Around Campus

cARRnival kick-off

MSOE’s annual Welcome Week tradition kicked-off the school year, giving new and returning students a number of fun activities to get acquainted with one another and campus including, in the words of Roscoe, a “cARRnival.”

GOLDEN

Raider Robotics named World Champions

MSOE is officially home to world champions. The MSOE Raider Robotics team took home the Excellence Award from the VEX U World Championship. Unlike many of the other seasoned veterans they competed against, the Raider Robotics is a fairly new team with only two years of experience under its belt. MSOE is one of the first teams to win this award in its initial two years of existence. The team also tied for first in the U.S. and fourth in the world with their 60-second programming routine, placing higher than more than 70 other universities from around the world.

NOTEWORTHY

Faculty/staff achievements

Dr. Sheila Ross was promoted to chair of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. She is the first woman to hold this position.

APPLIED TECHNOLOGY CENTER™

Vince Anewenter ’11, Rapid Prototyping Center, received the President’s Award from Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG).

Sheku Kamara ’00, Applied Technology Center™, co-authored and published a book, Fundamentals of Additive Manufacturing for the Practitioner.

Dr. Medhat Khalil, Professional Education and Research Development, was inducted to the Fluid Power Hall of Fame by the International Fluid Power Society.

Jordan Weston ’10, ’15, ’18, Rapid Prototyping Center, was elected to the 2021–2023 AMUG Board of Directors.

SCHOOL OF NURSING

Dr. Aruna Lal was named one of the Milwaukee Business Journal’s Women of Influence for 2021.

Dr. Martha Libster was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing’s 2021 Class of Fellows.

Dr. Carol Sabel was named a Notable Woman in Education by BizTimes Milwaukee.

Winners of MSOE’s annual awards of excellence include, from left: Dr. Nazieh Masoud, Physics and Chemistry Department, Karl O. Werwath Applied Research Award; Peter Pfister, IT Department, Johanna Seelhorst Werwath Distinguished Staff Award; Dr. Jera Sullivan, Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management Department, Rexnord Educator of the Year Award; Dr. Serdar Ozturk, Physics and Chemistry Department, Karl O. Werwath Applied Research Award; and Dr. Robert Olsson, Physics and Chemistry Department, Oscar Werwath Distinguished Teacher Award. Not pictured: Dr. Tatiana Soleski, Mathematics Department, Johnson Controls Part-Time Faculty Award.

GROHMANN MUSEUM

Bringing in the Crop, 1989, Robert O. Lahmann [American, 1922-2014], Oil on board, 20 x 22 in.

MORE THAN AMERICA’S DAIRYLAND

Robert O. Lahmann: Working in Wisconsin

Jan. 21–April 24, 2022

Gallery Night Opening Jan. 21, 5–9 p.m. Featuring a Gallery Talk with Graeme Reid, director of collections, Museum of Wisconsin Art

The newest special exhibition at the Grohmann Museum traces the pattern of Robert O. Lahmann’s industrial work in both painting and drawing. A prolific Wisconsin artist throughout his lifetime, Lahmann graduated from Milwaukee’s Layton School of Art in 1949, but had already established a career as a painter, sculptor, stained glass artist and art teacher by 1945. His impressionist oils and pastels of rural and urban scenes elicit a sense of nostalgia and provide the viewer glimpses of a bygone era. From farm fields to dock scenes, grain elevators to steel mills, this exhibition includes dozens of Lahmann’s vibrant and thoughtful scenes of Working in Wisconsin.

CATCH IT BEFORE IT CLOSES

The Railroad and the Art of Place: Photographs by David Kahler

Through Dec. 19, 2021

The Railroad and the Art of Place: Photographs by David Kahler traces industrial rail lines across America’s Appalachian coal country. Once thriving economic centers, Kahler’s view of small-town West Virginia and Kentucky illustrates the ebb and flow of communities dependent on railroad traffic amidst the decline of the once powerful coal industry. Desolate, yet beautiful, Kahler’s photographs expertly capture the raw emotions attached to the railroad industry. Along with the loss of major coal productions in the region and the resulting economic vacuum it created as it disappeared, the railroad continues to serve as a financial lifeline and a reminder of a richer past.

Laeger, West Virginia, February 1993, photograph by David Kahler.

TALENT SCOUT

Back to business

Portfolios were dusted off and sweatpants were swapped out for dress pants at the Fall 2021 Career Fair in September. After a virtual hiatus in 2020, the Career Fair was back to Roscoe in-person meetings. A total of 1,500 students filed into the Kern Center to meet with 300 employers and graduate schools in hopes of landing jobs and internships or learning more about continuing their education. In the midst of a nation-wide labor shortage, employers are eager for fresh talent ready to hit the ground running now more than ever.

IT FLOATS

MSOE wins ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition

MSOE’s student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers took first place in the regional Concrete Canoe Competition. This year’s competition was adapted to be 100% virtual due to the ongoing pandemic. While teams were not required to build a full-scale, 20-foot prototype canoe this year, MSOE students created a half-scale version, allowing them to bring their design to life.

The theme of the 2021 canoe, named Eddystone, focuses on the rich history of civil engineering from primitive settlements to modern engineering marvels. The name Eddystone comes from the Eddystone lighthouse, designed by the father of civil engineering John Smeaton, which was the first structure to utilize what is now a precursor to portland cement. Eddystone features vibrant designs of the lighthouse and Milwaukee’s iconic Hoan Bridge against the deep gray canoe.

Out of this world

MSOE hosted the 31st annual Wisconsin Space Conference on Aug. 13 in Diercks Hall. The theme was “Advancing Aerospace with Artificial Intelligence,” and featured student poster sessions, networking, a presentation by Congresswoman Gwen Moore, and a keynote address by Dr. Ashley W. Stroupe that focused on exploring Mars through robotic eyes. Stroupe, a systems engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, specializes in Mars Rover operations. She has performed many different roles over the last 16 years for the Curiosity, Opportunity and Spirit rovers. The annual conference is sponsored by the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium.

The Space Raiders, MSOE’s robotics competition team, showed off their own rover at the conference (pictured above). The team designed their rover for the annual Lunabotics competition, where teams from universities around the country design and build prototype robots that are capable of mining in a simulated lunar environment. The Space Raiders landed three awards at the competition, including the Joe Cosmo Award for Excellence, which is awarded to the team that scores the best across all categories.

MSOE Space Raiders have participated in the Lunabotics competition since 2010. The team is comprised of students from a variety of majors and advised by Dr. Bill Farrow, associate profession in the Mechanical Engineering Department.

Dr. Ashley Stroupe (left) and Dr. Eric Baumgartner, executive vice president of academics.