations and individuals, and chosen for their high academic standards, leadership skills, and “Spartan spirit.” The theme for the October 3–4 activities was “Roots of Excellence,” named in honor of Michael Budman, 1968 alumnus with a degree in communications and grand marshal for the Homecoming Parade. He is the co-founder and CEO of Roots Canada, which has achieved worldwide recognition for outﬁtting the Canadian, United States, and Great Britain summer and winter Olympic teams.

michigan state university college of engineering 33 international students

International Day in Engineering by Lynn Anderson The Stars of Punjab

he College of Engineering celebrated Inter- tit Bhatia, electrical engineering senior, national Day on October 14. Maggie Blair- was one of the performers at Interna- T Ramsey, coordinator of the popular Ational Day in Engineering. Bhatia (at Engineering Study Abroad program, organizes a far right in series of photos) and his dance presentation each fall in the main lobby of the partner, Preet Singh Sahni, a senior in Engineering Building to celebrate the diverse ﬁnance at MSU’s Eli Broad College of cultures that co-exist at MSU and in the sur- Business, are part of a dance group called rounding community. This year’s event included Sitare Punjab De (The Stars of Punjab). The a display of African art, along with dancing, group performs Bhangra, a lively music and singing, and story telling by performers repre- dance form that originated in the Punjab senting Mexico, Russia, China, Cuba, and India. region in North India. The College of Engineering event was held in The dance group formed three years ago connection with the campus-wide observance of as an outgrowth of a student group called the International Education Week, November Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students 15–23. International Education Week is a joint (CIUS), which puts on a yearly cultural pro- initiative of the U.S. Department of State and gram called Satrang for the MSU community. the U.S. Department of Education to promote Bhatia says that he and his friends really like programs that prepare Americans for a global dancing. “It’s in my blood,” he says. When environment and attract future leaders from they discovered Bhangra dance competitions abroad to study, learn, and exchange experi- in Toronto and Detroit, a group of 16 Indian ences in the United States. In an August 25, MSU students decided to enter. In the Detroit 2003, letter to U.S. governors, Secretary of Education Rod Paige said, “The blending of competition, “Bhangra Fusion,” held at the international education into many subject areas should be happening as a matter of State Theatre, the MSU group won the public course . . . International education is for everyone.” choice award. In the January 2003 inter- To view more International Day in Engineering photos, visit http://www.egr.msu.edu/ university competition, “Bhangra Nation,” in egr/programs/specialprograms/esa/intlevents_2003.php e Toronto, the MSU group won the gold medal, competing against teams from schools like New York University, the University of Toronto, and Cornell University. According to Bhatia, “Bhangra lyrics reﬂect the long and often tumultuous history of the Punjab. While Bhangra began as a part of harvest festivals, it eventually became a part of such diverse occasions as weddings and New Year celebrations.” Most of the MSU Bhangra dance group are from Punjab her- itage. Bhatia has just graduated from MSU and returned home to New Delhi, India, where he will join the family business, a Photos by Erin Groom Photos by ABOVE: Mexican folk dancers. BELOW: African art display from the collection of Montea Williams and Shelton manufacturer of tin cans, mainly for the food Allen, Bullock Community Upliftment Program, Lansing. processing industry.

34 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 International Students Visit Cedar Point

n 2003, for the first time, the Engineering Study Abroad program included a field trip Ifor international students studying at MSU. On Tuesday, July 29, four students from Germany and two from Taiwan went to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, with Maggie Blair-Ramsey, coordinator for the Engineering Study Abroad program. The students enjoyed a break from the academic environment on campus and had a chance to socialize with other exchange students. Blair-Ramsey says that in the future, field trips for international students may include one- day trips to Mackinac Island, Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, or a cruise on Lake Huron. e

Jan Gotza, Kaiserslautern, Germany: “It was a great idea to go to Cedar Point. It was a good opportunity to become acquainted with the other students and have fun together outside of MSU.”

Hung Chang Chen (Nick), Taipei, Taiwan: “The best part of Cedar Point was standing on the bridge of Snake River Falls, letting the water hurricane swirl around your head and hit you right in the stomach. I also took the chance of trying to make friends when I was waiting in line for the Millennium Force for an hour and a half. I talked to a guy who was very friendly. We shared lots of experiences and stories.”

Sacha Loitz, Kaiserslautern, Germany: “The trip was a great idea! I never experienced such crazy rides before. Going there with a group made it really fun.”

Melanie Gross, Kaiserslautern, Germany: “We went on a great ride with a lot of looping, but after standing in the long queue we needed some refreshment, because it was so hot. So we decided to ﬁnd a ride that included water. We tried Thunder Canyon, but some of us man- aged to stay almost completely dry. So we went to Snake River Falls. All the signs said, ‘You will get wet!’ We did not believe it, but we should have. All of us were completely soaked. It was so much fun!”

michigan state university college of engineering 35 FACULTY tors, university administrators, managers of information dissemination, and funding awards agency representatives.

accomplishments Anil K. Jain, University Distinguished Pro- fessor in the Depart- ment of Computer Mack Davis, professor emeritus, and Susan Science and Engi- Masten&, professor, both of civil and environ- neering and in the Photo by Erin Groom Photo by mental engineering, recently published Harley J. Seeley Photo by Department of Principles of Environmental Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering, has MSU President Peter McPherson (left) presents Uni- Science. The book, published by McGraw-Hill, been invited by the Association for Com- versity Distinguished Professor award to Hassan Khalil, is intended for introductory environmental puting Machinery Fellows committee to Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. engineering courses at the sophomore or jun- become an ACM Fellow. The ACM Fellows ior level. It has been adopted by a number of Program was established in 1993 to recognize research, and public service achievements. schools including UT-Austin and the Tech- and honor outstanding ACM members for Khalil’s work focuses on nonlinear systems nical University in Singapore. The book’s Web their achievements in computer science and and control, and his work on stabilization of site is http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/ information technology and for their signi- nonlinear systems exhibits mastery of sophis- 0072350539/ ficant contributions to the mission of the ticated mathematical techniques and funda- ACM. The ACM Fellows serve as distin- mental engineering issues. Much of his Laura Dillon, professor and acting chairperson guished colleagues to whom the ACM and its writing on singular perturbations is consid- of the Department of Computer Science and members look for guidance and leadership as ered the standard for reference. Engineering, was program co-chair of the the world of information technology evolves. Individuals holding the professorship will ICSE 2003 International Conference on For more about the Association for Com- receive, in addition to their salary, a stipend of Software Engineering held in Portland, puting Machinery, go to http://www.acm.org $5,000 per year for five years to support profes- Oregon, May 2003. The conference theme was Jain also co-authored the Handbook of sional activities. There are now 84 faculty "Scaling New Heights." ICSE brings together Fingerprint Recognition, an important members who have been named a University world leaders in software engineering resource for all biometric security profession- Distinguished Professor since the designation research, practice, and education to present als, researchers, practitioners, developers, and was established by the university and approved and discuss the most recent advances, trends, systems administrators. It was published by by the MSU Board of Trustees in 1989. and concerns in software engineering. Springer in 2003. For more about the book, go to http://www.springer-ny.com Phillip McKinley, professor of computer science Janie M. Fouke, dean of the College of and engineering, was program co-chair for Engineering, was co-chair of the June 2003 Hassan Khalil, a professor in the Department of the 2003 International Conference on Symposium of the Bioengineering Consor- Electrical and Computer Engineering, has Distributed Computing Systems held in May tium (BECON) of the National Institutes of been named a University Distinguished 2003 in Providence, Rhode Island. The confer- Health (NIH). The symposium, “Catalyzing Professor, the highest honor bestowed on a ence is a forum for engineers and scientists in Team Science,” examined team approaches to faculty member by Michigan State University. academia, industry, and government to pres- biomedical research. Encouraging and Khalil, along with nine other MSU professors, ent and discuss their latest research findings. rewarding participation or productivity in was honored at an awards ceremony on team environments is critical to advancing October 30. Those selected for the title have Ajit K. Srivastava, chairperson of the Depart- discovery and development in the field of bio- been recognized nationally and usually inter- ment of Agricultural Engineering, has been engineering. The conference drew investiga- nationally for the importance of their teaching, honored with the 2003 Dennis Fenton

36 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 Graduate Alumni Award from the Cook College Alumni Association at Rutgers University and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. The award is given to alumni for outstanding accomplishments in their professional, civic, or volunteer work, which reﬂects dignity and distinction on Cook College at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Srivastava received the award based upon his exemplary professional career in the area of machinery systems for food production and processing. The award was presented on October 25, 2003, at Rutgers.

Thomas F. Wolff, associate professor of civil engineering and associate dean for undergraduate studies, received a commendation in July 2003 from Commander Mark W. Connelly, LTC, for “dedication, expertise, and contributions as part of the Levee Seepage Janie Fouke (above), dean, and Thomas Wolff (below), associate dean for undergraduate studies, were directly Task Force,” which assisted the Sacramento involved in teaching freshman students during fall semester 2003. Fouke taught PRO 101, Provost’s Freshman District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Seminar—Introduction to Biomedical Engineering—a one-credit course introducing freshmen to the field of biomedical fulfilling their role of protecting the citizens engineering. Wolff taught EGR 291, Special Topics—ROSES seminar—a one-credit course for freshmen in ROSES of California from flood damage. (Residential Option for Science and Engineering Students), to help them with self-development and connect them to Wolff is a nationally recognized expert with the profession and the community. more than 30 years of experience in the geotechnical engineering aspects of dams, levees, and hydraulic structures. He has consulted for, performed research for, and been employed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has worked on numerous water projects. He recently served as an independent technical reviewer for a national task force that reviewed and updated design criteria for levees and seepage control. Current criteria are based on studies from about 50 years ago, and derived primarily from experiences in the lower Mississippi valley. The updated criteria may lead to significant economic savings without compromising safety. In 1998, Wolff served on an independent review panel to evaluate seepage problems at Herbert Hoover Dike, a 150- mile-long structure surrounding Lake

Okeechobee in Florida. e Harley J. Seeley Photos by

michigan state university college of engineering 37 Meet Our New Faculty Subir Biswas François Dion Rong Jin Hyungson "David" Ki

Subir Biswas, associate professor of electrical information technology applications to trans- nology (POSTECH), Pohang, South Korea, and computer engineering, earned his Ph.D. at portation, and automated vehicle control sys- and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of the University of Cambridge and his B.S. and tems. Additional interests include freeway and Michigan at Ann Arbor. Prior to joining MSU, M.S. at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. He urban street traffic operations, intercity traffic, he was a postdoctoral research fellow of has more than 10 years of industrial research traffic simulation modeling, driver behavior mechanical engineering at the University of experience in the networking industry. Prior modeling, modeling of vehicle fuel consump- Michigan. His research interests include laser to joining MSU, he was the principal architect tion and pollutant emissions, and environ- materials interaction/processing, laser micro- for Tellium Optical Systems and the lead mental impacts of transportation projects. and nanofabrication, microscale heat transfer, researcher on optical network restoration and multiphysics/ multiscale modeling of modeling, fault tolerant network design, net- Rong Jin, assistant professor of computer sci- manufacturing processes. work management, and advanced application ence and engineering, received his M.S. and development. Before Tellium, he worked at Ph.D. degrees from Carnegie Mellon University. Nihar R. Mahapatra, associate professor of elec- NEC Research Institute in Princeton, New His research experience includes developing trical and computer engineering, received a Jersey, where he focused on wireless ATM, IP state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of multicast, and IP traffic engineering problems. for image classification/ retrieval, camera Technology, Delhi, India, and an M.S. and Biswas has published 40 journal/conference motion detection, automatic title generation Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. articles and book chapters and is a co-inventor for textual documents, and information Before coming to MSU, he was an assistant on seven U.S. patents (granted and pending). retrieval. His main research interest is statisti- professor of computer science and engineer- He is a fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical cal machine learning—the “tough” learning ing at the University at Buffalo–SUNY. His Society. His current research interests include problems, such as learning “rare” concepts, research interests include parallel and high- the broad area of wireless data networking, learning with a small number of labeled exam- performance computing, computer architec- low-power network protocols, sensor net- ples, and learning with noisy and heteroge- ture and VLSI, and dependability. He has works, and wireless network security. neous data; and the application of machine published more than 40 refereed papers in learning techniques to natural language pro- leading journals and for conferences and François Dion, assistant professor of civil and cessing, information retrieval, databases, and workshops. He has received grants from the environmental engineering, earned his Ph.D. multimedia. His other research interest is National Science Foundation, the Air Force, at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, information retrieval—the language modeling the University at Buffalo–SUNY, and IBM. Canada, and his B.Eng. and M.A.Sc. at the approach toward information retrieval; and He is a 2003 NSF Information Technology Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. His general supervised and semi-unsupervised approaches Research award selection panelist; a proces- research interests are in the area of intelligent to learning a user's profile and interests. sor architecture track co-chair for the 2003 transportation systems, with more particular IEEE International Conference on Computer focuses on advanced traffic signal control sys- Hyungson "David" Ki, assistant professor of Design; a program committee member for the tems, integrated control of transit and traffic mechanical engineering, received his B.S. from IEEE Computer Society 2004 Annual Sympo- operations, traveler information systems, the Pohang University of Science and Tech- sium on VLSI; and a program committee

38 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 Nihar R. Mahapatra Pradeep Ramuhalli Jonathan Shapiro Pang-Ning Tan S. Patrick Walton Peixin Zhong

member for the IEEE 2004 Great Lakes merce, and peer-to-peer networking. trainee. Upon completion of his Sc.D., he Symposium on VLSI. joined the Stanford Genome Technology Pang-Ning Tan, assistant professor of computer Center, receiving an NIH Kirschstein post- Pradeep Ramuhalli, assistant professor of elec- science and engineering, received his M.S and doctoral fellowship for his research. Walton's trical and computer engineering, earned his Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minne- research is focused on the engineering of B.Tech degree from J.N.T. University in sota. He worked as a research associate at the active biomolecules through kinetic and Hyderabad, India, and his M.S. and Ph.D. at Army High Performance Computing Research thermodynamic design. In particular, his Iowa State University. His primary research Center from 2002–2003. His research experi- work focuses on the application of genomics interests are in the applications of signal pro- ence includes developing spatio-temporal tools to the measurement of DNA, RNA, and cessing and pattern recognition algorithms data mining techniques to help earth scien- protein expression profiles, as well as the to industrial inspection and nondestructive tists discover changes in the global carbon study of the protein and nucleic acid compo- evaluation (NDE). Other research foci are the cycle and climate system; developing robust nents involved in RNA interference. development of solutions to inverse problems, algorithms for automatic detection and sum- especially in electromagnetics, data fusion marization of network attacks; and develop- Peixin Zhong, assistant professor of electrical algorithms, and pattern recognition and expert ing techniques to analyze how a Web site and computer engineering, received his Ph.D. systems. He is the author of several journal and is being used by its visitors. Tan's current from Princeton University. He received his conference publications and is co-author of a research interests are data mining, intrusion B.S. and M.S. in semiconductor physics and chapter on microwave inspection in an upcom- detection, information retrieval, and machine devices from Nanjing University, and his M.A. ing edition of the NDT Handbook of the learning. He has served as a program com- in electrical engineering from Princeton American Society for Nondestructive Testing. mittee member for the IEEE International University. He was a faculty member in the Conference on Data Mining (ICDM 2002 and Department of Physics at Nanjing University Jonathan Shapiro, assistant professor of com- ICDM 2003), the IEEE/WIC International from 1992 to 1994 and did research on SiGe puter science and engineering, received his Conference on Web Intelligence (WI 2003), material and devices. Before joining MSU, he B.A. from Columbia University and an M.S. and the Seventh Pacific-Asia Conference on was a member of the technical staff with and Ph.D. from the University of Massachu- Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Lucent Technologies. He worked on research setts at Amherst. His primary research inter- (PAKDD 2003). and development of FPGAs, MEMS-based est is the application of economics to optical switches, and broadband access net- problems in networks and distributed sys- S. Patrick Walton, assistant professor of works. His research interests include the tems, including the use of pricing mecha- chemical engineering and materials science, broad area of electronics design automation nisms for distributed resource allocation and received his B.ChE. from Georgia Tech and an and VLSI. He is particularly interested in the role of incentives in promoting coopera- M.S. and Sc.D. in the Department of Chemi- adaptable system-on-chip, low power elec- tion among self-interested network users. cal Engineering at MIT. At MIT he was tronics design with applications in wireless Other research interests include congestion awarded a Shell Foundation Fellowship and systems, Boolean methods in VLSI CAD, and control, privacy and security, electronic com- was an NIH biotechnology predoctoral configurable computing and FPGAs. e

michigan state university college of engineering 39 Alumni Grand Awards Ceremony, October 2, 2003

wo College of Engineering alums were among 23 alumni and friends of MSU Trecognized at the Alumni Grand Awards Ceremony on October 2, 2003. Hosted annually by the MSU Alumni Association (MSUAA), the event pays tribute to individuals who not only meet but greatly exceed the criteria for recognition by the MSUAA and the university. Receiving Distinguished Alumni Awards were Paul Woodruff, BS ’59, MS ’61 (civil engineering), of Malvern, Pennsylvania, founder

and CEO of Environmental Resources Harley J. Seeley Photos by Management (ERM) from 1977 until his Paul Woodruff Joseph M. Colucci retirement in 2000; and Joseph M. Colucci, BS ’58 (mechanical engineering), president of vehicle emissions and fuel economy. The For more about the Alumni Grand Awards Automotive Fuels Consulting, Inc., Clarkston, Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest Ceremony, visit http://msualum.com/events- Michigan, and an international expert on award bestowed by the MSUAA. new/2003/grand-awards/awards03.cfm

Employed by the Michigan Department of the majority of his career working for Dow In Memoriam Highways, he designed the bridge across the Chemical Co. in Midland, MI. He was an Fox River at Seney, MI, and supervised con- avid amateur radio operator throughout his Timothy M. Hoen, BS struction of the bridge at Clinch Park in life. He is survived by his wife Mary and two ME ’76, died August Traverse City. He worked for the asphalt sons, Mark and Paul. 11, 2003. He was a ﬁrm Ward and Van Nuck beginning in 1955 program manager at and later became a principal owner. He James VanHaften, BS ME ’45, died July 17, the Ford Motor Com- graduated from the Detroit College of Law 2003, in Midland, MI. He was employed by pany’s Large/ Luxury in 1963, passed the Michigan Bar, and was Dow Chemical Co. from July 1945 until June Car Vehicle Center in admitted to practice law in Macomb 1978. He is survived by his wife Esther, son Dearborn, MI, where he had worked since County. He served on the Mount Clemens Daniel, daughter Susan, and one grandson. 1976. He earned an MBA in 1988. Hoen is City Commission for nine years and was remembered at MSU for his smile and his Mayor Pro Tem for seven of those years. He Edward A. Watjen, BS ME ’56, died June 13, handball prowess. He is survived by his son is survived by Marion, his wife of 37 years; 2003, at age 77. He served in the U.S. Navy Sean, three sisters, ﬁve brothers, and numer- son, John; two brothers, James and Michael; during World War II. He was employed by ous nieces and nephews. He was prede- sister Mary Ziegenhagen; and loving nieces Westinghouse and retired to New Bern, NC, ceased by his daughter, Caitlin. and nephews. He was predeceased by his in 1989. A member of First Presbyterian stepson, Todd Harris. Church, he was an avid wood carver and Terrence E. Monaghan, BS Civ Eng ’49, of craftsman. He is survived by his wife, Edna, Mount Clemens, MI, died May 21, 2003, at Russell M. Pickelmann, BS Chem Eng ’43, of sons Thomas and Andrew, a sister, Dorothy age 76. He was a U.S. Navy veteran of WWII. Harrisville, MI, died July 25, 2003. He spent Watjen, and four grandchildren.

40 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 CLASS NOTES

1930s international patent licensing, which he contin- Moodys live in Lexington Park, MD. wcminpax ues to this day. He lives in Newtown, PA. @ameritel.net

■ Fred W. Walstrom, BS Civ Eng ’69, was elected 1960s to the board of directors of the Bank of Northern Michigan. He is the chairman and chief executive ■ Kenneth E. Bow,BS officer of Walstrom Marine Inc. of Harbor Springs, Elec Eng ’62, was MI. A native of Harbor Springs, Walstrom is the awarded the highest current chairman of the Harbor Springs Planning grade of fellow by the Commission and a member of First Presbyterian Institute of Electronic and Church in Harbor Springs. Electrical Engineers. The honor recognizes excel- ■ James K. Wight,BS ■ Leo Nothstine, BS Civ Eng ’38, and his wife lence in power engineer- ’69, MS ’70, Civ Eng, Rebecca (BA Education ’71) recently made a ing and industrial appli- received the American major gift to establish a charitable gift annuity cations. Bow, a resident Concrete Institute’s Struc- that will be divided between an endowed schol- of Freeland, MI, has tural Research Award at arship in Medical Technology, an endowed schol- worked for Dow Chemical Co. for 41 years. He their convention in Van- arship in Nursing, and an existing endowed is the chief scientist for the development of couver, British Columbia, graduate scholarship they previously established polymer and coated metal products for the wire in March 2003 for his co- in the College of Engineering. Now retired, and cable industry. He was recently honored authored paper, which Nothstine served as a faculty member in the with the Lighthouse Award for Lifetime advances the understand- College of Engineering for 35 years. The Achievement by Dow’s Engineered Films and ing of the seismic re- Nothstines divide their time between Traverse Laminates business. sponse of interior wide beam–column City, MI, and Naples, FL, and are active in both connections. A professor in the Civil and ■ communities. Lee Burgett,P.E., BS Environmental Engineering Department at the ’61, MS ’62, ME, a fellow University of Michigan since 1973, he recently of the American Society of completed a six-year term on the external advi- 1940s Heating, Refrigerating, sory board for his academic department. Wight is and Air-Conditioning En- well known nationally and internationally for his ■ Gerhardt R. Fitz, D.O., ChE (attended ’42–’46), gineers, was installed as work in earthquake-resistant design and seismic referring to p. 36, “Students Build Special Cycle,” treasurer at the society’s upgrading of concrete structures. He has served in Currents 2:1 (Summer 2002), takes issue with 2003 annual meeting in on numerous committees of the ACI and was our use of the word “tandem.” He writes: “I Atlanta, GA. As treasurer, elected a fellow in 1984. A past president of the enrolled at MSC in January 1942 as a chemical he serves on the board of ACI Michigan chapter, he received the Delmar L. engineering major. I volunteered in the Army via directors and the execu- Bloem Award in 1991; the Joe W. Kelly Award in the enlisted reserve corps. By the time we went tive committee, chairs the finance committee, 1999 for “outstanding efforts for the education active, I was on [academic] probation. The Army and is vice-chair of the council that monitors of students in design of reinforced concrete struc- sent me to lab school, introduced me to medi- ASHRAE chapter and regional activities. A resi- tures”; and the Arthur J. Boase Concrete cine, where I ended up. But I still remember the dent of LaCrosse, WI, Burgett is an engineering Research Council Award for Outstanding difference between ‘tandem’ and ‘side-by-side’!” consultant to the Trane Co. and other companies Accomplishments in Research, Teaching, and After his service in the Army, Fitz was admitted to since his retirement last year from Trane as vice- Service in the field of structural concrete in medical school without completing the last president–new ventures. He has served on a 2002. He has been recognized for “distinguished semester for his BS in engineering. He is a number of ASHRAE committees and councils over service” and “teaching excellence” by the U of M retired radiologist living in Port Charlotte, FL. the years, and is a recipient of the ASHRAE College of Engineering, and is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. State of Michigan Award for Outstanding Teach- ■ George W. K. King (formerly Koronski), P.E., BS ing. [email protected] ■ ME ’48, referring to pp. 12–13 in Currents 3:1 William C. Moody, BS ’63, MS ’65, Civ Eng, (Summer 2003), thinks that he crossed paths was surprised to see “his” airplane on the cover with Granville Sharpe in the blueprint room on the of Currents 2:2 (Winter 2003). As “Flutter One,” 1970s fourth floor of Olds Hall. He says he, too, got a he supervised the testing of “ship one” of the ■ job in the blueprint room through Aggie McCann, F/A-18E/F, at Patuxent River Naval Air Test John P. Gyekenyesi, PhD ME ’72, is head of the which helped with his dire finances. King had to Center, beginning in 1996. Moody was then a Structural Life Prediction Department at NASA’s leave school in 1941 to “earn enough to pay the part of the Boeing/Navy Integrated Test team. He Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. A recent bills,” but he came back to finish his degree in is now the chief engineer for the F/A-18E/F. He widower, he spends a lot of time traveling for 1946. Following graduation, he worked for RCA, has been with McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing NASA—visiting research labs, industry partners, doing original testing on DuPont nylon. Then he Co.) since 1965 when he left East Lansing. Bill’s and professional conferences. The focus of his was a project engineer on massive radar anten- wife Carol (BA English, ’62) says, “The inside work is aerospace engine structures. nas in Greenland and Alaska. After that, he back cover [of Currents 2:2] has a photo of my father, Louis Otto, and his racing team of 1954. worked on satellites for the Air Force. Later, work- ➜ ing as a consultant, he became involved with I can remember the photo being taken.” The

michigan state university college of engineering 41 CLASS NOTES

■ David Joyce, BS ’78, MSPE president. Thomp- Steptoe & Johnson, MS ’80, ME, general man- son is the assistant water Washington, D.C., in ager for GE Aircraft system manager for the 1992. He currently serves Engines (GEAE), Evendale, city of Grand Rapids, MI. on the Board of Trustees OH, has been named vice She enjoys solving prob- for Lake Superior State president of GEAE Com- lems, and was recently University and on the mercial Engines Operation responsible for figuring board of directors for the and an officer of General out that a mysterious dent MSU Varsity Alumni “S” Electric Co. Joyce recently on the elbow of a pipe that Club. He is a member of led the team that captured connected to a storage the American Bar Associ- the company’s ARJ21 pro- tank was caused by an air ation and State Bar of gram win in China. The ARJ21 is the new regional bubble that had seeped in from a valve. Michigan. At MSU, he was a two-time Academic jet being designed and built in China for which GE All-American in football. Altobelli is a member of will supply engines. Joyce joined GE in 1980 and ■ James Von Ehr, BS CSE the MSU Presidents Club. has held management positions in various divi- ’72, was present in the sions including Engineering, Quality, Customer Oval Office on December ■ Blake Dilsworth, BS CEE ’84, became a princi- Support, and Sales and Marketing. 3 as President Bush pal with KPFF Consulting Engineers in 2001. He signed the 21st Century worked at Albert Kahn Associates from 1984 to ■ Irene M. Mead,P.E., BS Nanotechnology Research 1989, then T. Y. Lin International, a bridge and Civ Eng ’75, is a partner and Development Act into building structural engineering firm, until 1996, in the law firm Honigman law. The act authorizes when he joined KPFF, which is a structural and Miller Schwartz and Cohn $3.7 billion to fund nano- civil engineering firm. KPFF has offices on the LLP. She practices in the technology research and West Coast and in St. Louis. Blake lives in San Regulatory Department development over four Rafael, CA, with his wife, Cindy (Merchandising (Lansing office), advising years, starting in FY 2005. Earlier, in May 2003, and Management, Human Ecology ’85), and their clients on liquor control he had been invited by Senator George Allen to three children. [email protected] issues. Prior to joining the testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on firm she was Assistant Commerce, Science, and Transportation at a full ■ Thomas W. Hague, BS Eng Arts ’83, holds the Attorney General in charge committee hearing on S.189, the 21st Century position of sales/account manager at S-Y of the liquor control division of the Michigan Nanotechnology Research and Development Act. Systems Technologies, a Siemens/Yazak joint Attorney General’s office for more than five years. He gave an industry perspective on the bill and venture in Dearborn, MI. tom.hague@systech- Before that, she was the Assistant Deputy its potential effect on the budding nanotechnol- na.com Attorney General for Legal Operations in the ogy field. Von Ehr is the founder and CEO of Zyvex Attorney General’s Executive Division for nine Corporation in Richardson, TX. He serves his ■ John Steven Haselow, BS ChE ’83, is president years. She is a nationally recognized expert on alma mater (MSU) as a member of the Strategic and owner of Redox Tech, LLC in Morrisville, NC. alcohol direct shipping matters. She is a gradu- Partners Council for the Department of Computer His company provides in situ soil and groundwa- ate of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Science and Engineering. A photo of Von Ehr in ter remediation in Georgia, North Carolina, and Lansing. the Oval Office may be viewed at http:// South Carolina. He and his wife Laura have a five- tinyurl.com/3xl2a (Von Ehr is second from right). year-old daughter and three-year-old twin sons. ■ Elizabeth Shanahan,BS The full text of Von Ehr’s May 1, 2003, testimony [email protected] Elec Eng ’78, an electrical is available at http://commerce.senate.gov/ and software engineer in hearings/testimony.cfm?id=745&wit_id=2015. To ■ Jan M. Hauser,P.E., BS Chicago, has been named learn more about Zyvex Corporation, visit http:// Elec Eng ’83, is manager executive director of the www.zyvex.com/. For more about James Von Ehr, of Finkbeiner, Pettis & Society of Women Engi- see page 30 in Currents 2:2 (Winter 2003). Strout’s Novi, MI, office. neers. A member for over He joined the firm in 1998 25 years, she has served as director of business the society in a variety of 1980s development for north- ways. Shanahan is also a western Ohio and south- member of the Institute of ■ Dean Altobelli, BS ME ’87, of Escanaba and eastern Michigan and was Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Lansing, MI, has been elected a principal of the named an associate in the Association for Computing Machinery. Most law firm Miller, Canfield, Paddock, and Stone, firm in 2000. The nine recently, she was the vice president of product PLC. He is an attorney in the firm’s litigation, dis- FPS offices in Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, and management and marketing at Stellent, Inc., pute resolution, and government regulation Virginia design water, wastewater, storm water, Chicago, IL. She is a member of the MSU Presi- groups. Since joining the firm in 1993, he has and transportation systems. Hauser is a certi- dents Club. handled lawsuits in state and federal courts and fied F-1, S-1 water system operator in Michigan. is experienced in business and governmental He is a member of the American Water Works ■ Joellen Thompson, BS Civ Eng ’79, is the first matters, including advising clients on federal and Association and the Water Environment woman to be named “Engineer of the Year” by state laws. He served as a legislative assistant Federation. the Michigan Society of Professional Engineers. in the U.S. House of Representatives from In 1999, she was the first woman to be elected 1989–90 and was a summer associate at

42 CURRENTS MAGAZINE | winter 2004 ■ Marcia Lampela, BS ME assistant professor and was promoted to asso- ■ Jennifer Racine, BS ME ’84, engineering manager ciate professor in 1999. Her professional mem- ’96, joined the law firm of at BorgWarner Trans- berships include the American Society of Civil Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., as mission Systems, Bell- Engineering and the American Society for an associate in 2003. wood, IL, was elected Engineering Education. She will practice in the treasurer of the Society of Madison, WI, office. She Women Engineers. The ■ Joseph M. Fleming, BS ECE ’95, MS CSE ’98, earned her law degree, society was founded in recently received his commission as a naval cum laude, from the 1950 to help women officer after completing Officer Candidate School University of Wisconsin. achieve their full potential in Pensacola, FL, with distinction. He was trained in careers as engineers in navigation, ship handling, engineering, naval and leaders. Lampela has been with BorgWarner warfare, and management. since 1990 as a program manager and as a prod- 2000s uct engineer at various levels. From 1984 to ■ Peter A. Kattula, BS Eng Arts ’94, an internal 1990, she worked for GE Aircraft Engines, operations consultant for Masco Corp. in Novi, ■ Eric Arnold, BS CSE Evendale, OH. MI, was named vice-president of operational plan- ’02, works for Volition, a ning for Brass Craft, a Masco company in Livonia, video game company ■ Carol Gremel Stovsky, MI. He joined Masco in 2000. From 1994 to whose hits include Red MS CSE ’86, was named 2000, he held various positions at Ford Motor Faction, Summoner, Free- a partner with the Co., including materials and supply chain analyst, Space, and Descent. He is Standley Law Group LLP planning coordinator, and industrial engineer. He currently on the program- located in Dublin, OH. She is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served as a ming team for a new, earned her Juris Doctorate flight deck launch troubleshooter in an F/A-18 air- unannounced title. A from the Moritz College of craft squadron. He is a member of MSU’s Engi- native of Champaign, IL, Law at Ohio State Uni- neering Arts Alumni Advisory Board. pkattula Arnold is employed near versity and was admitted @brasscrafthq.com his place of origin. On the job, he spends his to practice law in Ohio in time in a dimly lit room in front of a computer, 1994. She is additionally ■ John Kostyo, BS CEE ’93, is working at the breaking only briefly for food. He is delighted that admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Philadelphia-based architecture, engineering, someone is willing to pay him to fulfill his never- Trademark Office and the U.S. District Court for interior design, and planning firm, Kling. In 2003 ending desire to create computer games. At the Southern District of Ohio. A past chair of the he participated in an affiliation with Stubbins home he spends his free time exercising, helping Computer Law Committee of the Ohio State Bar Associates, a Boston-based firm known for their to run the youth group at his church, or working Association, she is experienced in the prepara- work in higher education and health care design, on his own games—for fun. Arnold was a found- tion and prosecution of domestic patent applica- as well as such projects as the Venetian Casino ing member of Spartasoft, an MSU student organ- tions pertaining to computer software and Resort in Las Vegas, Berlin’s Congress Hall, and ization devoted to video game development. hardware, and in the registration of copyrights for Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Recent Kling Eric’s e-mail is earnold@insightbb .com. Volition’s computer programs. projects include the FDA headquarters consoli- Web site is at http://www.volition-inc.com/ dation, Merck’s new Boston Research Center, and the University of Colorado Health Science Center. ■ Todd Hoppe, Eng Arts ’01, proposed marriage 1990s to his girlfriend, Robin Lileikis, (BA Business ’01), ■ Jennifer Marek, BS Mat in June 2003 on the beach in Grand Haven, MI. ■ Alexa Boorstein Albrecht, BS ME ’91, has relo- Sci ’96, assistant lab He created a four-foot sand sculpture of cated with her husband and one-year-old daugh- director for Sherry Labora- Beaumont Tower “engraved” with their initials and ter from Carmel, IN, to the northern Chicago tories in Muncie, IN, has a heart. Robin (who said yes) says, “We bleed suburbs. Over the past few years she has made been named metallurgical green . . . and we also love Grand Haven.” a career change with Eli Lilly and Company, mov- director. She was a metal- ing into market research. She is beginning a new lurgical engineer for job as a business consultant for IMS Health in Sherry from 1997–98, the Chicago area. then became a metallurgical manager at American ■ Lizette Chevalier,MS Axle and Manufacturing ’90, PhD ’94, CEE, asso- for two years. She returned to Sherry in early ciate professor of civil 2002. She is a member of ASM International and engineering at Southern the American Society for Nondestructive Testing. Illinois University, Carbon- dale, IL, was named department chairperson in 2002. She is the first woman to hold this position. Chevalier joined the faculty in 1995 as an

michigan state university college of engineering 43 Responses to “Looking Back” Reed, and Weeg were always pushing the edge of new knowl- From Dianne Nelson Carpenter, Med Tech ’67 edge. The MISTIC was the tool I asked my dad, Charles Nelson, who was a forcing the development of new graduate in forestry in 1941, if he recognized analytical techniques. It’s always any of the guys in the picture on the back of good to look back at the mentor- the summer 2003 Currents Magazine (Vol. 3, ing that leads to successful engi- No. 1), which my husband (Robert E. Carpenter, neering careers. In a sense, the civil engineering ’68) receives. He recognized early sixties in our engineering Herb Helbig third from left in the back row. message. He is third from the right if you classrooms were approaching the rubric of EDITOR’SNOTE: When we contacted Thor count Ira Backus and Wilton Norris in the today’s complexity and chaos. Bank (electrical engineering ’41), the owner of middle row.” What the Michigan State engineering pro- the photo, to pass along the above informa- gram started in the early sixties, I carried on tion, he wrote: “Thanks for your e-mail reply. From Lyle Wilcox, PhD EE ’63 through my responsibilities as an engineering I found H. Helwig—not Helbig—in my copy I enjoyed your article dean, assistant secretary in the Department of the 1938 Wolverine yearbook. He is shown “Responses to ‘Looking of Energy, the president of a university, execu- on pages 85 and 260; on page 85, he is Back’” (Currents Maga- tive vice president of research at two corpora- identified as a junior. Also, I was not able to zine, Vol. 3, No. 1, tions, and provost of a new college of find his name in the 1941 Commencement Summer 2003). I studied integrated science and technology in Virginia. Program. I expect that is why Marvin Osborn for the Ph.D. in engi- Thanks for the opportunity to look back and I were not able to put a name on that neering in the 1956 to and reflect a little on how powerful the early face. Incidentally he is No. 6 [unknown] in 1962 era. It was a time of great leadership at years of the engineering student are in chart- the back row of the class photo, not third MSU with some of the most innovative thinking a course of career success for decades from the left as given in D. N. Carpenter's ing in the country. Jack Ryder, Von Tersch, ahead. e

The College of Engineering and your former classmates are interested in you. Please keep everyone informed. Fill out this form (please type or print clearly) and return it along with Let Us Hear From You! any photos, news clips, or press releases to: Currents Magazine, Ofﬁce of Publications and Public Relations, 3412 Engineering Building, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824-1226.

NAME (INCLUDING MAIDEN NAME) UPDATE

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BUSINESS STREET ADDRESS *■ YES. Publish my e-mail address so classmates can get in touch with me. BUSINESS CITY / STATE / ZIP *■ NO. Do not publish my e-mail address. Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Day OCTOBER 18, 2003

ndergraduate and graduate students in the College of Engineering, as well as faculty and staff, volunteer their time on SET Day to meet with high-school students and their parents Uto introduce them to potential careers in engineering, give lab tours, and answer questions. The event is held annually, usually in early to mid-October. Attendance averages about 1,200. For more about SET Day, visit http://cvm.msu.edu/admis/set/

David Cherba, a doctoral student working in the Depart- ment of Computer Science and Engineering’s Embodied Intelligence Laboratory, talked to high school students and parents on SET Day.

The robot in this photo, known as DAV, has stereo vision, stereo hearing, 48 movable

All photos by Harley J. Seeley All photos by joints, and a spinal cord. For Visitors tour the Nondestructive Evaluation Laboratory in the Department of more information about the Electrical and Computer Engineering. For more information about this lab, robots or to see video clips, go go to http://www.egr.msu.edu/ndel/index.htm to http://www.cse.msu.edu/ei/

Former Astronaut Jack Lousma Speaks to Students

ack Lousma, former astronaut and Michigan native, spoke to engineering students on JNovember 4 about his career with NASA. He was spacecraft commander on the third orbital test ﬂight of space shuttle Columbia, launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on March 22, 1982. Lousma’s visit to MSU was sponsored by students in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Residential Option for Science and Engineering Students (ROSES), and the Freshman/Sophomore Engineering Society, an MSU student organization.

ASME ofﬁcers and members with Jack Lousma

BACK ROW LEFT TO RIGHT: John Remmler, Boris Lester, Craig Somerton (faculty

adviser), Tim Strand, Neal Koenig. FRONT ROW: Ryan McCollum, Vaibhav Ekbote, Adam Zemke, Mark Ruiz, Jack Lousma, Jeremy Carter, Jessica Hollis, Jim Wilde. Looking Back

IT’S THE 1980s: Who is this person and what in the world is he doing? If you don’t know the answer, but you feel creative, make up a humorous caption and send it in. We will print the best responses in the next issue of Currents Magazine. Contact us at [email protected].

Nonproﬁt Org. U.S. Postage PAID Ofﬁce of the Dean East Lansing, MI College of Engineering Permit No. 21 3410 Engineering Building Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824-1226