Engineer
CAPSTONE
FALL 2018
WOMEN
in Engineering
YOUR FUTURE...
NOW Dramatic growth. Outstanding physical and financial resources. Rich and varied graduate programs in STEM fields. The Graduate School at The University of Alabama offers you the key to unlock a wealth of academic and professional opportunities. Contact us at 1-877-UAGRADS (1-877-824-7237), or gradschool@ua.edu.
GRADUATE.UA.EDU
FEATURES 20
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HISTORY OF UA WOMEN IN ENGINEERING Then & Now
LEADING THE WAY
Women Engineering Professors at UA
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FOUNDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
Society Equips Students to Achieve Full Potential
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SISTERHOOD & STEM
Social Sorority Focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering & Math
DEPARTMENTS 01
DEAN’S MESSAGE
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Noteworthy news and research from UA Engineering
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CURRENTS Events from around the College
END USER Interview with Dr. Viola Acoff
ALUMNI DYNAMICS
Items of interest to Capstone engineers and computer scientists
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BITS & BYTES
The college from outside
DEAN’S MESSAGE
Dear Alumni and Friends, This year, not only the College of Engineering, but The University of Alabama as a whole is celebrating the history of women at the Capstone. UA’s 125 Years of Women is a yearlong recognition of the impact women have made at UA since women first enrolled in 1893. Rose Rabinowitz, an aeronautical engineer, was the first woman to graduate from the College in 1939. It was 31 years later in 1970 when the first female faculty member was hired in the College. Dr. Hui-Chuan “Hannah” Chen, a computer science professor, taught at UA for 34 years and is credited with graduating UA’s first computer science doctoral student. In 1978, Patricia Hall became the first African American female graduate of the College when she earned an electrical engineering degree. Current associate dean of undergraduate and graduate programs, Dr. Viola Acoff, was the first African American female faculty member hired at the College in 1994. Originally a metallurgical and materials engineering professor, Dr. Acoff has ascended the ranks to the Dean’s Office with more than 20 years of experience working in the area of diversity and inclusion. Today we have female faculty in each department of the College. Three of those women faculty members provide their insight in this edition of the Capstone Engineer on their experience as women in engineering, and the work they have done to encourage other women pursuing engineering fields. Three of our recent female graduates also got involved with this issue by doing research into the history of UA women in the College. Their experience helped them see how the College has changed over the years. Other female driven engineering organizations on campus, like newly chartered female engineering sorority Alpha Omicron Epsilon, are highlighted in the pages of this magazine. The Society of Women Engineers has been on this campus since 1976. For the past 42 years, students who advocate for women in engineering have been welcomed in SWE. From networking to outreach, this organization of more than 300 students has a strong presence on campus and in the community. Women have made a major impact on the University and the College, and I cannot wait to see what our newest alumnae will accomplish as they go out into the world.
Dr. Charles L. Karr Dean
CAPSTONE ENGINEERING SOCIETY 205-348-2452 R. Anthony McLain, Chair, Board of Directors • Charles L. Karr, Ph.D., Dean, College of Engineering • Nancy Holmes, Manager, Capstone Engineering Society and Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement • Alana Norris, Editor • Gillian Castro and Alana Norris, Writers • Issue No. 56 • Capstone Engineer is published in the spring and fall by the Capstone Engineering Society. • Kaly Glass, Designer • Alana Norris, Proofreader • Jeff Hanson, Bryan Hester, Zach Riggins, Matthew Wood, Photography • Address correspondence to the editor: The University of Alabama, Capstone Engineering Society, College of Engineering, Box 870200, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0200 • Visit the College of Engineering website at www.eng.ua.edu • The University of Alabama is an equal-opportunity educational institution/employer. MC9212
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SURVEYING THE COLLEGE Noteworthy news and research from UA Engineering
Student Katelyn Isbell, left, shown along with Dr. Yang-Ki Hong, adviser, is part of a team of engineering students designing a small antenna for an international contest.
UA STUDENTS WIN INTERNATIONAL ANTENNA CONTEST A team of engineering students at The University of Alabama placed first in an international contest to design better antennas for small satellites, called CubeSats. The UA team, made up of three undergraduate students and two graduate students in Dr. Yang-Ki Hong’s lab, was one of six finalists in the Student Antenna Design Contest, hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Antennas and Propagation Society, or IEEE AP-S, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology. Hong is the team’s adviser and the E. A. “Larry” Drummond Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the UA College of Engineering. For the contest, the students submitted a report, made a demonstration video, and traveled to a conference in San Diego, California, to present the project to a panel of judges. CubeSats are miniature, inexpensive satellites put into orbit for research purposes, often designed and used by education and nonprofit institutions.
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As a secondary payload, they drop into a low-Earth orbit without the ability to move. They eventually fall back to Earth and disintegrate in the atmosphere after completing their research purpose. Sometimes, however, CubeSats fail before their mission is complete. About half of those failures come from loss of contact between the CubeSats and the ground station, according to the proposal from the UA team. Antennas on CubeSats must be small, light and operate on less power than antennas on larger satellites, yet still communicate with the ground. The UA students proposed introducing a flat, spiral antenna that can be fixed to the satellite without the need for mechanical deployment, which can introduce the chance of mechanical failure. Although flat antennas have been on CubeSats before, they have not achieved sufficient circular polarization, meaning they do not have enough energy to communicate with the ground station. The UA students proposed to solve that issue with their antenna design.
SURVEYING THE COLLEGE The design met the specifications of the contest and should be able to communicate up to 620 miles. Importantly, the antenna can be mounted anywhere on the satellite and still communicate. The team includes: Woncheol Lee, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering from Daegu City, South Korea. Nikolaus Luhrs, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering from Orangevale, California. Katelyn Isbell, an undergraduate student in electrical and computer engineering from Chesapeake, Virginia. Peyton Morris, an undergraduate student in electrical and computer engineering from Memphis, Tennessee. Cristion Oliphant-Jerry, an undergraduate student in aerospace engineering and mechanics from Columbia, Maryland.
UA RESEARCHER ON TEAM EXPLORING POTENTIAL LUNAR HABITATS FOR HUMANS An engineering researcher at The University of Alabama is part of a project garnering international attention to potential sites for future habitats on the moon. Dr. Rohan Sood, UA assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, is co-author on a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters that highlights the existence of a vast cavern carved out by ancient lava flows on the moon that could protect humans from the harmful environment of the lunar surface. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, whose researchers are also co-authors on the paper, announced a lunar orbiter had found one promising cavern on the near side of the moon. JAXA used radar on the SELENE spacecraft to examine the Marius Hills Hole, a skylight, or hole, revealing the skylight led to a lava tube nearly 110 yards wide and about 30 miles wide. Sood, who joined UA in February 2017, was on a team during his graduate studies at Purdue University that used data from a NASA mission to find the plausibility of these caverns under the lunar surface. Sood presented the findings at the 2016 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Sood is part of a group proposing a new lunar mission that employs remote sensing techniques to scan the sub-surface, thus, verifying the existence, depth and extent of additional lava tubes under the moon’s surface. The ultimate goal is to learn from the moon as there is evidence of lava tubes on Mars, as well.
travel time, reduce vehicle crashes and lay the groundwork for future self-driving vehicles. Dr. Bharat Balasubramanian, executive director of The University of Alabama’s Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies and a UA engineering professor, and his colleagues at the Alabama Transportation Institute will be key contributors to the advanced vehicle technology project underway in Tuscaloosa. The project involves installing infrastructure components, known as dedicated short-range communication radios, or DSRC radios, into 85 traffic signals throughout Tuscaloosa and Northport. Only vehicles containing the corresponding DSRC units can communicate with the infrastructure radios. Currently, this equipment does not appear in standard production vehicles, but it is anticipated that the technology will become available over the next decade. Initially, the units will be set up to send information only from infrastructure to vehicles, not yet from vehicles to infrastructure. DSRC radios are unable and not designed to retain or gather any personal information. The information gathered through the system will allow faculty, staff and students at the University to study signal phase and timing data, or SPaT messages. These studies will lead to greater interaction between vehicles and traffic signals to communicate information like road conditions or changing signals. The study is in response to a national challenge by American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials to install 20 DSRC radios in every state by 2020. Multiple research centers within the University will be involved in the project, including the Center for Advanced Vehicle Technology, the University Transportation Center for Alabama, the Center for Advanced Public Safety and the Alabama Transportation Institute. The University is working with local, state and federal government agencies, as well as automotive manufacturers, on these studies.
SHELTER FROM THE STORM Engineering researchers are testing walls of storm shelters designed to the standards developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to see how they withstand debris strikes. For the test, the researchers are
UA, ALDOT LAY GROUNDWORK FOR FUTURE SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES Advanced technology used to make traveling safer and more efficient is the focus of a new project led by The University of Alabama and the Alabama Department of Transportation. Tuscaloosa is the first city in Alabama to install the technology that will collect data for research used to decrease
UA has installed four debris cannons that use compressed air to launch objects.
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TOP LEFT: From left, engineering students Nikolaus Luhrs, Katelyn Isbell and Woncheol Lee stand in front of their presentation at the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium. (Photo courtesy of IEEE AP-S.) BOTTOM LEFT: Blair Butler, a May 2018 master’s graduate in civil engineering, used the debris cannon to examine if changes to storm shelter walls could improve performance. RIGHT: Alabama Department of Transportation, City of Tuscaloosa Department of Infrastructure and Public Services and Temple personnel installed the first dedicated short range communications radios in the state.
using debris cannons — tubes that use compressed air to launch debris, in this case wooden two-by-fours, at 100 mph. Dr. Wei Song, UA assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, and May 2018 master’s graduate, Blair Butler, a native of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, who also earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UA, are leading the study of the shelter walls to see the behavior of the walls during an impact and tweaking the design and materials to examine if changes can improve performance. For the project, UA partnered with the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, which uses donations and mostly volunteers to build affordable homes for people in need. The local chapter has built a storm shelter into every home since a tornado outbreak struck the state in 2011, and it wants to learn if there are more cost-effective ways to build them. Butler said the tests fire the boards at different parts of a shelter wall. Digital imaging techniques, vibration sensors and high-speed cameras capture and measure the deformation in the wall. The team will test different materials and fasteners in the shelter wall to see if costs can be reduced. The project and the lab are supported by the Alabama Center for Insurance Information and Research located on the UA campus.
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STUDENTS HELP SALVATION ARMY WITH INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE A senior project by three computer science students at The University of Alabama assisted in getting presents to needy children during the 2017 holiday season. Working with the Tuscaloosa Corps of the Salvation Army, three seniors developed a software program that manages the application process for the Angel Tree program, saving the staff and volunteers hours of work. Developed during the 2017 spring semester, the program, which the students called Tree Topper, was used during the 2017 holiday season by the local Salvation Army, and Major William Shafer of the Tuscaloosa Corps said he will likely recommend it to other corps around the nation. Hundreds of families with multiple children apply for the Angel Tree program through handwritten forms that workers use to create a database through Microsoft Excel. However, the Excel spreadsheet was difficult to manage for the task and could only be worked on by one user at a time. The UA seniors coded a common database program used through a website. Through a web form, staff at the Salvation Army can enter applications, and the web database can keep track of families and print labels for the Angel Tree.
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LEFT: From left, researchers Dr. Fei Hu, Dr. Zheng O’Neill and Dr. Charles O’Neill stand in front of HVAC controllers connected to a computer that can simulate conditions in a commercial building. TOP RIGHT: Andrew White and Jake Zarobsky work on Tree Topper, a software program they developed that manages the application process for the Angel Tree program. BOTTOM RIGHT: Dr. Jason E. Bara, center, discusses a membrane created in his lab with graduate students Katie O’Harra, left, and Grayson Dennis, right.
Jake Zarobsky, a May 2018 master’s graduate in computer science from the Chicago, Illinois, area, Matt Bowen, a graduate from Huntsville, and Andrew White, a graduate from Louisville, Kentucky, formed the senior-design group.
IMPROVED SENSORS COULD REDUCE ENERGY USED FOR HVAC SYSTEMS Engineering researchers at The University of Alabama are part of a nationwide project to find ways of reducing energy used to heat, cool and ventilate buildings. Dr. Zheng O’Neill, UA assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is leading a team developing testing standards and control strategies for sensors used to control heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC, in commercial and residential buildings. The goal is to provide a way for those who manage HVAC systems to know if the sensors work efficiently when detecting human movement and occupancy to control heating, cooling and ventilation. UA received nearly $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, through its Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures with Occupancy Recognition, or SENSOR, program. The SENSOR program supports innovative and highly accurate presence sensors and occupant counters that optimize HVAC of buildings while reducing cost and energy use.
No existing tools fully assess and validate presence sensors and people-counting technologies. In order to enable widespread adoption of such technologies for both retrofit and new building scenarios, the research team will develop a way to validate energy-saving claims. The team will investigate various types of occupancy sensors, such as human-presence sensing, people counting, and carbon dioxide sensors for detecting failure rates and HVAC energy-saving potential in a wide range of real-world applications. Other researchers on the project include Dr. Fei Hu, UA professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Dr. Charles O’Neill, UA assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics. The project also includes the University of Texas at San Antonio, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Taylor Engineering, an engineering firm in California.
PROFESSOR CREATES NEW MATERIALS FOR GAS SEPARATIONS In response to future energy challenges, chemical engineers at The University of Alabama are creating new materials to more efficiently separate gases related to energy processes. Dr. Jason E. Bara, UA associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, was awarded a grant by the U.S. Department of Energy to further study the structure of these
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SURVEYING THE COLLEGE patented materials and investigate their functions as gas separation membranes to clean emissions or separate fuel and chemical feedstocks using a fraction of the energy needed for current methods. Dr. C. Heath Turner, UA professor of chemical and biological engineering, will work with Bara running computational modeling of the materials. In December 2017, Bara and several of his students were awarded a U.S. patent for a class of polymers he called rigid, ionic polyimide materials, essentially positively-charged chains of repeating molecules. The novel material platform joins highperformance polymers with charged molecules, allowing them to form sophisticated structures tailored to an application. Currently, membranes are not yet widely used in these applications, but they have tremendous promise to compete with distillation and absorption, the two most widely used separations technologies for gas processing. For now, though, Bara wants to understand how the materials interact at the molecular levels to predict their behavior while also identifying the most promising structures to use as gas separation membranes. The number of possible materials described by Bara’s patent is in the hundreds of thousands, so Turner will help model arrangements and behavior on computers to help Bara’s lab decide which materials to make physically.
UA, NAVAL OBSERVATORY PARTNERSHIP TO IMPROVE PRECISE TIMING EDUCATION The University of Alabama has partnered with the United States Naval Observatory to train UA students in precise timing and time interval technology, which is used in highly precise atomic clocks on which the U.S. military, financial sector, GPS satellites and power grids rely. The partnership, which will involve an interdisciplinary program, drawing on resources from both UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering, positions
UA to become one of the few universities in the world training students in the field. Through the partnership, the U.S. Naval Observatory will assist UA in developing curriculum related to precise timing; send staff to UA to present guest lectures and seminars; loan or donate equipment to UA; offer tours and demonstrations of its facilities; and provide academic and career advice to students. One type of atomic clock used by the U.S. Department of Defense, called a hydrogen maser, uses the properties of hydrogen atoms to provide a timing reference that is approximately a billion times more stable than time provided by traditional mechanical clocks. Hydrogen masers are made by the company Microsemi in only one place in the United States, Tuscaloosa, which is how UA faculty got involved.
NEW UA CENTER TO FOCUS ON WATER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING A new research center at The University of Alabama aims to improve accuracy of data and reduce uncertainty for water management and emergency preparedness. Approved by UA’s board of trustees in April 2018, the Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research will foster collaborative research to advance the understanding of hydrologic science through modeling climate-water-human interactions as a complex system. The National Academy of Engineering identifies access to clean water as one of the 14 major challenges facing the world’s civilizations this century, and forecasting and modeling how water will flow, or will not flow, is a crucial component to planning and managing clean water. The new center is part of the University’s robust efforts to enhance hydrosystems research and water management under the umbrella of the Alabama Water Institute, which supports environmentally focused research across campus in the areas of fresh water, remote sensing, water policy, hydroclimate and hydrological disaster management.
LEFT: A current-generation 10,000-volt Silicon Carbide power module from Wolfspeed, a Cree Company, is used in Dr. Andrew Lemmon’s lab on the UA campus. MIDDLE: Lemmon’s laboratory provides capabilities for real-time electromagnetic interference measurement and analysis of power electronics. RIGHT: Tuscaloosa is the only place in the U.S. where hydrogen masers, a type of atomic clock, are made.
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SURVEYING THE COLLEGE Dr. Hamid Moradkhani, who joined UA as the Alton N. Scott Professor of Engineering at the start of 2018, serves as the executive director of the Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research. A fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and diplomat of water resources engineering, he comes to UA with more than 26 years of professional experience in analysis, design and management of large-scale water resources systems. Moradkhani will oversee and assist researchers from the areas of civil engineering, environmental engineering, computer science, geography and geology along with researchers in other disciplines who want to work in this area. Through Moradkhani’s leadership, the center plans to contribute new insights into the interactions between climate, water, food and energy through the application and use of climate models, remote sensing, ensemble data assimilation, distributed hydrologic modeling, data analytics and highperformance computing. Data and tools produced by Moradkhani and other faculty in the new center will be used by researchers, practitioners, water authorities and emergency managers for implementation of new adaptive drought and flood contingency plans and to aid in decision support systems. Through fundamental and applied research, UA’s center will work to assist the National Water Center, a federal facility located on the University campus that develops and delivers national hydrologic analyses, forecast information, data, decisionsupport services and guidance to support and inform essential emergency services and water management decisions.
PROFESSOR RECEIVES YOUNG INVESTIGATOR PROGRAM AWARD FROM U.S. NAVY A University of Alabama professor has recently received a prestigious award from the U.S. Navy in hopes of advancing the future of Naval ships. Dr. Andrew Lemmon, UA assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is one of 31 recipients of the 2018 Young Investigator Award. He was selected for the annual program from more than 340 applicants. Lemmon will receive $500,000 over three years for his work with the Office of Naval Research, an organization within the United States Department of the Navy. The purpose of the Young Investigator Program is to support early-career academic researchers whose work demonstrates significant future promise that aligns with the Navy’s needs. Lemmon is believed to be the first faculty member at UA to receive the YIP award since its inception in 1985. Lemmon’s research in power electronics is expected to contribute to closing known technology gaps in the Navy’s current 30-year ship building plan. This long-term plan includes a shift toward electric propulsion for some types of U.S. Navy ships, which requires moving to a new power architecture called the Integrated Power System. IPS will enable ship propulsion and other loads to be powered from a common system in order to reduce the total amount of power required. This system has been in development for several years and is where Lemmon’s research ties in. His research team is working with a new generation of high voltage semiconductors made
from silicon carbide, or SiC, which is a key enabling technology for future large-scale IPS implementations. The goal of Lemmon’s YIP is to help the Navy understand and resolve the challenge of electromagnetic interference, or EMI, in systems designed with SiC. His team of graduate students with assistance from the power module team at Wolfspeed, a Cree Company, are exploring design options for the mechanical packaging of SiC semiconductors, which usually takes the form of a multi-chip power module. The grant will be used to move the program in a more application-focused direction and will allow Lemmon and his three graduate assistants to broaden the impact of this research for the Navy’s benefit.
TWO UA ENGINEERING PROJECTS SELECTED FOR EPA PROGRAM Two student-led research teams from The University of Alabama are part of a federal program to develop sustainable technologies to solve current environmental and public health challenges. Teams from 30 colleges and universities received grants to participate in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s People, Prosperity, and the Planet, or P3, grants program. UA was the only institution with multiple teams selected. Both teams represent UA’s College of Engineering. One designed an innovative septic system while the other created software to help cities find areas to install green infrastructure. Funding for the P3 competition is divided into two phases. Teams selected for Phase I awards receive grants of up to $15,000 to fund the proof of concept for their projects, which are then showcased at the National Sustainable Design Expo. In April, the UA students presented their concepts at the expo held in Washington, D.C. The UA teams will continue to work on their projects while competing for Phase II awards of up to $75,000 to further develop and implement their designs. Dr. Mark Elliott, UA assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, advises a team led by Parnab Das, a graduate student studying environmental engineering. This group hopes to modify current septic tank systems to decrease the chance of failure, especially in the impermeable clay soil in the Black Belt, an economically depressed region in the state. These failures cause a backup either of sewage in plumbing in or near the home and risk sending untreated wastewater into the streams, lakes, rivers and groundwater nearby. The second UA team is led by civil engineering graduate student Ashton Greer and is advised by Dr. Andrew J. Graettinger, UA professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering. This team is creating an online software program to help urban planners and civil engineers find areas where green infrastructure are affordable and viable alternatives to traditional concrete infrastructure in storm water management. Greer and her team are developing a program based off an open-sourced Geographic Information System, or GIS. Users
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SURVEYING THE COLLEGE of the program select potential locations for an infrastructure project along with design parameters, and the program gives preliminary designs, cost estimates and environmental benefits for green infrastructure options using available GIS information such as elevation, land cover and soil data.
UA’S ECOCAR 3 TEAM FINISHES STRONG
FOUR IN A ROW FOR UA ROBOTICS TEAM
The UA team in the EcoCAR 3 program, a competition among North American universities to design and construct an advanced, energy-efficient vehicle, placed first in several contest categories including ride quality, communications presentation and the most creative outreach event. To go along with those awards, Haley Loftis, project manager of UA’s team and recent STEM MBA graduate from Kansas City, won the Spirit of Project Management award.
Students at The University of Alabama who competed in a NASA robotics contest came away with the top prize again, making it four-straight years for the team from UA to win. Alabama Astrobotics took the top prize at the NASA Robotic Mining Competition, besting student teams from more than 50 other institutions in the challenge to build a robot capable of navigating and excavating simulated Martian soil, or regolith. Made up of about 65 students from across eight disciplines including engineering and computer science, Alabama Astrobotics is the only team to win more than once in the nineyear history of the NASA contest, placing first in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and, now, 2018. Contest organizers revised the rules and rubrics this year to reflect the discovery that water ice is prevalent throughout the Red Planet. The challenge was to mine the precious icy regolith, simulated with gravel in the contest, since water ice will provide oxygen, water and fuel for future off-world colonists. In this year’s contest, no points were awarded to teams for digging the top foot of regolith. Teams earned points for collecting the gravel 12 inches below the surface. UA’s robot mined more of the gravel than any other team in the contest, with many teams failing to mine any gravel. Also, Alabama Astrobotics was the only team with a robot that competed entirely autonomously, meaning the robot used computer programming to guide itself, mine and deposit the soil and gravel without any directions from students during the contest. The team placed first in five out of nine categories that included mining, autonomy, systems engineering paper, efficient use of communications power and outreach reports. In all, the students won $11,000 for use on next year’s robot.
A new participant in the national Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition Series, The University of Alabama student team finished the four-year program strong, racking up several awards.
Overall, the team placed third, a great finish considering UA had not participated in the previous two EcoCAR programs, managed by Argonne National Laboratory. In 2014, UA was selected as one of 16 institutions for the EcoCAR 3 program, an engineering competition sponsored by General Motors Co. and the U.S. Department of Energy. The competition challenges students to transform a Chevrolet Camaro, donated by GM, to use less energy and emit less pollution without sacrificing performance, safety or consumer appeal. The four-year competition engages the next generation of automotive professionals in engineering, business and communications, allowing students to experience the vehicle development and launch process from design to marketing. The students’ success in meeting these objectives was evaluated yearly before the final evaluation held in May 2018 in Arizona and California. More than 200 students from eight different disciplines were part of UA’s team over the four years. The team also worked with the Capstone Agency, a student-run public relations firm, to help with marketing and media relations. The UA team turned the gasoline-powered Camaro into a blended plug-in hybrid with a smaller internal combustion engine supplemented by two electric motors.
Dr. Kenneth Ricks, team adviser and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, said the team’s consistent success comes from a culture of sticking to a plan – meeting deadlines, testing thoroughly before competition and paying attention to detail.
LEFT: The robot built by the UA students mined the most gravel of any team in the contest. RIGHT: UA team members around their car at the Year Four Competition include, from left, Holden Clark, Haley Loftis, Ryan McNealy, Joshua Stoddard and adviser Dr. Hwan-Sik Yoon. (Photo courtesy EcoCAR 3.)
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IN BRIEF UA RECOGNIZES UNDERGRAD RANDALL RESEARCH AWARD WINNERS The Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award Program recognizes and celebrates the best research activity conducted by undergraduate students at The University of Alabama. Undergraduate students who have conducted significant scholarly research are nominated by faculty and staff research directors for this award. Eight of the 21 winners were from the College of Engineering: Emma Burford, mechanical engineering Amber Gomez, chemical engineering Katelyn Isbell, electrical engineering Kyle Leonard, chemical engineering Ryan Morelock, chemical and biological engineering James Pezent, aerospace engineering Pablo Ramos Ferrer, chemical and biological engineering Donna Xia, chemical engineering The Randall Research Awards luncheon honors winners.
THOMPSON RECEIVES UA ENGINEERING’S HACKNEY LEADERSHIP AWARD The University of Alabama College of Engineering’s Dr. Gregory B. Thompson, professor in the department of metallurgical and materials engineering, was the 2018 T. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership award recipient. The T. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership Award honors a faculty member who exemplifies the constant guidance and leadership necessary to make the College of Engineering exceptional. Currently, Thompson serves as interim director of UA’s Central Analytical Facility and director of the materials science doctoral program. He joined the University as an assistant professor in 2003, received tenure and a promotion to associate professor in 2008, and became a full professor in 2012. Since joining UA, Thompson has graduated 12 doctoral candidates and nearly 20 master’s thesis students. He has taught introduction of materials science and engineering, mass and energy balances in materials, manufacturing of materials, characterization methods and techniques and physical metallurgy. Thompson was honored with UA’s Blackmon-Moody Professor of the Year award in 2014 for his leadership in hosting an international atom probe conference on campus. His research interests include phase transformations, deformation mechanisms and analytical microscopy. He has studied a variety of materials including magnetic thin films, shape memory metal alloys, ultrahigh temperature ceramics and most recently ceramic fiber processing. Thompson has received more than $10 million in funding from sources such as the National Science Foundation, NASA, various U.S. Department of Defense agencies, national laboratories and industrial partners. He has authored or co-
authored more than 150 journal articles, conference proceedings and extended abstracts along with three book chapters. Currently, he is the chair for the Phase Transformation Committee of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), and he is an active member of the Microscopy Society of America and the International Field Emission Society. Thompson was given both the TMS Young Dr. Charles L. Karr, dean of Leader and the National UA’s College of Engineering, Science Foundation CAREER congratulates Dr. Gregory B. Thompson. awards in 2005. In 2007, he received an honorable mention for the TMS Young Faculty Fellow award, and a year later, he was named the TMS Japanese Institute of Metals Young Leader International Scholar. Thompson was recognized as a Brimcombe Medalist for his research in multi-scale materials characterization from TMS in 2017. The Hackney Award was created as a tribute to T. Morris Hackney and was made possible by the contributions from John H. Josey and his son, Howard Josey.
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UA ENGINEERING ALUMNI HONOR OUTSTANDING SENIOR A graduate of Southwest High School in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Holden DeGrave graduated from UA this spring with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. For eight semesters, DeGrave received a UA Presidential Scholarship and a UA Engineering Scholarship. He was also selected for two Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Power and Energy Society Scholarships and a Coalition of Higher Education Assistance Organizations Scholarship. DeGrave maintained a perfect grade point average and earned membership in the Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Mortar Board honor societies. In 2017, he was named Alabama Society of Professional Engineers Student Engineer of the Year, Engineering Council of Birmingham Undergraduate Student of the Year in Electrical Engineering, and a Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities honoree. He spent two semesters as a co-op student at Southern Company and was given the Southern Excellence Award in 2016, which recognizes outstanding work performed by a Southern Company Employee. In the College of Engineering, he served as project lead of the Technology-Enables K9 Harness Project, UA IEEE student branch treasurer, a mentor in the Mentor UPP program, and as an electrical and computer engineering ambassador. DeGrave worked as an undergraduate research assistant with Dr. Andrew Lemmon and Dr. Aaron Brovant, both UA assistant professors of electrical and computer engineering.
Holden DeGrave, a May 2018 graduate of The University of Alabama, was selected for the 2018 Capstone Engineering Society Outstanding Senior Award.
The CES began the Outstanding Senior Award in 1986 to honor an exceptional student who deserves distinction among his or her peers. An outstanding student is selected from each of the 11 academic programs in the College, and the overall winner is determined by a selection committee after assessing each student’s academic performance, professional and technical activities, College leadership, external leadership and other activities.
TWO UA STUDENTS WIN GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIPS FOR 2018 The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program has selected two University of Alabama students as Goldwater Scholars for 2018-2019. Elizabeth Rowe is a chemical engineering and chemistry major. Rowe’s research with Dr. Paul A. Rupar, an assistant professor in chemistry, investigates the anionic ring-opening
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polymerization of azetidines. These polymers have a wide range of applications including carbon dioxide capture, antimicrobial coatings, chelation (removing metals from water), material templating and gene transfection and drug delivery. Outside of research, Rowe is the liaison and educational outreach director for the Society of Women Engineers. Donna Xia is a chemical Elizabeth Rowe engineering major and a Randall Research Scholars student. An overall goal of Xia’s research with Dr. David Dixon, Robert Ramsay Professor of Chemistry, is to develop computational chemistry approaches to aid the Department of Energy’s efforts to provide new nuclear materials that meet the nation’s needs for energy and national security, as well as to deal with the environmental legacy issues due to the production of nuclear Donna Xia weapons during the Cold War. Outside of research, Xia is a leader in the UA Society of Engineers in Medicine.
UA NAMES 2018 PREMIER AWARDS RECIPIENTS The University of Alabama recognized the recipients of the 2018 Premier Awards – the top individual honors for scholarship, leadership and service during the Spring 2018 semester. The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award honors one man and one woman of this academic year’s graduating class as well as one non-student. The recipients of the award have demonstrated Nivory Gordon III the highest standards of scholarship, leadership and service. The male student Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award recipient was Nivory Gordon III. During his time at UA, Nivory Gordon has served in several leadership roles while pursuing both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. He served as president of the UA chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers and the 100 Black Men – Collegiate 100. Gordon mentored minority youth in Tuscaloosa’s West End through UA’s Collegiate 100 organization. He also established the annual Minority Scholars Academic Competition for Excellence to encourage minority high school students to pursue STEM career pathways.
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EMERITUS ENGINEERING PROFESSOR RECEIVES INAUGURAL SOCIETY HONOR
COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS TAKE HOME FIRST PLACE AT HACKATL
Dr. Garry Warren, metallurgical and materials engineering emeritus professor, was recently chosen as the inaugural recipient of the Julia and Johannes Weertman Educator Award by The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society.
A team of College of Engineering students took home first place in a business competition last fall. HackATL was held on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta, Nov. 10-12. Approximately 45 teams made up of around 200 undergraduate and graduate students participated. Teams were tasked with creating a business for a product or service in one of the designated categories — health and wellness, social enterprise or consumer technology. Groups had 36 hours to organize a business plan, which they then pitched to judges in preliminary and final rounds.
The award recognizes excellence in metallurgical and materials engineering education. Warren was nominated by UA College of Engineering associate dean Viola Acoff.
Dr. Garry Warren
The award was presented to him March 14 at the TMS-AIME Awards Ceremony during the 147th TMS Annual Meeting. While a professor at The University of Alabama, Warren also worked in the Center for Materials for Information Technology. His research interests include amime-quinone polymers and electrochemical and corrosion research involving recording media and permanent magnets.
COMPUTER SCIENCE PROFESSOR NAMED BSSW FELLOW Dr. Jeffrey Carver, a professor of computer science at The University of Alabama, was named one of the four inaugural fellows of the Better Scientific Software (BSSw) project, a program that gives recognition and funding to leaders and advocates of high-quality software. Carver was recognized for this achievement during the second annual meeting of the Exascale Dr. Jeffrey Carver Computing Project in February, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He received a $10,000 award to work on an activity that promotes better scientific software. Carver’s work will focus on the development and delivery of a tutorial on peer code review in scientific software. Peer code review is used frequently in traditional software development by industry and by open source software projects. By adapting this practice for scientific software, Carver’s research group will help increase the quality and sustainability of scientific software.
The UA team’s project, in the health and wellness category, was a mobile application called Runa. The app was created to aid childhood speech development by using speech-to-text and natural language processing technology. Runa can run analytics on recorded conversations to note parts of speech and response length. Parents and guardians are the intended users of the app, which gives them a tool to track their children’s speech progress. The UA team, composed of Emily Huynh, Joey Murphy, Steven Eastcott and Ethan Sorrell, won $2,000, first place in their category, and first place overall.
OLCMEN NAMED ASGC CAMPUS DIRECTOR, BAKER STEPS DOWN AFTER 13 YEARS An organization connecting students with NASA has named a new campus director at The University of Alabama. Dr. Semih Olcmen was appointed to the role of UA campus director of the Alabama Space Grant Consortium. The ASGC is a member of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, which is administered by NASA. The campus director has multiple responsibilities including forming a committee to evaluate ASGC scholarship applicants from UA, managing a collective funding proposal from UA faculty to the ASGC, serving on the state management team and working on projects with students. His term will last three years and is renewable. For the past 13 years, Dr. John Baker, the UA aerospace engineering and mechanics department head, served as the UA campus director of the ASGC. Baker nominated Olcmen, who has been an associate professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics at UA since 2002, for the position.
With this award, Carver, and his research group, plan to deliver the tutorial in venues frequented by scientific software developers, such as SuperComputing and eScience.
Dr. Semih Olcmen
Dr. John Baker
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UA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION HONORS FOUR WITH TEACHING AWARDS The University of Alabama National Alumni Association named the 2017 recipients of the University’s highest honor for excellence in teaching – the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Awards.
Dr. James Paul Hubner
Dr. Kenneth G. Ricks
Two of this year’s four recipients were Dr. James Paul Hubner, associate professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, and Dr. Kenneth G. Ricks, associate professor of electrical and computing engineering. Mandy Wyatt, district vice president of the National Alumni Association, recognized the 2017 award recipients at the 2017 Fall Campus Assembly in the Ferguson Center Ballroom along with UA President Stuart R. Bell. An awards presentation also occurred at the NorthRiver Yacht Club.
UA FACULTY LEAD COMMITTEES FOR THE STATE’S STRATEGIC PLAN Several University of Alabama faculty members are helping shape the future of Alabama’s K-12 education system, particularly in its critical Dr. Jeff Gray has trained thousands of high school needs areas, like math instructors to teach and science. Dr. Jeremy computer science. Zelkowski, coordinator of UA’s Secondary Math Education program, and Dr. Jeff Gray, professor in the department of computer science, recently co-chaired the math and science advisory committees for Alabama Ascending, the Alabama State Department of Education’s 10-year strategic plan. Gray’s role on the science committee was to lead the discussion that considered the opportunities of computer science and engineering as emerging disciplines that have not been a focus in the past.
ENGINEERING PROFESSOR RECEIVES TOP PRIZE FOR COLLABORATIVE PAPER
NEW TO THE COLLEGE
Dr. Jacob Chakareski, assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering, was honored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for a collaborative paper that was submitted to the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications in Paris, France.
DR. YU GAN Assistant Professor, ECE
DR. JUN LIU Assistant Professor, CCEE
DR. QINGBIN GAO Assistant Professor, ME
The paper, titled “Viewport-adaptive Navigable 360-Degree Video Delivery,” was named Best Paper in the Communications Software, Services and Multimedia Applications category at the conference. Chakareski collaborated on the paper with two PhD students, Xavier Corbillon and Alisa Devlic, and a faculty member, Dr. Gwendal Simon, at Telecom Bretagne in France.
DR. NADER JALILI Professor and Department Head, ME
DR. CHUKWUMA (CHUMA) NNAJI Assistant Professor, CCEE
The award-winning paper is on enhancing the sensation of remote virtual reality immersion via 360-degree video featuring less buffering, pauses and data rate by intelligently compressing the volume of required data. The technology can be used in multiple capacities like remote emersion in disaster relief situations.
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Dr. Jacob Chakareski
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DR. SEONG (NATHAN) JEONG Assistant Professor, ECE
DR. HAMED MOFTAKHARI ROSTAMKHANI Assistant Professor, CCEE DR. MINJAE SHIN Assistant Professor, CCEE
DR. SUNGJIN KIM Assistant Professor, CCEE
DR. DINGWEN (DEVIN) TAO Assistant Professor, CS
DR. AMANDA KOH Assistant Professor, ChBE
DR. XUEFENG WANG Assistant Professor, ME
DR. MUKESH KUMAR Associate Professor, CCEE
DR. STEVEN WEINMAN Assistant Professor, ChBE
DR. NILESH KUMAR Assistant Professor, MTE
DR. CHAO ZHAO Assistant Professor, ChBE
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RETIREMENTS
Dr. K. Clark Midkiff
Dr. James A. Richardson
Dr. Willard C. Schreiber
DR. K. CLARK MIDKIFF,
DR. ROBERT W. SCHARSTEIN,
professor of mechanical engineering, retired in August after 32 years at The University of Alabama. For the last seven years, he served as interim department head of the mechanical engineering department. Midkiff received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate from the University of Kentucky, and he also received a bachelor’s in economics from Yale University. Midkiff conducted energy research specializing in combustion and in energy conservation, management and conversion. He served as director of UA’s Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies, which funds and develops research in a variety of fields of vehicle science and engineering. Midkiff’s most recent research focused on improving emissions, fuel economy and performance of spark-ignited and diesel internal combustion engines operated on a variety of conventional and alternative fuels. His previous research efforts included distance education challenges, thermodynamic concept inventory development, the design and testing of large-scale seasonal aquifer thermal energy storage systems, combustion in rotating flames, and the prediction and measurement of the fate of fuel nitrogen and the extent of heterogeneous versus homogeneous combustion in coal dust flames. From April 2011 to April 2012, Midkiff served as UA Faculty Senate President.
associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, retired on June 1 after a 29-year career at The University of Alabama. His doctorate was earned at Syracuse University, and he has worked in radar and sonar systems with the General Electric Company and with Sensis Corporation. He has been a faculty member of Clemson University and The University of Alabama, and has been a visiting scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory and the Army Missile Command. Scharstein’s research is in the area of electromagnetic and acoustic scattering, phased array antennas and asymptotic analysis.
DR. JAMES A. RICHARDSON, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, retired after 29 years of teaching at UA on July 1. Richardson’s research focused on design, construction and maintenance of highway bridges and field measurement of reinforced concrete structures. He enjoyed working with students and led the UA Steel Bridge team for many years as the faculty advisor. Richardson also worked in the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure.
DR. WILLARD C. SCHREIBER, associate professor of mechanical engineering, retired June 1. He worked in the ME department at UA for 33 and a half years. Schreiber studied thermal-fluid problems associated with environmental, materials and combustion applications. His latest efforts were directed toward modeling liquid jets and liquid sheets mathematically in an effort to understand instabilities leading to breakup. He has investigated the formation of patterns in a liquid sheet flowing from a slot. His research was intended to lead to a better understanding of spray breakup, and, consequently, better spray models for computing combustion processes. Schreiber also studied the dispersion of hydrogen as a means of understanding hydrogen safety related to hydrogen-powered vehicles. His other major research topic was the freezing of alloy melts including phase change and fluid motion of the melt. He was involved in a project for the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates Fluid Mechanics with Analysis Using Computations and Experiments Program.
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CURRENTS Events from Around the College
LEFT: Crimson Racing team members David Barnes and Zach Hagan revealed the team’s 2018 Formula SAE vehicle. RIGHT: Dr. Paul Allison, University of Alabama assistant professor of mechanical engineering, welcomes MELD workshop attendees.
INDYCAR CHAMP DRIVES FORMULA CAR The University of Alabama Formula SAE team, Honda Performance Development and STEAM Sports Group teamed up to educate children about the importance of science, technology, engineering, arts and math, or STEAM, in the motorsports and automotive industry. The event was part of the Honda STEAM Connections tour and took place April 18, 2018, outside the Ferguson Center on 7th Avenue. The featured guest was five-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion and “Dancing with the Stars” season 23 runner-up James Hinchcliffe. The UA Formula SAE team unveiled its 2018 vehicle for the first time, and Hinchliffe drove the vehicle for the 300 grade school students invited to the campus for the event. Following this reveal, Hinchcliffe, along with Honda Performance Development engineer Brian Johnson, spoke to students about the importance of STEAM fields and the exciting career opportunities and possibilities within these fields of study. The day of the event also included a competition electric vehicle on display from Huntsville-based company GreenpowerUSA, a question and answer period and autograph session with Hinchcliffe, and a tour of the UA engineering labs.
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SOLID STATE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING MELD WORKSHOP HOSTED BY AEROPROBE, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA The 2018 MELD Workshop was held April 17-18, 2018, in The University of Alabama’s North Engineering Research Center. The two-day event brought individuals across a range of industries together to explore, discuss and share research and applications for MELD. MELD is an innovative solid-state thermo-mechanical process for deposition of metal or metal matrix composites. It is highly scalable, open atmosphere and has a high deposition rate that sets it apart from other additive manufacturing technologies. The workshop included MELD machine demonstrations, networking events and speakers from industry and government. The 2018 MELD Workshop was presented by Aeroprobe Corporation, which holds numerous patents for MELD, and The University of Alabama’s College of Engineering, which hosted the event.
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UA HOSTS ALSAMP SPRING RESEARCH CONFERENCE The University of Alabama College of Engineering recently showcased student research from across the state and encouraged professional development among underrepresented minority students at a conference on campus. As lead institution of the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, or ALSAMP, the University hosted the organization’s Spring Research Conference featuring student research in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM fields. Around 90 students and 25 faculty and staff from the nine ALSAMP alliance institutions participated in the weekend’s events including guest speakers, a graduate school panel, an industry panel and poster presentation sessions. The goal of ALSAMP, a National Science Foundation funded program, is to increase the quality and quantity of underrepresented minority students pursuing degrees in the STEM fields. This is done through studying and implementing the best practices in STEM education and research experiences for undergraduates. The keynote speaker for this event was Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green, a former ALSAMP student herself. She received her undergraduate degree at Alabama A&M University and her doctorate in physics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Green is now working with a foundation that she started to treat cancer cells using lasers. The ALSAMP spring research conference took place April 15-16, 2018, at Hotel Capstone, and the students involved came from all nine ALSAMP alliance schools: The University of Alabama, Alabama A&M University, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Oakwood University, Stillman College, Miles College, Talladega College and the University of South Alabama.
UA HOSTS SECOND ANNUAL HACKATHON Hackers, innovators and creators from across the southeast came together to compete in the second annual CrimsonHacks 24-hour hackathon. This year’s competition took place on April 14-15, 2018, in the Ferguson Center Ballroom. CrimsonHacks is a full-day hacking marathon where students use coding skills to build something new whether it be a game, an application, a robot or any other unique project they choose. About 200 college students from 20 schools competed with skills ranging from beginner to advanced. At the end of the 24-hour competition, each project was demonstrated and judges determined the winners of each prize category. CrimsonHacks was created to be a more accessible hackathon for UA students and other nearby schools. In 2017, it became the first Major League Hacking, or MLH, sponsored event in Alabama.
Members of UA’s CrimsonHacks team were, back row left to right, Kedron Abbott, Alex Luong, Avery McCray, Joey Murphy, front row left to right, Kassidy Webb, Helmi Henkin, Erika Pope and Bailey McIntosh.
The 2018 CrimsonHacks Executive Board included the following computer science students: Bailey McIntosh – executive director and sophomore also majoring in studio art (digital media) from Cumming, Georgia Erika Pope – operations director on the STEM Path to MBA from Burleson, Texas Alex Luong – finance director from Vietnam Joey Murphy – logistics director from Chicago Kedron Abbott – user experience director from Palm Coast, Florida Kassidy Webb – sponsorship director and computer engineering major on the STEM Path to MBA from St. Louis Avery McCray – sponsorship director and computer engineering major from Millbrook Helmi Henkin – marketing director and psychology and French major from Menlo Park, California
UA HOSTS EVENT TO HONOR HIGH SCHOOL WOMEN IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY The University of Alabama and the National Center for Women and Information Technology recognized high school women from across Alabama who have achieved success within the IT field at an annual banquet. The UA College of Engineering computer science department hosted the NCWIT Aspirations banquet April 7, 2018, in the Bryant Conference Center. This year’s event recognized
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51 students with seven national honorable mentions, 16 state honorable mentions and 28 state awards, as well as two Alabama high school computer science teachers with education awards. The recipients for the student awards were selected for their computing and IT aptitude, leadership ability, academic history and plans for post-secondary education. The students, as well as their schools, each received a trophy for these awards. The keynote speaker was Dr. Monica Anderson, a UA computer science associate professor. Other speakers were Nick Moore from Gov. Kay Ivey’s office, Dawn Morrison from the Alabama State Department of Education, and Dr. Lyn Swackhamer, a NCWIT evaluator. NCWIT Aspirations started in 2013 and has presented awards to 8,600 young women nationally for their work in computing.
UA HOLDS K-12 ROBOTICS COMPETITION Kindergarten through 12th grade students from across the state put their computer programming skills to the test at the annual Alabama Robotics Competition April 7, 2018. The eighth annual competition, hosted by the computer science department of the UA College of Engineering, took place at the Bryant Conference Center. There were 60 teams made up of 257 students competing from 38 schools across Alabama. The contest featured a series of obstacle courses that had to be navigated by each teams’ programmed robot over a threehour period. Students were able to use their choice of robotics
platform and program language. Teams consisted of two to five participants from all grade levels from elementary to high school. Award categories for the contest were based on elementary, middle and high school age groups. More than $5,500 in prizes and awards were given to the top four teams in each division. The keynote speaker was Dr. Kenneth Ricks, UA associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Dr. Jeff Gray, UA professor of computer science, organized the event.
HUNDREDS OF SIXTH-GRADERS LAUNCH ROCKETS Two University of Alabama engineering student groups are continuing to get children involved in the world of engineering with their annual rocketry challenge. The Tuscaloosa Rocketry Challenge, organized by Alabama Rocketry Association and Alabama Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, was held Friday, April 6, 2018, on UA’s outdoor recreation fields. Water rockets were launched from an air-pressurized pad and shot across the field. Each rocket was judged by the distance traveled. In the challenge, 88 teams made up of 350 sixth-grade students competed. The students represented 11 middle schools in the Tuscaloosa County and City school systems. The top five schools and the top three teams were each awarded trophies to recognize their achievements. Leading up to the event, UA College of Engineering and Honors College students in a service learning course visited each participating middle school and spent a total of four days teaching them the history of space exploration, a brief introduction to physics, and how engineering relates to what they are learning in their middle school science classes. After teaching about the history of rockets, the UA students worked with the sixth-graders to create their own water rockets. Using two-liter bottles, duct tape and poster board, the middle school students constructed rockets that were propelled by water. About 1,750 sixth-grade students in the county participated in this four-day learning experience and were able to compete for a spot in the final rocketry challenge. On the fourth day, each school hosted a preliminary rocket launch, which determined the top eight teams that were invited to compete at UA during the Tuscaloosa Rocketry Challenge. The day of the challenge, the middle school students toured the UA engineering facilities and saw the college students demonstrate their projects. Over the past three years, the program has grown in participation from one school to 11 schools from across the county.
Students from 38 Alabama schools participated in the 2018 Alabama Robotics Competition in April. The annual event continues to grow each year.
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The Honors College course ensures the stability and growth of the program, and the student leaders hope to spread this idea to other university communities. Brett Austin, co-director of the Tuscaloosa Rocketry Challenge and an aerospace
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LEFT: During the Tuscaloosa Rocketry Challenge, 88 teams made up of 350 sixth-graders from 11 Tuscaloosa city and county schools competed. (Ben Flanagan/al.com) RIGHT: UA President Dr. Stuart R. Bell, right, shakes hands with UCAR President Antonio J. Busalacchi after signing a membership declaration.
engineering senior from Greenwood, Indiana, said it’s a learning experience to go out into the community and teach these kids something new.
UA FURTHERS RESEARCH, EDUCATIONAL MISSION WITH PARTNERSHIP The University of Alabama’s partnership with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research will benefit students, the state and the nation, said UA President Stuart R. Bell at an on-campus ceremony in March 2018. Bell signed an agreement alongside UCAR President Antonio J. Busalacchi declaring UA as a member of the national organization focused on research and training in the atmospheric and related Earth system sciences. UCAR is a consortium of 117 universities and colleges across North America and manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. Through its community programs, UCAR supports and extends the capabilities of its academic consortium. UA was voted into UCAR at its annual meeting in October 2017, along with six other institutions including Duke University and Louisiana State University.
UCAR has a broad community of researchers and world-class assets, including research aircraft, powerful supercomputing and innovative models, that will assist UA in further developing educational and research programs in the atmospheric sciences. The University has ongoing research in the areas of climatology, atmospheric hazards, geocomputation, geomorphology, remote sensing and silviculture as well as hydroclimate and landscape modeling. Projects in these areas have received support from NSF, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Geological Survey.
UA HOSTS REGIONAL SCIENCE OLYMPIAD More than 600 students participated in the 2018 Regional Science Olympiad competition at The University of Alabama Feb. 24, 2018. Science Olympiad is an international non-profit organization founded in 1982 that promotes teamwork in disciplines of life science, earth and space science, physical science, chemistry, technology and engineering among elementary, middle and high-school students. The regional competition for middle and high school students, hosted by UA, is just one of many to take place
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LEFT: UA Engineering students on the Concrete Canoe Team talk with middle and high school students visiting The University of Alabama campus for E-Day in October 2017. RIGHT: A career fair and student project exhibits were set up on Shelby Quad throughout the NASA Days at UA event in November 2017.
across the country. Winners advance to compete in the state and national competitions. More than 12,000 schools from all 50 states participate in Science Olympiad events each year. Events scheduled for the middle school students included anatomy, ecology, experimental design, hovercraft, optics, thermodynamics and other areas. In the high school division, students competed in forensics, hovercraft, herpetology, thermodynamics, towers and additional categories. More than 30 Alabama middle and high schools participated in the event. UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering co-hosted the competition.
NASA AND INDUSTRY PARTNERS VISIT CAMPUS AND CONNECT WITH STUDENTS Engineering students were given a unique opportunity to explore their career options with engineers from NASA and other companies who visited campus to engage with The University of Alabama College of Engineering. The College of Engineering and the Capstone Engineering Society hosted NASA representatives and industry partners on campus Nov. 2-3, 2017, for the second annual NASA Days at UA. The event was designed to connect professional engineers with engineering students through panel discussions, technical sessions, a networking social and career fair.
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NASA Marshall Space Flight Center deputy director and COE alumna, Jody Singer, gave a State of NASA address followed by a NASA Panel Discussion with several NASA representatives. In addition to NASA,13 industry partners sent representatives to participate in the two-day event. Many of those representatives were UA COE alumni. The young alumni panel shared their experiences from their time at the Capstone and gave advice to current students on what to expect during the application process and in the workplace. A career fair and student project exhibit were set up on Shelby Quad throughout the event for the industry partners and student project groups to share their work.
MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS INVITED TO UA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING’S E-DAY Students from across the state visited the Capstone last fall to learn about The University of Alabama’s engineering program. The UA College of Engineering hosted E-Day on Oct. 5, 2017. The annual event provided an opportunity for sixth through 12th grade students to learn about engineering fields and what the College offers students interested in studying the discipline.
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Dr. Kevin Whitaker, UA executive vice president and provost, right, is among those signing an agreement giving the state’s engineering students an opportunity to study in Germany.
After selecting one of the seven engineering departments, the middle and high school students visited labs and classrooms located in several buildings and had the opportunity to talk with faculty members and current UA students.
be taught to the undergraduate students participating in the program.
Student organizations set up display tables in the South Engineering Research Center showcasing their projects. Some displays were interactive and gave the guests a tangible experience.
Dr. Bharat Balasubramanian spearheaded the effort on both the Alabama and German side. He is currently a University of Alabama engineering professor and the executive director of UA’s Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies. In 2012, he retired from the German automotive corporation Daimler after nearly 40 years of service.
About 1,000 Alabama middle and high school students, teachers and parents from both public and private schools attended the event. Lunch was provided by Crimson Smokers on the Science and Engineering Quad.
The Alabama universities participating in the partnership are The University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Auburn University and the University of South Alabama.
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT SIGNED BY GERMAN, ALABAMA UNIVERSITIES
There are seven German universities from the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg involved in this partnership. Two of those universities — Hochschule Karlsruhe and Hochschule Offenburg, both Universities of Applied Sciences — participated as pilot schools in spring 2018.
Leaders from several German and Alabama universities met in Tuscaloosa in September 2017 to sign an International Memorandum of Understanding giving Alabama engineering students a chance to study in Germany. The memorandum, signed by each schools’ provost, established an exchange program among the universities in the electrical and mechanical engineering departments. Representatives from each school worked together to set the parameters for the courses and the course content that will
Approximately 20 students from the Alabama universities began studying in Germany during the German spring semester, which began in March and ended in July. At the end of the semester, students had the option to return to Alabama or stay in Germany for an internship with a local German industry.
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Engineering HISTORY OF UA WOMEN IN
Then & Now By Gillian Castro & Alana Norris
Engineering at The University of Alabama began in 1837, but it was not until the 1920s that women started to enroll in the College of Engineering. In 1939, Rose Rabinowitz, an aeronautical engineer, was the first woman to graduate from the College.
In Fall 2017, three female engineering seniors set out with the goal of finding the first women in engineering at UA. After researching old Corollas, the University’s yearbook, and commencement programs, it became clear to them that there is very little documentation about women in engineering at UA in the early 1900s. “When we talk about the history of women’s equality, a lot of emphasis is placed on ‘firsts,’ which are, of course, important in their own right,” said Beatrice Kealy, chemical engineering graduate from Verona, Wisconsin. “But during our research, it became evident that it took several decades after the first woman [enrolled] in the program for there to be any sort of female presence.” Rose Rabinowitz, who studied aeronautical engineering, is attributed with being the first woman to graduate from UA’s College of Engineering in 1939. Early female engineering graduates at UA, like Rabinowitz, helped pave the way for female engineering students in the years that followed. Lizzy West, a mechanical engineering graduate from Trophy Club, Texas, believes these women would be celebrated in today’s world, but in the 1920s, she thought these women probably faced an uphill battle because it may have been hard for some people to accept change. “Now if you’re the first woman to do anything, there’s a lot of pomp and circumstance around it and back then I don’t think that was the case,” West said. Electrical engineering student Patricia Hall became the first African American female graduate of the College in 1978. Today, major steps are being made toward increasing the number of women in STEM fields, which West believes is largely due to the women engineers who pioneered the way for females to be successful in engineering today. “I think it’s just kind of a different type of atmosphere surrounding it,” West said. “Now we’re trying really hard to encourage women to reach out into fields that they weren’t in before.” Hannah Larson, mechanical engineering graduate from Hurst, Texas, said the focus for women in engineering has shifted since the first woman engineer at UA. She feels there is less attention paid to whether an engineer is male or female and instead more attention is put toward the work being generated.
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Hannah Larson, Beatrice Kealy and Lizzy West researched the history of women engineers at UA during their senior year at the Capstone.
“I think we’re fortunate to live in a time and place now where your actions and your work dictate how you’re treated,” Larson said. “I no longer am constrained by things I have no control over, like my gender. I’m judged by what I can produce as an engineer.” It’s hard to know for certain, but West thinks one of the biggest differences between women in engineering in the 1920s and today could be the support system. Because of the lack of women in engineering in the ‘20s, she believes these women had to be more self-reliant. Today, women have the support of peers, female mentors and student organizations committed to women excelling. “The way I operate now is I have my group of girlfriends in engineering, and we’re very closely knit and hold each other accountable. I didn’t really think about the fact that a lot of these people didn’t have that,” West said. Larson believes that the opportunities and the skill set she has gained at UA are unlike any other school. For her, being a woman didn’t have a major impact on her experience in school.
“I’ve always been really passionate about women and minorities in STEM. I think if I didn’t have some of those examples, [I] might not have lasted or it might have been more difficult,” West said. In 1970, Dr. Hui-Chuan “Hannah” Chen, a computer science professor, became the first female faculty member hired in the College. She spent 34 years teaching at the Capstone and graduated UA’s first computer science doctoral student.
“Now we’re trying really hard to encourage women to reach out into fields that they weren’t in before.”
Then 24 years later in 1994, Dr. Viola Acoff was hired in the metallurgical and materials engineering department making her the College’s first African American female faculty member. Today, Acoff serves as associate dean of undergraduate and graduate programs.
Kealy said these early progressive women paved the way by helping ease the stigma of women in engineering, and now female students have become a norm in STEM fields. West feels that it takes strong women to be able to break the glass ceiling.
-Lizzy West
“Even though I am in a male dominated field, and I have taken classes where I am the only girl in the class, I feel as respected, if not even more respected, by my peers,” Larson said. “They really do set you up to succeed here, and that’s something that I have found very valuable.” The female faculty in engineering at UA have played a role in influencing and guiding female students throughout their time here, West said. These women provide encouragement and advice for students, which she noted is another support
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system that may not have been available for women in engineering in the early 1900s.
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“It’s still hard for women now to kind of buck up and enter a field where they know they’re going to be in the vast minority,” West said. “To find women who had the courage to do it then is really cool.” The first women in engineering at UA played a vital role in the lives of female engineers today. It’s because of people like them that women like West, Kealy and Larson are able to pursue their dreams of becoming successful.
END USER Dr. Viola L. Acoff, associate dean for undergraduate and graduate programs, was the first African American female faculty member in The University of Alabama College of Engineering. Hired in 1994, Acoff received all three of her materials engineering degrees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has 20 years’ experience working in the area of diversity and inclusion and has served since 1996 as director of UA’s National Science Foundation Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program. Since 2016, Acoff has served as the project manager of the Alabama LSAMP Program, which is funded by a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Alabama LSAMP is comprised of nine four-year and doctoral granting institutions located throughout the state.
CE: I’m told you were the first African American woman faculty member in the UA College of Engineering. Did you know that? How was that experience for you? Acoff: I went to UAB, and when I interviewed [at UA] one of my committee members and professors, who was a female, told me, “Viola, they have no women there in metallurgical engineering.” I knew coming in that I would be the first female faculty in metallurgical engineering. During the interview, when I was with the interim dean at that time and the associate dean, they asked if I had any questions. I asked, “How many African American faculty do you have?” And they said they had just extended an offer to a male in electrical engineering. I had not expected to be the first African American female faculty member in the college. I first found out during the interview process. Knowing that I was the first, I felt that I could not fail, I had to succeed. CE: Have things changed over the years as far as women being involved in engineering at UA? Acoff: When I first came, the number of women on faculty was in the single digits. Quite a few of us were hired right around the same time. There were two hired the year before me; there was another hired the same time I was. I remember the first female hired in civil engineering. I remember the first female hired in chemical engineering. I actually remember those times. It was really eye opening at that time. It was less than 10 of us, and we started meeting regularly for lunch. They were happy, the ones who had been here for a little while, because we nearly doubled the female faculty in the college, but we were still in the single digits at that time. We just started meeting for lunch. As more women started coming, we reached out to them and invited them to our lunches. We still do that now at least twice a year. I think we have about 15 or 16 female faculty now. It started organically just so we could connect because there were so few of us in the college. We wanted to be there to support each other.
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CE: Do you advocate for women in engineering? How? Acoff: Yes, I make a point to do whatever I can to increase the number of women in engineering and to be a support for them. One of the things I do regularly now is with the Society of Women Engineers. Every January they have a Tea with SWE event on a Sunday. They always invite me out to speak to all the freshmen starting their second semester. I share my story with them. I stay in contact with a number of those female students. I end up writing reference letters for them. One I remember particularly from that event. She had worked in high school on a bio project, and she wanted to know if there was a faculty member she could work with in chemical and biological engineering. I directed her to a faculty member who was very excited to have her in his group. Other students have also sought advice on research. I make sure to reach them very early so that I can give them advice early on to help them navigate through the course of their education. I always tell them to get involved in SWE and to get involved with the professional organization for their curriculum. That way they can have a support system in place. I tell them my first experience with SWE was the same Tea with SWE event 30 years ago and that made connections for me that I still have today. CE: Is diversity important in engineering? Why? Acoff: Diversity is extremely important in engineering. Compared to other industrialized nations, 15-year-olds in the U.S. are not at the same level in math and science as their counterparts. When you couple that with the fact that it is predicted by the mid-21st century the U.S. demographics will change where current minority populations will be the majority population, getting students from diverse backgrounds interested in STEM is vital to the economic development and progress of our nation. Right now, the percentage of minorities in STEM fields is not reflective of our population. With the US demographics predicted to have a total reverse mid-21st century, it is vital that we increase diversity, not just women but also other diverse populations.
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By Gillian Castro & Alana Norris
Women Engineering Professors at UA From robotics to radar engineering and everything in between, female engineering professors at UA are leaving their mark on the College and the entire engineering industry through their groundbreaking research as well as their efforts to encourage more women to pursue STEM careers.
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Dr. Sevgi Gurbuz, electrical and computer engineering assistant professor at UA, works on circuits in her lab in North Engineering Research Center.
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Dr. O’Neill, Dr. Gurbuz and Dr. Anderson all work to encourage, mentor and support women in engineering.
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or Dr. Sevgi Gurbuz, electrical and computer engineering assistant professor at UA, engineering runs in the family. With two mechanical engineers as parents, Gurbuz grew up surrounded by engineering and a successful female role model to emulate.
“I think my biggest mentor was my mom. She was born and raised in Turkey and at that time it was extremely rare for women to go into any kind of STEM field,” Gurbuz said. “I never looked beyond her because I spent my whole life trying to be as good as she was.” After receiving her master’s degree, Gurbuz worked with the United States Air Force, which is how she became involved in her current area of research — radar engineering. Gurbuz’s research is in radar remote sensing and human gait recognition within the health field. Although radar originated in military applications, recent advances in hardware and computing have made civilian uses possible. Gurbuz aims at leveraging her experience to develop technologies that will improve quality of life through smart environments that exploit radar sensing. “After I got out of the service I started looking at civilian applications,” Gurbuz said. “The particular applications I’m looking in are remote sensing, just as a general area, as well as indoor radar as it applies to human computer interfaces, remote health, smart environments and things like that. I do a lot of work in human gait recognition, which led me into machine learning. There’s a lot of different aspects to the problem.” One application she is working on is remote detection of a person’s physical health, like seizures or heartrate, without having them wear any kind of wires or devices. She said many disorders, like Parkinson’s or cerebral palsy, are reflected in a person’s gait and could eventually be detectable by radar. If this is developed, it could reassure family who live far away
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and could give doctors information without a doctor’s visit. “I’m trying to interface with people at the University Medical Center to see how far we can push radar in terms of getting more information to doctors,” she said. “If we can put something up in someone’s house for example, which is relatively cheap, then this would be a continuous source of data and it could lower healthcare costs.” In addition to her research, Gurbuz is working to bridge the gap for women in engineering and for her, that idea starts within her own family. “I was in a family where I didn’t really have parents who thought that it mattered that I was a girl or not. They taught me to believe I could accomplish anything – regardless,” Gurbuz said. “I have two daughters right now and one of them is really sensitive to the way people view girls, and I have had to make a distinct effort to highlight women’s accomplishments so she doesn’t feel like she is not able to do something because she is a girl.” Gurbuz is teaching her children from a young age that gender doesn’t decide your path in life. “I don’t really think that I’m a typical mother, and I didn’t have a typical mother,” Gurbuz said. “Right now, I’m just trying to basically stay out of their way and not letting anyone tell them that they can’t do something. I think that’s more important than specifically trying to train them to be an engineer.” UA computer science associate professor, Dr. Monica Anderson, had a different experience in school as a female in computer science. “For me to have been able to take a computer science course in the 80s was almost unheard of,” Anderson said. “Even now there are very few female faculty in engineering disciplines. The likelihood of someone seeing a female, or even an African American professor, in an undergrad CS program is pretty low.”
LEFT: Mechanical engineering associate professor at UA, Dr. Zheng O’Neill, helps female faculty across all disciplines network and collaborate at an international level and co-organized the 2018 International Workshop on Connecting Women Faculty in Sustainable Building Research. RIGHT: UA computer science associate professor, Dr. Monica Anderson, works on robotics in her lab in the Science and Engineering Complex.
Anderson said the number of women pursuing degrees in computer science is not growing at a rate she would like. She is working to encourage female participation in computer science fields to help lessen the gender gap. One way she is doing that is by creating more mentors for female students at the undergraduate level. “Studies have shown that when women don’t do well in science, unfortunately, sometimes what we do is we blame ourselves,” Anderson said. “Men tend to, in the same position, decide that external factors are the reason why they’re not doing well. That difference can decide whether you persist or don’t persist. But in fact, the performance, in terms of grades, of women who don’t persist in computer science are the same as the men. We have the same performance. We just persist at a lower rate...It’s not about ability. It’s not about talent. It’s about some of these other extrinsic things.” When these female students are faced with the decision to continue their education in computer science, her mission is to help them envision success in their academic careers and to let them know they are capable. She is involved in multiple national organizations, including the Institute for AfricanAmerican Mentoring in Computer Science and Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates, that have the goal of mentoring underrepresented minority groups within the computing fields and encouraging students to pursue graduate degrees. “I’m much more focused on creating more mentors, making it so that women and underrepresented minorities see more people who look like them early in their program when it matters,” Anderson said.”
O’Neill is a co-organizer for the 2018 International Workshop on Connecting Women Faculty in Sustainable Building Research in Dalian, China. This workshop, sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation, brings together female faculty from the U.S., Europe and Asia. They are given the opportunity to network, learn ways to address the challenges that affect a woman’s successes in the engineering field, and explore future research opportunities regarding sustainable buildings. “Women play important roles in this area,” O’Neill said. “So, we thought we could have an event to invite the key people in academia and have some kind of discussion about it.” O’Neill earned her doctorate in mechanical engineering at Oklahoma State University. She got her start in engineering in China, where she received her bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering, mechanical option, and a master’s in mechanical engineering. She was one of 15 women in her undergraduate engineering program, which was made up of 90 total students. “You can see an increasing number of girls doing engineering,” O’Neill said. “But generally speaking, it is still a male-dominated area.” Gurbuz, Anderson and O’Neill are doing their part to help increase the number of women pursuing degrees in the STEM fields by encouraging girls as children, mentoring women as students, and supporting each other as professionals, as well as being leaders and innovators in the field of engineering.
Dr. Zheng O’Neill, UA mechanical engineering associate professor, focuses on helping female faculty across all disciplines network and collaborate at an international level.
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Foundations FOR THE FUTURE
Society Equips Students to Achieve Full Potential By Gillian Castro
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Magdelene Lee, a member of UA SWE, had a display table at UA’s Get On Board Day in September 2017, a tabling fair where student organizations, departments and community partners host booths to provide information about what they have to offer students.
What began in 1950 with just 60 women engineers, has grown on an international level to become a major support system for college women in engineering across the globe and at The University of Alabama. The Society for Women Engineers got its start at the University in 1976. Since its charter, SWE has grown from 10 students to 322 students, male and female, from across all engineering disciplines. “As SWE, we’re really a resource for those women that are in engineering fields, a place where they can come and talk to people about presentation techniques or how to more effectively do something in engineering,” said Katie Hiles, recent environmental engineering graduate and 2017-2018 UA SWE president. The Alabama chapter of SWE hosts meetings every other week, and invites company delegates to speak with their members about opportunities in the workplace from internships to full-time positions. Tesla, Chevron and Exxon are among some of the companies that have participated in SWE meetings on campus. The skills gained by SWE members go beyond those taught in a classroom. Leadership skills, professional development, and interpersonal connections are some of the benefits of being a part of SWE. “One of the first things that I was told after I toured was, ‘This is a big university, but you’ll find your way to make it a small school,’” said Lauren Pan, sophomore chemical engineering major on the STEM Path to the MBA and UA SWE liaison. “Having people like-minded and [with] like-amounts of school workload really allows you to connect in a way that is
different than those people that you meet and bond with in a completely social manner.” SWE is not just a collegiate experience. The organization continues after college with professional sections nationwide that give members the skills to adjust to life in the workplace. One of the challenges and benefits of SWE is that you have people in all these different engineering majors so a lot of times the focus is not so much on the technical aspects of things but more the people skills aspects of things,” said Dr. Beth Ann Todd, UA SWE faculty advisor and associate professor of mechanical engineering. “I think one of SWE’s strengths is providing members with information about how to make that adjustment from college to the workplace.” As UA SWE’s advisor, Todd acts as a resource for female students in engineering. She works to encourage members to take the next steps when it comes to progressing in their careers. “I think it’s important for them to see women engineers in a position of leadership,” Todd said. The professional sections of SWE focus on impacting the collegiate community and ensuring that members have the resources needed to be successful both during their time in college and after. In addition to building up the collegiate chapters, the professional chapters offer resources on how to balance work life and personal life. “There are entire tracks dedicated to reentering the workforce,” Pan said. “A lot of those [tracks] are how to balance a new family with climbing your career as an engineer in a male-dominated workplace and how to really just hold your own.” SWE promotes women in engineering starting at a young age by participating in outreach programs. Through these programs, members of SWE teach middle and high school students about engineering and encourage them to pursue careers in engineering. SWE is for anyone who advocates for women in engineering regardless of age or gender. The organization works to support and encourage women throughout the entirety of their career in STEM fields and provides experiences and friendships that last a lifetime.
Tatum Martin and Lauren Pan, both UA SWE officers, read through a presentation of the organization’s facts and figures from the previous school year, which was given to the UA SWE Alumni Board.
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By Gillian Castro
Social sorority focuses on science, technology, engineering and math Sisterhood and STEM go hand in hand for the women of Alpha Omega Epsilon sorority. A.O.E. is a social and professional sorority for women involved in any science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, field. This organization helps women during their time in school by providing professional advice about succeeding in STEM while also participating in social activities. “A lot of it is focused on how women represent themselves in engineering fields, like how to assert yourself as a woman in a male-dominated field,” said Emily Schnarre, A.O.E. member and senior geology major from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “It can be kind of challenging so I think it just provides an extra support system.” A.O.E. focuses on helping each of its members brand themselves in order to be successful. The organization accomplishes this through professional events held each semester. Resume writing, business card printing and thank you note etiquette are just some of the topics covered at the events.
that addresses gender inequity and fosters a community of multiculturalism, social justice, safety, and leadership through gender-related outreach, advocacy and support to communities of all identities. “We don’t have a nationwide philanthropy, but we try really hard to focus on things that are STEM related because that’s kind of who we are,” Schnarre said. A.O.E. is growing both at UA and nationwide as a way to help women in STEM reach their goals of becoming successful in a field mostly dominated by men. With alumni chapters increasing, A.O.E. is something that does not just help its members through college but in their careers as well. “I think women in STEM [fields] is growing as a whole, and being around like-minded people with the same goals and the same work ethic is just very encouraging,” Hurley said. “Being here with all these girls, it’s like a second family to me. We’re there for each other through thick and thin.”
The University of Alabama chapter of A.O.E. was established in 2013 and became officially chartered in 2016. Currently there are 100 members and Schnarre expects the organization will continue growing in the upcoming years. A.O.E. is for all STEM students interested in being a part of a group of women dedicated to bettering themselves within their careers and who are interested in gaining life-long skills and friendships. “For me personally coming to Alabama, I wanted nothing to do with sororities and Greek life,” said Alex Hurley, A.O.E. member and junior mechanical engineer from Kingston, Massachusetts. “But it’s just that we’re all so like-minded and we all care so much about our school work and doing well and also encouraging everyone else to do well.” Over the past five years, A.O.E. has become a more recognizable organization on UA’s campus. Current members aren’t having to depend on organizational fairs like Get On Board Day to recruit new members. Student like Schnarre are coming to UA with aspirations of joining A.O.E.
The University of Alabama chapter of Alpha Omega Epsilon took a picture during sisterhood retreat in February 2018 at the Ferguson Center on the campus of UA.
“It used to be that we relied a lot on Get On Board Day and we would just try to attract as many people as we could,” Schnarre said. “But now we have started reaching out to a lot more people, and they have started reaching out to us. They are a lot more excited when they get to campus because they know about it and they’re like, ‘Oh, this is what I want to do.’” In addition to professional improvement for its members, A.O.E. is also involved with philanthropy work related to both women and STEM fields. The majority of their work is with the Women and Gender Resource Center, an on-campus facility
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ALUMNI DYNAMICS Items of interest to Capstone engineers and computer scientists UA HONORS FIVE DISTINGUISHED ENGINEERING FELLOWS The University of Alabama College of Engineering honored five alumni by inducting them into its 2018 class of Distinguished Engineering Fellows. Each year, the College of Engineering inducts a select group of alumni and friends as Distinguished Engineering Fellows. Recognition as a Distinguished Fellow is the highest commendation given to graduates and others who have strengthened the reputation of the College of Engineering through their efforts. Since the recognition’s inception more than 25 years ago, fewer than 400 individuals have been recognized as Distinguished Engineering Fellows. The 2018 class includes John Allen, of Parker, Colorado; Donald “Chip” Flournoy, of Muscle Shoals; Michael Stevenson, of Norcross, Georgia; James “Mike” Tracy, of Vestavia Hills; and Steven Wofford, of Huntsville.
The 2018 Distinguished Engineering Fellows are, from left, Michael Stevenson, Steven Wofford, Mike Tracy, Chip Flournoy and John Allen.
The inductees were honored at a ceremony at the NorthRiver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa in April 2018. For complete biographies of this year’s Distinguished Engineering Fellows, visit eng.ua.edu/awards.
John M. Allen IV served as a commissioned scientific and technical intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from The University of Alabama in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He worked at the Foreign Technology Division of Air Force Systems Command and analyzed Soviet radars and avionics to determine any vulnerabilities to electronic warfare. Allen authored more than 30 classified publications, presented papers at international electronics conferences, and briefed his analysis results to the highest levels of the U.S. government. He left active duty in 1983 and continued his military service in the U.S. Air Force Reserve until he retired in 2000 with the rank of major. Allen received a master’s degree in business management from Central Michigan University in 1982. He began working at GeoDynamics Corp. on a project for the North American Aerospace Defense Command where he evaluated the vulnerability of U.S. satellite systems to foreign directed energy weapons and jamming threats. During the mid-1990s, Allen worked for Advanced Systems Engineering Inc. and founded Information Technology Engineering Corp., which he sold in 2015. His interest in high-performance driving and automotive engineering led him to begin car racing in 2013. Donald B. “Chip” Flournoy Jr. dedicated 34 years of his career to working at Reynolds Metals Co. and Wise Metals Group. In 2012, he started his own company, Flournoy Engineering and Consulting. The business offers engineering design, project management and consulting services to industrial and commercial clients as well as general contractors. In addition to serving his company, he has also worked as an adjunct professor of engineering technology at the University of West Alabama and Shelton State Community College. He is a licensed professional engineer and a United States Coast Guard licensed captain. He earned his mechanical engineering degree from The University of Alabama in 1978. Flournoy has owned Flournoy Yacht Charters with his wife, Pamela, a 1977 UA communications graduate, since 2004. Both of the Flournoy’s children, Adam and Shannon, are UA engineering graduates.
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Dr. Michael E. Stevenson received three metallurgical and materials engineering degrees from The University of Alabama in just seven years. He earned his bachelor’s in 1998, his master’s in 1999 and his doctorate in 2001. After he graduated, Stevenson co-founded the firm Metals and Materials Engineers in Suwanee, Georgia, and worked there for six years. Since 2007, Stevenson has been at Engineering Systems Inc., or ESi, in Norcross, Georgia. He has held the title of president, principal and CEO of ESi for the past eight years. In this position, Stevenson is responsible for implementing the company’s vision and strategy daily, providing oversight and support for company operations, and harnessing the company’s capabilities to the fullest extent. He is a professional engineer in 11 states, has authored more than 300 technical reports, is a member of several industry and technical societies and has presented at numerous forums. James “Mike” Tracy has spent the majority of his 44-year career with Drummond Co. Inc. holding positions in both engineering and operations management. The Tuscaloosa native received a degree in mineral engineering from The University of Alabama in 1973 and his Master of Business Administration in 1986. He was on the development team for Drummond’s Colombian coal mining project and helped lay the groundwork for the 35-million-ton-per-year complex, which is one of the largest mining complexes in the world. He moved up the ranks at Drummond becoming president of the mining division in 2004. In 2007, Tracy was named chief executive officer of a startup energy company called White Oak Resources LLC. He worked with a team of coal experts and amassed an underground coal reserve approaching 2 billion tons along with substantial gas and other mineral and mining rights. Tracy returned to Drummond in 2010. Since July 2016, he has served as CEO. Steven J. Wofford has worked on spacecraft engines for the past 31 years in a career spent working for NASA and its outside contractors. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Alabama in 1986. In 1992, Wofford received his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He spent the first 13 years of his career with NASA contractor organizations, Calspan Corp. and Hernandez Engineering Inc., working in support of the Space Shuttle Main Engine project. In 2000, Wofford began working for NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center. Currently, he serves as the liquid engines element manager in the Space Launch System, or SLS, program. Wofford is responsible for all aspects of liquid engine implementations for SLS, which includes design, development, test and flight of both the core stage and upper stage engines. His office recently completed engineering work and all rocket engine testing to certify the heritage RS-25 engine for flight on the SLS core stage. Wofford has received several awards including the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal.
The aerospace engineering class of 1962 had their 55th reunion in the fall of 2017 in the North Engineering Research Center. Warren Ross initiated and planned the reunion for his classmates. The group of alumni took a tour of the facilities, reminisced about their days at the Capstone, and spoke with aerospace department head Dr. John Baker, assistant professor Dr. Rohan Sood and current students.
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ENGINEERING RECOGNIZES OUTSTANDING ALUMNI VOLUNTEER FOR 2018 The University of Alabama College of Engineering recently recognized N. Hugh Mathews as its 2018 Outstanding Alumni Volunteer. Mathews, a Birmingham native, has demonstrated consistent loyalty to the College. He has served for two years as the chair of the College of Engineering Leadership Board, and, as chair, he helped establish an endowed scholarship for the College. Mathews graduated from the University with a degree in civil engineering in 1981. He has been president and chief executive officer of England-Thims & Miller Inc. since 2013. The 200-person consulting and design engineering, surveying, planning and landscape architecture firm provides service to both public and private clients throughout northeast Florida. In addition to firm direction, Mathews provides leadership in services for large retail and master planned communities. He gives back to his alma mater by regularly participating in Capstone Engineering Society networking receptions, and for the past two years, he has served as an alumni mentor in Mentor UPP: Undergraduate Professional Program, the College’s mentoring partnership program for undergraduate students. Mathews also serves as a member of the
Dean Charles Karr presented N. Hugh Mathews with the Outstanding Alumni Volunteer Award at a reception in April at NorthRiver Yacht Club.
advisory board for the civil, construction and environmental engineering department. In 2005, he was named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow in The University of Alabama College of Engineering. Recognition as a Distinguished Fellow is the highest commendation given to graduates whose efforts have strengthened the reputation of the College. Mathews and his wife, Regina, have two children, Casey and Tyler, both University of Alabama graduates, and three grandchildren. In 1995, the UA College of Engineering began a yearly tradition recognizing an alumnus who provided excellent volunteer assistance as the Outstanding Alumni Volunteer.
LOFTIS SOARS TO NEW HEIGHTS AT UA Haley Loftis has come a long way since beginning school at The University of Alabama in 2013. In that time, she attained a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and an MBA, participated in multiple internships, and won an award for her contribution to an advanced vehicle technology competition named EcoCAR 3. Loftis came to Alabama by way of Staley High School in Kansas City, Missouri. She chose UA because she was impressed with the campus, especially the Shelby Engineering and Science Quad, and the numerous campus involvement opportunities available to students. A May 2018 MBA graduate with a specialization in financial engineering, Loftis served as UA’s EcoCAR 3 project manager. The EcoCAR 3 program completed its fourth and final year in May. The program provided students with an opportunity to contribute to the design of a hybrid-electric muscle car. Students collaborated in an effort to design the ultimate energy-efficient, high-performance vehicle. Becoming project manager was no easy task. After applying, Loftis went through two rounds of interviews with student leaders and faculty on the team. She said she was surprised when she got the call informing her she was named project manager. Loftis took home the Spirit of Project Management Award during the EcoCAR 3 Year 4 Competition. During Year 3
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Haley Loftis, from Kansas City, Missouri, was project manager for UA’s EcoCAR 3.
Competition in May 2017, she won the annual General Motors Women in Engineering Award. This award goes to women on EcoCAR 3 teams who demonstrate outstanding technical excellence and accomplishments. She became the second UA student to win the award, as Megan Hathcock took home the honor the year before. Loftis said she’s thankful for the countless opportunities UA has offered her and gave a lot of the credit for her success to the STEM Path to the MBA program.
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UA GRANTED PATENT FOR SIDELINE PRIVACY TENT The University of Alabama was recently awarded a patent for a medical privacy tent developed by engineering students and Crimson Tide Athletics, firmly protecting the tent’s unique capability to easily expand or collapse on the sideline of a football field. Now called the SidelinER, it can set up within seconds without blocking the view of fans watching the game. Most of the game, the tent is collapsed onto the ground, but if an injured player needs an evaluation by the medical staff, it quickly expands over the examination table. Debuting on the sidelines of Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2015, the SidelinER was used on every sideline in the NFL and the bulk of major college football teams during the past season. In 2016, UA’s Office for Technology Transfer licensed the technology to Kinematic Sports, a company formed by Jeff Allen, director of sports medicine at UA, who was part of the team that developed the tent, and two of the engineering students, Jared Cassity and Patrick Powell, who worked on the senior design project. The United States patent was granted Jan. 2, covering the collapsible and portable design. Allen, Cassity and Powell are the inventors, along with Jared Porteous and Christian Parris, the other two engineering students on the project. The students all graduated in 2015.
Jeff Allen, director of sports medicine at UA, demonstrates an exam inside the SidelinER.
After three seasons with the SidelinER, Allen said it has become a critical part of sideline medical care. Kinematic Sports has space in The Edge, a business incubator in downtown Tuscaloosa that is a joint project between UA, the city of Tuscaloosa and the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama. Cassity leads the company, which is becoming a job creator for the area. Allen hopes the SidelinER can continue its momentum in college sports as well as prep football with possible applications in emergency response and the military as future markets.
FROM UA GRAD TO OUTER SPACE, HINES SELECTED AS ASTRONAUT CANDIDATE When Bob Hines was 6 years old, he witnessed an event that would forever change the trajectory of his life: the launch of NASA’s first space shuttle, the STS-1, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 12, 1981. As the shuttle cleared the tower propelled by a thick blast of fire, it was at that moment that Hines fell in love with space and began to dream about the stars. He took small steps toward making himself eligible to become an astronaut, and it paid off. In August 2017, the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, native reported for duty at the Johnson Space Center in Houston as part of NASA’s 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. He was selected as one of 12 candidates from a pool of 18,300 applicants – the largest number of applicants in the space program’s history. The candidates are undergoing two years of training at the space center where they will be assigned a variety of missions, including performing research on the International Space Station, launching from American soil on spacecraft built by commercial companies and departing for deep space missions on NASA’s new Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket, according to NASA. Upon completing the intense two-year training program, Hines and the other candidates will officially be assignable astronauts and ready for technical duties within the astronaut office.
Bob Hines, NASA 2017 astronaut candidate
He served in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserves for 18 years. During the last five years, he has served as a research/test pilot at the Johnson Space Center. In addition to flying, Hines wanted to learn how aircrafts worked and got into engineering. In 2010, he earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from The University of Alabama. John Baker, head of UA’s department of aerospace engineering and mechanics, said Hines is the second astronaut to graduate with a master’s degree from the department. The first was Col. James Kelly, who graduated in 1996.
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MINERAL ENGINEERING ALUMNA RECOGNIZED BY THE CAPSTONE An engineering alumna was recognized during a banquet this fall that honored the influence of women at the Capstone. Vicki Hollub, a 1981 mineral engineering graduate, was one of 20 female trailblazers honored by The University of Alabama at the 1893 Jubilee Dinner Sept. 7. The dinner was the signature event of the University’s 125 Years of Women yearlong celebration of the contributions UA women have made to the campus, nation and world. The women were selected based on their accomplishments on campus or in their respective fields following their time at UA. Aside from dinner, the event included recognitions by UA President Stuart R. Bell and his wife, Susan, who served as honorary chair of the 125 Years of Women organizing committee; a video highlighting all trailblazers; and a grand finale. Hollub became the first female CEO of a major U.S. oil and gas company in April 2016 when she was named president and chief executive officer of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation. She has worked at Occidental since 1981, and
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Vicki Hollub was honored by The University of Alabama during the 1893 Jubilee Celebrating 125 Years of Women at UA.
was previously president and chief operating officer, where she managed Occidental’s worldwide oil and gas operations, as well as the company’s chemicals and midstream operations. She has held a variety of positions on three continents, including roles in Russia, Venezuela, Ecuador and the United States.
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ALUMNI DYNAMICS
Jobs. Promotions. Awards.
SOMETHING WE MISSED? Please send us your professional achievements and recognitions for inclusion in Alumni Notes by visiting eng.ua.edu/ alumni/update. R. Myrk Harkins
Col. R. David McNeil
Sid Leach
Linda Blevins
1975
1989
2004
R. Myrk Harkins, BSCE, retired from Alabama Power as vice president of special projects in 2017. The Tuscaloosa native began working at Alabama Power after he graduated from UA.
Dr. Linda Blevins, BSME, was appointed to serve as deputy assistant director for the National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering. The directorate invests in engineering research and education to create critical building blocks for the nation’s future health, prosperity and security.
Ken Todd, BSCE, was promoted to vice president of construction for McAbee Construction, Inc. and is now responsible for field construction activities and personnel. Todd joined the company as an intern in 2003, became a full-time assistant project manager the following year and was promoted to project manager in 2007.
Sid Leach, BSEE, received the honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Arizona because of his work supporting higher education through protecting intellectual property and shaping the school’s astronomy department. He is a partner in the Snell and Wilmer law firm’s Phoenix office. In 2017, Leach was selected as a 2017 “Lawyer of the Year” in Trademark Law by The Best Lawyers in America®.
1980 Col. R. David McNeil, BSEE, was recognized by the U.S. Small Business Association as the 2018 Small Business Person of the Year for the state of South Carolina. He is the president and CEO of Hannah Solar Government Services. A ceremony was hosted in Washington D.C. this spring to honor McNeil and the other 51 state winners of the Small Business Person of the Year award.
Sam Fleming
1992 Sam Fleming, BSCE, MSCE ’93, was promoted to associate vice president of the stormwater and resilience department at Dewberry, a privately held professional services firm. Based in the firm’s Atlanta, Georgia, office, Fleming has been with Dewberry for nearly 10 years and worked in the civil engineering industry for 23.
2014 Dr. Yonas Niguse, MSME, Ph.D. ’15, was honored with the Mechanical Engineering Teacher of the Year Award and the Excellence in Academic Advising Award by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he is a professor of practice in the university’s College of Engineering.
1999 Vance Ballard, BSME, MBA ’03, was recently interviewed by BHM BIZ magazine about his company B&B Construction Company Group, LLC, which he has owned since 2012.
Vance Ballard
Ken Todd
Dr. Yonas Niguse
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ALUMNI DYNAMICS
IN MEMORY
DOYLE W. BLAIR
WILLIAM A. HUGHES
Doyle Winston Blair, of Gadsden, died Dec. 15, 2017. Blair graduated from Albertville High School in 1951, and The University of Alabama in 1961. He served as president of consulting, civil engineering and surveying firm Jones, Blair, Waldrup, and Tucker, Inc. from 1983 until his retirement in 2002. During his tenure as president, the firm was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.
William “Billy” Hughes died May 9, in Birmingham. Born in Montgomery, he graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in 1952, and from The University of Alabama in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He was a member of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. Hughes served two and a half years as an officer in the U.S. Navy stationed in Jacksonville, Florida; Norfolk, Virginia; and Alaska, where he participated in the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Following his tour of duty, he returned to Birmingham where he joined Warren Brothers, and later Southeast Contractors, as a partner in one of the largest road construction companies in the south. In 1975, Hughes returned to Montgomery as co-owner of Capital City Asphalt, a title he retained until the company was sold in 1986 to APAC. He remained with APAC as division president until he retired in 1991. Hughes received an Outstanding Fellow Award from UA’s civil engineering department in 1987, and in 1988, he was named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow by the UA College of Engineering. He was president of the Alabama Asphalt Pavement Association, president of the Alabama Road Builders Association, and was later inducted into the Alabama Road Builders Hall of Fame.
JAMES L. EVERS, PH.D. James Leonard Evers died May 2, in Northport. Born in Old Texas, Alabama, he graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in engineering in 1959. Evers worked for Regal Textile Corporation for three years before returning to UA to pursue a doctorate in engineering. While at UA, he received a scholarship to attend Von Karman Institute, Brussels, Belgium to study aerodynamics. After earning his doctorate, Evers accepted a teaching position at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. During his 30 years at Southern Illinois, he held the positions of associate professor, acting chair of the department of technology, and associate dean of the College of Engineering and Technology.
JOHN B. KARRH, PH.D. BRIG. GEN. ROBERT C. HAWLK Brig. Gen. Robert “Bob” Hawlk died May 12, in the Atlanta area. He was raised in Audubon, New Jersey, and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Lafayette College and a master’s degree at The University of Alabama in 1960. Hawlk entered the U.S. Army in 1953, and served as an infantry officer in Korea. He then had a career in army research, development and logistics with tours in Europe, the Far East, South East Asia (Vietnam), and numerous posts in the United States, including the Offices of the Secretary of the Army and Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon. Hawlk left military service as director of army logistic readiness in 1980 as a brigadier general. After his retirement, he accepted a position with the National Industries for the Severely Handicapped (NISH). In 1988, Hawlk was recognized as a Distinguished Engineering Fellow by the UA College of Engineering.
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Dr. John Barnard Karrh died Dec. 5, 2017, in Statesboro, Georgia. Born in Fort Payne, Karrh was a veteran of the U.S. Navy having served in the Korean War. He received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from The University of Alabama in 1958, his master’s degree from Stanford University in 1959, and his doctorate from The University of Alabama in 1970, all in civil engineering. Karrh worked with the Alabama Highway Department for more than 10 years as district engineer. He then began his career in education with the University of South Alabama as a professor of civil engineering for 18 years. He moved to Statesboro in 1988 where he was a professor at Georgia Southern University for 10 years. Karrh retired as a full professor and professor emeritus with GSU in 1998. He was a registered professional engineer, a licensed land surveyor and a member of the Theta Tau Professional Engineering Society.
ALUMNI DYNAMICS
HENRY B. WAITES, PH.D.
CARL E. WINKLER, PH.D.
Dr. Henry Burton Waites died Jan. 19, in Huntsville. He was born in Louisville, Mississippi, but lived the majority of his life in Huntsville. Waites graduated from Huntsville High School in 1959. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from The University of Alabama in 1963, master’s degrees in mathematics and engineering mechanics from The University of Alabama System, and a doctorate in control systems engineering from The University of Alabama in 1978. He spent his career working at NASA beginning as a summer employee while in college and eventually becoming a chief researcher of systems at his retirement in 1998.
Dr. Carl Emil Winkler died Dec. 8, 2017, in Huntsville. He grew up in New Hampshire and graduated from West High School in Manchester. Winkler received a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1949, and a master’s and doctorate from The University of Alabama, all in electrical engineering. He began his career working for the Public Service Company of New Hampshire from 1949-1951. Winkler went to Huntsville when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951 and was ordered to report to Redstone Arsenal to work on the Army’s newly created Science and Professional Program with the German rocket team. He transferred to the newly formed NASA in 1960. Winkler had a long career with NASA working in the Astrionics Lab, the Space Sciences Lab, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility. He was honored with NASA’s 45 Year Service Award.
FRIENDS WE WILL MISS John R. Admire, Ph.D. ‘69
Herbert E. Gay, BSIE ‘59
Lloyd A. Rafalsky, BSEE ‘65
John C. Alford Jr., BSEE ‘50
Louis D. Gaynor, BSMtE ‘60
Victor I. Richard Jr., BSCE ‘57
Robert M. Alt, BSAE ‘48
Meredith H. Green, BSCE ‘52
Erfred Richardson Jr., BSIE ‘63
Roy M. Alverson, BSCE ‘65
Carl E. Hall, BSIE ‘61
Russell T. Ryan, MSChE ‘47
Jack S. Barr, BSME ‘52
James W. Hannah, BSAE ‘58
Thomas N. Shipley, BSChE ‘37
James Beard, BSChE ‘58
David E. Hendrix, BSMtE ‘76
William L. Shrader, BSME ‘50
John H. Beyer, BSChE ‘52
William C. Hollis, BSAE ‘57
Alexander V. Siaweleski, BSIE ‘50
Jack C. Bobo, BSME ‘66
Geoffrey E. Huddleston, BSCE ‘69
Kenneth L. Smith, BSCE ‘63
Philip H. Bradley, BSMinE ‘51
Frank E. Huey, BSChE ‘42
Jan H. Sodergren, BSME ‘60
Jonathan D. Burns, BSChE ‘09
Scott E. Junkin, BSME ‘01
Jobe N. Statum, BSMtE ‘62
Paul C. Campbell, BSEET ‘83
James R. Martin, BSIE ‘49
Lloyd T. Steinmetz Jr., BSEE ‘49
John S. Carr, BSCE ‘63
Terence F. Martin, BSAE ‘67
Harold E. Stubbs, MSIE ‘60
Marie D. Charnofsky, BSCE ‘56
Timothy C. Martin, BSEE ‘88
James E. Thomas Sr., BSEE ‘78
Archie B. Clayton, BSIE ‘49
Malcolm B. Mathieson Sr., BSME ‘54
Robert W. Thompson, BSAE ‘59
Henry E. Cleveland Jr., BSMtE ‘62
Roderick D. McKenzie Jr., BSEE ‘80
Lester N. Waddell Jr., BSEE ‘58
Homer B. Coleman Sr., BSChE ‘58
Milton H. McKinney, BSMtE ‘53
John D. Wastrack, BSCS ‘16
Joseph W. Connaughton, BSChE ‘50
Clarence H. Merkl Jr., BSME ‘48
Bernard Weitzman, BSCE ‘48
Joseph F. Conte, BSEE ‘49
Clinton E. Miller Jr., BSAE ‘58
William B. White, BSEE ‘63
Johnny M. Dedeaux, BSIE ‘68
Charles A. Peters, BSIE ‘50
Fred C. Williamson Jr., BSME ‘49
Gerald Z. Demers, MSMh ‘62
Raymond A. Petty, BSAE ‘53
James M. Woods, BSCE ‘93
James A. Everitt, BSAE ‘66
Admiral S. Piper, MSEE ‘69
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BITS & BYTES
BITS & BYTES The College from Outside
Dr. Jeff Gray
“The grant is a pre-service preparation pathway that will enable secondary math education students to be prepared to offer a computer science course at their future high school.” – Dr. Jeff Gray, UA computer science professor and principal investigator of the grant, in the article “Grant will help UA train future teachers” in the Tuscaloosa News.
“These skills they pick up along the way and refine are things that will make them competitive when they enter the work environment. These are skills that transcend just a high-altitude balloon project.” – Morgan Minton, team adviser and instructor in the UA Freshman Engineering program, in the article “University of Alabama student’s team up with NASA for solar eclipse” on yellowhammernews.com. “That is the norm in engineering. You calculate the force and design to the force.” – Blair Butler, a May 2018 civil, construction and environmental engineering master’s degree graduate, in the article “Research could improve storm shelters” in the Tuscaloosa News. “Reading that letter today was so surreal. Words cannot express how grateful I am. Everyone involved in this program, including the coaches, my teammates and all of the support staff, is amazing, and I am blessed to be a part of this team.” – Taylor Berry, chemical and biological Taylor Berry engineering student and women’s basketball player, in the article “Women’s basketball tips off official practice slate; Taylor Berry awarded scholarship” on rolltide.com.
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“I think it has unbelievable potential. I believe that even more now that we’ve gotten into it. Certainly, I knew it had potential within the sports world. But, now, to think where this could evolve to based on calls that we’ve gotten and interest that we’ve had from paramedic groups, EMS groups, the military, groups that we never envisioned getting interest from, I think there’s endless potential.” – Jeff Allen, UA director of sports medicine, in the article “Patent awarded to Alabama football invention” on AL.com. “Together we are developing a program where outstanding UA graduates can do their Ph.D. dissertation research in the Mercedes-Benz labs in Germany working on scientific challenges and gaining hands-on experience in an industrial setting. These Ph.D. engineers will be an extremely valuable asset to the automotive industry in Alabama.” – Dr. Bharat Balasubramanian, executive director of UA’s Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies and engineering professor, in “Alabama universities plug into industry with auto research projects” on madeinalabama.com.
Katie Wright
“I always try to ask for more responsibility so I can learn as much as possible. My motto and biggest piece of advice for other students is to open up your mind and learn from those around you.” – Katie Wright, co-op student with Southern Company and mechanical engineering student, in the article “Alabama Power intern works to make her dream a reality” on southerncompany.com.
“The Cube truly offers students the experience that companies look for on a resume, and helps give students the skills to set them apart from the average student.” – Zack Andrews, aerospace engineering and mechanics student, in the article “Students collaborate and create in The Cube, a group of six accessible engineering labs” in The Crimson White.
“We have done immense amounts of work for the University and especially athletics. One of the more interesting projects we have done was for Kenyan Drake, a former running back for the football team. They created a carbon-fiber cast that had an opening on the inside of his forearm for him to feel the ball while he played. In fact, in the very first play he ran in the SEC Championship game, he instinctively stiffarmed a defender without any repercussions, seeing as the cast was a perfect fit for him.” – Zack Andrews, aerospace engineering and mechanics student, in the article “Students collaborate and create in The Cube, a group of six accessible engineering labs” in The Crimson White.
Ike Whalen
“As my classes get much more complex and I visualize my work in the future, I see this being a very valuable resource. Not only can I learn how these machines operate for free, but this will definitely help me as I apply for jobs in the future.” – said Ike Whalen, aerospace engineering student, in the article “Students collaborate and create in The Cube, a group of six accessible engineering labs” in The Crimson White.
“Since I was a kid, I knew that I loved engineering, machines, engines, everything related to that. The idea of creating something out of nowhere really excites me. And the idea of fighting the gravity law is pretty cool. Humans, we can go from Point A to Point B, but the idea of getting something, an object, fighting gravity for a long time is a cool idea.” – Celia Jimenez Delgado, aerospace engineering student and women’s soccer player, in the article “Where aerospace engineering and NCAA soccer meet” on espn.com.
“By 2025, 60 percent of vehicle content will be software and electrical/electronic systems. The rest will be classical mechanical systems. We’re going to need more engineers and more infrastructure to prepare for those needs.” – Dr. Bharat Balasubramanian, executive director of UA’s Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies and engineering professor, in “Electric cars, self-driving cars - where is auto industry going?” on al.com. “We expect graduates of this program will provide our nation with a solid foundation of expertise in precise time. Because the unique discipline of precise time is practiced in only a few specialized locations, we must ensure the technology and knowledge base continue to grow for tomorrow’s workforce and ultimately for the security of the nation.” – said Rear Adm. John Okon, commander of the Naval Rear Adm. John Okon Meteorology and Oceanography Command, in the press release “Naval oceanography partners with University of Alabama for precise timing educational program” on navy.mil. “The P3 program provides a unique opportunity for students to be involved throughout the stages of a research project, from literature review, experimental design and proposal writing, to conducting the research, presenting a poster and writing the final report. The P3 program is an invaluable opportunity for aspiring researchers and academics to experience all stages of a research project.” – Dr. Mark Elliott, UA civil, construction and environmental engineering associate professor, in the press release “EPA Awards more than $28,000 in grants to the University of Alabama for innovative technology projects” on epa.gov “Computer science students, more than any major on campus, have this ability to become entrepreneurs from results of even classroom projects. We have a lot of companies and a lot of third parties asking us to develop apps for them but our students have their own ideas, their own creations, that they want to explore.” – Dr. Jeff Gray, UA computer science professor, in the article “UA student technology advances outside of research” in The Crimson White.
Celia Jimenez Delgado
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Dear Alumni and Friends, What a rich history the College of Engineering has at The University of Alabama! We are excited to highlight the accomplishments of so many pioneering women in this edition of the Capstone Engineer. These incredible women have led and continue to lead by example, paving the way for our current and future students. With 24 percent of our student population being female, we need more alumnae to mentor and engage our students by providing job shadowing opportunities, participating in College events and organizations such as the Society of Women Engineers, and joining the Capstone Engineering Society and the CES LinkedIn group. In the spring edition of the Capstone Engineer, I provided ways that all of our alumni and friends can engage with the College. I wish to share the information with you again. •
Update your personal and professional contact information at eng.ua.edu/Alumni/update-your-information
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Support the CES, your College alumni association, at ces.eng.ua.edu
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Join the CES LinkedIn Group at eng.ua.edu> click the LinkedIn icon
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Tell us how you wish to engage with the College of Engineering: • Host a networking reception for students and/or professionals in your area or become an event sponsor • Support student organizations and projects with your time or resources • Provide student job shadowing opportunities at your company • Assist with mock interviews or senior design projects • Share employment announcements at your company with the CES, the new American Cast Iron Pipe Company Engineering Career Development Center, and the CES LinkedIn Group • Conduct an information session on your company on campus • Help the College develop partnerships with companies or industry • Establish a student scholarship or support fund - personally, with your company, or with other alumni and friends • Mentor a junior or senior to help them transition from college to career – (Mentor UPP: Undergraduate Professional Program registration will open in April 2019) • Share your ideas on how you wish to engage with the College and the CES at eng.ua.edu/support/get-involved
Thank you for supporting our students, the College of Engineering and the CES. We are looking forward to another year of growth and opportunity for our students, alumni and friends. Your time and generosity have and will continue to make an impact for years to come. Roll Tide!
Nancy Holmes
Manager, Capstone Engineering Society and Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement
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Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID The University of Alabama
Capstone Engineering Society College of Engineering Box 870200 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0200
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OCT. 13 vs. MISSOURI 3 HOURS BEFORE KICKOFF ON THE QUAD IN TENT D1