UCCS EAS Annual Report 2023-2024 by UCCS

Annual Report 2 0 2 32 0 2 4

Welcome to UCCS

Dear Colleagues, Friends, and Supporters,

As I join UCCS, the college has just undergone a transformational change on campus The most notable change is the addition of two new engineering facilities adjacent to the existing engineering building – a full engineering building and a dedicated design and prototyping center

Our new building expansion was spurred on by employers, donors, and supporters, who saw future possibilities in adding to the facilities and capabilities of our college. Many regional employers, non-profits, and alums came together to advance the mission of the college through the capital campaign to fund, and ultimately build two new facilities with no bonding. Both buildings were fully funded prior to the groundbreaking.

Our student researchers prove every day that they are interested in future developments in engineering, computer science, and cybersecurity. More undergraduate and graduate students than ever before are engaging in research internships, assistantships, poster sessions, competitions, and independent research Two researchers are highlighted in this issue

Our giving partners rose to the challenge and supported new, named scholarships, allowing the college to give out a record amount of money in scholarships

Our research faculty continue to lead the university campus in grant expenditures, while continuing to fulfill our academic mission As an R2 institution, we encourage all students to participate in research with faculty, both undergraduate and graduate Faculty continue to bring in accolades, notable achievements, and grants that elevate our campus and increase student opportunities

Our global senior design program expanded its international footprint in a big way, sending our students to multiple countries, and engineering solutions for all types of clients Some students worked on international teams with students from other universities, while other students worked with international non-profits

Our college is growing! I invite you to read further and see what we are doing. We are grateful for our accomplishments this academic year.

Sincerely,

Ying Shang, Dean UCCS College of Engineering and Applied Science

Expansion: Anschutz Engineering Center

At the encouragement of regional employers in government, defense, and space, UCCS expanded its degree offerings to include an undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering in 2022 and a matching graduate degree in 2024. Building on a 20+ year history of offering a minor in aerospace engineering, the college felt the time was right to expand the program to meet regional workforce needs, and an effort was undertaken to create supportive spaces

The 23,000-square-foot Anschutz Engineering Center added labs, classrooms, student huddle spaces, graduate student labs, an executive meeting space, and faculty offices In addition, a 3,000 square-foot Design and Prototyping Center was built with optimum road access for garage bays to support the senior design program, battery research, fabrication equipment, SAE Formula club, and student collaborative spaces

Both buildings were fully funded at the groundbreaking Major donor, The Anschutz Foundation, wanted to create lasting impact for students by creating a space for learning, collaboration, and exciting opportunities. Many donors supported the building through donations, equipment, and named spaces. Lockheed Martin donated the Orion Spacecraft model that hangs in the peak of the building.

Expansion: Anschutz Engineering Center

The EAS Alumni Room, currently being used as the Computer Science Help Center, was fully funded by alumni gifts, whose names are recognized on the circuit board art wall created by local technical upcycling artist and UCCS alum, Drew Johnson

A student using new, donated Keysight oscilloscope and other equipment in the electronics lab

The inaugural student cohort was full and demand for the degree is high. Colorado is the second largest space economy in the U.S. The increased capacity provided by these two buildings will help the college grow from 1,700 students to 3,100 students by 2030

Resources for the buildings were sourced from traditional vendors, but also with the assistance of supporters, stated Tom Dewar, Executive Director of Development Investing in UCCS takes many forms While financial gifts for scholarships, senior design projects and building sponsorships are most common, the ability to provide “in-kind” investments of equipment, technology and even engineering art, like the Lockheed Martin Orion Spacecraft model in the Anschutz Engineering Center (AEC), can soften the costs of construction projects on our campus As the Anschutz Engineering Center was coming together, Keysight Technologies recognized the critical need for oscilloscopes, power supplies, related equipment, and software, and answered that need through an in-kind investment valued at nearly $500,000. Not only did this eliminate budgeted cost but it provided UCCS students with the most up-to-date equipment for our students’ education.

Student Researchers

Modeling Human Behavior with Game Theory

Undergraduate Researcher

Brendan Gould

Undergraduate researcher

Brendan Gould (BSCS/ Game 2024) developed new ways of thinking and utilized complex mathematical modeling

that resulted in multiple published articles Using game theory, Brendan worked with Dr. Philip Brown to explore Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) safety communications and effects on human behavior.

By studying the way that game theory can predict behavior of human decision makers, the research has the capability to improve societal problems that intersect with technology, like sending emergency messaging to

drivers in vehicles Gould published four papers and made three presentations at refereed conferences, including the American Control Conference and IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.

As an undergraduate student, Gould felt inspired by Dr. Brown and valued his experiences, which ultimately led to his decision to go to graduate school

Characterizing PFAS Fluoropolymers with Machine Learning

Graduate Researcher Tay Tallerday

Tay Tallerday works at the intersection of polymer science and machine learning, contributing to a project through two UCCS labs: Data Science and Advanced Manufacturing Her research, funded by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, focuses on leveraging machine learning techniques to guide synthetic processes

for creating PFAS-free fluoropolymers for energy applications PFAS, often called "forever chemicals", are regulated by the EPA In August, Tallerday presented her work at the prestigious American Chemical Society National Meeting in Denver, CO, and she is currently preparing her first manuscript for submission later this year.

Building on her BS minor in Computer Science, Tallerday embraced the challenge of learning and applying advanced machine learning algorithms to assess the similarity between polymer performance under varying synthesis conditions Reflecting on her journey, she takes pride in the tremendous growth she has

experienced over the past year. She now approaches problems by deeply analyzing their underlying principles and exploring multiple solution pathways - a marked evolution from her earlier, more formulaic problemsolving methods On a personal level, Tallerday has also learned to navigate complex communication challenges, a skill she believes will serve her well in her career. Describing herself as headstrong and resilient, she is ready to make her mark in her field.

Tay Tallerday has a BSME from UCCS, and is working on her MSME

Investing

Reaching New Heights with Spaceflight Research

Noah Grebe Entegris Scholar

Noah Grebe wants to do amazing things and is already reaching new heights Noah, two teammates, and a faculty advisor designed a microgravity experiment to fly in low Earth orbit on the International Space Station Noah is grateful for the Entegris Scholarship that supports his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and will help him become a better engineer. “My family couldn’t support me going to college. The opportunity to focus full-time on academics has opened up opportunities that I never thought I would do, like the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) ” Noah says, “Entegris put their energy into me, and I want to put that energy to further real space research that can benefit engineering as a whole.”

Entegris believes in students and championing their STEM education. As a fast-growing member of the Colorado Springs engineering community, Entegris is pleased to support Noah Grebe and other UCCS students in the pursuit of their dreams through scholarships and internship opportunities ~Entegris

Investing in the Future

Investing in Students: Needs and Experiences

The UCCS Development Team secures financial support for vital needs not covered through student tuition.

Supported areas: Scholarships Despite the distribution of over $700K in aid, there are additional requests to support more students Senior Design Projects. Seniors put their education to work creating solutions for real-world problems.

When individuals, foundations and corporations invest in these efforts, UCCS students excel as they become the highly desired workforce of the future.

Investors are often celebrated through naming opportunities and tailored recognition activities Are you interested in becoming a UCCS College of Engineering and Applied Science investor?

advancement uccs edu/ offices/development 719 255 3543

Investing in the College: Engineering Leadership Council

ABL Space Systems

American Systems

Analog Devices

ARKA

Bal Seal Engineering by KAMAN

Bechtel

Bluestaq LLC

Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc

Capella Space

Colorado Springs Utilities

Community Members

Davidson Technologies

Entegris

FedEx

InnovaFlex

Intelligent Payload Solutions, Inc.

Intrack Radar

Jaxon Engineering

KBR

Keysight Technologies

Kratos

Lockheed Martin

MDA (Missile Defense Agency)

Microchip

MITRE Corporation

NAVSYS Corporation

Northrop Grumman

Nou Systems, Inc

Parsons

Peterson Space Force Base

Philips

Sierra Nevada Company

Symetrix Corporation

The O'Neil Group

V2X

Viavi Solutions

Viking Enterprise Solutions

Innovative Deep Learning: 3D Modeling of Genomics Cell Architecture

fessor in the Computer Science Department and director of the Bioinformatics Lab, was awarded a National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) of $1 6 million for his research in modeling the spatial organization of the genome within a cell using machine learning and deep learning algorithms.

The five-year award will support research to advance the development of sophisticated algorithms for genomics research.

Oluwadare’s research objective is to enhance and fine-tune the computational and machine learning-driven models designed for the reconstruction of 3D chromosome and genome structures New graduate students will be hired to support the project.

The research is focused on addressing the challenges of modeling these structures at a high resolution, which allows for deeper understanding of the relationships between genes and their regulatory elements.

Oluwadare aims to improve human health through big data. “This research holds the promise of elevating our understanding of genome architecture and its impact on various biological processes By developing novel computational models that accurately reconstruct three-dimensional chromosome structures, we can explore previously uncharted territories of gene regulation,” he said. “Ultimately, this research has the potential to significantly influence the diagnosis and treatment of diseases by shedding light on how disturbances in genomic interactions can result in irregular gene expression.”

Graphics: 3D structural reconstructions of individual chromosomes derived from a human lymphoblastoid cell line, illustrating spatial organization and chromatin architecture

Graphics credt: Oluwatosin Oluwadare, hgh resoluton graphics of 3D genome structures

Faculty Research

Highlights

Summary of Activities

Dr. Jena McCollum, Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, $1 Million Club for Sponsored Research, NSF CAREER Award

Dr Oluwatosin Oluwadare, Assistant Professor, Computer Science

National Institutes of Health

Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA)

Dr Shouhuai Xu, Professor, Computer Science, Gallogly Endowed Engineering Chair in Cybersecurity, NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing Space Technologies, USCYBERCOM CyberRecon Hunter Award (2024), USCYBERCOM Analyst Award (2023)

New Awards 2023-2024

Gretchen Bliss & Joshua Alcorn – GenCyber Combination Teacher and Student Grant National Security Agency

Gedare Bloom & Katrina Rosemond – Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program (DDETFP) Graduate Fellowship. Federal Highway Administration Award

Gedare Bloom & Yanyan Zhuang – ERI: ECCS: Concealing Side-Channels in Real-Time Schedulers. Wichita State University

Jugal Kalita & Armin Moin – REU Site: Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing. National Science Foundation Award

Jugal Kalita & Joshua Alcorn – 2023DoD Cyber Scholarship Program. National Security Agency

Jena McCollum – Mechanical Property Characterization of FK-800 Polymers. Triad National Security –Los Alamos National Laboratory Award

Hui Wan – Catcherllite: An Orbit Cleaner for Untraceable Space Debris AD Engineering Award

Greg Williams, Oluwatosin Oluwadare, & Yanyan Zhuang – CC* Campus Computer: Building a

Computational Cluster for Scientific Discovery National Science Foundation

Shouhuai Xu – CR2M: Cyber Risks to Missions Management: Framework, Techniques and Prototype

National Security Agency

Shouhuai Xu – NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing Space Technologies (CO) Catalyst Campus for Technology & Innovation

Yanyan Zhuang – CICI: RDP: Enforcing Security and Privacy Policies to Protect Research Data UCLA Sub Award

Senior Design Goes Global

The Senior Design program has undergone many changes since its inception Two exciting changes provide the students with premier experiences

First, graduating engineering students from all engineering departments were incorporated into one combined senior design program, offering a truly multidisciplinary team experience that much more closely mimics the collaborative work environment they will experience in industry. At UCCS, senior design provides students with real-world problems to solve, provided by employer sponsors These are

unique problems that require students to not only manage their project and team, but to use an engineering process to provide a custom solution for their client

Second, while the program has long included an international component, the number of international project sponsors has grown to 3 continents, and 10 countries. In these international experiences, students work to create

engineering solutions for all types of clients, from international non-profits to major corporations Some UCCS students worked on international teams with students from other universities, while other UCCS students worked with international non-profits and traveled to work with the resident clients to create a locally winning solution

Senior Design Experiences

Getting to travel to Africa and work on our design project with community members in Uganda was such an incredible experience! Learning about the culture and history of Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya had a lasting impact on me. I feel better prepared to work as an engineer after getting hands-on experience in problem solving, project planning and execution, and international collaboration. Understanding the impact of the work that I will do and the potential to create positive change within communities will definitely have a lasting impact on me and what I decide to work on in the future.

Alexa Boerger, Mechanical Engineering