It was wonderful to see the energy of students, faculty, friends and alumni back on campus for Homecoming weekend. From the 59th Annual Engineers Breakfast to the W.C. Lacy Distinguished Lecture and the tailgate party, every event was special.
At the Engineers Breakfast, I shared several updates, including year-over-year growth. The college’s first-year and transfer student cohort was up 18% this fall, and research expenditures grew 19%. Your generous giving also demonstrated strong commitment to the college’s success. In this issue you will read about the newest endowed leadership chair, established by Greg and Lisa Boyce. Momentum is clearly on our side, and President Robbins routinely speaks proudly of his excitement around UA Engineering.
The College of Engineering isn’t just growing in Tucson. ABOR recently approved the expansion of biomedical engineering, with a BS to be offered on the Phoenix Bioscience Core campus in close collaboration with the College of Medicine – Phoenix. Similarly, the college is working toward offering its software engineering BS in Chandler. Many alumni and friends in the Phoenix metro area have eagerly awaited such efforts. I remain grateful for your support and advice.
This thematic issue focuses on Wildcat Engineering relationships with industry. These partnerships, hugely important in their own right, also feed government initiatives. The pieces all fit together to contribute to a vibrant, high-tech economy.
The state’s New Economy Initiative, which has been an essential resource for the college’s expansion, is designed to prepare Arizona for future economic opportunities, keeping us strong, resilient and prosperous for rising generations.
Directly relevant to our research and education missions, a growing national trend links federal research funding to industry needs, notably in applied research. A great example is the new University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics (UCAH), a DOD program that pairs academic researchers with industry to surmount technical barriers. I am proud of the partnerships with companies such as Raytheon Missiles & Defense, which have led to multiple UCAH research awards totaling millions of dollars. The college is also home to two NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers, which work with dozens of companies to advance wireless communication and digital health.
Relationships with industry go well beyond research. This can be captured in a single word of increasing national importance: workforce! Industry wants engineers who have honed fundamental skills through experiential learning and possess the soft skills of teamwork and communication. Companies and organizations are seeking diverse employee teams that reflect society. The college is committed to providing this engineering workforce.
The college’s bold plans require a true coalition. We have built strong relationships across campus, including the new cancer engineering collaboration with Health Sciences and the Cancer Center; the School of Mining and Mineral Resources partnership with Science; and ag tech efforts with CALS. Far beyond the campus, Arizona industry is key, including organizations such as the Arizona Mining Association, and government agencies and municipalities. Together we are strong!
Wishing you a safe and wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year. Go Cats and Bear Down!
David W. Hahn Craig M. Berge Dean, College of Engineering
The University of Arizona College of Engineering P.O. Box 210072 Tucson, AZ 85721-0072 engineering.arizona.edu Twitter: @AZEngineering Facebook: @UACollegeofEngineering Instagram: @AZEngineering
LinkedIn: University of Arizona College of Engineering 520.621.1992 • classnotes@engr.arizona.edu
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Arizona Engineer is published twice a year for alumni and friends of the University of Arizona College of Engineering.
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The University of Arizona is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. The university does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or genetic information in its programs and activities. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham and the Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the University strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign Native Nations and Indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community service.
Change is in the air – in the College of Engineering, at the university and across the country. Driving the change is an urgent need for science and engineering solutions that address national challenges. U.S. government agencies that fund R&D and sponsor research are urging universities to do more. The University of Arizona is responding.
With the rise of geopolitical allies and adversaries alike, U.S. preeminence is no longer a given. Thus, there is a renewed focus on what universities can do to keep the nation in the world-leader position. The challenges are immense and require new approaches and capabilities. Building partnerships, and in some cases non-traditional alliances, is essential.
The role of engineers as the source of technical solutions is changing, too. As we emerge from the most significant health crisis of our time, universities are expected to contribute more to the revitalization of the U.S. economy. Complete, scalable solutions for the real world that can be adopted by industry are the new normal. Universities, especially those like the UA with large research enterprises, are becoming more engaged in economic development, including support for underserved populations and historically marginalized communities.
The College of Engineering is forging the necessary partnerships.
For example, the Southern Arizona Coalition for Climate Adaptation and Resilience successfully competed for a $500,000 planning grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better initiative. The City of Tucson is leading the group, which involves municipalities throughout Southern Arizona, economic development organizations, nonprofits, community colleges, industry and trade associations. The group is now supporting UA efforts toward a 10-year, $160 million grant from the National Science Foundation under the Regional Innovation Engines program.
Additionally, the University of Arizona along with Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University – plus more than 60 other partners, including several Arizona municipalities, utilities, companies, tribal groups, community colleges and trade unions – is integral to an upcoming $1 billion proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy. The DOE, through its Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program, is directing more than $8 billion toward using hydrogen, which can produce energy with only water as a byproduct, for a carbon neutral economy.
These ambitious initiatives are possible because of numerous partnerships across academia, government, nonprofits and private industry. The projects are challenging us to advance research like never before and successfully transfer technology to industry and organizations for full implementation.
Working together, we are developing solutions for clean energy, water use, transportation and food production, to name a few. We are embracing a role whereby research conducted in the college strongly contributes to local, state and regional economies, including growth, creation of new jobs and higher wages.
‘There is a renewed focus on what universities can do to keep the nation in the world-leader position.’
Walls had a difficult first year at the UA. He contracted COVID-19 and took a medical exemption for the spring semester, earning no credits for the term. That left him with a lot of catching up to do in summer 2022, so he was unsure about continuing in engineering.
With the help of the Summer TRACK program, Walls not only earned 11 credits and caught up, but also he locked in an engineering major.
These days Walls is enthusiastic about earning a BS in engineering management. And he is serving as a peer mentor for the College of Engineering’s ENGAGED program (ENGineering Access, Greater Equity, and Diversity),
a suite of services that includes Summer TRACK.
“It’s an amazing program,” he said. “It showed me there are people in the College of Engineering who are willing to support you and your career and your education.”
Summer TRACK helps students begin to connect their coursework to careers through a career development class, in addition to courses such as physics and calculus. In fact, guest speakers in the career development class, many of whom were alumni, inspired Walls’ choice of major.
“It gave a fresh look at the career aspect instead of the academics. The academics tire you out a lot,” he said.
Students learned about professional competencies, leadership and the roles of engineers. Representatives from partnering companies and campus units visited the classes and led tours of job sites.
“That experiential piece is the backbone of the program,” said Noel Hennessey, director of ENGAGED. New alumni are especially relatable, she added, because they help students see themselves in fulfilling jobs within a few short years.
Drew Jenkins, a 2020 civil engineering graduate and field engineer for Sundt Construction’s Building Group in Tucson, says he benefited greatly from professional guidance during his time in college. He has been involved with the class since Summer TRACK started two years ago and seen students get excited when they visit job sites, glimpse the inner workings of buildings, and begin to understand the processes.
“It’s exciting to come from a design mindset and go into the builder’s world,” said Jenkins.
Like the Catapult First-Year Experience, which has provided strong retention outcomes for six years and is the longest-running ENGAGED service, Summer TRACK uses a cohort model where students have a set group of peers.
“Evidence indicates students who take classes together develop a sense of belonging and have a built-in study community, which leads to better academic outcomes,” said Hennessey.
“It showed me there are people in the College of Engineering who are willing to support you and your career and your education.”
GIOVANNI WALLS engineering management sophomore
YYEARLONG INTERDISCIPLINARY capstone projects help sponsoring companies maintain a pipeline of talent and develop solutions while keeping UA Engineering students on track for successful careers.
Kral and fellow mechanical engineering student Ira Stokes were hoping to expand their knowledge across disciplines.
“A lot of the projects would require me to stretch outside my own realm and try something new,” said Stokes.
The Class of 2023, including online students, had choices aplenty. External companies and organizations – ranging from international businesses with thousands of employees to local startups and nonprofits – signed on to sponsor 54 of 72 projects.
Some companies were looking to move products toward commercialization.
LED Dental Wellness founder Judee Macias-Harris and her business partner, Shoshi Almog, enlisted a team to help create the next generation of LightBrush, a water-free oral cleaning device for people and pets.
“This really accelerates something that may have taken us years,” said Almog.
Early each fall at a program kickoff open house, hundreds of seniors are matched to projects that engage teams in solving real world problems.
“It’s probably the biggest deal of my whole college career,” said mechanical engineering senior Tyler Kral.
“It’s an exciting mix of different kinds of projects,” said Craig M. Berge Engineering Design Program director Larry Head.
Capstone projects, many with company representatives serving as team mentors, are part of the four-year Craig M. Berge Design Program that gives undergraduates hands-on experience.
Longtime sponsor Ball Aerospace tasked a team with developing an optical scatterometer that measures how light bounces off surfaces. Not only does the project address a critical systems need, but also the program is a recruitment tool for the company.
“We had someone from my team last year who was an intern, then we extended a full-time offer,” said Ian Carr, Ball optical engineer and UA Engineering alum.
AAN INTERDISCIPLINARY CAPSTONE team is working with construction and mining equipment company Caterpillar to solve a problem – the mirrors on their heavy machinery occasionally have distortions, meaning the operators do not have a clear, reliable view of their workspace.
“The team specifically chose the University of Arizona for this project due to the strength of its optical engineering and senior design capstone programs,” said project adviser Nitin Patel, a supervisor at Caterpillar and Wildcat alum who graduated in 2002 with a BS in mechanical engineering.
Team 23058 is working with Patel and faculty mentor Justin Hyatt to create a system that measures the distortion of side and rearview mirrors in less than 20
seconds using a laser grid. The student team plans to create a system that both the mirror supplier and Caterpillar can use during inspections.
The distortion occurs during the glass tempering process and cannot be fixed. While all curved mirrors naturally have some distortion, the company has stated that variation in distortion is unacceptable.
This is the third capstone project Patel has sponsored, providing a critical connection between industry and academia.
While this effort started as an intern project, Caterpillar brought the assignment to the expertise of UA Engineering to see the job through. This continues a longstanding
relationship between the UA and Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction equipment manufacturer.
The testing system must also be adaptable to multiple mirror sizes and shapes, and it needs to be usable during production and inspection.
“It brings me a lot of joy being able to work with students on real-world problems,” Patel said. “I enjoy being able to share what it is like to be an engineer and to help them think about their projects differently.”
GGREG BOYCE WAS accepted to two universities after he finished high school. But a springtime visit to Tucson made the UA an easy choice.
“I’ve never regretted making that decision,” said Boyce, who earned his bachelor’s degree in mining engineering in 1976 and went on to a 40-year career in global energy and mining.
university’s vision of the mining programs and the collaborative programs around mineral resources will become the best in the world.”
GREG BOYCE, mining engineering alumHe has led Rio Tinto Energy and Peabody Energy and served on the boards of directors for Monsanto, Marathon Oil, Newmont Mining and the Heard Museum. He met his wife Lisa, a 1978 business administration alum, at the University of Arizona.
With a $1.5 million gift and plans to give an additional $1 million, the couple has established the Gregory H. And Lisa S.
Boyce Endowed Department Leadership
Chair in Mining and Geological Engineering. Kray Luxbacher, former head of the Department of Mining and Minerals at Virginia Tech, joined the university in August 2022 as inaugural holder of the chair.
“Expanding and strengthening our mining and geological engineering program has been one of my top priorities since I joined the college in 2019, and I am thrilled that Greg and Lisa have decided to make such a generous contribution to that mission,” said David W. Hahn, the Craig M. Berge Dean of the College of Engineering. “Greg’s long and impactful career is a perfect testament to the value of a mining engineering education. We are proud to name this leadership chair after two such successful University of Arizona alumni.”
Today, Arizona produces threequarters of the nation’s copper. With headquarters for major mining companies based in Arizona –including Freeport-McMoRan and Hexagon Mining – nearly 50,000 jobs in the state are connected to mining in some way.
Boyce said he felt the time was right to make a gift because of the establishment of the university’s School of Mining and Mineral Resources in 2021. Co-administered by the College of Engineering and the College of Science, the school brings together students, professionals and communities from a range of disciplines to tackle industry challenges, with a particular focus on sustainability. The Arizona State Legislature provided $4 million in ongoing yearly funding for the school in fall 2021.
“Because the MGE department is so core to the mission of the new School of Mining and Mineral Resources, I felt we needed to ensure the longevity of strong leadership in that position,” said Boyce, a member of the American Mining Hall of Fame. “I believe the university’s vision of the mining programs and the collaborative programs around mineral resources will become the best in the world.”
“I believe the
TTHE UNIVERSITY HAS welcomed the largest, most diverse and best academically prepared incoming class in its history. Approximately 9,100 firstyear students started classes in fall 2022, a 7% increase over last year’s 8,483.
“Our industry partners are calling for more engineering graduates and greater diversity because it is well known that complex world challenges require the input of diverse groups of engineers,” said David W. Hahn, the Craig M. Berge Dean of the College of Engineering.
This university class sets a record for diversity, with 47% of first-year students self-identifying as ethnicities other than white, up from 45% last year. The university saw a 13.5% increase in enrollment for male students of color, helping to reverse a national trend of declining college enrollment among this population. Nearly 30% of the incoming class self-identified as first-generation college students.
largest and most diverse class this year,” said University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins. “This is a talented and driven group of students.”
The students represent all 50 states, with the highest numbers coming from Arizona, California, Washington, Colorado, Illinois and Texas. The class includes about 1,100 W.A. Franke Honors College students, 75 National Merit Scholars, 106 National Hispanic Scholars and 10 Flinn Scholars – the most of any university in the state.
“The University of Arizona is committed to being one of the most inclusive universities in the world.”
The most popular majors for this year’s class are pre-business, engineering, biology, physiology and medical sciences.
The College of Engineering welcomed 744 first-year students, an 18.1% increase over 2021.
This year’s class is the most academically prepared, with an average unweighted, core high school GPA of 3.67.
“The University of Arizona is committed to being one of the most inclusive universities in the world, and I am so excited to welcome our
ROBERT C. ROBBINS University of Arizona presidentAdditionally, the university welcomed at least 2,800 new transfer students, with about 1,200 enrolling in Arizona Online. The transfer student class is 53% students of color and 49.3% firstgeneration students.
EEMILY AGUILAR’S PARENTS encouraged her, from a young age, to attend college.
“They’ve been with me every step of the way, which is amazing. I’m so blessed with that,” Aguilar said.
When she chose aerospace engineering, her parents remained supportive, but they didn’t entirely understand what she would be doing. Then they discovered UA graduate Teti Gómez on YouTube while looking for videos about the field.
Gómez is originally from El Salvador, as are Aguilar’s parents. She led a research project sponsored by NASA before graduating in 2007 with an aerospace
engineering degree. Now Gómez is a commercial pilot and author as well as an engineer.
“They stumbled upon her and loved her. They said, ‘This could be your inspiration. Imagine if you turned out like her. That would be so cool,’” Aguilar said.
Aguilar does take inspiration from Gómez, who has thrived in a traditionally male-dominated field. Aguilar hopes she too can inspire others to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines. She started as a first-year student at the UA in fall 2022.
As the first in her family to attend college, Aguilar is already serving as a role model to her three younger siblings, including two foster brothers.
“They didn’t see college as an option before they came to us. Now, they’re doing amazing in school,” she said.
CCREATING AND STORING solar power is increasingly important as the United States moves toward its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering Erin Ratcliff is leading an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) to advance energy conversion and storage technologies using soft organic polymer electronic materials. The Department of Energy’s EFRCs bring together interdisciplinary teams to tackle the toughest scientific advances in energy technologies.
“I’ve wanted to lead an EFRC since back in 2009,” said Ratcliff, who joined the university as a postdoc in 2007 and collaborated on an EFRC led by her former adviser, Neal Armstrong. “I love team science, and I’m really excited about my team.”
Funded at $10.95 million over four years, the UA-based Center for Soft PhotoElectroChemical Systems (SPECS) will focus on the molecular-level science behind low-cost, highly scalable soft semiconductor technologies. These semiconductors will absorb light, create electricity, and use the electricity to drive electrochemical reactions and create chemicals called solar fuels – a
sustainable alternative to fossil fuels and batteries.
“Leading an EFRC is an outstanding achievement for faculty members at any stage in their careers, but this is particularly notable because Erin Ratcliff, who began at the university as a postdoc, is an associate professor,” said David W. Hahn, the Craig M. Berge Dean of the College of Engineering.
Durability and ‘Exquisite Control’
Most current energy storage and solar fuel formation technologies are made of hard, inorganic materials. But these materials are increasingly costly, and difficult to acquire and scale. At the molecular level, converting solar energy to electrical energy, and sometimes storing that energy for later use, involves a series of electron exchanges between molecules. SPECS will focus on using organic polymers – long chains of molecules that interact with one another at many points.
Unlike traditional, inorganic devices, which are formed by attaching individual atoms, their multitude of interacting points increases reliability by providing more potential pathways for a chemical reaction to follow. Ratcliff comapared a network of polymers to a bowl of
spaghetti, in which the strands overlap at many points. Even if the spaghetti shifts and one possible communication path is no longer an option, many other paths remain available.
The tunability provided by synthesis and processing, combined with the multitude of pathways in polymers, gives researchers what Ratcliff calls “exquisite control” over the polymers’ properties, or the ability to recalibrate materials to work exactly as needed under different conditions.
“The Department of Energy’s Energy Frontier Research Centers enable researchers to collaborate on bold, innovative solutions to address our nation’s need for sustainable energy technologies,” said Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell, UA senior vice president for research and innovation. “I want to congratulate Dr. Ratcliff on this major achievement, not only in leading the College of Engineering’s first EFRC, but, more importantly, in advancing the science and technology of solar fuel.”
SPECS team members include UA faculty Jean-Luc Bredas and Adam Printz, as well as experts from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and several partner universities.
A team of researchers is creating a regenerable method for removing stubborn toxins from drinking water.
UUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA and Northern Arizona University researchers are developing specialized, reusable sponges to remove a group of chemicals known as PFAS from water. The team, led by chemical and environmental engineering assistant professor Vicky Karanikola, has received $1.487 million from the Arizona Board of Regents, with $1.24 million allocated to the UA.
PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are long-lasting manufactured chemicals resistant to water, heat and grease. They have been used for decades in products ranging from makeup to nonstick pans and firefighting foam. But scientists now know exposure to PFAS can cause health problems such as decreased fertility, developmental delays in children and increased risk of some forms of cancer.
The durable quality that makes PFAS useful for many applications also renders them difficult to remove from the environment, and the chemicals have spread into water sources
throughout the world, including in Tucson.
“PFAS contamination is a critical issue in Arizona and beyond, and we are so proud that this team, largely made up of early-career faculty members, is leading this effort,” said University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins.
To remove PFAS from water, engineers need a material that adsorbs the contaminants, or that the PFAS stick to, so it can be drawn out of the water. One common method uses granulated activated carbon (GAC). PFAS stick to GAC quite well. A little too well, in fact. The tricky part is the unsticking. Getting the PFAS off the GAC so the carbon materials can be reused for another round of removal is difficult and expensive.
“The amount of energy you need to release [the PFAS] from GAC is huge,” Karanikola said. “The innovation of this project is that we’re focusing on a regenerable method: We want to break that barrier of just using something once and throwing it away.”
The team is developing specialized cellulose sponges that will soak up PFAScontaminated water then squeeze out clean water while the PFAS stay stuck. Afterwards, an extraction solution will remove the PFAS from the sponges so they can be used again.
Because there are thousands of PFAS, one important step in removal is detecting exactly what types are present. Suchol Savagatrup, project co-investigator and assistant professor in CHEE, is developing electrochemical sensors to selectively detect the presence of many kinds of PFAS. Other co-investigators include UA environmental science professor Mark Brusseau and Jani Ingram, a Northern Arizona University Regents Professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
The team will put its methods to the test with water from Pima County, Coconino County and locations on the Navajo Nation.
“In Arizona overall, and especially Tucson and Pima County, we are really on the forefront of trying to do something meaningful,” Karanikola said.
The 2022 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy
place the University of Arizona at No. 2 in the United States and No. 6 globally in water resources.
“Our university’s groundbreaking work in the field of water resources is a defining characteristic and an incredible source of pride,” said University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins. “Our expertise in the crucial areas of sustainability and climate resilience across a variety of academic disciplines will shape our current world and impact future generations to come.”
The university has ranked in the top 10 globally since 2017 when ShanghaiRanking began evaluating water resources programs.
“By leveraging both our unparalleled research expertise and our natural surroundings, the University of Arizona is committed to solving water-related challenges and creating a brighter, more resilient future for all,” said Elizabeth ”Betsy” Cantwell, UA senior vice president for research and innovation.
FFOR IAN JACKSON and his team of largely UA graduates, it’s all about pressure. Relieving pressure, that is.
As a senior in 2018, Jackson was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle on University Boulevard in Tucson. Extensive injuries from the crash had doctors discussing amputation. But Jackson’s mentor, orthopedic surgeon and biomedical engineering professor Dr. Daniel Latt, helped reconstruct his foot instead.
Jackson’s experiences in the hospital, including suffering a bedsore on his heel, inspired him to found Jackson Medical Solutions in 2019, the year he graduated with a BS in biomedical engineering.
Bedsores, also called pressure ulcers, affect the skin and underlying tissue
of areas of the body under continuous pressure, particularly for bed- and chair-bound patients.
The company – for which Jackson has pulled many of his staff of five full-time employees and eight interns from the UA – creates sensing technologies for patient monitoring and treatment, starting with the OracleTM, an adjustable smart bed. The technology identifies vulnerable regions of the body, assigns risk and relieves pressure from bedsores.
“It’s the only system in the world that can actively know where a bedsore is and then compensate for it and treat it in real time,” said Jackson, who estimates the product will be on the market in a year or so.
Jackson Medical Solutions relocated to Phoenix in
May 2022 and continues to develop software to predict a number of conditions and stop them before they occur.
To help develop product concepts, Jackson Medical has sponsored two College of Engineering Interdisciplinary Capstone projects and is currently sponsoring a third.
TThe University of Arizona is ranked No. 28 worldwide among universities with the most U.S. patents granted for inventions in 2021, according to the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association.
The calendar year 2021 rankings were released in September 2022. Last year, the university had 86 patents issued, five more than in 2020. In 2018, the
university ranked No. 66, then rose to No. 39 in 2019, and to No. 28 in 2020.
“Our incredible progress and success with patented inventions points to the real-world impact generated by University of Arizona research,” said University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins. “It is a thrill to see our talented researchers translating their work into inventions and innovations that make a real, meaningful
difference for people across the globe.”
Of all university patents in the most recent fiscal year, 22% were issued to College of Engineering faculty and their collaborators. Their inventions included a quantum computing advance, a new construction material and biomedical devices.
Jennifer Barton, who is the Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair in
“I really believe in the capstone program,” said Jackson, whose own senior project was interrupted by the crash. “The biomedical engineering program at the UA is astronomically better than any other engineering program I’ve ever encountered. It’s in an entirely different galaxy.”
biomedical engineering and director of the BIO5 Institute, collaborated to create and patent the falloposcope, a device small enough to image the fallopian tubes – narrow ducts connecting the uterus to the ovaries – and search for signs of early-stage cancer. Barton is working with Tech Launch Arizona, the UA office that commercializes inventions stemming from university research, on strategies to eventually bring the falloposcope to market.
A concept developed by University of Arizona aerospace experts and a NASA planetary scientist takes inspiration from albatross flight to learn more about the Red Planet.
EEIGHT ACTIVE spacecraft, including three operated by NASA, orbit Mars, gathering low-resolution imagery of the planet’s surface. Three rovers traverse the ground, mapping small areas of the planet with greater precision. But what lies in the hundreds of kilometers between the rovers and the orbiters –including atmospheric climate processes and geological features like volcanoes and canyons – is often of most interest to planetary scientists.
“This is where all the exchanges between the surface and atmosphere happen,” said Alexandre Kling, a research scientist in NASA’s Mars Climate Modeling Center. “This is where the dust is picked up and sent into the atmosphere, where trace gases are mixed, where the modulation of largescale winds by mountain-valley flows happen. And we just don’t have very much data about it.”
Kling is partnering with a team of University of Arizona engineers aiming to fill this data gap by designing a sailplane that can soar over the Martian surface for days at a time using only wind energy. Equipped with flight, temperature and gas sensors as well as cameras, the sailplanes would weigh only 11 pounds each.
The Flight of the Albatross Flight on Mars is challenging due to the planet’s thin atmosphere, and this is not the first team to try addressing it. Most notably, NASA’s Ingenuity is a 4-pound helicopter that landed in Mars’ Jezero Crater in 2021. The solar-charged vehicle is the first device to test powered, controlled flight on another planet. But it can fly for only three minutes at a time, and it reaches heights of just 12 meters.
“These other technologies have all been very limited by energy,” said Adrien Bouskela, an aerospace engineering doctoral student in UA professor
Sergey Shkarayev’s Micro Air Vehicles Laboratory. “What we’re proposing is just using the energy in situ. It’s kind of a leap forward in those methods of extending missions. Because the main question is: How can you ‘fly for free?’”
Lightweight, low-cost, wind-powered sailplanes may be the answer. The planes, which have a wingspan of about 11 feet, will use several flight
author Jekan Thanga, UA associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering.
methods, including simple static soaring when sufficient vertical winds are present. But they can also use a technique called dynamic soaring, which, like an albatross on a long journey, takes advantage of how horizontal wind speed often increases with altitude – a phenomenon particularly common on Mars.
Dynamic soaring looks something like the S-shaped pattern skiers use to control their descent down a mountain. However, every time the sailplane changes directions, it also begins changing altitude – and rather than slow the sailplane down, the maneuver helps it gain speed. The planes fly at a slight upward angle into the slow-moving, low-altitude wind. When they reach the faster, high-altitude wind, they turn 180 degrees and let the high-speed wind power them forward at a slight downward angle. When they start to run out of energy from the high-speed wind, they repeat the process, weaving their way forward on a path more or less diagonal to the wind. With this nimble maneuvering, the sailplanes can continually harvest energy from the atmosphere, flying for hours or even days at a time. This is flying for free.
“It’s almost something you have to see to believe,” said paper co-
The team proposes sending the sailplanes to Mars as a secondary payload on a larger mission, which, according to Kling, means the mission could come to fruition relatively quickly. Thanga is examining how to deploy the sailplanes from the spacecraft into the atmosphere. On the spacecraft, the sailplanes will be packaged in CubeSats, miniature satellites not much larger than a phonebook. Once the CubeSats are launched and the planes released, the planes would either unfold, like origami, or inflate, like high-tech pool floaties, and rigidize at their full size.
Each Mars sailplane that retires from flying – whether it completed its exploration as planned or something went wrong – will continue relaying atmospheric information back to the spacecraft, essentially acting as a weather station.
“If
Bouskela said. “From the planetary science perspective, the mission continues.”
we run out of flight energy, or if our inertial sensors suddenly fail for whatever reason, we expect to then keep doing science,”
“It’s almost something you have to see to believe.”
JEKAN THANGA, associate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineeringDoctoral student Adrien Bouskela (left) and professor Sergey Shkarayev display a sailplane like the one they hope to send to Mars.
CCOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING alumni and friends kicked off Homecoming on Oct. 28 at the annual Engineers Breakfast. Graduate Mark Chalmers and student Ainsley Limesand shared their perspectives on the University of Arizona engineering experience. David W. Hahn, the Craig M. Berge Dean, provided a college update before recognizing alumni awardees who are shining lights in diverse fields.
Chalmers, a third-generation Wildcat who graduated in 1980 with a BS in mining engineering, is the president and CEO of Energy Fuels.
In both his keynote and the Lacy Lecture later in the day, Chalmers spoke about the state of mining in the United States and globally.
The need for specialty materials and elements is growing quickly, he said. Many of these elements presently come from China and Russia, but Energy Fuels is working to bring mining of such materials to the U.S.
Chalmers sees opportunities for students to work in the burgeoning field: “They need to start looking at finding those elements, extracting them, processing them, and putting them into appliances.”
The Student Experience: Finding a Home Limesand, a systems engineering student and president of the Engineering Student Council, began her studies in fall 2020. She took on the leadership role at a time when she and her classmates were resuming in-person activities following the pandemic.
Limesand planned spring 2022 Engineers Week, a weeklong celebration of the profession. It brought her joy to help her classmates re-establish community after the pandemic.
“For many of us, it was one of the first moments when we could identify the College of Engineering as our home,” she told the audience. “I hope your
time coming back home is filled with fond memories of the past and pleasant surprises of the future we are creating.”
“The only thing better than looking out at a sea of Wildcats is looking out at a sea of Wildcat engineers,” began Dean Hahn as he provided an update on how alumni and other partners are
“There is so much diversity in the engineering field that no two career pathways have to be the same.”
MEGAN MCGOVERN Young Professional Achievement Award WinnerWildcat fans enjoy the engineering tailgate prior to the Homecoming game. Keynote speaker Mark Chalmers
helping the college progress toward its growth goals. “Everything is taking shape, and the support of this group has been amazing.”
Year-over-year growth percentages were 18% for first-year students and 19% for research expenditures. Achievement of these goals will move the college up in rankings and productivity among its peers, Hahn said.
Hahn also announced that the college will soon offer three new BS options. First, the school will offer a biomedical engineering degree at the Phoenix Bioscience Core and a software engineering program at the university’s Chandler location. And on the main campus, the college is working toward offering a computer science and engineering degree.
Mike
HummelBS electrical engineering, 1982 Hummel is Salt River Project’s general manager and CEO. A third-generation Wildcat, Hummel remains connected to the college and the university through volunteer leadership and engagement opportunities.
“We’re facing a lot of serious issues as an industry and a society. It won’t be today’s minds and leaders that solve those problems; it will be those individuals coming out of colleges and universities now.”
BS electrical engineering, 1978 Baker is the founder of CheckMark Consulting, Inc. and an innovator in the mining industry. At the UA, Baker is a commercialization partner with Tech Launch Arizona and a volunteer leader for engineering organizations.
“Passing on the knowledge one gains throughout one’s career helps the succeeding generations focus on current problems without getting dragged down with issues that have already been solved.”
BS mechanical engineering, 1982
For more than two decades, Rich, general manager and vice president of Intertec Engineering, has been a partner to the college and its Craig M. Berge Engineering Design Program. Additionally, he serves on the College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Board.
“My contributions to the college and the senior design program represent my way of supporting something that I believe in and paying forward to the next generation of engineers.”
MS biomedical engineering, 2013
McGovern has navigated the compliance and assurance space over the last decade at multiple companies. She also co-founded global company AZ Technica LLC, a firm that provides regulatory expertise to medical companies, in 2020.
McGovern is dedicated to supporting women in science and engineering. Her best advice to students and recent graduates is to remain open to different career opportunities: “There is so much diversity in the engineering field that no two career pathways have to be the same.”
AAROUND 600 FIRST-YEAR students took on their first team engineering projects at this year’s Solar Oven Throw Down. Concurrently, the college celebrated 10 years in partnership with sponsor W.L. Gore and Associates.
Students form groups of around five and collectively choose everything about their ovens – dimensions, insulation material, even aesthetics.
For Lucia Alday, a member of the Sunstoppables team, the first time working in
competition. Each team’s and class’ PI is calculated by dividing the temperature achieved by the cost of materials. The award for highest PI achieved by a team went to the class section taught by Umar Amjad, lead instructor for ENGR 102. Professor of Practice Cac Dao’s class won highest average temperature at 339 degrees Fahrenheit and the “all in the same boat” teamwork award from Gore.
the College of Engineering has been very successful at Gore. They prove to be selfmotivated and hold up to the culture and the standards that Gore promises. I commend the college for helping prepare students well for industry,” she said.
The annual college competition and event is an effective introduction to experiential education, said Byron Hempel, assistant professor of practice.
“It’s fun and cool to give students hands-on experience,” he said. “It gets gears turning and gets freshmen excited for the next three years.”
a group as an engineering student was reassuring.
“I feel better about doing the next design project, especially in a group. It wouldn’t say it was easy, but it was straightforward,” she said.
The oven competition holistically combines mathematical modeling with mastery of scientific concepts, said Kenneth George, an adjunct lecturer.
“The whole picture is new to them,” he said.
George’s class won the overall Throw Down award by achieving the highest average performance index for all teams in the
While each oven must cost less than $20 to produce, with hundreds of College of Engineering students, as well as high school students in the ENGR 102 High School program, participating, sponsorship is vital to the effort. This was the 10th year for Gore to sponsor the Solar Oven Throw Down.
“We love being a sponsor for this event, and we will continue to because it’s been so successful,” said Valerie Shulby, a 2019 systems engineering graduate and Gore IT technical analyst. The company supports several college initiatives, as the partnership gives Gore associates the opportunity to recruit new hires, Shulby said.
“Every single person we’ve recruited from
While heavy recruitment is more typical at events such as career fairs, attending the Solar Oven Throw Down gave Shulby and her Gore colleagues, also alumni, a chance to start talking casually with students. Being on the University of Arizona Mall also caused Shulby to reflect on the high quality of her own education while also appreciating continual improvement initiatives.
“Coming back, it’s great seeing the college trying to advance to be one of these top schools,” she said.
“I commend the college for helping prepare students well for industry.”VALERIE SHULBY alum and
Gore recruiterHundreds of students built solar ovens out of everyday materials like cardboard and duct tape, later testing them on the UA Mall. The students’ solar ovens reached temperatures ranging from 212 to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
SRP sponsorship extends the Wildcat alumni connection.
AAS THE SMOKE cleared from the Solar Oven Throw Down, first-year students teamed up again for another hands-on project as part of the Craig M. Berge Engineering Design Program. For the college’s new Solar Track Meet,
Campbell, the organization’s senior director of distribution and technology operations.
“The program is very appealing given the experiential learning aspects of hands-on projects and the opportunity for practical application of learned knowledge,” said Campbell, who serves on the college’s Dean’s Advisory Board.
For Hesse, completing two design projects in her first semester has been her favorite part of joining the college. Her teammate Tatum Abbruscato agreed, saying: “It feels like being an engineer when you get to have your hands on a circuit.”
Taking on this subject matter is confidence-building and relevant for the students, Amjad said.
college’s Alumnus of the Year at Homecoming 2022. Sponsorship and engagement help SRP develop and recruit its future workforce.
students became certified in 3D printing and built autonomous trackers that follow the sun’s movements to maximize collection of solar energy.
“The first semester is designheavy. We give students these opportunities as soon as they walk into the university,” said Umar Amjad, lead instructor for the ENGR 102 classes required for incoming students. Each class held its own meet.
Salt River Project sponsored the initiative as part of its partnership with the college, which also includes sponsorship of student clubs and Craig M. Berge Design Day.
The instructional style appeals to SRP, said Chris
The project began with students learning to 3D print supporting components for their trackers. Each student had to pass a certification class at CATalyst Studios in the University of Arizona Main Library.
The certification will serve students beyond the Solar Track Meet and even outside school, said Amjad.
“This is recognition when they apply for internships or jobs that they have real experience designing something on a computer and physically printing it.”
Student Brooke Hesse is pleased she learned the skill early in her time at the College of Engineering.
“It’s a cool skill to have, engineer or not. It could be beneficial in a lot of different aspects,” she said.
“Whatever these students do in the future, it’s beneficial for them to learn this now. Autonomous systems are the future,” he said.
SRP is interested in continuing the long history of UA engineering alumni working at SRP, said Campbell. SRP’s general manager and CEO, Mike Hummel, was named the
“Supporting the university and the Solar Tracker project is definitely worth the investment,” said Employee Experience Manager Vy Kieu. “Recruiting skilled workers will always be challenging, but being able to engage with students early in their college career is an important strategy to developing a thriving workforce at SRP.”
“It feels like being an engineer when you get to have your hands on a circuit.”
TATUM ABBRUSCATO first-year studentStudents test their solar tracker at an individual class meet. Tatum Abbruscato, Brooke Hesse and William Bornmann show off the autonomous tracker they built to follow the sun’s movements and maximize solar energy collection.
WWYATT PENA EARNED his engineering management BS in 2017. He serves as director of operations at Ridgetop Group, an engineering firm providing products and technology for
aerospace, defense, transportation, energy and industrial applications. The company is sponsoring its second Interdisciplinary Capstone project this year.
Tell us about the capstone project you did when you were a student. My project was sponsored by Caterpillar shortly after they made Tucson their new regional headquarters. We designed and developed a ruggedized multifrequency antenna mast system (AMS) for Caterpillar’s 793F large mining truck.
With guidance and support from our mentor, Steve Larimore, and the invaluable structure of the capstone program, we created a solution that was safe, cost-effective, and designed to enable more robust communication of GPS information, multifrequency radios, and critical telemetry data for Caterpillar’s large mining trucks that are in service worldwide.
What were some of the most rewarding moments of being a program adviser? The team came together to overcome design challenges and continue making progress with the fast-paced coursework. Their impressive persistence and commitment reminded me of my senior design team back in 2017, and I was able to relate to their challenges and provide guidance based on my experiences.
The next rewarding moment was witnessing the culmination of all their hard work at Craig M. Berge Design Day. I was extremely impressed with the team’s confidence and professionalism when they demonstrated their prototype energy harvesting system, and I look forward to staying in touch with each of them as they start their journeys in industry or graduate school.
A team composed of civil and architectural engineering students won the 2022 National Design Build Student Competition.
L-Rej Awit, Arsenio Figo, Grant Hoffman, Aria Mascall and Helena Zikov, known as the Cardinal Design-Build team, bested 21 other teams from around the nation in a two-phase competition culminating at the November 2022 Design-Build Conference and Expo in Las Vegas.
The competition format is based on a true procurement process, said Professor of Practice Dean Papajohn, who is faculty adviser for the DBIA-UA Chapter. Industry partners encouraged Papajohn to establish the chapter when he joined the faculty in 2015. Design and construction professionals recognize the DBIA competition as a premier student event, he said.
Cardinal Design-Build first responded to a Request for Qualifications, then a Request
for Proposals for a parking facility with classrooms and recreation spaces on a college campus in Michigan.
Hoffman estimates the team members spent a combined total of at least 1,000 hours on the project since the start of the fall semester. He found the victory to be an important boost at a time when he’s preparing to graduate and begin his career at Sundt Construction.
“I’ve helped prove to myself that my goals are achievable, no matter how farfetched they seem. While I knew we had the team and capability to win, it’s still hard to picture that happening
sometimes, and having that payoff is worth every bit of time.”
The competition experience was just as valuable as an internship, Hoffman said.
“Taking advantage of the opportunities we have is so important. When that work pays off, it feels absolutely amazing.”
GLOBAL DEMAND FOR software engineers is exploding. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 10year growth for this career at a remarkable 22%.
“There is an increasing need for software engineers as the world becomes more connected and technological advances continue to rely heavily on software to deliver the functionality that has become an integral part of modern lifestyles,” said Sharon ONeal, professor of practice and director of the newest undergraduate degree program in the College of Engineering.
Software engineers are developing the technology to advance economies, keep nations safe, build smart cities, automate manufacturing, treat and cure diseases, and explore and command space.
is jointly administered by the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Systems and Industrial Engineering.
Industry has been involved in the degree program from the early days of curriculum planning and continues to play an instrumental advisory role. ONeal brought to the table more than 35 years of experience with Raytheon Technologies, including as software engineering director charged with overseeing more than 550 employees.
reason courses are highly relevant to modern software engineering practices.
“Throughout their four years in the undergraduate program, students are immersed in real-world projects that use tools and practices mimicking what students will encounter in their careers,” ONeal said.
cybersecurity systems and launch vehicles, including for missions to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.
Richardo Alonso Larez, a firstgeneration college student and junior in the software engineering program, said the combination of industry perspective and applied learning prepared him for his recent internship with Snap Inc.’s engineering security team in Santa Monica, California.
Larez is part of Snap Inc.’s SnapCats program, which will continue this summer with the company hiring 10 UA student interns.
“Software engineers are some of the most highly soughtafter career professionals today,” added ONeal.
Now in its second year, the software engineering, program
In addition to Raytheon, several companies and organizations – Hill Air Force Base, Intel, Jet Propulsion Lab, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman Corp., Oakridge National Labs, Sandia National Labs, Snap Inc. and UA Data Science Institute –have supported the program. They are all involved for much the same reason: to ensure students are well prepared for the workforce.
The built-in industry perspective is one big
Longtime industry partner Northrop Grumman sponsors the college’s capstone projects, supports job fairs and hires about 100 interns each year, some from UA Engineering, to work at the company’s launch vehicle business in Chandler, Arizona.
“By understanding industry while learning the building blocks of software engineering, students are set up for opportunities to excel in their careers right from the start,” said Mark Hansen, director of software engineering with Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems.
Software engineers at Northrop Grumman design, develop, build and support aircraft, spacecraft,
Proper software development takes much more than working code, he said. It also includes documentation and engineering discipline with an eye to the future. Aspects such as the industry’s needs and code security must also be considered.
“The internal access control system I worked on helped a large tech company make tangible changes to its engineering processes,” said Larez, whose academic emphasis is on cybersecurity.
“Students are set up for opportunities to excel in their careers right from the start.”
MARK HANSEN, Northrop Grumman director of software engineeringSharon ONeal, director of software engineering
TTHE FALL SEMESTER boasts a large class of new faculty, who bring industry insights and a broad range of research expertise.
“Each one of these new faculty has post-PhD experience, bringing in our most collectively experienced cohort,” said Kathleen Melde, associate dean of faculty affairs and inclusion and professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Mohammad Abu Matar - ECE / Software Engineering
Abu Matar holds a PhD in software engineering from George Mason University and has worked in industry for many years. He has also worked as a senior researcher at Khalifa University, a consulting dean at the Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair School of Advanced Computing, and director of the MS in Software Engineering Program at Regis University.
Tejo Bheemasetti - CAEM
Bheemasetti completed his PhD in civil engineering and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has also worked as an assistant professor at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
Wooyoung Jung - CAEM
Jung earned his PhD in civil engineering from Virginia Tech, then worked as a postdoctoral research associate and a research engineer at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. His research is focused on cognitive and adaptive buildings.
Kray Luxbacher - Gregory H. and Lisa S. Boyce Leadership Chair of MGE
Luxbacher earned her PhD in mining engineering from Virginia Tech and went on to serve as a faculty member and head of the Department of Mining and Minerals at the same university. Her research is focused on atmospheric monitoring, ventilation system characterization and mine risk analysis.
After completing his PhD at Carnegie Mellon, Mahalanobis went on to work in both industry and academia, including at the UA, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. He researches image and signal processing.
Mashayek earned his PhD in mechanical engineering at State University of New York at Buffalo. He was head of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago for over a decade, where he led efforts to double the size of the faculty, increase undergraduate enrollment by 85% and grow graduate enrollment by 120%.
Zafer Mutlu - MSE
Mutlu completed a PhD and postdoc in materials science and engineering at the University of California, Riverside. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and a research affiliate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
After earning his PhD in electrical engineering from Duke University in 2020, Rengaswamy became a postdoctoral researcher in ECE. His research focuses on using classical and quantum error correction techniques.
Saldana Jimenez holds a computer science PhD from the University of Tijuana. She has worked as the program director for computer engineering at the Autonomous University of Baja California, a professor at Arizona Western College, and a researcher in the UA College of Applied Science and Technology.
Soheil Salehi - ECE
Salehi earned his PhD in computer engineering from the University of Central Florida, then worked as a postdoctoral researcher and NSF-sponsored Computing Innovation Fellow at the University of California, Davis. He researches the use of AI to secure Internet of Things sensing and computing hardware.
Pratik Satam – SIE / Software Engineering
Satam received his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from the UA and has worked as a research assistant professor in the department for three years. His research is centered on computers and computer networks, the Internet of Things and cyberphysical systems.
Monica Titus - CHEE
Titus joins the university as an associate professor of practice after earning a PhD in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley and working in industry for several years. She completed her undergraduate degrees at the UA.
Michael Wu - ECE Department Head
Wu, who has a computer science PhD from SUNY Buffalo, spent the last six years as the Batten Chair of Cybersecurity and director of the School of Cybersecurity at Old Dominion University. He expanded the size of the program from 11 students to nearly 1,000 – 60% of whom are from underrepresented minority backgrounds.
Yurkiv, who holds a PhD in scientific computing and material science at Heidelberg University, has worked for the German Aerospace Center and the University of Illinois Chicago. He researches multi-physics modeling and machine learning calculation of energy storage and conversion technologies.
Zhang earned a PhD in architectural engineering from Drexel University and worked as a research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. His research centers on energy efficiency and sustainability.
Danella Zhao - ECE
Zhao completed her PhD in computer science and engineering at the University of Buffalo. She has worked as a Lockheed Martin Corporation/BORSF Endowed Associate Professor at the Center for Advanced Computer Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, as well as graduate program director and associate professor of computer science at Old Dominion University.
More than 20,000 U.S. adults over 65 die as a result of falls every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – and that number is increasing.
Electrical and computer engineering assistant professor Siyang Cao is working with a precise form of radar to help lower that number and better understand who is at risk of these deadly accidents.
For his work, the National Institutes of Health recently granted Cao a Trailblazer Award, which provides funding to new and earlystage scientists for research at the crossroads of life sciences and engineering.
A relative of Cao’s was negatively affected by a fall, he said.
“She had walkers and someone caring for her, but still she fell to the floor without being noticed by anyone for hours. This motivated me to think if technology can do something
to improve quality of life in a way people can accept.”
Cao and his research group are the first to use mmWave radar with advanced machine learning techniques to detect human behaviors in real time. This special type of radar allows researchers to capture multiple points of focus, such as human limbs or torsos.
The award funds a threeyear, $580,000 study to understand three questions: How well can the mmWave radar estimate fall risks for people? How well can the mmWave radar determine
The Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) selected associate professor Angelina Anani to receive the 2022 FreeportMcMoRan, Inc. Academic Career Development Grant. Anani will be awarded $300,000 over three years to support her efforts to achieve tenure and promotion.
Anani joined the mining and geological engineering faculty in January 2022 following four years as an assistant professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She earned a bachelor’s and a doctoral degree in mining engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
“We are fortunate professor Anani has joined our
department. She has demonstrated immense potential to impact how mining will be carried out in the future,” said Moe Momayez, the former David and Edith Lowell Chair in Mining and Geological Engineering.
Anani said she was drawn to the UA in part because industry partners here are open to providing data for research efforts, as well as funding. The mining industry faces a shortage of engineers, and she appreciates addressing the situation with a forwardlooking partnership.
“We need professors who can succeed and expand these programs. That will produce the workforce they
need, and it’s nice they recognize that,” she said.
Anani will also use the grant funds, in part, to enrich her teaching and MGE’s technological capacity. She plans to teach with a virtual and augmented reality digital twin simulation of the University of Arizona San Xavier Underground Mining Laboratory and the land that surrounds it.
“We want to create a virtual environment that gives students a better
falling? And how well can senior citizens with falling risks accept the new technology?
“This award is important in that it requires Dr. Cao to work with health care practitioners to refine the system to be adopted and used by patients,” said ECE professor and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Inclusion Kathleen Melde.
The study will be conducted in collaboration with the BIO5 Institute, the Arizona Center on Aging and local nursing care facilities.
understanding of what mining really is. That will prepare them better for the industry,” said Anani.
DARPA selects a team of Arizona researchers to advance communication abilities between groups of satellites in low-Earth orbit.
DDOZENS OF satellite constellations are orbiting the Earth, providing capabilities such as GPS, internet, satellite radio and communications. They each use their own algorithms and programming languages to communicate with other satellites inside the same constellation.
A multi-university team of Arizona researchers is developing technologies that will enable different satellite constellations to communicate with each other. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has selected 11 groups for its Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node, or Space-BACN, program. This team, led by Daniel Bliss at Arizona State University, is the only academic group. In tandem, the researchers launched a startup company that received $250,000 in support through the DARPA Embedded Entrepreneurship Initiative.
Ali Akoglu, professor of electrical and computer engineering and the BIO5 Institute, leads the UA portion of the grant, which is about $850,000.
together all the data and then process it,” Akoglu said. “It could be different satellites built by different entities and they use only certain communication protocols. Now how can we enable them to talk to each other?”
This project builds off an earlier DARPA project, in which the same team worked to develop a domain-focused advanced software-reconfigurable heterogeneous system on a chip, or DASH-SoC. It can be time- and resource-intensive for computer scientists to adapt software algorithms to work on specific types of hardware. So, DASH-SoC focused on automating that process, allowing users to program a device even if they don’t know what’s “under the hood.”
Space radiation is one cause of bit flips. “Imagine the bit flip occurs on the brain of the system doing the resource management, determining which tasks should run when, and in which order,” Akoglu said. “What if one bit of information, indicating either 0 or 1, that an accelerator is available or not, gets flipped? Your resource management will go out of control.”
“These satellites are all doing some form of sensing and detection, and if you want to make a collective decision about the situation, you need to be able to fuse
These reconfigurable chips have many applications, but this effort will adapt the technology for space, which comes with plenty of challenges. For instance, computers operate using strands of 0s and 1s, and in an occurrence called a bit flip, a piece of information changes from 0 to 1, or vice versa, making it incorrect.
The team is also developing a new startup company, Dash Tech Integrated Circuits. They collaborated with Tech Launch Arizona, the university office in charge of commercialization, to obtain two patents related to this work. While some platforms on the market do the work of mapping some software to hardware, this is the first to offer so much flexibility.
Akoglu looks forward to the technology helping colleagues in computer science and several areas of engineering, from mechanical engineers working in fluid dynamics to biosystems engineers monitoring crop health.
NNASA RELEASED THE first images and spectra captured by the James Webb Telescope in July. The images hint at the beginning of a new era in space science, which will be made possible in part by the 21 UA researchers who have played a role in developing and managing the instruments onboard.
Astronomers around the world now have their chance to observe anything from objects in our solar system to the early universe, using Webb’s four instruments. These include the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), which serves as the telescope’s short wavelength imager and is led by principal investigator and UA Regents Professor of Astronomy Marcia Rieke.
George Rieke, Marcia’s husband and also a Regents Professor of Astronomy at the UA’s Steward Observatory, serves as science team lead for the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which will observe the universe at longer wavelengths.
stacked or compared to learn more about the composition or structure of their targets.
The release of the images and spectra reveal the range of capabilities of all four of Webb’s state-of-the-art scientific instruments, and they confirm that
particular science questions. Marcia Rieke said the questions she’s most excited to investigate include how the first galaxies came together to create something like our own Milky Way and if we can find an exoplanet with an Earthlike atmosphere.
GEORGE RIEKE, Regents Professor of AstronomyNIRCam and MIRI played a role in creating several of the images released. Since these instruments and the others onboard operate to detect different wavelengths of light, the images can be
future observations will revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos and our own origins.
These and future images will be mined for answers to
George Rieke said some of the objects he’s most excited to study with the powerful MIRI instrument are quasars, which are supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies that create bright jets of light as they consume the surrounding gas.
“MIRI and all of Webb’s other instruments are ushering humanity into new scientific territory, and that’s super exciting,” he said.
“MIRI and all of Webb’s other instruments are ushering humanity into new scientific territory, and that’s super exciting.”
Jodi Elizabeth Kreiner, BS/ChE 2021, is living in Inglewood, CA and working for Northrop Grumman. Her current projects involve novel research, design and manufacturing of high-power directed energy systems. Kreiner is also pursuing an online MS in optical engineering from the UA.
Jason Keatseangsilp, BS/BME 2017, played in this year’s US Open Tennis Championships in the men’s wheelchair event. “[It’s] an absolute dream and honor to play in a Grand Slam,” he said. “It is surreal that I will be competing in my first Grand Slam after becoming paralyzed in 2011 and playing my first wheelchair tennis tournament five years ago.”
Carlos Chang, PhD/BME 2008, co-wrote a chapter in the recently published book “3D Bioprinting Aboard the International Space Station Using the Techshot BioFabrication Facility.”
John Harris, BS/CE 2007, has been the municipal utilities and engineering director for the city of Redlands, California, since 2020. He oversees the engineering and construction of capital improvement program projects, the
collection and treatment of wastewater, and the treatment and distribution of potable, non-potable and recycled water. Harris manages the city’s water rights and entitlements.
Alexander Jehle, BS/AE+ME 2006, was sworn into the U.S. Space Force in front of Old Main in August by his father, Paul Jehle, also a UA alum. Alexander is serving at the Los Angeles Air Force Base in the Space System Command, where he hopes to work on the future of in-space sustainment. He has held positions in the U.S. Army and at NASA and recently completed a PhD in space resources at the Colorado School of Mines.
Samuel Sadoulet, MS/OptE 2003, has been named CEO of Edmund Optics. Sadoulet has 25 years of tenure at Edmund Optics, with technical expertise in physics and optical sciences. In addition to his technical background, he has held several operational roles and helped Edmund Optics attain its reputation as a leader in customer service and technical solutions, serving most recently as president and chief operating officer.
Jeremy Tyler, BS/AE 2005, helped design the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which was the latest recipient of the National Aeronautic Association’s Collier Award. Tyler works for AeroVironment in Simi Valley, California, the company that secured a JPL contract for the Martian drone.
Stacy Kubicek, BS/CompE 2003, is the vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Space’s Mission Solutions business in the Washington, D.C. area. Kubicek leads a team focused on space-based program solutions. She also oversees efforts to deliver 5G, artificial intelligence, machine learning, joint all-domain operations and other advanced technologies and capabilities to the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.
Gabe Authier, BS/SE 1999, was named chief product officer for Industrial Defender, a leader in operational technology cybersecurity solutions. Authier has over 20 years of experience in product management and information technology and previously held product management roles at Tripwire and Belden.
Eric Eskioglu, BS/ ME 1989, a health care executive neurosurgeon, was recently honored with two industry awards. Modern Healthcare named him as both one of 2022’s 50 most influential clinical executives and a top 25 innovator. “My engineering background truly helps me navigate the complexities of health care with an analytical approach,” Eskioglu said.
Richard Steiner, BS/CE 1989, has moved to Concord, in California’s East Bay, to start a new position with the City of Concord’s engineering division. He and his wife Anne Steiner relocated from New Jersey, where Richard enjoyed a 25-year career. “The value of my civil engineering education continues to yield benefit to this day,” he said.
Anthony Mulligan, BS/ME 1988, is the president and CEO of Hydronalix Inc., a Green Valley, Arizona company that recently received a $9.1 million order
Brian Zacher wrote to say that the interested student shown at left was him. The person to the right, according to Jim Cannon, was likely the Aerocar’s owner, famed enthusiast and technician Ed Sweeney. Sadly, “I was not able to weasel a flight out of him,” Zacher wrote.
Zacher earned a BS in EE, followed by a PhD in physical chemistry. He is now an assistant professor of practice in chemistry at the UA.
from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division for a variety of small uncrewed aerial vehicles and surface vessels.
Dennece McKelvy, BS/ME 1986, has earned a business team coaching certification from the International Coaching Federation. McKelvy is the founder of Intuitive Directions in Phoenix and has more than
25 years of leadership experience, including general, operations and program management.
Michael Laspisa, BS/EE 1983, has designed and built a custom home recording studio. Laspisa has always been interested in the music recording industry and its equipment. He has played drums since the age of 12 and by 14 learned guitar and bass guitar, as well as many other percussion instruments. For his senior project at the UA, he
designed a single input channel of a studio audio mixer using discrete op amps. “Thanks, U of A, for the excellent education and memories,” he said.
Tom Capron, who earned a BS in metallurgical engineering in 1973, is now retired. He worked as a senior research engineer and superintendent at various mining companies that processed silver, copper, bauxite, borax, molybdenite and tungsten. His final eight years in the industry, he worked for the federal government as a mine inspector for safety and health.
EACH YEAR, WE are thrilled to welcome our alumni back to campus for Homecoming, starting with the annual Engineers Breakfast, for an invigorating start to a busy Homecoming weekend. This year felt both new and familiar, as we saw many of our dear friends from years past and got to meet plenty of first-time participants. The breakfast was a large gathering of more than 300 alumni and friends that felt intimate because of our shared history.
It was especially nice to welcome the many corporate sponsored tables at the breakfast and to meet with the company representatives – many of whom are UA Engineering alumni. Breakfast table sponsors included CBM, Hydronalix, McCarthy, Rainbird, Raytheon Missiles & Defense, the Salt River Project (SRP), SmithGroup and Sargent Aerospace & Defense.
Of course, participating at college events is just one of the many ways industry partners featured in this publication engage with the college. For instance, we are thankful to companies who offer donation matching programs, such as
Microsoft, and who provide research funding to our faculty members.
Industry partnerships also empower our students. Companies provide internships and full-time positions to Wildcat engineers, and we work closely with many of these partners to ensure the UA Engineering curriculum prepares students for their future careers.
This fall marked the 10th consecutive year that W.L. Gore and Associates sponsored the college’s Solar Oven Throw Down, at which 600+ first-year engineering students tested their handmade solar ovens on the University of Arizona Mall. And our seniors are hard at work on their Craig M. Berge Design Program capstone projects, many of which are sponsored by our industry partners.
As our relationships with industry increase, so does the need for our alumni to play a greater role in championing these relationships within their companies. Having alumni support, from the research bench to the C-suite, helps us develop stronger and more strategic relationships with industry. We are fortunate to have alumni
champions at many companies, including Boeing, Caterpillar, Gore and SRP. These advocates have helped to create an environment within their companies where strategic partnerships can truly thrive.
We continue to need support from our alumni and industry partners who can share information about our college’s strategic goals, encouraging others to become a part of our growing enterprise. The New Economy Initiative for Arizona is predicated around educating a diverse, skilled workforce – particularly in STEM fields – to provide technological innovation and enhance economic opportunity. This is consistent with the college’s expanding partnerships with advocacy groups and government leaders who are interested in the positive impact that engineering can make on the economy, national security and the workforce.
Thank you to all alumni and friends who contribute to continual educational improvement, business development and scientific advancement through your engagement with the College of Engineering.
Assistant Dean, Development and Corporate Relations
520.626.0572
puertaedson@arizona.edu
Margie Puerta Edson, CFREThe University of Arizona College of Engineering P.O. Box 210072 Tucson, AZ 85721-0072
Where has life taken you since graduation? We’d like to know and so would your college classmates. Please email us with details (no more than 300 words) and be sure to include the following information:
• Name and year you graduated
• Major
• Degree (BS, MS, PhD, etc.)
• Details of your activities
We’d also be interested to see – and share – pictures of your family, your latest work project, that boat or hot rod you just finished building in your garage, or your blossoming gardens. Vacation photos are great, too. We’ll publish your news and photos online and in the next print edition. Please send your email to classnotes@engr.arizona.edu
This photo has us stumped. There were no notes on the back of the print to give us a clue, so we need your help identifying the people and project.
Let us know if you’ve been getting some media attention. Just email the link, and we’ll keep spreading the news on the college website and in social media.
news.engineering.arizona.edu