FROM THE DEAN’S DESK
FROM THE DEAN’S DESK And you may recall the STEAM project: A three-year, $1.67 million National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded effort. Our graduate students worked with area middle school teachers over that period to develop virtual science courses. STEAM was one of just 15 teams in the nation invited to represent the NSF in the first U.S. National Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., held last fall on the National Mall.
Mark Dawson
Each time we send Ingenuity off to our campus design team, we’re reflecting on our past academic year while preparing to begin a new one. In 2012, we’ll celebrate our second anniversary of opening the Osteopathic Heritage Foundations and Charles R. and Marilyn Y. Stuckey Academic & Research Center—a building so successfully collaborative that we can’t keep its moveable furniture in one spot before another student group sets up camp to study, holds a student org meeting, or huddles on their senior design project. The moving tables and chairs, long hours, and midnight brainpower result in some exciting accomplishments that these pages unfold—accomplishments like that of Joe Morris, a grad student who got his pick of multiple nationally competitive fellowships he was awarded. Or, the mechanical engineering senior design team that won $20,000 in prize monies for their valve assembly design in a national competition that supports solutions for workers with disabilities. There was also the team of young women aviators—Erin Derosa B.S. ’11, Rachael Johnson, B.S. ’11, Brooke Furz, Kelley McCoy, and Catherine Meyer, who attended the Women in Aviation International Conference in Reno, Nevada, after their own successful fundraising campaign.
Preparing to create polyurethane from castor oil, chemical and biomolecular engineering Ph.D. candidate Amber Tupper sets up a heating apparatus with the guidance of Dr. Sunggyu “K.B.” Lee, Russ-Ohio Research Scholar in Coal-Syngas Utilization.
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Jonathan Maple
Dean Dennis Irwin
Master’s student Nathan Andre, B.S.C.S. ’10, (R), coaches exhibit visitors about propagation of energy through a medium in the form of a wave via the STEAM-developed game WaveHero. Modeled after the popular Guitar Hero game, it teaches users about key concepts such as transverse and compression waves, wavelength determination velocity, frequency, mediums, resonance, and particle properties.
While the growth of our students inspires us, we’re also energized by the potential of our faculty. Our new Russ-Ohio Research Scholar in Coal-Syngas Utilization, Dr. Sunggyu “K.B.” Lee, has settled into his new 16,000 square-footlab nicely—after a whopping seven semi trucks delivered his equipment! But Dr. Lee didn’t just bring his groundbreaking alternative fuels technologies with him. He also brought eight graduate students to work in the lab, four of whom will become our alumni. His Sustainable Energy and Advanced Materials Laboratory is one of the finest labs in the nation specializing in process and product research and development in alternative fuels, functional materials, and high-pressure technology—particularly products that can be made using sequestered CO2. I’m also proud to highlight several junior faculty members. On pages 8-9, you can read about assistant professors who, early in their careers, have already received noteworthy grants from major federal organizations.