2018 ISSUE #1 ISSUE 2018 The alumni magazine of the Tickle College of Engineering 1971–2018 Celebrating the legacy of Dean Wayne T. Davis Page 20 Dean’s Message 6 18 As we get ready to celebrate the retirement of Dean Wayne Davis, we pay tribute to the 1977 edition of Tennessee Engineer, Issue #1. See page 21 for a photograph from this 1977 edition. 30 31 Photo: Jack Parker Features Departments There’s a 2,500 year-old saying: “the only constant is Speaking of freshmen, we consistently welcome change.” The truth of that statement is evident as you incoming classes with an average 4.0 GPA and a math 2 Made in America 18 Crystal Clear walk through our campus, talk to our students, faculty, ACT score of more than 30. and staff, or connect with other alumni. We are a 1 Dean’s Message Our expanding faculty includes some of the highest- 4 Weathering the Storm 20 Dean Wayne T. Davis, college on the rise; our rankings, enrollment, faculty, staff, and facilities continue to grow by leaps and profile researchers in the country along with up-and- A Legacy 34 Student News coming stars of tomorrow, including a record five NSF bounds. Many of these changes will be highlighted 6 Worth its Salt CAREER award winners. 26 Built for the Future 36 Faculty & Staff Notes for you as you read through the pages of this issue of 8 Going Places Tennessee Engineer. Our doctoral program—one of the two largest at 28 A Bridge to Success Celebrating 45 Years 37 We will soon break ground on our latest campus UT—has skyrocketed with 40 percent growth in 10 The Problem Solver of Diversity in addition, the as-yet unnamed $129 million facility that PhD enrollment since 2012. We’re also thrilled to 30 The Robot that Learns Engineering at UT announce our ranking of 29th for all public graduate 12 Before, During, and After will house our Department of Nuclear Engineering, the Stoneking engage™ engineering fundamentals programs of engineering. THE BOMB 31 If You Come They Will Build it 38 Alumni Notes and Cook Grand Challenge Honors programs, the Finally, in my last semester as head of our college, I 14 Delivering Results 32 A Systems Thinking Approach 39 In Memoriam Min H. and Yu-Fan Kao Innovation and Collaboration would like to sincerely thank all of you for the support, Studio, and various laboratories to help us advance ideas, energy, and involvement you’ve contributed 16 Rebel with a Cause 40 Road to Restoration engineering research. over my last decade as dean. All of the growth I have This new space will finally give our nuclear mentioned, as well as countless other successes, are engineering students and faculty a space befitting traced directly back to your efforts. Vol. 19 Issue 1 Dorothy Barkley Bryson Randall Brown On the cover: their highly-ranked national status, while also helping In many ways, this magazine is as much as a Tennessee Engineer is Executive Director, David Goddard Then graduate student Wayne us place an even greater emphasis on our freshmen published in the spring and Engineering Development Whitney Hines Davis working late into the evening testament to your help as it is a celebration of the fall by the University of Writers in Estabrook Hall, 1973. students and maker spaces, all while serving as a new Tickle College of Engineering. Tennessee, Knoxville, Tickle Brian Shupe (incoming) gateway to engineering and, indeed, a new focal point College of Engineering Randall Brown for people coming to our campus. Christie Kennedy Jack Parker Bennett Croswell Editor Shawn Poynter While many of our successes are detailed within, Chair, Board of Advisors Director of Communications Photography what’s made me proudest as dean are the unseen numbers behind our growth. Wayne T. Davis Mitchell Williamson University Print Dean; Wayne T. Davis Designer and Mail Our percentage of female students is on par with the Endowed Dean’s Chair Printer national average and stands poised to increase with Wayne T. Davis in Engineering Wayne T. Davis Endowed Dean’s Chair in Engineering this next incoming class of freshmen. engr.utk.edu 1 Siblings Thomas and Sabrina Made in America By David Goddard. Photography by Shawn Poynter. Like many businesses, Krawlers Edge A connection was made with the Department started as a hobby. of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) and Assistant Professor of Practice Floyd Ostrowski, who Thomas Kincer had an affinity for taking older model assembled a student team of seniors and sophomores Ford Broncos and preparing them for use as rock to the project. crawlers, the recreational activity of driving up and Lean manufacturing—the process of streamlining over seemingly impassable terrain. production and stripping inefficiencies without As his expertise in restoring Broncos grew to include sacrificing quality or output—has long been a custom builds, Kincer and his sister Sabrina Kincer departmental specialty, and is a critical focal point of Stallings refocused the business—named with a “k” to the students’ project. honor their last name—as a full-time endeavor. “We went in and examined a lot of what they did, Their focus is on “first generation” Broncos, those from taking inventory to where they placed their built between 1966 and 1977 and considered a classic supplies,” said team member Abbi Harr. “It’s lean by enthusiasts. Refurbished models from that era can manufacturing to the extreme.” sell for well more than $100,000, placing Krawlers Prior to the students’ involvement, Krawlers Edge Edge in a niche market. had no formal system of monitoring their parts or The students reorganized stations on the floor so Kincer is able to provide his customers a far more As their business picked up, the duo sought out advice stock, sometimes only knowing to order more parts parts storage is now adjacent to assembly, and a new reliable option for restoration or retrofitting. on how to more efficiently manage their inventory. if they ran out. highly visible interactive board now tracks inventory so employees know to place refill orders prior to the Frame production has already increased from one a “We grew up with a dad who was always involved in “We designed a whole new supply chain for them,” depletion of stock. month to three, with an eventual goal of scaling up business, very entrepreneurial,” said Kincer Stallings. said Joe Pettey, another team member. “We’re now to 15 a month, making the help UT’s students provide “When we really got going, we turned to the Small helping them work on scheduling deliveries and These changes have been particularly helpful since even more vital. Business Association and they pointed us to UT.” thinking of things from an efficiency standpoint.” the company recently opened a satellite warehouse for parts storage and early frame development. “We have the coolest projects with the best kids,” said Ostrowski. “People want to hire graduates with Thomas explains the manufacturing process to the ISE student team (L-R): Carly Johnson, Rahul Ravikumar, Sabrina Kincer Stallings, “They’ve really made a big impact on how we do experience, and, along with our college’s co-op and Thomas Kincer, Abigail Harr, Joseph Pettey, and Jake Fountaine things,” said Kincer. “We’ve been able to save a lot internship program this is a way for them to do that.” of time in our workflow—time that we can use to do what we do best: build.” Ostrowski designed the course to introduce students to the project during their sophomore year. In addition to fully rebuilding Broncos, Krawlers Edge has also seen a sharp increase in demand for both That way, even when the project’s current seniors the standard and highly customized chassis they graduate in May, future student groups have valuable create, providing yet another opportunity for the ISE insight that may continue to help Krawlers Edge run students to apply their supply chain knowledge. as efficiently as possible and help implement new innovations as they arise over the coming years. A known issue with classic Broncos is frame corrosion. By using materials that weren’t available 50 years ago, Team members Abigail Harr, Carly Johnson, Tim Love, Joseph Pettey, and Jake Fountaine discusses a custom chassis. 2 Tennessee Engineer engr.utk.edu 3 urricane Maria was the 10th most powerful storm on record when it tore through the Caribbean last fall, leaving behind nearly $92 billion in damage Hand changing lives forever. Higher education felt an intense impact, with wrecked infrastructure forcing many students off the islands and into institutions in the mainland United States to continue their educations. “I’ve never experienced a storm so strong, never seen anything like that,” said Puerto Rican student Benjamin Mercado. “No one has experienced that since the San Felipe hurricane [of 1928]. It was the kind of thing you only heard stories about WEATHERINGWEATHERING from your grandparents.” Now, six months later, Mercado and six other students from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedra, are continuing their careers at UT, thanks in large part to joint UT–ORNL Governor’s Chair for Environmental Biotechnology Terry Hazen. THETHE Mercado, Jelissa Reynoso, Cesar Perez, Alfredo Gonzalez Cintron, Rosana Wiscovitch Russo, Yadeliz Serrano, and Luz Serrato-Diaz have resumed their research in microbiology as part of the Hazen Lab. Their path to UT came about because Hazen taught at their university from 1979 to 1988 and still serves as an adjunct STORMSTORM faculty member. By David Goddard. One of his former postdoctoral students, Gary Toranzos-Soria, currently serves as a professor and was mentoring Gonzalez Cintron and Wiscovitch Russo.