2022
REIMAGINED Our Engineering Education Experience is Better Than Ever
Utah State Engineer 1
We’re R1! Engineering Researchers Help USU Achieve Highest Carnegie Classification
This year, Utah State University became one of just 146 institutions in the United States to have the Carnegie R1 classification. The R1 distinction solidifies USU’s role as a national leader in engineering research.
On the Cover:
Reimagined We are reimagining engineering education. Combining study, research and creative interests, three Aggies are living a unique on-campus experience. Explore their paths on page 21.
Credits:
Utah State Engineer is the annual alumni magazine of the College of Engineering at Utah State University. For questions or delivery information, please contact office-of-the-dean@usu.edu or call 435-797-2775.
Managing Editor: Matt Jensen Editor: Matilyn Mortensen Art Director: Emily Bunnell Copy Editor: Maren Aller Webmaster: Levi Sanchez
©2022, Utah State University College of Engineering
engineering.usu.edu @usuengineering
Development Support: Shelly Wardell 2
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Table of Contents
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Double Major Finds Connection in Engineering and Music
30 She’s Heard All the Poop Jokes: CEE Alumna Runs Utah’s Newest Wastewater Treatment Facility
25 Innovation in Energy: USU Team Takes Grand Prize at International Event
26 Utah Water Research Lab Part of New National Water Institute
37 A New Aggie Astronaut Tradition
16 Meeting Demand: Industry Veteran Leads New Composite Materials Program
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14 Senior Design Night is Back! USU’s Largest Student Tech Expo Returns 19 Ahead of Her Peers: Bio Engineering Student Publishes Peer-Reviewed Manuscript 32 Spoofing a Superyacht? ECE Alum Fortifies GPS Security
National Wins: USU Takes Top Prizes at ASCE Nationals 4
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This summer we announced the formation of two new endowed professorships, the newest in a series of three created in recent years. Dr. Ron Sims was named Huntsman Endowed Professor of Biosystems and Environmental Engineering; and Dr. David Tarboton was named Sant Endowed Professor of Water Resources Engineering. These new endowments will bring greater visibility to our academic programs and enhance learning opportunities for students.
A special thank you to the generous donors and business partners who play a key role in supporting our students and faculty. We look forward to the achievements this new school year will bring. Go, Aggies!
Aerospace Engineering
Civil Engineering
Biological Engineering
Computer Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Composite Materials and Structures
Environmental Engineering
Computer Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Engineering Education Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering Space Systems Engineering
142 Master’s
1,904 Undergraduates
Research
With robust research opportunities and a thriving campus community, there is no better time to study engineering at USU. Undergraduate research opportunities abound, and students have multiple opportunities to engage in real-world engineering challenges before entering the workforce. Our industry partners consistently tell us that USU graduates are significantly more prepared for today’s engineering careers than graduates from other institutions.
Biological Engineering
2,172
126 PhD
TOTAL COLLEGE ENROLLMENT
16%
16%
First-Generation College Student
Female Enrollment
187 Student Fellows Named to the
ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROGRAM
Jagath Kaluarachchi
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270 BACHELOR’S
77
MASTER’S
27 PhD
$31,505,000 IN RESEARCH EXPENDITURES (2021-2022)
TOP 6
(Since 2010)
35% Research Centers including the ASPIRE Center for Electrified Transportation
Degrees Awarded In 2021-22
Our students and faculty continue to lead innovative research in areas of water resources engineering, earthquake engineering, aerospace engineering, and sustainable transportation. The NSF-funded ASPIRE research center is revolutionizing sustainable solutions for electrified transportation. The Utah Water Research Laboratory is mitigating the effects of drought, addressing air quality issues affecting the Wasatch Front, and pioneering new ideas in the emerging field of hydroinformatics. Our undergraduate students continue to send CubeSats into space, demonstrating the highest levels of technical and leadership skills.
GRADUATE DEGREES
Enrollment
highest level of research institutions in the country by earning an R1 classification from the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education. This distinction reflects our land-grant mission and fortifies our position as a research leader.
Academic Programs
Utah State University recently joined the
College at a Glance
Engineering Education, Reimagined
UNDERGRADUATE DEGREES
of USU’s Operating Revenue Comes from Grants and Contracts
in Nuclear Engineering Research Funding in Western U.S. (’09–’22) (source: Dept. of Energy, Nuclear Engineering University Program)
Ph.D. | PE | D.WRE | F.ASCE | F.EWRI Dean, College of Engineering Utah State University
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THAT’S THE HIGHEST OF ANY UNIVERSITY IN THE STATE.
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News & Events
Lane Receives Early Career Award The University Council on Water Resources awarded Utah Water Research Laboratory assistant professor Belize Lane the 2022 Early Career Award for Applied Water Research. She was nominated for the award by several of her colleagues in California who have worked with her since she was earning her Ph.D.
New Antenna Structures and Algorithm Professor of electrical and computer engineering Bedri A. Cetiner received a patent earlier this year for a new class of intelligent antenna technology and algorithm. The patent is for a new physical structure for an antenna and a new algorithm for controlling the intelligence structure of an antenna.
MAE Professor Co-authors Comprehensive Survey on 3-D Printing Defects Dr. Nadia Kouraytem, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, co-authored a study exploring defects and anomalies found in 3-D printed metals. The paper synthesizes information from hundreds of publications to create one of the most comprehensive overviews of the defects that can occur in 3-D printed metals.
Furthering Next-Generation Communication Technology
Supporting Transfer Students Through Research As part of a research fellowship from the USU Center for Intersectional Gender Studies and Research, associate professor of biological engineering Elizabeth Vargis is developing a program to provide support to transfer students through undergraduate research opportunities. The goal is to provide transfer students a stipend for participating in mentored research.
Associate Dean for Research Dr. Rose Hu received a grant from the National Science Foundation as part of a $500,000 collaborative project. The work will explore a systematic approach to accelerate communication and computation-intensive tasks such as channel state information processing by orders of magnitude in massive multiple-input, multiple-output communication systems.
Remembering Kay and Doran Baker Kay and Doran Baker (seated left and middle), brothers and co-founders of the Space Dynamics Laboratory, both recently passed away. The men were leaders in space-science engineering, and their vision guided a small lab to become a world-renowned research institution.
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Undergraduate Research Leads to New Patent
Research on Capitol Hill Event Returns
Matthew Hansen, an electrical engineering Ph.D. student, and his mentors Dr. Regan Zane and Dr. Abhilash Kamineni, received a patent for a new control algorithm that will improve inmotion charging for electric vehicles.
Six College of Engineering students presented their research in Salt Lake City as part of the annual Research on Capitol Hill event. The event in the Capitol’s rotunda marked a return to in-person gatherings after last year’s virtual presentations.
Civil Engineering Students Recognized in EPA Competition
Baktur Named IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Reyhan Baktur, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was named a distinguished lecturer by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Baktur says she’s excited about the opportunity and hopes to lecture in the Middle East and Central Asia with hopes of positively influencing young women.
An interdisciplinary group of USU students received an honorable mention in the National Environmental Protection Agency RainWorks Challenge. Civil engineering undergraduate students Ryan Richens, Trevor Wilson, Grace Sunderland, and Robert Gordon worked with landscape architecture and environmental planning graduate student Justin Jaques to redesign the Aggie Village family housing complex for their competition entry.
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NASA Showcases USU CubeSat Technology
Electric Transportation and Community Engagement
Professor Charles Swenson and PhD student Lucas Anderson designed a thermal control technology that keeps CubeSats cool. Like a water pump in a car engine, the device pumps fluid through the satellite and ultimately ejects heat via a small radiator. Their work is featured on NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program site and will fly in space as early as 2023.
Over 400 people attended an open house in May at the Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification (ASPIRE) research center. The goal of the event was to help people learn more about ASPIRE research and to encourage precollege students to study electrical engineering.
Personal Identity and Research
SWE on the Road In March, the USU section of the Society of Women Engineers held an Engineering Extravaganza Jr. event in Blanding for Diné (Navajo) students. SWE members created STEM activities incorporating Diné history, culture and values. Students enjoyed the activities and club members plan to continue expanding the event’s reach.
USU Graduates First Grand Challenges Scholar
Learn More
An engineering education study that began as a casual conversation between assistant professor Cassandra McCall and one of her colleagues received the William Elgin Wickenden Award of the American Society for Engineering Education. The paper was published in the Journal of Engineering Education.
Wang Receives Grant as Part of New Research Program Assistant professor of mechanical engineering Haoran Wang received a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Wang will use the funding to develop constitutive equations that explain the governing laws for how newly created materials respond to applied force, electrical fields and chemicals.
The College of Engineering launched its Grand Challenges Scholars Program in 2019, and in May we graduated our first scholar. The program is endorsed by the National Academy of Engineering and provides students with scholarships and professional development opportunities.
Space on the Brain Bailey McFarland is a biological engineering graduate student working in the Brain Micro-Engineering Lab. McFarland and his mentor Dr. Yu Huang are working to understand the impacts that microgravity and radiation in space have on the human brain. Their work is supported by NASA. 10
Check Out This Astronaut’s View
Understanding Utah’s Land, Water, and Air
Former Astronauts Mary Cleave and Charlie Precourt spoke to USU engineering students about their careers at NASA. Cleave, a USU alumna, and Precourt were instrumental in establishing a new scholarship at USU that recognizes top students in STEM fields. Learn more about the scholarship on page 37.
Multiple engineering faculty contributed to a comprehensive report to the governor about Utah’s land, water and air. In the inaugural report published by USU’s new Institute for Land, Water & Air, Dr. Randy Martin describes particulate matter, ground-level ozone and climate trends as top issues impacting Utah. He writes that several of the state’s airsheds face important challenges. Utah State Engineer 11
Student Success
Lexi Phillips
Dallin Fairbourn
Biological engineering student Lexi Phillips was selected for a spot in the highly competitive Biomedical Engineering Summer Internship Program with the National Institutes of Health, or NIH. The 10-week program took place in Bethesda, Maryland, and gave Phillips an opportunity to work alongside world-class scientists and bioengineers on biomedical research.
Dallin Fairbourn, a biological engineering student, recently participated in the Computational Bioengineering Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. These prestigious programs, known as REUs, are funded by the National Science Foundation. The 10-week experience immerses students in real-world biomedical challenges and covers the fundamentals of computational bioengineering.
Maggie Lea Maggie Lea, a mechanical and aerospace engineering student, is the first current USU student to be named a Matthew Isakowitz Fellow. The fellowship is an internship, mentorship and networking opportunity awarded to students pursuing careers in the commercial space flight industry. Lea interned with Axios Space in Houston, Texas as part of her fellowship.
James Mullen
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James Mullen was one of 113 students nationwide who received a $5,000 scholarship from The American Society of Mechanical Engineers for the 2021–22 school year. Mullen says his work on small satellite projects and his research in the USU Nanoscale Thermal Energy lab with Dr. Nick Roberts is what made him competitive for the award.
Josh Ward Civil and environmental engineering master’s student Joshua Ward received a 2022 Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship. Ward will receive $31,500 from the Federal Highway Administration which will provide him a full year of funding to do transportation research. This prestigious award is only given to a select number of students from U.S. universities each year. Utah State Engineer 13
How a Senior Capstone Project Unfolds USU’s Largest Student Tech Expo Returns Senior Design Night is back. After two years of virtual events, graduating seniors once again showcased their capstone projects in-person at the Taggart Student Center in May. About 700 people attended, including industry representatives. “Returning to an in-person Senior Design Night after two years of virtual events is a joy,” said Dixon Nielson, director of industry relations for the college. “Students, families, sponsors, mentors and USU faculty and staff all appreciate the opportunity to see the projects and hear the students’ stories. They always have very interesting experiences to share.”
This year’s event featured 76 projects, representing 250 students, 60 sponsors and mentors, and over 3,000 cumulative hours spent designing and building solutions to real-world engineering problems. The projects benefit multiple companies across the aerospace, biological, computing, civil, electrical, environmental and mechanical engineering industries.
Senior Design Night is the culmination of thousands of hours of student work. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the process two mechanical engineering teams went through to create adaptive equipment for the non-profit art studio Jump the Moon. 1. Michael Bingham, the founder of Jump the Moon, met with students to discuss the types of equipment he needed for artists. 2. Student teams developed the plans for two pieces of adaptive equipment, including a portable drawing station to create melted crayon art and a tool for artists to control drawing utensils with a steering wheel.
3. Once plans were made, the teams built and tested their designs. Along the way, they worked with Bingham to make sure the projects met requirements. 4. On Senior Design Night, the two teams not only displayed their work but also allowed attendees to test out the equipment and create their own artworks.
“We are very grateful for the time and support our sponsors and mentors provide to the students and their projects,” Nielson said.
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New Degree Prepares Engineers for Utah’s Advanced Manufacturing Careers
Utah’s advanced manufacturing industries are booming. The state is home
to more than 200 companies supporting the aerospace, biomedical, renewable energy, bioproducts and defense industries. In response to the hot job market, the College of Engineering now offers a composite materials and structures master of science program.
This first-of-its-kind degree was developed with Weber State University and industry professionals. To accommodate more students, courses for the program will be offered at the Logan campus and in Davis County. The result is a graduate degree designed for working engineers and current students.
Dr. Greg Anderson, a leader in the field of composite materials who recently retired from his role as a chief scientist at Northrop Grumman, will lead the program. He will also serve as inaugural director of USU’s new Center for the Design and Manufacturing of Advanced Materials.
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“I can’t think of any other opportunity that would have enticed me to postpone retirement,” Anderson said. “I have always enjoyed mentoring young engineers.” Anderson earned a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. He began his career in 1990 and worked for Thiokol, Orbital ATK and Northrop Grumman. At ATK he was the general manager of science and engineering operations in Huntsville, Alabama, where he and his team conducted material testing for the Marshall Space Flight Center and NASA.
At the end of the shuttle program, Anderson’s team pivoted to providing quality conformance testing to the ATK composite manufacturing group in Clearfield, Utah, which was beginning operations to supply components for Airbus and Boeing aircraft. In 2013, Anderson returned to the Promontory, Utah site and worked as a chief engineer.
New Master’s Degree Composite Materials and Structures Details at engineering.usu.edu/ composites
29 Photo: Matt Jensen
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Undergraduate Research
A Better Undergraduate Research Experience Undergraduate research grants are helping two biological engineering students explore possible treatments for a debilitating eye disease known as macular degeneration.
Dillon Weatherston and Emilee Rickabaugh use proteins from a hagfish to develop a material that mimics a membrane found in the human eye. By modeling the eye tissue, they can better understand macular degeneration and test for possible treatments.
Each received an Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities grant from USU last year, and Rickabaugh received an Engineering Undergraduate Research Program fellowship through the College of Engineering.
“As a woman in STEM, I’m no stranger to imposter syndrome,” Rickabaugh said. “So it was cool to be able to tell people about my research and have other people be like, ‘yeah, this is really cool what you’re doing and it is deserving of funding.’” For Weatherston, applying for the grant helped him develop a sense of ownership in his work.
“Once I started applying for the grant, our mentor Dr. Vargis really encouraged me to actually figure out what I wanted to do with it,” he said.
Biological Engineering Undergraduate Student Publishes First Peer-Reviewed Article Kristine Peterson co-authored the paper “Development of Transient Recombinant Expression and Affinity Chromatography Systems for Human Fibrinogen,” which was published earlier this year by the International Journal of Molecular Science. The study explores how the blood protein fibrinogen, which gives blood clots structure, can be isolated and used in other applications.
Peterson participated in this research project at East Carolina University as part of an Undergraduate Research Experience funded by the National Science Foundation.
“The more opportunities I get to apply the things that I’ve learned, the more I’ll be able to actually understand,” Peterson said. “While I have all this background from my undergraduate classes, the thing that’s really going to move me forward as an engineer is trying it out.”
Biological Engineering Professor Receives Prestigious NSF CAREER Award Assistant professor of biological engineering Dr. Yu Huang was awarded a $600,000 grant through the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program.
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187 students have been named fellows of the Engineering Undergraduate Research Program since 2010.
The funding will support Huang’s micro-brain research by allowing him to start a new project to study the impact of the Zika virus on the human brain. The grant will also support education outreach efforts and enable collaboration with math and antiviral researchers at USU.
“The grant is a fascinating opportunity for us to pick up this wonderful idea and be able to expand it and make it into a complete project,” Huang said.
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Better Than Ever Computer engineering student Sammy Kiguthi works on power electronics equipment at USU’s Electric Vehicle and Roadway Research Facility and Test Track.
Grant Provides Tuition Help for Students Completing Engineering Internships
This is the Time to be an Aggie Engineer. As our students return to campus after semesters of adapted learning due to the coronavirus pandemic, the reimagined campus experience they are finding is better than ever. And the passion our students have for their work and research extends beyond engineering.
By Matilyn Mortensen
A STEM Talent Challenge grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration will provide USU engineering students an opportunity to intern with one of six industry partners. The goal is to increase awareness of career opportunities in advanced manufacturing, electric vehicle transportation and renewable energy.
Lead researcher Dr. Ning Fang says the three focus areas were selected because they are high-growth industries in Utah. “The focus is to provide students real-world industry experience in specific areas,” he said. “This is beneficial to students, to employers and also to USU, so I think of it as a win-win for everybody.”
Students who are selected for paid internships will receive funding to cover one semester of tuition. The grant will support the program for two years and provide opportunities for 28 students. 20
Industry partners include the Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative known as UAMMI, Northrop Grumman, Autoliv, ASPIRE Engineering Research Center, Thermo Fisher Scientific and WesTech Engineering.
Dr. Ning Fang Professor Engineering Education
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Beyond the Beam Student Balances her Love of Gymnastics and Environmental Engineering At age nine, Lexi Aragon stepped foot in a gymnastics gym for the first time. And when she did, she fell in love. Though she played a variety of sports before, none of them made her feel the way she did when she flew through the air. “It just feels like you’re invincible,” she said.
Despite starting gymnastics at an older age than many other athletes, Aragon was dedicated to her training at USA Gymnastics World in Salt Lake City. Competing collegiately became her dream.
It was a challenging goal. Gymnastics could be hard on Aragon’s body and when she went to high school, she added the difficulty of advanced coursework. Learning the skills necessary to balance these demands prepared her for attending Utah State as an engineering student-athlete. Aragon knew from an early age that she wanted to study engineering. Her desire to help the Earth led her to environmental engineering.
“I want to be part of something that is bigger than myself, I want to go home and be able to say I did something today that’s going to be better for society.” As Aragon approaches the end of her degree and her gymnastics career, she is proud to see how far she has come. After finishing her degree and competing in her final meet, gymnastics likely won’t play a formal role in Aragon’s life. But she’ll leave USU with the lessons she learned from the sport. “Gymnastics has taught me so much about being disciplined and working hard and never giving up and persevering and all of that,” she said. “I think all of those are going to be super essential to whatever I choose to do in the future.”
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Advocating for the Earth One Student’s Concern for the Climate Creates a Unique Connection Between Engineering and Music
Ian Parvin came to Utah State in 2017 to study mechanical engineering. He had been playing the viola for six years and decided to audition for the university’s symphony orchestra, which is open to non-music majors.
The audition went well and Parvin became the principal violist. He attended weekly studio classes for viola where he met Bradley Ottesen of the Fry Street Quartet who later became his viola teacher.
As Parvin finished his first semester, Ottesen suggested he double major in music and engineering. In spring 2018, Parvin officially began studying music.
The experience provided a sense of balance for Parvin and helped him find himself academically. The Fry Street Quartet uses music as a form of climate activism, and with their encouragement, Parvin switched from mechanical to environmental engineering.
“I became really passionate about sustainability and the climate crisis.” Parvin recently completed all the requirements for his music degree and started working at the Utah Water Research Laboratory. In about two years, he will complete his engineering courses. Currently, he plans on getting a master’s degree in music. While he would be excited to have a public works-related career, right now he wants to pursue music as long as he can. “I love playing in string quartets and seeing what my professors have done with using their art form as a way to advocate for things they care about,” he said. “I want to see what I can do with music.”
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Electrical Engineering Students Take Grand Prize at International Event
“It just clicked... This is the place where I wanted to be.”
A team of electrical engineering students won the $10,000 grand prize at this year’s International Future Energy Challenge hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE.
From Pakistan to Utah and Beyond One Student’s Pursuit of a Socially-Minded Electrical Engineering Career Marium Rasheed has been surrounded by books her entire life. Born in Pakistan to professor parents, she always knew the possibilities a post-graduate degree could hold. After much deliberation, she decided to become an electrical engineer.
“I saw firsthand the impact climate change has caused in my country,” she said. “When I came to Utah, I heard about the pollution here, and it strengthened my desire to build clean energy technologies.”
In addition to engineering, Rasheed also loves art. Though she took a break from painting and drawing during her undergraduate degree, she resumed sketching as a graduate student in 2020 as a way to relax and connect with her artistic side. These days, her focus is on sketching sports cars and shiny electric vehicles—a close parallel to her area of specialization in electrical engineering. Rasheed completed her undergraduate degree in Pakistan in 2017 and decided to go to the United States to earn a Ph.D. In researching programs, she discovered the Sustainable 24
Electrified Transportation Center at USU, now the Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification research center, known as ASPIRE.
“I had a discussion with Dr. Regan Zane, the ASPIRE director, and it just clicked,” she said. “This is the place where I wanted to be.” She came to Utah State in the fall of 2017 and quickly joined up with researchers at the ASPIRE center. She has received numerous honors for her work, including a 2022 fellowship from the Clean Energy Leadership Institute and a $5,000 Women in Technology Scholarship from Cadence Design Systems.
She is now nearing the end of her Ph.D. program. While she isn’t exactly sure what her future holds, she knows she’ll always be working to make the world better—whether that’s a job in industry or academia.
The win is a major accomplishment for the students and a first for USU. Undergrads Dakota Goodrich, Conner Sabin, Tucker Skinner and Mckay Waite; graduate mentors Sanat Poddar and Aditya Zade; and faculty advisor Dr. Hongjie Wang outcompeted six other teams from around the globe to take the top prize. This year’s challenge in Knoxville, Tennessee required teams to design and build a smart microgrid solar inverter, a device that enables the power grid to use renewable energy harnessed by solar panels. Entries were judged on multiple criteria including their ability to handle over 1,000 watts of power while operating at above 95 percent efficiency.
Their innovative design can be mass-produced for less than $200 per unit, lowering the cost of energy and speeding up adoption of renewable energy systems.
“The experience we gained working on this project has been invaluable, and it prepared us for graduate school,” said Skinner. “We hope IEEE considers us a success story because we entered the competition with limited experience.”
The International Future Energy Challenge This annual event was launched in 2000 to spur innovation and problem-solving in areas of energy and conservation. • All teams design a solution for the same challenge • USU and teams from Germany, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Maryland and Connecticut competed in this year’s event • USU has been invited to host the event in 2024
From left: Dakota Goodrich, Tucker Skinner, Mckay Waite and Conner Sabin are the USU undergraduates who won the 2022 IFEC Grand Prize.
Water Resources
“As proposed, this project is bigger than any I have been involved with. It’s exciting to me for USU to be part of such a large team effort.”
USU Becomes Founding Member of New National Water Research Institute
—Dr. David Tarboton, Director, Utah Water Reserach Lab
Utah State University is partnering with The University of Alabama and a consortium of universities to translate water research into operations that improve the nation’s ability to effectively manage water resources and provide warning and protection for water-related hazards.
The award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will establish the new Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology.
The institute and its unprecedented team of hydrology researchers will develop nationalscale hydrological analyses, water-related forecasts, new data products, guidance, and decision-support services to inform essential water resources decisions. “The real contribution of this new institute is not necessarily any of the specific pieces,” said Dr. Jeff Horsburgh, an associate professor at USU’s Utah Water Research Laboratory. “It’s in how we operationalize years of modeling and cyberinfrastructure research to assist NOAA in advancing hydrologic modeling and prediction.” The consortium will assist NOAA’s vision of a water- and weather-ready nation and its goal of reinforcing the work of the National Weather Service and National Water Center. “The small problems in hydrology are already solved,” said Dr. David Tarboton, director of the Utah Water Research Laboratory. “To advance knowledge today, we need interdisciplinary teams that can collaborate, integrating information from multiple sources. In other words, big science. This project takes this to the extreme.”
Photo: Jennifer Meyers 26
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Water Resources
Drop by Drop How Engineering Alumni Are Mitigating the Effects of Drought in Utah and the West through Collaboration, Innovation
Marisa Egbert
Shalaine DeBernardi
Adel Abdallah
Project Funding Manager & Bear River
Assistant Director of Development,
Program Manager of the Water Data Exchange,
Development Planning Manager,
Utah Division of Water Resources
Western States Water Council
Utah Division of Water Resources
BS ’92 Civil & Environmental Engineering
MS ’12, PhD ’20 Civil & Environmental Engineering
BS ’96 Civil & Environmental Engineering
Water is more critical to Utah’s future than ever before. As the state continues to experience rapid population growth, it does so amidst a record-breaking drought. Efforts to understand this drought—and to mitigate its effects through water conservation—require innovation. And Aggie engineers play a vital role in this work.
Connecting the West
Originally from Palestine, Adel Abdallah is no stranger to arid climates. Growing up, water was delivered to his house weekly and stored in a tank. When it was gone, it was gone. Because of his first-hand experiences, he’s been deeply aware of the need to conserve water his entire life.
As a Ph.D. student at USU, Abdallah interned with the Western States Water Council. Shortly before completing his degree, he began working for the council full time. He is now the manager for the Water Data Exchange, a program dedicated to connecting water rights and water use data across the West. Although drought is not confined by borders, data collection and management can be. Differences in reporting can make seemingly simple questions like ‘how much water is used from the Colorado River Basin each year?’ difficult to answer. Making it easier to access these data will give stakeholders the regional information they need to make informed decisions about drought-resilient water use policies.
“To better inform water policy, we need to have a common platform to share water use data in a consistent way,” he added.
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A New Culture of Water Use
Addressing the problems of Utah’s drought requires water conservation projects and policies across the state. For Aggie alumnae and Utah natives Shalaine DeBernardi and Marisa Egbert, working for the Utah Division of Water Resources is an exciting opportunity to help their communities.
The two civil and environmental engineering alums work for the division’s development team, which funds conservation projects across the state. Though these projects take a variety of forms—from piping canals to metering secondary water— they all require money. Despite costs, the water savings are priceless.
“I love not only what these projects do for communities, but the idea that here we are in Utah, one of the driest states, and we are trying to make everything more water-efficient, trying to save water, trying to make it go further,” Egbert said. As Utah continues to face more than two decades of drought, the state is at a turning point when it comes to water policy. Lawmakers and the general public are rethinking the culture of water use. A recently passed law, for example, gives Utahans the option to leave water shares unused without the risk of losing them.
DeBernardi says she’s excited about the possibilities this new mindset creates. Though she has 30 years of state service and could retire, she plans to stay in her role to help usher in even more change.
“I’m not going anywhere,” DeBernardi said. “With the direction the division is taking and the way water has become such a prominent issue, I have a chance to really be a part of something great here.”
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Engineering Alumni
“I am learning new things every day. And even though I’m being pushed out of my comfort zone, I really enjoy that.”
A Once-in-a-Career Opportunity Environmental Engineering Grad Runs Utah’s Newest Wastewater Treatment Plant When Madeline Tennant decided to study environmental engineering at Utah State University, she wasn’t planning on a career in wastewater management. Having spent most of her life in Logan, she picked her major because she wanted to improve Cache Valley’s air quality. “Wastewater was definitely not something I ever thought I would do, or was really interested in,” she said. “It didn’t sound very pleasant or fun to me.”
That all changed after working on a group project with a fellow student who had a connection with the Water Environment Association of Utah. Throughout her sophomore year, Tennant became more interested in water resources topics. She heard Logan City was building a new wastewater treatment plant and reached out to Mark Nielsen, the senior project engineer overseeing the plant’s construction, to ask if she could be involved. Impressed by her drive, Nielsen created an internship position just for her. Tennant started her internship in May 2018 when ground was officially broken for the new treatment plant. She helped with managing the project’s construction, tracking expenses and writing reports for the state in addition to other tasks. The more she worked in wastewater, the more she loved it. It was fascinating to her to learn about how bacteria and microorganisms are used in the process of treating wastewater.
When Tennant graduated in 2020, she was promoted from intern to an engineer in training. As the plant neared its completion date, the city was struggling to find a manager. Logan’s location made it difficult to attract potential managers because of the high number of wastewater jobs available in the Salt Lake Valley. Other people who could have held the position had not passed the test required to be certified. Tennant was Photo: Matt Jensen 30
told the city would like to offer her the job. If she could get certified, the position would be hers. “It was probably the hardest test I had ever taken,” she said.
After her successful completion of the test, Tennant was made manager of the new wastewater treatment plant in Logan—an especially notable accomplishment for an engineer still so early in her career. The plant officially began operations earlier this year.
“It’s definitely stressful, but I also love it so much,” Tennant said. “It’s such a cool opportunity and I’m so grateful to be here. I get to do different things every day. And I am learning new things every day. And even though I’m being pushed out of my comfort zone, I really enjoy that.” Wastewater treatment plants are only built every 30 or 50 years, so participating in the construction of a plant and being a plant’s first manager is a once-in-acareer opportunity. Tennant said she loves what she is doing and sees herself staying in Logan for a long time. According to Tennant, the city will need another plant in 20 or 30 years, so if she sticks around long enough, she may end her career with the building of that plant. “It’s fun for me to look back,” she said. “Even though I know there’s still a lot to learn, just seeing how much I’ve learned from the beginning is exciting.”
Madeline Tennant Manager, Logan City Wastewater Treatment Plant BS ’20 Environmental Engineering
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Engineering Alumni
Winning the Imitation Game ECE Alum Recognized for Advances in GPS Security Todd Humphreys began studying electrical engineering at Utah State University with the intention of becoming a patent lawyer. His career path changed, however, thanks to a professor who told him he had the heart of an engineer. “I’ll be eternally grateful to Dr. Todd Moon for redirecting me because I’ve seen several of my friends who went off to have careers in law and they don’t have nearly as fun and creative of a life as I do,” Humphreys said.
A third-generation Aggie, Humphreys completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Utah State. As an undergraduate, he interned at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory which sparked his interest in aerospace engineering.
“That was a game changer for me. That internship convinced me that I wanted to do more research.”
including the CAREER award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Earlier this year, USU’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department named Humphreys its 2022 distinguished alumnus.
“Todd is a prime example of the ideals we see in our graduates,” said department head Dr. Jake Gunther. “He is an imaginative, creative and inventive engineer and researcher who builds and contributes to the greater good.” Dr. Todd Humphreys Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics The University of Texas at Austin BS ’00 MS ’03 Electrical Engineering
Dr. Todd Humphreys (middle) specializes in satellite navigation, collision avoidance and autonomous systems. His work on GPS security has won him international acclaim and an award from the The White House. (photos: UT Austin)
After graduating from USU in 2003, Humphreys went to Cornell to pursue a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and began studying the new world of GPS. Though the GPS constellation had been around for about a decade, in the early 2000s it immediately became more accurate when the federal government turned off the selective availability option. The purpose of selective availability was to make GPS signals more secure. Shutting it off significantly improved the public’s access to the resource; however, it also made the constellation more vulnerable to security threats, including GPS spoofing.
To address this threat, Humphreys built the world’s first openly disclosed and fully functional portable GPS spoof. He published a paper on his work, which is to this day his most cited piece. “This paper just opened up the floodgates,” Humphreys said. “It seemed like every researcher around the world had an idea for how to defend against or detect spoofing.” Humphreys’s research and demonstrations of the vulnerability of systems that rely on GPS have earned him national recognition. In addition to being recognized by The University of Texas at Austin as an outstanding lecturer, he has received prestigious awards from the National Science Foundation, 32
What is GPS Spoofing? GPS spoofing occurs when a navigation system is disrupted by a false GPS signal. Humphreys and his students have tested their own GPS spoofing device on a variety of targets, including a 200-foot-long superyacht in the Mediterranean Sea. In collaboration with the ship’s owner and captain, Humphreys and his team successfully used their device to veer the vessel off course without any of the ship’s equipment detecting the fake signal.
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Manufacturing Internship Reveals Exciting Career Paths Mechanical engineering undergrad Elijah Kimmel is helping industry leaders reinvent Utah’s advanced manufacturing industry.
At an internship with the Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative, known as UAMMI, Kimmel researches facts about the state’s career and technical education opportunities.
“Our goal is to bring together public, private, community, industry and educational partners to build Utah up as a manufacturing giant and bring work back into Utah.” Understanding Utah’s advanced manufacturing sector is a key step in expanding the industry. “The work I am doing helps us better educate young people on what’s actually out there and helps industry
Students Combine Engineering, Personal Interests in Creative Course Final
understand what education programs already exist,” he added. Kimmel is the first member of his family to attend a four-year university. He says a career in advanced manufacturing allows him to work with his hands, but also opens new opportunities for rewarding careers.
“Everyone in my family has always been welders, construction workers and equipment operators,” he said. “I’ve learned that working with your hands is very useful, very meaningful and is a very viable option to provide for yourself.” Kimmel has been enjoying his internship experience and said he loves learning new things about the industry.
“Every time I join one of the UAMMI staff meetings, I learn something new about a small company,” he said. “Or I learn about a new advanced manufacturing method. There’s always something more to learn.”
When assistant professor of engineering education Cassandra McCall told her Mechanics of Materials class they could turn in their final project in any format they chose, she wasn’t expecting to receive a fashion magazine.
But as her students Kristine Peterson, Rachel Cohn, Emily Triggs and Kaitlyn George considered how to create a project that celebrated themselves as whole people— both engineers and creatives—the format seemed like a great fit.
“This project was the perfect final for the course because it was a creative, real-life application to what we had been learning,” Cohn said.
The eight-page project features original photos, art and design elements produced by the team, in addition to articles and equations that illustrate what they learned in class. In one of the magazine’s spreads, Triggs, a ballerina, poses on railroad tracks in her pointe shoes. The images are accompanied by an equation analyzing the stress the bolts on the track are designed to withstand. “This project gave us an opportunity and desire to have fun with engineering, instead of seeing it just as another project to complete for school,” Triggs said.
McCall says the project is a testament to the creative potential of students when given the space to apply course concepts in ways that are relevant to them.
“As an instructor, I was excited to learn more about the hobbies and interests of these students and how they connected engineering to the other aspects of themselves that make them who they are,” she said.
Dr. Cassandra McCall Assistant Professor Engineering Education
Mechanical engineering student Elijah Kimmel interns with the Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative to support growth in Utah’s advanced manufacturing industry. 34
Utah State Engineer 35
Engineering Giving
New Scholarship Honors Former Water Lab Director, Supports Undergraduate Research Civil and Environmental Engineering alumna Zhida Song-James (’91) has created an endowed scholarship in honor of her late husband, L. Douglas James, a former Utah Water Research Lab director. The scholarship will support undergraduate students working in hydrology and water resources engineering. Zhida and Doug shared a passion for undergraduate research. Doug served as director of the Water Lab from 1976 to 1992, and Zhida worked in the lab while earning her doctorate. The scholarship will provide financial support and help recipients attend industry conferences.
“That is an eye-opener. It’s a good opportunity for students to know what research is about.” After graduating from USU, Zhida spent much of her career working for the Federal Flood Insurance Program. She has worked on projects in 48 states and says while she can’t influence everyone to become a hydrologist, she hopes her scholarship inspires more students to consider that path.
Honoring Legacy Through Impact
David Kunz ’00 Public Relations Senior Director of Development david.kunz@usu.edu 435-797-8012
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We’re honored to hear from engineering alumni and ready to help you create impactful gift experiences. Planning for future giving through bequests, annuities, trusts and other planned giving tools is a powerful way to make your plans match your passions. We are here to help you accomplish your philanthropic goals and provide gratifying gift and engagement experiences.
Go, Aggies!
It Pays to Be a Utah State Engineer In the ’21–’22 Academic Year, 285 Scholarships were awarded totaling
$643,777
A New Aggie Astronaut Tradition
Electrical engineering undergrad Tucker Skinner is the first Aggie to receive a scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. In addition to a financial award, he was recognized at the foundation’s Innovators Gala in Orlando, Florida in August and will be paired with an astronaut mentor.
“I feel very grateful. It feels very rewarding to receive this honor”
In addition to scholarship support, Skinner says the experience will help prepare him for graduate school.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to aiding the United States in retaining its world leadership in technology and innovation. The program was founded by the original Mercury 7 astronauts with a mission to support university students in STEM fields.
Former Astronauts Help Establish New Scholarship Mary Cleave is a USU alumna, award-winning engineer and retired NASA astronaut who has flown two space shuttle missions and led numerous research and scientific exploration programs. Charles Precourt is a retired astronaut and U.S. Air Force veteran. Following his retirement from NASA in 2004, he joined Northrop Grumman as vice president of Propulsion Systems. He retired from that role in 2021. Utah State Engineer 37
Endowed Professorships Bring New Opportunity to USU
Fresh Faces Welcoming our Newest Faculty
Thanks to the generous support of donors, two new endowed professorships have been created in the College of Engineering.
Dr. Ron Sims, a professor of biological engineering, and Dr. David Tarboton, the director of the Utah Water Research Laboratory and a professor of civil and environmental engineering, will fill these inaugural roles, the newest in a series of three endowments created in recent years.
“I cannot overstate the importance and value these professorships bring to USU,” said Dr. Jagath Kaluarachchi, dean of the College of Engineering. “Students will directly benefit through greater access to improved research and learning experiences, and we will see greater visibility of our academic programs.”
Dr. Burdette Barker
Dr. Ron Sims
Dr. David Tarboton
Huntsman Endowed Professor of Biosystems and Environmental Engineering
Sant Endowed Professor of Water Resources Engineering
Sims has led an extraordinary career in industry and higher
Tarboton is a renowned water resources engineer and hydrologist.
leads groundbreaking research in bio-based manufacturing and
Geophysical Union. He has mentored dozens of graduate students
education, creating lasting contributions in the fields of bioprocess engineering, public health and environmental sustainability. He
sustainable engineering and has spent over a decade pioneering
methods to grow and harvest algae for the production of bio-based products such as plastics, fuel, fertilizer and therapeutics.
Endowment funding provided by the Huntsman Foundation.
Dr. Srishti Banerji
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Dr. Tim Berk
Christian Bolander
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Engineering Education
Dr. Selahattin Burak Sarsilmaz
Dr. Pin Shuai
Dr. Mohsen Esteghamati Civil & Environmental Engineering
He has authored nearly 100 research manuscripts, received dozens of accolades for teaching and research, and is a Fellow of the American who today work in water resources engineering roles in Utah and
around the world. Tarboton is a trailblazer in the emerging field of
hydrological information systems—an innovative discipline that will revolutionize how engineers and Earth scientists share hydrologic data around the globe.
Endowment funding provided by the David G. and Diann L. Sant family.
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Civil & Environmental Engineering
Dr. Greg Anderson
Dr. Liyuan “Joanna” Hou
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Dr. Yiming Su
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Aggies Sweep Awards at ASCE Events Near the glitzy Las Vegas Strip, a team of civil engineering students spent an April weekend competing in a series of events designed to test their resolve as future engineers. The American Society of Civil Engineers regional symposium drew hundreds of undergraduate engineering students from across the Intermountain West. USU sent a delegation of 30 undergrads to compete in multiple events. The team brought home three first-place wins, and two teams advanced to nationals.
Environmental Design:
Concrete Bowling Ball:
First Place Overall
First Place Overall
Students created a low-cost, gravityfed water filter designed to provide drinking water for firefighters in the backcountry. The design took first place overall at regionals. The event included a technical writing and oral presentation component.
Students designed and built a concrete bowling ball and competed in a fiveframe game against other schools. Balls are judged on three categories: cement mix design, durability and aesthetics. This year’s team took advantage of resources and used the same concrete mix used for the concrete canoe.
Steel Bridge:
Concrete Canoe: Third Place in Men’s Sprint Yes, they float! The annual concrete canoe competition challenges students to formulate unique blends of cement, aggregate and building materials to form a lightweight, seaworthy vessel. USU’s canoe passed its swamp test and was a serious contender in the race lane. The team took third place in the men’s sprint event and performed well in the presentation and display portions of the competition.
Best Performance in Weight, Deflection, and Time USU’s steel bridge team excelled in Vegas, blowing out the competition in categories of weight and construction time. However, the team was penalized due to a misinterpretation of contest rules. The team appealed the judges’ decision, won the appeal, and placed 26th at nationals in Virginia.
Surveying:
First Place Regionals, 5th Place Nationals
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Teams were required to accurately plot the location of building corners, sewer lines, and other surveying tasks. After an unexpected problem with dead batteries in their instruments, the team relied on more basic equipment and still managed to knock out the competition for a first-place win in Vegas. The team took fifth place at nationals at Louisiana Tech in June.
Utah State Engineer 41
One Last Question: Before saying goodbye to our graduating seniors, we posed a final question. “What advice would you give to yourself as a new freshman?”
Engineering State Reimagined Utah’s Engineering Summer Camp Returns with New Changes After two years of adaptations due to the pandemic, the College of Engineering welcomed high school students back for an overnight engineering camp. Engineering State, or E-State, was held June 20–21 and June 23–24 on the USU Logan Campus. The camp is a powerful recruiting tool and provides an opportunity for students to explore educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math.
The new single-night format is one of the biggest changes in the camp’s 32-year history. Despite the changes, participants said the camp was a success.
“We are so happy that we were able to hold Engineering State this year,” said camp director Shelley Wardell. “Students had so much fun with our amazing challenge sessions and saw firsthand what Utah State has to offer to future engineering students.” 42
Participants completed hands-on workshops designed to introduce various engineering disciplines. In one challenge session, campers built a loudspeaker using paper plates and household items. In other sessions, students explored biofuels, earthquake engineering, water resources, structural engineering and more. “E-State is a fantastic opportunity for high school students to spend time at USU,” said Kurt Becker, professor and E-State faculty advisor. “The challenge sessions enable students to think like an engineer while they participate in fun, problemsolving activities.”
Kailey Jorgensen
Mykell Johnson
Blake Barber
Jessop Oliver
Never give up! Always keep going; failure is not final. I have failed so many times throughout my engineering education but I never let it push me away from following my passion. Make lots of friends and take every opportunity you can!
As a new freshman, I chilled out a little more and focused on making friends. As a sophomore I wish I’d studied more. There’s a balance somewhere in there; find that ASAP.
Take your time and enjoy the journey. Try new classes and make sure you are creating meaningful connections with peers and faculty members. But most of all remember this is YOUR education, so make it count.
Your time at school should be like a good meal: Don’t overeat, and always try a bit of everything for the best taste and growth.
Merissa Nielsen Qun Wang Caitlin Roundy Arnold If you are considering a master’s degree, do research while you are still an undergraduate student.
Participate in opensource projects and practice coding skills.
Ibukun Osunbunmi Learn to enjoy each moment, reward yourself for every small win, and make friends. Don’t just pass through the university, let the university also pass through you.
Don’t forget that going to college is a gift not a given. Take full advantage of every opportunity you can. Push yourself out of your comfort zone to join clubs, network, be a leader, make friends and explore the world. Utah State Engineer 43
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Innovation on Display See You at Senior Design Night 2023 May 2023 engineering.usu.edu/senior-design 44 44