UofM Herff Publication | Spring 2020

RE-ENGINEERING

t h e

Logistics

Additive Manufacturing

f u t u r e o f

Computer Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Student Empowerment

Rewarding Careers

Transportation

Herff College of Engineering University of Memphis

SPRING 2020

e n g i n e e r i n g

Exceptional Education

Tissue Regeneration

Biomedical Engineering

A BOLD V IS I O N F O R T HE F U T U RE Welcome to the Memphis Engineering Magazine — a publication dedicated to educational innovation and research at the Herff College of Engineering at the University of Memphis.

attract and serve students from the Memphis metropolitan regions as well as rural West Tennessee. While a majority of our student population comes from these areas, we also attract students from all over the world.

Currently, our enrollment of AfricanAmerican, Hispanic, Pacific Islander and Native American students at the Herff College of Engineering sits at 30%, nearly double the national average for engineering colleges in the U.S. But we aren’t stopping there; we are fully committed to growing our diversity in all areas. That means also driving efforts to eradicate the environmental and social barriers that continue to block women’s progress in STEM. At this time, 21% of our student population is comprised of women, just shy of the national average of 22.8%. Considering women make up more than half of the U.S. population, these numbers are not representative of where we’d like to be, both in the STEM community and at Herff. We can and will continue to create and promote programs to foster inclusivity and elevate our underrepresented populations.

how Herff is re-engineering the future of engineering education

We recently succeeded in surpassing the midpoint of a strategic plan that was implemented not long after I became dean. This plan set the framework for several significant successes, including an increase in outstanding faculty hires, an upward trajectory of sponsored research and research expenditures, a substantial rise in overall enrollment and notable increases in both capital and annual fundraising. Of these achievements, I am particularly proud of our efforts to increase our undergraduate population. Between 2013 and 2018, overall undergraduate enrollment increased 37% and Bachelor of Science degree completion increased 50%. Additionally, as a result of our recruitment efforts, the Herff Merit Scholarship program and other student success initiatives, the college has witnessed a remarkable 137% increase in first-time freshmen.

student diversity

technical expertise

faculty-led research

community involvement

However, growing our student population hasn’t been our only concern. We’ve also committed ourselves to achieving a transformative and inclusive experience for all students — specifically those who have been historically underrepresented. We are working diligently to ensure our student population is representative of the diverse communities where we live and work. We are proud to 1

While we are proud of our accomplishments, we must continue to do more to cultivate an inclusive learning environment where every student can experience a sense of belonging and engagement. Doing so means our exceptional students can further diversify the engineering workforce once they graduate, facilitating our progress toward a STEM community that more precisely reflects the diversity of society.

“Herff has always been a powerhouse of innovation...”

Herff has always been a powerhouse of innovation — developing and fostering people, ideas and new technologies that will transform the world of tomorrow. Our faculty are funded and recognized by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, just to name a few.

As you will read in this magazine, our faculty and students are developing some truly amazing technologies. From transforming the human body’s innate immune system response to generating advanced manufacturing techniques to enhancing student learning through public and private partnerships, we are shaping the future in unique, life-altering ways — and providing students with a STEMfocused identity as solid as our reputation.

It is our privilege to contribute to society by educating and preparing graduates for careers that improve the quality of life for everyone.

I hope you enjoy this issue of Memphis Engineering Magazine; as always, thank you for your interest in the Herff College of Engineering at the University of Memphis.

sincerely,

Dr. Richard J. Sweigard Dean, Herff College of Engineering 2

NEWS happening at Herff

1 the tech of tomorrow: researchers printing wearable sensors Dr. Bashir I. Morshed, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Embedded Systems Advanced Research and Prototyping (ESARP) Lab, has been awarded $499,841 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) project titled “Inkjet Printed Flexible Electronic CPS with Context-aware Events of Interest Detection.”

Morshed and his team are paving the way for low-cost, high-density sensor integration for devices of the future. This project will develop body-worn, flexible sensors fabricated using low-cost inkjet printing technology on thin film polymers. It will also provide algorithms capable of automatically detecting health events as well as real-time, data-reliability metrics from an analyzed sensor and context data.

Achieving this level of ingenuity requires overcoming current technological barriers associated with seamless integration of computation and physical domains as well as meaningful interpretation of multimodal and multigrain data of scalable CPS. Ultimately, the research is expected to impact additive manufacturing methods, flexible electronics, health monitoring and smart and connected communities’ initiatives. It will also provide training for undergraduate and graduate students and expose the next generation of scholars and workers to these technologies through a Summer Code Camp for high school students.

Co-principal investigators include Tomoko Fujiwara, PhD, associate professor, UofM Department of Chemistry; Frank Andrasik, PhD, distinguished professor and chair, UofM Department of Psychology; Robert Hewitt, associate professor, UofM Engineering Technology; Rajesh Kabra, MD, cardiologist, associate professor of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and Mamunur Rahman, MD, Baptist Minor Medical Center, will serve as the consultant for the project.

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aerosol technology revolutionizing additive manufacturing Dr. Ranga Gopalakrishnan, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded a threeyear grant totaling $199,673 from the National Science Foundation. His project “An Effective Potential Approach to the Modeling of Concentrated Dusty Plasmas” will develop a more complete understanding of the complex multi-body electrostatic interaction between grain populations in dusty plasmas and ions/electrons.

This work is significant for contamination control in the semiconductor manufacturing industry and is also expected to unravel basic aspects of electrostatically correlated grain motion of relevance to explosions, flames and powder handlers.

Gopalakrishnan’s research focuses on applying aerosol science and technology to Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes as well as the fundamental aspects of aerosol science. In broad terms, his lab focuses on two types of research: • Aerosol deposition of ceramic materials for low-cost processing of coatings of diverse materials for renewable energy, biomedical and defense applications; and • Langevin dynamics modeling of collision processes in aerosols and dusty plasmas.

3 diving into industrial impact on groundwater With storm runoff from industrial activities being a major source of water pollution, Dr. Maryam Salehi, assistant professor of Civil Engineering, is investigating the process by which pollutants enter the groundwater system. Through this research, Salehi will assist state and federal regulatory decision makers in recognizing the impacts of industrial activities on local creeks and streams.

Salehi’s research will also further the U.S. Geological Survey’s national mission to increase knowledge of water quality and assist in evaluation of how climate and landscape changes influence the water resources.

professor making waves with transformational new patent Dr. Mohd. Hasan Ali, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Electric Power and Energy Systems (EPES) Laboratory, received a patent for his research “Apparatus for Mitigation of Adverse Effects of Geomagnetically Induced Currents on Transformers.”

In power systems, geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) are quasi-DC currents and consequently cause saturation of transformers. This, in turn, results in a nonlinear operation of the transformer as well as a significant increase of the exiting current. All of this may then lead to the generation of harmonics in the electricity, unnecessary relay tripping, increased reactive power demands, voltage fluctuations and drops and even a blackout of the whole system.

Transformers may be overheated and, in the worst case, permanently damaged. Therefore, the mitigation of GIC effects on transformers is very important. This invention proposes a novel and cost-effective method of mitigating the adverse effects of GIC on transformers by using a fuzzy logic controlled variable resistor.

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7 5 McGinnis on the move: new co-director for CfIA Dr. Jim McGinnis, associate professor of Engineering Technology, was recently named co-director of the University of Memphis Center for Information Assurance (CfIA), a nationally-designated Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education and Research (CAE-CDE, CAE-R) by the National Security Agency – Department of Homeland Security. The CfIA focuses on researching areas such as negative authentication, adaption multifactor authentication, smart-grid security and Game Theory and Cyber Security (GTCS) which explores the application of game theory to network security.

In this research environment, both undergraduates and postgraduates have the opportunity to work on federally-funded projects such as cyber-defense competitions and security challenges, which provide them with opportunities to put theoretical knowledge into practice.

In his role as co-director of CfIA, McGinnis will serve as the CfIA representative to the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium (NCPC).

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6 more to Master at UofM The Department of Engineering Technology has launched an online Master of Science in Engineering Technology. Students may choose a project-based or thesis-driven path with additional options for coursework in computers, electronics and/or manufacturing. Providing multiple pathways allows students to design a unique course of study.

This program is ideal for students interested in developing marketable skills to meet evolving workforce demands in relation to product improvement, industrial practices and interaction of engineering technology with operations.

Students may also choose to add a graduate certificate in Applied Lean Leadership, giving them the opportunity to learn about Lean process techniques and methodologies to ultimately build better organizational systems.

The MSET program is part of UofM Global, which currently houses more than 60 fully-online graduate and undergraduate academic programs at the University of Memphis. Learn more about UofM Global — recently ranked as the No. 1 online college in the state of Tennessee — at memphis.edu/uofmglobal.

Bumgardner tapped to lead biomedical engineering Dr. Joel Bumgardner has been named chair of Biomedical Engineering, replacing Dr. Gene Eckstein who retired last spring after 19 years in this role.

Bumgardner’s areas of research include dental, craniofacial and orthopaedic alloys; corrosion, degradation and surface modification and coatings; bone-cell mechanics and chitosan-based materials for implant coatings; and bone tissue engineering, regenerative medicine engineering and drug delivery. He has over 100 journal articles, 17 book chapters, six patent disclosures (two licensed for infection abatement therapies using chitosan materials) and 215+ presentations and lectures. He is a co-editor of a recent two-volume book series on chitosan-based materials.

In addition, Bumgardner is an elected Fellow (2016) of Biomaterials Science & Engineering, elected Fellow (2011) of the American Institute of Medical & Biological Engineering and a JW Fulbright Scholar (1994), Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. He is active in the American Association for Dental Research, the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) and the American Institute of Medical & Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Bumgardner has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Defense.

9 8 glass half . . . cracked?

The Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER), under the direction of Dr. Brian Waldron, associate professor of Civil Engineering, received a $5 million contract over a five-year period from Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) to conduct extensive research addressing water quality issues with the Memphis Aquifer.

MLGW has grown increasingly concerned over water quality impacts to City of Memphis’ sole source of drinking water, the Memphis Aquifer. Above the Memphis Aquifer is a protective clay layer which shields drinking water from pollution, but gaps in the clay have recently been discovered.

CAESER is tasked with finding more breaches in the clay layer, subsurface mapping of the aquifer and determining how water-use patterns impact groundwater contamination around the breaches. For more information on CAESER, visit water-gis.memphis.edu.

students shine at design competition The University of Memphis Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Student Chapter received third place overall at the 2019 EERI Seismic Design Competition at the Annual EERI Conference held in Vancouver, Canada, last spring.

The Department of Civil Engineering’s team consisted of eight undergraduate students and one graduate student. Each team was tasked with designing a complex tall building model made from balsa wood. Each model was then tested on a shaking table. Students were judged based on several criteria including oral design presentation, a summary poster, architectural design, ability to fit within the design criteria, analytical prediction of their model performance and response of their model during shaking table testing.

The competition was organized by the National EERI Student Leadership Council (SLC) and more than 300 students from eight countries, 16 states and Puerto Rico competed across 39 teams. First place was awarded to Stanford University and second place went to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

University of Memphis team member Paul Montray commented, “Our team put in hundreds of hours in design and construction work to build this tower. We are so grateful to place in the top three in the world.”

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FEATURED ARTICLES in this issue

• cultivating diversity in STEM................... 9 • UofM leading sizable advancements in additive manufacturing. . .................... 15 • biomedical breakthroughs paving the way for prosthetic blood vessels.......19

CULTIVATING DIVERSITY IN STEM

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overhauling STEM identities Important catalysts in the development of diversity in sectors such as STEM includes removing certain long-held cultural and gender-based beliefs and aiding students in the evolution of their own unique STEM identity. Simply put, a STEM identity can positively impact a student’s self-perception and help them to more closely recognize themselves as a scientist, technologist, engineer or mathematician. Currently, certain underrepresented populations may feel unable to align with this identity due to early life experiences and/ or preconceived societal barriers. Because this is often a fundamental reason undergraduate students leave STEM majors and careers, the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program recently awarded the University of Memphis, the University of Colorado at Denver and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis a $5 million grant for the Urban S-STEM Collaboratory project that includes scholarship support to engineering and mathematical science majors across the three institutions. This project will support a diverse set of students in an urban context in their development of a STEM identity.

According to the project’s principal investigator, Dr. Stephanie Ivey, the program will offer students the unique opportunity to associate with a multiurban community of scholars. UofM students will benefit from campus-specific curricular enhancements, including participating in the West Tennessee STEM Hub’s Ambassador Program. It will be important to follow the impact of scholarships and conduct research on improving retention, especially for underrepresented populations who don’t always see themselves fitting in.

Through its five years of funding, the Urban S-STEM Collaboratory will support at least 50 students at each institution for a total of 150 students.

Administrators and faculty from each institutions’ colleges or schools of engineering and mathematics departments will partner to provide academic, social and professional support, plus networking opportunities and career development programming. Results of this project will help meet the national need for a highly skilled workforce in engineering and mathematics and generate knowledge about STEM identity across all disciplines.

representing the underrepresented At Herff, we are committed to creating a culture where diversity and inclusion are foundational components of the learning experience. This means maintaining and supporting the on-campus presence of organizations like the Society of Women in Engineering, the National Society of Black Engineers and the National Science Foundation’s Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP) which work to welcome and support underrepresented populations. Specifically, TLSAMP seeks to increase the number of underrepresented students pursuing graduate education in STEM fields by supporting tutorial programs, supplemental instruction, mentorship programs, student support and undergraduate research opportunities.

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“ Reaching students at a younger age and demonstrating the immense value of a STEM education is paramount to better preparing younger generations for a fulfilling, successful experience throughout and beyond their collegiate career.”

recruiting tomorrow’s engineers According to Ivey, reaching students at a younger age and demonstrating the immense value of a STEM education is paramount to better preparing younger generations for a fulfilling, successful experience throughout and beyond their collegiate career. Under Ivey’s direction, the Herff College of Engineering is entering its 17th year of the Girls Experiencing Engineering (GEE) Program, which seeks to instill in young women the confidence, interest and awareness of the wide array of career opportunities within science, technology and engineering fields. During the week-long, 20-hour intensive sessions, middle and high school participants engage in a hands-on, project-based curriculum featuring dynamic professional engineers as guest speakers.

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Under Ivey’s direction, the Herff College of Engineering is entering its 17th year of the Girls Experiencing Engineering (GEE) Program, which seeks to instill in young women the confidence, interest and awareness of the wide array of career opportunities within science, technology and engineering fields.

In 2018, GEE was recognized by Insight into Diversity magazine as an Inspiring Program in STEM. Since its inception, the GEE program has engaged: • 1,765 students (1,045 unique participants) • 800 teachers • 325+ peer mentors Of the program participants, approximately 88% represent minority groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields. Additionally, of the number of tracked participants having graduated from high school, 98% are attending college and 35% are majoring in a STEM field. What’s more, of the high school girls selected to serve as mentors, 69% are now in engineering majors; 80% are in a STEM major and 97% are in college.

Our West Tennessee STEM Hub is one of seven regional STEM Innovation Hubs in Tennessee supported by the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network (TSIN). The STEM Hub has an active Steering Committee to engage community partners and enhance K-12 STEM education

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in hopes of creating a pipeline of students to address future STEM workforce needs. The Hub also supports teachers in the region with a STEM lending library, professional development opportunities, free lesson plans and various STEM competitions. Additionally, STEM undergraduate majors at the UofM serve as STEM Ambassadors for the Hub and work in K-12 classrooms as tutors and mentors to students. Recent research indicates that the K-12 students working with STEM Ambassadors achieved math performance goals at rates of 12% to 30% higher than that of their middleschool and elementary peers.

Beyond our work on campus, the TransportationSTEM Academy at East High School in Memphis was developed to address STEM workforce needs as part of the work done by the Southeast Transportation Workforce Center (SETWC), a research center at Herff funded by the Federal Highway Administration. In collaboration with the Shelby County school system, this initiative seeks to develop a local, regional and national blueprint for STEM career education and preparation, with a particular focus on the transportation industry.

about Dr. Stephanie Ivey Dr. Stephanie Ivey is the associate dean of Research, a professor with the Department of Civil Engineering and director of the Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute (memphis.edu/ifti) and the Southeast Transportation Workforce Center (memphis.edu/setwc). Her research includes focus on community livability and transportation planning and policy. She is the project director for the West Tennessee STEM Hub (westtnstem.org/). Ivey also has a lengthy and nationally recognized research record focused on STEM and transportation education and workforce issues.

She is a member of the Tennessee STEM Leadership Council and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Transportation Industry Council.

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UofM LEADING SIZABLE ADVANCEMENTS IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Often referred to as 3D metal printing, additive manufacturing produces three-dimensional parts by precisely layering material, which eliminates the need for many traditional methods of manufacturing such as casting molds, injecting plastics and forging tools.

Because additive manufacturing allows for the fabrication of highly complex structures and a significant amount of design freedom, this method is ideal and cost-effective for small batch and/or customized production of polymer, metal or hybrid devices.

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Two Mechanical Engineering professors — Dr. Ebrahim Asadi and Dr. Ali Fatemi — are conducting research in the area of advanced manufacturing, a field with significant global implications for many industries such as aerospace, biomedical, defense, nuclear and automotive. Working on the design of the material and manufacturing process, Asadi serves as assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Metal Additive Manufacturing Laboratory. Fatemi works on mechanical behavior while serving as the Ring Companies endowed professor, the department chair for Mechanical Engineering, as well as director of the Fatigue and Fracture Research Laboratory.

Asadi’s research is centered around designing metal alloys and their processing routes for metal additive manufacturing processes. The Metal Additive Manufacturing Lab works with materials on a microstructural scale, down to their nanostructures relative to the size of a grain or crystal.

Fatemi, one of the world’s leading experts on fatigue and fracture mechanics, uses fatigue tests under “repeated loading” after a part is manufactured.

Fatigue is a process of progressive damage in a structural material due to repeated applications of stress. This is the most prominent failure mode of mechanical components and structures. Additive manufactured metals are most susceptible to fatigue fractures because of the defects and surface roughness generated during the fabrication process. “Since material makeup has a direct correlation to defect porosity and/or surface roughness of a product, my goal is to eliminate these defects by on-the-fly monitoring and controlling of surface roughness during the additive manufacturing process,” Asadi said.

Led by Asadi and Fatemi, this interdisciplinary additive manufacturing initiative involves faculty from Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, Physics and Materials Science and Chemistry. The University’s FedEx Institute of Technology is also supporting the initiative and has established an Additive Manufacturing Research Cluster to seed novel work in this area. Additionally, the Herff College of Engineering is developing new related coursework, a graduate certificate program and training programs for industry professionals to help address a regional skills gap in this growing new area.

Asadi and Fatemi were selected for two Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) projects. The projects are on rapid Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME)- based multiphysics modeling of surface roughness and 17

Fatemi’s work has resulted in several well-known fatigue damage and life prediction models used by different industry sectors. These include the

Fatemi-Socie multiaxial fatigue model,

fatigue performance in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing of titanium alloys. Both projects are sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The goals of the ONR-funded projects are to assess the fatigue damage process and accumulation in additive manufactured metals as well as to develop fatigue life predictive models for safe and reliable operation of components used in aerospace structures.

which is best known among all such models with more than 1,400 citations in Google Scholar and implemented in leading commercial fatigue analysis software. The paper where this model was first published in 1988 has been the most cited paper in the 40-year history of the journal Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures.

“The additive manufacturing fabrication process has many advantages over the traditional subtractive manufacturing processes. These include the ability to fabricate parts with highly complex shapes, integration of multiple parts that do not require joining processes such as welding and on-site fabrication of replacement parts (or parts on demand),” Fatemi explained. “Our work with Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and ONR will provide them the capacity to make airplane part modifications and even print replacement parts onboard an aircraft carrier. In this application, it’s not for the mass production of parts, but in instances when one replacement part is needed.”

The Herff College of Engineering is proud to have such distinguished researchers working across the spectrum of manufacturing to make advancements in a rapidly evolving industry.

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BIOMEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS

AT UofM PAVING THE WAY FOR PROSTHETIC BLOOD VESSELS Disease and aging can damage our blood vessels and lead to blood clots and inflammation, causing atherosclerosis, peripheral artery disease, coronary artery disease and other serious conditions. These vascular conditions lead to pain, changes in the skin color, difficulty walking, ulcers and most seriously, tissue death and amputation. Fortunately, a group of talented researchers at the University of Memphis’ Herff College of Engineering is working diligently to develop a revolutionary solution to change the way we treat cardiovascular disease and “bypass” the complications associated with blood vessel diseases.

The project, led by Dr. Gary L. Bowlin, professor of Biomedical Engineering, Herbert Herff Chair of Excellence, and director of the Tissue Template Engineering and Regeneration Laboratory, is focused on a radical new innovation — a synthetic, off-the-shelf blood vessel replacement that can be implanted into the body. These engineered vessels, once inside the body, will guide the growth of new blood vessels, with the initial implant dissolving slowly over time. As the implant disintegrates, natural healing and regeneration processes within the body will form a new blood vessel in its place.

To create this truly extraordinary biomedical apparatus, Bowlin and his team are working to harness the capacity of neutrophils — white blood cells acting as a first line of defense against invading pathogens and foreign objects. Because the human body is wired to repel any foreign objects, 19

the synthetic blood vessel must be developed using materials and architectures that avoid rejection by the neutrophil. The team’s idea is to harness, or instruct, the body’s self-healing process to drive regeneration of blood vessels via the implanted conduit. The product resembles a drinking straw and is made through a cost-effective fabrication technique called electrospinning. This ready-made prosthetic could replace damaged vessels, greatly improve heart and circulatory conditions, and significantly elevate the quality of life for many — all while driving down medical costs.

Assisting Dr. Bowlin are two of the University’s brightest stars: Allison Fetz, PhD candidate, and William Hunter King, MD-PhD candidate.

Fetz is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Memphis.

With her credentials and fellowship, Fetz could have opted for nearly

any university, but she believed in the work happening at the Herff College of Engineering and chose to continue her work with Bowlin. “Pretty early on as an undergraduate student at Herff, I became a research assistant in the Tissue Template Engineering and Regeneration Laboratory,” said Fetz.

I was working on a novel project to characterize the neutrophil response to electrospun biomaterials and realized that I had a passion for research with true translational potential. Knowing my work at Herff has the ability to improve the quality of life for people around the world kept me here.”

Hunter King is pursuing a dual MD and PhD. He chose to work in the field of biomedical engineering because it is the actualization of science, engineering and medicine. As an MD-PhD student, King works as a research scientist who seeks to solve mechanisms underlying diseases and combine this information with a passion for treating patients in a clinical setting. “I was really impressed with the number of patents and companies that have come about from technology developed in the Tissue Template Engineering and Regeneration Laboratory,” said King. “Because of my career goals, I wanted to train in a laboratory that championed translational research and focused on developing technologies to bring to the patient bedside.”

Bowlin, along with his dedicated students, and their many collaborators are focused on research to improve the quality of life for patients suffering from cardiovascular disease — the world’s number one cause of death. This critically needed, off-the-shelf vascular replacement has been an elusive goal in the field for more than 50 years, and Bowlin’s team is working diligently to make a new, functional vascular prosthetic a reality.

The team’s idea is to harness, or instruct, the body’s self-healing process to drive regeneration of blood vessels via the implanted conduit. The product, as you might imagine, resembles a drinking straw and is made through a cost-effective fabrication technique called electrospinning. This ready-made prosthetic could replace damaged vessels, greatly improve heart and circulatory conditions, and significantly elevate the quality of life for many, all while driving down medical costs.

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re-engineering the future of engineering education student diversity technical expertise faculty-led research community involvement

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president

dean

contributing writers

M. David Rudd

Richard J. Sweigard

Whitney Blackburn Christin Yates

executive vice president for university relations Tammy Hedges

executive editor

Allison Fetz

Meredith Powers

Dr. Gary Bowlin William Hunter King

201 Engineering Administration Building, Memphis, TN 38152 901.678.2171 | engineering@memphis.edu

photography

art direction and design

published by

Trey Clark

Sullivan

John Childress

The University of Memphis Division for External Relations

The University of Memphis Herff College of Engineering

Rhonda Cosentino

Civil Engineering

Smart Grid Technologies Clean Drinking Water

About Tom the Tiger The official mascot of the University of Memphis — and the school’s best-known ambassador — is Tom the Tiger. Today’s Tom III (like those before him) is a live Bengal tiger, who embodies the spirit of the university.

Electrical Engineering

Engineering Technology

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The University of Memphis does not discriminate against students, employees or applicants for admission or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, age, status as a protected veteran, genetic information or any other legally protected class with respect to all employment, programs and activities sponsored by the University of Memphis. The following position has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies: Director for Institutional Equity/Title VI Coordinator, oie@memphis.edu, 156 Administration Building, 901.678.2713. The University of Memphis policy on nondiscrimination can be found at https://memphis.policytech.com/dotNet/documents/?docid=430. UOM791-FY/2M EM Printing

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