10 minute read
Basic Highlights
News and notes from around the College of Basic and Applied Sciences
A Test of Endurance
Fifteen teams and 130 students worked 36 hours nonstop at the 10th annual MTSU Computer Science Department HackMT hackathon Jan. 31–Feb. 2. With industry professionals serving as mentors—some of them alumni—the teams invented new web and computer applications, games, and more.
Computer Science, Mathematics, Mechatronics Engineering, and Computer Information Systems students participated. Sponsors included Asurion, CAT Financial, Bondware, and CGI.
Judges awarded juniors Gavin Liles and Noah Smith scholarships.
One of several Mechatronics Engineering students participating in the event, Bereket Tagistesillassie of Murfreesboro was among 14 students and mentors with the “AudiPy” team on a successful math-oriented project providing data analysis for audio.
“It was a fully functional Python library for people to download,” said Tagistesillassie, 21, who graduated in May. He added that he was “able to get some sleep and make sure things were running properly.”
Brothers Thomas, 17, and Rafaiel Abdelmaseh, 15, of Smyrna were both freshmen—Thomas at MTSU, majoring in Mechatronics Engineering, and Rafaiel at Stewarts Creek High School in Smyrna. Their project, titled “Robotic Hand Assistant,” created a model device “to help elderly and disabled people in their day-to-day lives or their chores,” Thomas Abdelmaseh said.
“The robot will have multiple sets of hands or accessories that are interchangeable for different tasks, and the robot will change it by itself. The person will instruct the robotic arm where to go. The robot will also have sensors that will be used for obstacle avoidance, but it will also use AI (artificial intelligence) to map out the house, and the robot will remember where different rooms are.”
Mentors from Nashville-based LKQ led one team in its facial recognition project titled “FaceOff.” The team earned first place in the judges’ voting.
“We overcame a lot of challenges,” said Andrew Walker, 22, a senior Computer Science major from Murfreesboro. LKQ’s Fred Nelson said it was “a web app that tracks your facial emotions and displays them.”
Venturing Out
For the seventh consecutive year, the Department of Aerospace took True Blue to Wisconsin for the EAA AirVenture in 2025, connecting with alumni and industry partners during the world’s largest gathering of aviation enthusiasts. The massive weeklong event, which attracts more than a half a million people and 10,000-plus aircraft annually, is held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
As a premier aviation training university, it’s important that MTSU be not only present but active at the world’s greatest aviation celebration. EAA gives MTSU the opportunity to connect not only with industry leaders, but also many MTSU alums.
MTSU officials annually meet with employers of aerospace graduates—Delta, Southwest, FedEx, Endeavor Air, and Republic Airlines, among others. They also meet with executives from manufacturers like Diamond, Piper, and Cirrus.
Lifting Off
The Aerospace Department’s new home at the Shelbyville Municipal Airport is taking shape, with construction progressing toward a fall 2027 completion target. The $62.2 million project spans about 20 acres and will include a 28,000-square-foot hangar for MTSU’s fleet of aircraft, plus 50,000 square feet of space for classrooms, a dispatch center, faculty and staff offices, and more.
MTSU has already begun flight training at the Shelbyville airport, though it won’t move the bulk of its fleet until later. The expansion to Shelbyville was a necessary step for the department, which is growing and needs more space than Murfreesboro’s airport can provide.
Aerospace is the largest major at MTSU, with most of its 1,200-plus students in the Professional Pilot concentration.
Ladies in Concrete
The Concrete Industry Management program hosted more than 320 area middle and high school girls in May at the second annual Ladies in Concrete Workshop, showcasing potential careers in a field that has traditionally been dominated by men. Building on last year’s successful event at the School of Concrete and Construction Management Building, this year’s workshop drew even more girls and young women to campus.
Participants got an up-close view of different parts of the concrete industry through hands-on workshops demonstrating common things seen on a job site. The event provided eight workstations—heavy equipment, hand tools, mix design, pre-casting, finishing, masonry, 3D printing, and welding— offering immersive experiences with professional equipment, all hosted by 17 different alumni and local industry partners.
Not Horsing Around
MTSU’s stock horse team was crowned the 2025 National Intercollegiate Ranch and Stock Horse Association Division II Champion. Students competed in the versatility ranch horse events, showcasing their talents in ranch reining, cow work, ranch trail, and ranch riding. Team members were Marci Leath, Kenlee West, Alyssa Davis, Keira Wagner, and Simone Allen. MTSU also earned national runner-up honors in the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association’s Western competition.
Global Recognition
Actuaries are the go-to problem solvers for businesses that need to manage financial risk. And every business manages financial risk. MTSU is the only university in Tennessee that offers actuarial science coursework for both undergraduate and graduate degrees.
In 2024, MTSU was recognized as a Society of Actuaries Center of Actuarial Excellence, placing it among the top 43 schools in the world. Combine that with the Gold Level Recognition given by the Casualty Actuarial Society, another major actuarial society. MTSU is among only a dozen schools in the world with both these recognitions.
Head for the Hill
Seven MTSU undergraduate student researchers were among nearly 60 from nine Tennessee universities attending the annual Posters at the Capitol at the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville this past spring.
Hosted by MTSU and the Tennessee STEM Education Center since 2006, Posters at the Capitol showcases research being conducted by undergraduates from Memphis to Johnson City. The event exposes state legislators to the student researchers and the students to their legislators.
Participating MTSU students were Edwin Walck, Izzy Jacober, Rashieq Cockerham, Isaac Puckett, Ananya Arcot, Shelby Mayhut, and Esme’ Keszler.
A Space Odyssey
Geosciences Department students Emily Therrell, Lula Baldriche, and Trey Littrell were among a dozen participants sharing their NASA-funded research as part of the Tennessee Space Grant Consortium during the Tennessee Geographic Information Council Conference in April 2025.
“Flooding Analysis of the MTSU Campus,” “Analysis of Urban Heat Locations in Nashville,” “Geospatial Insights on Water Quality in Murfreesboro,” and “Lights in the Dark: Tracking Urban Light Pollution in Nashville” were among the semester- and year-long projects.
Their session, held at the Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro, showcased student research and three-minute presentations supported by an initiative called Exploring Earth: A NASASupported Geospatial Learning Experience.
Racha El Kadiri, an associate professor in Geosciences, was the project lead.
Elite Engineering
Vishwas Bedekar, an MTSU associate professor, was awarded the same national honor for the second time in three years. Bedekar, coordinator of the Mechanical Engineering Technology concentration in the Engineering Technology program, was named one of eight Society of Manufacturing Engineers Distinguished Faculty Advisor Award winners for 2024. Bedekar’s research focuses on energy-harvesting materials and manufacturing processes. An author of more than 30 publications, he also holds a U.S. patent.
Dollars and Sense
Numerous faculty members at MTSU are focused on research initiatives in the area of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, collectively known as STEM.
A cohort of MTSU faculty landed a $3 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to develop local middle school teachers in STEM subject areas into data science instruction experts who will go on to develop educators in their communities.
Gregory Rushton, director of MTSU’s Tennessee STEM Education Center, leads that five-year grant project in collaboration with Ryan “Seth” Jones, Kevin Krahenbuhl, and Keith Gamble.
Separately, three MTSU professors were awarded their own $1.2 million NSF grant to advance research in improving the teaching of STEM fields in general.
Grant Gardner, Sarah Bleiler-Baxter, and Rushton (l–r in top photo below) head that research project.
MTSU is designated a R2 doctoral university with high research activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. This elite status places MTSU among a select group of only 3% of institutions nationwide.
On Patrol
The national commander of Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the volunteer civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, paid a visit to MTSU in 2024 to celebrate the decade-long partnership between the two institutions.
Maj. Gen. Regena Aye, CAP’s highest-ranking officer, leads CAP’s nearly 70,000 members across the United States in fulfilling the nonprofit organization’s three primary programs: emergency services, cadet programs, and aerospace education.
Aye, along with Col. Jeffery Garrett, commander of CAP’s Southeast Region, which includes Tennessee, were guests of retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, MTSU’s senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives. They toured the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center, where Huber briefed the officers about MTSU’s commitment to helping veterans, both on and off campus.
Huber honored Aye with the installation of a commemorative brick at MTSU’s Veterans Memorial, located in front of the Tom Jackson Building.
In its role as the Air Force auxiliary, CAP also is a member of the Total Force, filling a critical role in defense support of civil authorities that includes preserving life, relieving suffering, and providing training support. Last fall, for example, CAP aerial crews flew emergency service missions over areas impacted by hurricanes Helene and Milton.
MTSU and CAP have been partners in aerospace education for cadets since 2014. Since 2017, MTSU has hosted CAP’s National Cadet Engineering Technology Academy, which attracts youth from across the nation to the campus.
What’s Old Is New Again
Two of MTSU’s original buildings—Kirksey Old Main and Rutledge Hall—are undergoing a $54.3 million renovation. Not to worry: The work will preserve KOM’s iconic columns.
President Sidney A. McPhee said the project “will restore KOM to its former glory” by returning blocked-up windows to the original auditorium, exposing original steel trusses, restoring hardwood floors, and creating a new lobby to provide accessible entry. Mathematics, Computer Science, and Data Science will remain in KOM, while Rutledge will house University Studies. Completion is scheduled for summer 2026.
CBAS Dean Greg Van Patten called the KOM project “a bridge from MTSU’s origins to its future. . . . Mathematics is a required pillar of every single undergraduate degree we confer, and it is a foundational discipline for every discipline in our college. Computer science and data science represent modern frontiers of technology.”
Gold Standard
Sophomore and Honors Buchanan Fellow Ariel Nicastro was named a 2024 Goldwater Scholar—one of only 10 students from Tennessee institutions to receive the award that year.
Nicastro, a Physics major earning the MTSU 2025 Provost’s Award, was also among three Middle Tennessee State University students awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad this year.. The U.S. Department of State awarded the prestigious scholarship to approximately 1,600 undergraduate students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico during the fall 2024 cycle.
Honors student and Biochemistry major Isaac Puckett was among just 441 students nationwide named Goldwater Scholars in 2025.
The Goldwater Scholarship, one of the oldest and most prestigious national scholarships in the U.S., financially supports college sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise of becoming this nation’s next generation of research leaders in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics.
Puckett is MTSU’s seventh consecutive Goldwater recipient. The University has had 12 since its first recipient in 2007, in addition to eight students’ receiving honorable mentions. These honors highlight the strength of MTSU’s research programs and the University’s ability to prepare students for competitive national awards.
