Engineering Magazine 2012

MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Research Yearbook 2012 AND ANNUAL MAGAZINE

The Search Is On Learn how the quest for solutions to global problems is transforming engineering education at Marquette.

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The Search Is On How the quest for solutions to global problems is transforming the College of Engineering — and enlisting faculty, interdisciplinary partners, students and even talented humanoid robots

John Nienhuis

DEAN’S MESSAGE

Creating a Circle of Discovery For the past two years, I have had the great honor of working with faculty, students, staff, alumni and friends of the university on a program of transforming engineering education to reflect the global multidisciplinary nature of our modern world. This year, we will connect teaching and research with the opportunities afforded by Engineering Hall as a place organized by grand challenge — not by discipline.

Although traditional departments still have roles to play, the space is structured to promote collaboration. Our approach to reimagining engineering education is this: Within Engineering Hall, we will spotlight research in clean water, human health and performance, safe and reliable infrastructure, secure and renewable energy, and education and STEM outreach. This will all happen within a circle of discovery that challenges us to create opportunities to learn by doing while pursuing solutions that help people directly.

There are global forces driving the direction of engineering research and education.

However, we are not merely reacting to external pressures. Indeed, in the context of Marquette University’s traditions, we have committed to achieving outcomes that meet our unique mission and acting with moral conviction founded on a deep understanding of ethics.

“ Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Discovery learning is a pillar of this educational transformation, as confirmed in a departmental white paper defining it as “student-centered active learning methods that employ in-class and extracurricular activities that allow students to learn by doing and to apply what they have learned.”

To achieve global impact, we are aiming to attain a much higher level of discovery learning coupled with significantly increased research activity levels. Teaching and research are intertwined — we cannot distinguish between them when reaching for programmatic excellence. The targeted areas of water, health, infrastructure, energy and education have been our strategic intent for many years, making us ready to compete on the national stage for funded research grants. What makes this approach so compelling to us is that addressing these challenges that will help people so dramatically will also provide context and motivation for our teaching.

We know that addressing tomorrow’s challenges will take much more than the classical approach to engineering education. It will take engineers working with nurses and doctors, legal teams, entrepreneurs and others with business expertise, cultural and language scholars, politicos, social scientists, communication and outreach experts, and, of course, strategic partners with resources to build the framework to make it all happen. We have made a giant first step in Engineering Hall, where we are pursuing an educational course yet to be charted by others. We are following the lead of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who once said, “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” During the next few years, our challenge is to reach outside our engineering-centric comfort zone and complete phase 2 of Engineering Hall to truly reflect the global multidisciplinary traits of our modern world. Our faculty, leadership, alumni and benefactors are dedicated to educating tomorrow’s engineers, preparing them to live with one foot off the ground, ready to move with agility and speed to change the world.

What does success look like? Success is walking across campus at night and seeing — beaming through the glass structures of Engineering Hall — students and faculty actively engaged in solving global challenges. It’s already happening!

Dr. Robert H. Bishop, P.E. OPUS Dean, College of Engineering

Marquette University College of Engineering

In this issue

Olin Engineering Center 1515 W. Wisconsin Ave. P.O. Box 1881 Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-1881 Engineering Hall 1637 W. Wisconsin Ave. P.O. Box 1881 Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-1881 414.288.6000 marquette.edu/engineering

02 // Research profiles

OPUS Dean of Engineering Robert H. Bishop, Ph.D., P.E. Executive Associate Dean Michael S. Switzenbaum, Ph.D.

06 // The new face of discovery

Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs J. Christopher Perez, M.S., M.B.A.

Associate Dean for Enrollment Management Jon K. Jensen, Ph.D.

In the new era of student-oriented learning in the College of Engineering, real-world engineering problem-solving starts on day one. And undergraduates aren’t the only ones reaping the benefits.

10 // New recruits, broad perspectives

Associate Dean for Research Joseph Schimmels, Ph.D., P.E.

As the College of Engineering tackles global challenges, its newest faculty members bring depth and passion to a team defined by its thirst for solutions.

Director of Industry Relations Laura Lindemann

14 // Photo finish

Chair of Biomedical Engineering Kristina M. Ropella, Ph.D.

After experiencing the historic rise of elecrostatic photo

copying at Xerox, Dr. Erik Pell relived it all in book form.

Chair of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Christopher M. Foley, Ph.D., P.E.

16 // Special

section: 2012 Research Yearbook

Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering Edwin E. Yaz, Ph.D., P.E.

Faculty honors, research grants and publications from the 2011–12 academic year, plus spotlights on some of the most dynamic research occurring in the college.

Chair of Mechanical Engineering Kyuil (Kyle) Kim, Ph.D., P.E.

30 // Nuts & Bolts

The latest news in brief from the College of Engineering.

Marquette Engineer is published for alumni, colleagues and friends of the college. Feedback and story ideas are appreciated.

32 // Breathe easy Cover photo by Kat Schleicher

Editor: Jessica Bulgrin jessica.bulgrin@marquette.edu Advising Editor: Stephen Filmanowicz Assistant Editor: Andy Brodzeller Copy Editor: Becky Dubin Jenkins Art Director: Sharon Grace

Dr. John Borg: Shock forces at the cellular level Dr. Christopher Foley: Testing the way to better infrastructure Dr. Brian Schmit: Using robots to help children with cerebral palsy Dr. Andrew Williams: Robots as research subjects — and STEM ambassadors

The healing power of human power: A pedal-powered nebulizer developed by students and faculty could be a much-needed remedy for those struggling to breathe in poor and remote areas of the world.

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R E S E A RC H

SHOCK FORCES — AT THE CELLULAR LEVEL

By Andy Brodzeller

A small spark ignites more than 1 million pounds of solid fuel to launch the space shuttle into space.

An airbag deploys during an automobile accident in 30 milliseconds, preventing the driver from hitting the dashboard. A large round of ammunition punctures nearly five inches of armor on the side of a tank.

What do these things have in common? Shock physics.

Under extreme conditions, such as the ones mentioned above, materials experience rapid and large compressions, or shocks, causing physical changes in material. Dr. John Borg, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is focused on how solid materials, including human cells, react during these extreme shocks.

The ultimate goal is to better understand how shock damages human cells.

Photo by Dan Johnson

“This is a really interesting line of work because it doesn’t neatly fall into a category,” says Borg. “People don’t go to school and major in shock physics.”

Instead, he says, they study a variety of fields such as engineering, physics, chemistry, planetary sciences or medicine and biology.

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With abundant research available about how gases react to extreme shock, Borg has focused his research on creating models to study the reaction of solids.

He recently completed a sabbatical at the Fraunhofer Institute für Kurzzeitdynamik in Germany, partially funded through a Fulbright award. Borg and his collaborators combined their expertise to work toward a better understanding of how shocks damage materials. In the lab, it involved borrowing techniques

originally used to model atomic interactions and scaling them up to investigate molecular and continuum interactions using a new mathematical technique called peridynamics.

The ultimate goal is to better understand how shock damages human cells, the applications of which range from developing improved safety equipment such as helmets for football players or protective armor for soldiers to new shock-induced laser treatments for cancer. For those types of applications to happen, reliable models must first be created. “That downstream application of the tool does serve as motivation,” says Borg. It’s incredibly complicated work, he admits, but he is energized by the challenge and potential.

Even before his Fulbright fellowship took him to Germany, Borg was covering a lot of ground, academically and geographically. After receiving a master of science in aerospace engineering from the University of Notre Dame and a doctor of philosophy in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts, he completed a postdoctoral program in 1997 at Cambridge University in England. And just before arriving at Marquette in 2002, he worked as a lead engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center.

Since then, Borg has spent two summers at the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratory and two summers at the Department of Defense’s Eglin Air Force Base, studying shock physics. The opportunities to conduct research at national labs and return to Marquette to teach graduate and undergraduate students are the best of both worlds, according to Borg. “It allows me to pursue my own area of research interest and teach,” he says. “Not just in the classroom, but also interacting with students in the lab and having more one-on-one interactions with graduate students.”

ENHANCING INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH INNOVATIVE TESTING AND ENGINEERING

By Jessie Bazan

A 23-year veteran of the field of structural engineering and chair of Marquette’s Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Department, Foley focuses his research on the structural integrity and life-cycle performance of buildings, bridges and sign structures. In the building area, Foley and a team of Marquette graduate research assistants were among the first groups to systematically examine progressive collapse issues in steel building structures and examine how steel buildings react to loading in ways that designers don’t normally consider. After his findings were published in Engineering Journal, they sparked additional large-scale research at Purdue and other universities sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Department of Homeland Security. “They’re using the work we did as a foundation for these larger efforts,” says Foley.

Foley is now leading a team of graduate student researchers that is helping the Wisconsin Department of Transportation improve its inspection protocols for highway sign and signal support structures. The group is predicting which structures need immediate attention and incorporating state-of-the-art methods for determining the optimal time periods between inspections based on a structure’s location, age and distinct structural characteristics.

Photo by Kevin Miyazaki

Each day, millions of Americans hop in their cars and drive across roads, over bridges and under signs without thinking twice about transportation infrastructure. Fortunately for the general public, Dr. Christopher Foley and other leading civil engineers are helping the government keep closer tabs on the upkeep, safety and cost of key components of the country’s transportation systems. His research is also leading to changes in the design of private buildings so they are less vulnerable to unanticipated structural failures.

Photo by Dan Johnson

When you see signs hanging over roadways, fluctuating wind pressures cause them to vibrate. Over time, the steel or other material from which these supports are constructed begins to suffer from fatigue, which can lead to cracking and failure, explains Foley. “There are thousands of these sign support structures all over the state, and WisDOT must inspect them for cracks at short time intervals,” he says. “These inspections become expensive and are often dangerous for inspection personnel.” Foley says it’s conceivable that typical sign structures can have their inspection cycles lengthened significantly, which would save the state money and reduce risks for state personnel.

With funding from WisDOT’s Wisconsin Highway Research Program, Foley and doctoral candidate Joseph Diekfuss, Grad ’10, are developing reliability-based inspection protocols for these structures. The research includes the development of probability models for wind speed and direction throughout the state, incorporating data from a monitoring station in Milwaukee designed and built by Andrew Smith, Grad ’10, as part of his master’s thesis work. The team also brought 18-foot-long, 1,000-pound mast-arm specimens into the high-bay lab of Engineering Hall for cyclic fatigue tests that help them calibrate their statistical models for fatigue life. In sum, their engineering analysis helps predict the probability of finding a crack in a sign support structure no matter where it is in Wisconsin.

“We are trying to use all the mathematics of probability and reliability theories available to define the risk of finding cracks,” Foley says. “That’s something that hasn’t been done before.”

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R E S E A RC H

IMPROVING THE LIVES OF CEREBRAL PALSY PATIENTS WITH ROBOTENABLED THERAPIES

By Lynn C. Sheka

Dr. Brian Schmit, professor of biomedical engineering, has invented half a dozen robots during his 17-year career as a neuroscientist. Robotics was a big part of what drew him to engineering originally, but what has kept his interest is how he uses what he invents. His newest project involves using one of his “older” — circa 2009 — robots in a new way: to help children with cerebral palsy learn to walk upright.

Children with cerebral palsy often exhibit “crouch gait” because they are unable to fully extend their hamstring muscles. A common surgical remedy involves cutting the child’s hamstring to allow the

Science and technology are our best bet for having a substantial, positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities.

Photo by Dan Johnson

muscle and ligaments to extend the knees to their full range of motion. Though some children are able to retrain their “new” muscles to walk in a different way, others never do, meaning they endured a painful surgery and long recovery for no reason.

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Schmit and his team use their robot during a child’s post-surgery physical therapy sessions, where cables connect the robot to a child’s leg. “It’s a bit like the robot is a marionette that’s showing the leg muscles what walking upright should feel like,” Schmit says. “The robot’s motor pulls back on the cable connected to the child’s knee joint, which guides the leg to a straight position … It’s such a beneficial tool because it gives us

the ability to help with the walking motion or to provide resistance to the motion and help improve muscle strength.”

Not stopping there, Schmit and his team are studying magnetic resonance imaging scans of children’s brains before and after the hamstring-lengthening surgery to learn how to better predict surgical outcomes and perhaps even guide therapy regimens. In a new study, Schmit’s team performs a functional MRI scan on each child while he or she is pedaling a bicycle to map which parts of the brain are active during the movement and examine the patterns of brain activity.

This information, along with MRI scans of the child’s brain structure, are compared with the child’s physical therapy outcomes to determine if certain brain structures correlate with an increased likelihood of walking again after surgery.

“We’ve hypothesized that there are certain brain structures, such as the thalamic radiations, that must be intact for the child to have a successful outcome,” Schmit says. “That’s the part of the brain that transfers sensory information from the legs to the rest of the brain.” The study is in the preliminary stages, but it has been Schmit’s experience that children relearn how to walk using the robot even faster than adults.

In the past, he has used the same robot in Chicago to aid adult stroke- and spinal-cord-injury patients in learning to walk again. Schmit is building a duplicate version of the robot in Engineering Hall’s new Human Performance Laboratory and hopes to have children — and others — benefit from it within a year. “Helping people with disabilities is inherently rewarding,” Schmit says. “Science and technology are our best bet for having a substantial, positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities.”

ROBOTS AS RESEARCH SUBJECTS — AND STEM AMBASSADORS

By Andy Brodzeller

Popular television programs like The Biggest Loser and Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition chronicle people losing large amounts of weight with the help of a personal trainer. With the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that more than one-third of Americans are obese, what if most of these people, and not a select few, had access to a personal trainer? That was the question an Atlanta high school student discussed with Dr. Andrew Williams, who joined the college this fall as a professor and the John P. Raynor, S.J., Distinguished Chair in electrical and computer engineering.

A professor of robotics and artificial intelligence, Williams — formerly an associate professor and chair of the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at Spelman College — began meeting with the student to discuss how engineers could confront obesity. Together, they conceived a humanoid robot that could help track the food and calories a person eats and help encourage and remind people to exercise. Though the work is still in the concept stage, it demonstrates Williams’ commitment to STEM outreach and desire to further the research.

And that includes how Williams, Grad ’95, has used robots and real-world problems to engage students who typically don’t consider engineering as a profession. “I started using robots early in my career because I saw that it’s a good teaching tool. It’s hands-on, multidisciplined and fun,” he says. His success using robots to introduce engineering and math to students at Spelman led to a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, which Williams used to develop robotics education at eight historically black schools and stimulate outreach efforts at the K-12 level. According to Williams, students who historically didn’t consider engineering, especially women and minorities, are drawn to the field when they see how engineering can make a positive impact on social issues, like obesity.

Photos by Kat Schleicher

In 2007, Williams had the opportunity to share this message with the late Apple founder, Steve Jobs. As he was touring the company’s headquarters in Silicon Valley, he saw Jobs and top Apple designer John Ive. Williams introduced himself to Ive, who in turn introduced Williams to Jobs.

After a short conversation, Jobs said Williams should come and help Apple recruit more minority employees. “I was humbled by the comment but wasn’t sure anything would come of it,” Williams says. But a week later he emailed Jobs some ideas. Shortly afterward, Apple contacted Williams and he was hired as the company’s senior engineering diversity manager. He took a sabbatical from Spelman for the 2008–09 school year and toured the country promoting engineering and Apple.

Williams has used robots and real-world problems to engage students who typically don’t consider engineering as a profession.

Williams will continue to promote engineering to students from diverse backgrounds while also advancing his research in artificial intelligence. “I was attracted to Marquette for the opportunity to conduct world-class research with graduate students and encourage more underrepresented populations to achieve advanced degrees,” says Williams, who will have his own dedicated humanoid robotics research lab. marquette university college of engineering

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Photo by John Sibilski

Owen Thompson enjoying his pet snake Slithers. A team of student engineers worked with the 11-year-old, who can’t voluntarily bend his arms or legs because of a medical condition, to provide him with a device that helps him shower independently.

The new face of discovery With the growth of student-centered active learning at the College of Engineering, real-world problem-solving begins on day one. The value of this approach can be seen on the faces of engineering students — and those they touch with their work.

By Charles Nevsimal

Owen Thompson is a unique kid. Like other 11-yearold boys, he loves video games, owns pet snakes and jabbers endlessly about his favorite stuff. But what distinguishes this boy from most others his age are three capital letters: AMC, or Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, a condition affecting his musculature system.

Owen’s muscles are too short, which means he is unable to voluntarily bend his arms. Additionally, his legs are fixed in a bent manner. Though AMC certainly is a strong distinguishing feature, what makes Owen truly exceptional is his relentless pursuit of independence.

Photo by John Nienhuis

For several years, Marquette University seniors have helped Owen — and other children with unique medical conditions — take steps toward independence through the College of Engineering’s senior capstone design course (see story on page 30 for coverage of the program’s impact on another young life). Each year, faculty assign students to multidisciplinary teams to create devices that benefit a company or individual. In Owen’s case, students engineered a device that allows him the freedom to bathe on his own, without the aid

of his parents: A mechanism attached to the back of his shower dispenses soap and shampoo, the flow of which Owen controls using a pump activated by his knee or foot. It’s one more step in the direction of independence the young boy is determined to achieve and to which Marquette is intent on contributing.

“There’s a real payoff when you give a client like Owen a device that can help him in some way,” says Lafferty Professor Dr. Jay Goldberg, who teaches senior design.

“The students get to develop a personal relationship with a client and see exactly how their efforts as engineers can positively impact a life. They see how excited the client is and hear them say: ‘Wow, this is cool. Thank you!’ It’s the kind of feedback you can’t get with other projects.”

In putting engineering knowledge to use helping Owen, these Marquette seniors engaged in a form of learning that is becoming increasingly familiar at the College of Engineering. Some call it discovery learning. Others call it student-centered active learning. Whatever its name, it has students rolling

Although discovery learning has been part of Marquette’s DNA since 1919, when the College of Engineering established its Co-op program, it now permeates the educational experience in Engineering Hall. From top to bottom, the college’s new home promotes the flow between theoretical knowledge and the active application of engineering principles.

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Photos by Kat Schleicher

up their sleeves and solving engineering problems almost from day one. Dr. Hyunjae Park (left), research associate professor of mechanical engineering, makes sure of it: His Engineering Discovery 1 and 2 classes (offered in fall and spring semesters, respectively) are taken by all freshman engineering students concentrating in mechanical; electrical and computer; or civil, environmental and construction engineering and culminate in a team poster competition that challenges freshmen to tackle real-world problems by designing practical solutions. With first-year biomedical engineering students enrolled in an introductory course incorporating similar learning models, all freshmen are assured healthy doses of active learning.

And that’s just the beginning. These examples reflect a college-wide initiative that has students — from firstyears to seniors — standing at the dawn of a new era at Marquette defined by discovery learning.

Though soaring in popularity today, student-centered active learning isn’t a new educational method for Marquette. Actually, it’s been entrenched in Marquette’s DNA since 1919, when the college established its Co-op program, which combines semesters of school with semesters of employment, and today remains one of the biggest draws for students nationwide to select engineering at Marquette over other programs. That said, the recent synthesis of a few key factors has helped solidify such student-centered learning as the instructional method of choice at the College of Engineering. One piece is the astounding 115,000-square-foot home of the college, Engineering Hall. From top to bottom, it’s designed to facilitate the flow between the theoretical conceptualization and active application of engineering principles through teaching, research or — best of all — a combination of the two. And just off the main lobby, at the heart of the building, sits the Jaskolski Discovery Learning

Laboratory, a spacious set of workrooms and design shops where learning is unleashed.

“Our building is a place where critically important intellectual collisions can occur,” OPUS Dean Dr. Robert H. Bishop, P.E., says. “Ideas can bounce freely off one another, and students can randomly run into each other and interact in an open setting.”

Ultimately, it’s not the building but what takes place inside that defines Marquette’s College of Engineering.

“Discovery learning means all kinds of things to all kinds of people,” Bishop says. “At Marquette, it means studentcentered active learning. It means students play a more active role in their education and take more responsibility when it comes to their own learning. It’s an important step forward.”

Taking such a step hinges on full faculty buy-in because the faculty, as Bishop explains, are responsible for the entire academic enterprise. So the dean initiated a Dean’s Challenge, calling upon professors to submit proposals for student-centered learning projects — the more imaginative the better. It became an instant success, with 10 projects receiving funding in 2012. Projects included Virtual Space, an omnidirectional platform for locomotion through virtual environments; solar enhancements to the Guatemalan rural electrification project managed

by Marquette’s Engineers Without Borders chapter; and an effort that uses common and unusual bicycles (rear-steered, gyro-wheel-equipped) to help students add practical awareness and rigor to their existing understanding of dynamics, mechanics and materials.

“An engaged faculty is an engaged student body,” says Bishop, whose vision for student-centered discovery learning sets a framework for students to put theory into practice and solve open-ended problems. This method of “teaching one’s self” promotes a philosophy of lifelong learning that will benefit students throughout their careers and the companies for which they work.

“Engineers possess precision. But the world also needs passion and compassion,” says Bishop. “At Marquette, we’re creating a bridge between precision and passion.”

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Spencer Gantz, Eng ’12, whose capstone team last year created the device for Owen, recognizes the benefit of such an education. “In a career — and life in general — so much of what you can do is limited by your creative capacity, your ability to imagine things differently,” he says. “So being given the opportunity to create and develop your creative faculty, rather than just learn numbers and problem-solving in a lecture hall ... to actually see and create something with your own hands has incredible value. It’s that creative power that will do far more than anything else to really make a difference in your life.”

“Engineers possess precision. But the world also needs passion and compassion,” says Bishop.

“At Marquette, we’re creating a bridge between precision and passion. Because our engineers will play a key role in solving the problems our kids and grandkids will face. And solving these problems means we have to understand people. We have to care about them. Being a Jesuit university, caring is part of our mission.”

For students such as Raoul Chinang, Jasmine Balangue and David Packowitz (all Eng ’15), the freshman poster competition is an early introduction to teamwork and real-world problem-solving.

Considering the diversity of undergraduates in the college, Bishop is increasingly optimistic about the role Marquette students will play in the future of engineering:“Discovery learning enables our students to be the future problem-solvers this world so needs.

It allows them to look at a problem that doesn’t yet have a solution, think about it and say, ‘I have an idea.’“ In many ways, they already are solving key problems.

Owen certainly thinks so. He loves watching the soap travel up the vinyl tubing of his new device. In fact, doing so gave him an idea: By controlling the soap’s flow, he can quickly turn his tub into a bubbling landscape of overflowing suds, something he’s been only too happy to report back to the design team.

The smile on his face is a reminder that engineering not only possesses the potential to solve important problems. It has an uncanny ability to spread joy.

“This poster project really allowed me to get my hands dirty,” says Dominic Thomas, Eng ’15, shown with his team’s solar- and wind-powered street lamp.

“I came here to be a civil engineer, and I’m learning everything from mechanical to electrical and everything in between.” marquette university college of engineering

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Photo by Kat Schleicher

New recruits, broad perspectives As the College of Engineering gets to work tackling global challenges, its newest faculty members add depth and passion to a team defined by its thirst for solutions.

By Pete May

A member of a new cohort of faculty members joining the College of Engineering, Dr. Brooke Mayer is a specialist in water research. “When I told my parents I was coming to Milwaukee, they asked, ‘Do you know what Milwaukee’s famous for?’

And I said, ‘Cryptosporidium!’

They said, ‘No, beer.’

I said, ‘No, really, it’s Cryptosporidium!’ “ It was not one of Milwaukee’s proudest moments, but the 1993 Cryptosporidium outbreak was the largest documented waterborne disease outbreak in U.S. history. It’s widely studied and right in the wheelhouse of a woman who researches pathogens in drinking water.

Marquette could be the best place on the planet for Mayer to continue her work. First, there’s Lake Michigan, part of the largest reserve of fresh water

in the Western hemisphere, right down the block.

Then there’s the fact that Milwaukee boasts more than 130 water technology companies and the Milwaukee Water Council, a group dedicated to establishing the city as the “world water hub” for water research, economic development and education. It’s clear Mayer was invited to teach here for a reason.

“Brooke brings expertise in pollutant destruction and disinfection of drinking water. That’s not an expertise that we currently have,” says Dr. Daniel Zitomer, professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering and director of Marquette’s Water Quality Center. This strategic academic augmentation benefits students and invites attractive new research opportunities.

“We already have a potential project where Brooke will look at nutrient removal and I’ll look at organic

Embracing the interdisciplinary spirit of the College of Engineering, with its emphasis on applying research to areas of mounting global concern, are new faculty members (opposite page, left to right): Drs. Margaret Mathison, Andrew Williams, Brooke Mayer and Casey Allen.

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pollutant removal from domestic wastewater,” adds Zitomer. “And that will be a funded project.”

It’s all part of the plan. The building, the hiring, the expanded research and the strengthening of discovery learning is equipping the college to tackle what Dr. Robert Bishop, OPUS Dean of the college, calls the “grand global challenges” of the future. “Challenges in access to clean water, access to health care, health delivery systems, secure and renewable energy, and even education. These are challenges that are facing the globe,” warns Bishop, “challenges that, if we don’t solve, calamities will follow.”

Dr. Casey Allen, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and another Marquette newcomer, agrees: “The consequences of engineers not addressing those problems will be a world that’s less secure, a world that’s more likely to be violent as conflicts arise because of competition over these resources.”

An expert in internal combustion, Allen is driven by another global challenge — dwindling supplies of fossil fuels. His research focus is alternative fuels: how they burn and how to harness those properties in advanced engines to achieve incremental increases in efficiency.

“Ten percent may not seem like much, but it’s very significant when you consider the amount of fuel that it could shave from our consumption,” he says. The new assistant professor sees his research as interdisciplinary, involving mechanical and chemical engineering, physics, even lasers and optics, offering many opportunities for collaboration.

Collaboration and cooperation are central themes in Engineering Hall and epitomize Marquette’s reimagined model for the modern engineering college. There are no rigid departmental boundaries that might create stagnant and unproductive engineering monocultures. Instead there are “houses” where researchers, professors, grad students and undergrads from different disciplines share space. Diversity in each house is important, too — diversity of ages, diversity of life experience, diversity of cultures and a blend of genders. The belief is that this mix will lead to hallway chats and office encounters that act as catalysts for a super-productive collision of ideas.

The house on the fourth floor is primarily devoted to water and water quality, the third floor to health and

human performance. The second-floor house is devoted to systems, controls and mechatronics. The lower level is dedicated to energy, and the first floor — the wide-open glass house — provides space for K-12 outreach and student-centered discovery learning and showcases what Bishop calls engineering on display.

“The building enables us to provide more hands-on opportunities for the students,” says Dr. Margaret Mathison, who joined the mechanical engineering faculty one year ago as an assistant professor.

Mathison’s area of interest is thermal systems.

“I study the flow of energy and how to use energy most efficiently — specifically in applications that require heating or cooling,” she says. Her work has centered around studying, modeling and teaching the efficiency of building systems, and Engineering Hall is one big, beautiful laboratory, wired with hundreds of gauges and sensors. There are sensors in the ductwork, Mathison says, “so we can have the students perform energy balances on the air conditioning system, see if they understand how the system is working and whether the calculations agree. I think it will make everything more relevant.”

Marquette is committed to meeting the rising demand for engineering solutions, but the college is aware that it’s not enough to simply turn the wheels of traditional education faster. Bishop notes: “The education of the ’50s and ’60s was perfectly aligned with the times. But if we were to continue to try to apply the teaching methodology of the ’60s today, we would fail.” Students have changed. The challenges facing students have changed. The measured precision of engineering’s past century has yielded to exuberant interdisciplinary synergy. Today’s generation of engineers is driven by creativity, empathy and enthusiasm.

“The fact is,” Bishop continues, “engineers are very passionate.” At a recent women’s leadership luncheon in Waukesha, Wis., Mathison spoke boldly: “It inspires me to know that my work is part of the solution to the world’s energy problems.”

That’s passion. And at Marquette, that passion is shaped by the university’s values.

“One of things that really attracted me to Marquette is the four pillars — excellence, faith, leadership and service,” reveals Dr. Andrew Williams, John P. Raynor,

“When you find a person who’s thirsty, it’s important to give him or her a glass of water.

But it’s also important to find a solution so that person isn’t thirsty in the future,” says Bishop. “That’s where we come in.”

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“ The consequences of engineers not addressing those problems will be a world that’s less secure,” says Allen.

S.J., Chair and professor of electrical and computer engineering. Williams, Grad ’95, who came from Spelman College in Atlanta, brings a uniquely modern body of knowledge to the Marquette mix. He works with humanoid robots.

“My research area is in distributed artificial intelligence, multiagent systems, multirobot systems,” he says. “I’ve done a lot with students programming teams of robots that work as a team, working together to achieve a goal.” Though the ultimate application of these teams will likely be domestic or industrial, the current testing ground is a soccer pitch. At Spelman, America’s oldest historically black college for women, Williams organized the Spelbots, a competitive robot soccer team, and he led them to competitions around the world — from the international championships in Japan to Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. After Williams met late Apple founder Steve Jobs during a 2008 tour of the facility, Jobs tapped Williams to head his engineering diversity efforts at the company.

“When you find a person who’s thirsty, it’s important to give him or her a glass of water,” says Bishop. “But it’s also important to find a solution so that person isn’t thirsty in the future. That’s where we come in.”

Photo by Ben Smidt

One Spelman crew under his direction developed a project called Beyoncé-bot, a humanoid device that dances and exercises to Beyoncé’s music, designed to encourage movement and help kids fight childhood obesity. Williams sees a special connection between robots and children. “I’ve seen how students and children are captivated by them,” he says. That connection inspired him to write Out of the Box: Building Robots, Transforming Lives, which tracks his spiritual and educational journey through various obstacles to success in academics and robotics. Now, he’s turning his attention to coming generations. “We want them to see that they can be more than just users of this fantastic technology. They can be creators,” he says. “They could create the robot that will go into the next damaged nuclear reactor, for example, where humans can’t, and fix the problem before it gets worse.”

He sees the day when humanoid robots will work side by side with humans, partners in addressing those grand global challenges.

Specializing in thermal systems, particularly the efficient heating and cooling of buildings, Dr. Margaret Mathison, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is capitalizing on Engineering Hall as a giant laboratory wired with hundreds of gauges and sensors.

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Photo finish

After experiencing the historic rise of electrostatic photocopying as a Xerox insider, Dr. Erik Pell relived it all by writing about it.

By Stephen Filmanowicz

In the labs and learning spaces of Engineering Hall, it’s hard to find a student engineer who hasn’t wondered what it’d be like to work with the next Steve Jobs at the next Apple designing the next iPhone or iPad.

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A half-century ago, Dr. Erik Pell, Eng ’44, found himself living the mid-20th-century version of this dream when he joined the research leadership ranks at Xerox Corp., the company responsible for that period’s engineering blockbusters.

then to active duty as a radar maintenance officer in the U.S. Navy. There, he used his campus-acquired know-how to rework the radar units on his destroyer escort to scan farther than those of any comparable ship in the fleet. After completing his service and earning a doctorate in physics from Cornell University, Pell joined General Electric, which was using its prowess in solid-state transistors to make radios, televisions and other appliances smaller, better-performing and ready to bring convenience to consumers’ lives.

By that point, Pell’s interest in engineering, physics and “how everything worked” had taken him from a boyhood on Milwaukee’s east side to Marquette for his engineering degree and

But Pell’s true encounter with product design history came when he signed on to build the solid-state physics research team at Xerox in 1961 as the company’s new photocopier, the 914, was becoming a sensation. In our digitized age, it’s hard now to imagine what Xerox achieved with that device, the world’s

first automated plain-paper copier. Before its debut, a copy was something a secretary typed up manually using carbon paper — or something developed photographically at a copy shop around the corner and picked up later, like clothes at the dry cleaner. Even from the latest machines creeping into offices, a copy would come out on flimsy heat- or light-sensitive paper prone to fading and discoloration. Overnight, the 914 made a copy on plain paper something that was ready in seconds from a desk-sized machine down the hall. Opening up a vast new market that wasn’t imaginable before its debut, “it would become the most profitable item manufactured to date in the United States,” recalls Pell.

Adding to the machine’s mystique were the dramatic circumstances surrounding its creation: a new electrostatic process dubbed

xerography (Greek for “dry writing”) dreamed up by a lonely young inventor running experiments in his kitchen and brought to market by a largely unproven company based in Rochester, N.Y.

Photos courtesy of the Xerox Historical Archives

So in addition to contributing in significant ways to the advances in xerography that followed the 914, Pell decided what he’d witnessed at Xerox was worth capturing for posterity. After retiring from the company in 1989, he spent the next nine years writing the privately published book, From Dream to Riches: the Story of Xerography. It’s a thorough immersion in the era when corporate R&D came of age, filled with portraits of the breakneck problem-solving involved in bringing technological innovations to a competitive marketplace.

Demonstrating his skills as a storyteller as well as a translator of technical concepts, Pell provides rich, human portraits of figures he knew firsthand. They include dozens of scientists and engineers who played key roles; Joe Wilson, the company’s risk-taking, gentleman chief executive; and, most of all, Chester Carlson, the inventor who’d spent his early years in abject poverty, had his invention occur to him after reading scientific journals in the New York Public Library and waited what seemed like an eternity for it to make him a wealthy man. (Two decades after receiving his first patents for xerography, Carlson was still taking his own bag lunch to his Xerox lab in Rochester, notes Pell.)

Pell is adept in explaining the science behind Carlson’s discovery: how a charge can be applied to a plate or drum coated with a photoconductive insulator and then selectively removed through exposure to the light areas of a printed original. A powdery or liquid-charged toner can then adhere to this electrostatic image and be transferred to the copied page. Even a child can understand the basic forces at work, says Pell, because they also allow a rubbed balloon to cling to a wall.

Erik Pell joined Xerox in 1961, just as its legendary automated plain-paper copier, the 914 (pictured here), was changing the American office landscape.

Pell is even more astute zeroing in on the rapid advances in materials and processes that made Carlson’s discovery a practical success. A pivotal one came after the Xerox team committed to a rotating photosensitive drum for its speed and easy cleaning, leaving one of the company’s plucky engineers scrambling to figure out how to project an image of a flat page onto it. Quickly yet brilliantly, he proposed scanning the lens

across the image using a slit that moved in synch with the drum. The most consequential breakthrough, however, may have involved marketing and Xerox’s fortuitous realization that it could spare customers the prohibitive expense of buying its machines by leasing them, equipping them with meters and essentially charging by the copy. “Without this innovation, Xerox would have been dead in the water,” writes Pell.

At various points in this tale, Pell himself appears, always with minimal fanfare but often in a memorable role. Early on, he manages Xerox’s Fundamental Research Laboratory, where he leads the team that helped select and develop a selenium-arsenic alloy as Xerox’s faster second-generation photoconductor. At another point, when Xerox saw the coming need to merge its machines with office computers, he’s dispatched to scout the top computerscience laboratories in the country. This was just a few years before Xerox established its extraordinary Palo Alto Research Center, the birthplace of the graphic-user interface, the mouse and other inventions that made computers what they are today. In his later years, he assumes a prominent position overseeing the company’s recruiting at top universities and maintaining relationships with key professors.

To these accomplishments, Pell then added documenting the Xerox story for future generations. “It wasn’t that hard,” he says of the work that went into his book, now found mostly in select college libraries. “A lot of it was just writing my memories.” But when New Yorker staff writer David Owen wrote his well-received 2003 book, Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg, he reserved the highest accolades in his acknowledgments section for the Marquette engineer turned historian, writing, “Pell did a truly prodigious amount of research, interviewed many people who are no longer alive or able to be interviewed and assembled in one document an awe-inspiring amount of fascinating information about a fascinating company.”

Erik Pell received the College of Engineering’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award as part of Marquette’s 2012 Alumni National Awards.

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2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK

2012 Research Yearbook From developing a powered prosthetic ankle that improves the quality of life of lower-leg amputees to identifying the most effective microbes in treating biodegradable waste, the research conducted by our professors and graduate fellows earned notice during the 2011–12 academic year. In addition to listing prominent honors, grants and publications associated with the College of Engineering, this special section provides snapshots of a number of the faculty members from the college whose research breaks new ground and brings solutions to the world’s challenges a bit closer.

Faculty research profiles by April Beane

AWA RD S

Robert Scheidt, Ph.D.

DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

2012 College of Engineering Outstanding Researcher of the Year Award, Marquette University, April 2012.

Scott Beardsley, Ph.D. assistant professor

Way Klingler Young Scholar Award, March 2012.

Jay Goldberg, Ph.D., P.E. clinical associate professor and director of healthcare technologies management

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING Alex Drakopoulos, Ph.D. associate professor

2012 Engineering Education Excellence Award, National Society of Professional Engineers, July 2012.

2012 College of Engineering Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, Marquette University, April 2012.

John LaDisa, Jr., Ph.D.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

assistant professor of biomedical engineering management

2011 Young Engineer of the Year Award, STEM Forward, February 2012.

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associate professor

John Borg, Ph.D., P.E. associate professor

Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for study in Germany, September 2011.

GRANTS Robert Bishop, Ph.D., P.E. OPUS dean

$25,000 “ALHAT Navigation and Morpheus Development,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Michael Switzenbaum, Ph.D. executive associate dean and professor

$55,000 “Collaborative Research: I/UCRC for Water Equipment and Policy,” National Science Foundation, with Dr. Daniel Zitomer, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. $38,750 “Southeastern Wisconsin Center for Economic Development,” Economic Development Agency.

2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Dr. Chung Hoon Lee

assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering What’s he working on? Lee and his team have developed a novel — and economical — process for creating nanodevices featuring a microscopic gap between two charged electrodes. He’s now working on decreasing the size of the gap (by a nanometer or two) and increasing the sharpness of the electrode points in an effort to position single molecules in the gap.

What’s new? Lee has partnered with researchers from Pohang University of Science and Technology, or POSTECH, in Pohang, South Korea, and is using the university’s tunneling electron microscope to view, in real time at the atomic level, his nanodevice in operation. During a recent visit by Lee, the team used the microscope to view — and video record — something remarkable. When voltage was applied to the electrode arms in a vacuum environment, the conductive metal coating on the arms began extending into the gap in a dendritic fashion.

Photo by Ben Smidt

What’s next? Lee is working on controlling the growth of these extensions to form more sharply pointed electrode arms. The goal is to reliably position single molecules of materials such as DNA or graphene in the gap where an electric charge is applied, enabling the nanodevice to function potentially as a uniquely powerful sensor, to name just one application.

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2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK

Dr. Taly Gilat-Schmidt

assistant professor, biomedical engineering What is she working on? The physics of CT imaging dictate a fundamental tradeoff between the quality of the image and the radiation dose, but Gilat-Schmidt studies innovative, often simple, methods that invert this interaction, reducing the dose while maintaining or improving image quality.

What’s new? After using computer simulations to determine that tilting the CT gantry could reduce the average radiation dose to the breast by 30 percent in women receiving cardiac scans, with negligible reduction in image quality, Gilat-Schmidt’s team confirmed these findings using actual CT technology and a patient model equipped with radiation sensors.

Photo by Ben Smidt

Now, Gilat-Schmidt and her team are working to share a database that will allow other researchers to investigate novel

18 // 2012

dose-reduction methods without needing computational simulations that typically run only on high-performance computing clusters. A paper on this database is scheduled to be published in a fall issue of Medical Physics.

What else is she doing? Gilat-Schmidt recently received national attention — including from CNN, Medical Physics and The Chicago Tribune — for research on airport backscatter scanners that concluded that the scanners irradiate tissue beyond the skin but at a dose below industry standards. Relying on data provided from the government, she encourages the TSA to provide access to the scanners to allow for independent research to truly verify the safety of the scanners.

Said Audi, Ph.D. associate professor

See entry for Dr. Gerald Harris, Department of Biomedical Engineering; and entry for Dr. Xin Feng, Department of Electrical and Computer Sciences.

$38,639, “Lung Oxygen Toxicity: Optical Biopsy and Imaging Techniques,” University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Jay Goldberg, Ph.D., P.E.

$8,104, “Mitochondrial Oxidative Stress in Acute Lung Injury from Sepsis,” National Institutes of Health.

$21,859, “Multidisciplinary Team-Based Design Education to Create Biomedical Engineering Innovators,” National Institutes of Health.

$18,500, “Mitochondrial Redox State and Hyperoxic Lung Injury: Optical Spectroscopy and Cryo-Imaging Techniques,” National Institutes of Health.

Scott Beardsley, Ph.D. assistant professor

$45,000, “Impairments in Sensorimotor Control and Their Contribution to Tremor and Dysmetria in Persons with MS,” National Institutes of Health.

Laura M. Ellwein, Ph.D. postdoctoral fellow

$46,796, “Translating NIRS O2 Saturation Data for Noninvasive Prediction of Spatial and Temporal Hemodynamics during Exercise,” American Heart Association.

Taly Gilat-Schmidt, Ph.D. assistant professor

$32,793, “Radiation Dose and Excess Cancer Risk in Women Undergoing X-ray Computed Tomography: Quantification and Risk Mitigation,” Food and Drug Administration.

clinical associate professor and director of healthcare technologies management

Gerald Harris, Ph.D., P.E. professor and director of the Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center

$20,500, “Shriners Research II,” Shriners Hospital for Children. $950,000, “Rehabilitation Engineer Research Center on Technologies for Children with Orthopedic Disabilities,” U.S. Department of Education, with Dr. Sheila Schindler-Ivens, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Dr. Taly Gilat-Schmidt and Dr. Brian Schmit, Department of Biomedical Engineering. $150,000, “Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training in Pediatric to Adult Transition,” U.S. Department of Education. $150,000, “Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training in Pediatric Mobility,” U.S. Department of Education.

Ankle Motion Analysis during Walking,” Pedorthic Foundation. $15,000, “Shriners Research II,” Shriners Hospital for Children. $76,200, “An Exotendon Prosthesis to Improve Walking for Lower Limb Amputees (1R41MD007138-01A1),” National Institutes of Health. $66,696, “Shriners Research II,” Shriners Hospital for Children.

Michelle Johnson, Ph.D. research assistant professor

$5,400, “fMRI and RobotAssisted Practice of Activities of Daily Living,” National Institutes of Health.

John F. LaDisa, Jr., Ph.D. assistant professor

$117,353 “Cardiovascular, Lung, and Blood Computation Model Library,” National Institutes of Health. $5,000 “Computational Fluid Dynamic Modeling,” Medical College of Wisconsin. $28,345 Next-Generation Visualization of Data and CFD Results,” Medical College of Wisconsin.

Kristina Ropella, Ph.D. chair and professor

$14,716, “Real-Time Motion Correction and Increased Scan-Session Success in Clinical MRI,” National Institutes of Health.

$7,500, “A Novel Fluoroscopic Imaging System for Foot and

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2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK

S P E C I A L R E S E A RC H S E C I O N

DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Dr. Gerald Harris

director, Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Center; professor, biomedical engineering

Photo by Dan Johnson

What’s Tech4Pod? Harris is the principal investigator on a $4.75 million federal grant that funds Tech4Pod, a partnership of researchers from several universities and a children’s hospital conducting eight research and development projects designed to help children with orthopaedic disabilities.

What’s new? Tech4Pod researchers have completed preliminary trials on their third development project — a biplanar (3D) fluoroscopic system for producing video X-ray images of the foot and ankle during walking. It’s the first system of its kind. Harris and team presented their preliminary results this summer at the National Gait and Clinical Motion Analysis Society.

What else is he working on? Unrelated to Tech4Pod, Harris just completed preliminary trials in Buga, Colombia, on a low-cost motion analysis system to analyze gait of children with cerebral palsy. Results suggested the system could be a viable alternative to the current clinical standards while offering a cost savings of $30,000 to $280,000 per machine. With a gait lab located in Cali, Colombia, under development and staffed by a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon and biomedical engineer specializing in childhood motion and manipulation issues, the end goal is to establish gait analysis capabilities in global outreach clinics to improve patient care and follow-up.

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2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK

Robert Scheidt, Ph.D. associate professor

$283,220, “Control of Arm Posture and Movement Following Stroke,” National Institutes of Health, with Dr. Tina Stoeckman, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences. $283,219, “Control of Arm Posture and Movement Following Stroke,” National Institutes of Health, with Dr. Tina Stoeckman, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences.

Brian Schmit, Ph.D. professor

$11,906, “Spinal Cord Injury Research Program-Clinical Trial Award-Rehabilitation,” U.S. Department of Defense. $11,351, “Robotic Gait Training Improves Locomotor Function in Children with Cerebral Palsy,” National Institutes of Health. $21,457, “RRTC on Enhancing the Functional and Employment Outcomes of Individuals Who Experience a Stroke,” U.S. Department of Education. $26,000, “Effects of Sensory Stimulation of Paretic Ankle/Foot on Paretic Leg Control during Treadmill Walking Post Stroke: Predoctoral Fellowship for Eric Walker,” American Heart Association. $25,000, “Relative Effects of Hip and Ankle Impairments on Motor Function in Multiple Sclerosis: A Small Pilot Project for Trainee

20 // 2012

Matthew Chua,” Medical College of Wisconsin. $8,505, “Graduate Research Fellowship,” Medical College of Wisconsin. $66,305, “Mechanisms of Neuromuscular Fatigue Post Stroke,” National Institutes of Health, with Dr. Allison Hyngstrom, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences. $23,122, “Mechanisms of Neuromuscular Fatigue and Leg Function Post Stroke,” Medical College of Wisconsin, with Dr. Allison Hyngstrom, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, and Dr. Sandra Hunter, Department of Physical Therapy.

See entry for Dr. Gerald Harris, Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Barbara Silver-Thorn, Ph.D. associate professor

$103,200, “North American Consortium on Rehabilitation Engineering and Healthcare Technology for the Individual,” U.S. Department of Education, with Terence Miller, Office of International Education, Office of the Provost. $196,002, “Noyce Engineering/ Science Teacher Education Scholars,” National Science Foundation, with Dr. Ellen Eckman, Educational Policy and Leadership, College of Education, Dr. Benjamin Brown,

Department of Physics, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences.

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING Alex Drakopoulos, Ph.D. associate professor

$14,031, “Traffic Diversion and Impact Study for I-94,” Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Christopher Foley, Ph.D., P.E. chair and professor

$5,859, “Experimental Determination of the Pull-Out Strength of Cast-In Lifting Inserts in Precase Hollow-Core Plank,” Spancrete.

Stephen Heinrich, Ph.D. professor and director of graduate studies

See entry for Dr. Fabien Josse, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Daniel Zitomer, Ph.D., P.E. professor and director of the Water Quality Center

See entry for Dr. Michael Switzenbaum, College of Engineering; and entry for Dr. Jon Koch, Department of Mechanical Engineering.

2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Dr. Gerald Harris

director, Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Center; professor, biomedical engineering

Photo by Dan Johnson

What’s Tech4Pod? Harris is the principal investigator on a $4.75 million federal grant that funds Tech4Pod, a partnership of researchers from several universities and a children’s hospital conducting eight research and development projects designed to help children with orthopaedic disabilities.

What’s new? Tech4Pod researchers have completed preliminary trials on their third development project — a biplanar (3D) fluoroscopic system for producing video X-ray images of the foot and ankle during walking. It’s the first system of its kind. Harris and team presented their preliminary results this summer at the National Gait and Clinical Motion Analysis Society.

What else is he working on? Unrelated to Tech4Pod, Harris just completed preliminary trials in Buga, Columbia, on a low-cost motion analysis system to analyze gait of children with cerebral palsy. Results suggested the system could be a viable alternative to the current clinical standards while offering a cost savings of $30,000 to $280,000 per machine. With a gait lab located in Cali, Colombia, under development and staffed by a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon and biomedical engineer specializing in childhood motion and manipulation issues, the end goal is to establish gait analysis capabilities in global outreach clinics to improve patient care and follow-up.

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2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Dr. Philip Voglewede

assistant professor, mechanical engineering What’s he working on?

Voglewede is leading an NIHfunded team developing a powered prosthetic ankle designed to deliver potential performance advantages over typical passive alternatives used by lower-leg amputees.

What’s new? This summer, the project crossed a major milestone: human subject testing. After impressive progress in design and bench testing, Voglewede’s team would have to bring device components (joint mechanism, torsion spring, motor, sensors, power source, micro-controller) into harmonious cooperation to achieve a successful test with a human volunteer. After one false start in the clinic (cut short by a communication failure between the microprocessor and motor), a follow-up session yielded 30 runs in which the amputee used the powered ankle to cross a room.

What’s the verdict? The team is still busy analyzing the 10,000 data points generated during each run, but Voglewede is encouraged by what he observed. Despite a fixable controller issue requiring a

22 // 2012

slower-than-normal pace, the volunteer reported walking more naturally with it, with no need to apply extra leverage to generate forward thrust as he would with his passive prosthesis.

Any new revelations? Going into the test, Voglewede worried that the extra mass of his powered ankle (about three pounds compared with a typical passive device) might negatively affect how it felt to the user, but he didn’t tip off the test subject to his fear. Afterward, the volunteer said the weight of the device never crossed his mind.

“This is another potential insight of this project,” says Voglewede.

“Perhaps ‘light’ is not what you’re after here. Perhaps inertia matching and force matching are what you want.”

2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING Nabeel Demerdash, Ph.D. fellow of IEEE, professor

$99,085, “Advanced Design Optimization and Simulation of Modular Brushless PM Electric Machines and Drives,” Regal Beloit Manufacturing Corporation. $8,333, “A Nationwide Consor­ tium of Universities to Revitalize Electric Power Engineering Education by State-of-the-Art Laboratories,” U.S. Department of Energy. $27,000, “DC Distribution for Wind Farms to Achieve Higher Efficiency and Reliability and Lower Cost,” University of Wisconsin– Milwaukee Research Foundation. $90,000, “Novel Protection Means for PM Machines in Wind Energy Generation and Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Applications,” University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Research Foundation, with Dr. Edwin Yaz, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Xin Feng, D.Sc.

Photo by Kat Schleicher

associate professor

$70,000, “Develop Advanced 3D Volumetric Segmentation Algorithms for Image Data of CT-Scanned Bags at the Airport Security Checkpoint,” Department of Homeland Security, with Dr. Taly Gilat-Schmit, Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Michael Johnson, Ph.D., P.E. associate professor and director of graduate studies

$149,896, “EAGER: AcousticArticulator Modeling for Pronunciation Analysis,” National Science Foundation, with Dr. Jeffrey Berry, Department of Speech Pathology, College of Health Sciences. $8,000, “EAGER: AcousticArticulator Modeling for Pronunciation Analysis,” National Science Foundation, with Dr. Jeffrey Berry, Department of Speech Pathology, College of Health Sciences.

Shrinivas Joshi, Ph.D. professor

$35,000, “Miniature High Efficiency Transducers for Use in Ultrasonic Flow Meters,” Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Water Equipment and Policy.

Fabien Josse, Ph.D. professor

$280,086, “Guided SH‑Surface Acoustic Wave Chemical Sensor for Monitoring BTEX and TPH Contaminants in Aqueous Environments,” Chevron Corporation. $300,000, “Collaborative Research: Micromachined In-Plane Resonator Arrays with Integrated Temperature Modulation: A Systems Approach to LiquidPhase Chemical Sensing,” National Science Foundation, with Dr. Stephen Heinrich, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.

$80,000, “Chemical Sensors for Monitoring Contaminants in Aqueous Environments,” Industry/ University Cooperative Research Center for Water Equipment and Policy. $36,455, “Fiber-Based Current Sensors for Smart Grid Applications,” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Research Foundation. $45,342, “Enhancements of Fiber Optics Current Sensors for Metering Application,” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Research Foundation. $25,000, “Guided SH-Surface Acoustic Wave Chemical Sensor for Monitoring BTEX and TPH Contaminants in Aqueous Environments,” Chevron Corporation.

Chung Hoon Lee, Ph.D. assistant professor

$30,000, “Germanium Quantum Dot-Silicon Nanowire Superlattices for Thermoelectric Applications,” U.S. Department of Defense. $50,000, “Nano-Optical Tether System for Precision Nanowires,” U.S. Department of Defense $35,000, “Micro-Calorimeter for Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring,” Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Water Equipment and Policy.

Edwin Yaz, Ph.D., P.E. professor and chair

See entry for Dr. Nabeel Demerdash, Department of Electrical and Computer Sciences.

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2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING John Borg, Ph.D., P.E. associate professor

$31,733, “Dynamic Response of Heterogeneous Systems: A Mesoscale Approach,” Fulbright Scholar Program.

$12,640, “Investigation of Ultra-Low NOx Burners,” Gas Technology Institute.

$149,923, “Penetration of Granular Earth Materials: A MultiScale Physics-Based Approach toward Developing a Greater Understanding of Dynamically Loaded Heterogeneous Systems,” U.S. Department of Defense.

professor

Joseph Domblesky, Ph.D., P.E. associate professor

Richard Marklin, Ph.D., C.P.E. $30,000, “Fleet Truck Study — Main Project,” Electric Power Research Institute. $4,139, “Ergonomics for Wind Turbine Technicians — Evaluation of Work Methods, Tools and Equipment,” Electric Power Research Institute.

$5,000, “Ferrous Processing Curriculum Development Project,” Association for Iron and Steel Technology Foundation.

$102,354, “Fleet Truck Study — Main Project,” Electric Power Research Institute.

$23,000, “Assessment of the Feasibility for Near Isothermal Ring Rolling,” Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation, with Anthony Brown.

P UBLICATIONS

S. Scott Goldsborough, Ph.D. adjunct assistant professor

$40,627, “A 60% Efficient ICREOperating Cycle Analysis Utilizing State-of-the-Art Simulation Software,” Energy Transition Technology, Inc.

Jon Koch, Ph.D. assistant professor

$19,926, “Hybrid Gas Dryer and Water Heater Design,” U.S. Department of Energy, with Dr. Philip Vogelwede, Department of Mechanical Engineering.

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$99,752, “Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids,” Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, with Dr. Daniel Zitomer, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.

DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING Said Audi, Ph.D. associate professor

“Role of Glutathione in Lung Retention of 99mTcHexamethylpropyleneamine Oxime in Two Unique Rat Models of Hyperoxic Lung Injury, Journal of Applied Physiology (May 2012), doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00441.2012.

See entry for Dr. John LaDisa, Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Laura M. Ellwein, Ph.D. postdoctoral fellow

“Optical Coherence Tomography for Patient-specific 3D Artery Reconstruction and Evaluation of Wall Shear Stress in a Left Circumflex Coronary Artery,” Cardiovascular Engineering and Technology, Vol. 2, Issue 3 (September 2011), pp 212-227, with Hiromasa Otake, Marquette student Timothy J. Gundert, Bon Kwon Koo, Toshiro Shinke, Yasuhiro Honda, Junya Shite, Dr. John F. LaDisa, Department of Biomedical Engineering.

See entry for Dr. John LaDisa, Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Gerald Harris, Ph.D, P.E. professor

Journal of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Vol. 3, No. 5 (2011).

“Postoperative Foot and Ankle Kinematics in Rheumatoid Arthritis,” with K. Canseco, C. Albert, alumnus J. Long, M. Khazzam and R. Marks, pp 233-38; “Implications of Arm Restraint on Lower Extremity Kinectics During Gait,” with alumnus J. Long, J. Groner, D. Eastwood, T. Dillingham and P. Grover, pp 200-06; “A Model for the Evaluation of Lower Extremity Kinematics with Integrated Multisegmental Foot Motion,” with alumnus J. Long and M. Wang, pp 239‑44; “Motion Analysis of the Upper Extremities During Loftstrand Crutch-Assisted Gait in Children with Orthopaedic Disabilities,” with B. Slavens, N. Bhagchandani,

2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Dr. Fabien Josse

professor, electrical and computer engineering

What’s new? Josse and his team have developed MEMS and solid-state sensors, including microacoustic wavebased sensor systems to detect fuel and oil contamination and locate organophosphate pesticides, which are used in agricultural production and can be harmful when inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin.

In addition, using the same type of devices and microcantilevers, the group is investigating the development of an on-site detection system for waterborne pathogenic viruses and bacteria.

What are the expected benefits? The group’s proposed sensor system could significantly reduce the time and cost of the collection and analysis of water samples; provide a more systematic approach to automated monitoring of water sources for biochemical contamination; and contribute to the prevention of virusrelated outbreaks of disease — in other words, help protect human health and the environment.

marquette university college of engineering

Photo by Kat Schleicher

What’s he doing? Josse and Marquette’s Microsensor Research Laboratory team are investigating and developing sensors and sensor systems for use in liquid phase applications, such as the monitoring of groundwater, wastewater, and lakes and rivers for contaminants and biofluids.

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2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK

Dr. Kristina Ropella

Photo by Dan Johnson

chair and professor, biomedical engineering What’s she working on? Ropella’s lab is developing clinical applications of functional magnetic resonance imaging, including presurgical planning and evaluation of rehabilitative outcomes after injury or pathology. During the past six years, Ropella’s research in this area has been funded by a $1.75 million grant from the Dr. Ralph and Marion Falk Medical Research Trust.

Why? Functional magnetic resonance imaging is being used to understand the locations and mechanisms of brain activity, the flow of information and the origins of neurological disorders.

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What’s new? Ropella, in collaboration with Dr. Edgar Deyoe at the Medical College of Wisconsin, is translating the fMRI research into a clinically useful tool. This involves characterizing the temporal and spatial attributes of fMRI signals that arise in the human visual cortex to determine how such signals are influenced by stimulus parameters, imaging parameters, physiologic noise and pathologies. The technology could help surgeons limit or prevent loss of vision after surgery or guide physicians in developing rehabilitation strategies for restoration of visual function after strokes.

2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK M. Wang and P. Smith, pp 218-27; “Analysis of Push-Off Power During Locomotion in Children with Type 1 Osteogenesis Imperfecta,” with J. Krzak, A. Graf, A. Flanagan, A. Caudill and P. Smith, pp 195-99; “Upper Extremity Joint Dynamics During Walker Assisted Gait: A Quantitative Approach Towards Rehabilitative Intervention,” with K. Konop, K. Strifling, J. Krzak and A. Graf, pp 213-17; “Current Research and Clinical Applications in Human Motion Analysis,” with K. Kuo, pp 193-94; “Biomechanics,” Biomedical Engineering Education and Advanced Bioengineering Learning: Interdisciplinary Concepts, (2012), Ziad O. AbuFaraj (author), IGI Global, pp 284-338, with Brooke Slavens.

Proceedings of the Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society, (January 2012).

“Upper Extremity Kinematics in Children with Spinal Cord Injury During Wheelchair Mobility,” with alumna B. Slavens, A. Paul, A. Graf, A. Krzak and L. Vogel, pp 79-80; “Assessing Spinal Motion at Different Fusion Levels in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis,” with S. Hassani, A. Graf, J. Krzak, K. Hammerberg, P. Sturm, P. Gupta and M. Riordan, pp 163-64; “Segmental Kinematic Assessment of Pediatric Pes

Planovalgus with Radiographic Skeletal Indexing,” with K. Konop, alumnus J. Long, J. Krzak and A. Graf, pp 179-80; “Foot and Ankle Motion Analysis Using Dynamic Radiographic (Fluoroscopic) Imaging,” with graduate research assistant Ben McHenry and alumnus J. Long, pp 181-82; “Comprehensive Review of the Functional Outcome Evaluation of Clubfoot Treatment: A Preferred Methodology,” Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics B, Vol. 21, No. 1 (January 2012), pp 20-27, with A. Graf, K. Wu, P. Smith, K. Kuo and J. Krzak; “Multisegmental Foot and Ankle Motion Analysis After Hallux Valgus Surgery,” Foot and Ankle International, Vol 31. No. 2 (2012), pp 141-47, with alumnus J. Long, K. Canseco, T. Smedberg and R. Marks; “Long-Term Follow Up of Van Nes Rotationplasty for Proximal Focal Femoral Deficiency,” Proceedings of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons Annual Meeting, (2012), paper 337, with H. Altiok, J. Ackman, A. Flanagan, M. Peer, A. Graf, J. Krzak and S. Hassani.

Dean Jeutter, Ph.D, P.E. professor

“Understanding Neuromotor Strategy During Functional Upper Extremity Tasks Using Symbolic Dynamics,” Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences,

Vol.16, No. 1 (January 2012), pp 37-59, with Dr. Stephen Guastello, Department of Psychology, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, Dominic Nathan and Robert W. Prost.

John F. LaDisa, Jr., Ph.D. assistant professor

“Computational simulations demonstrate altered wall shear stress in aortic coarctation patients previously treated by resection with end-to-end anastomosis,” Congenital Heart Disease, Vol. 6, No. 5 (September/ October 2011), pp 432-43, with Ronak J. Dholakia, C. Alberto Figueroa, Irene E. VignonClementel, Frandics P. Chan, Margaret M. Samyn, Joseph R. Cava, Charles A. Taylor, Jeffrey A. Feinstein; “Optical coherence tomography for patient-specific 3D artery reconstruction and evaluation of wall shear stress in a left circumflex coronary artery,” Cardiovascular Engineering and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 3 (September 2011), pp 212-7, with postdoctoral fellow Dr. Laura M. Ellwein and graduate student Timothy J. Gundert, Department of Biomedical Engineering; “A Novel Coupled Experimental and Computational Approach to Quantify Deleterious Hemodynamics, Vascular Alterations, and Mechanisms of Long-Term Morbidity in Response to Aortic Coarctation,” Journal of Pharmacological Toxicological Methods, Vol. 65, No. 1 (January 2012), pp 18-28, with doctoral

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RESEARCH YEARBOOK S P E2012 CIAL R E S E A RC H SECION

Schimmels named associate dean for research Dr. Joseph Schimmels, P.E., Eng ’81, professor of mechanical engineering, was named the college’s associate dean for research. In this newly created position, he is charged with developing, implementing and coordinating policies, processes and procedures to promote, facilitate, recognize and reward growth in research programs. With the college’s research endeavors growing more complex and interdisciplinary, this position represents a strategic new resource for the college.

Schimmels joined the engineering faculty in 1991.

students Arjun Menon, David C. Wendell and Hongfeng Wang, Dr. Thomas J. Eddinger, Department of Biological Sciences, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Jeffrey M. Toth, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Dholakia J. Ronak, Paul M. Larsen and Eric S. Jensen; “Optimization of Cardiovascular Stent Design Using Computational Fluid Dynamics,” Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, Vol.134, No.1 (January 2012), doi:10.1115/1.4005542, with graduate student Timothy J. Gundert, Alison L. Marsden and Weiguang Yang.

Brian Schmit, Ph.D. professor

“Bilateral oscillatory hip movements induce windup of multijoint lower extremity spastic reflexes in chronic spinal cord injury,” Journal of Neurophysiology, Vol. 106, No. 4 (July 13, 2011), pp 1,652-1,661, with Dr. Allison Hyngstrom, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, and Tanya Onushko, research fellow, Department of Biomedical Engineering.

“Stroke-Related Changes in Neuromuscular Fatigue of the Hip Flexors and Functional Implications,” Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 91, No. 1 (January 2012), pp 33-42, with T. Onushko, R.P. Heitz, A. Rutkowski, Dr. Sandra Hunter, Department of Physical Therapy, and Dr. Allison Hyngstrom, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences.

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“The Effect of Movement Rate and Complexity on Functional Magnetic Resonance Signal Change During Pedaling,” Motor Control, Vol. 16, No. 2 (April 2012), pp 158-75, with J.P. Mehta, M.D. Verber, research technician Jon Wieser and Dr. Sheila Schindler-Ivens, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences.

Jeffrey M. Toth, Ph.D. adjunct professor

“Don’t Argue with the Members,” The American Sociologist, Vol. 43, No. 1 (December 2011), pp 85-98, with Jaber F. Gubrium and Dr. James A. Holstein, Department of Social and Cultural Sciences, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences.

“Narrative Practice and the Transformation of Interview Subjectivity,” pp 27-43, and “The Complexity of the Craft,” pp 1-8; Sage Handbook of Interview Research, (2012), J. Gubrium, J. Holstein, A. Marvasti and K. McKinney (editors), Sage Publications, Inc. See entry for Dr. John LaDisa, Department of Biomedical Engineering.

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING Michael Johnson, Ph.D., P.E. associate professor and director of graduate studies

“Push-Pull Control of Motor Output,” Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 32, No.

13 (March 2012), pp 4,592-99, with Marin Manuel, C.J. Heckman and Dr. Allison Hyngstrom, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences.

James Richie, Ph.D. associate professor

“Application of Spatial Bandwidth Concepts to MAS Pole Location for Dielectric Cylinders,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 59, No. 12 (December 2011), pp 4,861-64.

Edwin Yaz, Ph.D., P.E. professor and chair

Proceedings of 18th IFAC World Congress, Milan, Italy, Aug. 28 – Sept. 2, 2011.

“Resilient Observer Design for Discrete-Time Nonlinear Systems with General Criteria,” September 2011, pp 1,157-1,162, with C.S. Jeong, Y.I. Yaz; “Robust and Resilient State Dependent Control of DiscreteTime Nonlinear Systems with General Performance Criteria,” pp 10,904-10,909, with teaching assistant Xin Wang, Y.I. Yaz; “Robust and Resilient Finite-Time Control of a Class of DiscreteTime Nonlinear Systems,” pp 6,454-6,459, with teaching assistant Mohammad ElBsat; “Stochastically Resilient Observer Design for a Class of ContinuousTime Nonlinear Systems,” pp 1,8431,848, with C.S. Jeong, Y.I. Yaz.

2012 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Dr. Daniel Zitomer

professor, civil, construction and environmental engineering; director, Water Quality Center What’s he working on? There are thousands of engineered processes — each incorporating the digestive action of multiple species of microbes — being used around the country to treat biodegradable waste such as sewage sludge and produce biogas, a renewable fuel, as a byproduct.

present in treatment environments and isolate those that do most to increase the production of biogas.

However, these processes are not all created equal. Zitomer and his team are working to understand how different species of microbes contribute to anaerobic digestion and renewable energy production in hopes of identifying the microbe species that will create biogas fastest and treat waste the most inexpensively.

Who’s paying attention? In early October, Zitomer and his team will present four papers at the Water Environment Federation Technical Exposition and Conference, an international conference in New Orleans.

They also presented in June at the American Society for Microbiology in San Francisco.

Photo by Dan Johnson

They submitted two patent applications and are working on obtaining a licensing agreement to create products containing select active microbes to help improve anaerobic digesters around the world.

What’s the new discovery? Zitomer and his team have engineered new tools to identify which microbes are marquette university college of engineering

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NUTS &BOLTS Engineers Without Borders chapter named CLASSY regional finalist

Engineering’s distinguished class of 2012 Alumni Award winners

The Marquette chapter of Engineers Without Borders was named a regional finalist for the CLASSY Awards, which identifies itself as the largest philanthropic awards ceremony in the country. It recognizes “the greatest charitable achievements of nonprofit organizations, socially conscious businesses and individuals worldwide.” The Marquette project was one of five Midwest regional finalists in the Small Charity of the Year category.

Congratulations to these outstanding recipients, who have distinguished themselves in their lives and careers in ways that inspired their peers to nominate them for Alumni National Awards.

Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award: Dr. Erik M. Pell, Eng ’44 (See profile on page 14.)

The Marquette chapter earned the recognition for its work providing electricity and other improvements to a rural community in Guatemala. For five years, students, faculty and mentors have traveled to La Communidad de La Nueva Providencia to help villagers with projects such as the installation of solar panels and solar-powered LED lights in homes and outdoor locations and construction of a bridge. Future plans include installing a turbine and a generator and building the necessary infrastructure for a microhydroelectric system.

Student engineering project helps young girl feed herself A courageous young girl facing limited options for feeding herself became the inspiration for the senior design project of a group of engineering students.

During a nine-month period, Lauren Eno, Robert Herlache, Laura Finn, Cathryn Krier, Kristina Lee and Michael Ventimiglia — all 2012 graduates of the college — successfully developed a device that helps 11-year-old Kailyn Pieper overcome the impact of a joint disorder that severely limits the use of her arms.

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Prompted by a request from Kailyn’s mother, the Marquette engineers led the search for a solution that would help Kailyn eat more comfortably, without having to use a spoon gripped between her toes or having to lower her face to the table and dip her mouth to the plate. The team joined forces with Sean Simmons and Brett Pearson, design students from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, who helped refine the device’s look and user experience.

The compact and elegant final product — named Nourish — uses a swan-shaped motorized lift to bring food to Kailyn’s mouth, an option Kailyn particularly appreciates when dining in her middle school cafeteria.

Her gift to the team members speaks eloquently to the success of this project. To accompany a picture she made of objects such as a heart inside a Barbie doll, a musical note and a favorite book, Kailyn wrote a message with her feet. It says, “These are the things that make me happy, and you’re one of those things. ...

Thanks from the bottom of my heart for helping improve the quality of my life one spoonful at a time.

Love, Kailyn Pieper.”

The cooperation between the students and Kailyn was featured in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where coverage included a video. View it at go.mu.edu/mu-kailyn.

Photo courtesy of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Professional Achievement Award: William J. Krueger, Eng ’87

Entrepreneurial Award: Michael J. Nigro, Eng ’83 Service Award: Robert P. Fettig, Eng ’68

Young Alumna of the Year Award: Denise Demarais Zarins, Eng ’93, Grad ’95

Engineering alumni presence grows on Marquette Board of Trustees Dr. Janis M. Orlowski, Eng ’78, and Thomas H. Werner, Eng ’86, were elected to the Marquette University Board of Trustees. They join Richard J. Fotsch, Eng ’77, Grad ’84, and Charles M. Swoboda, Eng ’89, who also serve on the board. Swoboda was elected chair of the board in 2012.

Six college faculty members to retire

New faculty members join college

Six engineering faculty members will retire in 2012. They are: Dr. George Corliss, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Dr. Frank Jacoby, adjunct associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; Dr. Shrinivas Joshi, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Dr. Susan Riedel, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; Dr. Michael Switzenbaum, professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering (pictured below);

The college welcomes three new faculty members: Dr. Casey Allen, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Dr. Brooke Mayer, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering; and Dr. Andrew Williams, John C. Raynor, S.J., Chair and professor of electrical and computer engineering. “New recruits, broad perspectives” on page 10 offers an in-depth look at these new faculty members and their research interests.

Secretariat office of joint engineering education societies moves to College of Engineering Dr. Hans J. Hoyer, secretary general of the International Federation for Engineering Education Societies and executive secretary of the Global Engineering Deans Council, accepted the invitation of OPUS Dean Dr. Robert Bishop, P.E., to host the Secretariat office at the College of Engineering.

and Dr. Sriramulu Vinnakota, professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering.

Corliss, Joshi, Switzenbaum and Vinnakota were promoted to professor emeritus. Riedel was promoted to associate professor emerita. The college thanks and recognizes these faculty members for their more than 150 combined years of service educating engineers at Marquette.

Engineering Hall recognized as top project Phase 1 of Engineering Hall was recognized by two different publications as a leading project in 2011.

The Daily Reporter, a magazine devoted to construction in Wisconsin, selected the project as the “Best in Show,” and The Business Journal of Milwaukee recognized it as the best higher education development in southeast Wisconsin during 2011.

IFEES, which moved into Haggerty Hall in July, works to establish high-quality engineering education processes around the world to assure a global supply of well-prepared engineering graduates. The mission of GEDC is to serve as a global network of engineering deans, and to leverage their collective strengths, for the advancement of engineering education and research.

Proximity to IFEES/GEDC will help the college advance its search for solutions to global engineering problems and help Marquette engineering develop a more active role in the global engineering community.

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During the past seven years, engineering students have worked to make the humanpowered nebulizer truly mobile. Lauren Sawatzke, Eng ’13, one of six seniors working on the project this year, demonstrates how the current model fits easily in a backpack.

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The healing power of human power Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the fifth-leading cause of death in the world — and a prime example of a global challenge the College of Engineering is helping to address.

By Andy Brodzeller

Born in 2005, out of one of the senior design capstone projects that serve as a culminating experience for undergraduate engineers, the human-powered nebulizer has been refined by successive teams of seniors under the guidance of Dr. Lars Olson, associate professor of biomedical engineering. Now ready for field testing, it aims to bring gold-standard medical treatment to individuals struggling with COPD and asthma in remote and resourcepoor communities around the globe.

Unlike commercial nebulizers that use electric compressors to deliver vaporized droplets of airway-clearing medication, the human-powered nebulizer draws its energy from a hand crank, meaning it can be deployed anywhere, not just where electrical outlets are available. With people in unelectrified homes — where wood fires are used for cooking and heating — accounting for 90 percent of the more than 3 million annual deaths caused by COPD in developing countries, this innovation could make all the difference in the world.

human-powered hope: the nebulizer project timeline

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On a trip with students to Guatemala, Olson observes the need for a low-cost portable nebulizer. Though children in Guatemala City use nebulizers for respiratory problems, poor families in the rural altiplano, where lung problems are more prevalent, lack access to them.

The first group of Marquette students works with Olson on a human-powered nebulizer for a senior design project. The result? A chopped-off chassis of an ordinary bicycle connected to a piston, flow regulator and mouth piece.

Olson connects with Chris Hallberg, Arts ’09, and Dr. Therese Lysaught, associate professor of theology and a specialist in medical ethics, during a student trip to El Salvador. Together, they begin exploring how to get the humanpowered nebulizer to those who need it.

Terry McGrath, Eng ’11, tests the human-powered nebulizer as an assistant with a mobile health clinic run by the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre in South Africa. The group is determined to make the nebulizer as effective as its electric counterparts at collecting samples for tuberculosis testing.

On a return visit to El Salvador, the team demonstrates the pedal-powered nebulizer to rural residents and community health workers. Based on their feedback, students begin designing a smaller, backpack-sized nebulizer powered by a hand pedal.

Popular Science magazine recognizes the human-powered nebulizer as one of the seven ways pedal power will change the world.

Design work continues on making the device as small and light as possible. El Salvadoran health ministries work to test the feasibility of community health workers using the nebulizer and its effectiveness in treating COPD and other respiratory diseases.

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