Materials Engineering | Fall 2019

Materials Engineering Department • Cal Poly College of Engineering • Fall 2019

building a better reef MATE STUDENTS TEST RECYCLED TITANIUM IN PROJECT TO PROMOTE MARINE BIODIVERSITY See Page 4

Engineering

Engineering

message from the chair Trevor Harding

Hello from beautiful San Luis Obispo! I hope this letter finds you well. The Materials Engineering Department is excited to begin the 2019-2020 academic year, and I would like to share with you some of the exciting new developments in the department.

This year we will be serving 218 materials engineering undergraduates, one of the largest groups in the department’s long history. The students are an amazing bunch! Our incoming class of students has an average high school GPA of over 4.1! I’m humbled by their academic achievement and by the realization that I could not have gotten into Cal Poly given the extraordinary demand for spots.

Our seniors are beginning their senior project journeys with projects that include designing solid dielectrics for high-power switchgear, nano-enhanced composites for water desalination, identifying alloys for metal additive manufacturing, and biodegradable barriers for agricultural use. Senior project sponsors include the U.S. Navy, Chevron, Trayer Electrical, the National Science Foundation and a host of start-up companies. Our students are experiencing industry in all its permutations from large multi-national corporations to nimble entrepreneurs.

Materials Engineering Department Professor and Chair Trevor Harding has nearly 700 species of cacti and succulents displayed in his office on campus and in pots and in the ground around his home. For more on Harding’s diverse cacti collection, see Page 6.

on the cover Materials engineering students Dylan Elland, Matt Fuentez, Vincent Guarino and Kevin hoist a titanium coil from the water off the Cal Poly Pier as part of their Summer Undergraduate Research Program project to build an artificial reef. (Photo by Joe Johnstone / Cal Poly)

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The department is also moving in new directions to keep up with the advances in materials engineering and by identifying under-served niches in our discipline. We are excited to announce that we just hired Assistant Professor Mohsen Beyramali Kivy.

Dr. Kivy recently completed his post-doctoral degree at Missouri University of Science and Technology studying high-entropy alloys. He will be leading our efforts to better integrate computational data analysis, modeling and simulation of materials phenomenon. This is a curricula-wide initiative with first-year students analyzing and modeling data in Excel, sophomores running statistical analyses and finite element models, and seniors participating in a range of electives where atomistic modeling and simulation are used to understand real-world problems, such as corrosion, fracture, diffusion and other topics. It is

our hope that these skills will better prepare our students to serve a changing industry and gain access to graduate school.

The department is also adding courses in the realm of textile engineering and fiber science. There is really only one program in the U.S. that focuses on the engineering aspects of textiles and fibers, and that school is on the East Coast. We believe that Cal Poly is well situated to serve the needs of the biomedical, composites, sporting goods, and other industry sectors on the West Coast. We have recently hired Professor Desalegn Mengistie to help us develop these new courses.

He is originally from Ethiopia, where he ran a department of textile engineering and recently completed his post-doctorate studies in Sweden studying electricity harvesting fabrics (Imagine a shirt pocket that can charge your cell phone!). We have begun to visit numerous companies in the aerospace, biomedical and sports equipment fields to establish relationships with them. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and several sponsored senior projects have emerged as a result.

I also want you to know that the Materials Engineering Department will be celebrating it’s 60th Anniversary next year. We are just beginning to plan a great party for our alums and supporters. We hope you can make it back to SLO to enjoy the festivities. More information will be forthcoming.

Finally, I hope you’ll consider including the MATE department in your philanthropic portfolio this year. With all the new developments, new people and excited students, we need your help more than ever. Cal Poly MATE will evolve and strengthen, and you can help us get there. I welcome your feedback and input. I can be reached at any time at tharding@calpoly.edu.

Cheers, Prof. Trevor Harding Professor and Chair, Materials Engineering

WELcome back, BenHam

“Roger’s philanthropy makes things possible in the department that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”

— Trevor Harding, MATE Chair

CLASS OF ’84 GRAD ROGER BENHAM RETURNS TO LEND A HAND IN THE CLASSROOM When the Materials Engineering Department lost a corrosion engineering instructor to retirement a couple of years ago, industry recruiters called Chair Trevor Harding, concerned that the loss might hamper the graduate pipeline to their companies.

So Harding asked Roger Benham, a 1984 graduate of the program, if he could teach.

“Roger was available and willing to step in, and that really helped us out through this stretch,” Harding said.

As the department seeks a permanent replacement, Benham will return to the faculty this fall to teach MATE 425 Corrosion Engineering. But lending a hand in the classroom is just one way Benham has helped the department.

“Roger’s philanthropy makes things possible in the department that wouldn’t be possible otherwise,” Harding said.

Benham and his wife, Laurie, recently gave a matching $10,000 donation for the department’s discretionary fund. And this summer he sponsored a project in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program.

“Cal Poly has done a lot for me,” Benham said. “It has fostered my natural calling as an engineer, and I am certain that I would not have prospered as well in this profession

The Benham family picks out a Cal Poly pumpkin: From left, Laurie, Roger, Daniel and Blaine. Roger Benham, a 1984 materials engineering graduate, sponsored a Summer Undergraduate Research Program project and is returning to teach corrosion engineering.

without my Cal Poly experience.”

After graduating from Cal Poly, he founded LCS., Inc. a corrosion control company in San Diego. Recently, one of his sons, Daniel, joined the company after earning his MATE degree from Cal Poly. Another son, Blaine, is currently a biology student at Cal Poly, with plans to become a doctor.

In the MATE department, donors support the maintenance of equipment for teaching labs and new equipment, Harding said. They also support social events, clubs and student posters for the College Expo.

Benham’s graduating class had 20 MATE students — compared to about 50 today.

Coming back as an instructor, he’s impressed by the students’ flexibility.

“If something isn’t working, they will adapt and go in a different direction,” he said. “But in the end, they come out with good fundamentals.”

The SURP project he sponsored allowed students to gain valuable, hands-on experience over the summer.

“I believe it’s a good program, and I hope Cal Poly can put more resources toward it,” Benham said. “I remember being a student and not being able to get internships and working at a bike shop or a plating shop or construction jobs over the summer.” n MATE.CALPOLY.EDU | 3

pier review

MATE STUDENTS HELP TEST COIL REEFS DESIGNED TO BENEFIT THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

At the end of the Cal Poly Pier, materials engineering students Matt Fuentez and Kevin Iu pull a line up from the 40-foot deep water.

Avila Beach is a good place to catch rockfish, salmon or halibut, but the prize at the end of this rope is a titanium coil that has been submerged in seawater for seven weeks.

Their goal is to record two things: How seawater impacts the metal and what kind of sea life is camping out on it.

“We found some barnacles,” Fuentez says after they perform initial inspections. “We found some little scallops as well. And we’re trying to measure how well the titanium is suited in a marine environment.”

Barnacles and sea scallops were found on a titanium coil reef placed in the ocean water near the Cal Poly Pier as part of a Summer Undergraduate Research Program project. At top, MATE students Dylan Ell and, Matt Fuentez, Vincent Guarino and Kevin Iu examine the coil.

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The experiment is part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP), which matches students and faculty in a wide variety of research projects for eight weeks over the summer. While most students in SURP worked indoors on campus, a few were lucky enough to use the scenic pier as a lab.

It definitely beats a summer job working a local restaurant.

“Four students are doing research over the summer that wouldn’t otherwise be able to do that,” said Trevor Harding, professor and chair of the Materials Engineering Department. “And they’re getting to do research in corrosion, mixed with metalography, heat treating and biology.”

This particular project was sponsored by Roger Benham, who graduated from the program in 1984.

While Benham’s business, LCS., Inc., has focused on corrosion control for large property management companies and university complexes, he recently began an “encore career” with a business he named COILReef.

For years, the Southern California native has thought about building artificial reefs. “At Imperial Beach, my hometown, there is a severe sand erosion problem,” Benham said.

While jetties and breakwaters are often installed as a means to offset beach erosion, they become per-

“I was really interested in metallurgy in general, and I also have a deep passion for the environment and preserving what we have for generations to come.”

— Kevin Iu, MATE sophomore

manent, whereas large swaths of titanium coil could be easily removed and adjusted, Benham said. “The coil reef can go in, and if you don’t like it, you can remove it.”

Erosion occurs when sand from a beach gets moved to deeper water, inlets or bays. Erosion can be caused by many factors, including rising sea levels resulting from climate change. The erosion not only takes away beaches, it also damages structures, roads and more.

Benham’s project to mitigate erosion entails engineering, biology and ocean physics.

“A big part of it is wave energy and current energy dissipation,” he said.

Students working on the 8-week project gained experience in multiple disciplines: They had to learn how to treat the hard titanium with heat so that it could be rolled. They had to study the arrival of living organisms under different placements.

And they had to measure the corrosive impact of both living creatures and seawater.

For Iu, the project allowed him to apply concepts he had recently learned in the classroom – in a real natural environment.

“I was really interested in metallurgy in general, and I also have a deep passion for the environment and preserving what we have for generations to come,” he said.

With SURP, students like Fuentez, who wasn’t able to get an internship, have an opportunity to get hands-on experience early in their college career.

“We have targeted students that are in their first or second year intentionally,” Harding said. “That, in my mind, actually helps build a cadre of students in our department who have experience working with equipment and can teach others to work with that equipment.”

In this case, the students also had a chance to work with an innovative start-up.

As part of their Summer Undergraduate Research Program project, MATE students Dylan Elland, Matt Fuentez, Vincent Guarino and Kevin Iu lower one of two titanium coil designs they are testing to form an artificial reef into the 40-foot deep water off the Cal Poly Pier.

ABOUT SURP The 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Program included 72 College of Engineering students and 24 faculty members working on 32 different projects. For more information on SURP, see: engineering.calpoly.edu/surp

“This gives me real life experience,” Fuentez said. “Once we get this data, we’re going to do a lot of interpretations and look at other studies to see how they compare.” n MATE.CALPOLY.EDU | 5

Cactus keeper

MATE PROFESSOR AND CHAIR HAS A THING FOR COLLECTING CACTI Trevor Harding is very familiar with the downside of being an avid cactus collector.

“I probably have spines in my fingers right now,” the materials engineering professor and chair said with a laugh. “I find them all the time. I wear welder’s gloves, and I use long tweezers and forceps that they use in surgeries, to try to hold the plants, but I still get spines constantly.”

With dozens of cacti under grow lights in his campus office and hundreds more in the sun surrounding his Templeton home, Harding doesn’t hide his hobby. What he jokingly refers to as “the Madness” — he now has nearly 700 species of the succulent — began shortly after arriving to teach at Cal Poly in 2007. On a camping trip to Death Valley, Harding was intrigued by a small VIDEO LINK spiny plant with vibrant purple flowers For a short video on Trevor Harding’s cactus collection, see: he noticed thriving in the heat. engineering.calpoly.edu/cacti-keeper

“We came across these plants called the Engelmann’s Hedgehog cactus that were about the craziest thing I’d ever seen,” said Harding. “Coming from the Midwest, I hadn’t seen a lot of cactus and I just thought it was so cool and wanted to know more. I got hooked.”

Harding, who earned his doctorate in materials science and engineering from the University of Michigan, is particularly fascinated by the plants’ unique structure and design. He said the spines serve several functions aside from protecting the plants from herbivores.

Whether it’s in one of his two hot houses, his backyard or his office on campus, MATE chair Trevor Harding is never far from his cactus collection. On the next page: Among Harding’s nearly 700 species of cacti is a wide spectrum of shapes, textures and colors.

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“The spines primarily provide shade from the sun which is seriously important when they are small juvenile plants,” he said. “They also serve as condensing surfaces to help collect water from mist and fog.

Evolution has essentially designed these incredibly sophisticated and successful organisms. It blows my mind — just really cool.” n

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NEW MATE FACULTY DESALEGN ALEMU MENGISTIE

MOHSEN B. KIVY

Dr. Desalegn Alemu Mengistie joined the Materials Engineering Department as a lecturer in September. He was previously a postdoctoral researcher at the Linkoping University and the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. He also has worked as a lecturer and an assistant professor at Bahir Dar University.

Dr. Mohsen B. Kivy joined the Materials Engineering Department as an assistant professor in September 2019. Prior to this, he was a research associate in Materials Research Center (MRC) at Missouri University of Science and Technology and a full-time lecturer in Materials Engineering Department at Cal Poly.

Desalegn Alemu Mengistie

Mengistie received his B.Sc. in Textile Engineering from Bahir Dar University (Ethiopia), M.Tech. in Fiber Science and Technology from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Ph.D. in Nanoscience and Technology from Academia Sinica and National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan).

Mengistie has done researches on conductivity enhancement of conducting polymers and their applications to solar cells, thermoelectrics, and supercapacitors, including ITO-free polymer solar cells, composites of conducting polymer-elastomer for stretchable thermoelectrics, composites of cellulose nanofibers-conducting polymer for flexible supercapacitors and elastic conducting textiles. He is interested in developing the textile materials courses in the Materials Engineering Department curriculum to meet the industry demands of California.

Kivy received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Tehran and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri at Rolla).

Kivy’s current research involves developing different materials, including metallic alloys, bulk metallic glasses, and ceramics, by studying their microstructures and properties using multiscale computational materials engineering. He is also interested in promoting the computational skills by integrating various modeling and simulation approaches throughout the materials engineering curriculum. n Mohsen B. Kivy

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GIVE AND TAKE MATE STUDENT TOPS BIG WEST CONFERENCE IN ASSISTS AND STEALS In her senior season with the Cal Poly Mustangs basketball team, materials engineering student Dye Stahley led the Big West Conference in steals and assists, ending her collegiate career with career high scoring numbers.

The point guard from Mesa, Arizona, finished first in the conference (along with Cal State-Fullerton’s Raina Perez) with 5.0 assists per game. Stahley also led the conference in steals with 2.3 per game, making her the second woman in the 35-year history of the Big West to lead the conference in both assists and steals in the same year. And despite suffering an injury, she topped the league 36.7 minutes per game.

While the Mustangs (6-21, 3-13) had a tough season, Stahley had several standout performances, including a career-high 23-point game in a dramatic overtime win against Long Beach State. She also scored 19 points in a win against Eastern Washington and 17 points in a loss to Cal State-Northridge.

She finished third on the team in scoring, with 9.6 points per game, her career best.

Stahley, who completed her senior project on the use of agricultural waste as a reinforcement for packaging polymers, and expects to graduate in 2020, was named to the Big West All-Defensive Team, and earned her second Best Hustle Award, as well as an honorable mention on the full team.

She finished her basketball career at Cal Poly with the sixth most assists (341) and 13th most steals (159).

This summer it was announced that Stahley will join the coaching staff as a student assistant. n

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College of Engineering Materials Engineering Department 1 Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA • 93407

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