Creating Experts
THE IMPACT OF GRADUATE STUDENTS ON RESEARCH
PULAT TO RETIRE Celebrating a 30-Year Career
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Creating Experts - Impacting the Research Enterprise
CORTES WILLIAMS From Graduate Student to Entrepreneur
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The University of Oklahoma Gallogly College of Engineering DEAN Thomas L. Landers, Ph.D., P.E., AT&T Chair PHOTOGRAPHY Travis Caperton, Karen Kelly, Hugh Scott and Sarah Warren DESIGN AND LAYOUT University Printing Services and Karen Kelly COVER PHOTO: Graduate students representing seven schools in the Gallogly College stand together with Senior Associate Dean John Antonio in the Stephenson Research and Technology Center. INSIDE COVER PHOTO Darius Aruho, 2016-2017 GCoE Outstanding Senior, leads graduates during the May 2017 convocation ceremony. BACK COVER PHOTO Gallogly Hall construction site looking south. OUENGINEER is published annually by the
University of Oklahoma Gallogly College of Engineering Communications Office. For more information, contact: KAREN KELLY Director of Communications 202 W. Boyd St., Rm. 104 Norman OK, 73019-1021 Phone: (405) 325-9037 www.ou.edu/coe engineering@ou.edu This publication, printed by OU Printing Services, is issued by the University of Oklahoma Gallogly College of Engineering. 5,000 copies have been prepared and distributed at no cost to the taxpayers of the State of Oklahoma. Š 2018 University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, age, religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This includes, but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid and educational services. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to Bobby J. Mason, University Equal Opportunity Officer and Title IX Coordinator, (405) 325-3546, bjm@ou.edu, or visit www. ou.edu/eoo.
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CONTENTS
FEATURES
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Creating Experts
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In the Business of Growth and Building
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Welcome From the Dean As I walk into the Engineering Quadrangle, I marvel at the progress occurring on the construction site of Gallogly Hall. Nestled between venerable Felgar Hall on the west and the 24-7 vibrant ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility on the east, the sights and sounds of the construction crew working and the tower crane maneuvering stir wonder and great expectation for the learning, discovery and innovation that will soon take place here. The activities of site preparation and concrete pours also suggest the metaphor of a solid foundation. This, indeed, is what we are building in the lives of our students — a foundation of knowledge and experience necessary to become practicing engineers and applied scientists. Most will enter the workforce, while others seek advanced degrees in engineering, medicine, law or business. Theirs and future generations will be the beneficiaries in the communities where they will live and practice their profession. In this winter issue of OU Engineer, I am pleased to introduce eight talented graduate students who are making a significant impact through our research enterprise. You will learn about their individual research projects and how they are becoming experts in their respective disciplines. You will also learn about a recent biomedical engineering doctoral alumnus, Cortes Williams, who has created two medical research companies and is helping to build a better system to administer personalized medicine. We celebrate the 30-year career of our colleague and friend, Pakize S. Pulat, as she approaches a June retirement. The School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gallogly College and OU have each benefited profoundly from her academic excellence, inspired leadership and extraordinary organizational skills.
Telling Your Story Through Others
UPDATES
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College News
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Students
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Alumni and Friends
36 Giving Update
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In Memoriam
How privileged we all are to have an incomparable president at this great university—David L. Boren. David and Molly Shi Boren have invested 24 transformational years at the University of Oklahoma. I am deeply grateful for their support for our college and for the opportunity to serve. Special thanks to Karen Kelly, Sarah Warren and Anglin Public Relations for their talented creativity in this publication and so many others. We hope you enjoy this edition of OU Engineer.
Thomas L. Landers Dean and AT&T Chair
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Creating
Experts
GALLOGLY COLLEGE GRADUATE STUDENTS CONTRIBUTE THEIR TIME AND TALENT TO THE RESEARCH ENTERPRISE
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GRADUATE STUDENTS AND THEIR IMPACT By John Antonio, Senior Associate Dean Ever wonder what drives a graduate student to work so hard – even after completing a ver y challenging undergraduate degree program? Or, to put it another way, ever wonder why students would want to pursue graduate education in the first place? In the following pages, we provide an inspiring sampling of answers to these questions, and others, from several amazing graduate students in Gallogly College. Consistent with the vision of Gallogly College, our graduate programs are committed to fostering creativity, innovation and professionalism through dynamic research, development and learning experiences. A key aspect of this vision is to attract and retain a talented and diverse student body. Our goal is to empower these students through life -changing learning experiences, including making contributions in high-impact discoveries and innovations. With nationally and internationally noted faculty exper ts, world-class research facilities and talented students, Gallogly College boasts leadership in a number of technical research areas. These areas of excellence provide the foundation upon which our comprehensive selection of graduate degrees are built, including 12 doctoral programs and 14 master's programs. This is a truly exciting time for graduate programs within the Gallogly College. In the following pages, you will meet a few of our talented graduate students and learn about the contributions they are making in their respective disciplines to the OU research enterprise. While working alongside our faculty, they, too, are becoming exper ts. These students have chosen to pursue an advanced degree; the investment they are making in themselves is one that will benefit them in their future careers. But the impact of their effor t does not end there. We, too, are the beneficiaries of their knowledge which, when applied to critical problems and oppor tunities, provides a lasting impact on us all.
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Yafen Chen - Ph.D. Student Biomedical Engineering “My strongest motivation is to think about how much I can benefit patients with brain disorders.” - Yafen Chen In a complex, debilitating brain disorder, how can neuroimaging guide brain stimulation treatment to achieve optimal responses in an individual patient? This issue is the central theme of Yafen Chen's graduate work. Yafen is a doctoral student in the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering. She is working with neurologist Dr. Yoon-Hee Cha at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research, who uses non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial electrical stimulation, to treat patients with a chronic balance disorder. Yafen’s research focuses on a novel algorithm that uses magnetic resonance images and electrical recordings of the brain, like electroencephalography (EEG), to understand the mechanism of brain stimulation to optimize treatment outcomes. The technology development will be able to lower the cost of brain imaging through more accessible imaging devices. “ The brain has many mysteries remaining to be revealed,” Chen said. “Imaging helps us explore the structure and organization of human bodies noninvasively.” Chen’s personal experience led her to study biomedical engineering. “In my first year of college, my elderly grandma and I were walking on a busy street and got separated by the crowds,” Chen explained. “She couldn’t recognize the road to home. I found her after several hours, and felt so guilty, that I made up my mind to do something for her. Studying biomedical engineering is my chance.” Chen credits her adviser, Han Yuan, a professor in the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, for having a big impact on her studies. “She has a meticulous approach to work and has taught me how to search and research, suppor ting me in ever y level of my work.”
Madison James - Master's Student Accelerated BS/MS Chemical/Biomedical Engineering “The better we can predict heart valve damage to blood, the more we can increase the effectiveness of these life-saving devices.” - Madison James Graduate student Madison James’s research is in par t fulfilling her grandfather ’s request. One night at the end of a par ticularly confusing conversation with her grandfather, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he jokingly asked if she would use her research to cure him. “Seeing him suffer until he passed and hearing him ask that question, really put in perspective how greatly people's lives can be improved through advancements in biomedical research,” James explained. James is a National Merit Scholar; she has completed the B.S. in Chemical Engineering and is now working toward the Master ’s in Biomedical Engineering through the accelerated BS/MS degree program. Currently, she is conducting research with professors Dimitrios Papavassiliou and Edgar O’Rear on blood flow through a prosthetic hear t valve. Blood flow is essential to proper functioning of medical devices like the ar tificial kidney and prosthetic hear t valves, but the devices can damage, or kill, blood cells, causing severe bleeding complications. Sophisticated computer programs allow engineers to simulate the flow in a device so they can know the magnitude of the forces and exposure times that cells experience for a given design. This research explores a new approach to predicting blood damage from turbulence so that medical devices with minimal side effects can be designed by computer simulation. James recently presented her research at the 2017 Annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers professional conference. “My presentation and research were well-received, and led to great discussion and connections,” James said. “I felt like I had reached a successful milestone in my graduate studies.” She plans to pursue her doctorate in biomedical engineering and neuroscience, focusing on neurodegenerative diseases. “I can help people like my grandfather—like he asked.”
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Stephen Roswurm - Master's Student Civil Engineering and Environmental Science “The elements of our infrastructure are absolutely crucial to the lives of millions of people, yet are often overlooked.” - Steve Roswurm Graduate student Steve Roswurm always knew he wanted to be an engineer. He comes from a long list of OU graduates, many of whom became engineers, including his grandfather, his father and four brothers. The only nagging question was what field of engineering? Roswurm chose civil engineering after conducting undergraduate research with Chris Ramseyer, professor and director of the Fears Structural Engineering Laborator y. He is in the accelerated master ’s program within civil engineering and environmental science. “I focused my graduate studies on studying concrete for structural applications because I could design and per form experiments that help solve problems that affect ever y city and town,” Roswurm said. "Building more durable roads and bridges keep people safe, save money and improve our nation’s infrastructure and people’s lives.” Roswurm, under the direction of Ramseyer, is studying the fundamental behavior of “shrink age compensating concrete,” a process in which concrete expands slightly at an early age to offset long-term shrink age. Long-term, or dr ying shrink age, creates stresses that can lead to cracks and failure. The structural failure of the Oroville Dam in California is a recent example. The crisis put more than 180,000 lives at risk and is estimated to cost half a billion dollars to repair. Currently, Roswurm is testing the addition of an extra mineral in Por tland cement that will reduce and possibly eliminate dr ying shrink age. The research will help lead the industr y ’s use of a more durable concrete. Roswurm plans to get his doctorate at OU and continue his research on prestressed concrete. “ The goal of my research is to develop concrete, which will be cheaper, more durable and longer lasting,” he explained. “I want to reduce waste and environmental impact and make the lives of people safer.”
Michael Nelson - Ph.D. Student Computer Science “I love seeing our experimental results verify that our compression techniques compete with the best existing techniques in the field." - Michael Nelson Consider the complexity involved in efficiently storing and dynamically updating social media connections as new users come and go—and connections change with the click of a button. As a user of a social media platform like Facebook, you have many friends — probably hundreds — that are connected to you. Each of your friends has their own collection of friends, some of whom are connected to you and some of whom are not. In turn, this extended collection of “friends of friends” each have their own set of friends, and so on. Now consider that the top three social media platforms alone have more than 3 billion users, the volume of data points is over whelming. Computer science graduate student Michael Nelson, alongside Professor Sridhar Radhakrishnan, is working on the problem of how to most efficiently store, update and retrieve all this interconnected information. “My area of research is compression in computer science. It is intended to make files as small as possible,” Nelson explained. Compression is built into a wide range of technologies, from storage systems, databases and operating systems to laptops, personal computers and mobile phones. Compressing data can save storage capacity, speed up file transfer and decrease costs for storage hardware and network bandwidth—an impor tant process as data continues to grow exponentially. Using Nelson’s compression techniques, data science analysts can study large volumes of information to discover patterns, such as social media trends and traffic and health data. “ The research has broad applications,” Nelson explained. “It can be applied to any project where there are large volumes of data.” After graduation, Nelson plans to apply his knowledge to an enterprise. “I want to work with an emerging industr y such as automated vehicles, vir tual reality or something similar,” he said.
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Alex Beene - Master's Student Data Science and Analytics “My research is the best combination of my two passions - data analytics and basketball. The results can help a basketball team create a superior competitive strategy." - Alex Beene In the game of basketball, box score statistics, such as points, rebounds and assists, are a common way to compare players, but there is more to winning than individual per formance. Advanced analytics, based on Dean Oliver ’s book Basketball on Paper, evaluates and quantifies other variables, such as the interactions between players, the value of different types of players working together and an offensive or defensive strategy. Alex Beene, a graduate student in the data science and analytics program, is working with Professor Charles Nicholson to explore and analyze the effectiveness of box score statistics and advanced analytics. His focus is working in the NBA using feature engineering and predictive modeling. “ This is my passion,” Beene explained. “I want to use data science with basketball in a practical and actionable fashion that pushes the boundaries and generates practical results to benefit the team.” Beene is applying his research as an intern with the Indiana Pacers. Twenty years ago, statistics such as field goals, fouls, turnovers and free throws were the measure of how successful a player, or a team would be. Today, additional data, such as how far and how fast a player moves, player separation and number of passes are better predictors of the game. “Feature engineering and predictive modeling can add up to more than a team’s wins or losses,” Beene said. Beene credits Nicholson for guiding him through his research. “His background in industr y as a data scientist allows him to lead projects in a direction that precisely applies to the workplace. That has helped me take it to the cour t.”
Andrew Byrd - Ph.D. Student Electrical and Computer Engineering “I like solving problems that directly benefit both science and public safety." - Andrew Byrd Weather radar is the only technology capable of obser ving the inner dynamics and structure of severe storms, including those that produce violent tornados, damaging hail, hurricanes and severe flooding. Andrew Byrd, a graduate student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Advanced Radar Research Center, is working with Professors Rober t Palmer and Caleb Fulton to develop new radar technologies that will help advance the understanding of storms. Byrd came to OU after completing his undergraduate studies at Georgia Tech. “ The Radar Innovations Lab was impressive, and the program clearly enjoyed a huge amount of suppor t from the university,” Byrd explained, “but more impor tantly, it was a vibrant, successful community of researchers and had a ver y positive atmosphere.“ Byrd’s research project is to design a low-cost method to get accurate measurements of 3D wind fields in and around severe weather. He is testing UAV-mounted passive weather radars to collect weather obser vations in terrain that would be difficult or impossible to negotiate for ground-based mobile radars. The additional data will help meteorologists improve the prediction and identification of weather hazards—ultimately saving lives and proper ty. As an engineer in the weather arena, Byrd has had a close -up view of this research. He has been on several stormchasing deployments, even seeing a tornado up close. “It ’s refreshing to get out of the lab and get a good look at what all those brightly colored pixels mean, and to know that my research adds to public safety,” Byrd said.
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Nafiseh Ghorbani Renani - Ph.D. Student Industrial and Systems Engineering “I found OU to be the right academic environment to help me grow as a mature researcher with its distinguished faculty members." - Nafiseh Ghorbani Renani Given society ’s growing dependence on infrastructure systems, such as electric power, water supply and telecommunication networks, disruptions to these systems can lead to substantial economic and social impacts. Recent natural disasters have shown how a single catastrophic event can cripple a city or region’s ability to provide for its residents for an extended period. Nafiseh Ghorbani Renani, a Ph.D. student in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, is working on a mathematical model to find an effective solution for protecting and restoring critical infrastructure systems in a timely manner. She currently is working with Professor Kash Barker in the Risk-Based Systems Analytics Laborator y, internationally recognized for addressing problems of critical infrastructure resilience. Renani has an educational background in industrial engineering, a field that typically deals with optimizing the per formance of processes and systems, such as allocating resources to emergency rooms to reduce patient waiting times or redesigning factor y layouts to make them more productive. She is applying these same principles to improve critical infrastructure networks' ability to withstand a disruption and to optimally schedule work crews in recovering those networks after the disruption occurs. “At first, I couldn’t imagine how effectively a real-world problem could be translated to an optimization model. Now, I see that industrial and systems engineering is the per fect field to solve these impor tant problems,” Renani said. “My research can have a positive impact on society.” Renani plans to continue her research and teach after earning her doctorate. “One of my long-term career goals is to help encourage women to par ticipate in the STEM fields and contribute to changing the stereotypes that prevent women from achieving their full potential.”
Anand Balu Nellippallil - Ph.D. Student Mechanical Engineering “The future in engineering lies in infusing research and teaching from various allied disciplines." - Anand Balu Nellippallil Many factors contribute to the overall cost of manufacturing complex ar tifacts. For example, consider a gearbox, a critical component in many products ranging from automobiles to huge wind turbines. It is critical that manufacturability of the gearbox be incorporated during its design phase. Other wise, the most elegant design may end up being too expensive to manufacture in a competitive market. By leveraging digitization, Anand Balu Nellippallil aims to develop a mathematical framework for the realization of material, product and manufacturing processes to reduce costs and time to market. Nellippallil is a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering addressing this issue along with his mentors, Professors Janet Allen and Farrokh Mistree, in the Systems Realization Laborator y and BP Gautham, Ph.D., at Tata Consultancy Ser vices, Pune, India. Nellippallil came to OU after receiving his undergraduate degree in production engineering from the University of Calicut, and his master ’s degree in materials science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bhubaneswar, India. He met Allen and Mistree while par ticipating in a collaborative project with Tata Research Development and Design Centre, Pune, India. “I had a keen interest in the ongoing research and the mission of the Systems Realization Laborator y, which is a multicultural, multidisciplinar y academic family that encourages scholarship associated with the realization of complex engineered systems with a focus on educating the next generation of professors with the mindset of sharing to gain,” Nellippallil said. “As an aspiring professor, my long-term research thrust is to answer the question, ‘ What are the principles underlying rapid and robust concept exploration of complex engineered systems involving the material, product and manufacturing process when simulation models are typically incomplete and inaccurate?’”
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In the Business of Growth and Building By Becky Cavnar
With little more than an intention to become an engineer, Cor tes Williams first star ted his University of Oklahoma journey in the Gallogly College of Engineering’s AT&T Summer Bridge Program before his freshman year. He didn’t know that in a few shor t years, he would be on the path to earning his doctorate in biomedical engineering, creating two medical research companies, helping build a better system to administer personalized medicine and forming a clear life goal: to save lives.
However, he was still able to contribute to the school’s creation. He ser ved on the search team to find the school’s founding director, Professor Michael Detamore, and he advised the curriculum development team.
Williams’ par ticipation in the month-long AT&T Summer Bridge Program was his first taste of what it would be like as an engineering student at OU. And it whet his appetite for leadership and finding a way to overcome challenges. He enrolled in chemical engineering and spent the next two summers volunteering in the same program that introduced him to his passion – to use engineering to save lives.
Williams joined Vassilios Sik avitsas’ team of researchers and star ted work on tissue and tumor engineering, building scaffolding to grow and obser ve tumors. Sik avitsas, professor in the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, is Williams’ primar y research adviser and also ser ves as an influential suppor t for Williams.
“My introduction to the Gallogly College of Engineering was one of optimism, challenge and oppor tunity,” Williams said. “ Those attributes continue to define my education at OU, and they are characteristics I look for in my work and professional relationships today.” Upon completing his undergraduate studies, Williams enrolled in graduate school, pivoting his focus to biomedical engineering. Williams said it was, in par t, a practical decision as biomedical engineering is a combination of electrical and chemical engineering, a field with which he was already familiar. The decision also was getting him closer to his goal of saving lives. A biomedical engineering education would help focus his research to directly impacting people. One of Williams' only regrets at OU is that he wasn’t able to be a student in the new Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, which was created after he completed his undergraduate studies. The school gives undergraduate students the oppor tunity to study beside the area’s most talented researchers and it positions OU as a leader in the burgeoning biomedical industr y.
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“Cor tes has a passion for seeing beyond the challenge and work toward the solution,” said Detamore. “I am inspired by his team’s research, and it ’s an honor to work alongside him.” Williams’ natural leadership abilities also caught the attention of other faculty and researchers who urged him to apply to the LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship Program, a National Science Foundation program. In 2013, he was awarded the fellowship and began his journey toward earning his doctorate.
“ The scaffolding is made of biological material that tricks tumors into growing more naturally and timely, as if they ’re in a human body,” Williams explained. The scaffolding design didn’t exist before and is a result of Williams’ team’s research. The innovation allows researchers to obser ve a more accurately grown tumor so they can test different, more precise treatments. Ultimately, Williams hopes his research leads to less expensive and more effective treatments for patients. He also hopes his research helps end testing on animals, relying more on biological material created in a laborator y. Williams’ research isn’t building on already existing work; rather, it grew out of the research and results he wasn’t finding. He and his fellow researchers regularly attend large biotechnology shows and conferences, and he is typically excited by the exchange of innovative ideas. But when he began searching for advances in tumor treatments, he didn’t find the progress and developments that he thought should be available. His team applied their own research and knowledge to creating less expensive and more quickly grown ar tificial tumors.
Q&A with Cortes Where are you from? I was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but graduated from Broken Arrow High School. I consider myself an Okie. Do you plan to stay in Oklahoma? Cortes Williams makes a presentation about NextGen Medical at the OKBio booth during the 2017 BIO event in San Diego. Photo taken by Jim Stafford. As a result of the need for their research results, the team created NextGen Medical to commercialize tumor-growing technologies and make them available to researchers searching for treatments. Just a year later, Williams founded Advanced Culture Systems to test treatments on the tumors in hopes of finding better options for patients. “I want to bring in additional funding par tners to make treatments more effective and less expensive,” Williams said. “People shouldn’t waste their time and money on treatments that aren’t right for them.”
“I was a kid without many resources to succeed ... I don’t want to only save patients’ lives. I want to help kids – students like me – dream bigger and reach farther than they thought they could.“
Following the defense of his doctoral degree and creation of two medical companies, Williams continues his quest to better understand the tissue and tumor engineering market. He recently joined the inaugural cohor t of a Postdoctoral Venture Fellows program suppor ted through OU’s - Cortes Williams Office of Technology Development. The year-long program provides hands-on entrepreneurial education and experience working on the advancement of early-stage university technology toward commercialization and has allowed Williams the oppor tunity to fur ther his research while also networking and establishing valuable industr y mentorship. After his time as an OTD Venture Fellow, Williams will have conducted hundreds of inter views to define the market around his research and gained the skillset, mindset and connections necessar y to best commercialize his innovation. Williams says he couldn’t do any of this – earn his doctorate, create two medical companies, be a leader in his field – without the encouragement and suppor t from his professors and fellow researchers. In fact, their suppor t and guidance are reasons that he plans to return to teaching.
When I was younger, I planned to move out of Oklahoma for more opportunities and innovation. But our state has a new culture of biomedical innovation, collaboration and funding, and I’m excited to ride this wave of optimism and advancement. Talk about your wife, Alisha Williams. We met as undergraduate students when she was studying microbiology. She’s tolerated me through my long nights in the lab or writing papers. She’s working remotely for a research company in Dallas. She is also a fashion blogger and entrepreneur. Alisha has no shortage of talent, and it’s nice having someone close to me who I respect and trust. When you return to teaching, what will become of your companies? I would like to keep my companies here in Oklahoma because there is so much opportunity now. Hopefully, a new generation of talented researchers can take over and do more than I ever thought I could. Who knows? Maybe I will be their teacher.
“I was a kid without many resources to succeed,” Williams said. “But the inspiration, backing and collaboration I received at OU has ignited my desire to give back. I don’t want to only save patients’ lives. I want to help kids – students like me – dream bigger and reach far ther than they thought they could.”
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Telling Your Story Through Others PAKIZE SIMIN PULAT REFLECTS ON 30-YEAR CAREER By Becky Cavnar For more than 30 years, Simin Pulat has been a par t of the Gallogly College of Engineering faculty at the University of Oklahoma. In 2018, she will retire as vice provost for faculty development, leaving behind a legacy of char ting unknown territor y, encouraging and recruiting diversity in an often-underrepresented field, finding success through collaboration, and urging ever yone to write their own stor y of success.
She also remembers being invited to ser ve on many committees in the college, an honor that helped dispel any feelings of inferiority or lack of self-confidence. One of the organizations she was asked to advise was OU’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, and it ’s a position she proudly held for many years. From that position, she has been able to help increase the number of women in the college above national numbers. According to recent statistics provided by the Society of Women Engineers, women make up only 20 percent of engineering undergraduates. As of fall 2017, 25 percent of Gallogly College of Engineering students are women.
In the late 1970s, Pulat and her husband, Mustafa, both industrial engineers, moved to Raleigh, Nor th Carolina, from Women aren’t the only Turkey to seek underrepresented group Pulat better education has championed over the years. and oppor tunities Increasing racial and ethnic for work in the minorities in the college has engineering field. also been one of her goals, and Though their parents in 2008, she helped place the gave them the Gallogly College of Engineering best educational From 1995 retirement reception for Jerry Purswell (seated), from left: in the New York Times’ top 10 oppor tunities A. Ravindran, P. Simin Pulat, Hillel Kumin, Shiva Raman, Robert best universities in the nation for available to them, Schlegel, Hank Grant, Mary Court, Ted Trafalis, Adedeji Badiru and Bob Foote Hispanic engineering students. prospects for higher education and work “ We live in a globally connected and diverse world,“ Pulat seemed more obtainable in the USA. In a few shor t years, said. “Different perspectives, life experiences and ideas lead Mustafa settled into a career, and she joined the industrial to better decisions and better outcomes for ever yone. We engineering faculty at OU. Unaware of the precedent she all have a different stor y, and those stories help make our was setting, Pulat became the first tenure -track female workforce and outcomes richer.” faculty in the college’s 108-year histor y. Soon she would Throughout her 33-year tenure, Pulat also has concentrated be known not only for her histor y-making role but also for her effor ts on helping her colleagues strengthen using her position to enlighten minds about a woman’s their recruiting effor ts. Several of her most impor tant role in academia, recruit a diverse student body and responsibilities as associate dean of education included remind students, as well as colleagues, that their goals are managing undergraduate education, recruiting a diverse achievable. student body, increasing scholarship oppor tunities and When Pulat first began teaching in the college, she admits mentoring upper-level engineering students on the Dean’s the strangeness of being the only woman. “I was asked if Leadership Council so they could mentor freshmen. And I could take the minutes in the faculty meetings, and so those collaborative effor ts have paid off. many thoughts went through my mind, Pulat remembers. “It takes a whole village to make a difference,” Pulat said. “I “ Was it because I was the new kid on the block or was it my am not the first to encourage diversity. Many administrators, gender?”
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faculty and staff before me valued diversity and inclusion. I simply took the baton from my predecessors and was for tunate enough to have great administrative staff as well as suppor tive deans, alumni and corporations to grow programs and recruit a more diverse group of students to engineering.”
Without the suppor t of her colleagues and administrators, Pulat would not have been as successful in her career in the college. Under the tutelage of four deans – Mar tin Jischke, Billy Cr ynes, Ar thur “Skip” Por ter and Thomas Landers – as well as two acting deans, Pulat rose to director of the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, associate dean for undergraduate programs, senior associate dean and, ultimately, vice provost for faculty development. In each of these positions, Pulat says she learned something that helped her be a better professor, colleague and mentor.
“Under Dr. Pulat ’s direction and guidance, I have seen our faculty, staff and students Pulat ’s inclusive nature doesn’t end with flourish. She is extraordinarily gifted students. She has worked diligently in working over the years with people to to make sure accomplish great her colleagues, things,” said Tom their ideas and Landers, dean research also are of the Gallogly valued. As vice College of provost of faculty Engineering. development, she champions faculty Though she and suppor ts doesn’t plan them so they, to simply kick as well as their her feet up and students, succeed. - Associate Dean Randa Shehab waste away By listening more her retirement than directing, she’s been able to hone days, Pulat is looking for ward to being early ideas into programs and policies more flexible with her time and exploring that positively impact the way the college creative hobbies and endeavors. operates and functions. “ We’ve been “I’m not cutting ties with OU completely,” able to assist depar tment chairs in their Pulat said. “ This is my second home, and pursuit to become better leaders, help researchers with their publishing journeys, I’ve made friendships that will last a lifetime. I’m excited about having more and grow and mature our recruiting free time, but I plan to be involved in effor ts,” she said. the university and suppor tive of the For Pulat, breaking up a goal into relationships I’ve cherished.” manageable pieces includes being She also has few words of advice for her transparent and communicating your dreams with others. Having a team behind successor, though it ’s not a position she feels has an exact description or a simple you, whether offering hands-on help path toward success. or quiet suppor t, can be the difference between success and failure, Pulat says. “I’ve approached this position just as I “Accountability keeps us on track,” Pulat have approached all of my roles here at explained. “Suppor t from friends and the university,” Pulat explained. “I’ve tried colleagues who understand what you’re to be open-minded and have a passion to tr ying to achieve encourages you to keep help others and keep reminding myself going. And at the finish line, you’ll have that this experience is not just my stor y ; other people to celebrate with you.” it ’s ever yone’s stor y.”
“As the first female engineering faculty at OU, she set an example for what could be achieved and always supported others in pursuit of their own professional goals.“
Pulat and husband, Mustafa, welcome their newest grandchild.
Plans Post Retirement I will continue being intellectually active. Reading, staying involved at OU and keeping in touch with my friends in the college are top priorities. I’d like to try some cooking classes. I have four precious grandchildren, so I hope to spend more time with family. I want to travel, but not just go somewhere. I want to immerse myself in another culture to really experience how other people live. I stay in touch with friends from Turkey through the "What’s App" on my phone. I’d love to be able to connect with them more.”
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COLLEGE NEWS
Fears Lab - Decades of Impact
The Donald G. Fears Structural Engineering Laboratory Impact on Industry and Transportation Not only is the Fears Lab a test bed for student research experience, the research and innovation conducted here benefits many sectors, including state and federal government agencies and the transportation industry. Additionally, research in the development of better materials and construction practices benefit builders and buyers in the residential housing market. Outreach and K-12 Education
Assistant Professor Royce Floyd demonstrates testing samples using the load frame to undergraduate students. Fears Lab, the brainchild of OU structural engineering professor Tom Murray was dedicated in 1979 as a graduate research lab. Located on the university's research campus, the first 10 years of research focused primarily on structural steel issues with an average of five to six graduate students assisting in the lab. Contrast that to the 25 to 30 undergraduate and graduate students working with seven faculty members in the lab today, and the scope and impact of Fears Lab becomes obvious. Examples of Graduate Research Experiences • S ix-degrees of freedom shake table for structure testing Assistant Professor Scott Harvey* • P re-stress bed and slab samples for materials integrity Assistant Professor Royce Floyd* • R epairing and testing a 50-ft concrete highway bridge beam Associate Professor Jeffery Volz* • H igh-wind interaction with structures, steel connections, concrete materials and pavement slabs for residential and commercial applications Associate Professor Chris Ramseyer* • C ompressed earth block wall specimen as innovative materials Professor Kianoosh Hatami* and Associate Professor Lisa Holliday** • A nalyzing lateral loads on residential walls to improve behavior at failure Assistant Professor Shideh Shadravan** and Chris Ramseyer* * School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, Gallogly College of Engineering ** College of Architecture
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Fears Lab serves as host to the American Concrete Institute for monthly certification tests, conducts outreach presentations such as the Wounded Warrior program, provides lab classes for Steel I and Concrete I, and classroom space to students enrolled in the Water Technologies for Emerging Regions course. Rising high school juniors and seniors are introduced to civil engineering and Students participating in OU environmental science during a summer day camp Engineering Days visit Fears Lab program—OU Engineering Days—part of which occurs at the lab. Students build a model tower, which is then subjected to increased levels of stress to measure the success of the student's design. Ongoing outreach efforts and K-12 education programs will continue to play an important role in the future of Fear's Lab. Not only is this an opportunity for student's to gain experiential knowledge of engineering, it plants the seeds of an engineering education firmly in these young minds.
Fears Lab has outgrown space and capabilities to support current and future research needs. An expansion is in the works. Read more about plans for the future on page 17 of the Summer 2017 Communiqué, an annual newsletter produced by the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science. http://bit.ly/Communique2017
Vogel Selected as Director of Oklahoma Water Survey By Jana Smith OU has selected Jason Vogel as the director of the Oklahoma Water Survey as of July 2017. Located on the University Research Campus, the Survey is the focal point and catalyst for OU’s expertise in research, outreach and education in water topics. The Survey’s mission is to study the state’s water resources and to collect, analyze, interpret and disseminate research-based information to industry professionals, researchers, students, teachers, citizens, governments and other organizations. “We are very fortunate to have someone of Jason’s experience, energy, stature and vision joining the OU family, especially at a time when water issues are of increasing importance to our state,” said Vice President for Research Kelvin Droegemeier. “The Oklahoma
Water Survey, which he will lead, will play a major partnership role in a wide array of water issues that directly affect our citizens.” In addition to his responsibilities as director of the Survey, Vogel will serve as associate professor in the OU School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science. For more than 20 years, Vogel has worked to facilitate and develop solutions for water issues throughout the Great Plains. Prior to joining the Survey, Vogel held faculty and research positions at Oklahoma State University in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and the U.S. Geological Survey. Vogel has served the water sector in leadership positions and on committees at the national, state and local levels for a variety of groups, including the Water Environment Federation, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, the American Ecological Engineering Society, the Oklahoma Clean Lakes and Watersheds Association, the Disaster Resilience Network of Tulsa, the Green Country Sustainability Forum and the Stillwater Drainage Appeals Board.
Phillips 66 Makes $1 Million Gift By Jana Smith OU President David L. Boren announced at the May 2017 meeting of the OU Board of Regents a $1 million gift from Phillips 66 to support construction of a new academic building and research laboratory on OU’s Engineering Quadrangle that will house the Gallogly College of Engineering’s Diversity and Inclusion Program offices, the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, and new engineering labs and learning spaces. “The university is grateful to Phillips 66 for providing this innovative space in the biomedical research facility,” Boren said. “The new space provided by Phillips 66 will encourage students to work across disciplines and to collaborate cooperatively. It will stimulate creative thinking.” In appreciation of the gift, Boren recommended to the OU Board of Regents that the Diversity and Inclusion Learning
Space, which will be prominently located on the first floor of the new building, be named to honor Phillips 66. The Phillips 66 Diversity and Inclusion Learning Space will house the Gallogly College of Engineering’s nationally recognized program that is designed to cultivate diversity of thought and an inclusive environment for all students, faculty and staff, as well as enhance the recruitment, retention and graduation of a diverse workforce. "At Phillips 66, we value a diverse and inclusive culture because it promotes a high-performing organization that excels at collaboration, problem solving and innovation,” said Paula Johnson, executive vice president, legal and government affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary for Phillips 66. “We’re proud to support OU’s new Diversity and Inclusion Learning Space.”
Jim Gallogly and Ron Armstrong, manager of refining services at Phillips 66, participate in groundbreaking for Gallogly Hall in April.
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COLLEGE NEWS
OU Researchers Develop Radar Simulator Evaluation of Debris Particles in Tornadoes By Jana Smith An OU research team with the Advanced Radar Research Center has developed the first numerical polarimetric radar simulator to study and characterize scattering mechanisms of debris particles in tornadoes. Characterizing the debris field of a tornado is vital Photo by OU meteorology graduate student Dylan Reif given that flying debris causes most tornado fatalities. Tornado debris characteristics are poorly understood, even though the upgrade of the nation’s radar network to dual polarimetric radar offers potentially valuable capabilities for improving tornado warnings and nowcasting. “With this simulator, we can explain in great detail to the operational weather community the tornadic echo from the polarimetric radar,” said Robert Palmer, ARRC executive director. “The signal received by the dual polarimetric radar is not easily understood because rain is mixed with the debris. The knowledge we gain from this study will improve tornado detection and near real-time damage estimation.” Numerous controlled anechoic chamber measurements of tornadic debris were conducted at the Radar Innovations Laboratory on the OU Research Campus to determine the scattering characteristics of several debris types—leaves, shingles and boards. Palmer, D.J. Bodine, B.L. Cheong, C.J. Fulton and S.M. Torres, the center, and the OU Schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Meteorology developed the
simulator to provide comparisons for actual polarimetric radar measurements. Before this study, there were many unanswered questions related to tornado debris scattering, such as knowing how the size, concentration and shape of different debris types affect polarimetric variables. How the radar identifies the debris is equally as important. Orientation of debris makes a difference as well as how the debris falls through the atmosphere. Overall, understanding debris scattering characteristics aids in the discovery of the relationship between debris characteristics, such as losing and centrifuging, and tornado dynamics. OU team members were responsible for various aspects of this study. Coordination of damage surveys and collection of debris samples were led by Bodine. Field experiments were designed by team members in collaboration with Howard Bluestein, OU School of Meteorology. Electromagnetic simulations and anechoic chamber experiments were led by Fulton. The signal processing algorithms were developed by Torres and his team. Cheong led the simulation development team. The study, “SimRadar: A Polarimetric Radar Time-Series Simulator for Tornadic Debris Studies,” will be published in the May issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation with grant number AGS-1303685. There were significant results from the collaboration between the center and the Disaster Prevention Research Institute in Kyoto University. An animation has been developed for the simulation of the three types of tornadic debris used in this study, which included leaves (green), shingles (pink) and boards (orange). The OU team has the ability, however, to simulate other types of debris.
OU and Mercy Test New Models By Jana Smith An OU and Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City research team is set to begin the largest breast cancer clinical trial ever performed in Oklahoma. The team has developed new breast cancer risk prediction models based on a computer-aided image feature analysis scheme to identify patients who might have cancers that are not visible on mammography. After review of 2,000 imaging studies performed at Mercy over the past two years and refinement of the image analysis system, the clinical trial began July 1, 2017, at the Mercy Breast Center. Bin Zheng and Hong Liu, professors in the Gallogly College of Engineering, affiliates of the Stephenson School of Biomedical
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Engineering and members of the Stephenson Cancer Center, teamed with Dr. Alan Hollingsworth, medical director of the Mercy Breast Center, to develop and validate this unique breast cancer risk model for identifying women who are excluded from current breast magnetic resonance imaging guidelines, but have a higher risk of developing mammography-occult or hidden cancers that can be detected by MRI. At the same time, the study will evaluate women with elevated lifetime cancer risk, but who are in no imminent risk of developing imagedetectable cancers.
“The goal is to significantly increase cancer detection of breast MRI screenings based on the quantitative imaging markers rather than the existing epidemiology-based risk assessment approaches,” said Zheng. Over the next three years, the clinical trial will enroll 4,000 women with mammograms interpreted as normal according to best practice guidelines. These mammograms will be de-identified and sent electronically to Zheng and Liu at the OU Advanced Cancer Imaging Laboratory for analysis. The women with higher scores predicted by the risk model will qualify for the additional breast screening. Hollingsworth anticipates between 200 and 400 patients of the original 4,000 will qualify for a breast MRI. “If we can demonstrate cancer detection rates of even 5 percent in this
population, then we will have achieved a higher yield than any other method of selecting patients for breast MRI screening. Five percent is 10-fold the cancer detection rate of screening mammography. At 5 percent or greater, we have the potential to alter how we screen for breast cancer. Unlike research projects that might take a decade or longer from ‘bench-to-bedside,’ if we’re successful, this study will have practice-changing implications,” said Hollingsworth. Participants in this study will be those women who routinely have their mammograms performed at Mercy Breast Center. If you are interested in learning more about the clinical trial, call (405) 936-5455. The National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute funded this research with a five-year, $2.5 million grant.
Students Create App for Arezzo, Italy By Becky Cavnar Ahead of guiding University of Oklahoma students through their study-abroad journey in Arezzo, Italy, program facilitators Randa Shehab and Zahed Siddique wanted a way for them to make a difference for Norman’s sister city. They asked the mayor, Alessandro Ghinelli, what the city needed. The response was a mobile phone app for tourism, but Shehab and Siddique had all engineering students in the program. No computer science majors or faculty were on the trip. But with the experience they had in designing efficient operations and with other apps they had used, students teamed up and developed an app that will become a permanent part of Arezzo. “It was such a well-received project. The students worked so hard,” Shehab said. “Now we’ve got a team working on it. We’re hoping to have something operational for the city in the next year.” Some aspects of designing the app would have been right at home for OU students, based on architectural engineering sophomore Kaitlyn Faust’s description of Arezzo. Its similar size and nature to Norman make it a perfect match. “Arezzo is compared to Norman in Italy,” she said. “It’s a suburban kind of area, but it’s also a historic city that’s been around for hundreds of years.” That gave Faust’s team a lot of material for their aspect of the app. Students were split into four to five groups, she said, to create different parts of the app, and her group had history. “My group worked on innovative features to learn about what landmarks or museums were there to explore in Arezzo,” Faust said. The features they came up with include an augmented reality walking tour, where people can use cameras on their phones to view certain buildings or landmarks and have information on those places right at their fingertips. There’s also a historical scavenger hunt designed for kids — and interested and willing adults. And that’s just one aspect of the app. There are sections for restaurants and dining, shopping, outdoor adventures, citywide events and, of course, a map.
“If you’re a tourist, what are the key things you want to do when you go abroad?”, Shehab said about how students developed the features. “We did it from the conceptualization through to the prototyping. It really forced them to situate in the study-abroad experience.” The class worked on the app over the course of four weeks. Then, the group presented its app to Ghinelli and city leaders. “It was such a well-received project,” Shehab said. “We’ve now started to partner with the computer science school, and they’re trying to do some implementation for their senior capstone course.” For inspiration, Faust said students looked at what they have seen from other tourist and travel apps. Plus, they had a group’s worth of smartphone experience to know what they liked in an app. “Our initial idea was very basic. Going through the program and having weekly meetings, getting their ideas helped push our app to become innovative and something no other city app has.” Faust and her team’s work centered around research and mapping, but other groups, namely those who worked on the dining and shopping guide, interacted with local shop and business owners. All of the restaurants are “mom-and-pop” operations, she said, and the people of Arezzo were open to work with a bunch of Oklahoma students trying to learn more about their city. “The citizens are super friendly to students,” she said. “Sometimes there’s a cultural barrier, but overall, I’ve never had any issues. They were all excited to have us there and to introduce us to their culture.”
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COLLEGE NEWS
Nairn Awarded Highest Recognition by Society for Mined Land Reclamation Work By Jana Smith OU Gallogly College of Engineering professor Robert W. Nairn, is the recipient of the prestigious William T. Plass Award from the American Society of Mining and Reclamation. Nairn pioneered wetland technologies to rehabilitate contaminated water at the Tar Creek Superfund site where he has worked for almost 20 years. The award is the highest level of recognition given by the society in the field of mined land reclamation. Nairn transformed mine reclamation work at Tar Creek—one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s top abandoned hazardous waste sites. “Professor Nairn’s scholarly work has had a huge impact in Oklahoma and around the world,” said OU President David L. Boren. “No one is more deserving of the Plass Award.” Nairn, the Viersen Family Presidential Professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and the director of the Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, began working to clean up Tar Creek in the late nineties. In 2008, he and his team installed a full-scale passive water treatment system for the contaminated water discharging site near Commerce, Oklahoma.
The system treats approximately 20 percent of mine drainage, rendering the treated water safe for discharge into the receiving stream. The success of this passive treatment system led to additional funding to extend the system to other discharge sites. With this award, the society recognizes Nairn’s research, teaching and regional, national and international outreach. His career accomplishments in the field of mined land reclamation are huge and have impacted many people, including tribes, nonprofits, regulatory agencies, industry and international governments,” said Randall L. Kolar, director of the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science. Nairn’s work has received significant media attention over the years from local, state and national newspapers and broadcast news stations, as well as from the History Channel and Discovery Channel. In 2009, an award-winning documentary film featuring Nairn titled “Tar Creek” was produced by Matt Myers and screened nationally and internationally. As testimony to his global impact, Nairn has expanded his mitigation work at one of the world’s oldest and largest silver mines in Potosi, Bolivia. His efforts have been widely recognized.
Valero Makes $1.5 Million Gift By Jana Smith OU President David L. Boren announced at the June meeting of the OU Board of Regents, a $1.5 million gift from Valero to support construction of Gallogly Hall, a new biomedical engineering building and research laboratory on OU’s Engineering Quadrangle, that will house the Gallogly College of Engineering’s Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering and new engineering labs and learning spaces. “The university deeply appreciates this generous gift from Valero to such an important new academic facility and program,” Boren said. In appreciation of the gift, Boren recommended that the new building’s lecture hall, which will be prominently located on the first floor, be named to honor Valero.
From left: Gary Simmons, Jen Swenton, Jill Burns, Lane Riggs and Ken Applegate, from Valero, present a check in support of the Valero Lecture Hall in Gallogly Hall.
The Valero Lecture Hall will be a reconfigurable multipurpose space that also may be used as a classroom or a space to host special events. The lecture hall will easily accommodate up to 100 people and will be equipped with advanced audiovisual equipment, including 70-inch display panels, projection screens and extensive internet accessibility. “As an OU alumnus, I am especially proud
for Valero to support the new lecture hall, which will be used by students and faculty at the University of Oklahoma,” said Lane Riggs, executive vice president – Refining Operations and Engineering. “Valero appreciates the opportunity to assist the university in providing world-class facilities for its engineering students.”
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Hong Named Gallogly Chair By Jana Smith Yang Hong, a faculty member of the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science since 2007, holds the titles of Presidential Research Professor, director of the Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, co-director of research for the OU Water Technology for Emerging Regions Center, adjunct faculty member in the OU School of Meteorology, Fellow of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and most recently, recipient of the prestigious Gallogly Chair. His areas of research span the range of hydrology-meteorologyclimatology, with particular interest in bridging the gap among the water-weather-climate-human systems across scales in space and time. He developed and taught classes related to these topics, including remote sensing retrieval and applications, advanced hydrologic modeling, climate change and natural
hazards, engineering survey/measurement and statistics, land surface modeling and data assimilation systems for hydrological cycle, and water systems under a changing climate. Hong served on several international and national committees, review panels and editorial boards of several journals. For his prolific publication record (more than 300 articles, four books, 31 book chapters and numerous technologies) and contributions to the field, he received the OU Vice President for Research 2016 Award for Scholarly Dissemination, the NASA Group Achievement Award (Global Precipitation Measurement Mission) in 2015, and the NASA Robert H. Goddard Award in 2014. Hong received his doctoral degree major in hydrology and water resources and doctoral degree minor in remote sensing and spatial analysis from the University of Arizona in 2003, his master’s degree in environmental sciences in 1999, and his bachelor of science degree in geosciences in 1996 from the Peking (Beijing) University, China. Learn more: bit.ly/YangHong.
Crossley Receives National Science Foundation Early Career Award By Jana Smith Steven Crossley, assistant professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, is the recipient of a $548,829, five-year National Science Foundation Early CAREER Award for research that can be used to understand catalysts that are important for a broad range of chemical reactions ranging from the production of renewable fuels and chemicals for natural gas processing. The research will be integrated with educational and outreach programs intended for American Indian students, emphasizing the importance of sustainable energy. Crossley also is a faculty mentor for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. The project, titled "SusChEM:CAREER: Using unique synthesis techniques and reaction kinetics to quantify and manipulate catalytically active sites in metalreducible oxide systems,” will provide a detailed understanding of active sites and atom transfer processes involved in catalytic conversion of bio-oil molecules derived from biomass.
“We are proposing a new method to quantify the role of different catalytically active sites under harsh reaction conditions that are commonly challenging to decouple. Our findings should help to clarify confusion in the literature while providing valuable information necessary for improved catalyst design,” said Crossley. Biomass conversion processes typically create a broad range of oxygenated intermediates that are treated further by catalytic processes to remove excess oxygen and build longer chain hydrocarbons attractive as fuel components and chemical intermediates. The efficient conversion requires multifunctional catalysts—typically composed of metal and metal oxide active sites—capable of several simultaneous or sequential reaction steps. While it is well understood that different types of active sites are required for different reactions, the exact nature of those sites and their ideal proximity is not known. The study will provide an opportunity to examine independently two important aspects of bifunctional catalysis on reducible metal oxides: metal-support interactions and hydrogen spillover effects vary with different types of molecules common to biomass deconstruction processes. Learn more: http://bit.ly/ StevenCrossley.
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Class of 2017 Distinguished Graduates Three outstanding University of Oklahoma Gallogly College of Engineering alumni recently were recognized with the highest honor bestowed by the college: induction into the Distinguished Graduates Society. Michael Miller, Robert Purgason and Pam Tucker were inducted during the college’s convocation ceremonies. The Gallogly College of Engineering established the Distinguished Graduates Society in 1990 to honor its most accomplished alumni. Selection is based upon distinguished professional or technical achievement, notable public service, support of education and contributions to the engineering profession. The 2017 inductees total 103 alumni in the Distinguished Graduates Society.
Michael Miller Michael Miller was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and graduated from Norman High School. He attended OU, earning a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering in 1987. Miller began his career as a design engineer and second employee at Monitronics Inc. While at Monitronics, Miller completed many contract-engineering projects for Banctec, Seagate Inc., the NCR Corp. and the IBM Corp. In 1992, Miller co-founded Advanced Financial Solutions Inc. Under his direction as vice president of engineering, AFS developed more than 30 software products and became a world leader in payment processing. AFS transformed paper-based payment systems to image-based electronic clearing. AFS was recognized by Inc. 500 Magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies four years in a row. In addition to installing their software in more than 25 countries —including Bank of China, Bank of Mexico and the Monetary Authority of Singapore—AFS software ran in more than half of the banks and credit unions in the United States. He is active on the Gallogly College of Engineering Board of Visitors and the OU School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Board.
Robert Purgason Robert S. Purgason is the chief executive officer of Kayne Anderson Acquisition Corp. and senior managing director of Kayne Anderson. He has more than 35 years of experience in the energy industry, most recently serving as senior vice president, Access at Williams Cos. Inc. He was responsible for the central operation area and operational excellence for the entire enterprise.
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Purgason has deep operational and commercial knowledge of midstream companies and has previously served as chief operating officer of Chesapeake Midstream Partners, L.L.C. and Crosstex Energy, L.P. He has served on the Board of Directors and is the past chairman of the Texas Pipeline Association, the Board of Visitors at the Gallogly College of Engineering at OU, and the advisory board for the OU School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering. Additionally, Purgason is the past program chair and director of GPA Midstream Association, where he authored numerous technical and marketing papers. He is currently a member of the Dallas Wildcat Committee and the National Association of Corporate Directors. Purgason also serves on the board of L.B. Foster Co., a manufacturing company specializing in rail, construction and energy-related products. Purgason’s strong leadership abilities, deep technical knowledge and energy-related M&A expertise make him an asset in the industry. Purgason began his career at Perry Gas Cos. in Odessa, Texas, working in all facets of the natural gas treating business.
Pam Tucker Pam Tucker is the chief operating officer of Utility Composites Inc., a manufacturing company she co-founded in 1993. With Utility Composites, she was a member of the Austin Technology Incubator from 1994 to 1996. Prior to that, Tucker worked as a product development engineer for 3M for six years. She also served for six years as a part-time lecturer for the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and for two years as an adjunct professor for Park College. Tucker holds 16 U.S. patents, two Canadian patents and two patents pending. She has published four articles in refereed journals. Committed to community service, Tucker has served as member and chair of the national Younger Chemists Committee of the American Chemical Society, an officer for the 3M Technical Forum, a member of the Gallogly College of Engineering Board of Visitors, a member of the Board of Directors of Fixeon, and, currently, as a board member of the advisory board of the OU School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering. She has mentored several up-and-coming entrepreneurs and business owners. Tucker grew up in Kansas and attended McPherson College for a liberal arts education before transferring to the University of Oklahoma. She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from OU in 1983 and her master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Texas.
Rogers Receives Regents' Alumni Award Lisa M. Rogers, of Houston, chemical engineer at ExxonMobil and mentor to OU engineering students, has been named one of 11 2017 Regents' Alumni Award recipients. Rogers has been an active supporter of her alma mater since earning her bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering in 2002. Her leadership has played a vital role in the Gallogly College of Engineering. Through her service on the Chemical Engineering Advisory Board, she has made it a priority to serve and also has become an honorary recruiter for OU. As an OU alumna, she knows firsthand the impact the university has on students, and she is dedicated to seeing programs prosper.
Lisa Rogers, 2017 Regents' Alumni Award recipient
During her time at OU, Rogers’ Sooner Spirit was evident through her student roles and her honors and awards. As an honors student and an active member of the Student Chemical Engineering Society, she was on the Dean’s Honor Roll each semester and was an Oklahoma Scholar, an SAE Scholar and a Lawrence Reid Gas Conditioning Conference Scholar. Selected as Outstanding Sophomore and Outstanding Senior for Chemical Engineering, she was part of a chemical engineering team that placed first in the School of Chemical Engineering Senior Design Awards. Dedicated to guiding and encouraging students through their pursuit of an engineering degree, she has spent countless hours mentoring and coaching OU students. In addition to her services as a mentor, she is one of the youngest alumni to join the J.H.
Felgar Society – a program that supports the Gallogly College of Engineering. An Alpha Sigma Kappa sorority alumna, her support also extends to the Women in Engineering Program, for which she is a major contributor. An IRONMAN Triathlon competitor, she supports numerous causes outside of OU. Currently, she is product optimizer for ExxonMobil. Presented by the OU Board of Regents and OU Alumni Association, the Regents’ Alumni Award honors the important role of OU alumni and supporters to the life of the university. A committee formed by the Alumni Association selects the award recipients from nominations made by alumni, friends and OU faculty and staff. Each year’s recipients receive a plaque and their names are engraved on a permanent plaque in Oklahoma Memorial Union.
Harrison Inducted Into Hall of Fame The Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society honored Roger Harrison Jr. at a dinner and induction ceremony Oct. 30 in the Nigh Center on the University of Central Oklahoma campus in Edmond. He was selected, along with nine other leaders with distinguished careers in teaching, research, medicine, government, economic development and public service and a former state senator, for its 2017 Hall of Fame honors.
Dean Tom Landers, Roger Harrison and Brian Grady, director of the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering
Harrison has demonstrated excellence in four measures of achievement in higher education: teaching, research, writing and the application of knowledge to the solution of problems for the benefit of others. During his 28 years at OU, Harrison has received national honors as author of a textbook adopted by 70 major universities in the United States and abroad, being a leader in biomedical engineering education, and through research that opened the door for the significant reduction in the amount of toxic substances required for chemotherapy in cancer treatment.
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Pursuing Excellence The Pursuit of Excellence Awards recognize and celebrate excellence as demonstrated by one faculty member, graduate student, undergraduate student and staff member. The awards are presented during the November Felgar Society Gala and are among the highest recognition given by the college. Named after Jim Gallogly's famous challenge to pursue excellence, the Pursuit of Excellence Award honors those who regularly and selflessly serve the college with excellence in all they do.
Hong Liu, Ph.D. Hong Liu, Ph.D., and Dean Tom Landers
Faculty Awardee
Hong Liu is known for his leadership and pioneering research in medical imaging, including digital mammography and X-ray. He has been recognized for awardwinning excellence in teaching and many years of passionate work to establish the Center for Advanced Medical Imaging. Liu has made a significant impact in the world of women’s breast cancer diagnosis, improving the image clarity of mammograms while reducing radiation exposure.
Nazanin Tajik
Graduate Student Awardee
Dean Tom Landers, Nazanin Tajik and Jim Gallogly
Nazanin Tajik is pursuing a doctoral degree in the School of Industrial and Systems engineering. She serves as a research assistant, and has been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Southern Plains Transportation Center. Prior to joining OU, her research focused on vehicle routing problems and heuristic optimization. She has published multiple journal articles in this area and currently is working on three manuscripts. She was recently named 2017 Miss International OU.
Michael Pezzulli
Undergraduate Student Awardee
Dean Tom Landers, Michael Pezzulli and Jim Gallogly
Michael Pezzulli is a senior chemical engineering major, minoring in psychology and chemistry. As a student employee in the dean's office, he was instrumental in preparing for the recent ABET accreditation visit. He performs his work with care, diligence and timeliness. Pezzulli plays a key role in helping guide Deans Leadership Council meetings, anticipating needs and executing them without having to be asked. He is a lead mentor who exhibits initiative and empathy in working with students.
Jimmy Cannon Staff Awardee
Dean Tom Landers, Jimmy Cannon and Jim Gallogly
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Jimmy Cannon has served the Gallogly College as the Rawl Engineering Practice coordinator for five years. His selfless dedication to students and competition teams is unmatched. He has demonstrated technical expertise in working with student teams to solve challenges. He is astute in his ability to navigate and manage the facility, maintain and repair equipment, and most importantly, mentor the students with whom he engages. He is known by colleagues for his can-do attitude, willingness to help others and for his boisterous and contagious laughter.
New Faculty Members Bring Expertise to Gallogly College
Jai Cai
Assistant Professor Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Jason Vogel
Assistant Director of the Oklahoma Water Survey and Associate Professor Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
Shima Mohebi
Assistant Professor Industrial and Systems Engineering
Michael Galizia
Assistant Professor Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering
Rafai Jabrzemski
Sepideh Razavi
Assistant Professor Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering
AndrĂŠs GonzĂĄlez
Assistant Professor of Practice Computer Science
Assistant Professor Industrial and Systems Engineering
Handan Acar
Stefan Wilhelm
Assistant Professor Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering
Assistant Professor Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering
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Walden Elected Fellow By Jana Smith Susan E. Walden has been elected to the Academy of Fellows for the American Society for Engineering Education. Walden, the first ASEE awardee from OU, has made significant individual contributions to her body of work related to diversity and inclusion in engineering education within the P-16 initiative. The fellow designation honors her scholarship and service for improving engineering education, especially in pre-college settings. Walden, research associate professor in the Gallogly College of Engineering at OU, also serves as director of the Research Institute for STEM Education; associate director of the Sooner Engineering Education Center; core affiliate faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, Women and Gender Studies Program; and director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, Office of the Vice President for Research on the Norman campus. “Dr. Walden not only is a major force in enhancing diversity and inclusion of engineering students at OU, but she also is a national leader in STEM education and has published important papers that are helping other institutions drive positive change in diversity and related challenges,” said OU Vice President for Research Kelvin Droegemeier.
who exhibit outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and contributions to engineering and the society. The ASEE Pre-College Engineering Education division sponsored Walden’s nomination as a fellow and also selected her to receive the Pre-College Engineering Education Meritorious Service Award at the society’s conference. The Meritorious Service Award is given to a member who has provided exemplary service in alignment with the division’s vision, mission and core beliefs and in support of pre-college engineering education efforts with the society. “I am incredibly honored to receive these recognitions from my outstanding pre-college engineering colleagues. These achievements would not have been possible without the collaboration of my current and former team members in the Research Institute for STEM Education, the Sooner Elementary Engineering and Science Clubs, and the Sooner Engineering Education Center,” Walden said.
According to ASEE, the board of directors confers the grade of Fellow following a rigorous nomination process on members
Sabatini Receives International Award By Jana Smith OU professor David Sabatini was selected to receive the 2017 International Association of Hydrogeologists, U.S. National Chapter’s International Service Award for his many years of promoting sustainable water resources projects in developing and impoverished countries, particularly through the creation of the OU Water Technologies for Emerging Regions Center. Sabatini has shown outstanding commitment to the international community and its groundwater needs. “This award is well-deserved and reflects the international stature of Professor David Sabatini in his field,” said OU President David L. Boren. “No one has done more to help develop safe water for those who desperately need it. The OU family is very grateful to Dr. Sabatini.” Sabatini, David Ross Boyd Professor and Sun Oil Company Endowed Chair of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science in the Gallogly College of Engineering, was recognized as director of the OU Water Center and for his career-long commitment to improving the lives of others through the development of water technologies. He received the prestigious service award at the 2017 Geological Society of America’s annual meeting in Seattle on Oct. 24.
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Sabatini founded the OU Water Center in 2006 to promote peace by advancing health, education and economic development through sustainable water and sanitation solutions for impoverished regions. Sabatini has vast experience in Water Technologies for Emerging Regions, including integrating culture/ behavior, business/supply chain and technology in pursuit of sustainable solutions. His other research interests include groundwater quality management fate and transport of pollutants in the groundwater environment, surfactant-based technologies for expediting remediation of subsurface contamination use of passive treatment; and water and wastewater treatment, which is the treatment and/ or recovery of municipal and industrial water and wastewater streams utilizing physiochemical systems with an emphasis on surfactant-contaminant separation and surfactant reuse.
COLLEGE NEWS
A Tribute to the GCoE Faculty The University of Oklahoma, April 11, 2017 Patent Awards Engineering Physics
Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
Michael Santos
Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering Miguel Bagajewicz Brian Grady Roger Harrison
Jeffrey Harwell Daniel Resasco Guangzhe "Greg" Yu
Presidential Professorships Steven Crossley Roger and Sherry Teigen President's Associates Presidential Professorship Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering
Andrew Fagg Brian E. and Sandra O'Brien Presidential Professorship Computer Science
Kianoosh Hatami Electrical and Computer Engineering Lu Li Rui Yang Zhaobing Tian Yan Zhang
Kianoosh Hatami Regents' Award for Superior Research and Creative Activity Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
Christopher Ramseyer Vice President for Research Award for Improving Quality of Life and Communities Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
Caleb Fulton President's Associates Presidential Professorship Electrical and Computer Engineering
Liangzhong "Shawn" Xiang Nancy L. Mergler Faculty Mentor Award for Undergraduate Research Electrical and Computer Engineering
Rong Gan Presidential Research Professorship Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Robert Nairn David L. Boren Professorship WaTER Center and Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
Joseph Havlicek Gerald Tuma Presidential Professorship Electrical and Computer Engineering
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COLLEGE NEWS Volz Served as Conference Chair Jeffery Volz, associate professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, was the local planning committee conference chair of the 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers-Architectural Engineering Institute National Conference in Oklahoma City, hosted by OU and held in April.
Hatami Honored by Alma Mater Kianoosh Hatami, associate professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, was selected by his alma mater, McMaster University, for his achievements in geotechnical and earthquake engineering. The faculty of engineering are celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary by recognizing the achievements of their top 150 engineering alumni in Canada and throughout the globe.
Gan and Harrison Inducted Into College of Fellows Rong Gan, professor in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and Roger Harrison, professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, were inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in March 2017. The AIMBE College of Fellows represents the most accomplished and distinguished medical and biological engineers responsible for innovation and discovery. Candidates can only be considered for election to AIMBE by the College of Fellows if nominated by an existing fellow. Fellows are encouraged to nominate candidates who have demonstrated long-lasting contributions to biomedical engineering and innovation. AIMBE fellows represent the top 2 percent of the most accomplished leaders in the field of medical and biological engineering.
Pei Invited to Jet Propulsion Lab Jin-Song Pei, associate professor in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, was invited and participated in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Faculty Research Program in Pasadena, California, for the summer of
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2017. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a world leader in science and technology, is a federally funded, unique, national research facility managed by the California Institute of Technology for NASA.
Kang Receives Best Presentation Award Ziho Kang, assistant professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, was awarded the Best Presentation at the Second International Conference on Bioengineering for Smart Technologies supported by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, held in Paris in August.
Galizia Contributes to American Chemical Society Editor's Choice Paper The perspective paper, Polymer and Mixed Matrix Membranes for Gas and Vapor Separation: A Review and Prospective Opportunitiesm, published in Macromolecules 2017, was co-authored by Michele Galizia (OU), Lucas Chi (MIT), Zach Smith (MIT), Tim Merkel (MTR), Richard Baker (MTR) and Benny Freeman (UT). The paper has been selected as an “ACS Editor’s Choice”. ACS Editor’s Choice articles highlight research that exemplifies the Society's commitment to improving people's lives through the transforming power of chemistry. “This perspective article outlines future research directions in membrane science. Membrane science will be one of the leading actors in the Chemical Engineering of the future and will have a social impact in our country's life,” Galizia says.
Reed Honored by Society of Petroleum Engineers Teri Reed, an OU petroleum engineering alumna, was recognized as a Distinguished Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers during an annual reception and banquet in October in San Antonio. This recognition honors those who have contributed exceptional service and leadership to the society. Reed served as associate dean in the College of Engineering from 2004 to 2006 and is the assistant vice president for research development at the University of Cincinnati.
STUDENTS
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STUDENTS
Outstanding Seniors Representing the Disciplines in the Gallogly College of Engineering 2016-2017
Christine Greve Aerospace Engineering
Allison Olin Computer Engineering
Brittney O'Neill Chandler Funderburg Architectural Engineering Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering
Daniel Brigance Computer Science
Lane McGuire Environmental Science
Garrett Robinson Electrical Engineering
Lauren Yeagle Industrial and Systems Engineering
Mitchell Gordon Civil Engineering
Lara Mason Environmental Engineering
Cameron Fielden Mechanical Engineering
Not pictured: Christopher Brown - Engineering Physics, and Brooke Garrison - Industrial and Systems Engineering
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STUDENTS Crimson Skies Places Sixth at Competition
“I am thrilled that an outstanding OU student, Benjamin Korty, has won the national study abroad fellowship, which I worked to create while in the U.S. Senate,” said OU President David L. Boren. Korty is pursuing a major in electrical engineering with minors in physics and math. He will study from October 2017 to August 2018 at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo. Before traveling to Japan, he interned for L3 Mustang Technologies in Plano, Texas. His previous internships include Ball Aerospace and Karcher, North America, both in Boulder, Colorado.
Anderson Selected as One of Top Eight Interns Gallogly College's team, Crimson Skies, placed sixth out of 95 teams at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design, Build and Fly competition in Tucson, Arizona, in April.
Hossain Receives SPTC Student of the Year Award Nur Hossain, a graduate research assistant from the University of Oklahoma, was named the 2018 Southern Plain’s Transportation Center Outstanding Student of the Year – one of the most prestigious awards given by the SPTC under the National University Transportation Center program. He was recognized at the Council of University Transportation Center’s Awards Banquet, held January 6, 2018 in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
Engineering Physics major Blake Anderson was selected as one of the top eight undergraduate student interns among the six directorates of the Army Research Lab. Anderson has demonstrated the power of collaboration as evidenced by his selection and his contribution to research that creates and implements robust data-driven control mechanisms for autonomous control of Unmanned Aerial Systems, under the supervision of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering faculty member Andrea L’Afflitto. Anderson's internship is part of a collaborative agreement that brought OU within the network of universities collaborating with the Army Research Lab South.
Carmichael Chosen as NCAA Finalist
Hossain is pursuing a doctoral degree in civil engineering with an emphasis in design and performance of pavement under the guidance of his advisor, Musharraf Zaman, professor and director of the SPTC. His research is titled “Mechanistic Input Parameters and Model Calibration for Design and Performance Evaluation of Flexible Pavements in Oklahoma”.
Korty Receives Boren Award for International Study OU junior Benjamin Korty of Denver won the Boren Award for International Study, sponsored by the National Security Education Program. Korty is the 31st OU student to receive the award since the program began in 1994. The awards provide up to $20,000 in funding to undergraduate students to study abroad. This year, 791 undergraduate students applied for the Boren Scholarship and 194 received the award.
Former Oklahoma track and field standout, Jenny Carmichael, a 2016 CBME graduate, was chosen as one of nine finalists for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year. The nine finalists, chosen by the Woman of the Year selection committee, include three women from each of the three NCAA divisions who have demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. Carmichael was invited to Indianapolis to participate in the ceremony.
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Jennifer and Jesse Sandlin
Tim Gana and Jill Hughes
Jim Gallogly and Charles Stephenson visit with JP Audas
Claire Malaby and David Vreeland
Sonia Wilson, Janet and Jim Gallogly, Tom Landers and Sam Wilson
First Lady Molly Shi Boren, Shawn Simmons, Lisa Morris and President David Boren
Jill Hughes, Chris Holland and Rick Scheer
Debe and Jeff Johnson Nasir Javed, Jill Hughes, Senator Mohsin Leghari and Shahzad Saleem
Members of the AME Advisory Board honor Cengiz Altan with a Centennial Plaza paver located at the entrance to the Rawl Engineering Practice Facility
Charlotte and Roger Rowe, Marilyn Culp
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Girish Balakrishnan and Susy Calonkey
Ramiro Brigueda, Kevin Reimnitz and Shawn Swatek
John Poarch, Robb and Darla Vanskike, and Lawrence Crynes
Jim Benson, Donna Shirley and Tricia Tramel
Patti Landers, Ruth and Tom Perry, and Tom Landers
Lisa Morris, Jerry Holmes, Charles Jones, Larry Evans and Sam Wilson
Todd Langley and Jim Davis
Louise Cassingham and Jill Hughes
Jill Hughes, OU Mascot Sooner and Darrell Bull
Alan Armstrong, Stephanie Buettner and Amy Shank
Karen Lacy and Zach Maggard
Jonathan Oliver, Orville Rogers and Ceara Parks
Alumni gather for the Ohio State pre-game festivities
Members of the Dean's Advisory Board on Diversity
Stephanie Buettner and Sridhar Radhakrishnan visit with OU Engineering alumni who work at Microsoft in Seattle
Stephanie Buettner, Kristen and Adam Bymaster
Jill Hughes and Robert Cassingham
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Pursuit of Excellence Class – 2018 OU Young Engineering Alumni The Pursuit of Excellence Class was established to recognize and honor outstanding young alumni for their contributions to Gallogly College through engagement, investment and advocacy. We are proud to present the inaugural class.
Drew Harnish, Lockheed Martin - Staff Project Engineer
Drew Harnish is a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and earned his bachelor's and master’s degrees in industrial and systems engineering in 2009 and 2011. His fondest memory from his time at OU was performing in the 2007 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with the Pride of Oklahoma band. Harnish serves on the OU Young Engineering Alumni Advisory Board, is a member of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers and a corporate recruiter. He values connecting students with industry and mentoring. He credits it all to the positive experiences he had as a student. In addition to Gallogly College, Harnish is involved with the OU Alumni Band and Kappa Kappa Psi. He enjoys music, trying new foods, cocktail recipes and hiking. He is living in Fort Worth with his wife, Katie, son Everett and their dog Penny. Harnish would like to build an enduring relationship between Lockheed Martin and OU, mentor students and serve on the advisory board for the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, or similar role. Pro tip: “There are many ways to engage, so look for the ones that matter to you.”
Lauren Haller Fontaine,
Hess Corp. – Legal Counsel Lauren Haller came to OU from Houston
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and earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 2005, followed by her juris doctorate in 2008. As a student, she was involved in Engineers’ Club, the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers. Haller is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board on Diversity and the Felgar Society, and she is a supporter of Gallogly Hall. “My education and educational experience is directly correlated with my professional success. Staying engaged allows me to impact future generations of engineers by offering my time, talent and treasure.” In addition to Gallogly College, Haller supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She also enjoys writing, traveling, playing golf and spending time with her husband, Michael Fontaine II, and their 2-year-old son. Haller has goals to continue and expand her involvement with the Gallogly College via board service and enhanced giving. Pro Tip: “Giving back to the Gallogly College is an opportunity to show gratitude and to help future generations gain a quality education.”
Michael Hollinger,
IBM – Senior Technical Staff Member, Cognitive Systems
Michael Hollinger is originally from Austin, Texas, and earned his bachelor’s degree in computer engineering in 2004 and master’s in electrical and computer engineering in 2005. He fondly remembers playing weekend-long rounds of board games in the Honors Dorm library.
As an alum, Hollinger serves on the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Board and as a Holmes Engineering Leadership Program mentor. He also is a member of the Felgar Society and even hosted a group of female computer science students when they visited IBM in 2016. He enjoys staying in touch with current students and recent graduates to help them navigate career choices. In his free time, Hollinger enjoys running and cooking. He and his fiancé, David, live in Austin with their cat, Molly, and dog, Link. They will be getting married in 2018. He wants to continue his involvement with Gallogly College and be a “force multiplier and role model for the next generation of engineers and students.” Pro Tip: “Giving back takes multiple forms. That can be through moral support, technical support or financial support. Find out what's needed and consider what you have to offer.”
Laura Ann Lopez,
BP America – Na Kike/ Paleogene Reservoir Development Team Leader Laura Lopez is originally from Yukon, Oklahoma, and earned her degree in chemical engineering in 2006. As an active student, her fondest memory was getting engaged at the E-Week banquet to the engineering king, Ben Lopez. Lopez is a passionate supporter for Women in Engineering and serves as a Holmes Engineering Leadership Program mentor, corporate recruiter and advocate.
She is a member of the Felgar Society and supporter of Gallogly Hall. Lopez and her husband have endowed a scholarship to support engineering students. “It is important to me to give back to students that were just like me. I enjoy mentoring and coaching them to achieve something maybe even bigger than what they thought they could do.” Lopez enjoys camping, hiking and cooking with Ben and their two daughters. She plans to continue her support of future engineers through scholarships, mentorship and guidance. Pro Tip: “Everybody can have an impact on others. Our future society needs engineers. It is important that you use your success and skills to influence the future.”
DeLanna Beth Robertson Mead,
Tinker Air Force Base – Mechanical Engineer
DeLanna Mead came to OU from Lawton, Oklahoma, and earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 2005. Her fondest memory as a student was attending the 2000 Orange Bowl with her mom and cheering the team to victory. She is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board on Diversity, a Holmes Engineering Leadership Program mentor, corporate recruiter and regular guest speaker for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and the Gallogly College Diversity and Inclusion Program. “I received an outstanding education at OU, primarily due to the generosity of others through scholarships. I feel that it is my duty to ensure that the next generation has the same opportunities. It is about trying to make the world a better, brighter, more educated place.” Mead supports her community through the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, the Salvation Army, Heartland Rabbit Rescue and Asante Africa. Mead enjoys travel, reading, following the OU women’s gymnastics team and spending time with
her husband, Glenn “Scott” Mead, and their cat J.K. Growling. Pro Tip: “You can start small and build your gift as your career takes off. Remember that your time and talent is needed and appreciated, too.”
Guillermo Morales,
The Boeing Co. – Structural Analysis Engineer
Guillermo Morales is originally from Oklahoma City and earned a degree in aerospace engineering in 2013. He enjoyed his time on campus and still recalls the excitement he felt as a freshman. Morales serves as a corporate recruiter and advocate, and works closely with the Gallogly College Diversity and Inclusion Program. He wants students to achieve excellence in their college careers and prepare them for life after college. Morales also is active in his community with the YMCA High School Mentorship Program and service on multiple boards, including the Cristo Rey Catholic High School, Capitol Hill High School Engineering Academy and Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, and as chairman of the Boeing Oklahoma City Diversity Council. He enjoys volunteering and spending time with his wife, Tracey, family and friends. He plans to continue to champion education and to promote diversity and inclusion. Pro Tip: Giving back is contagious; it’s a chain reaction. If you help one person, they might be motivated to help others.
Oanh Thi Kieu “Kelly” Tran,
Appable – Founder and CEO Kelly Tran is originally from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and earned her degree in computer science in 2009, at the same time as her sister, who was also studying chemical engineering. It’s not surprising that graduation was her favorite
memory - not only because it gave her the opportunity to thank all those who helped her along the way, but also because she shared the OU commencement stage with Sam Bradford. Tran serves on the advisory board for the School of Computer Science and supports the Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth. She is a host for the OU MBA study abroad program in Vietnam. She regularly recruits OU engineering graduates to her two companies with operations in Oklahoma, California and Vietnam. In 2015, she was named the Most Admired Oklahoma CEO by The Journal Record. “I have taken a lot of love, support, faith, knowledge, you name it, from this excellent institution. It's only natural that I give back by staying involved.” Tran also works with kids through Hours of Code and code.org, and is an active mentor to Creative Oklahoma, Little Ones Ministries, StartX Accelerator by Stanford, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google for Entrepreneurs, Women's Startup Lab, 500 Startups, VIISA, Korean Startup Grand Challenges and Lean In Chapters. Her passion is to place women and girls in the center of innovation. Tran regularly travels the world to see how innovation impacts different cultures. “Globalization is happening fast. The next five years are going to change much faster than the last 30 years. There is a lot of work to be done to prepare the next generations of Gallogly College graduates for their future of work. I want to be a part of that journey.” Pro Tip: “You have a story to share with the world about your impact, and inspiring others is a gift.”
Rory Trenton Victor,
ExxonMobil – Project Engineer Rory Victor is originally from Houston, and earned his bachelor's and masters' degrees in civil engineering in 2007 and 2009. In 2003, while participating in homecoming festivities, he met his soon-to-be wife, Courtnie. He claims the experience was “evidently life changing.”
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Victor is a member of the advisory board for the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, a Holmes Engineering Leadership Program mentor, a CEES scholarship donor, an ExxonMobil corporate recruiter, a Houston-area high school recruiter, a supporter of the Gallogly College Diversity and Inclusion Program, and Gallogly Hall. Victor also is active in his community, supporting Houston CARES as a board member, Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church Community Enrichment Ministry, ExxonMobil Cycle Club and the OU Houston Black Alumni Association Planning Committee. He enjoys exercising, participating and spectating on just about any sporting event, traveling, spending time with friends, family, his 3-year-old son, learning something new, and being around good people. He looks forward to building his legacy through philanthropy and serving in an ongoing advisory role to the university to build strategic relationships that can benefit his corporation and OU. Pro Tip: “Your gifts actually impact real people and students.”
John Michael Woodson, Deloitte Consulting Engagement Manager
John Woodson is originally from Lawton, Oklahoma and earned a degree in chemical engineering in 2010. As a student, he was active in Engineers’ Club and other leadership groups. He feels that the relationships made in those organizations are what made his experience so rich. As an alum, Woodson serves on the boards for both the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering and the Gallogly College of Engineering. He is also a member of the Loyal Knights of Old Trusty and the Felgar Society. He attributes the many opportunities
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for growth and development that he received as a student for what motivated him to remain engaged and a passionate alum. Woodson is active in the United Way, Deloitte Impact Day and Antioch Church in Brighton, Massachusetts. In his free time, he enjoys hiking and long backpacking trips. He enjoys living in Boston and the opportunities to spend the weekends skiing and sailing. He also travels regularly and just returned from a trip to Iceland and Sweden. Woodson wants to continue to stay close to Gallogly College so he can identify how to best serve the students and broader community. Given the rapid pace of change, he hopes he can be a resource to students about future trends and areas where their impact can be the greatest.
United Way and is active with the Clifton's Strength Finders community of coaches and leaders. In her free time she enjoys painting, dancing and watching the Sooners win! She looks forward to growing in her commitment to OU and becoming more involved with the university in the future. Pro Tip: “Whether you give your time, talent or treasure to OU, staying connected to the university is one way that keeps the academic fire lit.”
Special Alumnus Revisits Campus
Pro Tip: “Even the smallest donation of money or time makes a difference in the lives of the students.”
Sarah Eileen Yung,
ExxonMobil – U.S. Loyalty Project Advisor
Sarah Yung is originally from Dallas and earned her degree in industrial and systems engineering in 2014. Her fondest memory of OU is hanging out with all of her friends in the ISE team room between classes. “We spent so much time there that it almost felt like an extension of our apartments.” Yung is the co-chair of the OU Young Engineering Alumni Society and actively helped launch the initiative to support young professional engineers. She also is an advocate and supporter for ISE, Women in Engineering and the Felgar Society. “I was blessed to have a family that supported me attending OU and instilled the value of generosity. I look forward to what OU can bring to future generations to come.” Yung supports her community through
Orville Rogers found a different campus than the one he experienced as a mechanical engineering student in the late '30s. Earning his diploma in 1940, he served as a member of the Army Air Corps beginning in 1941, training pilots headed to war. From 1951 to 1953, he flew what was then the largest airplane in the world, the B-36 bomber. In addition to his passion for flight, at the age of 50, he discovered running, setting multiple world records. At nearly 100 years old at the time of his visit, Rogers was not only VIP at the annual Engineering Game Day Open House, he was honored by the University of Oklahoma as the Patriot of the OU/TCU football game. Read more: http://bit.ly/Rogersat99.
Innovation Excellence
Rustom Mody Wins World Oil Award for Lifetime Achievement Reprinted with permission from Baker Hughes, a GE Company For Rustom Mody, Technology Excellence Executive in the Enterprise Technology team at Baker Hughes, the second week of October was one to remember. Mody was among 10 BHGE finalists—primarily within the Oilfield Services product company—for the annual World Oil Awards, which recognize the upstream industry’s leading innovators and innovations. On Oct. 12, Mody won the World Oil Award for Lifetime Achievement. Just two days earlier, Mody won a Distinguished Member Award from the Society of Petroleum Engineers at its annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. Two major awards, one week. “It’s amazing how after 37 years, things all fall together in the same week,” Mody said. Over his career, Mody has made it his mission to mentor young engineering talent, and to spread the word about the company’s technology capabilities—first with Baker Hughes, now BHGE— among customers, universities, and in professional societies. “We’ve got so much to offer the industry—amazing technology and amazing people,” he said. “I love bragging about our capabilities, and it’s been very rewarding to watch through the
JERRY HO LMES
PROGR A M FOR ENGINEERS AND SCIENT IST S
years as our reputation for strong technology has grown in the eyes of our customers and external industry organizations.” Mody has 18 patents, and played a key role in the development of multiple game-changing technologies, such as incorporating nanotechnology into disintegrating frac balls and plugs. Keenly focused on driving innovation across the organization, Mody has led teams that developed the BHGE Center for Technology Innovation, research centers in Saudi Arabia and Brazil, and the Artificial Lift Research and Technology Center. Mody said innovation in the oil and gas industry is driven by an imperative to collaborate and share knowledge across industries. He's actively involved in Pumps & Pipes, a research initiative that brings professionals in the energy, medical, education, and aerospace industries together. He recently spoke to more than 100 cardiovascular surgeons at the Advanced Interventional Cardiovascular Imaging Conference about how the oil and gas industry is using imaging techniques. Mody’s advice to young engineers? “Every day you come to work try gaining new knowledge, learn new and better ways of doing things. Get involved, go to industry meetings, join committees, practice your presentation skills. You’ll build up the company’s brand while at the same time enhancing your personal brand and developing new skills,” he said. “Find ways to serve and to give back to the industry and the community.” “Every patent you receive, every technical presentation you give, every panel session you chair – it’s like a small dot on a large collage,” he added. “Eventually you’ll step back and realize that you’ve been building a rewarding career.”
Leadership Symposium March 8, 2018
Join us for the biennial Engineering Leadership Symposium on Thursday, March 8. The symposium, hosted by the Jerry Holmes Leadership Program for Engineers and Scientists, will feature plenary talks and breakout sessions, including interactive workshops and panel discussions, all related to the theme of "Pursuing Excellence through Innovation." We look forward to seeing you there! The Leadership Symposium is a highlight of the Jerry Holmes Leadership Program for Engineers and Scientists. JHLP is designed to help engineering and applied science students develop the leadership skills necessary to meet modern challenges, particularly those encountered in complex environments.
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GIVING UPDATE
Together, We're Building Something Great! As Gallogly Hall continues to rise, so do the number of alumni and friends who give back. Thank you! Just like every building project requires a team of experts to bring architectural plans to fruition, we could not be successful without amazing students, award-winning faculty, dedicated staff and generous alumni like you. We are honored to work with you and thank you for recognizing the value of investing in students, faculty and Gallogly Hall. Whether you are considering a provision in your estate, like Ed Holstein; naming a space in Gallogly Hall, like faculty member Roger Harrison; or becoming a member of the Felgar Society, like Wes Dunbar; we are here to help. As we travel across the nation this year, we look forward to visiting with you. Have questions about how to make your investment count? Please give us a call or send us an email. Better yet, let's get together and discuss the possibilities over a cup of tea or coffee — we will bring the hard hats!
Jill Hughes Executive Director of Development
Development team members Susy Calonkey, Stephanie Buettner, Jill Hughes and Tricia Tramel stand in front of the Gallogly Hall construction site.
Contact us: Stephanie Buettner sbuettner@ou.edu (405) 325-1957
Susy Calonkey scalonkey@ou.edu (405) 325-6971
Jill Hughes jillq@ou.edu (405) 325-5217
Tricia Tramel tramel@ou.edu (405) 325-4211
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Ed Holstein, OU chemical engineering alum met with OU Foundation President and CEO, Guy Patton to make a provision in his estate.
Chemical and biomedical engineering professor Roger Harrison has named a space in Gallogly Hall.
GIVING UPDATE
Gallogly Hall Construction Update At 70,000 square feet, Gallogly Hall will be home to the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering and the college-wide Diversity and Inclusion Program. With more than 10 classrooms and teaching labs, research labs, a lecture hall, collaborative learning spaces throughout and student project makerspace, Gallogly Hall will serve all students in the Gallogly College of Engineering and attract students from across campus to explore the engineering quad and the world of engineering. As of mid January, the 22-month construction of Gallogly Hall is more than 25 percent complete. Plans are underway for a spring topping out ceremony to signify placement of the highest beam/final structural element. Stay up to date and learn more about the Gallogly Hall construction project from our
website: http://ou.edu/coe/galloglyhall, where you can view photos from the April 2017 groundbreaking, and watch an architecturally rendered digital walk-through and weekly time-lapse videos to see how the project is progressing. Limited naming opportunities starting at $50,000 and up remain. Contact one of our development officers to learn how you can leave your mark on Gallogly Hall at (405) 325-4211. Stop by the development office in the Carson Engineering Center, room 104, for a guided tour from one of our development staff. Enjoy a bird's eye view of the construction project from the fifth floor terrace of the Devon Energy Hall. We are obviously excited about this new building that will grace our engineering quad and provide yet untold stories of opportunity and impact!
Thank You Dave and Susan Bert Charlie Blackburn Nettie Boggs Testamentary Trust Bill Brewer Bob and Chimene Burke Chevron Dean’s Advisory Board on Diversity Dolese Bros. Co. Gallogly College Faculty and Staff participants in the "All In" Campaign Jim and Janet Gallogly Hemant Goradia Dr. Roger Harrison James “Red” Hawkes Ed Holstein Drs. Tom and Patti Landers
First Floor: Jim and Janet Gallogly Lobby
Second Floor: Looking south from landing to recitation room and biomedical engineering labs
Allan Neustadt ONEOK Bill and Gayle Parker Estate of Lawrence and Mary Povse Bob and Cyndy Purgason Phillips 66 Chuck and Jane Schultz Dick Sivalls Charlie and Jean Smith Michael S. Turner
View of site looking south from Devon Energy Hall terrace as of Dec. 21, 2017
View of site looking southeast as of Jan. 12, 2018
Valero
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GIVING UPDATE
Families Establish Scholarships Subramanyam R. Gollahalli Legacy Scholarship Professor Gollahalli, Lesch Centennial Chair in the OU School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, retired and transitioned to emeritus status in May 2017 after 41 years of service at OU, which included eight years as director of AME. Gollahalli's distinguished career was marked by many awards, including the Westinghouse Gold Medal, Energy Systems award, Ralph James award, Ralph Teetor award, Samuel Collier award, and Sustained Service award, from various professional organizations, and many recognitions from OU, including the Regents' Superior Teaching Award and Regents' Professional Service award.
Professor Gollahalli’s research in energy and combustion involved many experimental studies. He founded the internationally recognized Combustion Laboratory, where he mentored more than 100 master's and doctoral graduate students and post-doctoral associates and produced nearly 300 publications. He involved many undergraduate students in his laboratory research. When Professor Gollahalli stepped down from the directorship after eight years, the AME Board of Advisors started a fund to honor his legacy, which was intended to support the undergraduate laboratories. Now, after his retirement, to mark his passion and belief in providing a valuable laboratory hands-on experience to students, Professor Gollahalli’s family has decided to make a significant contribution to this fund to make it a permanent endowment, which will serve as a source of funding for this cause. The School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering invites you to contribute to this legacy scholarship fund. To learn more about Gollahalli's career, visit http://bit.ly/Gollahalli. To make a gift, visit bit.ly/amelegacy.
Ken Starling Endowed Scholarship Fund Friends, former students and family are honoring award-winning faculty member Ken Starling with the establishment of the Ken Starling Endowed Scholarship fund. Thanks to the generosity of Bob and Cyndy Purgason and in deep appreciation of Ken and Barbara, $100,000 in matching funds are available in hopes of encouraging all CBME alumni and friends to make a gift.
College of Engineering Award for Outstanding Faculty Achievement in Research in 1981. He was named Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 1996, and was awarded the Don Katz Award by the Gas Processors Association in 2003 for outstanding accomplishments in gas processing research and technology, and for excellence in engineering education. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 2012. Starling retired in 1995, following nearly three decades of service at the University of Oklahoma.
Ken Starling, emeritus George Lynn Cross and Cedomir Sliepcevich Professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, began his nearly 30-year career at OU as an assistant professor in 1966. He was promoted to associate professor in 1969 and served as school director from 1974 to 1975. He served as OU's vice provost for research administration from 1978 to 1979.
Starling's contributions to the chemical engineering profession include two well-known equations of state that bear his name: the Carnahan-Starling equation of state, a closed form solution of the hard sphere fluid compressibility that is the basis for several extended van der Waals equations; and the Benedict-Webb-Rubin-Starling equation of state, resulting from his work to develop more accurate equations of state for systems of interest to chemical engineering.
Prior to joining the CBME faculty, Starling gained considerable industrial and research experience at Republic Pipeline Co., the Institute of Gas Technology in Chicago, Esso Production Research Co. in Houston and at the Electric Power Research Institute in California. Among Starling's many honors include the Mid-America State Universities Association Honor Lectureship in 1977 and the OU
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The School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering invites you to contribute to this fund honoring Professor Starling. To learn more about Starling's career, visit http://bit.ly/KenStarling. To make a gift, visit http://bit.ly/cbmelegacy.
GIVING UPDATE
Sowing Seeds of Philanthropy Four Join Prestigious Seed Sower Society The Seed Sower Society honors individual donors or University-affiliated foundations whose cumulative gifts to OU total $1 million or more. All Seed Sower members receive a specially made Seed Sower statue created by noted sculptor and OU artist-in-residence Paul Moore. The Seed Sower name was selected for this society because, like OU’s first president, David Ross Boyd, these donors have played an extraordinary role in planting seeds of excellence at the University. Over the course of the 2016-2017 academic year, four Gallogly College of Engineering alumni have achieved cumulative gifts totaling $1million or more.
William Kerber
William Kerber earned a bachelor of science in computer science in 2003, and currently serves on the school's board of advisors. Kerber’s past accomplishments include being a founding member of Paycom Software Inc. He also is the founder and CEO of Human Mode LLC, a research company with interests in advanced technology such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Kerber is a passionate supporter of causes that use technology to make charities more efficient and transparent for donors. The Kerber Foundation was established to give regular support in this area. “Mankind needs a progress bar for its charitable goals. We don’t lack the will to make the world a better place, but we do lack the data”.
Allan Neustadt
Allan Neustadt earned bachelor of science and master's degrees in petroleum engineering in 1951 and 1952. While a student at OU, Neustadt was a member of Pi Lambda Phi and was an OU Ruf/Nek. He was a founding member of the Gallogly College of Engineering Board of Visitors and has remained active for the past 37 years. He also is a former member of the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy Advisory Board. Neustadt received the OU Regents’ Alumni Award in 1993 and was inducted into the Gallogly College of Engineering Distinguished Graduates Society in 1995, the highest honor bestowed on engineering graduates. Robert Purgason earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering in 1978. He is the CEO of Kayne Anderson Acquisition Corp. and senior managing director of Kayne Anderson. He has more than 35 years of experience in the energy industry. Purgason has served on the Gallogly College's Board of Visitors, and is the past chairman, and the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering Advisory Board. Cyndy Purgason is a 1979 OU Nursing graduate. She started her career in Odessa, Texas, at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital as a pediatric nurse. After private duty nursing in Houston, she joined the innovative LINK project in Tulsa. Her award-winning career in the nursing industry has benefited countless patients in the Tulsa community for the past two decades, until her retirement in 2014. Chuck Schultz earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering in 1970. He began his career with Santa Fe Railroad, where he helped form the first railroad industrial engineering department. His career would take him to BNSF Railway, where he retired in 2003 as executive vice president and chief marketing officer. Schultz serves on the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Advisory Board and the Gallogly College Board of Visitors. Jane Schultz earned bachelor's and master's degrees in social work. She practiced social work in Chicago and the Dallas-Fort Worth area before retiring and dedicating her time to various nonprofits and her family.
Robert and Cyndy Purgason
Chuck and Jane Schultz
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IN MEMORIAM Roy Bernard Adams, 79, passed away in Houston Oct. 17, 2017. A native from Wewoka, Oklahoma, he earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering physics from OU in 1960 and a master’s degree in engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Adams’ career started with Humble Oil Production Research in Houston. Following his military service as a lieutenant, he accepted a position at Exxon Production Research (formerly Humble), that would span 30 years, beginning in research and quickly moving to long-range planning with Exxon’s foreign affiliates in Australia, Libya, London, Norway and Malaysia. He retired in 1993, returning to Houston and a life of service to organizations that included the Executive Service Corps, American Cancer Society, Texas Children's Hospital and the United Way. He is preceded in death by his wife of 45 years, Barbara, and one daughter. He is survived by one son. William Eugene "Bill" Beckman, 87, died Dec. 9, 2017. He grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma. In high school, he was named to the Oklahoma AllState football and basketball teams. In 1947, he also was named to the All-American High School Football squad. At OU, Beckman majored in industrial engineering. He played end on the OU football team during the team's first National Championship in 1950. He served in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. In 1970, Beckman established The Bill Beckman Co., a general insurance agency. He served the State of Oklahoma by appointments of governors George Nigh and David Walters to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Board, where he served for 11 years. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Sabina, three sons, six grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. Thomas "Tom" Allen Dugan, 91, of Farmington, New Mexico, passed away Nov. 8, 2017. He graduated from Potwin (Kansas) High School in 1943 and joined the U.S. Army, where he served during World War II for three years. For his service and valor, he was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. After his military discharge, he earned a bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineering from OU. Dugan accepted a position with Phillips Petroleum and later went to work for Pacific Northwest Pipeline Corp. In 1959, he started his own company, Dugan Production Corp., which became one of the largest independent oil and gas companies in the San Juan Basin. Dugan gave generously to many civic organizations and was a lifelong supporter of education, contributing to OU and Texas Christian University. He was preceded in death by his wife of 47 years, Mary, in 1998. He is survived by one grandson, one granddaughter and one great-granddaughter.
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Don Chauncey Ellis, 84, passed away in Colorado Springs Oct. 2, 2017. He grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, where he played football for Arlington Heights High School before going on to play for the University of Oklahoma. He was a member of the Army ROTC and earned a bachelor’s degree in natural gas engineering in 1956. Ellis was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and served four years in the Corps of Engineers. He also was a longtime employee of Fluor-Daniel, traveling the United States and around the world designing pipelines at home and abroad. During the late 1960s to early '70s, Ellis and his family lived in The Hague, Netherlands, where he worked to develop a large gas pipeline that served most of western Europe. Ellis is preceded in death by his wife of 53 years, Patricia, and is survived by one son, one granddaughter and one grandson. Richard A. Elms, 85, of Cerritos, California, passed away March 15, 2017. He was born and raised along Route 66 in Erick, Oklahoma. Elms attended OU, receiving a degree in electrical engineering and being honored as a recipient of the Gold Letzeiser Award. Elms served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He then went to work for Beckman Corp. and received his master's degree in journalism from UCLA. His interest in the nascent container shipping industry would grow into an entrepreneurial career in transportation that stretched for 40 years. He co-founded and served as president of ContainerFreight, which operated the first container freight shipping terminal in Long Beach. He is survived by one brother, one daughter, two sons, one stepson and 10 grandchildren. Donald R. Geis, 85, of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, formerly of Norman, Oklahoma, died May 5, 2017. He earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1960 and a master’s degree in industrial engineering in 1968, both from OU. Geis spent his 29-year career in leadership positions in six locations from the West to the East coasts with Western Electric, which became AT&T, until his retirement as sales vice president in 1989. He began what would become his legacy of service to the OU College of Engineering, when in 1981, he served on the advisory board for the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. In 1982, he became a charter member of the college’s board of visitors, where he would serve as chairman in 1988-89 and senior active member until his passing. Upon his retirement in 1989, he would establish the first-ever collegelevel development office on OU’s campus, serving as the assistant dean for development until 1996. Geis invested in the College of Engineering and established two scholarships: the Tom J. Love/Geis Family Engineering Scholarship and the Geis Family Industrial Engineering Scholarship. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Shirley, three sons, one daughter and five grandchildren.
Robert W. Hughes, 81, passed away Feb. 28, 2017. Born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, he attended OU, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering in 1958. Hughes was employed by Conoco Inc. in Oklahoma City. After obtaining a master of business administration degree from Harvard Business School, he moved to Austin, Texas, where he began his career at Texas Capital Corp. In 1968, he and a business partner formed a cable television company, Communications Properties Inc. Following the sale of CPI to The Times Mirror Co., Hughes founded Prime Cable Corp. Prime and its affiliates built, bought and eventually sold cable television systems in many major United States cities. By 1997, Prime began expanding into cellular telephone and telecommunications venture capital, forming Prime New Ventures and Prime II Investments. Hughes served on the boards of several publicly traded companies, including Tichenor Inc./Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. (Univision), Hawaiian Wireless Inc., and Aloha Partners. He was an active member in the National Cable Television Association, serving as chairman in 1978 and 1979. In 2009, he was inducted into the Cable Television Hall of Fame. Hughes was a member of the Gallogly College of Engineering Board of Visitors. In 1987, he endowed the Robert W. Hughes professorship at OU. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Gail, two sons and five grandchildren. Joseph Alphonsus Mehan, 89, of Kansas City, Missouri, died in Garland, Texas, May 5, 2017. A graduate of OU at age 17, Mehan worked for Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) for 40 years. He served as scoutmaster of the Boy Scouts of America’s Troop 43, and served on the committee for the White Buffalo District in Circle 10 Council. He chaired the Catholic committee on scouting in the Dallas Diocese for many years. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Louise, six daughters, one son, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Thomas Dwight Perkins, 88, passed away May 24, 2017, at his home in Highland Village, Texas. He graduated as valedictorian of his class from Lockney High School. Perkins earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from Texas Tech and then joined the U.S. Navy, where he served during the Korean conflict. After his military service, he attended OU and earned both his master's and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering. Perkins spent his entire career working for Mobil Chemical Research and Development Lab, first in Beaumont, Texas, and later in Bridgewater, New Jersey. He was proud to have been part of the team that developed the formula for Mobil One motor oil. Perkins is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Beverly, one daughter, one son and four grandchildren.
Alvin Edward Petrik, 91, died Oct. 28, 2017, at the Glen Carr House in Derby, Kansas. Raised on the family farm, he graduated valedictorian from Medford High School in 1943. He attended OU, enlisted in the Navy and earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1946. Petrik was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church for nearly 70 years. He was preceded in death by his wife of 69 years, Anna, and is survived by three sons, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Robert Louis “Bob” Stover, 93, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, passed away Oct. 26, 2017. He earned a bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineering from OU in 1946. He was active in the Navy ROTC and Reserve, and as a member of the varsity football team during the war years, and won the Big Six championship in 1944. In his career with Skelly Oil, Anderson Prichard and Union Texas Petroleum, Stover lived in West Texas, New Mexico and briefly in Oklahoma City before spending longer periods in Great Bend, Kansas and Midland, Texas. From 1972-1985, he took on international assignments and retired in Lakeway, Texas, where he lived until 2003, until his wife, Ann's, passing. He moved to Tulsa in 2004 and is survived by two sons, one daughter, six grandchildren, four stepgrandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Charles Townsend, 86, passed away on Jan. 5, 2017. He grew up in Oklahoma City, and earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from OU in 1953. He joined the Marine Corps, rising to the rank of lieutenant in artillery, serving in Japan and Korea. Townsend pursued advanced degrees from Iowa State University, obtaining both a master’s and doctoral degree in electrical engineering, and serving as a member of the faculty for 37 years. Townsend is survived by three daughters, six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Scott Wright, 74, of Santa Rosa, California, passed away due to complications from Alzheimer's disease Oct. 8, 2017. A proud native of Oklahoma, Wright graduated from OU in 1967 with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. He moved to Palo Alto, California, to begin his career with Hewlett Packard. He moved to Santa Rosa in 1973 and retired in 2002 as a general manager at Agilent Technologies. He shared his expertise as a member of the OU ECE advisory board. Wright is survived by his wife, Lee, one daughter, one son and four grandchildren.
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Felgar Page
SOCIETY U N I V E R S I T Y O F O K L A H O M A G A L LO G LY C O L L E G E O F E N G I N E E R I N G
Become a MEMBER MAKE AN IMPACT School Support Unrestricted funds donated to the college or one of our 10 schools and programs provide needed flexibility to support students and programs such as the AME Machine Shop and Capstone Program; renovation of the CEES Student Team Room; program support to Data Science and Analytics; and so much more.
Faculty Support Faculty start-up funds make it possible to hire and retain top faculty. Felgar funds have contributed to the hiring of quality educators and researchers. Since the 2012-2013 academic year, the college has hired one academic director, four professors, three associate professors and 39 assistant professors.
The J.H. Felgar Society is a community of engineering alumni and friends dedicated to the college’s vision of educating engineers. By making five-year commitments to discretionary funds of the college and its schools and programs, Felgar Society members provide the dean and school directors with funds necessary to take advantage of strategic opportunities.
JOIN US AT THE NOVEMBER GALA!
Graduate Assistants/Fellowships In 2017, the Gallogly College reported 3,655 undergraduates, 395 master’s and 230 doctoral students. Felgar funds have helped with fellowships for some of our 323 graduate teaching assistants/graduate research assistants.
Student Scholarships, Professional Development and Special Need/Hardship From scholarship support, to gap funding so students can attend technical society conferences, to special need/hardship circumstances, your contributions are crucial.
Competition Teams Student teams rely on private support as they design, build, test and compete in regional and national events.
President David L. Boren and first-lady Molly Shi Boren with Engineers' Club King and Queen Brock Trotter and Jordan Caton
Water Technologies for Emerging Regions (WaTER) Center Felgar funds assist the WaTER Center in fulfilling its mission to promote peace by advancing health, education and economic development through sustainable water and sanitation solutions for impoverished regions. Undergraduate student service learning projects have taken place in Honduras, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Uganda, Ivory Coast and Cambodia. Graduate students have conducted research in Ethiopia and Bolivia.
International and Global Opportunities Since 2012, nearly 100 awards ranging from $250 to $1,000 have been given to students to support their participation in courses and internships at one of our international sites in Arezzo, Italy; Puebla, Mexico; and Clermont-Ferrand, France. As a Felgar member, you have had a profound impact on broadening student perspectives and their development as a global citizen.
http://ou.edu/coe/felgar
Monica Browning Mitchell, Michael Pezzulli, Lane Callaghan and Spencer Knapp
INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE? Please call (405) 325-4211.
Thank You Members of the J. H. Felgar Society
Jack H. Abernathy Carolyn M. Allen M. Cengiz Altan Donald and Diane Armijo Alan and Shelly Armstrong Pankaj and Maneesha Asundi Carl and Suzie Baerst Freddie D. Baker Nina and Kash Barker Charles B. Barlow Michelle and Richard Barnett Jon W. Bayless Justin and Angela Beitelspacher Jim Benson David R. Bert Edward A. Blair Walter A. Bork Douglas and Hilda Bourne David F. Bradley John A. Brock Darrell L. Bull Mitch and Gloria Burrus Elizabeth Butler Dr. Adam and Mrs. Kristen Bymaster Dale R. Carlson Curt Carmichael Audre and Don Carter E. Eugene Carter Amy B. Cerato Jim F. Chamberlain Ramona Clawson-Goolsby Charles M. Cole Ray G. Collins Ronald P. Conlon Randall L. Couch Marilyn and Brian Culp Dolese Brothers Co. Beverly M. Dollar Kendra Dresback Jack E. Duke Wes and Patti Dunbar Archie W. Dunham Robert J. Dye Eddie and Toni Eckart Cabbiness Engineering James R. Erwin Larry and Beverley Evans John Fagan David K. Fagin Richard G. Fagin Astrea Milam Fatica Haley M. Finkelman Steven D. Fisher Royce and Molly Floyd John and Sue Francis
David W. Franke Josephine W. Freede Dale B. Furlow Jim and Janet Gallogly George T. Gibson Gerald L. Glahn Anil and Tonya Gollahalli Hemant P. Goradia Brian and Gina Grady James R. Graham Michael and Stacie Graves Eric and Kelly Guziejka Darla Bush Haglund Barbara Guild Hall Lauren E. Haller Lindsey and Darren Harkness Howard and Laura Harper Robert N. Hart Basel S. Hassoun Kianoosh Hatami Douglas L. Henry Christopher T. Holland Michael C. Hollinger Jerry D. Holmes Edward D. Holstein Amy and Yang Hong James D. Hood Robert and Erika Huck Edward J. Hutlas J. Boyd Nolan, Lisa Nolan and Justin Nolan Bill Kennedy Kayla M. Kennedy John and Jane Kenney William X. Kerber Clayton P. Kerr Tohren Kibbey Omer Kircher Sarah M. Klepper Spencer L. Knapp Randall and Maria Kolar Thomas E. Krisa Theodore A. Kritikos Tom and Patti Landers Douglas R. Laws Thomas A. Lear Fred N. Lee Debra R. Levy Martinelli Billy V. Liddell, II Tracy and Greg Lisewsky Lance Lobban Stephen and James Loftus-Mercer Laura and Ben Lopez Lori A. Lowery Charles Jones and Madelaine Pfau
Richard G. Mallinson Michael J. Maples Delores Massad Robert R. McCall Tom and Phyllis McCasland George E. McDonald Jere W. McKenny Brandi K. McManus E.F. McMullin Scott F. McMullin Shane J. Merz Richard A. Milburn Gerald A. Miller Keith L. Miller Michael M. Miller Allen and Monica Mitchell E. Keith Mitchell John H. Moore Lisa and Jorge Morales Jay K. Morris Lisa M. Morris A. Jay Morse K.K. "Muralee" Muraleetharan Jerrie E. Murphy Julia G. Myers Nairn Family Allan Neustadt Edgar A. O’Rear John Dyer and Lynne Ozinga James D. Palmer Bill and Gayle Parker Kyle L. Pearson Jin-Song Pei Dirk Perrin Kenneth W. Perry William W. Phelps M. Gene Phillips David M. Pierce Omer A. Pipkin Max H. Post P. Simin Pulat Kendall A. Purgason Bob and Cyndy Purgason Nancy B. Quigg-Young Sowmya and Sridhar Radhakrishnan H.E. ‘Gene’ Rainbolt Chris Ramseyer John C. Ray Susan and Steve Raybourn Kevin Reheis Lisa Rogers Roger W. Rowe Michael G. Ruby Patrick J. Ryan David A. Sabatini
Ronald E. Savage Tony S. Say Michael F. Schmitz Chuck and Jane Schultz Daniel R. Seesholtz Ann M. Shaw Randa Shehab Donna Shirley W. Kent Shortridge Terry L. Shyer Jim and Julie Sluss Kenneth L. Smalley Charles B. Smith Conley P. Smith Eddie Carol Smith Marlene "Molly" Smith David J. Sokatch Paul N. Stanton Kenneth E. Starling Charles and Peggy Stephenson Mike Stice Marcos D. Stocco Bruce H. Stover David Streb Samuel O. Strong Scott E. Sturtz Brian and Christine Taylor Jason and Brandy Thompson Berry and Tricia Tramel Clare Tran Linda C. Tucker Michael S. Turner Steve Vance Robb and Darla Vanskike Baxter and Jean Vieux Cindy Vitt Murphy Jeff, Kathy and Tyler Volz Lindsey Waddell Richard E. Wainerdi Nancy Wallace John H. Waller Carolyn Walton Jon Warzel C. Gregory and Cynthia T. Webb Chris P. Webb Mark J. Welch William G. Weppner Susan R. Williams Sam A. Wilson Paul D. Witt John Woodson Whitney Woodson Sarah Yung Musharraf-Uz Zaman Pete Zogas
The University of Oklahoma Gallogly College of Engineering 202 W. Boyd St. Carson Engineering Center, Room 107 Norman, OK 73019-1021 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
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University of Oklahoma
http://ou.edu/coe/galloglyhall