Spring 2018 End of Semester Recap by UNLV College of Engineering

End of Semester Recap Spring 2018

Spring 2017 End of Semester Recap

Spring 2018 End of Semester Recap Highlights Section

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Recruitment

Facilities Improvement

ASC/Engineering Tutoring Lab

Academic Advising

STEM Undergraduate Recruitment

Information Technology (IT) Minor and Certificates

Senior Design Awardees

Research and Graduate Program and Computing

Internships and Career Services

Events

Communications

Foundation/Advisory Boards

Challenges

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Recruitment (Update by Carmen Willis) New Faculty  Mojdeh Asadollahipajouh, Assistant Professor, CEEC (Fall 2018)  James Andro-Vasko, Lecturer, CS (Fall 2018)  Rudolpha (Dolly) Jorgensen, Lecturer, CS (Fall 2018) New Professional Members  Jamie Harvey, Systems Software and Tech Support Administrator, CS Current Searches  Assistant/Associate/Full Professor, Big Data / Health Disparities, CS  Associate/Full Professor and Director of CER, ME  Academic Advisor / Senior Academic Advisor, COE Advising Center  Space, Safety, and Inventory Control Manager, COE

Facilities Improvement (Update by Carmen Willis)  TBE A-301 Lighting – Total cost $4.1K ($2K CS, $2K COE)  OUR Summer Undergraduate Research Funding Support - Total Cost $7.5K  Bid Graham Replacement – Total cost $8K ($2K PI, $2K CEEC, $4K COE)  Barrick Museum AR Project – Total COE $1K  EMiL Service Contracts for Microprobe and FESEM $65K ($22.3K Geosc, $14.3COE, $14.3K VPR, $14.3 CoS)  TBE B-150 power – Total cost $6K ($1K PI, $2K CEEC, $3K COE)  TBE B-113 power – Total cost $26K ($8.5K ME, $17.5K COE)

ASC/Engineering Tutoring Lab (Nikki Koval, Robabeh Jazaei, Anne White)  At the ASC Engineering Tutoring Center TBA-271  Tutoring occurred from January 22 – May 4, 2018  Hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday  Number of visits: 1893  Number of subjects tutored: 74  Number of students served: 287 unique students (105 students visited for more than one course)  1 ASC Graduate Assistant and Two Front Desk Student Workers manage the center Student Feedback EGR Tutoring 94% (62/66) [strongly agree/agree] to improved understanding of the course 82% (53/65) [strongly agree/agree] were more likely to continue with the course 92% (60/65) [strongly agree/agree] to experiencing intellectual growth

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85% (55/65) [strongly agree/agree] felt better equipped for success 85% (55/65) strongly agreed or agreed that they can draw better conclusions from information given in tutoring Comments:  "They make me feel comfortable to learn, I'm not intimidated that I don't know the subject and they're really here to help."  "The engineering tutoring lab and especially (A…), has helped me tremendously this semester."  “I want to thank all the tutors who have helped my friends and I succeed. They all do their best to help even though it can be overwhelming."  "Love this place no real complaints other than maybe more operating hours."  "They are the best." "Everyone is great and very helpful!" ASC/Supplemental Partnership (Michael Ramirez)  SI Sessions partnered with PHYS 180 (Sections 1002 & 1003) Professor: Jason Baker  Sessions held Tuesday/Thursday each week from 4:00-5:00PM, Room TBE B-172  Number of unique students served: 6  Number of visits: 31  Graduate Student served as an SI Leader for the sessions

Academic Advising (Update by Jennifer Kennedy/Chris Parker) 

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Winter/Spring 2018 (Dec. 18, 2017-May 23, 2018) Advising Sessions – 2100 advising sessions, which include individual advising with current students, new transfer students and incoming freshmen; advising through email, phone, drop-in advising, mandatory freshmen group advising and joint-advising with the Honors College. The Advising Center under the coordination of Shae Deschutter continued the practice of freshmen group advising as a mandatory requirement for the spring semester. Students attended group advising in either their EGG 101 lab, or in specially arranged group advising sessions they could sign-up for via Qualtrics. The Advising Center also organized a series of classroom visits during February 2018 as part of a greater outreach effort with our students related to college goals for retention, progression and completion (RPC). Advisors visited approximately 50 different classrooms over the course of three weeks, across all of the disciplines of the college. o Topics discussed included reminders of upcoming scheduling for the summer and fall; discussion of academic assistance resources on campus (tutoring, supplemental instruction, making use of instructor office hours, etc.) o The overall student feedback from classroom visits was very positive, with those respondents indicating that they learned about resources they were previously

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unaware of, were able to get quick questions answered related to academic and personal success, and reminded them of upcoming events and deadlines. The Advising Center continued outreach based on those mid-semester grades submitted (the Provost’s Office no longer requires 100-200 level instructors provide grades). Outreach was conducted via e-mail communication with students not passing key engineering, math and science courses. The emails encouraged students to meet with faculty, avail themselves of tutoring resources on campus and other academic support, or meet with an advisor about other curriculum alternatives based on their performance in classes through mid-semester. Jaime Carbajal Jr. is leaving the Engineering Advising Center to take a new role at the Academic Success Center as their Senior Academic Success Coaching Coordinator. While we are sad to see Jaime go, we are very happy for him to take on this promotion and new challenge with his work. Jennifer Kennedy completed her Masters in Public Administration in May, congratulations Jen. Advisor cohort assignments will be the following over the summer 2018 semester while a search runs to fill Jaime’s position: o Jennifer Kennedy - Entertainment Engineering & Design, Entertainment Technology & Design o Chris Parker - Civil & Environmental Engineering and Construction Management, Electrical Engineering o Shae Deschutter - Probation & Suspension, FYS, Computer Science o Miles Boulton - Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science o New advisor TBD - Will take the Computer Science students once hired.

STEM Undergraduate Recruitment (Update by Brittany Jackson)  Fall 2018 First-Year & Transfer Admitted Student Profile and Admission Information, UNLV Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering* *current as of (05/01/2018) New first-year student admits (FYR): 887 Transfer admits (TRN): 315 First-Year Admits by Gender Female 161 (18%) Male 725 (82%)

Transfer Admits by Gender Female 73 (23%) Male 241 (77%) Other 1 (<1%) Most Represented Geographic Areas by First-Year Admits Nevada 541 California 109 Hawaii 54

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Illinois Arizona Washington

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First-Year Admit Academic Distribution CEE 10% CEM 3% CpE 11% CS 39% EE 8% EED/ ETD 5% ME 24%

Transfer Admit Academic Distribution CEE 10% CEM 5% CpE 10% CS 46% EE 9% EED/ ETD 3% ME 18%

Most Represented Nevada High Schools Advanced Technologies Academy; Las Vegas, NV Northwest Career & Technical Academy; Las Vegas, NV Coronado High School; Henderson, NV Ed W. Clark High School; Las Vegas, NV Southeast Career & Technical Academy; Las Vegas, NV Silverado High School; Las Vegas, NV West Career & Technical Academy; Las Vegas, NV CSN High School (East, South, West); Las Vegas & Henderson campuses, NV East Career & Technical Academy; Las Vegas, NV Southwest Career & Technical Academy Sierra Vista High School; Las Vegas, NV Centennial High School; Las Vegas, NV Liberty High School; Las Vegas, NV Palo Verde High School; Las Vegas, NV Shadow Ridge High School; Las Vegas, NV Most Represented Out-of-State High Schools Kalani High School; Honolulu, HI Kapolei High School, Kapolei; HI Damien Memorial High School; Honolulu, HI Mililani High School; Mililani, HI

45 29 24 24 24 21 19 18 16 16 15 14 14 14 14

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Fun Facts  Students applied from 36 U.S. States, the District of Columbia, and 18 foreign countries.  Jacob & Michael (12) and Emily, Elizabeth, Hannah, Jessica, and Megan (3) are the most common first names among Engineering first-year admits.

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Engineering Student Ambassadors Program  Joined the Engineering Ambassadors Network in Spring 2018. The EAN is a NSFsponsored initiative comprised of 32 member institutions created to address the gap in undergraduates leading K-12 STEM outreach activities  Two students and Director of Undergraduate Recruitment traveled to Lincoln, NE in April to the Engineering Ambassadors Network Conference to learn best practices in K12 outreach. Discover Engineering Spotlight Tours  Led by Engineering Student Ambassadors and offered every Friday from 2:45pm4:30pm. Prospective students sign up through the UNLV Campus Tours.  Over 530 students participated in Spring 2018 Rebel Preview. We hosted two academic presentations of the College of Engineering programs followed by three tours of the College of Engineering K-12 & Community Outreach  Visited competitors at the FIRST Robotics Regional Competition in March. Three local Las Vegas teams competed in World Finals in Houston.  Over 65 people visited the College of Engineering for Science is Everywhere Day on April 29 for our first year of participation.  Hosted award-winning documentary filmmaker, James Barrat, on the campus of UNLV for an engaging lecture, A.I.: The Promise & Peril on May 1st. Barrat’s films have been featured on National Georgraphic & Discovery.  Participated in the Las Vegas Science & Technology Great Expo at World Market Center on May 5th. The Festival reached nearly 9,000 people in 2017.  Director of Undergraduate Recruitment volunteers on the following community boards/committees: o Las Vegas Science & Technology Festival Planning Committee o Northwest Career & Technical Academy’s Academy of Engineering Advisory Board o FIRST Robotics Regional Planning Committee o Cashman Middle School Academy of Mathematics, Science and Engineering (AMSE)

Information Technology (IT) Minor and Certificates (Update by Kazem Taghva )  Both CS 140 ( Programming in Ruby ), and CS 270 ( web development in Ruby on Rails ) were taught online.  CS 140 was completely full.  We are in the process of developing an online version of our database class ITE 451.

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Senior Design Awards CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING and CONSTRUCTION 1st Place: Vertical Vegas  Instructor – Dr. David James  Faculty Advisor – Dr. Ryan Sherman 2nd Place: The Great Reb-Canopy  Instructor – Dr. David James  Faculty Advisor – Dr. Rama Venkat COMPUTER SCIENCE 1st Place: Fluffy Mates  Instructor – Dr. Ju-Yeon Jo 2nd Place: Vegas GO  Instructor – Dr. Ju-Yeon Jo ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING 1st Place: Solar Atmospheric Water Generator (SAWG)  Instructor – Dr. Grzegorz Chmaj  Faculty Advisor – Dr. Yahia Baghzouz 2nd Place: S.A.F. Drum Tuner  Instructor – Dr. Grzegorz Chmaj  Faculty Advisor – Dr. Brendan Morris ENTERTAINMENT ENGINEERING AND DESIGN Shred SLED  Instructor – Dr. Si Jung “SJ” Kim  Technical Advisor – Michael Genova MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 1st Place: EvoGlove  Instructor: Dr. Stephen Rice  Faculty Advisor: Dr. Georg Mauer & Dr. Merrill R. Landers  Technical Advisor: Jeff Markle 2nd Place: FireHUD  Instructor: Dr. Stephen Rice  Faculty Advisor: Dr. Darrell Pepper  Technical Advisor: Richard Brenner  INTERDISCIPLINARY Lifsink  Instructor: Dr. Stephen Rice

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Faculty Advisor: Dr. William Culbreth Technical Advisor: Tyler Stalbaum

SUSTAINABILITY RebelRot  Instructor: Dr. Stephen Rice  Faculty Advisor: Dr. Georg Mauer  Community Advisor: Tara Pike  Technical Advisor: Terry Kell COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL Surgery Assisting Smart Glasses  Instructor: Dr. Grzegorz Chmaj  Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jacob Baker  Community Advisor: Dr. John Menezes POPULAR CHOICE AWARD Surgery Assisting Smart Glasses  Instructor: Dr. Grzegorz Chmaj  Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jacob Baker  Community Advisor: Dr. John Menezes GRAND PRIZE Surgery Assisting Smart Glasses  Instructor: Dr. Grzegorz Chmaj  Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jacob Baker  Community Advisor: Dr. John Menezes

Research and Graduate Program and Computing (Update by Mohamed Trabia)  92 research proposals were submitted during the second and third quarters of FY 18 totaling over 24 million dollars.  Our faculty were awarded 37 research grants totaling $5,335,000 during the same quarters.  The following are recent examples of funded projects: o Stefik, “Collaborative Research: AccessCS for All: Including Students with Disabilities in at High School Computer Science,” NSF, $472,458. o J. Moon, “Chlorinated Solvents Remediation Using Cost-Effective/Reusable Novel Nanomaterials: Lab Scale Approaches and Process Scaling-Up,” Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC, $189,622. o K. Sun, “Neutron Radiation Hardness of GaN and Wide Bandgap Semiconductors,” Mission Support and Test Services, LLC, $316,000.

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o H. Teng, “Tier 1 University Transportation Center on Rail Infrastructure (RailTeam),” U.S. Department of Transporation, $1,416,900 o Batista, "Bench-Scale Evaluation to Support ZVI-Enhanced Bioremediation (BioZVI) at Galleria drive (NERT) Site, Henderson, Nevada - Task 1," Ramboll US Corporation, $244,635. o S. Bansal, “Metastability and Long-Term Degradation in CIGS Devices: Effect of Alkali Treatments, Back Contact and Emitter Layers,” US Department of Energy, $280,540. o D. James, "Evaluation of Approaches to Determine Mixing and Assimilation of Reuse Effluent" U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, $1900,000. Our M.S. and Ph.D. enrollment numbers are still increasing, 163 and 116 respectively. The ratio of Ph.D. to M.S students has stabilized. We graduated 44 M.S. and and 11 Ph.D. students during the Spring semester.

Internships and Career Services (Updated by Marian) Internships Total Spring Postings for Internships = 70 (up from 60 Spring 2016) *Total Spring Placements for Internships = 107 (# includes multiple openings) Internship Breakdown  Seeking CS – 41  Seeking CEE – 38  Seeking EE/CpE – 37  Seeking ME – 29  Seeking CEM – 16  Seeking EED – 12      

Seeking Senior – 63 Seeking Junior – 59 Seeking Sophomore – 38 Seeking Grad – 37 Seeking Freshman – 23 Seeking PhD – 16

Jobs Total Spring Postings for Jobs = 95 (up from 74 Spring 2016) *Total Spring Placements for Jobs = 54 Job Breakdown  Seeking EE/CpE - 40  Seeking CEE – 38

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Seeking CS - 36 Seeking CEM - 31 Seeking ME - 29 Seeking EED - 12

Spring Career Events  TechConnect ’18 (STEM event that targets CS, EE/CpE, MIS, IT, Math, Science)  Total Employers = 33 (up from 20 in Spring 2017)  Total Attendance = 350 (down from 442 Spring 2017 with ME’s, CEE’s, EED’s not targeted this year) o 14 Premium – Sponsors o 9 Scarlet – Sponsors o 10 Scholarship - Sponsors  Total Funds Raised = $34,600 (up from $26,500 Spring 2017) Battleborn Hackathon/Switch Innevation Center (sponsored by Barrick, UNLV)  24 UNLV engineering students participated in this event with one team winning $2500 for the “Young Innovator’s Award”. Our office assisted with promoting the event to students, held an info session about the event, and attended the event to support UNLV. Student Coaching Sessions (meeting one-on-one to improve resumes, interview skills, etc.) January – May, 2018: 97 (down from 112 Spring 2017) Spring Info Sessions  Geotab  ATI Electrical  San Diego Gas & Electric  Battleborn Hackathon  NV Energy  Stantec EGG 101 Presentations  Computer Science (Guymon Hall)  Civil Engineering (Erica Marti)  Electrical/Computer Engineering (Grzegorz Chmaj)  Mechanical Engineering (Jeff Markle) Website Users (www.unlv.edu/engineering/jobs) January – May 2018 = 16,043. (down from 16,130 in Spring 2017) New Visitors: 22.9% Returning Visitors: 77.1%

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Newsletters – February, March, April Eblasts for jobs/internships – 8 (twice monthly) Employer Visits  Scientific Games  Boyd Gaming  Privato  MSTS  Lockheed Martin  AE Com  Shift4  Additive Rocket Corp.  Zappos  Ahern Rentals  Astound  Hansen Networks  Barrick  Love Engineering  Lane  Startup NV  Honeywell  McCarthy  PRI  Geotab  Kiewit Mentoring Circles Program Mentoring Circles have now increased from 1 to 3. Additional industry partners include Intellimind and Aristocrat Gaming. Mentoring Circles are groups of 4-5 engineering sophomores assigned to 1 industry partner who will mentor them the length of time they are at UNLV. The first Mentoring Circle began in Fall 2016 with Manjit Gombra Singh.

*Placement information is based on survey responses from employers and students. Not all employers and students respond to requests for this data.

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Events (Update by Molly Marks)     

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TBE-B flooring renovations project Student Involvement Fair - 12 student organizations Deans Welcome Back, 2-9-18, 50 attendees MATHCOUNTS District, 2-10-18, 125 Mathletes EWEEK, 2-19-18 through 2-25-18 o 1 Day Blood Drive, 20 units collected o Academy of Engineering - 50+ attendees o Introduce a Kid to Engineering Day - over 180 students from 60 schools, 30 volunteers MATHCOUNTS State, 3-10-18, 52 Mathletes STEM Night at Conners Elementary School New Building Executive Luncheon Information Session Distance Education workshop, 4-6-18 to 4-7-18 International Group welcome and farewell receptions Graduate Celebration, 4-23-18, 42 participants Senior Design Competition, 5-3-18, 42 Teams/145 students Senior Design Dinner, 5-4-18, 572 guests PLTW 2018 Core Training Promotions

Communications (Update by Cheryl Bella) Web Site  Updated pages: Home page; Senior Design; Hailey’s Hand page  8 Announcements/Stories posted Collateral/Communication Vehicles  COE spring newsletter created and written; mailed to 7,500 recipients, emailed to 4,800+  10 eblasts sent to Engineering donors, alumni, prospects and academics across the country: 2 additional eblasts created and sent for Distance Learning Workshop Video Projects & Photos Shoots (outside of events)  International student recruitment video shot and edited  Gibson MS DASL Lab visit video shot, edited, and posted  New Faces profile photo shoot  EED Museum Donation Box video & photo shoot  Drone article photoshoot

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Key Event Promotion/Support  Academy of Engineering (script, photos)  AFWERX visit (photos)  Introduce a Kid to Engineering Day (press release, photos)  MATH Counts (press release)  Distance Learning Workshop (messaging, flyer, registration, event support)  May Board of Regents Meeting (messaging)  Spring Senior Design (press release, photos, videos, speaking points, program coordination) Media Coverage/Articles  In addition to local media, Hailey’s Hand was covered by: Chicago Sun Times, CBS San Francisco, New York Daily News, NBC San Diego, and The Sacramento Bee. Social Media  Twitter - posted 107 Tweets (23/month) o Highest monthly Tweet impressions 7,257 (US News & World Report grad school rankings)  Facebook – posted 129 times (28/month) o Top post for Reach: Darius Jackson at Senior Design o Top post for Clicks & Shares: Darius Jackson at Senior Design  YouTube - added 11 videos including press coverage and College-created o Solar Decathlon 2017 Wrap-up had top views – 100 between 1/30-5/14/18

Foundation/Advisory Boards (Update by Jack Aylor) Through three quarters of the fiscal year the donors to Engineering continues to grow. Contacts for the Advanced Engineering Studies Buildings have generated several promising leads for major gift solicitation. Over 340 alumni and friends have made contributions, increasing by 42% in one year and 56% in two years. Senior Design had a full complement of sponsors:  Grand Prize – Mission Support and Test Services  Sustainability – NV Energy  Electrical and Computer Engineering – JT3  Civil, Environmental Engineering and Construction – Las Vegas Paving  Computer Science – Cox Communications  Entertainment Engineering – Cirque Du Soleil  Interdisciplinary – Atkins Global  Commercial Potential – Arcata Associates

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Popular Choice – Raytheon Innovation Reception – Lockheed Martin Student Projects – Selma Bartlett, Dwight Decker, and Meadows Bank

Buck and Aurora Wong named the College of Engineering as the recipient of a named endowment to permanently support commercial potential awards. Notable gifts of $1,000 included:  $5,000 Computer Science Scholarship – Konami Gaming  $60,000 DASL unrestricted research – Hanson Robotics  Anonymous gift for graduate honors support  $5,000 Cybersecurity – Las Vegas Sands  $2,000 CEEC – Mobile Materials  $100,000 endowed EEC Scholarship – Ken Sites  $1,000 or more for Tech Connect o Kaseya o BMM North America o Barrick Gold o Criterion Systems o Everi Systems o Scientific Games o Geotab o Robert Half Technology o Quality Mechanical Contractors o National Field Services o Agilsys Inc. o LT Game International  $1,000 CEEC – Las Vegas Chapter ACI  $75,000 Unrestricted Research – Wynn Resorts  $13,000 Solar Decathlon – Smith Culp Associates  $5,000 Markie Lovett Scholarship  VCC $1,000 Unrestricted – Suresh Vishnubhatla  $5,000 Scholarship – Nathaniel Jackson

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College of Engineering Challenges – (by Rama)   

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Improving undergraduate experience, retention and completion through more faculty involvement in mentoring and possibly by dedicating an administrative faculty position for it. Improving graduation rate – The College’s six-year graduation rate in the major is 23%. We should shoot for a graduation rate of 35% in the next five years and reach or exceed UNLV six-year graduation rate of 41% within 10 years. Actively recruiting quality undergraduate and graduate students, especially, PhD students. We typically graduate about 15-20 Ph.D. students annually. We should aim to increase this number to 25 in the next three years. Making sure that we produce high quality PhD students with excellent research and teaching (pedagogical) training, and a few publications. Getting CS ranked in the US News & World Report Rankings Striving towards Tier 1 Goal o Faculty buy-in is essential o Resource support from the administration is critical o We should aim to have 100 faculty over the next 10 years. Emphasis on hiring should be faculty who excellent in research or those pursuing innovative teaching pedagogy. o Provide additional space to address increase in enrollment and growing research portfolio Setting productivity measures and developing an equitable workload development plan to successfully accomplish the teaching, research, and service missions of the college. Setting Promotion & Tenure Standards is essential to guide faculty members through successful tenure and promotion. Working collaboratively with other colleges in creating interdisciplinary programs that make sense in terms of our region, work force needs and university strengths. Increasing research expenditures from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 through multidisciplinary multi-PI grants. It appears possible with research awards of $14,000,000 this year. Expanding offering courses through online or hybrid options to attract non-traditional students. There is considerable progress in this area with BS in CEM coming online in 3 years. We should aim to have more online degrees within the next 5 years. Recruiting out-of-state and international students to increase tuition and fees generated by the College. This is an additional financial resource that can help the college with its new initiatives. Increasing the number and amount of scholarship and graduate fellowships from industry and community partners. Raising $25 million from donors and $25 million from the state to build the new Advanced Engineering Studies Building by Spring 2019.