Issuu

2019-2020 Academic Newsletter

MOVING FORWARD

T A B L E of C O N T E N T S

Welcome from the Dean

Q & A with Alumna Katelyn Sowards

Engineering Career Day

Multiphase Flows

Meet John Vadnal

Mechanical Engineering

Civil Engineering

Q & A with Dr. Horstemeyer

From Humble Beginnings

Dr. Horstemeyer shares highlights from his first year as dean.

A look into how Liberty is networking engineering students with potential employers.

A short biography on one of Libertyâ€™s engineering professors.

A peek into the program.

How Liberty engineering students have overcome adversity to succeed in HPVC competitions.

Katelyn Sowards discusses her studies at Liberty and how they prepared her for her current job.

Dr. Wayne Strasser explains his work on CFD-based research.

A quick explanation of the program.

The dean gives answers on topics of life, faith, and work.

Alumni Association Join our family.

A MESSAGE FROM THE

DEAN Engineering, as a discipline, garners its foundation in Genesis 1:28 under the dominion mandate from God our Creator. The faculty and students of the Liberty University School of Engineering (LUSE) are here because of their commitment to the ideals and revelation found in Scripture. In my first year as the dean, I have had the privilege of working with the faculty and stakeholders to create a vision for engineering education and research within a distinctively Christian environment and university.

LUSE faculty won several prestigious honors and awards this past year: ► Professors Eldredge and Medina won the Department of Energy's FAST Pumped-Storage Hydropower Prize. ► Professor Medina won the LU Provost Award for Excellence in Research Mentorship.

In this past year we:

► Professor Long won the LU President's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

► connected with 100 corporations to ensure summer and permanent jobs for our engineering students.

► Professors Kim and Lim each won an LU ILLUMINATE Grant for the Improvement of Teaching.

► proposed a graduate program (M.S./Ph.D.) that was approved by SACSCOC and started in Spring 2020.

► Professors Medina and Zegeye each won an LU Center for Research & Scholarship Faculty Research Project Award.

► hired new faculty with research focus: Mark Atwater, John Baumgardner, Marcos Lugo, and Wayne Strasser.

► Professor Strasser, along with student Reid Prichard, won the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Best Paper Award.

► formalized our engineering competition team's design process — Liberty’s Human Power Vehicle Challenge (HPVC) team placed 5th in the 2019 international E-Fest North ASME HPVC competition.

I look forward to working with our faculty, staff, and students to continue our growth and impact in the realm of engineering. Sincerely,

► partnered with the School of Business to create entrepreneurship opportunities for our students. ► achieved 100% job placement for LUSE students within six months of graduation with one of the highest average salaries among graduates at $63K/year (based on the 2018 Alumni Survey of recent graduates).

Dr. Mark Horstemeyer Dean

School of Engineering

COMPANY PRESENTERS:

APPALACHIAN POWER BWXT EWING|KESSLER FRAMATOME HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS

Engineering Career Day

LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LAB

S T A C E Y H O O G E R H E Y D E , Mechanical Engineering student & J U S T I N S T I T T , Electrical Engineering student

PRATT & WHITNEY SANDIA NATIONAL LABS TLC ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS U.S. ARMY ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER WILEY|WILSON ZENITH FIREARMS

STUDENT TESTIMONIALS

“At the career fair I prayed that God would make it very clear who I should work for. ... Then a few days later I randomly signed up for an interview with Pratt & Whitney and prayed the same thing. I was offered the internship halfway through the interview. It was pretty awesome.” JACOB WALKER, CLASS OF 2022

“I got an interview at my top target (Norfolk Naval Shipyard)!” PAUL SAWYER, CLASS OF 2020

The dean has a goal that all engineering students will have an internship in their field every summer prior to graduation. He wants students to experience a variety of internships at companies of various sizes, both domestic and international. In October 2019, more than 50 companies swarmed the campus to participate in panel discussions and give presentations and meet with students about job opportunities at Engineering Career Day. The first half of Career Day was dedicated to presentations given by industry leaders sharing what they look for in a potential employee. They also disclosed personal advice on preparing for an engineering career. During the lunch hour, engineering student leaders were given the opportunity for roundtable discussions with these professionals. Due in part to the dean personally inviting businesses and industry leaders, the career fair was the largest the School of Engineering has ever experienced — both in terms of company attendance and student participation. In the week leading up to Career Day, faculty, along with career coaches and the staff from Liberty's Career Services, prepared students with workshops, professional talks, and résumé classes. Participation by such a large number of company representatives created opportunities for many interviews, internships, and potential jobs for our students, all of which resulted in a successful Engineering Career Day.

MEET CIVIL ENGINEERING PROFESSOR

J O H N VA D N A L Dr. John Vadnal went to college wanting to become a high school math teacher. When his advisor laughed at him and said, “Math teachers are a dime a dozen — you’ll never find a job,” he sought a major that could use his passion for math. His best friend’s father was a civil engineer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who designed roads that millions of people use daily. This prompted Dr. Vadnal to decide on civil engineering — a career that benefited society and aligned with President Kennedy’s vision: “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” Dr. Vadnal earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida and two master’s degrees (mechanics & hydraulics and mathematics) and his Ph.D. in Mechanics & Hydraulics from the University of Iowa. While at Iowa, he studied overseas at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Brussels, Belgium) and Kyoto University (Japan). Professionally, he worked 10 years as an engineer with Tennessee Valley Authority, Duke Power, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His most memorable engineering project was turning the Clinch River (Tennessee) red by leaking a bathtub of dye into the river to measure its

mixing characteristics, which were then used to model a radioactive spill of Strontium-90 that had occurred. He has also taught and held administrative positions at Tennessee Temple University and Trinity Baptist College (Florida). Dr. Vadnal came to Liberty University (LU) in Fall 2006. Although he has supported the engineering programs at LU by teaching several core engineering courses, his primary contribution has been toward accreditation through ABET, the organization for accrediting engineering, computing, and applied science programs in higher education. He wrote and compiled the ABET Self-Studies (approximately 300 pages each) for the computer, electrical, industrial and systems, mechanical engineering, and computer science programs. Away from work, he enjoys running, traveling, and being with his wife, Tina, whom he married exactly 11 weeks after meeting her. They have been married 30 years. He ran 23 marathons from 1978 to 2001 (fastest time: 2:47), including the Boston Marathon twice (1986, 1998). He has traveled to 24 countries and been in 45 states. Fun fact: He has never tasted coffee.

CIVIL ENGINEERING D R . J O H N VA D N A L

Civil engineering is all about helping society. From managing construction to designing structures, foundations, and roads, civil engineers make a serious contribution to the infrastructure society enjoys. With civil engineering projected to be the second highest engineering job in demand during the next 10 years,* the start of the civil engineering program at Liberty University comes at the perfect time.

As a Liberty University civil engineering student, you will use state-of-the-art equipment within a curriculum designed from the industry’s perspective and be prepared as a Champion for Christ within the engineering profession. You can also become involved with over 15 engineering-related student clubs and competition teams. Graduates will be prepared to enter the workforce, go to the mission field, or pursue graduate studies. *U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics

School of Engineering

FR OM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS S TA C E Y H O O G E R H E Y D E Mechanical Engineering student | HPVC team member

In 2015, students and faculty launched a Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (HPVC) team, the first of Liberty’s engineering competition teams. With limited equipment, materials, money, and time to create a working vehicle before competition, they had many challenges to overcome that first year. Dr. Medina, a faculty advisor, had great faith in and commitment to the team. He encouraged and pushed them to consistently progress when others doubted that the team would be able to build a vehicle and compete that first year. To build the first vehicle, the team gathered a stray shopping cart, scrap parts from a dumpster, and abandoned bikes collected by Liberty University's Police Department. One freshman team member, Caleb Decker, had the manufacturing and welding experience that the team desperately needed. With hope, prayer, and hard work, everything miraculously came together to allow them to go to competition.

atmosphere in which the students can collaborate and enjoy learning together. In Fall 2017, Professor Carolyn Ziebart became the faculty advisor. She and her husband changed the team structure to include three team leads and provided experienced mentorship for both design and manufacturing. Pedaling their way through the competition from 20th place in 2015 to 5th place in 2019, the team keeps rolling forward. HPVC team members study and practice design, manufacturing, analytical methods, and highperformance computer modeling and simulation, enhancing their “God blessed us specifically classroom education and leading with a student who had to real-life application. manufacturing and fabrication HPVC continues to be an important experience. Finding materials experience for future careers, was a miracle, especially with the paving the way for many members lack of budget. Our fundraising to achieve their dream jobs and wasn’t much, but the department internships. In reflecting on the was able to reward the team’s experience gained, one current hard work with the funds to go team member from HPVC stated, to competition.” “This club has both taught me a bit DANIEL KORN of what engineering in a company 2015 HPVC team member would be like while giving me the opportunity of learning much more from experienced upperclassmen and club advisors.”

Liberty’s HPVC team, by God’s grace and empowerment, was able to build a competition-ready vehicle their first year and every year since. God was able to use this inaugural team to lay a foundation of perseverance, diligence, excellence, and hope that future HPVC competition teams would build upon. Over the past six years, the HPVC team has progressed not only in the success of the vehicle's performance, but also in cohesiveness as a competition team. Each year the structure of the team has grown while maintaining a fun, family-like

Since 2015, five other competition teams have been added to the lineup: Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), Baja SAE, VEX Robotics, Renewable Energy, and Vanguard Mars Rover. Each of these team competitions is sponsored by an engineering society or company. These teams give students opportunities to learn, teach each other, build relationships, develop leadership skills, and represent Liberty University in competitions across the country.

THE FLAMING CHARIOT 2014-15 Liberty’s first HPVC vehicle — constructed from two donated bikes, scrap materials found from dumpsters, and a shopping cart — succeeded with limited resources. One member had access to a welder and fabricated it quickly and cheaply. Liberty placed 20th out of 33 teams at University of Florida, paving the way for more funding, resources, team members, and future success.

FLAMING CHARIOT II 2015-16 Based on an observation a team member had while avoiding a collision on a skateboard, the team designed and constructed a new, unique chassis where steering would be induced by leaning. It reduced weight while still maintaining a design that was simple to manufacture. This greatly increased the vehicle’s performance, and it placed 15th out of 37 at Ohio University.

THE PHOENIX 2016-17 The original objective of this design was to create a lower, more aerodynamic vehicle that contained only two wheels, which was observed as a design competitors used with success. Later the vehicle required “training wheels” in order to remain stable. Unlike past vehicles, there were bent metal pipe frame pieces that were difficult to manufacture. This vehicle required a lot of innovation and became a great learning experience. It placed 17th out of 45 teams at Tennessee Tech University.

SPIRIT OF ’71 2017-18 In learning from previous years’ vehicles, this design incorporated a more stable, three-wheeled bike with an outsourced manufactured fairing. Its only downside was its weight of 200 lbs. Funds were donated to buy a personalized, aerodynamic shell. Drivetrain, safety, and steering components were improved, and it was the first vehicle with adjustable features to accommodate riders. It placed 7th out of 47 teams at Penn State University.

LIBERTY 5.0 2018-19 With a design based on previous successes and the weight cut to near onefourth of the preceding year's vehicle, Liberty 5.0 also increased efficiency, performance, and rider comfort for the endurance race. Unlike the previous year, when an accident led to a team member’s injury, this vehicle featured a compact frame with 360º protection for a safe rollover at high speed. It placed 5th out of 50 teams at Michigan State University.

THE LIBERTY AERO 2019-20 This year's design is projected to drive faster, weigh less, and work more efficiently. Better components have been machined or purchased to enhance performance while keeping within competition constraints. This year’s competition will be a YouTube livestream hosted by ASME E-Fests in which each team submits a 6-minute design presentation video. These videos will be streamed and judged for the presentation portion. The students also submitted a design report back in February, which will also be judged. School of Engineering

Were there moments in which you felt you no longer wanted to major in engineering? If so, how did you overcome these moments?

There were a lot of tough moments along the way in engineering. It was easy to become overwhelmed by all that was in front of me. In [those] moments, I would remind myself of the opportunity God had given me. I had confidence that God had designed me to study engineering, and He had put that goal and vision in my heart. In the hard moments, I would tell God, “I know You want me to be an engineer, and I know You are going to help me do that.”

Q&A WITH ALUMNA

Katelyn Sowards Interviewer: Elijah Reeves, Mechanical Engineering student

Q: Q:

What brought you to Liberty University? How did you hear about it? Why Liberty University?

God brought me to Liberty. He opened many doors and clearly directed my path to LU. I heard about Liberty through my brother who attended Liberty University Online Programs and Liberty recruiters who spoke at my high school. As a student at CFAW (College For A Weekend), I was impressed with the campus community and the engineering program.

What are some things that you enjoyed most about Liberty’s School of Engineering?

The community. The professors are so caring and encouraging, and they want us to succeed in our careers. My classmates are people I still keep in touch with, and being able to walk through school with like-minded people was such an encouragement.

What classes, activities, and/or clubs do you believe best prepared you for establishing your career?

Liberty provided so many opportunities that prepared me for my career; it is hard to highlight only a few. Serving as a laboratory technician helped me learn and grow in leadership. It gave me a chance to take ownership and make a difference by coming to work every day looking for opportunities to grow myself and the school. The mechanical engineering program overall was absolutely stellar in preparing me for my future career. Real-world projects, research papers, and lab assignments were vital preparation. Documentation is a key to success in any engineering career, and the projects helped us learn how to work in teams, present technical information, and understand the design process.

Do you enjoy where you are right now with your career? What are you looking forward to with your career?

I do enjoy my career with Lockheed Martin. I am incredibly blessed to work for such a great company with a plethora of opportunities. I am also looking forward to finishing my master’s in materials science and engineering next year. As God leads, I would like to be a part of teaching the next generation of engineers. God is the first and greatest engineer, and I want to spread that message.

What was the biggest lesson you learned between attending Liberty and establishing your career?

Lifelong learning is so important. God has gifted each of us with a brain and talents. Being a good steward of that brain and talents includes learning new things every day, and that takes humility. I think a lot of students can get discouraged in the transition from school to work. It’s a big change. You go from this huge accomplishment in a familiar place to [being] a brand new, inexperienced engineer, but it’s a good thing. It’s another opportunity to learn and grow. Every season, we should be aiming to reach a goal and then make new ones, continually challenging ourselves to learn and grow and be good stewards of the time God has given us.

In what ways was God preparing you for the opportunities and challenges during your time here at Liberty? Did you feel as if God was preparing you to be where you are now in your career?

God is the ultimate engineer, which means He’s great at efficiency. He doesn’t waste time or resources. There have been countless moments in my job that I remembered specific opportunities in my undergrad that prepared me well for what I was tasked with.

God prepared me for the challenges and opportunities ahead by bringing time management to my mind before the start of each semester. God stirred my heart to start asking the right questions and committing the right things to Him. I was relying on Him every step of the way.

What advice would you give to high school students and incoming students interested in engineering?

First and foremost, discuss that interest with God. It’s important to have God’s peace and confidence moving into any decision, especially one about your career. If you have the opportunity, it's beneficial to gain exposure to engineering through STEM events, math/science courses, or personal research.

Different sequential snapshots in space of vorticity concentration arising from a pulsing transonic atomizer; colors show levels of vorticity from low (blue) to high (red). (Begell House, 2018)

M U LT I P H A S E F L O W S D R . W AY N E S T R A S S E R , P. E .

Multiphase flows — those involving mixtures of liquids, gases, and solids — are everywhere we look, from fizzing sodas to lawn sprinklers. God’s majestic creation is teeming with multiphase physics in waterfalls, rain, rivers, dust storms, and erupting volcanoes. Within these mixtures of phases are intricate tug-ofwar challenges between forces, such as surface tension, gravity, and pressure. For example, in the lawn sprinkler, water is forced through tiny holes by way of the water line pressure in your home. As the water exits the holes, it cannot endure the drag it encounters by the warm summer air. Therefore, it must divide and conquer by breaking up into small droplets which gently settle on your lawn. Similar effects are involved in blood circulation and respiration. Not only are phase interactions important in our everyday lives and bodies, but they also play a strategic part in nearly every industry, including chemical, energy production, transportation, food distribution, and municipals. My research is focused on understanding these interactions, harnessing their benefits, and managing their dangers for these industries. A great challenge in the engineering field is to be able to quantify the force interactions between phases as they rapidly interact. In an industry setting, where time is money, we do not have the opportunity to physically test and experiment with every possible phase scenario. Therefore, we must implement computer models which allow us to virtually explore behavior that the Master Designer has built into matter. We call this field Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and great challenges await us due to limitations in modern computing power. We are facing these

challenges head-on by employing multiple computers to work simultaneously on the same problem. Because of the CFD-based research that we are carrying out at LU, we can make things like the goods and food you purchase cheaper and safer, or the cars you drive cleaner and more efficient. Though these examples represent particular industrial applications, we like to say, “physics is physics.” In other words, the dynamics we observe and model with CFD for industrial settings are the same as those in our bodies. Liberty University is currently pursuing research in atomization (pictured above), brain injury, and breathing therapy using CFD-based research. Most recently, to address an inquiry from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vapotherm — a company laboring to provide the latest advancements in high-velocity nasal respiratory therapy — approached me to confirm that their patented cannula design does not exacerbate the spread of COVID-19; our research showed that the cannula are, in fact, safe to use along with a mask.

Dr. Strasser joined Liberty in May 2019 and teaches undergraduate and graduate classes like Fluid Dynamics and Thermal Fluids Design Lab.

MECHANIC AL ENGINEERING

Mechanical engineering is the discipline that focuses on the design, development, analysis, and manufacturing of mechanical parts and systems. At Liberty University’s School of Engineering, the faculty members educate mechanical engineering students in general areas of material analysis, manufacturing, mechatronics, and thermal-fluids. The professors are experienced engineers who teach these important concepts and how they relate to biblical principles. The key factor that separates Liberty University’s engineering

program from other university programs is the integration of engineering knowledge with a biblical foundation. In their time at the School of Engineering, students have the opportunity to join competition teams and clubs. During senior year, mechanical engineering students participate in capstone projects. These projects provide students the opportunity to work on a multidisciplinary team to solve problems and design a product for a company or nonprofit organization.

School of Engineering

Q&A

WITH

DR . HOR STEMEYER

Born and raised in Weirton, West Virginia, Dr. Horstemeyer has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. He and his wife, Barbara, have been married for 35 years, with two sons and a daughter. As the new dean of the Liberty University School of Engineering, he graciously took time to answer our questions and let us get to know him better.

Are you a morning or an evening person?

Morning.

Why do you think that faith and science are polarized in modern philosophy?

What’s your favorite place to eat in Lynchburg?

Depot Grille.

What’s your favorite item in your office?

Faith and science are polarized in modern philosophy because of the move to separate the spiritual and the secular. Francis Schaeffer wrote about the divorce between spiritual things and natural things. Once that happened, then the natural did not allow the spiritual.

My 1975 Steelers Terrible Towel.

What are some words that you live by?

Love God in front of people and love people in front of God.

How do you recharge after working on a challenging engineering project?

Exercise.

The major scientific discoveries were made when the spiritual and secular were integrated. For example, most, if not all, of the modern laws of physics were founded by God-fearing men who garnered inspiration and revelation from their relationship with God: Isaac Newton (Laws of Motion), James Clerk Maxwell (Electromagnetism Theory), Robert Boyle (Pressure and Temperature Relationship for Boyle’s Law), Louis Pasteur (Law of Biogenesis), and Lord Kelvin (Laws of Thermodynamics).

How does your faith impact the way you view engineering?

I try to follow Jesus in everything, whether it is in church or in engineering. He is my audience of One! I view Him as my boss and my leader. I want to serve Him in the workplace by being the best engineer that I can be.

How was your first job?

Excellent and challenging. My first full-time job was at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif. Every individual around me was excellent, so every day their excellence challenged me to become a better engineer.

What verse in the Bible speaks to you as an engineer?

How did you come to Christ?

Genesis 1:1 – "In the beginning, God created ..."

What’s your favorite Bible story? (Why?)

David slaying Goliath, since I have had to slay several Goliaths in my lifetime, and as long as the Lord is with you, you can do anything.

While I was a teenager I was searching for the truth and peace for my heart and did not realize it. My brother had given his life to Christ, and he and my cousin then led me to Christ. I was 17 years old, June 30, 1980. I have been following Jesus ever since.

Where have you traveled to share your research?

England, China, Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Spain, Morocco, Venezuela, the Caribbean, and many of the states in the USA.

When do you feel closest to God?

In bed at night when the day is done. Everybody is asleep; everything is quiet; and I am alone with Him.

J O I N T H E E N G I N E E R I N G A L U M N I FA M I LY ! Fill out a brief survey to join, and receive a free Alumni Commemorative Coin.

SCAN TO TAKE SURVEY

Visit our alumni page at ï‰… LIBERTY.EDU/ENGINEERING.

School of Engineering

location-arrow Liberty.edu/Engineering phone (434) 592-7150 | ďƒ se@liberty.edu @LibertyUEngineering

Training Champions for Christ since 1971