School of Engineering Brochure

Santa Clara University School of Engineering

S a n ta C l a r a U n i v e r s i t y

F P O

SCU OMC 7851B 12,000 8/11

Photography by Chuck Barry, FJ GAYLOR Photography, Rajan Chawl a, and Chris Nelson-NIKE

500 El Camino Real Santa Clara, CA 95053 408-554-4600 www.scu.edu/engineering

School of Engineering

Honoring the Head,

HEART, AND HANDS

For 100 years, the School of Engineering at Santa Clara University has been educating the leaders and innovators of the future. On a beautiful, palm-studded campus in Silicon Valley, Santa Clara imparts to its engineering students the knowledge, skills, and vision necessary to make a difference in their communities and in the world.

In keeping with Santa Clara’s Jesuit, Catholic tradition, we cultivate exceptional engineers of integrity; our community of scholars is deeply committed to academic and ethical excellence. By partnering rigorous engineering coursework with undergraduate and graduate core curricula designed to encourage students to think critically and act responsibly, Santa Clara empowers professional and personal growth.

Our graduates enjoy unparalleled career opportunities in diverse fields. Neighboring high-tech firms, government agencies, and blossoming startups offer internships, cooperative learning experiences, and full-time employment to our outstanding students. Santa Clara is proud to guide so many leaders toward careers and lives of accomplishment and fulfillment.

Throughout these pages, you’ll meet engineers whose experiences encompass the very small to the very large, from nanotechnology to satellite technology, in developing ways to make our world function better. You’ll read stories about professors dedicated to helping engineers become as skilled in their fields as they are mindful of their responsibilities. And you’ll be introduced to students whose career paths have taken them in surprising, delightful directions. Here at Santa Clara, you will discover a community that is committed to academic excellence, innovation, scholarship, integrity, diversity, imagination, and understanding.

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Engaging the head,

heart, and hands Students of all levels and engineering disciplines are welcome in the Robotics Systems Lab. “Graduate students serve as mentors, especially with the senior design projects, whereby they simulate a real-world client environment with concrete requirements that dictate the direction of project development,” explains Rasay.

Along with the design and development activities that take place on campus, many students travel to places as far off as El Salvador and Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, to support NASA satellite missions, or domestically to Lake Tahoe to collaborate with a team from the University of Nevada, Reno, on geological research.

“Robotics systems are interdisciplinary by nature,” says Rasay. “So students are always interacting with folks outside of their major or learning concepts outside of their field of study.”

Professor Kitts has worked hard to establish strong working relationships with various local and national leaders in industry: NASA Ames and Marshall Centers, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Lockheed Martin, BMW, and NVIDIA, to name a few. And then there are key partnerships with universities like Universidad Centroamericana, St. Louis University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Hawaii, and Milwaukee School of Engineering.

In the SCU Robotics Systems Lab, Associate Professor Chris Kitts helps students apply theoretical classroom concepts to realworld applications.

Robotics Systems Lab: Where Research, Partnerships, and Innovation Come Together The SCU Robotics Systems Laboratory, under the direction of Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Christopher Kitts, is always buzzing with activity.

From designing and operating a shoe-box-size spacecraft to analyzing the computerized diagnostics system of a top of the line BMW automobile, students are involved in real-world engineering on a daily basis.

“We have a line of three remotely operated vehicles, a student-designed boat, a fleet of automated kayaks, multiple Land Rovers, and remote-controlled planes, blimps, and spacecraft,” describes Richard “Mike” Rasay ’01, M.S. ’07, mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate and Robotics Systems Lab research staff.

“In most other universities, there are labs dedicated to one type of system. But we consider ourselves a field robotics program, creating systems for land, sea, air, and space. This approach allows for technology to be developed and leveraged across platforms, which helps students understand how to create systems that are modular and scaleable.”

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“Working with Professor Kitts is a unique and valuable experience. His prowess in developing successful ideas that yield functional, robust, and extensible systems gives students a firsthand look at industry-grade engineering without ever having to venture outside the campus,” says Rasay. “The students who work in the lab, whether they realize it or not, are exposed to resources that require them to apply the theoretical classroom concepts to real-world applications that they will use for the rest of their working lives.”

Doctoral Student Turns Social Entrepreneur Throughout his years at Santa Clara, current doctoral student Michael Neumann ’03, M.S. ’08, has absorbed the philosophy of competence, conscience, and compassion along with the principles of mechanical engineering, compelling him to think about people less privileged in the world and to seek out ways to help them.

He took a break from his studies in 2004 to join the Peace Corps, spending three and a half years in Tanzania learning Swahili and teaching physics and math at a secondary school. Then he took that commitment to others a step further, co-founding the nonprofit organization TETEA (Tanzanian Empowerment Through Education Association), which means “to speak out for others” in Swahili. The group focuses on improving education by providing scholarships to needy students as well as by developing learning centers in impoverished villages.

Neumann has also joined Engineers Without Borders, traveling twice with them to Tanzania to work on a waterdistribution project, altruistic work that meshes seamlessly with his doctoral studies.

“With the emphasis on service and compassion,” he says, “Santa Clara University is a great place if you’re interested in engineering for the developing world.”

En route to earning his M.S., alumnus Michael Neumann taught in Tanzania for three and a half years and cofounded a nonprofit organization to support education in the country.

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Seniors Tackle Hands-on, Design-Project Challenge All engineering undergraduates must complete a capstone project in their senior year. Working closely with a faculty advisor either individually or in teams, students see their projects through from problem formulation and analysis to preliminary and final design of their project, system, or device. As they tackle this year-long challenge, students have the opportunity to manage a project from beginning to end, learning how to deal with unexpected outcomes along the way. This hands-on, project-based approach to learning provides an excellent training ground for working in industry, and mirrors the type of experiences graduates will face when they begin their careers in engineering.

Mechanical engineering student Kadee Mardula ’11 and bioengineering student Simi Olabisi ’11 collaborate with colleagues to design a low-cost, solar-powered, neonatal incubator for use in Nigeria.

KEEN Award: Promoting an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Engineering a Future for Others Worldwide Kadee Mardula ’11, a mechanical engineering major, has made caring for the world’s people and resources the overarching theme of her four years at Santa Clara. She served as communications lead for the 2009 Solar Decathlon team. On campus, she headed the SCU chapters of Every Two Minutes, a sexual assault awareness program, and Engineers Without Borders (EWB), an organization dedicated to addressing people’s basic needs, such as access to clean water. This past September, Mardula traveled with EWB to Honduras on a goodwill mission to help design a water-distribution and storage system.

Following her junior year, she interned in the prosthetics lab at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. As a senior, she served as a Hackworth Fellow in ethics, revising the School of Engineering honor code. Meanwhile, she also made time for her senior design project: developing a low-cost, solar-powered neonatal incubator for use in Nigeria.

“Santa Clara has given me the foundation to do what I want to do, to continue learning, to have specialized fields and interests, while keeping social justice and the world in mind,” she says.

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The idea for the senior design project came from bioengineering major Simi Olabisi ’11, who worked on the invention with Mardula and five other students. Olabisi was born prematurely in Nigeria. “She only survived because her father was able to run her to one of the few hospitals that had an incubator,” Mardula says.

Even the hospitals that have an incubator often do not have the power to run it, which is why Mardula and colleagues designed a solar-thermal collector to generate power for a small photovoltaic panel that operates the life-saving equipment. They had to figure out how to keep the water hot enough to heat the incubator for up to three days in case storms or clouds disrupt solar collection strategies.

Mardula plans to continue helping the less fortunate in the future. Her ultimate goals: designing prosthetics to improve amputees’ quality of life and establishing a free clinic to dispense them. “Throughout my time at Santa Clara, I’ve really focused on helping people who either don’t have a voice or don’t have someone to help them achieve what they need. It’s really enlightening to be able to do that locally or internationally,” Mardula says. “Santa Clara has all these opportunities, such as immersion trips, clubs, outreach programs—all sorts of things focused on the betterment of humanity. It’s made me more aware of what is needed and also more aware of how to effect change.”

With a $1,142,000 Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) grant to SCU’s School of Engineering, students received a big boost in gaining experience that harnesses technical innovation for direct customer benefit. At the same time, engineering students become actively involved in areas such as project management, systems engineering, financial planning, and costing, while working with and learning from their peers in the business school.

With this grant and funding from a previous $50,000 award, SCU has added new courses that contribute to a culture of innovation and entrepreneurial thinking, and has initiated innovation competitions bringing engineering and business students together to work on challenges for companies such as BMW, NASA/AMES, and NVIDIA.

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FOST E R I N G H IG H -TECH

INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY

program had ties to the great breadth and concentration of innovative technology companies that the area is famous for.”

According to Malachowsky, professors and students alike used examples from their actual product development experiences to illuminate theoretical concepts and to show how design decisions affect the manufacturability and performance of products in the field. “It’s pretty rare to have such direct access to relevant industry experience to draw from during the learning process,” he says. “That most everything you could learn or discuss was done in the context of real product development, as represented by the actual professional experiences of someone involved in the class, was amazing.”

As a way of ensuring that this unique Santa Clara University educational advantage continues, Malachowsky comes back to campus periodically, helping the next generation of Broncos learn from his real-world experience as a leader in Silicon Valley.

Chris Malachowsky ’86 co-founded computer graphics giant NVIDIA. “SCU, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, was the perfect location for learning.”

Bioengineers Engage with Local Companies to Create Breakthrough Innovations

Shaping Industry Leaders by Focusing on Real-World Applications When Chris Malachowsky M.S. ’86, computer engineering, enrolled in SCU’s graduate program, he was looking for a curriculum to bridge the gap between his theoretical knowledge from undergraduate studies and the real-world challenges he was facing in his job designing minicomputers for industrial use. His master’s studies provided just that, and more. Malachowsky was able to put the applied engineering skills and knowledge garnered from his master’s degree to further use a short time later, in 1993, co-founding NVIDIA, the innovative Santa Clara–based computer graphics company with a worldwide reputation for engineering and product excellence.

“I think the fact that I got a solid and diverse understanding of the practical aspects of engineering at Santa Clara enabled me to be a more effective manager, leader, and entrepreneur,” Malachowsky says. And, he adds, “SCU, in the heart of Silicon Valley, was the perfect location for learning, as nearly everyone involved with the

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While interning at PEAK Surgical, a medical-device manufacturer in Palo Alto, Michelle Bohner ’11, a bioengineering major, researched electrosurgery and learned about a potential risk to patients. Together she and fellow bioengineering student West Askew ’11 turned that spark of an idea into a senior design project—a mechanism to decrease the chance of a fire in a patient’s airway during ear, nose, or throat surgery.

“We took a couple of different approaches and really narrowed it down to detecting the concentration of oxygen in proximity to the actual electro-scalpel,” Askew explains. Once a dangerous level is sensed, the device alerts the surgeon with visual and auditory warnings, delivers a flame-retardant gas, and shuts down. They tested the device on a faux trachea, plastic tubing in a simulated mouth cavity, to further refine it.

“When we first pitched the idea to the vice president of PEAK Surgical, Paul Davison, he liked it. So we went with it,” Bohner says. She and Askew met with Davison and R&D manager Ralph McNall once a week to fine-tune their plans.

“They provided feedback on our ideas for the project, testing methods and materials,” Bohner says. “I think interacting with them and having somebody who knows how to develop a

For their senior design project, bioengineering students Michelle Bohner ’11 and West Askew ’11 developed a medical device that decreases the chance of a fire in a patient’s airway during surgery for Silicon Valley biotech company PEAK Surgical.

product from a business standpoint was very helpful versus just reading, ‘This is how you develop a product,’ out of a textbook.”

SCU’s Silicon Valley location added to the school’s appeal for both students. “That’s one of the main reasons that I chose to come to Santa Clara,” Askew says. “In terms of location, there’s really no better place to go to school for bioengineering in the U.S., because the concentration of these biotech companies is just down the street.”

Bohner appreciated the frequent contributions of local bioengineers in her classes. “The upper-division bioengineering classes make a good effort at engaging local companies with what students are learning. I took several classes that included field trips to local companies,” she says. “Even in my introduction to bioengineering course we had guest professors come in to lecture about their companies and why they’re involved in industry or research.”

But the two are particularly indebted to the engineers at PEAK Surgical. “They’ve been invaluable,” Askew says. “Their help, their guidance, their expertise—we couldn’t have done this project without them.”

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SERVING TH E COM M U N I T Y Teaching Engineering ASAP When SCU engineering undergraduates work with the energetic elementary-school students enrolled in Third Street Community Center’s ASAP (After School Academic Program), sometimes marshmallows fly.

Or gliders soar. Or Ping-Pong balls speed down a homemade zip line.

All in the name of learning.

ASAP designates February as Engineering Month for its Tuesday and Thursday after-school science sessions. Each year SCU Broncos search for engaging, hands-on projects to teach the enthusiastic youngsters. The project winds up being part community service, part community fun.

More than three dozen SCU students representing on-campus chapters of national engineering organizations try out prospective activities in the month or so before the actual classes. “Activities need to be age-appropriate, interesting, and fun to engage and excite the younger students about engineering,” says Patti Rimland, the IDEAS (Interdisciplinary Design Engineering and Service) program coordinator at SCU who organizes the University’s involvement.

A lecture on the properties of materials would likely put a typical third-grader to sleep. But a gloppy bucket of homemade goop coats learning with fun.

“When the young students have fun and learn about engineering at the same time, then we’ve accomplished what we set out to do,” Rimland says. “As excellent role models, the Santa Clara engineering students recognize the impact they can have inspiring young people to pursue engineering.”

Staying Ahead of the Alternative-Energy Curve When SCU first offered a graduate course on alternative energy back in 2006, more than 50 students enrolled. “No matter how many times we offered it, it was always full,” notes Alex Zecevic, associate dean for graduate studies. “It’s still a hot topic.”

That pent-up community demand by veteran engineers looking to reenergize their careers, as well as by aspiring tech newcomers looking to create the future in alternative energy, led to more courses for eager students. By fall 2010, a 16-unit interdisciplinary Renewable Energy Certificate Program was in place, and in fall 2011, a master’s degree in Sustainable Energy was launched.

At the Third Street Community Center, Robert Boscacci ’14, web design and engineering, is one of more than 3 dozen SCU undergraduates introducing young students to engineering concepts through hands-on activities.

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The classes teach more than just the latest in power systems or smart grid management, says Electrical Engineering Professor Samiha Mourad, who was instrumental in developing the curriculum. “Even in sustainable energy, you can’t just implement the newest technology without thinking about the surroundings and the impact of what you’re doing,” she says.

Santa Clara’s Silicon Valley Star In early 2011, Terry Shoup, mechanical engineering professor and former dean of the School of Engineering (1989–2002) was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame. This award annually celebrates outstanding achievements of engineers whose work has benefited the Silicon Valley community. During his time as dean of the engineering school, Shoup established special scholarships to enable more students to join the engineering profession. He has also helped improve the diversity of the faculty and student body. As a scholar, Shoup has published more than 100 technical papers on mechanical designs and applications. Today, Shoup continues to serve the engineering profession as chair of ASME, following his stint as president of the national organization dedicated to promoting the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe. On what this award means to him: “To be recognized by one’s peers is the highest honor that can be bestowed on a professional in any field. I am humbled and grateful to have this recognition.”

With SCU’s firm footing in science, technology, and ethics, Zecevic adds, “The community looks to Santa Clara as a place that is perfect for combining the most up-to-date technical know-how with a keen ethical insight.”

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GAINING GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Civil Engineers Take On the Role of Social Justice Activists At times, collaborating with local masons in Gambibgo, Ghana, on a new method of building using local soil mixed with a little cement was challenging for civil engineering majors William Sommer ’11 and Dan Lawrie ’11, as they spent a month in the African village between fall and winter quarters building a house with a catenary arch and specially designed adobe bricks. Language barriers, cultural differences, and supply delays slowed the timeline they developed for their senior design project. But keeping their eyes on the ultimate goal for the public good—teaching locals a new, inexpensive, sustainable construction method while providing them with a community gathering place—helped them put the project in perspective.

The students came to realize that although this was their senior design project, it wasn’t about them. “The whole idea is to make this a building they can construct without us,” Lawrie says. “It was hard to build. It was frustrating. But it’s one of those times when you learn to just give. Not a lot of people get a chance to do something like that.”

The project built on efforts of two former senior design teams from SCU working under Civil Engineering Chair Mark Aschheim and Professor Sukhmander Singh in cooperation with Village Projects International, an organization that funds grassroots efforts for sustainable rural development. Lawrie and Sommer tweaked the techniques and designs used previously to make them easier for locals to replicate, eliminating more expensive options requiring a brick press and a corrugated tin roof.

Local masons quickly learned the methods and talked of teaching others as well. Several politicians came by to observe the project and discussed investing in the designs for their regions. “Knowledge is power in a lot of ways,” Sommer says. “Sharing what we knew and what we’ve learned with the local people definitely made a difference. And these people’s lives will never be the same.”

And neither will theirs. “I’m really proud of the students,” says James W. Reites, S.J., an associate professor of religious studies who accompanied the students to Ghana. “It’s very heart-warming to see them take hold of a project like this and just go with it. They’ve been exposed to the idea of living in a global world, the idea of global solidarity, from the time that they were freshmen. A trip like this opens their eyes, transforms their minds. Global outreach and social justice come alive in experiences like these.”

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For their senior design project, Dan Lawrie ’11 and William Sommer ’11 helped villagers in Ghana construct a building for community gatherings. “Sharing what we knew and what we’ve learned with the local people definitely made a difference,” Sommer says.

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Socially Conscious Engineers Engage in Frugal Innovation

PalmCall’s co-founder and head of telecommunications, Bereket Habtezion, Ph.D. ’10, mechanical engineering, enthusiastically agrees that the project was sound and viable. “There are many immigrant communities in the U.S. with strong ties to their homeland, and they provide a significant niche for this particular type of phone card platform,” he says.

Impressed with Posadas, Habtezion adds, “Having Santa Clara engineering students ready, willing, and very able to step into a project at local companies speaks to the tremendous resources and opportunities available to students at all levels.”

Eritrean-born Habtezion is no stranger to the mission-driven philosophy of Santa Clara’s engineering school. When it came time to search out the perfect fit for his postgrad work, he chose Santa Clara not only for its reputation and its proximity to Silicon Valley, but because, he says, “I also aligned with the core mission to inspire students to be leaders, and the campus diversity also attracted me; I felt welcomed.”

An interest in software engineering and solving problems led Arturo Posadas’11, computer science and engineering major (with Bereket Hebtezion, Ph.D. ’10), to develop a reliable phone card platform that helps African-immigrant communities connect better with family members in their home countries.

Reflecting on the win-win collaboration, Posadas says, “I was new to all this and didn’t know anything about telecommunications when I started, but it’s been interesting working as an intern at PalmCall. I like software engineering and solving problems. I like being able to help people by taking away some of their frustration.”

Calling Home Made Easier—Even When Home Is Africa As fate would have it, computer science and engineering major Arturo Posadas ’11 simultaneously found the perfect match—for both his senior design project and an internship—with PalmCall, a Silicon Valley telecommunications start-up.

Moving from Peru at the age of 10 with his family, Posadas knew from his parents’ experience how frustrating it can be to face problems when trying to call home using a prepaid phone card. Spurred by this memory, he had an easy time choosing his senior design project. And the PalmCall internship would afford him the opportunity to realize his vision: to help the growing African-immigrant community improve its chances of connecting with family members in their home countries through selection of a reliable phone card.

“The first thing my advisor, Professor Silvia Figueira, told me was that calls often can’t get through, and many phone card companies are notorious for ripping off customers. Africa has one of the worst connection rates,” he says, “and calls drop or never go through. While the customer waits for a dial tone, minutes are ticking off their prepaid allotment. In many cases, there is no customer service department available for lodging a complaint. So the idea for this project was to create a dynamic system of ranking the cards, based on performance, so that customers can choose the most reliable phone card provider in their price range.”

Unlike any other prepaid calling card, the PalmCall™ system uses “collective intelligence” to gather data attributes from large groups of people, then analyzes that data statistically to draw informed conclusions about the group that no individual would have known themselves.

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Imagine spending hours every day looking for and carrying potable water to your home. Nearly 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean, safe water; the rest of us take it for granted.

But three Santa Clara students saw an opportunity to alleviate this problem.

William Reed ’14, Vipin Garg ’10, and Steven Gong ’10 created a water wheel—a simple apparatus that uses 1 pound of force instead of 50 to pull a day’s supply of water.

“It’s a jug that rolls with a string,” explains Reed. “We’ve learned to design for the needs of the customer, rather than just modify some Western product for lower cost that might not be useful for the developing world.”

These students were part of a graduate-level course entitled Engineering for the Developing World taught by Radha Basu, former managing director of SCU’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society and dean’s executive professor in the School of Engineering.

“At Santa Clara University, our students learn to innovate for social impact,” says Basu. “Through meaningful projects like these, our students are able to apply their intellectual rigor for the betterment of the world.”

Basu’s course was part of the University’s frugal innovation initiative launched in 2010.

“Frugal innovation, simply defined, means a rugged design without any bells and whistles that can be locally manufactured, uses locally available resources, and meets a specific need,” explains computer engineering alumnus Gong.

“Often, social issues are lost in the world of engineering, especially in Silicon Valley. This class highlights social problems where technology, when correctly applied, can make a great impact.”

Serving emerging markets also entails a radical change in business models, distribution and supply chain partnerships and applying massproduction techniques to service industries.

Therefore, the frugal innovation initiative includes collaboration with SCU’s Leavey School of Business to address these critical needs for emerging markets through what is increasingly known as “lean entrepreneurship.”

“Although the focus is a commercial enterprise—for example, selling water wheels for profit—we can still sell these at a modest profit and have a sustainable enterprise,” says Reed, highlighting the Jesuit approach to frugal innovation. “This means we can scale to help more people, and everyone, including the customer, profits because of the increase in the health and productivity of society.”

In the graduate-level course Engineering for the Developing World, Steven Gong ’10, Vipin Garg ’10, and William Reed ’14 designed a simple, “frugal” water wheel that aids in the transport of clean, safe water for people in underdeveloped countries.

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EDUCATING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Civil Engineering Student LEEDs the Way Maria Campbell ’11, civil engineering, spent summer 2010 researching how to bring Santa Clara’s existing buildings up to U.S. Green Building Council standards for LEED EB (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Existing Buildings).

Working under the direction of Joe Sugg, assistant vice president of University Operations, Campbell’s research involved taking a close look at individual buildings on the campus, determining how each one is using resources, and finding possible ways to reduce each building’s ecological footprint.

Along with consultants Swinerton Builders and Todd Jersey Architecture, Campbell considered how campus buildings could be more sustainable if certain renovations were made. “We also investigated how normal upkeep could be more sustainable, and we checked into storm-water management while considering exterior hardscapes that affect building efficiency. It’s a little tricky finding ways to minimize heat gain for our campus structures while maintaining the mission aesthetic, but there are things we can do if we’re creative,” she says.

Unlike many of SCU’s students, Campbell is self-supporting and has worked on campus in a number of capacities before taking on the job of managing SCU’s LEED EB certification process. “I learned a lot working on this project,” Campbell says. “I also studied for and earned LEED green associate accreditation. Joe encouraged me to get my accreditation, and the University reimbursed me as part of the project, so it was really good.”

Campbell’s LEED research is part of the University’s deep commitment to sustainability and environmental justice. “SCU has high standards and supports individuals who work hard,” she says. “As an undergraduate, I worked for the Santa Clara Valley Water District, Mathnasium Learning Center, and SCU’s Graduate Business Programs. It was a challenge to manage everything, but I didn’t do it alone.”

With her undergraduate career bolstered by School of Engineering scholarships, financial aid, and internships, civil engineering student Maria Campbell ’11 discovered creative ways to make existing SCU buildings more sustainable.

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“This school has given me a lot—helping me with scholarships and financial aid, internship opportunities, and then this project. I definitely wouldn’t have been here without SCU’s help, so it feels good to have worked on something that gives back to the school and does something healthy for our planet, too.

“Sustainability is the way of the future,” she adds. “If we don’t find ways to impact our environment less, we will have to face the consequences. This was a way for me to give back and help the University that has helped me so much in my undergraduate career.”

A Passion for Sustainability Generates Energy Entrepreneurs James Bickford ’08, mechanical engineering, joins the ranks of several engineering alumni who have parlayed their U.S. Department of Energy’s international Solar Decathlon experience at SCU into thriving careers in green energy. One month after receiving his diploma and stepping off campus, he marched directly into the business world and a renewable-energy company that he co-founded with brothers Agustin and Alberto Fonts, also SCU graduates of the class of 2008. According to Bickford, it’s been a swift and rewarding ride.

The passionate energy entrepreneurs are dedicated to saving the earth through the cutting-edge field of energy management services (EMS). After working on the 2007 Solar Decathlon’s “Ripple House,” the trio were part of a team that created the EMS start-up Valence Energy. In 2010, Valence was acquired by Serious Materials Inc. and became SeriousEnergy, where the Fonts brothers remain today.

Bickford moved on to another Silicon Valley start-up, Tigo Energy, and has recently relocated to China to open a Tigo office there.

As director of business development, he’s working with strategic partners in embedding Tigo’s devices into solar panels at the time of manufacturing. “This effort will revolutionize the way solar power works,” says Bickford.

“Sustainability is not a compromise between different factions; it is a partnership, and it has the potential to drastically improve collaboration on a worldwide scale.”

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Engineer, Theologian, Renaissance Man To prepare for the team’s first meeting, he had written down a few ideas and casually, but confidently, presented them to the group. When Solar Decathlon Project Manager Allison Kopf ’11, engineering physics major, asked who the electrical team leader would be, all eyes landed on Navarro. He eagerly accepted the role and, along with it—during the next two grueling years—a valuable mix of hands-on experience and theoretical learning that led him to stretch his capabilities like he had never done before. Admittedly timid in his earlier days, Navarro says, “I knew I wanted to be part of the team, I knew I wanted to take some kind of leadership role.”

According to Electrical Engineering Associate Professor Sarah Kate Wilson, it is much more than serendipity that has driven high-achiever Navarro to such success.

“The most positive traits I see in Richard are his leadership skills and maturity,” she says. “He is unflappable in the face of challenge … I would not be surprised to see him as the CEO of a Silicon Valley company in the future,” she adds.

Graduate student Richard Navarro furthers his work on green building strategies through lessons learned from his Solar Decathlon experiences.

Architect/green-building consultant Mary Davidge hired Navarro specifically because of his work on the Solar Decathlon house. In his job interview, he fielded questions about hypothetical building problems with solutions he had already applied to real-life challenges.

He plans to continue to build on what he’s learned through his Solar Decathlon experiences in a similar way.

Following His Heart and His Dad’s Footsteps to Improve the Environment At the ripe old age of 5, when asked by his parents what he wanted to be when he grew up, Richard Navarro ’10, M.S. ’12 uncategorically replied, “an engineer.” His reasoning was that he would get to grow a mustache—because his mechanical engineer dad had one—and he figured it came along with the territory.

Today, the nonstop electrical engineering grad rolls through a rigorous daily routine that includes earning his master’s degree, pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Sustainability, volunteering with a student engineering club, and working full time for an architectural consulting company that is contracted by Google to work on green building strategies.

Advice from a trusted high school chemistry teacher to pursue engineering and a random visit with a friend to the Santa Clara campus led Navarro to select SCU’s electrical engineering program. Another chance encounter led him to his role as electrical lead on the 2009 Solar Decathlon “Refract House,” for which he designed the electrical system and its solar arrays.

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The Santa Clara Solar Decathlon team placed third of 20 teams in both 2007 and 2009 in the international competition to design the best energy-efficient house, held in Washington, D.C.

Since joining the SCU community in 1975, James Reites, S.J., has inspired students to open their minds and hearts to a world of possibilities. This quintessential Renaissance man walks the talk with research interests that range from green building and carbon metering, to theology and feminism, to St. Ignatius and the early history of the Jesuits in Spain and Italy. Reites has traveled the world and studied everything from electrical engineering and mathematics to music and the classics before pursuing theology in Berkeley and Rome. As associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies—and major asset to the School of Engineering—Reites is referred to as the “secret ingredient” that spices up the Solar Decathlon team. He also has led annual student immersion trips to Mexico to build houses, is the faculty director in residence and founder of Xavier Residential Learning Community, and has led immersion trips to El Salvador as well.

“The competition really made me aware of things. Before that, I was in a bubble and thought I was good about recycling, but I realize now that buildings have such an impact and can be the cause of a lot of waste,” he says. “Most of all, I want to show people there’s a lot we can do at all levels to improve our precious environment.”

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Nanotechnology Experience Lays the Foundation for Bioengineering Research Sandeep Kaur ’11 wants to make a tangible difference in the lives of people—a simple but lofty goal that she has been working toward her entire undergraduate career. “My engineering classes have always promoted the concept of ‘engineering with a mission,’” says this bioengineering major. “So I wanted to make use of my technical skills in the medical field and help those with muscle dystrophy.”

Her research experience at the School of Engineering’s Center for Nanostructures (CNS) laid the foundation for this research. In 2009, she approached Cary Y. Yang, then-director of CNS and chair and professor of electrical engineering, for a project in nanotechnology.

“Professor Yang introduced me to a project with carbon nanotubes, and I spent my summer at the NASA Ames Research Center training on the Atomic Force Microscope, [a high-resolution scanning probe microscope],” reports Kaur.

She has since been using the Atomic Force Microscope to do force tests on muscle stem cells. “My experience at the Center has made me a strong presenter, leader, and communicator,” says Kaur. “And now to be able to translate my engineering skills to a project that has potential in understanding regenerative medicine makes it doubly rewarding.”

Complex-Systems Scholar Wins Prestigious Award

By combining her technical skills in bioengineering with nanotechnology training at NASA Ames Research Center, Sandeep Kaur ’11 aims to help those with muscle dystrophy.

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For more than 40 years, Electrical Engineering Professor Dragoslav D. Šiljak has conducted research on complex systems and how they behave. Because of his significant contributions to this field of study, Šiljak was awarded the Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award by the American Automatic Control Council. This council, one of the most prestigious engineering societies, recognized Šiljak’s contributions to the theory of large-

scale systems, decentralized control, and parametric approach to robust stability.

Honoring distinguished career contributions to the theory or application of automatic control, this award is the highest recognition of professional achievement for U.S. control systems engineers and scientists. “I was exceedingly glad that the council recognized my research as worthy of the Bellman Award,” says Šiljak. “After more than 45 years of teaching and research at Santa Clara, I share the award with my colleagues and students at the School of Engineering and the University.”

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Associate Professor Shoba Krishnan (center) promotes the field of engineering to young girls at Walden West Science Camp with SCU students Ayesha Ahmad ’11 (left) and Christina daSilva ’11 (right) with their senior design wind turbine project called Blades of Power.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Female Engineers Repurposing microturbines that are hardly ever used because of their inefficiencies, and implementing them in a whole new way, has become the charge of engineering students Ayesha Ahmad ’11, Christina daSilva ’11, and Zaireen Razzak ’11.

The three young women teamed up under the guidance of senior design project advisor and Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Shoba Krishnan—a passionate champion of women in engineering and of applying their expertise within the community at large.

With women making up only 10 percent of the total engineers worldwide, SCU’s female undergraduate engineering student population, at 27 percent, is well above average. And with 30 percent (the highest in the country) of the School of Engineering full-time faculty being women, this makes it a natural training ground for inspiring a new generation of female engineers.

Tirelessly promoting the field to young girls, Krishnan has headed SCU’s outreach to Walden West Science Camp for fifth- and sixth-graders in Saratoga, where electrical engineering student Ahmad, and fellow mechanical engineering students daSilva and Razzak implemented their senior design microturbine project called Blades of Power (BOP).

“By designing wind turbines as interactive modules, we’re creating an effective educational tool that promotes children’s learning and interest in the field of clean, alternative-energy production,” says Ahmad.

With their project, the BOP team hopes to highlight and encourage production of turbines intended for areas with lower wind speeds, thereby adding to the efficiency of wind energy in states like California. To enhance the educational value, the team constructed lesson plans and educational kits for the younger students.

Some of the women professors of SCU engineering.

From left: (front row) Ashley Kim, Katie Wilson, Sally Wood, Silvia Figueira, Rani Mikkilineni; (back row) Yuling Yan, Samiha Mourad, Rachel He, Ruth Davis, Weijia Shang

In a case of the mentored now becoming the mentors, the BOP team hopes to ignite the same interest and passion for science by showing how engineers—male and female—are changing our world.

As a role model, Krishnan’s devotion to sharing her knowledge and experience with the next generation of female engineers speaks to Santa Clara’s educational philosophy of intentionally expanding the playing field for all—for careers and in life.

“It’s empowering to see a woman overseeing all of the things Dr. Krishan contributes to not only the University but every single student she encounters, male or female,” says daSilva.

Ahmad adds, “She has shown me that being an electrical engineer doesn’t just mean being ‘one of the boys,’ but that there is a definite place in the engineering world for well-educated and well-trained women engineers as well.”

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The recommendations she got from SCU professors were another factor.

The small class sizes allow the professors to get to know students’ individual potentials, their particular strengths and weaknesses, Kilroy points out. “The professors really know each and every student. They were able to speak about me, giving specific examples. They are exceptional professors.”

Kilroy felt welcomed and valued by the professors and students of both sexes, but really enjoyed being part of the female minority and having women professors as role models. “I was pleasantly surprised by the number of female electrical engineering majors at SCU. We always liked to see if we could get better test scores than the guys,” she says. “Everyone makes an effort to help you fit in and motivate you. I enjoyed it.”

She also enjoyed the clout an engineering degree from SCU carried when she was looking for a job. “It is a good note to have on your résumé. Santa Clara has a well-recognized and respected engineering school,” she notes.

“It developed my skills not only in engineering, but also my ability to interact in a team setting and express my ideas. It made me well rounded. It was a great education.”

An internship designing power electronic circuits led to a technical marketing engineer position for School of Engineering grad Colleen Kilroy ’09.

Internship Experiences Lead to Thriving Career Options The internship Colleen Kilroy ’09, electrical engineering, found at National Semiconductor through the BroncoLink online career resource became a springboard into her current position as a technical marketing engineer with the company.

“It was a tough economy in 2008. As soon as you’d hear of an opportunity, there would be a hiring freeze,” Kilroy says of the job market between her junior and senior years. “Luckily, the BroncoLink website led me to the opportunity.”

The internship involved inputting passive electronic components into a database used as part of an online tool to design power electronic circuits—quite different from her role now presenting technical market information to engineers and executives. “But for a summer internship, I accomplished my goal, which was to lead into a career,” she says. “While I was an intern, I built a reputation with my team and had a great manager. I made connections. That’s one of the things that helped get my foot in the door for the position that I’m in now.”

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Strong Communication Skills: An Essential Tool for Engineers Aaron Weast ’99, mechanical engineering, could not have foreseen his future as a designer of embedded electronics in footwear and sports apparel while an undergrad, but, looking back, he certainly sees his Bronco past as a crucial stepping stone to his career.

He credits his current success as senior engineering manager at Nike to the broad, interdisciplinary nature of his Santa Clara undergraduate degree. He heads the engineering team that innovates at the intersection of consumer electronics and sports, creating performance products like the Nike+ SportBand, which keeps track of running stats in real time, and the new Nike+ SportWatch GPS. “The ME143 class—wherein mechanical engineering meets electronics meets programming—certainly spurred a huge interest in mechatronics,” Weast says. The depth of his engineering courses gave him a top-notch technical tool kit to design effectively, but the breadth of his education has helped him communicate those ideas to nonengineering colleagues.

“A big part of working in a nontechnical company is that you have to communicate with those who couldn’t care less about a stressstrain curve,” he says. “The cross-disciplinary thinking that they teach at Santa Clara has been extremely critical, because Nike is a place where I have to sit in meetings with marketing folks and designers, none of whom have an engineering background.”

He regularly translates engineering concepts into terms they understand.

“Without the breadth in my education, it’s hard to imagine being useful to Nike,” he says. At a recent trade show, he impressed a designer colleague by communicating a project idea in terms of Platonic forms, a concept he learned in an SCU philosophy course. “His jaw just dropped,” Weast laughs.

For Aaron Weast ’99, the interdisciplinary nature of his mechanical engineering past at SCU was a crucial stepping stone to a job designing embedded electronics for Nike footwear and sports apparel.

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Engineering: A Launching Pad for All Careers The mission of Santa Clara University’s School of Engineering has always been to prepare our students for professional excellence, responsible citizenship, and service to society.

Not only does the school produce outstanding civil, computer, electrical, mechanical, and bioengineers, it also has its share of doctors, lawyers, and teachers.

“A successful career is rooted in the ability of an individual to overcome problems in the face of adversity through rational analysis and steadfast dedication leading to innovative and value-added solutions either for your own business or for an employer,” says Chad Walsh ’95, J.D. ’00.

“Engineering teaches these critical skills that allow a business, and career, to thrive.”

Founder and President of a Silicon Valley intellectual property law firm, Chad Walsh ’95, J.D. ’00 earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering and a law degree at Santa Clara.

Walsh, who received his master’s degree in electrical engineering, is the founder and president of Fountainhead Law Group, an intellectual property law firm in Silicon Valley focusing on patent issues for the electronics, software, and emerging technology industries. “Engineering tends to be black and white,” says Walsh. “For example, a circuit either works or it doesn’t. The program either complies or it does not. Life is not black and white. The legal profession is a reflection of human society and includes all the nuances and diverse perspectives associated with life.”

After earning an undergraduate degree in civil engineering, Ryan Clark ’10 enrolled in Santa Clara’s teaching credential program and student-teaches physics at Pioneer High School in San Jose.

The same can be said for the medical world in which Oli Francis ’03, M.S. ’06 remains immersed. “I manage ethical issues on a daily, if not hourly, basis,” says Francis, an electrical engineering and engineering management and leadership grad, now doing his residency in emergency medicine. “Decisions made in the health-care environment have the potential of impacting patients and their families for years to come. A liberal arts education at Santa Clara University provides a strong foundation for understanding applied ethics in any field.”

What also sets SCU apart is that it offers a mix of rigorous academics, projectbased learning, and a values-based education.

Oli Francis ’03, M.S. ’06 manages medical and ethical issues in the health-care environment while completing a residency in emergency medicine.

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“Whenever I am faced with a problem, I am typically successful at solving it because of the thought process that I developed as a civil engineering undergrad,” says Ryan Clark ’10, who won the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship, funded by the National Science Foundation, to help promote better education to high-needs students in math and science. Clark is currently enrolled in a single-subject teaching credential program (specializing in physics) at Santa Clara while also studentteaching at Pioneer High School in San Jose.

“I believe that Santa Clara’s program is different from others in that it really does believe in ‘engineering with a mission.’”

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ADDING UP TO SUCCESS: Prominent School of Engineering Alumni Our engineering alumni continually build an impressive roster of highly respected, innovative thinkers who have taken full advantage of programs offered both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Our graduates bring to the engineering field an impressive combination of applied skills, up-to-date technical knowledge and a commitment to ethical standards.

Attracted by our students’ dedication to excellence, outstanding engineering training, and social and ethical awareness, prestigious firms from Silicon Valley and beyond seek SCU engineers for cooperative learning, internships, and full-time employment.

PEOPLE, PROGRAMS, AND EMPLOYERS DEGREES AND PROGRAMS Bachelor of Science Degrees

Graduate Minor

• Bioengineering

• Science, Technology, and Society

• Civil Engineering • Computer Science and Engineering or Computer Engineering

• Electrical Engineering

• General Engineering

• Mechanical Engineering

• Mechanical Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy Degrees

Minors

Jack Balletto ’62, ’67, founder of VLSI Technology Inc.

Chris Malachowsky ’86, co-founder of NVIDIA

Mark Boitano ’71, executive vice president and COO of Granite Construction

Romulus Pereira ’87, chairman, CEO, and founder of Looxcie, former president and CEO of Riverstone Networks, co-founder of Yago Systems

• Computer Science and Engineering

Adolph Quilici ’53, former vice president of engineering of FMC

Bachelor of Science and Master of Science Five-Year Dual-Degree Programs

Alfonso Callejas ’48, former vice president of the Republic of Nicaragua William Carter ’71, ’95, Xilinx fellow, former CTO of Xilinx Frank Cepollina ’59, deputy associate director for the Hubble Space Telescope Development Project at NASA, member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Patrick Gelsinger ’83, president and COO of EMC Information Infrastructure Products at EMC Corp., former CTO and vice president of Intel Corp.

Michael Hackworth ’63, co-founder, chairman, and former CEO of Cirrus Logic Rick Justice ’71, executive advisor, office of the chairman, and CEO of Cisco Systems Jack Kuehler ’54, ’86, former president of IBM Corp., National Academy of Engineering member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences fellow, IEEE fellow, SCU trustee emeritus

Eugene Ravizza ’50, co-founder of Cupertino Electric Inc.

• Computer Science and Engineering

• Electrical Engineering

• Web Design and Engineering

A Few of Our Outstanding Alumni

Engineer’s Degree

• Bioengineering

• Computer Science and Engineering or Computer Engineering • Electrical Engineering • Mechanical Engineering

• Electrical Engineering

Certificate Programs

• Mechanical Engineering

• Computer Science and Engineering -Information Assurance -Networking -Software Engineering

• Civil Engineering

• Electrical Engineering

Gordon Stitt ’80, founder of Extreme Networks Inc.

• Computer Science and Engineering or Computer Engineering

-Analog Circuit Design

William Terry ’55, former executive vice president of Hewlett-Packard

• Electrical Engineering

-Digital Signal Processing

• Mechanical Engineering

-Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering

Jayshree Ullal ’86, president and CEO of Arista Networks, former senior vice president of Cisco Richard Wallace ’89, president and CEO of KLA-Tencor Corp.

Master of Science Degrees • Applied Mathematics • Civil Engineering

-ASIC Design and Test

-Microwave and Antennas • Mechanical Engineering -Controls

Jeffrey Waters ’90, president of National Semiconductor Japan Ltd.

• Computer Science and Engineering or Computer Engineering

Ron Yara ’75, co-founder of Chips & Technologies

• Electrical Engineering

-Materials Engineering

• Engineering Management and Leadership

-Mechanical Design Analysis

• Mechanical Engineering

-Technology Jump-Start

• Software Engineering

-Thermofluids

• Sustainable Energy

• Renewable Energy

Amin Zoufonoun ’98, ’01, director, corporate development of Facebook

-Dynamics

-Mechatronics Systems Engineering

Some Employers of Engineering Graduates Advanced Micro Devices*† Apple Inc.* Applied Materials Inc. Boeing* Boston Scientific California Department of Transportation † Cisco Systems Inc.* Coulomb Technologies eBay Inc.* Extreme Networks Facebook Genentech† General Electric* Google Inc.* Granite Construction† Hewlett-Packard Co.* IBM Corp.* Intel Corp.*† Intuitive Surgical Lattice Semiconductor Corp.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company Marvell Semiconductor Inc. Microsoft*† NASA Ames Research Center NetApp (Network Appliance)† Nike*† Northrup Grumman* Novellus NVIDIA Corp.

Oracle Corp.* Pacific Gas & Electric* PEAK Surgical Inc. PowerWorks Inc. Restoration Robotics Seagate Technology Inc. SeriousEnergy Solyndra Inc. Space Systems/Loral Stryker Endoscopy Sun Microsystems Inc.* Tesla Motors Texas Instruments† Twitter Yahoo! Inc.*† *Fortune 500 †Fortune 100 Best Places to Work

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A Century of Engineering Excellence Since its establishment in 1912, the School of Engineering at Santa Clara University has embraced the Jesuit philosophy of educating outstanding engineers of great integrity in mind, body, and spirit—leaders and innovators of a bright, sustainable future for all.

The School of Engineering welcomes the support and involvement of those who share our mission, from Silicon Valley and beyond. As we enter a time of accelerated change, we look forward to another century of thriving amid a culture of integrity, innovation, and advancement.

Godfrey Mungal, Dean School of Engineering Santa Clara University

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