EDEN NAMED DEAN OF COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Following a national search, Mario Eden, the Joe T. and Billie Carole McMillan Professor and chair of Auburn University’s Department of Chemical Engineering, has been named as the 14th dean of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, according to an announcement by Provost Vini Nathan.

Eden was selected following an extensive interview and public process that included a diverse pool of nearly 60 applicants from some of the nation’s most premier and highly ranked engineering institutions. He began serving in this new role effective May 15.

“The quality of applicants and applications we received from across the country is testimony to the stature of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering,” Nathan said. “After carefully reviewing feedback from the search committee, faculty, staff, students, alumni and AU leadership, it was apparent that Dr. Eden is the person we need leading the College of Engineering forward. I am confident that, through his leadership, he will help elevate the college to become one of the preeminent engineering institutions in the country.”

Eden succeeds Steve Taylor, who was named as interim dean in April 2022 when then-Dean Chris Roberts was named as Auburn University’s 21st president. Taylor has accepted the role as Auburn’s senior vice president for research and economic development, and will begin that appointment June 1.

“Dr. Taylor is a consummate professional, and Auburn is indebted to him for his thoughtful leadership, dedication and commitment during this interim period,” Nathan said.

Eden served as chair and professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering since 2012, as an associate professor from 2008-12 and as an assistant professor from 2004-08. From 2014-16, he also served a term as acting director of the Alabama Center for Paper and Bioresource Engineering. As the chemical engineering department chair, Eden led the department to its highest U.S. News & World Report Graduate Program ranking ever; increased undergraduate enrollment to record numbers with incoming freshmen with ACT scores of 30 or higher for 11 years in a row; successfully added 17 tenure-track faculty members and two fulltime lecturers during the past 10 years, including the department achieving the highest percentage of female full professors among any chemical engineering department in the country; increased philanthropic support of the program by millions of dollars; and successfully led the department through the national accreditation process in 2016 and 2022.

Eden earned master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark in 1999 and 2003, respectively. His expertise and research interests center on process systems engineering and computer-aided process engineering; process simulation, design, integration and optimization; and product and molecular synthesis/design. Eden has established a strong record of scholarly productivity and academic achievement, including more than 165 refereed publications and nearly 450 invited talks and conference presentations. He has secured more than $29 million in extramural grants and contracts as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI from a wide range of federal and industrial sources.

“Serving Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering has been one of the greatest blessings of my life,” Eden said. “I am so thankful for the chemical engineering department faculty, staff, students and alumni for the past decade, and I am humbled at this opportunity to take Auburn Engineering to the next level. This is truly a group effort, and together we can achieve even greater things because we believe in Auburn, and love it.”

Auburn Engineering moves up in U.S. News online graduate program rankings

The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering came in at No. 16 in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Online Engineering Graduate Programs 2023 rankings, climbing one spot from the past year. This is the seventhconsecutive year that engineering’s online program has ranked in the Top 25.

In the specialty rankings, Auburn’s online civil and environmental (No. 3), industrial and systems (No. 8) and engineering management (No. 15) programs all improved from 2022. Mechanical held its No. 11 spot, and electrical and computer engineering ranked No. 13. Auburn’s online computer science and software engineering program came in at No. 23.

Specialty rankings are based on responses to the peer assessment survey administered to high-ranking academic officials at engineering colleges with online programs.

For online programs for veterans, Auburn Engineering ranked No. 11 for the second year in a row.

“High-quality online education options are critical today in ensuring that we continue to equip engineers with the skills and competencies to thrive in the 21st century workforce,” said Steve Taylor, former interim dean of engineering. “It’s rewarding to see the hard work of our faculty and staff to deliver an online experience that equals or exceeds the traditional classroom curriculum be recognized by our peers.”

Brodbeck named Director of Engineering Research Operations

To reflect his growing and evolving role in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Christian Brodbeck, who has served the college as a research engineer since 2006, was recently named director of engineering research operations.

“In essence, I have been working in engineering research operations for the past couple years,” Brodbeck said. “Now that this is an official role, my plan is to work closely with departments within the college to ensure that our facilities are set up to best suit their research needs.”

Former Interim Dean of Engineering Steve Taylor describes Brodbeck as an engineering jack of all trades.

“Christian has really gone above and beyond to ensure that the college’s

Beckingham named director of Auburn’s Center for Polymers and Advanced Composites

Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Bryan Beckingham has been named the new director of the Center for Polymers and Advanced Composites (CPAC) at Auburn University. Beckingham assumed the role on Jan. 1.

“The Center for Polymers and Advanced Composites has a rich history and proven track record of bringing together talented researchers and students from across the globe to make new strides in the areas of polymers and advanced composites research,” said Steve Taylor, former interim dean. “I am excited to see the center continue to grow and innovate as Dr. Beckingham builds upon the foundation laid by CPAC’s previous leadership.” research efforts and initiatives are outfitted with the tools and resources necessary for keeping Auburn as one of the premiere engineering programs in America,” Taylor said. “As a research engineer, he has very broad and deep expertise in many different technical areas. His outstanding work ethic is immediately obvious to everyone he encounters, but that’s just Christian. He’s gone the extra mile for years. It’s high time his title matches that degree of dedication.”

In his role as CPAC director, Beckingham will serve as the primary point of contact to focus the college’s efforts in the fields of polymers and advanced composites. CPAC’s mission is to bring together industry and university researchers in collaboration to generate, facilitate and exchange fundamental and applied knowledge on topics of high relevance to the polymer and composites industries.

Professor in wireless engineering named editor-inchief at top-tier IEEE journal

Shiwen Mao, director of the Wireless Engineering Research and Education Center at Auburn University, was named editor-in-chief of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking (TCCN), a top-tier publication of the IEEE focusing on spectrum and machine learning.

“It is a tremendous honor, but more importantly, it is a big commitment,” said Mao, professor and Earle C. Williams Eminent Scholar Chair. “This appointment provides me with the opportunity to bring even more recognition to Auburn University, the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and the work we do here in wireless engineering.”

Mao previously served as a TCCN associate editor, area editor of the IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society and ACM GetMobile, a steering committee member of IEEE Transactions on Multimedia and chair of IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering. He was also recently elected chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Cognitive Networks and serves on IEEE Communications Society’s Board of Governors.

“It’s very important for faculty members to participate in international activities, such as journals like this and conference organization, and to take leadership roles within the research community,” he added.

Tauritz appointed as university’s first director of national laboratory relationships

Daniel Tauritz, associate professor of computer science and software engineering, and interim director/chief cyber artificial intelligence strategist of the Auburn Cyber Research Center since 2020, has been appointed as the university’s director for national laboratory relationships (DNLR).

Tauritz’s appointment to the newly created position went into effect Jan. 1.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) operates most U.S. national laboratories, including the National Nuclear Security Administration laboratories and Office of Science laboratories, one of the largest scientific research systems in the world. As director, Tauritz will serve as the primary point-of-contact with the DOE complex, focusing on growing long-term, sustained relationships through personal outreach and facilitating engagement and collaborative opportunities for faculty and students.

“My vision for this position is to strategically build comprehensive, university-wide relationships with select national laboratories, from collaborative research to educational partnerships and student hiring pipelines,” Tauritz said. “I’m going to work hard to bring Auburn University’s relationships with the DOE complex to the next level.”

Yarnold named director of Auburn University’s Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory

On Jan. 1, Matt Yarnold, associate professor of structural engineering, took charge of Auburn University’s Advanced Structural Engineering Laboratory (ASEL) as director.

Everything ASEL has to offer is a big reason Yarnold took the job.

Yarnold received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in civil engineering from Lehigh University. Since earning his civil engineering doctorate from Drexel University in 2013, he has been an assistant professor of civil engineering at Tennessee Technological University and, most recently, Texas A&M University.

Both schools have great civil engineering research facilities, Yarnold said. They just don’t have ASEL.

“It was instantly clear that Auburn had invested significantly in structural and geotechnical engineering research. This facility puts Auburn in the country’s top tier of related research facilities,” Yarnold said.

Mechanical engineering professor earns NSF CAREER Award for low-temperature plasma research

Mitigating the environmental impact of meeting the world’s rapidly increasing transportation energy demands is a problem. The National Science Foundation (NSF) thinks Nick Tsolas may have a solution.

The assistant professor of mechanical engineering received a $518,000 NSF CAREER Award to investigate lowtemperature plasma-assisted combustion of oxygenated fuels as a potential alternative to achieving a cleaner and sustainable future for the transportation sector.

“The overall objective of this project is to examine how we can leverage unique chemical and physical properties of lowtemperature plasmas (LTP) to improve the energy extraction and efficiency of renewable fuels with potentially less environmental harm,” Tsolas said. “I believe we are at a very critical junction between trying to curb our climate change issues while trying to figure out how to satisfy our ever-increasing energy needs. This debate

Chemical engineering junior named Miss Auburn

Nick Tsolas

can often be marred by political, economic and social arguments, and rightfully so, but more importantly, it is absolutely imperative that we make decisions based on factual, evidence-based science.”

Although the application of the project was meant to address energy issues in the transportation sector, Tsolas expects that fundamental outcomes from his research can also be adopted to support other LTP-based applications, such as micro-propulsion for CubeSats, pollution remediation and valorizing carbon dioxide to manufacture value-added fuels and electro-fuels.

“I am extremely grateful to my peers in the field and the program manager for reviewing the proposal favorably and recognizing its potential,” Tsolas said. “Receiving this award is immensely humbling.”

DoD awards Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems $8.9M for smart manufacturing

The Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems (ICAMS) at Auburn University was established in 2020 to help small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) bridge the digital divide that threatens to render 85% of the American industrial base obsolete over the next decade.

The center will use a significant portion of its latest and largest award from the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of Industrial Policy’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Program, $8.9 million, to leverage its research and outreach efforts promoting advanced manufacturing in small and medium manufacturing operations in the defense industrial base.

Chemical engineering junior Kate Preston was named the new Miss Auburn, in an announcement made from the Student Government Association (SGA) Elections Council. Preston was elected with 3,097 votes, or more than 31% of the votes cast in the SGA election. She will serve as Miss Auburn until the next elections are held in February 2024.

“I am overjoyed at this opportunity to get to serve and love Auburn in the best way that I know possible. I am extremely thankful for all of the people who put in so much time and effort into preparing for campaign week, and the time after,” Preston said. “In the next year I am eager to get to serve Auburn through my platform of unifying different people on Auburn’s campus that have different interests and passions, as well as unifying different Auburn generations in efforts to better prepare students for life after Auburn.”

“We have to provide SMMs a better understanding of the processes behind new guidelines and best practices necessary to engage in secure work for the DOD,” said principle investigator Greg Purdy, assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. “With this grant, we can equip them with the tools necessary to produce parts in a classified manufacturing environment.”

Akond Rahman

Professor in CSSE earns two NSF grants to research software security weaknesses

Akond Rahman, assistant professor in computer science and software engineering, was awarded two National Science Foundation awards as lead principal investigator totaling $332,000 in grant funding.

His projects, “Authentic Learning Modules for DevOps Security Education” and “Enhanced Security Static Analysis for Detecting Insecure Configuration Scripts,” not only focus on the development of techniques and tools that will automatically detect security weaknesses in configuration scripts, but will educate students — future professionals — on the consequences of security weaknesses commonplace in development and operations (DevOps) software and how to mitigate them.

“DevOps is the state-of-the-art process to develop software,” Rahman said. “If there are unmitigated security weaknesses in DevOps artifacts, that will create largescale consequences now and in the future. As a firm believer of equipping students with practical knowledge, I have focused my academic efforts to learn about security weaknesses in DevOps artifacts.”

CEE professor leads NSF project aimed at renewable energy education

A collaborative $139,375 National Science Foundation project led by Lauren Beckingham, W. Allen and Martha Reed Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Karen McNeal, Molette Endowed Professor of geosciences in the College of Sciences and Mathematics; and Tuskegee University mechanical engineering Professor John Solomon, aims to grow a much-needed workforce for renewable energy industries.

“The project seeks to draw a link between engineering undergraduate students’ environmental knowledge, attitudes, willingness and preparedness to join targeted renewable energy industries and institutions,” Beckingham said.

Engineering faculty affiliated with the project at both Auburn and Tuskegee have developed course activities for students to increase sustainability and renewable energy awareness, as well as to educate students on careers in the renewable energy field. Those efforts include new hands-on renewable energy laboratories allowing students first-hand experience with solar panels and wind turbines in order to examine factors which increase energy production.

Auburn University Transportation Research Institute shines at 2023 TRB Meeting

Auburn University’s leading and broad transportation research, education and technology transfer portfolio was once again front and center at the 102nd annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) Meeting held in January in Washington, D.C.

The TRB Meeting, the largest and most prominent transportation conference in the country, is an annual destination for the nation’s top transportation professionals. This year, noted attendees included Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board; U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm.

“TRB draws transportation researchers and practitioners from every discipline and from around the world to discuss the industry’s most pressing issues. Auburn University Transportation Research Institute faculty and staff have an important and impactful role as evidenced by the fact that this year they participated in more than 45 presentations,” said AUTRI Director Larry Rilett.

Auburn hosts 66th annual Alabama Transportation Conference

In February, approximately 1,000 federal and state highway personnel, road building contractors, general contractors, heavy construction contractors, utility contractors, county engineers, consulting engineers, construction material vendors, researchers, professional society representatives and university faculty members converged on Montgomery to share advances in transportation planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance, same as they have for the past 66 years.

Thanks, once again, to Auburn.

Highlights of the two-day annual Alabama Transportation Conference

Chemical engineering professor receives ADECA funding for MRI agent research

Gov. Kay Ivey awarded $1.3 million to stimulate new research and development at three Alabama universities and university systems, with Auburn University receiving more than $180,000. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grants.

Auburn University received $184,773 from the fund to conduct research to develop an MRI agent that is optimized for the imaging of cardiovascular disease.

The principal investigator on the project is Allan David, acting associate dean for included a keynote address by recently appointed Federal Highway Administration administrator Shailen Bhatt, who spoke on how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law can help the Alabama transportation system. The second keynote address was by John Driscoll, director and CEO of the Alabama Port, who spoke on the innovative infrastructure projects currently underway across Alabama including expansion of the Port of Alabama and the development of inland ports in Montgomery and Birmingham. Gov. Kay Ivey hosted a luncheon on the first day of the conference during which she provided her vision for Alabama’s transportation system.

The impressive group of speakers included five faculty researchers from the Auburn University Transportation Research Institute (AUTRI).

“It’s pretty well-known that if you work in the transportation, highway, construction, design and any associated industries in the state of Alabama, this conference is a must-attend event,” said AUTRI Director Larry Rilett. “Last year’s conference was my first to attend, and I can safely say that very few states have a transportation conference this comprehensive and impactful. The fact that we have been able to successfully host this for 66 years speaks to the leading role Auburn has established in transportation research and outreach.” on iron-based contrast agent, made of magnetic nanoparticles, that are attractive for biomedical applications because they are safer and provide enhanced images on MRI scans. research and the John W. Brown Associate Professor of chemical engineering.

Currently, contrast agents that are based on the element gadolinium are used during MRI scans to improve detection of disease. These gadolinium-based agents, which can be toxic if retained in the body, are designed to be flushed out of the body quickly. David and the co-principal investigators on the project are working

“We are working on an iron-based particle that would clear quickly, like gadolinium,” David said. “In my research group, we delve into methods to take a heterogeneous formulation and make it more homogeneous, so we get better control of the properties of these particles.”

Spring awards recognize outstanding students, faculty, staff and alumni

The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering hosted its annual spring awards ceremony in April, which recognizes students, faculty, staff and alumni who have shown outstanding leadership and devotion.

“The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering is sought after by many exceptional students and faculty from all over the nation and from around the world,” said Steve Taylor, former interim dean of engineering. “This outstanding success and reputation would not be possible without the devoted students, faculty, staff and alumni who make up the college. We are very proud to showcase their achievements.”

Below are the 2023 award recipients:

Frank Vandegrift Co-op Award

•Jared Jones

Electrical Engineering

Birdsong Study Abroad Scholarships

• Justus Smith

Biosystems Engineering

• Ben Steber

Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Eduardo Szperling

Mechanical Engineering

• Virginia Keith

Biosystems Engineering

J. Alley Fellowship

• Matthew Garnett

Chemical Engineering

Auburn Alumni Engineering Council

Award for Most Outstanding Engineering Student Organizations

• Auburn Robotics Club

• Engineers Without Borders

• American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Student Organization or Group

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Experience Award

• oSTEM (Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) at Auburn

Outstanding Student Awards

• William James Koury

Aerospace Engineering

• Rickman Edgar Williams IV

Biosystems Engineering

• Peter Abraham

Chemical Engineering

• Bess Murrah

Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Seth Andrew Maddox

Computer Engineering

• Saksham Goel

Computer Science

• Nick Rush

Electrical Engineering

• Drew Nardone

Industrial and Systems Engineering

• Jeb Buchner

Materials Engineering

• Noah Kim

Mechanical Engineering

• Ken Zou

Software Engineering

Samuel Ginn Outstanding Student

Award

• Noah Kim

Mechanical Engineering

Jeff and Linda Stone Leadership Awards

• Alex Lawing

Industrial and Systems Engineering

• Wesley Lowman

Computer Science and Software Engineering

• Matthew Garnett

Chemical Engineering

Award

• Roy Hartfield

Aerospace Engineering

• William “Bill” Collins

Aerospace Engineering

Outstanding Faculty Awards

• Blake Melnick

Aerospace Engineering

• Brendan Higgins

Biosystems Engineering

• Steve Duke

Chemical Engineering

• Molly Hughes

Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Rodrigo Sardinas

Computer Science and Software Engineering

• Hunter Burch

Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Gregory Purdy

Industrial and Systems Engineering

• Dong-Joo (Daniel) Kim

Materials Engineering

• Sushil H. Bhavnani

Mechanical Engineering

Fred H. Pumphrey Teaching Award

• Molly Hughes

Civil and Environmental Engineering

William F. Walker Teaching Awards for Excellence

Superior:

• Xiao Qin

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Merit:

• Mark Hoffman

Mechanical Engineering

• Blake Melnick

Aerospace Engineering

Auburn Alumni Engineering Council

Research Awards for Excellence:

Senior Award:

• Joseph Majdalani

Aerospace Engineering

• Shuai Shao

Mechanical Engineering

Junior Award:

• Masoud Mahjouri-Samani

Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Panagiotis Mistriotis

Chemical Engineering

Mechanical engineering professor wins Avram BarCohen Memorial Medal

Pradeep Lall, the MacFarlane Endowed Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is the inaugural winner of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Avram Bar-Cohen Memorial Medal. The honor was conferred at the 2022 ASME InterPACK Conference held in Garden Grove, Calif. The InterPACK is a flagship conference of the ASME Electronics and Photonic Packaging Division (EPPD) and focuses on electronics packaging and heterogeneous integration.

Biosystems engineering researchers lead $2M project to produce hydrogen from blended feedstock

Auburn University researchers are leading a $2 million Department of Energy grant that aims to produce hydrogen from blended feedstock, such as legacy waste coal, forest residues and municipal solid waste.

“The benefits of converting waste coal, biomass and food waste are twofold,” said Sushil Adhikari, professor of biosystems engineering and principal investigator for

Staff Champion for the Student Experience

• Karen Clark

Mechanical Engineering

• Jenny Sconyers

Engineering Administration

Outstanding Staff Award

• Katie Hardy

Engineering Administration

• Jessica Taylor

Engineering Administration

Outstanding Alumni Awards

• Samantha A. Magill

Aerospace Engineering

• Marc Ivey

Biosystems Engineering

• Hudson Pope

Chemical Engineering

• David Stejskal

Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Peter Baljet

Computer Science and Software

Engineering

• Brad Cothran

Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Beth Monroe

Industrial and Systems Engineering

• Robert Carter

Materials Engineering

• Martin Stap

Mechanical Engineering

• Erica Walsh

Polymer and Fiber Engineering

The Medal recognizes contributions to academic, research and industrial communities in the broad field of heat transfer and related electronics, photonics, mechanics and packaging phenomena.

The award is given to a nominee with seminal contributions to electronics packaging. The ASME wrote that Lall was selected “for long-lasting impact on state-of-art related to harsh environment electronic manufacturing and reliability, as well as significant contributions to reliability physics of fine pitch electronics in the development of electronics capable of sustaining operations of high temperatures and very high-g loads.”

Sushil Adhikari the proposal. “First, it will help us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from hydrogen production. Second, it will help to solve food waste problems.”

Auburn’s co-principal investigator for the project is Oladiran Fasina, department

Listen to our podcasts with Pradeep Lall and Sushil Adhikari (below) at eng.auburn.edu/ginning head and alumni professor for the Department of Biosystems Engineering.

The primary objectives of the project — titled “Hydrogen Production from Modular CO2 Assisted Oxy-Blown Gasification of Waste” — are to understand how biomass, waste coal and food waste will flow into the gasifier; how biomass, coal and food waste composition will impact the gas composition and quality; and to understand the cost of hydrogen production from biomass, coal and food waste blends.

Professor in CSSE uses afterschool program to introduce children to AI

Hand-held robots rolled toward the light, toward the darkness, left, right and straight — whatever they were programmed to do. The programmers? Schoolchildren.

Almost 20 children gather for an hour at Anh Nguyen’s K-6 AI Club and learn developmental approaches to computing, programming, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). Nguyen, an assistant

CSSE faculty, students develop children’s computer, music skills in harmonious mix

Students in Auburn University’s Computer Science and Arts for All program developed computer science skills and learned the fundamentals of music in a special fiveSaturday program.

professor in computer science and software engineering, provides students with new AI challenges each week, including coding a robot to navigate a maze, roll toward points of light, or even train AIs to recognize your objects and owner’s faces.

“If you want to build a pipeline for engineering, you have to start at an early age,” said Daniela Marghitu, director of Auburn’s Education and Assistive Technology Laboratory and professor in computer science and software engineering. “Young children’s brains are like sponges. They are so eager to learn, and these children are having fun doing it.”

“We use programming, robots and artificial intelligence to motivate them and inspire them into building a mindset for critical thinking,” Nguyen said. “Programming robots through AI is part of fascinating technologies that are vehicles for them to eventually build actual, larger and more useful machines in the future using these engineering, critical-thinking mindsets.”

The initiative, which began in fall 2022, is part of Nguyen’s 2022 National Science Foundation CAREER Award.

Associate professor in aerospace engineering happy to play role in DART’s smashing success

NASA crashed a 1,345-pound spacecraft into the moon of a small asteroid (Dimorphous) on Sept. 26, 2002, with intention of changing its orbit by several minutes to develop a future planetary defense strategy. The result? A success. Masatoshi Hirabayashi, associate professor in aerospace engineering and part of the NASA-supported scientific team led by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, co-authored three papers detailing results of the first Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) after scientists spent months analyzing its impact.

“This is a thrilling and important result because DART’s impact was originally expected to have a smaller change. It is very promising that kinetic deflection capability can be very efficient in terms of planetary defense,” Hirabayashi said. “I am honored to have been a critical part of NASA/DART and I’m very happy to represent Auburn on this international project. To know that Auburn is involved in the first full-scale planetary defense mission that leads and expands world efforts to deflect asteroids and comets in the future is very special to me.”

Annual E-Day Open House welcomes 3,500 visitors to campus

Few events throughout the academic year can attract the number of future engineers to Auburn like E-Day, Auburn Engineering’s annual open house. This year’s event, held on Feb. 23, was no exception with more than 3,500 attendees.

“Every year, we come together as a college to put on an informative, interactive and fun open house experience for future engineers and every year, interest continues to grow,” said Sydney Riley, administrator for K-12 outreach in the college’s Office of Recruitment, Outreach and Scholarship.

“Registration for this year’s E-Day filled up even earlier than we had anticipated. We once again got to share with so many all about Auburn Engineering and what makes us the best student-centered engineering educational experience in the country. The recruitment, outreach and scholarship office, all our academic departments and the whole college comes together and plays a role in inspiring future Auburn Engineers at this fantastic event.”

Research team from CSSE, COSAM and agriculture win USDA Coleridge Challenge

After winning the first and second rounds of the Coleridge Initiative Food for Thought Challenge, a team of Auburn University faculty members and students from the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, the College of Agriculture and the College of Sciences and Mathematics, completed the sweep in December and won the third and final round.

The team of Shubra Kanti “Santu” Karmaker, assistant professor in computer science and software engineering, and his doctoral students Naman Bansal and Alex Knipper, in collaboration with Jingyi Zheng, assistant professor in COSAM’s Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and Wenying Li, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, earned $30,000 for

Seventh- through 12th-grade students, some who attended in school groups and others who attended with their families, had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with current students and faculty, experience interactive exhibits sponsored by each academic program offered by the college, and to visit classrooms and laboratories.

These curated experiences were designed to offer visitors the chance to envision themselves on campus as undergraduate engineering students.

New this year was the ability for attendees to create an individualized E-Day schedule at registration, an improvement made possible by the team at the Auburn Engineering Makerspace, including Makerspace Manager Garon Griffiths and Maker Assistant Matthew Clegg.

Professors earn NASA EPSCoR grant to research impact of microgravity on self-folding polymer sheets

Self-folding polymer sheets may enable lightweight mechanical actuators used to open and close antennas, deploy solar arrays or unfurl solar sails in space. However, this poses many questions on the behavior of these smart materials in space environments. For example, how does microgravity impact the self-folding dynamics of shape memory polymer sheets?

This is the question Russell Mailen and Davide Guzzetti, assistant professors in aerospace engineering, are determined to answer in their recently awarded NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Suborbital study, “Activation of Self-Folding Origami in Microgravity Environment.” winning the final round ($50,000 in total, combining all three rounds).

EPSCoR grants enable recipients to conduct research aimed at developing long-term, competitive capabilities in aerospace, according to NASA.

The challenge, in association with the Department of Agriculture, asked teams of data scientists to use language processing and machine learning to link food and nutrition databases on a large scale.

“Competitions such as these provide students with outstanding experiential learning opportunities and challenge them to determine which training model is best for a variety of machine learning tasks,” Karmaker said.

“Receiving this NASA EPSCoR grant reflects years of hard work and a continuous and growing collaboration between myself and Dr. Guzzetti,” Mailen said. “The EPSCoR grant represents an investment in the research capabilities of Auburn University and our laboratories. In addition, the grant provides us an opportunity to advance the field of shape memory polymer actuators for deployment of space structures.”

Aerospace researchers awarded for visual analysis at international conference

Four researchers in aerospace engineering — graduate students Lokesh Silwal, Daniel Stubbs and Abbishek Gururaj, and postdoctoral fellow Vikas Bhargav — coupled their scientific findings with creative visual skills to earn awards at the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society conference in December in Sydney, Australia.

Their entry, “Cratering dynamics on the lunar surface,” shows that plumes generated by landing craft on the moon could interact with craters on the moon’s surface – potentially destabilizing the craft.

“Communicating complex and high impact findings from a research project is very challenging,” said Vrishank Raghav, associate professor in aerospace engineering. “Such video and/or photo competitions provide one an avenue to hone these skills. In addition, it allows the students and researchers to take a step back and think about the big picture and develop creative and artistic ways to communicate their scientific findings to the public.”

Aerospace professors play key role in designing, testing prototype aircraft

Imon Chakraborty and Ehsan Taheri, assistant professors in aerospace engineering, are combining their collective expertise to help Transcend Air Corporation develop its Vy400 highspeed vertical takeoff and landing aircraft concept.

Powered by a fuel-burning turboshaft engine, the Vy400 is expected to carry up to five passengers for commercial or private flights at a cruising speed of 405 mph with sustained hover capability.

Chakraborty’s Vehicle Systems, Dynamics and Design Lab and Taheri’s Aero-Astro Computational and Experimental Lab will collaborate with Transcend Air in using a one-fifth scale model of the Vy400 to test and validate the flight control system architecture and fly-by-wire flight control laws through a series of bench tests followed by outdoor flight tests.

The team’s goal is to use these subscale tests to significantly de-risk the development of the full-scale vehicle.

Graduate student in aerospace given AIAA’s Zarem Award for Distiguished Achievement in Aeronautics

Rudy Al Ahmar, a graduate student in aerospace engineering, recently received the 2022 Abe M. Zarem Award for Distinguished Achievement in Aeronautics. The award, presented by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), recognizes one graduate student in aeronautics and one in astronautics from all seven regions of the AIAA who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship in their fields. He was presented with the Zarem Medallion at the AIAA SciTech ’23 Forum in January in National Harbor, Maryland.

Al Ahmar, whose research focuses on thermo-fluid analysis, specifically internal and wall-bounded flows as well as external aerodynamics, was given the award based on his novel reconstruction of the classical cylinder-in-crossflow problem. His paper was voted as the best aeronautics paper of all student conference papers worldwide.

“It is a great privilege to be selected to receive such a reputable award,” Al Ahmar said.

Engineering part of $28 million grant to meet rural challenges

Auburn University is one of three universities sharing a $28 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to establish an Institute for Rural Partnership to research the causes and conditions of challenges facing rural areas.

Auburn University’s project is an interdisciplinary effort involving the College of Agriculture, the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security and the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems.

“This project will allow researchers from agriculture to leverage the manufacturing and cybersecurity expertise in engineering to advance some of Alabama’s most important agricultural and natural resources sectors,” said Paul Patterson, dean of Auburn’s College of Agriculture and director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station.

“This is a great opportunity for the two founding colleges at Auburn University (agriculture and engineering) to deepen their collaborative work to advance Alabama’s economy. In addition, faculty members in Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology will be investigating alternative enterprises that offer potential for additional growth for the agricultural sector and rural Alabama.”

Mechanical engineering professor wins multiple grants for AM sustainability and extreme environment electronics

Pradeep Lall, the MacFarlane Endowed Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of Auburn University’s NSF-CAVE3 Electronics Research Center (CAVE3), led teams to two winning grants under Project Call 7 despite stiff competition in the project call of the NextFlex National Manufacturing Institute.

One winning project for $900,000 with 1:1 cost-share titled “Sustainable Additively Printed Electronics through Water-Solvent Inks-FHE RepairabilityLow Temperature Processing” focuses on developing additively printed electronics manufacturing methods for enabling processes with environmentally friendly water-based inks.

The Auburn University-led team includes MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions and global manufacturing company Jabil as sub-contractors.

“Environmental, social and geographical factors have gained increased prominence in the design of next-generation electronics systems,” Lall explained. “One needs to take a life-cycle approach beginning with design, manufacturing and usage to really make an impact.”

Professor in aerospace engineering wins third Zarem Educator Award

In his 10th year at Auburn University, Joe Majdalani, the Hugh and Loeda Francis chair of excellence and professor of aerospace engineering, received the prestigious Abe M. Zarem Educator Award for an unprecedented third time.

Presented by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) at the recent SciTech ’23 Forum in National Harbor, Maryland, the award is given to only two faculty members, one in astronautics and another in aeronautics, who have demonstrated a substantial degree of effectiveness at guiding students toward excellence.

“Being the best student-centered engineering experience in America starts inside the classroom,” said Steve Taylor, former Auburn University Samuel Ginn College of Engineering interim dean. “We are honored to have the AIAA recognize Dr. Majdalani for his work with our students in preparing them for the future.”