Trend Setters Setters Leading by Risky Example

PURDUE

SPRING 2010

Leading by Risky Example TrendTrend Setters Setters Leading by Risky Example

Trend Setters Leading by Risky Example Leading by Risky Example Trend Setters FROM THE DEAN

As we settle into 2010, I am extremely optimistic about the opportunities that are unfolding before us, occasionally tempered by uncertainty about the international, national, state, and local financial outlooks. In the balance, I firmly believe that the energy and creativity that are reflected in the college’s strategic plan will carry the day: that we will build on our successes of 2009, chart a course in some exciting blue oceans, and succeed in developing the resources we need to enable our envisioned future of an empowered community making global impact. We are poised to meet the needs of the planet through transformative, field-defining research and a climate that both encourages and supports risk-taking endeavor. In this issue of Engineering Impact, the cover story introduces three members of the Purdue Engineering family whose innovations are setting new standards — one is a veteran faculty member, one is a rising star, and the third is a graduate who is blazing trails at the University of Florida. Four of our faculty members have been recognized with NSF Presidential Early Career Awards in Science and Engineering (PECASE). Monica Cox, one of the faculty members profiled in the cover story, was presented with the award at the White House in January for her outstanding contributions to the discipline of engineering education. She joins Doug Adams, professor of mechanical engineering, who won the award in 2002; Shirley Dyke, professor of mechanical engineering and civil engineering, who was a PECASE awardee in 1998; and John Sutherland, professor of mechanical engineering and head of the division of environmental and ecological engineering, who won the award in 1996. Such talented, innovative minds will, in turn, inspire creative approaches by a new generation of engineers. Creativity, with a certain degree of risk, is definitely not confined to the classroom and laboratory. Last August, two of our graduates began a yearlong trip together around the world. They are featured in this issue, and you can follow them on their blog. Undergraduate Eduardo Anzueto left campus last year and took to the field, literally, in Costa Rica to learn about sustainable agriculture. In order to have lasting impact in the complex world of the 21st century, it is imperative that current and future engineers under- take innovative, risk-taking and transformative research. The College of Engineering not only encourages this, but has declared it a strategic goal: “Taking risks, fueling innovation by creating an environment that stimulates curiosity, fosters risk-taking, and provides intellectual space and freedom to explore and evolve ideas to see where they will lead.” As you’ll read, our students, staff, faculty, and alumni are doing their part to help us reach this goal.

Leah H. Jamieson John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Purdue University College of Engineering. The magazine is produced by the Office of Marketing and Media (09-ENG-4-009) and distributed free to more than 72,000 Engineering Impact is printed on recyclable paper alumni and friends of the College of Engineering. Purdue is an equal access/equal from forests that are managed according to strict opportunity university, committed to the development and nurturing of a racially, socially, environmental and socioeconomic standards, and religiously diverse community. including the protection of wildlife, plants, soil, Tell us what you think. Please send your letters to: and water quality. Engineering Impact, Office of Marketing and Media, Purdue University, 507 Harrison St., West Lafayette, IN 47907-2025; e-mail: [email protected]. In doing so, you grant us permission to publish your letter in part or in whole in an upcoming issue. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and/or clarity. INSIDE ENGINEERINGPOINTS IMPACTVANTAGE

VANTAGE POINTS 3 Featuring: Around the Fountain, Milestones, Prime Numbers, and News from Across the College of Engineering

COVER STORY 16 Meet Three Purdue Engineers Who Are Setting Global Trends 05

FIRST PERSON 22 Risk-Taking Research and the Academy 23 Innovative and Transformative Research Defined

STUDENT IMPACT 24 Sustainability in Tropical Agriculture: Training Practitioners 25 Life’s a Ball 16

FACULTY IMPACT 26 Spray Coating Life 27 Building Better Catalysts

CAMPAIGN IMPACT 28 Passion for Energy Issues Drives Gift to Support Research 30 29 Partnership Supports Biofuel Research

ALUMNI IMPACT 30 Taking a Systems View 32 Around the World in 365 Days

COLLEGE LIFE 34 Photo Gallery

APERTURE 32 36 What Is It?

Spring 2010 1 TM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Administration Dean Leah Jamieson Associate Dean, Academic Affairs Klod Kokini Associate Dean, Graduate Education and Audeen Fentiman Interdisciplinary Programs Associate Dean, Research Ragu Balakrishnan

Associate Dean, Research Melba Crawford (interim) Schools, Departments, and Divisions Associate Dean, Resource Planning and Management Vince Bralts Aeronautics and Astronautics Tom Shih Associate Dean, Undergraduate Education Mike Harris Agricultural and Biological Engineering Bernie Engel Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Education Teri Reed-Rhoads Biomedical Engineering George Wodicka Administrative Director Sharon Whitlock Chemical Engineering Arvind Varma Director, Advancement Amy Noah Civil Engineering Kathy Banks Director, Financial Affairs Christopher Martin Construction Engineering and Management Makarand Hastak Director, Global Engineering Program Rabi Mohtar Electrical and Computer Engineering Ragu Balakrishnan (interim) Director, Strategic Planning and Assessment Carolyn Percifield Engineering Education David Radcliffe (interim) Director, Information Technology David Carmichael Engineering Professional Education Dale Harris Marketing and Media Liaison Nancy Hannibal Environmental and Ecological Engineering John Sutherland Production & Media Industrial Engineering Joseph Pekny (interim) Materials Engineering Keith Bowman Director of Publications Julie Rosa Mechanical Engineering Dan Hirleman Managing Editor Linda Thomas Terhune Nuclear Engineering Ahmed Hassanein Production Coordinator Eric Nelson Graphic Designer Jiawei Yue Contributing Writers Joseph Fowler Jan Mathews Moving? Alumni should send change-of-address notices to Kathy Mayer Development and Alumni Information Services, Purdue University, Photographers Andrew Hancock 403 West Wood St., West Lafayette, IN 47907. Mark Simons Other readers may send address changes to Engineering Impact Copy Editor Dan Howell (see contact information at left).

LETTERVANTAGE TO THE POINTS EDITOR

I graduated from Purdue with a BSEE in 1966. I am extremely appreciative of the excellent electrical engineering education that Purdue provided me. I currently work as the NAVAIR Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense lead test engineer at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at Point Mugu, California.

On Sept. 12, 2009, I was selected by the Naval Air Systems Command … as a NAVAIR associate fellow in the research and engineering group fellows, first level tier. Quoting the letter I received: “…Your selection was based on your accomplishments and the significant contributions you made to naval aviation. By nominating you to become a NAVAIR associate fellow, your competency manager recognized you as one of the command’s top 3 percent of the technical engineering and science workforce, and a role model for others to emulate throughout their careers.”

I attribute being able to receive this top honor and recognition to the excellent engineering education that the Purdue School of Electrical Engineering enabled me to acquire.

Mike Martorano

BSEE ’66 Point Mugu, California

2 purdue engineering impact VANTAGEPOINTS POINTSVANTAGE

AROUND THE FOUNTAIN Home away from home

10.01.09 • 10:45 A.M. • Martin C. Jischke Hall of Biomedical Engineering, Computer Lab

and industry, and work in cardiology and miniature devices.

How often can you be found in this spot? Zhang: Between classes, at least four hours a day, not including weekends.

Do you have any relatives at Purdue? Zhang: My brother is in First-Year Engineering. He’s also going to go for biomed.

Do you have time to do anything else? Zhang: I’m president of the billiards club. I’ve been a member for two years; it’s what I do as a stress reliever. I am also part of BMES (BioMedical Engineering Society) We drop in on Henry Zhang, a biomedical engineering senior from Mishawaka, and EWH (Engineering World Health). I’m Indiana, who is getting ready to meet with his advisor to schedule spring semester going to Pittsburgh to present my sum- classes. (Photo by Mark Simons) mer research project at the 2009 BMES conference. How long have you been preparing for cal engineering because I did so well in Do you Tweet? Does your mother? the meeting? chemistry in high school. I discovered Zhang: I do not Tweet. My mother does not Zhang (laughs): About two minutes. biomedical engineering and felt it was the closest I could get to studying medical either. I have Facebook, but I don’t go on as Are you going to discuss anything else sciences in engineering. much as I used to. with your advisor? Why are you getting a minor in economics? What’s your favorite food? Zhang: I’m going to stay an extra year so I Zhang: Honey BBQ chicken or fried can get a minor in economics, and I want to Zhang: I felt the need to learn about dumplings. So good! get my schedule figured out. how the world operates in a business or economics sense, especially during this Favorite movie? Musician? How many classes are you taking fall economic crisis. I would like to be more Zhang: “The Prestige,” “The Recruit,” and semester? well rounded, and I enjoyed high school the recent 007 movies are some of my Zhang: Four, including senior design. economics. favorites. “Friends,” “Scrubs,” “Family Guy,” What are the other ones? Favorite course? “Mythbusters,” “Heroes,” and “The Big Bang Zhang: Econ 251, Non-Linear Dynamics Zhang: BME 295E Physiology for Theory” are a few of my favorite TV shows. and Chaos, and Semi-Conductor Devices. Engineers. The professors were intelligent I cannot get enough of R&B/hip-hop/pop and enthusiastic, the content was what I music from artists including Chris Brown, Which class is the most interesting? expected of biomedical engineering, and I Ne-Yo, Beyonce, and the Black Eyed Peas. Zhang: Senior design, because I get to do had fun learning the material. If there were What is the biggest challenge you face hands-on work … at least four hours of a direct follow-up course, I would definitely these days? research every Tuesday and Thursday. take it. Zhang: Finding the time to do everything I Why biomedical engineering? What do you want to do in life? would like to do in a 24-hour period. Zhang: I came to Purdue to study chemi- Zhang: Get a master’s degree in network n Joseph Fowler

Spring 2010 3 Vantage Points continued

The earthquake that struck Haiti in January registered 7.0 on the Richter scale, a shock that resulted in thousands of deaths and huge destruction. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, 124 major earthquakes have occurred throughout the world in the past decade. Major earthquakes are generally accepted to register a magnitude in excess of 7.0 on the Richter scale and inflict serious damage, including the collapse of buildings and bridges, over a large area. The organization estimates that earthquakes were responsible for 463,959 deaths in the past decade. Center shakes up earthquakes

A new center at Purdue will take aim at such gross loss tools, according to Julio Ramirez, the project’s principal of life and property. The center, funded by a $105 million investigator and a professor of civil engineering who is also director of the center. A cornerstone of the center is the grant from the development of information technology National Science Foundation, components that allow for new forms will serve as headquarters for the of collaboration and cooperation, George E. Brown, Jr. Network for according to Rudolf Eigenmann, co- Earthquake Engineering Simulation principal investigator and profes- (NEES). NEES began development in sor of electrical and computer 2000 and is a shared national network engineering. of 14 state-of-the-art earthquake engineering and tsunami experimental The NEEScomm Center will be a facilities at universities across the collaborative space and science hub United States. It is charged with where scientists and engineers advancing research and educa- can run scientific models and tion to reduce the devastation and “what if?” scenarios. Hubs, loss of human life from earth- which were first developed at quakes and tsunamis. Purdue, allow researchers to run models using a simple Web The Purdue-based NEEScomm interface. The hub connects Center (NEES Community and with supercomputing resources Communications Center) will on the NSF’s TeraGrid and the connect 14 NEES national DiaGrid, which allow re- research equip- searchers to run their experiments ment sites and the without having to request time on earthquake engineering community a supercomputer. through groundbreaking cyberinfrastructure, education and outreach efforts. n Elizabeth Gardner and Steve Tally Through the NEES network, researchers from the United States and abroad conduct experiments and simulations of the ways buildings, bridges, utility systems and different materials perform during seismic events. Earthquake engineers will use this information to develop better and more cost-effective ways of reducing earthquake damage through improved materials, construction techniques and monitoring

4 purdue engineering impact Funds electrify vehicle research

Indiana’s long history as a leader in the electrification of vehicles is likely to continue with support from a $6.1 million grant from U.S. stimulus funds. As part of the Indiana Advanced Electric Vehicle Training and Education Consortium, Purdue will develop certificate and associate degree programs for vehicle technicians, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs for electric vehicle design and manufacturing engineers, and a certificate program in electric vehicle safety for emergency responders. It also will develop an outreach program to secondary schools and a Web site to provide information on electric vehicles to the general public. James Caruthers, professor of chemical engineering, is the project director.

Here we grow again: Two more astronauts join Purdue flight archives

The frontiers of Purdue’s flight archives continue to grow, with the addition of gifts from two more alumni astronauts — Janice Voss and Roy Bridges Jr. The astronauts’ personal papers will find a home in the Purdue Library Division of Archives and Special Collections, alongside those of astronaut alumni Neil Armstrong (BSAE ’55, HDR ’70), the first person to walk on the moon, andEugene Cernan (BSEE ’56, HDR ’70), the most recent person to do so. Voss, who earned her bachelor’s degree in engineering science from Purdue in 1975, is a veteran of five space flights, the first of which was aboard the STS-57 from June 21 to July 1, 1993. She later was part of space missions in 1995, two in 1997 and the last in 2000. The last mission was an 11-day flight during which the international crew aboard space shuttle Endeavour mapped more than 47 million square miles of Earth’s land surface. She currently serves as payloads lead of the Astronaut Office Station Branch. Bridges (BSAE ’66, HDR ’01) was the pilot aboard space shuttle Challenger in 1985. He is a retired U.S. Air Force major general and is currently an executive at Northrop Grumman Technical Services.

Purdue astronaut alumni Janice Voss and Roy Bridges Jr. were honored during a reception in October in the Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center to announce the donation of their personal papers to the University. (Photo by Andrew Hancock)

Spring 2010 5 Vantage Points continued

Laser processes promise better artificial joints, arterial stents

Mechanical engineering doctoral student Shaoyi Wen (left) and technician Andrew Hecht review data using a “laser deposition” system. (Photo by Andrew Hancock)

Researchers at Purdue’s Center for Laser-Based The laser deposition process enables researchers to make Manufacturing are developing technologies that use lasers parts with complex shapes that are customized for the patient. to create arterial stents and longer-lasting medical implants Medical imaging scans could just be sent directly to the laboratory, where the laser deposition would create the part from that could be manufactured 10 times faster and more cost the images, according to Shin. “Instead of taking 30 days like efficiently than is now possible. it does now because you have to make a mold first, we could New technologies will be needed to meet the huge global do it in three days. You reduce both the cost and production time,” he says. market for artificial hips and knees, says Yung Shin, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the center. The researchers also are developing a technique that uses an ultra short pulse laser to create arterial stents, which are One of the researchers’ techniques works by depositing metal scaffolds inserted into arteries to keep them open after layers of a powdered mixture of metal and ceramic materi- surgeries to treat clogs. Because the pulses are so fleeting, the laser does not cause heat damage to the foil-thin stain- als, melting the powder with a laser and then immediately less steel and titanium material used to make the stents. The solidifying each layer to form parts. Because the technique laser removes material in precise patterns in a process called enables parts to be formed one layer at a time, it is ideal for “cold ablation,” which turns solids into a plasma. The patterns coating titanium implants with ceramic materials that mimic enable the stents to expand properly after being inserted into the characteristics of natural bone, Shin says. a blood vessel.

6 purdue engineering impact Success is set in stone

No small petri dish for this experiment. Engineers at the new Charles Pankow Concrete Materials Laboratory will test large concrete specimens in a special environmental chamber that simulates extreme temperatures and humidity. The research will focus on reducing cracks in concrete and corrosion of steel rods in reinforced concrete, and will help the nation deal with aging highways, bridges and other infrastructure by developing more durable and environmentally friendly concrete, according to lab director Jason Weiss. The lab was created and equipped with $2 million from a $4.7 million donation from the family of alumnus Charles Pankow (BSCE ’47, HDR ’83), who died in 2004. Charles Pankow

What does ChE theory have to do with CEO pay?

Chief executives in 35 of the top Fortune 500 companies were overpaid by about 129 times their “ideal salaries” in 2008, according to a new type of theoretical analysis proposed by chemical engineering professor Venkat Venkatasubramanian as a means of determining fair CEO compensation. The ratio of CEO pay to the lowest employee salary has gone up from about 40-to-1 in the 1970s to as high as 344- to-1 in recent years in the United States. However, the ratio information theory also can be applied to economic issues, has remained around 20-to-1 in Europe and 11-to-1 in Japan, such as the determination of fair CEO salaries.” according to available data, he says. A key idea in his theory is the economic interpretation of the Using the new analysis method, Venkatasubramanian esti- concept of entropy. “Just as entropy is a measure of disorder mates that the 2008 salaries of the top 35 CEOs in the United in thermodynamics and uncertainty in information theory, States were about 129 times their ideal fair salaries. CEOs in what would entropy mean in economics?” he says. the Standard & Poor’s 500 averaged about 50 times their fair pay, raising questions about the efficiency of the free market Venkatasubramanian identifies entropy as a measure of to determine fair CEO pay, he says. “fairness” in economic systems, revealing a connection between statistical thermodynamics, information theory and “You might ask why a chemical engineer is concerned with economics. economics and CEO salaries,” Venkatasubramanian says. “Well, it turns out that the same concepts and mathematics used to solve problems in statistical thermodynamics and www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/11/4/766

Spring 2010 7 Vantage Points continued

Method cuts costs at refineries

Refineries could trim millions of dollars “This is important because improving crude into five separate components in energy costs annually by using a new efficiency by 10 percent at a refinery – naphtha, kerosene, diesel fuel, gas method developed by a team of Purdue processing 250,000 barrels per day oil and heavy residue. Some of these researchers to rearrange the distil- would save in excess of $12 million a components are later used to make lation sequence needed to separate year if oil were priced at $70 a barrel,” gasoline. The distillation is more energy says Agrawal, who is working with efficient depending on the order in crude petroleum into products. The doctoral student Vishesh Shah. “And which the columns are operated. researchers, led by Rakesh Agrawal, that’s just a single refinery. For the U.S. the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Shah created a computer algo- petroleum industry as a whole, this is a rithm that identifies all of the possible Professor of Chemical Engineering, huge potential savings.” have demonstrated their method on sequences and then determines which Chemical plants spend from 50 require the least heat and energy. The petroleum plants that separate crude, percent to 70 percent of their energy researchers used their new technique showing that 70 of the new sequences in “separations,” which are usually to determine there are nearly 6,000 they identified could enable oil refineries distillation steps required to separate a possible sequences for the four to improve the energy efficiency of this raw material into various products. In columns used in petroleum distillation. step anywhere from 6 percent to 48 the case of petroleum, four distillation Purdue has filed a patent application for percent. columns are needed to separate raw the new crude distillation sequences.

8 purdue engineering impact Ferropaper: low-cost option for small motors, robots

Jim Danielson (right) and Sean Kleinschmidt with the 1987 924S Porsche they electrified. (Courtesy Photo) Hot wheels, Babak Ziaie, professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering, holds a miniature bird-like shape made from ferropaper, a low-cost material with applications in health care and beyond. (Photo by Andrew Hancock) cool idea A ferropaper developed at Birck resembling a diving board that can be Nanotechnology Center could lead to moved or caused to vibrate by applying First-year engineering students Jim a low-cost way of making small stereo a magnetic field. Danielson and Sean Kleinschmidt speakers, miniature robots or motors spent the summer of 2009 (before their for a variety of potential applications, “Cantilever actuators are very freshman year at Purdue), converting including tweezers to manipulate common, but usually they are made a Porsche with a blown engine into an cells and flexible fingers for minimally from silicon, which is expensive and electric-powered vehicle. invasive surgery. requires special cleanroom facilities to manufacture,” Ziaie says. “So using the Danielson and Kleinschmidt bought Babak Ziaie, professor of electri- ferropaper could be a very inexpensive, the red, 1987 924S Porsche for $500, cal and computer engineering and simple alternative. This is like 100 times then sold parts from it that they didn’t biomedical engineering, has developed cheaper than the silicon devices now need for about the same amount. a technique to make the magnetic ma- available.” The Illinois natives then spent about terial by impregnating ordinary paper $6,000 on the conversion and hope — even newsprint — with a mixture of Because the technique is inexpen- to get $4,000 of that back through an mineral oil and magnetic nanoparticles sive and doesn’t require specialized Illinois program that rebates costs for of iron oxide. The nanoparticle-laden laboratory facilities, it could be used in alternative-power conversions. The paper can then be moved using a community colleges and high schools car runs on a deep-cycle, lead acid magnetic field. to teach about micro robots and other marine battery and a forklift motor. The The researchers fashioned the mate- engineering and scientific principles, downside? Yes. It’s a Porsche, but it rial into a small cantilever, a structure according to Ziaie. can only reach a top speed of 55 m.p.h. and has a range of about 50 miles on each battery charge.

Spring 2010 9 VANTAGEMILESTONES POINTS

Time Well Spent: The Life and Legacy of Les Geddes

Wodicka, head of Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. “He was an extraordinary teacher.” Born May 24, 1921, in Port Gordon, Scotland, he was the son of a tele- phone company technician who moved his family to Canada. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from McGill University in Montreal. He received a doctorate in physiology in 1959 from the Baylor “We do not take on anything unless it is going to improve the practice University College of Medicine, where of medicine. That’s the leit motif.” — Leslie Geddes, Showalter Distinguished — among other accomplishments — Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering (1921-2009). (Purdue file photo) he developed physiological monitoring systems for early astronauts. Not long before his passing on Oct. 25, “He knew what he had accom- Geddes was recruited to Purdue to 2009, at the age of 88, Leslie Geddes plished, but he never advertised it,” help the University develop an orga- dutifully arrived at Purdue every day at said Hannemann, a member of the nized biomedical engineering research 5 a.m., working on his three ongoing search committee that brought Geddes center and create new technologies in projects, including research to improve to Purdue in 1974. “He always talked the field. His work laid the foundation for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. up the contributions of others.” This a department of biomedical engineering was true even while President George A distinguished biomedical engi- in 1998. He officially retired in 1991 but W. Bush was presenting him with the neering professor, Geddes was, by all continued his teaching and research. National Medal of Technology in a 2007 accounts, a brilliant researcher and a White House ceremony. The award is In 2004 he received Purdue’s prolific inventor. Over more than three the nation’s highest honor for techno- Outstanding Commercialization Award decades at Purdue, his work resulted logical innovation. to recognize his numerous patents, in a plethora of patents. Innovations many now licensed by Indiana com- included burn treatments and ligament “The president said something to the panies. Patents and technologies repair, miniature defibrillators, a new effect of, ‘Congratulations on receiv- emerging from Geddes’ laboratory have type of pacemaker and a tiny blood ing this award,’ and he said, ‘Well, you generated millions of dollars in royalties pressure monitor for premature infants. know, receiving this award reminds me for Purdue. He once explained his consider- of the story about a turtle perched on “Our last research conversation con- able achievement this way: “I’ve been the top of a fence post. He didn’t get cerned a miniature cuff small enough around a long time. I’ve had lots of time there without some help.’ ” to fit over the tiny limbs of premature to do things.” Geddes carried his unassuming char- infants to measure blood pressure,” Such expressions of humility were acter into the classroom. “He had an Hannemann recalled. “We discussed typical of Geddes, said longtime col- innate ability to understand why students the possibility of incorporating my work league Robert Hannemann, a pediatri- weren’t comprehending a particular con- into this device. I hope we can do that cian and visiting professor of biomedi- cept, and he would explain it in such a and the other things he envisioned, but it cal and chemical engineering. way that they would not feel intimidated certainly won’t be easy without his guid- or afraid to ask questions,” says George ance and assistance.” n Emil Venere

Leslie Geddes is survived by his wife, Dr. LaNelle E. Geddes, a son, James, two granddaughters and four great-grandchildren. Written stories celebrating Geddes’ life may be sent to the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Attn: Jo Gelfand, 206 S. Martin Jischke Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2032. Memorial contributions may be made to the Dr. Leslie A. Geddes Scholarship Fund at the same address.

10 purdue engineering impact Adams Connor Govindaraju

Bagchi Evangelou Garimella Cox Awarded Grandt Doug Adams, professor of mechanical Alten Grandt, the Raisbeck Engineering Distinguished Professor of engineering: The 2009 Outstanding Young Engineering and Technology Integration in the School of Aeronautics Investigator Award from the Dynamic and Astronautics: A 2009 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Systems & Control Division of the American Mechanical Science and Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award. Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Eckhard Groll, director of the Office of Professional Practice and Saurabh Bagchi, associate professor of professor of mechanical engineering: The college’s 2009 Faculty electrical and computer engineering: The Advising Excellence Award. He was also named a Purdue Committee Groll Purdue Teaching for Tomorrow Award. on Institutional Cooperation (CICV) Fellow of the Academic Leadership Program, and was given the American Society of Heating, Rob Connor, assistant professor of civil Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 2010 E.K. engineering: The Munson Teaching Award Campbell Award of Merit. and the Chi Epsilon Teaching Award in spring 2009. Kamyar Haghighi, professor of engineering education and professor of agricultural and biological engineering: The American Society Monica Cox, assistant professor of of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Distinguished engineering education: A Presidential Early Service Award. Haghighi Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor given by the U.S. govern- E. Daniel Hirleman, the William E. and Florence E. Perry Head and ment to young researchers. Professor of Mechanical Engineering: The Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award, presented annually by Pi Tau Sigma and the Demetra Evangelou, assistant profes- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to one engineer- sor of engineering education: An NSF ing graduate who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in Faculty Early CAREER Development mechanical engineering 20 years or more following graduation. Award. The grant will support research on “Developmental Engineering: An Neal Houze, professor of chemical engineering: The 2009-10 Hirleman Examination of Early Learning Experiences ConocoPhillips Faculty Sponsorship Award. as Antecedents of Engineering Education.” Pedro Irazoqui, assistant professor of biomedical engineering: Suresh Garimella, the R. Eugene and A Coulter Phase II Early Career Award by the Wallace H. Coulter Susie E. Goodson Professor of Mechanical Foundation — the first at Purdue. Engineering: The initial Allan Kraus Thermal Mark Lundstrom, the Don and Carol Scifres Distinguished Management Medal “for fundamental Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering: The 2009 Institute scholarly contributions to thermal manage- of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Aldert van der Ziel Award. Houze ment as reflected by his extensively cited The award, presented by the International Semiconductor Device publication records, mentorship of a large, Research Symposium, recognizes “a distinguished career in educa- diverse graduate student cohort, direct in- tion and research.” dustrial impact of his NSF Center on cooling technologies, and unflagging service to the Paul Krause, professor of electrical and computer engineering: profession.” (ASME). The 2010 IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. He was cited “for outstanding contributions to the analysis of electric machinery using reference Rao Govindaraju, the Christopher B. frame theory.” Burke Professor of Civil Engineering: The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) James Lehnert, professor of electrical and computer engineering: Lehnert 2009 Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering The 2009 Military Communications Conference Award for Technical Award. Achievement by the MILCOM Conference Board.

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Krause Spring 2010 11 Milestones continued

Oakes Listser Ramani Irazoqui Ohland

Lundstrom Ramkrishna Ouyang Shan Bajaj James Listser, professor of chemical en- Karthik Ramani, professor of mechani- Kumares Sinha, the Edgar B. and Hedwig gineering and industrial and physical phar- cal engineering: The 2009-10 Outstanding E. Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil macy: The Achievement Award at the 9th Commercialization Award for Purdue Engineering: The Transportation Research International Agglomeration Symposium/4th faculty for his work as chief scientist with Board’s 2009 Roy W. Crum Award. International Granulation Workshop held in Imaginestics, now called VizSeek, a Purdue John Sutherland, head of the Division of Sheffield, England. Research Park company that provides an online shape search engine for businesses. Environmental and Ecological Engineering: Bill Oakes, director of EPICS and associ- A 2009 Society of Manufacturing Engineers Doraiswami Ramkrishna, the Harry ate professor engineering education: The (SME) Education Award. National Society of Professional Engineers Creighton Peffer Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering: The Institute of (NSPE) Award for Outstanding Service Venkat Venkatasubramanian, profes- Technology Platinum Award by the Mumbai Award for Higher Education. sor of chemical engineering: The 2009 University Institute of Chemical Technology. Computing in Chemical Engineering A team led by Matt Ohland, associ- Ann Rundell, assistant professor of Award from the Computing and Systems ate professor of engineering education: biomedical engineering and electrical and Technology (CAST) Division of the American A 2009 Premier Award for Excellence in computer engineering: An NSF Faculty Early Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Engineering Education Courseware at the CAREER Development Award. The award 2009 Frontiers in Education Conference for will support research on “Advancing Model a system — CATME/Team-Maker — that Predictive Control of Cell Differentiation.” Named helps manage teams in engineering courses She was also invited to participate in the first Anil Bajaj, professor of mechanical engi- and enables evaluations of team members’ National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers neering, as the Alpha P. Jamison Professor contributions. of Engineering Education symposium in of Engineering by the Purdue University Zheng Ouyang, assistant professor of November. Board of Trustees in December. biomedical engineering and electrical and Jie Shan, associate professor of civil engi- Steven Collicott, professor of aeronautics computer engineering: An NSF Faculty Early neering: The 2009 Excellence in GIS Award and astronautics, was one of 10 people CAREER Development Award. The award from the Indiana Geographic Information appointed to the Commercial Spaceflight will support research on “Development of a Council due to his work and service during the Federation’s newly created Suborbital High Efficiency Mass Spectrometry System.” 2008 summer floods in Indiana. Applications Researchers Group.

2009 Engineering Staff Awards

New Employee Award Clerical/Service Customer Administrative/Professional Leadership Award Professional Achievement Service Award Customer Service Award Award Eric Holloway (ENE) Cynthia Dalton (ME) Tonya Yoder (CoE) Andrew Brightman (BME) Larry Campbell (ChE) Nominated by Robert Davis Nominated by Dan Hirleman Nominated by Christopher Martin Nominated by Leslie Geddes Nominated by Cristina Farmus and John Sanderson

12 purdue engineering impact Ebert Venkatasubramanian Shih Rundell Sutherland

Collicott Sinha

David Ebert, as the Silicon Valley Professor Mannering of Electrical and Computer Engineering by Named Provost the Purdue University Board of Trustees in Timothy Sands, the Basil S. Turner Professor of Materials December. Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering/Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center, as Suresh Garimella, as the R. Eugene and executive vice president for academic affairs and provost of the Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor Sands University; ratified by the Board of Trustees on February 11. of Mechanical Engineering by the Purdue University Board of Trustees in December. Invited Makarand Hastak, professor and head Cordelia Brown, Monica Cox, and Krishna Madhavan, of the Division of Construction Engineering all assistant professors of engineering education, were among and Management, has been reappointed as 49 of the nation’s brightest young engineering researchers head through 2012. and educators selected to participate in the inaugural Frontiers Fred Mannering, as the Charles Pankow Troy of Engineering Education symposium offered by the National Professor of Civil Engineering by the Purdue Academy of Engineering in November. University Board of Trustees in July. He also received the James Laurie Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Named as Fellows for his “outstanding contribution to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers advancement of transportation engineering (AIChE) through his influential research and publica- • Rakesh Agrawal, the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor tion in the area of highway safety.” Reklaitis of Chemical Engineering. Hastak Tom Shih, as head of the School of American Society Agricultural and Biological Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was Engineers (ASABE) formerly professor and chair, department • William Field, professor and extension safety specialist, agricul- of aerospace engineering at Iowa State tural and biological engineering. University. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Cary Troy, assistant professor of civil (IEEE) engineering, as an ASCE ExCEEd Teaching Brown • Joerg Appenzeller, professor of electrical and computer Fellow (Excellence in Civil Engineering engineering. Education) for 2009-10. • Anand Raghunathan, professor of electrical and computer Andrew Weiner, the Scifres Family engineering. Distinguished Professor of Electrical • Tim Sands, the Basil S. Turner Professor of Materials and Computer Engineering, was chair of Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering and the the 2009 NAE Frontiers of Engineering Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of the Birck Nanotechnology Symposium in September. Gerhard Center. Klimeck, professor of electrical and Madhavan computer engineering, was among • Vladimir Shalaev, the Robert and Anne Burnett Professor of those selected to participate. Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Weiner

Spring 2010 13 VANTAGEPRIME NUMBERS POINTS

Then and Now, Here and There Here, for your reading pleasure, are a few selections from the National Academy of Engineering’s list of “Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century” paired with some of Purdue’s own transformative innovations. The list is in no way intended to be comprehensive.

National Academy of Engineering

n 1905 Einstein’s n 1903 First electro- n 1908 First solar theory of relativity cardiograph machine collector Albert Einstein in- Dutch physician and William J. Bailley troduces his special physiologist Willem of the Carnegie theory of relativity. Einthoven builds a Steel Co. invents a thin, lightweight quartz solar collector with “string” galvanometer, copper coils and suspended in a mag- an insulated box. netic field, that measures small changes in electrical potential as the heart contracts and relaxes.

n 1900 First transmission n 2009 Cloak of Invisibility n 1986 PAM (Personal n 2009 Photovoltaics of human voice by radio Arrhythmia Monitor) Vladimir Shalaev, the Robert Purdue’s Solar Energy Reginald Fessenden, head and Anne Burnett Professor Leslie Geddes, the late Research Group, led of Purdue electrical engineer- of Electrical and Computer Showalter Distinguished by Rakesh Agrawal, ing (1892-93), initiates experi- Engineering, applies math- Professor Emeritus of the Winthrop E. Stone ments that lead to the first ematical principles similar to Biomedical Engineering Distinguished Professor of human-voice radio wireless those in Einstein’s theory of builds a pocket-sized device Chemical Engineering, and transmission on December general relativity in his leading that, when pressed lightly Hugh Hillhouse, associ- 23, 1900. On Christmas Eve, research in transformation against the chest, measures ate professor of chemical six years later, he makes the optics. The findings may usher electrical patterns in the engineering, is developing first extended transmission of in a host of radical advances heart that can be transferred novel processes and unique voice and music, astonishing including a cloak of invisibility to a personal computer, nanostructures to create radio operators on ships in and ultra-powerful micro- printed out on a special thin-film photovoltaic devices, the Atlantic, who heard him scopes and computers by printer and then faxed or or solar cells. The devices sing “O Holy Night” while harnessing nanotechnology e-mailed to a doctor. could become a cost-effective accompanying himself on the and metamaterials. alternative to today’s crystal- violin. line silicon-based devices.

Sources: National Academy of Engineering: “GreatestGlobal Engineering Outlook Achievements Sources: Haver of the Analytics; Twentieth and Century” World (www.greatachievements.org/);Economic Outlook (WEO) database. https://engineering.purdue.edu/EAA/Honors/Notable/notable-discipline© Copyright International Monetary Fund. January 2009

14 purdue engineering impact n 1915 Fly me to the moon n 1931-1933 Electron n 1952 Nuclear magnetism microscope Robert Goddard experi- Edward Purcell (BSEE ’33, HDR ’53) wins ments with reaction propul- Ernst Ruska, a German the Nobel Prize in physics for nuclear mag- sion in a vacuum and estab- electrical engineer netism. He demonstrated that, surrounded lishes that it is possible to working with Max Kroll, by a strong magnetic field, spinning nuclear send a rocket to the Moon. constructs and builds an particles would come into alignment. He then electron microscope, the used microwaves to determine the particles’ first instrument to provide resonant frequency and magnetism. Purcell’s better definition than a work contributed to the study of molecular light microscope. structures and the measurement of magnetic fields. Magnetic resonance imaging is based on principles of nuclear magnetic resonance, the phenomenon Purcell was able to measure.

n 1969 Moonwalking n 2009 Nanoscope n 1937 Golden Gate n 1962 PUR-1 comes to Bridge opens campus Neil Armstrong (BSAE ’55, Eric Stach’s work in ma- HDR ’70), who first flies in terials science engineer- The Golden Gate Bridge, Purdue builds a nuclear space in 1966 aboard Gemini ing expands the frontiers designed by Charles Ellis reactor for research and 8, is mission commander of of electron microscopy. (Civil Engineering Professor educational purposes. PUR- Apollo 11 and becomes the He uses state-of-the-art 1934-46), opens and 1, a two-foot cube seated in first person to walk on the electron and ion micro- connects San Francisco concrete three stories under moon. scopes to understand in with Marin County. Its main the Electrical Engineering real time and at high spa- towers rise 746 feet above Building, produces only tial resolutions nucleation the water and are strung about one-millionth as much and growth processes in with 80,000 miles of cable. energy as that of a commer- nanoscale systems. Ellis was appointed design cial reactor. Students from engineer for the bridge in a variety of disciplines use it 1929 by builder Joseph to explore at the subatomic Strauss. level how to create novel treatments for cancer, better crops and new medicines.

Spring 2010 15 VANTAGECOVER STORYPOINTS

Leading by Risky Example TrendTrend Setters Setters Leading by Risky Example

Trend Setters Leading by Risky Example Leading by Risky Example Trend16 purdue engineering impactSetters By Linda Thomas Terhune Transformative research: “Endeavors which promise extraordinary outcomes, such as revolutionizing entire disciplines, creating entirely new fields, or disrupting accepted theories and perspectives — in other words, those endeavors which have the potential to change the way we address challenges in science, engineering, and innovation. Supporting more transformative research is of critical importance in the fast-paced, science- and technology-intensive world of the 21st century.” —The National Science Board, 2007

esearch, by its very nature, involves investigating the unknown with the hope of fruitful discovery. At one end of the spectrum is basic research, based on fun- Rdamentals. At the other end is risk-taking research, which takes a leap of faith and can reap big rewards, but can also result in failure. This so-called transformative research is now seen as vital to the future of global innovation and prosperity. Leading by Risky ExampleIn 2008, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences issued a report titled “Advancing Research in Science and Engineering” that addressed two issues deemed essential for the nation’s research efforts: support for early-career faculty and encouragement of high-risk, high-reward, potentially transformative research. Trend Setters“Many concerned parties have focused on overall levels of federal funding as the means of sustaining America’s competitive advantage,” the report stated. “While funding levels are important, money alone cannot guarantee preeminence. …America must invest in young scientists and transformative research in order to sustain its ability to compete in a global environment,” the report stated. In its efforts to provide solutions to global grand challenges, the College of Engineering supports this initiative through a strategic commitment to supporting risk-taking research. As stated in the college’s strategic plan: “Taking risks, fueling innovation by creating an environment that stimulates curiosity, fosters risk taking, and provides intellectual space and freedom to explore and evolve ideas to see where they lead.” What follows are the stories of three members of the Purdue Engineering community Trend Setters whose spirit, talent, and pioneering research have set them on transformative journeys. One is a veteran researcher recognized as a global leader in optical fiber communica- Leading by Risky Example tions, the second is an early-career faculty member on the frontiers of the emerging discipline of engineering education, and the third is a materials science engineering alumnus who is blazing trails as an assistant professor at the University of Florida. Leading by Risky Example > continued on next page Trend Setters Spring 2010 17 trend setters continued

Andrew Weiner: “Taking some risks is OK. Shooting for a home run is OK. But that can be only a part of a research portfolio.” (Photo by Andrew Hancock) Andrew Weiner After completing his doctorate at MIT, Weiner joined Scifres Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Bellcore, where he was among a group of young researchers Computer Engineering on the fast track. He was soon named manager of Ultrafast As a young researcher at Bellcore (Bell Communications Optics and Optical Signal Processing Research. In 1992, Research Laboratory), Andrew Weiner took on a project that as the telecommunications industry underwent significant was little understood. He was in ultrafast optics, and was change, he left Bellcore to join the Purdue Engineering faculty. charged with figuring out how to use ultrafast laser pulses on the femtosecond (one quadrillionth of a second) time scale to Weiner admits that he marches to his own drum in terms of reshape and control light intensity. He didn’t flinch. pursuing funding, which he views negatively as dictating the direction of research. “At the time, I had a vague idea that if we could control how light passes over fibers, we could control it to help com- “I have often done things because I thought they were municate faster,” Weiner says of the concept, which, in 1984, cool and had the possibility of success,” he says. “You can was some 20 years ahead of its time. “There were a dozen say, ‘This is what (the agency) wants,’ but if you do, you’re different applications and I could see a few.” letting someone else define what’s important. Often, there are Weiner was not afraid of exploring risky, unknown areas at various fashions that come up and everyone jumps on them. the time and still isn’t 25 years later. His approach has paid off By and large, throughout my career, I have resisted doing with findings that have positioned him as a leader in ultrafast that. When these things come up I ask, ‘Can I contribute optics. He’s gotten there via a route that some would say is something uniquely to this? Is this my strength?’ Why should I unconventional and not without professional risk. waste my effort if I don’t think I’m going to win?”

18 purdue engineering impact That attitude apparently hasn’t hindered him; in his 17 years at Purdue, he has received more than 70 research grants. Monica Cox He is also a fellow of the National Academy of Engineering; Assistant Professor of Engineering Education holds 10 patents, all related to ultrafast optical signal pro- A quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Monica cessing; and saw the 2009 publication of his textbook, Cox’s home page gives a glimpse into a personal philosophy “Ultrafast Optics.” In 2009, he was named one of 10 National and determination that is leading the young engineering edu- Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows by the U.S. cation faculty member into the limelight: “Perseverance is a Department of Defense (DOD). The award carries funding of great element of success. If you only knock long enough and over $4 million for the next five years. loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.”

“The DOD is putting money into fundamental research that In January, perseverance and a dedication to transforming is broadly relevant to DOD business. It may not produce any- the way that engineering is taught paid off when Cox, who thing now, but might in five or 10 years,” he says. “We can use joined the Purdue faculty in 2005, accepted a Presidential fast lasers to manipulate electrical signals. The research could Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the high- impact radar systems and wireless communications.” est recognition given to young investigators. She is also a As a senior faculty member, Weiner mentors both graduate recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early students and junior faculty. He advises them to temper their CAREER Development Award and was one of 49 scholars approach to risk, at least until they are through the job place- and educators selected this fall by the NSF for its inaugural ment and tenure processes. Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium.

“Taking some risks is OK. Shooting for a home run is OK. It was as a high school student at an Auburn University But that can be only part of a research portfolio. If you have a summer program that Cox first learned about engineering. big idea and want to go for it, and that’s the only thing you’re She determined that engineers could help solve society’s doing, you’ll be in trouble if you don’t get there. You have to problems and settled on a career goal: “I wanted to use math come up with a plan so you have the capability of getting and science to improve society,” she recalls. Now, as a rising some big results but also guarantee some rate of return. Even with a home run, you’re going to have a bunch of singles and doubles,” he says.

As chairman of the National Academy of Engineering’s 2009 and 2010 Frontiers of Engineering symposia, Weiner is working with rising stars from industry, government and academia. He was among the emerging leaders chosen to participate in 1998. Returning in his leadership capacity in 2009, he suggested one of the four focus areas: micro and nano photonics and cutting-edge research on small optical devices. The 2010 symposium will include sessions on cloud computing, biosensing and bioactuation engineering, and music and autonomous space systems.

“Researchers have to be able to generate some impact. When I was at Bellcore, the question wasn’t, ‘Is this good science?’ It was impact. It had to be high quality. Someone had to care about it. It had to influence the field or move things forward. If you are able to generate an impact, you might Monica Cox: “Innovation in education can result in really be successful.” a more diverse workforce that understands how to work effectively and efficiently within different groups in society, and workers who are comfortable with ambiguity and change.” (Photo by Mark Simons)

> continued on next page Spring 2010 19 trend setters continued

star in the world of engineering education, Cox is ensuring ERC, she worked closely with learning scientists, learning that students receive all the tools they need to help solve technologists, bioengineers, and educational psychologists society’s problems. to explore the benefits of postsecondary classroom instruc- tion developed around principles of the “How People Learn” Cox’s decision to focus on engineering education was influ- framework. The framework is designed to optimize learning enced by her undergraduate experience as a math student at within classroom environments. the all-women’s Spelman College in Atlanta. There, she found small classes and students empowered to achieve. Her expe- Cox believes strongly that engineering schools should be riences were different once she entered the master’s program open to transformative innovations in education in order to in industrial engineering at the University of Alabama. obtain the most creative solutions for national and global problems. “Such encouragement can result in increased “When I moved to a larger engineering environment, I STEM innovations, a more diverse workforce that under- wondered why pedagogical practices were different and stands how to work effectively and efficiently within different why there weren’t more women and minorities in engineering groups in society, and workers who are comfortable with graduate courses,” she says. These questions motivated her ambiguity and change,” she says. to pursue a doctorate in leadership and policy studies with a concentration in higher education administration at Vanderbilt Cox says the national recognition she has received for University. her research is affirmation for her, both personally and professionally. Her research focuses on assessment and evaluation with the goal of better understanding how to prepare graduate “Both sides of my family have strong faith and have taught engineering students for careers in academia and industry. me that nothing is impossible through faith and diligence. Much of her work concentrates on deciphering students’ This award represents my commitment to fulfilling my call in perception of the discipline and learning environment. life and to making a difference in the lives of others. I hope the award gives me opportunities to let others know that you “I think that many students do not understand the oppor- don’t have to be limited by your ethnicity, gender, or any other tunities that are available to them when they pursue graduate factor. It also confirms that the American dream is possible for engineering studies. …If more graduate students understood anyone.” how their research could impact society, then their enthusi- asm and research, and the translation of this research into Jacob Jones (BSME ’99, MSME ’01, PhD ’04) practice, might increase,” she says. Assistant Professor Cox translates data from experts into valid and reliable tools Department of Materials Science and Engineering that can explore the extent to which engineering doctoral University of Florida students identify with expert-identified norms, skills, and attributes. She is also studying pedagogical perceptions of At the age of 13, Jacob Jones left his central Indiana home graduate teaching assistants and the perceptions of under- to begin his engineering career. He traveled two hours north graduates who are taught by teaching assistants. And she to a two-week science and engineering camp at Purdue, is interested in the development and validation of classroom where he was transfixed with the electrical engineering instruments and tools for use within postsecondary science, projects. These appealed to his sideline interest of writing technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) class- BASIC programming on the Commodore 64 at his elementary rooms and laboratories. school. Little did he know that years later he’d translate this Cox began exploring engineering curricula at Vanderbilt, interest into a mastery of electroceramic materials. where she conducted pedagogical research in the VaNTH Now an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Engineering Research Center (ERC), the first NSF-funded Science and Engineering at the University of Florida, Jones ERC devoted to bioengineering educational technologies. has translated his childhood interests into a career that As a member of the assessment and evaluation thrust of the is propelling him to the forefront of the engineering disci-

20 purdue engineering impact The primary aim of Jones’ research is to develop structure- property relationships in electro- active ceramics with a particular focus on the mechanics and dynamics of domain walls and em- phasis on the use of advanced diffraction tools and techniques for in situ characterization. The research focuses on understanding how crystal chemistry, crystallography, atomic defects, and microstructure affect the macroscopic properties of electroceramic materials. The particular electroceramic Jacob Jones: “Future scientists and engineers must be oriented materials he investigates couple toward collaboration and capable of producing engineering solutions electrical, mechanical, mag- and scientific breakthroughs.” (Courtesy Photo) netic, and thermal fields. For example, piezoelectric materials pline. He has been recognized with the nation’s highest couple mechanical stress/strain to voltage. The materials are honors for young faculty — a National Science Foundation used in applications such as impact and displacement sen- Early CAREER Faculty Development Award (2007) and a sors, actuators, microelectromechanical systems, diesel fuel Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers injectors, vibrational energy harvesting, nonvolatile memories, (2009). The Presidential award recognizes researchers in sonar, and ultrasound. “pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science Jones was nominated for the Presidential award by the and technology and a commitment to community service as Department of Defense’s Army Research Office. The project demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, supported by the award is “Domain Wall Evolution in Phase or community outreach.” Winning scientists and engineers Transforming Oxides,” which focuses on smart materials receive up to a five-year research grant to further their study that can convert energy from one form into another; sound in support of critical government missions. into electricity, for example. The materials have military Jones returned to Purdue several years after engineering applications in reconnaissance, navigation, surveillance and camp to earn a BS (’99) in mechanical engineering. He then guidance systems. worked for two years as a product engineer at Delta Faucet Co. and studied for a master’s degree (‘01), and rounded out As a researcher recognized as an emerging science and his education on the West Lafayette campus with a doctorate technology leader, and one capable of having transformative in materials engineering (’04). “It was there that I discovered impact in the discipline of engineering, Jones is keenly aware I could build things from the sub-nanometer to micron-size of his responsibility to nurture future scientists and engineers scales using crystallography and microstructure design,” he in an environment that supports creativity. These men and says. women, he says, must be “oriented towards collaboration From Purdue, he went to the University of New South Wales in and capable of producing engineering solutions and scientific Sydney, Australia, to conduct research as an NSF International breakthroughs that take advantage of global resources and Research Fellow and then to Iowa State University. He joined the are environmentally and socio-economically advantageous University of Florida faculty in 2006. on the global level.” n

MORE: Jacob Jones offers his thoughts on the value of transformative research in “First Person” on the next page.

Spring 2010 21 VANTAGEFIRST PERSON POINTS

Risk-Taking Research and the Academy

I think it is important to define “risk In order for our profession to continue taking” in a broad engineering context, contributing innovative solutions to not just from the research perspective. society, it is absolutely essential that Risk taking in research usually refers to engineering schools learn to better Jacob Jones (BSME ’99, MSME ’01, the nature of the solution being investi- foster and teach creativity. This is not PhD ’04) is assistant professor of gated (e.g., its creativity or innovation). an easy task, but there is no better However, practicing engineers are very time than the present given that the materials science and engineering familiar with dealing with risk in a differ- current White House administration is at the University of Florida. He is a ent context: they are taught to mitigate encouraging innovation. We all need recipient of a 2009 Presidential Early risk using safety factors and overde- to dedicate ourselves to this process: Career Award for Scientists and sign. My perception is that the very alumni, faculty, current students, and Engineers. He is profiled in the cover necessary teaching of risk aversion in employers. We must also remember story on page 17. engineering application can limit the that the very nature of “risk-taking” risk taking and creativity undertaken research means that it will not always in research. After all, engineers are not succeed. We need to learn to accept National Lab. The goal? To develop the typically known as risk-takers! both the successes and failures of next generation of innovation leaders high-risk research. for the United States. It would help if we could discuss risk more quantitatively. In my three years To ensure that some of these efforts I believe these changes will not be as a faculty member, I have not found a are successful, a large number of considered as “major” to most of us if good metric for assessing risk-taking re- high-risk projects must be undertaken, they are supported and implemented search in academia. The Department of regardless of their means of support. at the college level. There has to be Defense has listed a continuum of activ- Unfortunately, the peer-review process intentional and clear promotion as well ities in which we engineers are involved in national funding agencies sometimes as facilitation in all aspects of the col- and their closeness to readiness: basic discourages high-risk research (after lege. Furthermore, these are not major research (most fundamental), applied all, engineers are often the review- changes because they will not affect research, advanced technology devel- ers!) Universities have the opportunity everyone’s day-to-day activities — all opment, component development and to support some high-risk research university research cannot be 100 prototypes, systems development and internally, using it as a programmatic percent transformative research. We demonstration, management support, and strategic investment in the future still need solid incremental advances to and operational systems development. research culture of the campus. Other provide consistent and stable contribu- Generally, risk taking is the highest in high-risk opportunities can be enabled tions to science, technology, human basic research and decreases closer by universities partnering more directly health and medicine, the environment, to application. In academia, I think we with industry and government laborato- and the economy. A combination of could use a universal means by which ries. For example, the National Institute low-risk, incremental advances and to describe the “riskiness” of a given for Nano-Engineering (NINE) was es- high-risk, innovative approaches will research project. Then funding agen- tablished as a national innovation hub allow our profession to continue to pro- cies and universities could make more through a government/university/in- vide both stable and significant benefits transparent research investments. dustry collaboration and led by Sandia to society. n

22 purdue engineering impact Innovative and Transformative Research Defined

The following introduction to Enhancing Support of Transformative tional security. Although defining such Research at the National Science Foundation was edited for length. breakthroughs is difficult, attempts to do so are not in vain because history The report was published in 2007 by the National Science Board. unequivocally records the essential benefits to mankind. Science progresses in two fundamental and equally valuable ways. The vast The underlying concern of [our majority of scientific understanding report] is that failure to encourage advances incrementally, with new and to support revolutionary ideas will projects building upon the results jeopardize not only our nation’s ability of previous studies or testing long- to compete in today’s and tomorrow’s standing hypotheses and theories. This global economy, but also the progress progress is evolutionary — it extends or of science as a whole. This concern shifts prevailing paradigms over time. is articulated best in the much publi- The vast majority of research con- cized and widely heralded 2005 report ducted in scientific laboratories around from The National Academies’ “Rising the world fuels this form of innovative Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing scientific progress. Less frequently, and Employing America for a Brighter scientific understanding advances Economic Future.” The authors identify dramatically, through the application factors that contribute to the United of radically different approaches or States’ eroding competitiveness in the interpretations that result in the creation global economy; the recent decline in of new paradigms or new scientific support of “high-risk or transformative fields. This progress is revolutionary, for To view the full report: research,” particularly in the physical it transforms science by overthrowing www.nsf.gov/nsb/documents/2007/tr_report.pdf sciences, engineering, mathematics, entrenched paradigms and generating and information sciences is identified new ones. The research that comprises (Our) report, however, is interested in as one major factor. The authors state this latter form of scientific progress, a particular pathway — in our view, that “reducing the risk for individual re- here termed transformative research, is the one less traveled. This pathway is search projects increases the likelihood the focus of this report. marked by its challenges to prevailing that breakthrough, ‘disruptive’ tech- scientific orthodoxies. Albert Einstein, nologies will not be found — the kinds In practice, distinguishing between Barbara McClintock, and Charles of discoveries that yield huge returns.” innovative and transformative research Townes are just three modern exam- is difficult at best and, some would ar- ples of scientists who chose this path. … Although basic research that gue, only possible in hindsight. Indeed, Their discoveries, and many others, not has the potential to be transforma- the two forms of scientific progress do only fundamentally transformed science tional is inherently less predictable in exist side-by-side and, often, proceed and engineering, but also shaped the its course and eventual outcomes, it hand-in-hand and overlap each other. quality of our lives by paving the way for is, nonetheless, absolutely essential for … Undoubtedly, there are many path- new frontiers and new technologies in our national advancement and for the ways to transformative breakthroughs. industry, in commerce, and in na- advancement of science as a whole. n

Spring 2010 23 VANTAGESTUDENT POINTSIMPACT

Sustainability in Tropical Agriculture: Training Practitioners

Summer study in Costa Rica

students analyzed problems and discussed herbicides, pesticides, land use, productivity and other topics. “We formed teams and helped answer questions like, ‘Why am I not getting the same type of fruit my neighbor is getting?’ And we worked the farm. We experienced it.”

Eduardo Anzueto takes his learning into the field, literally. He spent part of summer 2009 at Costa The group also toured a hybrid Rica’s Escuela de Agricultura de la Region Tropical Humeda (EARTH) University, where his immersion in cotton plant and had some time for sustainable agriculture included clearing fields and planting tree seedlings. (Courtesy photo) sightseeing. With a career goal of improving the “Latin American is my culture, so “Eduardo’s perspective was unique world’s fresh water supplies, Eduardo Costa Rica feels like home,” he says. and substantive,” Snyder says. And his Anzueto headed to Costa Rica’s “But their system of working is much Spanish / English translation skills were Escuela de Agricultura de la Region different than ours — having to deal a bonus for both the U.S. students and Tropical Humeda (EARTH) University with the government, the resources, Costa Rican farmers. and neighboring farms in summer production levels and how inaccessible Anzueto hopes to participate in a 2009. It was his first global engineering things are (to everyone).” similar experience in France while still experience, now a priority for Purdue an undergraduate. University engineering students. Coordinated by Lori Unruh Snyder, Purdue assistant professor of agrono- “We’re a global community now,” Anzueto, a junior in environmental and my, the study trip combined classroom Anzueto says of the value students can natural resources engineering, was the lectures and hands-on farm activi- reap from such international experi- only engineer among the 17 Purdue and ties. Titled “Sustainability in Tropical ences. “The world is shrinking, and we University of Florida students represent- Agriculture: Training Practitioners,” the need to find a way to all work together.” ing economics, animal science, environ- course was a first. Snyder will repeat it mental science and other areas. He says in 2010. He hopes his eventual impact will be the experience broadened his horizons. in improving water supplies. “I would “Our goal was to introduce the con- like to design more sustainable ways “I’ve known a lot of different cultures cepts of sustainable agriculture through of getting fresh water, influencing the and about the poverty there, but being work practice, integrating all majors effects agriculture has on fresh water with students who had not been there and the colleges together in a team and learning how to plan and take care before and working with people and approach to learning,” Snyder says. of watersheds,” he says. seeing how they struggle was a very eye-opening experience, especially Classroom time with four EARTH After graduation he plans to join the working alongside the farmers,” says University professors included lessons Peace Corps and work in Guatemala Anzueto, a Texas native. He has previ- in community engagement, entrepre- for a while. “People need a lot of help ously visited Costa Rica, as well as neurship, soils, animal science, organic there,” he says. “And throughout the Guatemala, his father’s homeland, and farming, different agriculture practices world, water is more precious than oil.” Mexico, his mother’s. and other areas. On the farms, the n Kathy Mayer

24 purdue engineering impact Life’s a Ball

Bouncing between doctoral work and coaching

James Hunter and Jamal Ratchford Until three years ago, have spent the majority of their lives in Hunter and Ratchford two places: inside a school and on the had never met. Now, soccer field. after as many years together as the head Hunter, a New Jersey native, re- and assistant coaches ceived a doctorate in civil engineering of the West Lafayette from Purdue in 2006 and in fall 2009 High School girls’ soc- was completing postdoctoral work in cer team, the two have agricultural and biological engineering. become best friends. As an environmental engineer, his focus is on developing tools and promoting Hunter, who was James Hunter on the field last fall with the West Lafayette girls’ soccer team. In November, he joined the Morgan State University engineering technology that will help communities named 2009 Indiana faculty. (Photos by Mark Simons) deal will the harmful impacts of land Small Schools Girls use change. Coach of the Year by the Indiana fall season, then often stayed up late Soccer Coaches Association, began to complete research and prep for Ratchford, who hails from San Jose, his coaching career as a volunteer classes. In the past three seasons, the California, is a PhD candidate in African with the Tippecanoe Soccer Club Red Devils earned a 49-12-1 record American history. His work focuses after he arrived at Purdue in 2000. He and won the 2009 IHSAA Sectionals on the intersection of race, sports and was named head coach of the West and Regional Championship. Of the student activism in the 1950s and ’60s. Lafayette team in 2006. He then asked graduating players, one will play for He was recently selected as one of five Ratchford — whom he had met only Emory University and another will join students, from a national pool, to be a once at a Black Graduate Association the Illinois State University team. Keto fellow. One responsibility, among cookout — to join him as assistant others, will be a two-year commitment When the 2009 soccer season coach. to serve on the National Council for concluded, so did the coaching career Black Studies board of trustees. “We hooked up together a couple of the Red Devils’ head coach — at of years ago and had least for the time being. He left Indiana some of the same goals in November to return to Morgan State and expectations,” University — his alma mater — as an says Ratchford. “We assistant professor in the department came from two different of civil engineering. Ratchford will rejoin places. He was already the team next season as assistant experienced as a coach. coach. I was just starting. It was “Seeing the players develop, watch- two different paths.” ing them succeed and just getting to Hunter and Ratchford see all the hard work they’ve put in over devoted up to 30 hours a the years pay off has made every chal- week to the Red Devils’ lenge worth it,” says Hunter. soccer team during the n Rusty Barnes

Assistant coach Jamal Ratchford, a doctoral candidate in African American history, will coach again in 2010.

Spring 2010 25 VANTAGEFACULTY POINTSIMPACT

Spray-coating Life From dessert to defense, agriculture to airplanes has applications across the board. Sojka’s projects range from developing uniform coatings on medicine tablets for consistent drug delivery to a partnership with food science professor Carlos Corvalan developing pesticide sprays that won’t be carried from farm fields on a light wind. The interest he shares with Corvalan has translational value. The mechanical properties that make for more consistent tablet coatings — viscosity and elasticity — also make for effective gelled airplane and rocket fuels. Sojka and Corvalan are collaborating on gelled fuels research with Steve Heister, professor of aeronautics and astronautics and director of a $6.4 Mechanical Engineering Professor Paul Sojka in the spray atomization laboratory with graduate students million U.S. Army Multidisciplinary Sharon Snyder (standing) and Celienid Lopez-Rivera. (Photo by Mark Simons) University Research Initiative (MURI) to Early in his undergraduate career at combustor systems and led the School develop unique high-energy fuels. Michigan State University, Paul Sojka of Mechanical Engineering from 1976 Gelled fuels are attractive because decided his chosen discipline, phys- to 1980. they resist leaking and allow for better ics, was not going to be a big money It was during his master’s and doc- control of rockets than is possible with maker. So, after completing a bache- toral work at Michigan State that Sojka the solid fuels now used. Motors run- lor’s degree in physics, Sojka moved on made the commitment to mechani- ning on gelled fuels could be throttled to Plan B — mechanical engineering. cal engineering, a process that was up and down and controlled more The decision to change focus has completed when he joined the Purdue precisely than conventional rockets that resulted in a career-long pursuit of mechanical engineering faculty in 1983. use solid propellants. better ways to deliver sprays. His His interest in sprays came through Sojka’s part of the research involves findings have a wide range of applica- work with Arthur LeFebvre, who was building an experiment to take high- tions — from controlling the spread of renowned for his work in the application speed videos of the gelatinous fuel, airborne pesticides to creating more of fuel sprays in gas turbine combustor which forms during the fuel-injection effective pharmaceutical tablets and systems. process. “The fluid mechanics of gels more efficient systems that use fuels. He has studied super-critical jets are quite challenging,” Sojka says. “The Sojka says that as he considered and sprays for the last six years, during viscous properties of the gel change areas within mechanical engineering which time his research group has depending on how fast it’s flowing, as a focus for graduate study he was developed the experimental protocol which is not true of common liquids most interested in thermal mechanics. necessary to make spray mass flow such as water or gasoline. “For me, power-producing things were rate, patternation, drop size and veloc- “The basic science we’re developing the most interesting, things that used ity measurements consistent. His work will lead to improved pharmaceutical chemistry to produce power,” he says. is a mix of analytical, theoretical, and manufacturing and production efficien- Sojka developed his current focus after experimental, with contributions to both cies, better crop production, improved joining the Purdue faculty in 1983. His fundamental and applied problems. food process engineering, spray drying faculty mentor, Arthur LeFebvre, was Once the domain of the aviation of foods, and medicinal coatings — renowned for his work in the ap- industry and the military, related to gas from dessert to defense and agriculture plication of fuel sprays in gas turbine turbine engines, spray formation now to airplanes.” n L.T.T.

26 purdue engineering impact “breakthrough” are buzzwords — The Center for Direct Catalytic Conversion Building Better Catalysts of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio) EFRC. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the center’s $20 million effort is Advancing the efficiency and economics of biofuels focused on advancing work in biofuels. Much like the reactions they acceler- “By doing this, we can predict how “Biofuels, and alternative fuels in ate, catalysts are increasing the rate of atomistic or structural changes in the general, such as fuel cell technology, progress within the biofuels area — a catalyst’s molecular makeup can im- solar energy, and wind and hydro- focus that links computational chem- pact its overall performance,” Thomson based energy sources, are on the cusp ist Kendall Thomson’s research with says. “Ultimately, we can design better of breaking out,” Thomson says. catalysts, or even completely new Purdue’s new Energy Frontier Research Thomson’s contribution focuses on catalysts, right in the computer.” Center (EFRC). using state-of-the-art catalytic and Notable successes include biochemical technology to help improve When we are developing more economically conversion of biomass into fuels. beneficial and environmen- “When we are successful, we’ll have successful, we’ll tally friendly catalysts for olefin greatly increased the efficiency of epoxidation; and in predicting have greatly biomass conversion and have reduced and designing better catalysts the cost of biofuels as an alternative,” reduced the cost of for olefin polymerization reac- he says. “This will help everyone, since tions. Epoxides are precursors biofuels as an we’re all players in the current energy for making propylene glycol crisis. But it will impact Indiana specifi- and polyurethanes, which lead alternative. cally by generating increased demand to other commercially impor- for agricultural feedstocks. —Kendall Thomson tant products such as adhe- sives, paints, foam insulation, “Within 10 years, my field will be “When I came to Purdue in 2000, moisturizers in soap and cosmetics, dramatically different, due to computer the University’s chemical engineering and anti-freeze. technology. And my best hope is that, department was one of very few in the from an energy standpoint, our country “The biggest challenge for us is country investing in catalysis research,” will be fully self-sufficient.” Thomson recalls. “This was fortuitous finding ways to advance the computa- n Jan Mathew because, in the last five years, this area tional technology to enable us to tackle has seen a resurgence in light of its larger systems,” says Thomson. need and role in alternative fuels.” For example, the emerging areas of Thomson’s research falls under biofuels processing and biomedical “computational chemistry,” which applications require computational uses computers to simulate chemi- work on molecules that are huge cal and physical processes — or, for compared to present studies. “We’re catalysis research, simulates catalytic still having an impact in these areas,” reactions at sophisticated levels of he says, “and once computer technol- theory. Computational chemistry uses a ogy catches up with our modeling combination of quantum theory, statisti- capabilities, the potential for impact is cal mechanics, and computer science tremendous.” to simulate phenomena at the atomistic level, keeping a strict accounting of Thomson also is a co-investigator and all atoms and electrons as molecules part of a large, multidisciplinary research undergo chemical transformations. team at a hub where “potential” and Computational chemist Kendall Thomson (Photo by Mark Simons)

Spring 2010 27 CAMPAIGNVANTAGE POINTS IMPACT

Passion for Energy Issues Drives Gift To Support Research

Fred Fehsenfeld Sr. has a favorite Energy Fund. The company’s topic: Energy. It was his profes- Heritage Research Center has sional focus for nearly 50 years focused on issues such as and in his retirement remains a creating pig iron and zinc oxide personal preoccupation related from electric arc furnace dust, to a great concern for securing the largest hazardous waste the nation’s energy future. produce in the nation. Start a conversation with Additionally, the center is this mechanical engineering working with the Chinese alumnus and you’re likely government to develop asphalt to learn a few things about roads that can withstand the underground coal gasification, weight of 160,000-pound trucks; transportation efficiency, and the limit in the United States shale gas, among other topics. is 80,000 pounds per load. “I’ve spent a good part of In an attempt to effect similar my life with my nose stuck in energy-saving changes in the technical manuals catching up United States, Fehsenfeld and on new information, brushing up his brothers financed a Purdue study in 2003 on a new national on technical details,” Fehsenfeld Fred Fehsenfeld Sr.: “We must make says. “I think if you really want to transportation system (details ourselves independent by producing can be found at www.american- get ahead, you must dedicate energy in our country and increasing the yourself to improving your stransportationnetwork.com). efficiency of every energy-consuming knowledge.” Rakesh Agrawal, the Winthrop device .” (Courtesy photo) It is no surprise, then, that E. Stone Distinguished Professor Fehsenfeld is keenly interested Refining Corp., then joined the family of Chemical Engineering, is among the in Purdue’s efforts in energy research business. Over time, the company grew Purdue researchers who have ben- — so much so that he created the to its current 29 companies now under efitted from Fehsenfeld’s generosity. Purdue Energy Fund to support initia- the umbrella of The Heritage Group, Agrawal’s work on converting biomass tives in the energy area. The funds which includes enterprises involved to liquid fuel is funded by a large grant are earmarked for projects that are in oil refining, oil and natural gas from the Department of Energy; and near-term with the potential for com- production, chemical manufacturing, a substantial matching fund from mercialization in a five-year window environmental services, and bridge and Fehsenfeld was a key enabler. and have applications that can both highway construction. “It is fortunate for the country to have be realized and have impact within the In 1972, as The Heritage Group grew, people like Fred Fehsenfeld who really state of Indiana. Fehsenfeld — an angler and avowed are thinking of our future,” Agrawal Fehsenfeld (BSME ’48, HDR ’91) lover of the outdoors — turned his says. “After so many of his life accom- grew up in Indianapolis, where his focus on the environment with the plishments, he still has a passion for en- father owned a petroleum marketing creation of Heritage Environmental ergy that is so vital for the future of our company. He began his career as Services, whose executives now sit country, and that is what distinguishes a process engineer at Rock Island on the advisory board of the Purdue him from everyone else.” n L.T.T.

28 purdue engineering impact Partnership Funds Biofuel Research

As his company gears up for innovative Under the direction engineering challenges, John Storm of Matthew Krane (BSMetE ’77), founder and president of and David Johnson, Indianapolis-based Contour Hardening associate professors Inc., has recruited a team he knows of materials engineer- and respects: researchers at Purdue’s ing, work in the center new Center for Metal Casting Research supports Contour (PCMC). Hardening’s progress in engine design. In fall 2008, Storm accelerated this John Storm (BSMetE ’77) has teamed with Purdue Metal Casting industry-academic partnership with “Testing of insula- Research Center to support research on an ignition system. (Photo a two-year, $40,000 gift to the center tion, coatings, thermal by Gary Chilluffo) designated for support of research shock, and thermal related to a new ignition system for fatigue are critical,” Storm says. “For are burned with equal efficiency by biofuel engines — or, in United States example, PCMC’s research can indi- combustion engines. It’s a milestone Patent and Trademark Office-speak, cate subsets of materials or coatings Storm believes could be reached within Patent No. 7533643. that would improve the relationship at the next decade, particularly when the top of a piston. My company takes powered by an academic-industry “Internal combustion engines that information and makes modifica- partnership. consume gasoline efficiently, but they tions to our tests and procedures.” don’t burn renewable fuel sources the “I support the center’s direction same way,” says Storm, who secured “John has the basic design, but there to be a premier location for materi- the patent in May 2009. “The three are many restrictions on the materials engineering and research, and its components to this are fuel, oxidizer, als he can use,” Krane says. “We’re commitment to pass learning along to and ignition source, and I’m focusing gathering preliminary data to weed out industry,” he says. on ignition source improvements.” materials that won’t work reliably in a real engine.” “Larger companies that once worked Specifically, Storm’s invention “utilizes on incremental advancements are no extremely rapid heating of materials by Progress is rewarding, but value also longer as active. Instead, fundamental induction heating to produce a series of lies in the partnership’s potential. research is taking place in small, agile controlled hot locations within a com- “This is an excellent intersection of companies with a compelling reason to bustion chamber to produce uniform interest and capabilities,” says Krane of work on step function, or a big change initiation of combustion.” the PCMC-Contour Hardening union, in efficiency. And, historically, internal “and, down the road, we foresee op- combustion engines are due for a Concurrently, Storm’s gift to PCMC portunities for our researchers to work change. enables undergraduate and graduate on the actual piston head design and student teams to conduct research “There’s great value to being pa- combustion process.” involving materials selection and the tient, innovative, and proving yourself testing of materials behavior in order to Even further along the path is the over the long haul. That’s what maximize the system’s efficiency and point of convergence where biofuels Purdue engineers are trained to do.” extend the longevity of its components. are very efficient to produce, and n Jan Mathews

Spring 2010 29 VANTAGEALUMNI IMPACTPOINTS

Taking a Systems View IE grad tackles national education reform

Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony Miller (BSIE ’89) meets with students from Viers Mills Elementary School in Silver Spring, Maryland. As a member of the Obama Administration, Miller is applying his engineering organizational skills to national education reform. (Photos by Joshua Hoover, U.S. Department of Education)

Anthony Miller hit the ground running education system. In his role as second Introduction to Engineering (MITE) a year ago and hasn’t stopped yet. As in command at the Department of program for high school juniors. The President Barack Obama’s pick for the Education, he is now charged with subject suited his interest in all things nation’s deputy secretary of educa- overseeing the day-to-day implemen- mechanical, mathematic, and scientific. tion, Miller has had to sprint to keep up tation and development of policies, Industrial engineering was also a close with his new job. But he doesn’t seem recommendations, and initiatives that fit with his parallel interest in busi- to mind; he thinks fast, talks fast, and align with Obama’s education goals. ness and a desire to understand and seems energized by the hectic pace. Miller says his background in industrial optimize production systems. He got engineering, with its systems view and an in-depth look at systems as a co-op When he signed on for the federal focus on optimization, is a great fit with student at Caterpillar. He rounded out position, Miller (BSIE ’89) traded life his new responsibilities. So is the pro- his undergraduate experience with two as a private equity operating partner fessional life he led after leaving Purdue. years as president of the Kappa Alpha and management consultant, who had Psi fraternity, as a resident assistant, worked with school organizations in Miller was introduced to engineer- and with membership on the governing California, for oversight of the nation’s ing through Purdue’s Multiethnic board of The Exponent.

30 purdue engineering impact As western regional marketing faced the challenge of manager for Delco Electronics, based overseeing some $100 in Denver and then Southern California, billion in economic-stim- he developed and implemented original ulus aid to education equipment manufacturer and distribu- and a widespread call tor channel marketing programs. The for substantial educa- experience gave him technical and tion reform across the marketing skills, but he wanted to add country. financial and strategic management “I am really draw- acumen. He enrolled at the Stanford ing on my cumulative Graduate School of Business, which experience in this role Miller was among the featured readers during the Department had a curriculum that included time of understanding school of Education’s summer 2009 “Read to the Top!” program, held overseas at its Center for Technology weekly on the plaza of the department’s Lyndon Baines Johnson systems — large, and Innovation in Kyoto, Japan. He headquarters building. complex organizations was also introduced to the educa- — and how you blend strategy with better preparing teachers and school tion field through work with the global operations and finance. Understanding leaders; underwriting professional de- management consulting firm McKinsey the complexity of large school districts velopment; and implementing effective & Company, which he joined full time and how they interface with the state data systems. after completing his MBA in 1992. His and federal levels is complicated. areas of expertise were growth strate- Miller says his nomination for the That’s the system dynamic,” Miller gies, operating performance improve- position of deputy secretary of educa- says. ment and cost cutting, and company tion came as a total surprise. He was working at the time as director of Silver restructuring. Miller admits that his federal assign- Lake, a private equity firm with over $15 ment is a tough one. But, he says, it’s At the time, one of McKinsey & billion in capital, and says the decision no more difficult than the high-pres- Company’s pro bono clients was the to leave was a tough choice. But, he sure private-equity sector. When he Los Angeles Unified School District, says, the time was right. which sought models of education spoke with Engineering Impact last fall, “This is a once in a generation reform and the implementation of he was driving from the airport to his opportunity,” he says. “The president transformative programs. Miller pro- office in Washington, D.C., following a embodies and is committed to educa- vided oversight of the project. He also weekend of meetings in Chicago with tion reform. We have $100 billion [in worked with the Santa Monica Malibu legislators and school officers. He was stimulus funds] to invest in education. Unified School District, examined best clearly invigorated by both the trip and The education secretary is pragmatic practices in school board governance the world of education. and puts children’s interests above models, and studied ways in which In his first year on the job, Miller those of adults. And a major piece of business communities could support says he has gained an appreciation legislation (No Child Left Behind) is up education reform. for federal programs. As proof, he for reauthorization. Those stars don’t By the time Obama came knocking in launches into a fluent recitation of the align often. It was an opportunity I January 2009, Miller had been involved administration’s key education reform couldn’t pass up.” n L.T.T. with education reform for over 10 years. priorities: establishing Moreover, his business experience, college- and career-ready work aligning school budgets and oper- standards that are inter- ating plans, and time spent designing nationally benchmarked This is a once in a metrics and processes for monitoring to prepare U.S. children generation opportunity. district-wide performance would be for a globally competi- useful as the Department of Education tive world; recruiting and —Anthony Miller

Spring 2010 31 Alumni Impact continued

Around the World in 365 Days The nomadic life of two engineering grads

Follow them at: www.jasonswissrtw.com

Engineers Patrick “Swiss” Weber (left) and Jason Lawton pause mid-globe at Buddha Park in Laos. (Courtesy photos)

One is a foodie, who is afraid of by January were wandering through DuPont and, more recently, a machin- heights. The other zips in and out Laos. Come March, they planned to ery reliability engineer at Chevron’s of traffic on his motorcycle on San head on to Japan, Nepal, India, and refinery in Richmond, California. Francisco freeways, gets bored with the points beyond, with the remainder of status quo, and would rather experi- their year spent in South America and The two men met as members of the ence things first-hand than through the Central America. Purdue Engineering Student Foundation, filter of television or a book. Together, an organization dedicated to promoting they are two Purdue Engineering alums Lawton, the one who is afraid of engineering awareness among youth, traveling the world for a year. heights, worked for Eli Lilly & Co. as a prospective students, Purdue alumni, process controls engineer and a quality first-year Purdue students, and the In August 2009, Jason Lawton assurance representative after gradu- community. Now they’re promoting (BSChE and BS chemistry ’02) and ation. In May 2007, he left Indiana for engineering around the world. Patrick “Swiss” Weber (BSME ’03) quit a job in San Francisco as a software their jobs, sold their belongings, and quality assurance engineer in IT at Take Weber’s fascination with the left San Francisco for the trip of a life- Genentech. counterclockwise spin of draining time. They began in Australia, hopped water in the Southern Hemisphere (it to New Zealand, flew on to Singapore, Weber, whose nickname comes spins clockwise north of the equa- took a ferry to Bali, hit the beach in from the land where he spent the first tor). He put this to the test at a hostel Thailand, made their way to China, and 16 years of life, was a field engineer at in Queenstown, Australia, using a

32 purdue engineering impact Jason Lawton at Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos (Christmas Day 2009) “Hey, it was Christmas, why not visit a large, artsy and definitely unique Buddha Park!?!? We had a rough map out there (read: someone at the front desk drew two roads on a piece of paper) and when Swiss was nearly certain we were heading the wrong direction, we arrived!.”

Earlier in the trip, Lawton had con- value of creative problem solving and a fessed in an e-mail from Singapore: methodical approach to planning. “I go back and forth about this “You simply look at the trip as a nomad lifestyle. On one hand it’s very problem with boundaries (1 year and X Cadbury Crunchie candy bar as an liberating to live this way, one large dollars) and you tweak a lot of variables indicator to illustrate the direction of and one very small backpack and no to get to a solution (although, unlike water draining from a bathroom sink. It bills to pay. At the same time, I miss some of my professors would like to is documented in a video on their blog. my bed, the luxury of HDTV and Travel believe, there is more than one solu- Both have traveled internationally Channel, and cooking whatever I want tion). It helped us in the initial planning — Lawton prefers detailed itineraries; in my kitchen. One thing I’ve learned is and has helped us stay grounded and Weber likes to get information from fel- to appreciate everything that I have that practical,” Lawton says. much more.” low travelers along the way. Given their When asked if the trip is opening their preferences, Lawton was in charge of That also means appreciating what eyes to ways in which engineers can most of the logistics for the trip. They people in other countries don’t have, help make a difference in the world, originally planned a three-month trip to from an engineering point of view. Lawton replies: “With the ‘western- Southeast Asia; Weber’s mother sug- ization’ of the world, we have to be “Having just been in Bali, you notice gested a year. cognizant of providing people with a lot of differences in lifestyles and technology for a healthier life while also Like the engineers that they are, the two housing,” Lawton said. “Sewage preserving their culture and normal made lists of desired places to visit, com- systems are rudimentary. There is a ways of going through life for fear — at pared them, checked weather patterns, large population of people in develop- least in my mind — of the homogeniza- took cost into consideration, consulted ing nations that would benefit from tion of the planet.” n L.T.T. with a San Francisco travel agency, and our technologies — better plumbing did a bit of background reading. Edward and sewage systems prevent disease; Hasbrouck’s “The Practical Nomad” was access to clean drinking water saves a good resource for planning long-term lives. Engineers need to find a way to travel. Chef, entrepreneur, and Travel spread a lot of this to so many more Channel TV host Anthony Bourdain people.” served as inspiration. Some seven vac- cinations each and two garage sales later, Weber, who was granted a leave of the duo launched on August 15. absence by Chevron, says the trip is helping him “step back and evaluate “It was overwhelming and exciting where I am and where I want to be. at the same time,” says Lawton. “I’m Some people say that I’m risking my caused to a pretty standard life. I go to reer by doing this. I consider it a resume work, pay my bills, visit with friends builder. Allowing time to reflect without Swiss Weber in Rotorua, New Zealand (September 2009) and family. I’m an engineer who needs the usual distractions of everyday life “Next on the menu was zorbing. The structure, and suddenly I’m traveling for can be very enlightening.” Lawton quit activity involves a giant inflated plastic a year with no detailed itinerary.” his job at Genentech, but is optimistic ball with an inner chamber into which How’s it going? 2010 he will be able to rejoin the company. you can stick one or multiple persons. Both dug into savings to fund the trip. In January, four months into their You also have the option of adding odyssey, the pair were settled into their Both men have a good sense of some water to the chamber, which nomadic lifestyle. They continued to humor that comes across in their RTW then gets zipped up, and they push post plenty of pictures of food, and (round the world) blog. When asked the ball down a hill. It’s crazy fun. I did had found a couple of steady travel how their engineering educations are the wet version. I basically got tossed companions along the way. being put to use, they mention the around the entire ride as if I was in a giant washing machine and lost all orientation until the thing finally came to a halt.”

Spring 2010 33 VANTAGECOLLEGE POINTS LIFE

Action heats up during the 1st annual all-Engineering Graduate Student Organization volleyball tournament. Chemical Engineering took the title.

Students in the Engineering Honors Learning Community in Shreve Hall work on a team project in November to design and build a roller coaster using K’NEX pieces. (Photo by Mark Simons)

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers entry in the 2009 IIE Andrew Weiner, the Scifres Family Distinguished Professor of Cardboard Boat competition was a mighty pretty craft but didn’t make the Electrical and Computer Engineering, right, trains with Chicago cut. The rules? Make a boat that floats using only cardboard and duct tape. dojo member Dave Grunman during a seminar in October. Weiner is a three-time black belt and advisor to the Purdue Aikido Club.

34 purdue engineering impact The Engineering Olympics, fall 2009.

Fred Mannering, the Charles Pankow Professor of Civil Engineering, with two of his favorite things: his Honda CBR954RR and his guitar. Mannering is a former motorcycle racer and was lead guitarist in a metal band in the 1990s. He’s featured in the spring 2010 issue of Civil Engineering Impact magazine. (Photo by Andrew Hancock) Members of Team Nature’s Silk wrapped up first place in the 2009 Student Corn Innovation Contest with a process for biodegradable toilet paper. Pictured from left: Janie Stine, a junior in biological engineering; David Jaroch, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering; and Jessamine Osborne, a senior double-majoring in cell molecular development and genetics. (Purdue Agricultural Communications illustration/Tom Campbell)

Children at school in Papachacra, Bolivia. Members of Purdue’s Engineers Without Borders stayed at the school during a trip there in October to help the town’s residents find a sustainable and efficient way to overcome a water shortage.

After about six months of excavation and foundation-related work, construction of the Roger B. Gatewood Wing of the Mechanical Engineering building is headed above ground. In design, materials and procedures, the project is aiming at LEED certification for “green” building at the gold level. (Photo by Mark Simons)

Spring 2010 35 VANTAGEAPERTURE POINTS

What Is It? See lower right for answer (rotate page). Civil Engineering, Purdue University

36 purdue engineering impact A scanning electron microscope picture of nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, a biomineralized composite that is known for its strength and resilience. The image is from civil engineering’s Computational Multi-Scale Materials Modeling Group, led by Pablo Zavattieri. He has paired with David Kisailus, assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of California, Riverside, to study the structure-mechanical property relationships of composites in order to develop new materials and structures that will offer a new combination of low weight, high strength/toughness and multifunctionality. The materials could have applications in the auto, energy, shipbuilding and defense industries, as well as widespread use in civil and aerospace engineering. PURDUE

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Engineering Professional Education New opportunities in lifelong learning in 2010 Online Lean Six Sigma Program Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Lean Advanced Methods and Tools Lean Six Sigma Black Belt • Courses start several times throughout the year and are entirely online • Earn a certificate of completion and CEUs • Taught by a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt instructor • Courses are priced individually or in a package For more details about the online Lean Six Sigma program, visit: engineering.purdue.edu/proed/leansixsigma To register for an online Lean Six Sigma course, visit: www.college-net.com/PurdueDirect

Technical Management Institute at Purdue Oct. 27 – 30, 2010 Held on the campus of Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN • Collaboration between Engineering Professional Education and Krannert School of Management

• Curriculum is designed for those in engineering or technical roles who are new to managing a staff or managing a project team

• $1,995 per person — for information about discounted pricing for a large group, contact Vickie Maris, director of Professional Development Programs, Engineering Professional Education, (765) 496-6845; [email protected] engineering.purdue.edu/proed/institute

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