FALL/WINTER 2012 THE ASSIST CENTER NC State is now the nation’s only university leading two active NSF Engineering Research Centers RISING FACULTY STARS PROBLEM-SOLVING SENIOR PROJECTS ADVICE FROM AMELIA Katharine Stinson’s barrier-breaking engineering career Just one year and a whopping 48 credit hours later, she started in 1932 on the dusty runway of her hometown marched back to NC State. She graduated in 1941 with a airstrip. BS in mechanical engineering with an aeronautics option, becoming the first woman to leave the university with an Legendary flyer Amelia Earhart (above right) had engineering degree. touched down at the old Raleigh Municipal Airport, and the 15-year-old Stinson stole a moment with her idol to Stinson spent the next 32 years with the US Civil share her dream of becoming a pilot. But pilots didn’t Aeronautics Administration (now the Federal Aviation make much money in those days, and Earhart suggested Administration) making key contributions to aircraft another occupation. safety. She even served on an advisory committee under President Lyndon Johnson. “Don’t become a pilot, become an engineer,” Stinson recalled her saying. But Stinson never forgot her NC State roots, and the university never forgot her. She became the first woman Stinson (above left) took the advice. But when she to serve on the Alumni Association Board of Directors and applied to NC State a few years later, she hit a roadblock: earn recognition as a Distinguished Engineering Alumna. Women weren’t allowed to study engineering at the university. To give other women similar opportunities, she established the Katharine Stinson Scholarships for Stinson persisted, convincing the dean of engineering to Women in Engineering in 1987. let her transfer in as a junior and then enrolling at nearby Meredith College. Engineer or pilot? Looks like she made the right choice. contents FALL/WINTER 2012 FEATURES 16 DESIGNING SENIORS NC State engineering students take their senior projects from the classroom to the real world. 20 FILLING THE FAST 15 The College is prominently represented among NC State’s most compelling new business ventures. 16 22 HEALTH ASSIST A new NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center led by NC State could transform health care. 28 ENGINEERING GREEN ON CAMPUS College students, faculty and staff are making NC State one of the nation’s greenest campuses. 30 RISING STARS Recognizing some of the College’s top early-career 22 faculty members. DEPARTMENTS 03 FROM THE DEAN The new ASSIST Nanosystems ERC, growing research expenditures, and a Homecoming invitation. 06 PACK POINTS 30 News, notes and research highlights. ON THE COVER: Dr. Veena Misra, center 34 FOUNDATIONS left, director of the new NSF ASSIST The new Young Alumni Council, a family tradition Nanosystems Engineering Research Center of Dean’s Circle giving, and alumni news and notes. led by NC State, discusses ASSIST research with Dr. John Muth, the center’s deputy INSIDE BACK COVER BY THE NUMBERS director. See page 22 to learn how ASSIST A look at some of the figures that shape could reshape health care. the College of Engineering. NC STATE ENGINEERING 1 DEAN Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega ADVISORY BOARD FROM THE DEAN Dr. Richard Keltie, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs Brian Campbell, Executive Director of Development and College Relations I am very proud to share with you that we begin this S. Frank Culberson (CHE ‘60), President, Board of Directors, NC State Engineering Foundation, Inc. academic year celebrating NC State’s new National Welcoming 15 Martin Baucom, Associate Executive Director of Development Science Foundation Nanosystems Engineering Research and College Relations Center led by our own Dr. Veena Misra. The award of the new faculty Katalina MacCabe, Manager, Business and Operations Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors EDITOR Jennifer Weston and Technologies (ASSIST) Center, along with our existing The College continues to boost its faculty ranks, ASSOCIATE EDITOR Nate DeGraff NSF ERC for Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery with 15 new faculty members in seven depart- MAGAZINE DESIGN DIRECTOR Candice Wallace and Management (FREEDM) Systems, marks NC State’s ments joining NC State for 2012-13. ASSISTANT GRAPHIC DESIGNER Sarah Stadler College of Engineering as the only engineering college STAFF WRITER Jessica Wilson The new faces add to the dozens of new CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Andrew Branch, Mick Kulikowski, Anna in the nation currently leading two active NSF ERCs. faculty added by the College over the past Riley, Matt Shipman, Yuan Wang This is truly a remarkable achievement that speaks to the five years, a brisk pace of hiring that helps the Louis A. Martin-Vega IMAGES Associated Press, Robert Bradley, BRIC, Cree, Chris Frey, exceptional quality of our faculty and College. College handle student enrollment growth and Marc Hall, ImagineOptix, Sean Jalleh, Linda Jones, Rebecca Kirkland, Nehemiah Mabry, Andre Mazzoleni, Matthew Meares, K. Linga Murty, places additional emphasis on research. NASA, NC State Bioflight Senior Design Team JAC, NC State Libraries, We have had another outstanding year in research with total expenditures estimated to Both the College and the university are com- Narayanan Ramanan, Roger Winstead, Yong Zhu exceed $155 million in 2011-12. We are also proud of our three new 2012 NSF Career Award mitted to boosting faculty resources. Generous OFFICE OF THE DEAN winners. Their efforts, together with those of our existing stellar faculty and the more professorship gifts from engineering alumni College of Engineering than 40 new faculty members we have welcomed in the last two years, will ensure the have created new opportunities to bring out- Campus Box 7901, NC State University Raleigh, NC 27695-7901 continued growth of our research programs. Our students, working alongside some of the standing faculty to NC State. 919.515.2311 finest engineering faculty in the world, are clearly significant beneficiaries of these research One way of gauging new faculty members’ www.engr.ncsu.edu efforts. success is by the awards they win. Since 2000, NC STATE ENGINEERING FOUNDATION, INC. 52 young College faculty members have won Campus Box 7901, NC State University In the following pages you will learn about the innovative, problem-solving projects National Science Foundation CAREER Awards, Raleigh, NC 27695-7901 919.515.7458 developed by our graduating seniors in their capstone design courses, meet some of our among the top honors given by the federal www.engr.ncsu.edu/foundation outstanding young faculty members, and learn about some of the many companies that got agency to early-career faculty in science and CHANGE OF ADDRESS? Visit www.engr.ncsu.edu/alumni or send their start in our college. We also take a moment to congratulate our alumnus Dr. Hesham engineering. address corrections to [email protected]; or call Kandil, who recently was named prime minister of Egypt. Check back a few years from now. Members 919.515.7458, toll free: 866.316.4057. of this group of 15 may join them. ■ In closing, I’d like to invite you to our first alumni Homecoming celebration on Friday, NC State University is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer November 2. You’ll be able to reconnect with your classmates and home department, as and is dedicated to equality of opportunity within its community. Accordingly, well as learn more about your college. The Homecoming event will be held in conjunction NC State University does not practice or condone discrimination, in any form, against students, employees, or applicants on the grounds of race, with NC State’s 125th anniversary celebration. I appreciate your continued support and look color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, forward to seeing you at Homecoming. or disability. NC State University commits itself to positive action to secure equal opportunity regardless of those characteristics. © 2012. This document was produced by the NC State Engineering Foundation Inc. and Engineering Communications. No state funds were used; 55,000 copies of this document were printed at a cost of $26,480 on recycled paper. Louis A. Martin-Vega, Ph.D., P.E. Dean Did you know? Did you know that robots will retrieve books at the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library on Centennial Campus? After users request books online, a robotic crane fetches them from tightly packed shelving hidden behind the library walls. The “bookBot” system will include the engineering collections when the library opens in 2013. 2 www.engr.ncsu.edu/magazine NC STATE ENGINEERING 3 IN THE NEWS Questions for HANS CONRAD A leader in Egypt News outlets around the world took notice when Dr. Hesham Dr. Hans Conrad, professor emeritus of materials science and engineering, recently Kandil, a water and irrigation minister who received his PhD in received the 2012 ASM Gold Medal, one of his field’s highest honors. Conrad, who at biological and agricultural engineering with a minor in water 90 is one of the world’s oldest active researchers, talks about his most memorable resources from NC State in 1993, was named prime minister of projects, his current research on ceramics, and why he keeps on working. Egypt in July. At NC State, Kandil was a graduate student under Dr. Wayne Skaggs, William Neal Reynolds Professor and Distinguished What was your childhood like? University Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. I was born in Germany, but we emigrated to Michigan in 1926 and later settled near Kandil’s dissertation was an extension of the DRAINMOD com- Pittsburgh. My parents got me erector, chemistry and physics sets — things that stimu- puter simulation model of water drainage that Skaggs developed. lated an interest in science and engineering. I enjoyed sports and played on the varsity Kandil’s addition to the DRAINMOD predicts soil salinity and basketball team in high school, but I was best at math and science.