February 2018
CEAT Highlights
Message from the
DEAN Announcements
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OSU Employee Doubles His Weight-Loss Goal Using a Free Wellness Resource An Oklahoma State University employee has achieved double his weight-loss goal by taking advantage of a free online program known as Naturally Slim. Lance Millis, director of student services for the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, successfully used the Naturally Slim program to lose weight after learning about it from an OSU Human Resources email. “I haven’t changed much of anything in terms of what I eat,” Millis said. “It’s more when I eat and how much. I love chocolate cake. If I want a piece of chocolate cake, I will eat it. I know how to prevent it from becoming a bad habit.” The online behavior modification program provides tips and resources to encourage weight loss and health improvement. The program does not include dieting or counting calories. It focuses on helping develop the eating characteristics of people who are naturally slim. Through video lessons and training activities, participants are able to learn the effects certain foods and drinks can have on their bodies, which can lead to making healthier decisions. Click here to continue reading this story.
Announcements CEAT Program Ranked Among Nation’s Best U.S. News and World Report has ranked OSU’s Engineering Distance Education program among the best online master’s in engineering degree programs in the nation for the fourth year in a row. OSU continues to have the state’s highest ranking for best online graduate engineering programs at number 37. This program previously ranked 56th in the 2014-2015 rankings and 31st in 2017. “We are honored by this recognition, and extremely excited about the future growth of CEAT online graduate programs,” said Nathan Cragun, CEAT distance education interim manager. “We have exceptional faculty that are respected leaders in their field of research and who provide students with a superior graduate level education. It truly is an exciting time to be an OSU Cowboy.” Click here to continue reading this story.
CEAT Graduates 20 in Advanced Leadership Program The 18th annual awards ceremony for the OSU Advanced Leadership Program was held on January 18, 2017. Of the 52 honorees, 20 of them were CEAT employees. First year graduates from CEAT were Gerry Battles, Laura Brown, Jillian Conaghan, Misty Daniels, Virginia Jones, Brandy Mays, Mary Muth, Kristie Newby and Jiejia Wang. Second year graduates were Kelly Naas and Sharon Robinson. Third year graduates were Kimberly Anderson, Shelly Potter, Carolyn Sanders, Chelsea Schafer and Justin Smola. Fourth year graduates were Lory Ferguson and Michele Stewart. Fifth year graduates were Paula Kendrick and Charaine Wood. The Advanced Leadership Program began in March 1999 as a continuing education program available only to graduates of the Leadership Development Program who wanted to refresh, enhance and deepen their leadership skills. Participants are required to complete eight courses and three special opportunity events in one calendar year to complete the learning track. For more information on training, contact OSU HR at 744-5374, osu-trng@okstate.edu or hr.okstate.edu/training. Pictured from left to right: Dean Paul Tikalsky, Gerry Battles, Kristie Newby, Mary Muth, Michelle Stewart, Kimberly Anderson, Carolyn Sanders, Paula Kendrick, Virginia Jones, Lory Ferguson, Charaine Wood, Misty Daniels, Jillian Conaghan, Brandy Mays. Not pictured are Laura Brown, Jiejia Wang, Shelley Potter, Chelsea Schafer, Justin Smola, Kelly Naas and Sharon Robinson.
CEAT Exceeds United Way Goal The College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology recently raised $24,125 for United Way of Payne County. CEAT’s goal was $21,000. To raise this amount, CEAT and their departments held several events including a live auction, a chili cook-off, bake sale, Industrial Engineering and Management Murder Mystery, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering painting party, blue jean day and more. Oklahoma State University’s 2017 Campaign for United Way began Sept. 7. Throughout the fall semester, OSU raised more than $270,000 which helped United Way of Payne County reach their goal of $925,000. Of the money raised, 99 percent of the money will stay in Payne County. United Way supports 22 helping agencies who assist more than 25,000 Payne County residents annually. CEAT United Way Co-Coordinators were Cindy Rice and Kristie Newby. Captains for each CEAT program were Architecture – Nikki Willis and Lauran Tessmann; Chemical Engineering – Eileen Nelson; Civil Engineering – Kimber Anderson; Electrical and Computer Engineering – Helen Daggs; IEM – Amber Huffman; MAE – Daleene Caldwell; Electrical Engineering Technology – Linda Brewer; CEAT Dean’s Office – Joel Versypt; Fire Protection Publications – Christy Olson and Lucy Newlin; Fire Service Training – Sally Knott and Karen Kellar; Center for Local Government Technology/Local Technical Assistance Program – Darla Hisey and Gary Snyder; International Ground Source Heat Pump Association – Erin Portman; New Product Development Center – Jessica Stewart; Professional Development – Susan Ramsey; Engineering Distance Education – Toni Connelly and Jillian George; Student Services – Kristal Soderstrom Junkens.
Academics Two Oklahoma State University College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology Professors Attend Industry-Led Workshop to Learn Process Safety Best Practices LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies, along with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), recently teamed up to teach college professors about process safety best practices so they can in turn better prepare their students for entering the chemical and refining industries. Two OSU CEAT faculty members, Dr. Ashlee N. Ford Versypt, assistant professor of chemical engineering, and Dr. Qingsheng Wang, associate professor of fire protection and safety engineering Technology, attended the workshop at LyondellBasell’s Houston Engineering Center from January 9 to 11, as part of AIChE’s Undergraduate Process Safety Learning Initiative, a multi-pronged global program that will define how the next generation of chemical engineers are prepared to enter the workforce. These industry-led classes provide professors the tools and information they need to incorporate safety training into their curriculum to ensure students graduate with a working knowledge of chemical process safety. Click here to continue reading this story.
MAE 4344 Senior Design Competition CEAT’s MAE ran their first senior design competition in Fall 2017, with generous sponsorship of over $30,000 from the ASHRAE and HVAC&R community. Student teams of four to five students built thermal system learning environments according to a work statement and presented their work at several evaluation events to industry representatives. They finished with a competition event in December 2017. One of the winning team members said, “Thanks so much for this event. It was really fun and made all the hard work over this semester worth it.” Dr. Christian Bach, course instructor, especially appreciates the support of his MAE and research group colleagues, as well as MAE, DML, and CEAT staff support that provided the environment to make this endeavor a success.
APICS Case Competition Heads to Regionals IEM students in the Advanced Production Control Class participated in the APICS Supply Chain Case Competition this fall for the first time. Seven teams participated, but each university can only nominate two teams for the next level of competition. The two teams representing OSU are both selected among the top eight entries qualifying them to participate in the regional round. They have been invited to attend the next round of competition in Atlanta on February 24. Each team will receive the case in the morning, develop a solution, then present live to the judges. The judges will then select and invite a winning team to participate in the finals at the APICS annual conference in September. Congratulations to the seven cowboys representing OSU. Those individuals in team one are Devaraja Radha Krishnan, Haarish Soundararajan and Raghu Prasanth Muthusamy. Members of team two are Rishabh Gupta, Venkatesh Manohar, Vivin Mohan, and Pritesh Wankhede.
CEAT Faculty Wins 2017 President’s Cup Faculty from the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology were awarded the President’s Cup for Creative Interdisciplinarity at the University Awards Convocation Dec. 6, 2017 at the OSU ConocoPhillips Alumni Center. Click here to continue reading this story.
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OSU Fire Report Posted OSU’s Fire Protection & Safety Engineering Technology Program’s research is now published as part of the ongoing Flammability Standards for Building Insulation Materials project in California, known for its strict code standards. The Phase II Working Group Final Report has been in the works since July 2016. “It began with advocacy groups in California being concerned about the possible adverse health effects of fire retardants,” said Rob Agnew, assistant professor of FPSET. “A California state senator then introduced a bill to direct the California fire marshal’s office to do testing to see if fire retardant could be eliminated from insulation boards in certain applications.” OSU’s FPSET department submitted a bid to conduct the testing and received the $125 thousand grant to move forward with research. Tests were conducted to determine the relative fire risk of materials with and without fire retardants, without consideration of the health risk. Several types of materials were tested to create a measurable comparison. “Our conclusion was that fire retardant is effective in delaying ignition,” Agnew said. “We made a very tentative conclusion that putting it under the foundation of a slab on-grade home would not increase the risk of house fires. We pretty heavily caveated that we are more concerned about people using it incorrectly.” The final report was posted in January 2018 to the official website of the California state fire marshal. The report can be found at http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/codedevelopment/codedevelopment. “This research demonstrates our ability to do fire testing research at OSU,” Agnew said. “We’ve been doing fire related things for 80 years. But we haven’t had a huge research arm. We are currently expanding into doing a lot more fire research. There’s going to be decades of work to come in this field and we are ready for the next one.”
OKTIM Partnership Leads to National Success Oklahoma’s commitment to training first responders to detect, respond and clear traffic incidents has caught the attention of the nation and world. Federal Highway Administration’s Richard Jurey showcased Oklahoma’s implementation of the FHWA – Every Day Counts – Second Strategic Highway Research Program Traffic Incident Management Training during the Transportation Research Board’s 97th annual meeting held in Washington, D.C. on January 7–11, 2018. The conference features more than 5,000 presentations in nearly 800 sessions and workshops addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. The program was expected to attract more than 13,000 transportation professionals from around the world. Click here to continue reading this story.
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OSU Rolls Out Mobile Grain Bin Safety Trailer The lack of relevant training resulted in OSU’s Fire Service Training and the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural engineering to create the Grain Bin Safety trailer. This solution has already trained nearly 500 Oklahomans. The search was for a mechanism to have firefighters and elevator workers experience what it is like in a grain bin and what it takes to keep somebody safe, and also to rescue them if something does go wrong. The team built a demonstrator at the Stored Products Research and Education Center at OSU and quickly realized volunteer firefighters and farmers did not have the time to come to Stillwater for training. The trailer was their solution. Click here to continue reading this story.
IFSAC Congress of Governors Meeting The International Fire Service Accreditation Congress (IFSAC) Council of Governors (COG) members were in Stillwater January 29 through February 2 for a working session to collectively work with IFSAC Administration on various projects. Those projects include updating and refining bylaws, updating policy and procedure documents, and continued work on the organization’s strategic plan. Members of the COG include: Ron Hassan, Maryland Fire Service Personnel Qualifications Board; Cynthia Brun, University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh; John P. Smith III, United States Department of Defense Fire and Emergency Services; Bill Klein, Chemeketa Community College, Oregon; John Cunningham, Nova Scotia Fire Service Professional Qualifications Board; and Bill Benjamin, Portland Community College, Oregon. Also in attendance were the Degree Assembly Board of Governors Chairman Lee Silvi, Lakeland Community College, Ohio; Certificate Assembly Board of Governors Vice Chairman, Derek Simmons, Fire and Emergency Services, Newfoundland and Labrador; and Mollie Clakley, IFSAC Parliamentarian.
Pictured from left to right: Lee Silvi, Cynthia Brun, John Cunningham, Bill Carver, Ron Hassan, John Smith, Mollie Clakley, Bill Klein, Bill Benjamin and Derek Simmons
Extension OSU Fire Protection Student Installs Lifesaver It was December 2, 2017 when a house filled with smoke in Guthrie. The two people inside were able to escape, thanks to smoke alarms installed just three months prior by the Oklahoma Assistive Technology Foundation (OkAT) AFG grant and Nick Mueller, OSU Fire Protection alumnus. As a student, Mueller worked at Fire Protection Publications as a student smoke alarm installer. “My most prominent role was installing smoke alarms in the homes of those with disabilities whom applied and were accepted by the OkAT smoke alarm program,” said Mueller. “The equipment installed includes single station smoke alarms and a bed shaker alert device.” Click here to continue reading this story.
Research MITO Material Solutions Awarded Grant MITO Material Solutions has been awarded a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant for $224,988 to conduct research and development work on a nano-additive that doubles the interlaminar toughness of composite materials utilized in aerospace, recreation and automotive industries. MITO was founded in 2016 by Kevin and Haley Keith through a class project at Oklahoma State University. Haley was pursuing her master’s in business administration at OSU at the time and was involved in the Creativity Innovation and Entrepreneurship Scholars Program. This program pairs MBA students with STEM students to create a business plan for commercializing technology at OSU. Kevin was pursuing his degree in mechanical engineering technology at OSU. The two chose to pursue an additive developed in OSU’s Helmerich Research Center in Tulsa by Dr. Ranji Vaidyanathan, MITO co-PI and material science and engineering professor at OSU-Tulsa. This NSF grant will help create two engineering positions at inception and help MITO grow to a predicted 200 employees within five to seven years. Click here to continue reading this story.